Throwing out the first pitch--at a writers' conference, that is.

The annual ACFW conference begins tomorrow in Dallas. Alas, I am not going this year, but my agent Terry Burns has several projects of mine that are in need of a home. Anyone who's ever gone to the ACFW conference or any writing conference knows you have only a moment to make an impression on that elusive agent or editor. Hopeful writers headed for Dallas have been practicing and perfecting their elevator pitches to make the most of that moment. What is an elevator pitch? A quick, one or two sentence blurb about your book that will hook the hearer. Condensing a four-hundred page novel into one sentence is brutal. But it must be done as I'm sure you already know. Let's use Writer's Rest to practice. Even if you're not going to conference, share your best pitch for your current or latest work in progress. Those of you who are going should be able to rattle yours off in your sleep. Here's mine from a women's fiction/suspense entitled JOY REDEFINED. Joy Kessler has always felt more like a mouse than a spiritual giant. When her best friend disappears, she must turn to God to find the courage she never knew she had to save her friend and herself from a killer. Now your turn. I wish I could offer a book contract to the best one, but I'm probably a terrible judge anyway. This will be just for fun. Whether going to the conference or just throwing ideas around, we want to hear from you.

The Best Book Ever Shot from a Cannon

My son used to work as Promotions Coordinator at the Lawrenceburg Speedway in Indiana. That means he was the guy shooting t-shirts into the stands with a cannon. Actually his job was more complicated than that. Whenever a delay happened on the track, he’d get a call through his headphones that he needed to distract or occupy the crowd for the next ten minutes. Can’t have race fans getting hot and bored. That’s where the t-shirt launcher came into play. Or a drawing for a free pizza, a tire rotation, or something equally exciting.

He had to make that last t-shirt sound like the biggest, grandest prize anyone could dare dream of winning.

That’s sort of our job as writers. With the first line of our book, or the blurb on the back or the synopsis we send to a potential agent or editor, we must make the reader think our book is the best thing they’ve ever read. Or at least worthy of continuing on to the next paragraph, the next page, and so on.

Most writers are terrible salesmen. Many of us are uncomfortable telling the world how awesome we are or how awesome our book is. We prefer to hide behind our computers and create while praying readers stumble across our work and fall hopelessly in love with every word we write with no interference from us.

That isn’t likely to happen. How does a writer go from being a terrible salesman to convincing an editor to take a chance on our story? There’s no amazing new advice here. First off, we must write an excellent story. Story truly is king.

Secondly, almost as soon as you come up with a nugget of a story idea start thinking of who will buy this book and how to make them want it. What are the selling points? What makes it unique? I guarantee it isn’t the plot. Every one out there has been done to death. So what’s you angle? Imagine your book in the launcher at a major sporting event. What could the guy say to make the crowd stand up and cheer and beg for your book to be fired in their direction? Or would they use the break in the action to head to the concession stand for nachos?

You worked too hard on your book not to have readers clamoring to buy it. Go over your pitch. Or write one if you haven't already. Then honestly ask yourself--Is this book rocket launcher ready?

Set apart for God's use

by Teresa Slack Promotion comes neither from the east or the west, not from the south. But God is the judge: he puts down one and sets up another. Psalm 75: 6-7 Some days while I’m writing and the words flow like a stream after a spring rain, it’s easy to believe I have a special calling on my life. I am set apart for God’s use. He has a big purpose for me. My writing is meant to touch hearts and change lives. Then I get word from my agent that another publishing house passed on my work. I log onto one of my writing groups and I hear of a multi-published author who received a contract for three more books with a fantastic advance, and I come crashing to the ground. What’s the deal? Why doesn’t anyone like my writing? What am I doing wrong? When will God show me favor? Several times in the last few weeks I’ve talked to people, many of them writers who are disheartened about the loss of a job or cut in pay or yet another rejection from a publishing house. It is easy to ask; “Why not me? I know I have a calling on my life. I’ve read published works that are ten times worse than mine. Why is So-and-So blessed?” We don’t want to hear it will happen in God’s time. We want it to happen in our time. I work hard at my writing. I study the markets, am always on the lookout for new ideas and work like a dog to make my prose as precise and compelling as possible. So why am I not inundated with lucrative contract offers? Why doesn’t my agent have a picture of me up in his office to show fledgling writers what they should aspire to? You will drive yourself crazy trying to wrap your head around these questions. We won’t always understand why things happen the way they do, whether with writing or promotion at work or in relationships. The only thing we can do in times of trial and doubt is to keep doing well. Keep applying yourself at work. Keep growing in your craft. Use the downtime in your writing to read, study the markets and network. Faint not in doing good. It will happen as long as we keep working, keep submitting, keep growing, and most importantly, keep the faith that God is bigger than we are and he has a plan for each life he put on earth.

