How to Write a Compilation - Part 2

Dianne's books on the right,
and a stack of most the compilation
books she's contributed to.

Last month we talked about what a compilation book is, how to write a compilation and options for who writes the stories, asking writers to contribute, and creating writer's guidelines for your compilation and getting them out there where other writers will find them.

This month we'll talk about how to organize your compilation and paying your writers. (Tweet that!)

How to Organize Your Compilation

If you don't already have an idea of how you're compilation is going to be organized, I'm thinking it will tell you as it develops. For both my Deliver Me book and Grandparenting Through Obstacles, which I did with my co-author, the stories kind of grouped themselves around common themes which became chapters. In our grandparenting book, we also had "Parts" in our book instead of chapters. We had 20 stories in 4 Parts on a theme with five stories in each Part. 

For my Deliver Me book, I knew I wanted stories about women choosing to keep her child, give for adoption, those who opted for abortion, and stories from men, so I knew I would have chapters for each of those topics and I went looking for stories to fill them. Other chapters emerged as stories came in that surprised and intrigued me.

I'm not sure about this, but I think creative projects have a character of their own and so they will tell you how they need to be organized. That might mean you look at what stories you have and see a common thread and so you group those into chapters. 

Paying your Writers

Some compilations "pay" the writers by offering a free copy of the book. I believe writers ought to be paid for their work. (Tweet that!) We seem to be about the only profession where we are expected to work for free, which I think is wrong. Workers deserve their wages. 

For Scripture says, "Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain," and "The worker deserves his wages." 1 Timothy 5:18

But at the same time I'm suggesting that you should pay your writers, you also need to know that anything you do pay them is going to come out of your pocket. (Tweet that!) This means even if you find a traditional, advance and royalty-paying company to publish your book, they are not going to also pay your writers. You will. Or you can use your advance to pay them, but it's still coming out of your advance. So you need to count the cost carefully as you make decisions about whether or not to pay your writers, how much, and in what way.

Most of the compilations I've written for pay a one-time fee. I've been paid anywhere from $20 to $200 for one of my stories. (Tweet that!) 

A Ruby Christmas
(Since this blog post appeared, the
publisher has removed this e-book
from Amazon.com.)
A fiction compilation -- each chapter
written by a different author

Another way to pay your writers is to share royalties. I'm involved with one project like this. This particular book is not pictured in my stack of books because it's in ebook form only so I couldn't put it on my stack of printed books. 

The publisher gathered a group of known writers/friends. We each wrote a chapter and each receive a percentage of the royalties. This is a fiction project. Again, count the cost of the paperwork needed to track and share royalties so you don't create a bookkeeping nightmare for yourself.

How much should you pay? Just to give you an idea, I paid $20 per story for one book and $25 per story for the other. But even a token amount, like $5, is better than nothing. 

I paid on publication (meaning no money went out until the book actually existed). Then I mailed their check in the same package as their contributor's copy of the book. 

A few of my authors wanted to "donate" their story and never cashed the check. That was generous of them and it helped me out with the expense of my book, but I still honored my writers by offering them their pay.

     Author Discounts

I also offered my authors discounts when they purchased copies of the book. (Tweet that!) With the book another publisher published, I negotiated so that contributing authors were able to buy copies at a discount. Our contract with the publisher was a percentage share of the profits, so we were to get a share of the difference between the cost plus publisher's percentage and what the contributors paid, which was less than when a buyer bought a book at full price but still a little for me and my coauthor. 

Is this fair to the contributors to have to buy at more than cost? Yes, of course. You're the one who did all the work of putting it together, took all the risks, put in all the time, found the publisher (or published it yourself), etc. That deserves being paid a small portion per book purchased by the contributors. If your contributors can purchase at 50% off the cover price, they make their money when they sell copies, and that's standard. Almost all the compilations I've written for sell to contributors for 50% off the cover price. 

One book I was in didn't give the authors a 50% discount but only one dollar off the cover price. Why should I buy a quantity and pay shipping for $1.00 per book?! It wasn't worth it.

     Contributors Copies

Give all contributors one free copy of the published book as a "contributor's copy." They deserve to get one. 

I contributed to one compilation that did not do this. To this day I have not seen this book with my own work in it. I would have had to purchase my own copy. This is a bad way to treat your contributors. How can I champion your book when I haven't seen it, can't hold it in my hands, look at it, read the rest of it?  How can I help you market it when I can't take a photo of me with it for Facebook and Instagram, or put it in my stack to photograph for my blog? 

