By Susan May Warren Are you home from the ACFW conference? Finally unpacked? I hope you came home filled with encouragement and new ideas on how to make your writing breathtaking. Now what? Conferences can be overwhelming, between the requests for proposals or full manuscripts, new story ideas, craft lessons, marketing epiphanies and loads of new friends. Where and how …
Publishing vs. Encouraging
By Ane Mulligan According to a song lyric by Linda Rondeau: Home, home in the industry Where the writers and publishers play Where seldom is heard An encouraging word And the skies are so cloudy all day Thanks, Linda for letting me borrow the lyric. Yes, I’ve experienced discouragement in my writing journey. Maybe it was a rejection, or comments …
Dreams Really Do Come True!
By Lillian Duncan I wrote another post with this same title after receiving my first contract from a traditional publisher. It took 15 years of writing before I received that contract. So you can well imagine I was a little bit excited. Now three years and seven contracts later, I still get excited. I just don’t cry quite as much! …
Are You Being Tossed About by Every Wind?
By Henry McLaughlin Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Ephesians 4:14 NLT In my small group recently, we were discussing critiques. One member had …
Every book deserves a party
By Judy Christie With the launch of my eighth novel, I’m in the mood for fried pies. Make that chocolate fried pies. That’s what the protagonist cooks–and what I’ll serve to say thanks at my upcoming book party at Barnes & Noble Booksellers in northwest Louisiana. As authors, we spend lots of time talking about the serious business of writing …
Six Verses to Anchor Your Thoughts During the ACFW Conference
by Beth K. Vogt “The stars may fall, but God’s promises will stand and be fulfilled.” J. I. Packer, (1926-), theologian People start talking about what they’re packing for the ACFW conference weeks before they print off their boarding pass. What are they wearing to their 15-minute appointments? The genre dinner? The gala? Are their pitch sheets and business cards …
It Takes a Village to Promote a Book
By Carrie Fancett Pagels I’ve had the privilege of participating in a number of book promotion groups for other Christian writers over the years. I always enjoyed it. Well, there might have been one that was iffy, but… A group of like-minded readers all got together to support and promote the author of an upcoming release. Having just finished writing …
When Building an Online Presence Don’t Forget They’re People NOT Numbers
By Edie Melson As writers, we all know the importance of building an online following. We spend time crafting valuable blog posts with SEO rich headlines. We follow others on social media, working to connect. All the while keeping a sharp eye on those numbers that define success or failure. It’s easy to get caught up in those numbers. But …
Is Your Local Bookstore Your Local Bookstore?
by Suzanne Kuhn “My dream is to have my book published, but never be found on a shelf in a bookstore,” said no author ever. Instead, it’s every author’s dream to discover their book on the shelves of bookstores far and wide. But the question remains: How does an author go about getting their book onto store shelves? One way …
“Dad, can you play me in a game of Othello?”
By Dr. Patrick Johnston My wife left me alone with my six-year-old boy as she took the older girls shopping, hoping he and I would get some “quality father-son time.” That was my wife’s euphemism for “Quit that important stuff you’re doing and play with your boy.” I set him in front of a cartoon on the TV because I …