Would Jesus Market Himself?

As writers journey the road toward publication, learning both craft and business, one thing becomes painfully clear—Authors need platforms. What’s a platform, you ask? It’s a vehicle on which you let others know about your work. It includes group memberships, websites, social media and other forms of potential audiences. We are told without a platform, we are less desirable to agents and editors because if no one knows about our work, who cares how well-crafted it is.

So, as a newbie author, I plunge into social media, guest blogging and—shutter—self-promotion. Major “ick factor” in that last one. Really? Can’t someone else tell the world how wonderful my writing is ;o)? Well, not if that someone else hasn’t read it.

Then, I hear some Christian writers—particularly those focusing on the ministry of it—talk about how they have chosen NOT to market at all. If God wants their work noticed, He will bring the readers … won’t He? Being a “ministry-minded” author myself, I find it necessary to ask, “What would Jesus do?”

Let’s look at that. Would Jesus market Himself? Did He have a platform? Did He self-promote? Yes … and no.

Platform

You can imagine how the term platform came into use. It’s a stage, set above the audience, so large groups of people can see you above the crowd. Kind of like a … a big hill. Maybe, a …a “mount.” So when Jesus stood on the large incline and gave His most famous sermon, He had a purpose to it. He wanted people to hear Him. He didn’t want to waste His efforts. Think about the other places in which He chose to speak, like various synagogues and the Temple in Jerusalem. There, he knew He’d find groups of people asking about their Creator and the coming Messiah—The questions He came to answer.

Jesus didn’t stop there. He sometimes narrowed His focus to a particular group, even though he’d been chastised for doing so—tax collectors and sinners. The group He came to save. Dare I call them His “target audience.”

Marketing

One of the greatest “pre-release” marketing campaigns ever to exist was the “coming attraction” of the promised Messiah. Foretold in the Old Testament, God’s chosen awaited Jesus like no other. He was bigger than Star Wars. Not only was there a buzz about the dude, but there was a buzz about the one who prepared the way. In Isaiah 40:3 (NIV), it says, “A voice of one calling: ‘In the desert prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.’” In John 1:23 (NIV), John the Baptist confirms he is that voice.

Jesus even used a few attention grabbers. I mean, what would you have done if you’d seen Lazarus walk out of his tomb healthy, after having been previously immersed in the smell of his own decay? You’d pay attention. And you’d remember the man who raised him. In John 9:3 (NIV), when asked who sinned that the man was born blind, Jesus answers, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.” How did the woman at the well get so many people to come see Jesus? She said he could read her life without being told who she was. And though Jesus wearied of doing miracles for unbelievers—like authors weary of marketing—God knew He needed some way to show the people the Truth of who He is.

No, I’m not suggesting we do miracles. Um … unless you can! But if God didn’t grant you that particular gift, I’m thinking a good book signing, interview or free samples might just do the trick. These are the author’s way of showing the reader who they are.

I know some of you are bristling at my description of Jesus as though He were a carnival act to draw in the best crowds. Carnival acts are about entertainment and sometimes falsehoods. That is not at all what we are talking about with Jesus … and I hope it is not what I’m talking about for you. Though a good book should be entertaining as well as enlightening, I am speaking to those who bristle at hawking their ministry.

Which brings us to the ugliest part …

Self-Promotion

This is a tricky one. Did Jesus promote Himself. Again, the answer is “yes and no.” In John 14:6 (NIV) He said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Why did He make such a bold and outrageous statement? Because it was true. However, I caution you here. Follow Jesus’ example of truth as opposed to His choice of words. Because if you are not “the way, the truth and the life” I’d suggest you not say you are. In fact, if you believe you are those things … I’m thinking you need something else altogether.

Like therapy.