For goodness sakes, plan to give every contributor at least one copy. Be generous. (Tweet that!) This will cost you: both in purchasing the printed copies as well as in mailing/shipping them to your contributing authors. Count the cost of that as well. (Of course we all think we'll sell enough books to cover all our costs and make a profit. Authors typically over estimate how many books we will sell.)


Next month in the third and final part we'll talk about the legal issues including the contract you'll need to create for your contributors to sign, then a little about publishing, marketing, and keeping the whole project organized.

Related Articles:

• How to Write a Compilation - Part 1

How to Write a Compilation - Part 1

Dianne E. Butts
has contributed to all these
compilation books.
(and more!).

Please excuse me for being a little late posting this month. I was enjoying a fun and wonderful family vacation and just couldn't get it done earlier!

Last month I received a message from a reader, Pierre, asking, "Do you have any articles on how to write or organize a compilation?" (Tweet that!) That's a topic I haven't approached here on the blog so thanks, Pierre, for the topic suggestion. 

I've contributed to twenty compilations, all of those in the photo and a few more not pictured. I've also put together a compilation myself and another one with a co-author. (See photo below.) So I’m sharing what I've learned from those experiences.

When I brainstormed the answer to Pierre’s question and what I’ve learned about writing compilations and/or writing for them, I was surprised by how much information I came up with. So much, in fact, that I’m going to divide it into more than one post here (or else this post would be dreadfully long!).

Here’s how my plan is currently shaping up:

In this first post, Part 1, I’ll answer the first part of Pierre’s question of how to write a compilation which will include creating writer’s guidelines and getting them out where other writers might see them.

In Part 2 I’ll answer Pierre’s question of how to organize your compilation plus we’ll talk about paying your writers, a topic that is of great importance to me.

In Part 3 we’ll look at legal considerations, keeping the whole project organized, and marketing the finished product.

So let’s get started with:

A Ruby Christmas
a fictional story compilation.

What is a Compilation?

A compilation is a collection of stories--whether true or fiction--or essays or poems or other written material all bound together in one book.

Most of the compilations I've seen are nonfiction. They are often centered around a particular topic.

But a compilation can also be fiction, whether it's a collection of individual complete stories or perhaps different writers contribute a chapter to the same story, such as the one I contributed to titled A Ruby Christmas. 

How to Write a Compilation

You can do some of the writing yourself. You can ask other writers to contribute to your compilation. Or more likely you'll end up doing a combination of both. That's what I did.

          Write Part or All of the Compilation Yourself.

If your compilation is all about a collection of material from established writers, then they obviously will want to write their own material. But when I did my compilation, I wanted stories about unplanned pregnancies and all the different decisions people make and how that played out in their lives. For the compilation I did with a co-author, we wanted stories of grandparents finding ways to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with their grandkids. With a compilation topic like this, not everyone you're working with is going to be a writer. Some have no desire, skill, or time to write their stories down on paper. But they have great stories! So the solution is to do the writing for them. You interview them and collect their story details, and then write it as an "as told to." You'll see several of these in my Deliver Me book.

These are Dianne's six books.
The one on the top (Deliver Me) and the one on the 
bottom (Grandparenting Through Obstacles)
are compilations.

Doing this will assure you of many great stories. It will also assure the quality of writing you want for your book. If you can't do the interview and writing, you can find (or hire) a willing writer and assign them that story.

I consider writing others' stories one of the great privileges of being a writer. (Tweet that!) So many people have amazing stories that would help and inspire others but they do not have the skills to write them or the platform to share them if they did. (Tweet that!) So helping them share their stories is an incredible honor and blessing to me, not to mention my readers. (Tweet that!)

When you write an "as told to" story for your compilation, simply treat the person with the story as any other author: get the same permission to use the story, have them sign the same agreements. Put their name on the byline followed by "as told to" and then your name. Consider them a contributing author because they are the"author" of their story even though they didn't do the work of actually putting it on paper (or in the computer).

          Ask Writers to Contribute

If you plan to ask other writers to contribute to your book, first you need to be able to articulate very clearly the idea of your compilation and what you are looking for in submissions. I always found this interesting because I thought I was being clear but writers would have completely different ideas of what I meant. So I would have to continually clarify. The problem is they are not in your head, so all they know about what you're thinking of for your compilation is what you tell them. Therefore:

• Be as clear as you can be. 
• Be willing to clarify your vision when needed. 
• And be patient when working with other writers.

You may have to answer the same question(s) over and over. Count this as a great learning experience because you'll get a clearer picture of how you're coming across as a writer and how your reader understands you. (Tweet that!)

Create Writer's Guidelines

You'll need to create some writer's guidelines, just like the professionals do. Because you are a professional.

As an example which may be helpful to you I’ll share the writer’s guidelines I created years ago for my book Deliver Me, but please know this opportunity is now closed and this is intended only as  an example or a starting place for you.

Better yet, gather some writers guidelines off the internet from magazines or other compilations and use them as a starting point. 

Besides sharing your vision you'll want to give:

• An idea of what you’re looking for in stories you’ll accept. 
• Tone. 
• How long you want each story (in word count).
• Which rights you want to purchase.
• Compensation (what you'll pay in $ and/or contributor's copies).
• If you want a bio for the back of the book (a great perk for writers) and the word limit on that.
• How and where to submit.
• Your deadline.

Get the Word Out

Once you have the writer’s guidelines for your  project written, edited, and polished, make them a printable PDF document.

Then post your guidelines on your web site, blog, and/or Facebook page.

Once you have your writer’s guidelines available somewhere online, you can link to them in Twitter messages, on Facebook, at LinkedIn, in your emails, in your newsletters, etc.

Ask your friends and writing acquaintances to share them with their circles of writer friends.

You can also seek out web sites that writers frequent that want to post opportunities for writers and politely ask them to post or link to your project’s information and your guidelines.

So this month why don’t you consider gathering some of your writer friends, reaching out to other writers you know, or possibly extending the invitation to friends of friends and talk about doing a compilation together? Brainstorm your idea, then brainstorm your writers guidelines.

Then come back next month and we’ll talk about how to organize your compilation and about paying your writers.

How to Get Unstuck When You're Stalled In Your Writing (Beating "Writer's Block")

iStock © alvarez

This month I'm wondering who needs this article. (Maybe it's you. Maybe it's me!) Have you ever been stuck or stalled in your writing? Have you ever experienced "writer's block"? Here are some thoughts to help.

This is a rerun from my former newsletter from August 2010. It's a timeless topic and I know there's help here for someone who needs it. Maybe that will be you, if not now...then perhaps another time soon.

Getting Unstuck When You're Stalled

I had conversations with two different writers recently. Both talked about being stalled or blocked on big projects. We talked a little about why this might happen and what we can do about it when it does. (Tweet that!)

One fellow, when he learned I was a writer, asked me, "How do you get past writer's block?" (Tweet that!) He has a large project in mind and he's looking for help in getting it done.

As I tried to talk with this writer, he did a lot of talking and very little listening. He lamented that he couldn't get anything done. He was frustrated that he couldn’t get anyone interested in his project.

I asked him what he had written so far. He didn't answer, but went on about how the people in charge who should want his project wouldn't get on board with him. Hmmm. I began to wonder if this fellow has ever actually written anything.

What is Writer's Block?

Sometimes I think would-be writers try to write, find it extremely difficult, and conclude they have writer's block.

I’ll make a confession here that I've never made out loud before because I have the impression it could possibly be quite controversial. Here it is: I don’t know what writer's block is. (Tweet that!)

There. I said it.

Years ago I remember reading an article in a popular writer’s magazine where the author stated he didn't think writer's block existed. Oh what an uproar ensued! I was stunned such a statement would elicit such a strong, negative response! I'm still not sure I understand why. I just know a lot of writers were offended.

I've heard writers say when they are blocked they "can't" write. Okay, maybe so. I've never experienced that so I won't claim to understand it.

What I have experienced is that writing, for me, is really, really hard. (Tweet that!) It's work. It never comes easy.

I've heard some writers say their words flow so easily onto paper. Well, lucky them, I guess. For me, it's hard, physical labor to get my ideas out of my head and onto paper. I can say that I've had enough practice now that it's easier. I now understand my own process I must go through to get it done. But it's never easy.

Writing is clear thinking.

If you can't think a thought or idea clearly, then you can't nail it down on paper. (Tweet that!) Getting to the point of being able to clearly state what you're thinking is hard work. (Tweet that!)