Jesus, being the incarnate of God, however, even defers to His Father. In John 7:16 (NIV) He says, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me.” What about the one who is more like us—John the Baptist? When speaking of his own position in Jesus’ ministry, he said, “the thongs of (His) sandals I am not worthy to untie.” These verses remind us of what use our gifts are to have—to glorify God. They are given BY Him to be used FOR Him. While promoting our work, it’s important to remember that. That’s not to say we can’t bask in the joy of seeing our purpose fulfilled. I mean, what greater feeling is there then to have our empty vessels filled with His presence, doing His will? There is no greater feeling. It’s just important to remember the source.

In Luke 14:8-11(NIV) Jesus tells us, when invited to a feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. He describes the humiliation of having to be reseated in a less exalted chair. But, if the lowest place is chosen, and you are moved up by the host, you will be honored.

I love this analogy! Can you feel the emotional impact of being moved?!

So how do we translate that to self-promotion of your own “holy writ.” For me, it reminds me there are those whose offering is at least as important as mine, and many whose is much more so. My goal to honor God in my writing includes drawing others, not just to my work, but the work that will touch them most at the deepest levels. Sometimes that’s not mine at all. Other times—maybe. So when I tweet about enlightening blog articles and wonderful, inspiring prose, I should include authors besides myself. I am not the end-all and be-all of the writing world. “I am, Who am” is.

The Other Question

As we look at all these things, there is another question: “Why wouldn’t you market your work?” Is the answer really, you don’t have time or energy, or that you are afraid of rejection, mockery or bad reviews? Honestly ask yourself, and be prepared to act on the answer. Because your lack of action could be more in keeping with the man in the Bible who buried his “talents” (Matthew 25:14-30).

So with all this in mind, my advice is this:

As always, seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33a). Spend time in prayer with these questions. Seek counsel in The Word. Having said that, the following is what I have found there. Don’t hide your light under a bushel (Matthew 5:15-16). God gave you gifts and he meant for them to be used (Matthew 25:14-30 see “How Jesus Said to Get More Talent”). Use them! Display them! Be straight forward, honest, respectful of other’s time and space, and give credit where credit is due.

Above all, do as He leads, and resist the urge to judge others for doing it differently, because you were not part of God’s conversation with that author.

That’s what Jesus would do.

For more inspiration to parallel your work with what Jesus did, listen to how the Christian rock band Needtobreathe inspires us to write for Him. Click the link here—Garden.

And now for my shameless self-promotion ;o) …

Connie is a 2012 Genesis semi-finalist for Women’s Fiction. She was awarded an Honorable Mention in the Winter 2012 WOW Flash Fiction Contest for her entry, Why Not to Kiss on a Park Bench (aka. Harold and Violet). She also writes the What’s Your Story column, interviewing debut fiction authors for the My Book Therapy Ezine. Come visit her on one of her other blogs:

Living the Body of Christ

InfiniteCharacters.com

Selling Yourself--Create a compelling proposal

posted by Teresa Slack www.teresaslack.com
Anyone who knows me knows I can be long winded. It’s the reason I can easily slice and dice about ten thousand words, minimum, after I finish the first draft of a manuscript. Convoluted writing doesn’t generally hurt anything during first drafts. Writing is all about rewriting. Tightening. Making the story better. Writers can spend years doing this.

But meandering and taking forever to get to the point is the worst thing a writer can do when creating a proposal. The toughest part about writing is taking the shortest route to saying the most about your book in a way that will have editors and agents begging for more.

I was recently told my proposals do not do my writing justice. A little discouraging but good to know. It isn’t a lagging plot or poorly drawn characters or lack of style that has kept this particular book from finding a home. I have a product worth buying, I’m just not doing a good job selling it.

Besides writing I am also a Scentsy consultant. Scentsy is a product I believe in so it’s not hard to sell. The question is, why haven't I translated my amazing sales prowess to selling my writing? What's holding me back? Do I lack confidence in the quality of my writing? Or, and I suspect this is the real reason, have I not taken the time to craft a succinct, compelling proposal that will make editors take notice?

What about you? Does your lack of confidence in your writing keep you from approaching editors and agents? Or is your proposal like mine and so convoluted and confusing no self-respecting editor would slog through it to find the diamond in the rough?

This week I challenge you to go over your proposal all over again. Ask yourself if someone who has never seen it before might get confused or just plain bored with the premise. You have a product worth buying. All you have to do is sell it.