I have to wonder if that writer who told me he was blocked really was blocked. Or did he discover how difficult it is to write and conclude something else was wrong?

What to do about it.

Recognize writing is hard.

If you're blocked or feeling stuck, the first thing to do, I think, is to recognize writing is very difficult. If it wasn't, everybody would be doing this. (Tweet that!)

Clarify what you want to say.

The next thing I would suggest is to clarify what it is you want to say. Remember that exercise we're told to do? Say it in one sentence.

Whether it's a book, an article, or a short story, say it in one sentence. If you can't, it's not clear enough yet in your own mind to nail it down on paper. (Tweet that!)

It will take time and effort and a hundred (or a thousand) failed tries before you're able to say it in one sentence. (Tweet that!) That's just the way it is. But once you start getting close, you'll sense it. And once you nail it, you'll know it. So don't quit prematurely.

Say it in one sentence. Just do it. Now.

[For help writing this one sentence, visit the December 2014 post, "Keep Your Eye on the Ball: One Sentence that Can Elevate Your Writing to New Heights."]

Some suggestions...

The second writer I talked with I know to be an accomplished writer. She said she was burned out. Boy do I understand that. She works a lot on other people's projects and really wants to work more on her own, but she's not getting going on those.

I asked her, "What's your passion?" She thought for a moment before she told me about a project she has wanted to write for years. But it's too big, she said. She doesn't know where to start.

We talked about some things she could do. Here are some of my suggestions:

• Break it down.

Figure out what you need to do. Make a list. List the items that would need to be done to accomplish (or even start) this project.

• Make a plan.

• Work the plan.

• Do what you can.

By the time you get to some of the things that can’t be done, you will have found the help you need or a way to do it. Start with doing what you can. The rest will work out.

Remember your passion.

And whenever you’re feeling burned out, stalled, or stuck. I suggest this:

• Return to your passion.

I think as writers we're asked to do more and more to please publishers, all with lower and lower pay. Or no pay. We're expected to start a blog, be a public speaker, market online, attend conferences, write on spec, take assignments… No wonder we’re feeling burned out, overwhelmed, and stalled.

But I fear that's a topic for another article. For now, ponder these questions:

• Why did you start writing? Or why do you want to write?

• What is your passion? What topics, projects, or type of writing are you passionate about?

• Are you working on what you're passionate about, or have other projects taken over and crowded out what you really want to be writing?

• How can you take steps to return to what you wanted to write when you started, to those projects you're passionate about?

There you have it. Get reconnected to your writing passion and takes steps to get back to that. I really believe when you do, you'll get unstuck.

* * *

I hope this rerun article has helped you get unstuck if you're stalled in your writing. If you're experiencing writers' block, I hope you've found some help here to beat writer's block.

If you would like more help with your writing, check out my ebooks for writers here:

• How to Get Published by Magazines & Book Publishers
• Cutting the Passive Voice -- Only $ .99!
• Have a print book out? You need Book Signings!

By the time we meet here again next month, I'll hope you're well on your way in writing your passion and your dream project! God bless you and your writing.

Writer's Conferences: What Should I Prepare to Take? What Should I Expect? What Should I Do There?

Colorado Christian Writers Conference
Estes Park, Colorado

A few weeks ago on my Facebook Author Page, we were talking about preparing for a writer's conference. If you've never been to one before, I bet you have a ton of questions. I know I did when I first started going to these, which was more than 25 years ago. I've been to at least one each year since then, so I've accumulated a lot of experience I can share from.

As "conference season" begins (if there is such a thing), I thought it might be helpful to give you some ideas of what to expect, how to prepare, what to take with you, and what to do while there. (Tweet that!)

What to Expect

You can expect to find a lot of like-minded people, writers who think they are the only ones with a passion to write. Writers who think they are not "really" writers, but everyone else in the room is. (Is that you too?) (Tweet that!)

You can expect to meet published authors and unpublished authors. There will be freelance writers (freelancers aren't on staff at any publication but write for a variety of them).

There will often be representatives of book publishing companies, editors from periodical publications such as magazines and web sites that take material from freelancers, and often literary agents will be there. Some or all of these may be on faculty teaching workshops or speaking at sessions for all the conferees.

You may be able to schedule meetings with these publishers, editors, and/or agents. (Tweet that!) If that's the case, you may want to pitch them a writing project you're working on or wish to write. We'll talk about how you might do that below when we talk about One-Pages. I'll also give some tips for these meetings below.

You should expect to have fun! So try to relax about it! Go expecting to make friends and to meet other writers with whom you can network and stay in touch after the conference.

How to prepare

Review all the material you find on the conference. The conferences I attend have a ton of information online and in their brochure and it's fun to go through it all.

Find out who is going to be on faculty. Read their bios and/or visit their web sites or the sites of their companies. Find out what they are looking for that they want to publish. Here's a HINT: Find web sites to other writers conferences where they were also on faculty and see what additional information you can find out about what they publish and what they are looking to publish.

You're looking for publishers who publish or are looking for (acquiring) the same sorts of material you are writing or want to write. Are you writing fiction? Romance? Sci-Fi or fantasy? Do you want to write nonfiction? What kind? Memoir? Self-help? Christian living? Who is acquiring that type of material?

Also check out the workshops. Circle on the brochure or make a note of all the workshops you'd like to attend. Chances are there will be more than one in a time slot and because even super-hero writers can't be in two places at the same time, you'll have to choose. (Tweet that!) But find out if workshops are recorded because at many conferences they are and you can purchase a DVD of the workshops you can't attend. This is a great way to take the conference home with you and keep the excitement and encouragement flowing long after the conference ends. Don't know which to attend and which to buy the recording of? Which workshop do you think will have the most value for you if you could listen to it more than once? Get the DVD of that one and attend the other in person. Or, is one of them taught by someone you want to meet? Or someone you want to see your face in their workshop so they'll know you're a serious writer? Attend that one and take the DVD of the other workshop home.

What to take with you

After you have an idea of who is going to be there, and you've matched that up with the projects you have written or want to write, you might want to prepare to talk to a publisher, editor, and/or agent about your project(s). So what do you prepare to take with you?

Project One-Pages

In the last decade or so, "One-Pages" have become popular and I believe they are awesome. Whether you are writing fiction or nonfiction, books or short works like articles or short stories, it's a great idea to create a one-page to present that idea.

At most conferences you will have a limited time to meet with a publisher, editor, or agent. Most of these meetings are only 10 to 15 minutes. That's not a lot of time for chit-chat. So you want to have your idea organized so you can express it succinctly. That's where a one-page comes in. You have to be succinct to get all the important information about your project down on one page. It's a terrific exercise, even if you don't get to present it to anyone in person.

A One-Page is similar to a Query Letter and has the same information, just in a different format such with headings or bulleted items.

On your one-page, include the following:

• Your contact information. You can create your own letterhead for your one-page.

• Your project's proposed title.

• A brief summary of your book, article, or story. Make it snappy and attention grabbing. This needs to be your best writing.

• The audience for your project. Who will it appeal to? Who will buy it? How big is that group of potential readers? Use statistics or something to back up your numbers.

• The length of your proposed project in word-count. For example, a feature article may be 1,500 words, a nonfiction book may be 50-60,000, and a novel may be 80,000. Make sure this is withing the numbers the publisher accepts.

• Give an idea of when you could deliver the completed manuscript, if it's requested. An article which will require interviews and research may take you two weeks or a month. A book might take you six months. Or you may have a manuscript completed which you can submit "upon request."

• Finally, give a short bio of who you are and what you have accomplished as a writer. Include what qualifies you to write this project. Do you have life experience? Education? Research?

Once you have your one-page put together, here are some more tips:

• Keep your one-page brief and to one page. 

• Make sure it's well edited and free of typos.

• You may get to show it to a representative of a publishing house. They may not take it with them because taking materials from all the authors they meet with is just too much, especially if they are traveling by plane, so don't be disappointed. They may ask you to email your one-page to them, or to send a book proposal or your manuscript after the conference.

I suggest you make a template for your one-pages if you have more than one project in you. Set up all your headings on your letterhead. Then for your next project all you'll need to do is fill in the information for your next project.

First Pages

You may want to take the first pages of your manuscript. If it's an article, you can print the entire article and take it with you, but an editor may only read the first paragraphs or skim it. If they want to see more, they'll ask you to email the manuscript to them.

If it's a book, you probably won't want to take more than the first ten pages. There's no need to take your entire book manuscript. No one will have the time to look at that much while there at the conference. And don't expect an editor or agent to carry your manuscript home with them on the plane. If they want it, they'll request it be sent via email.

One-Page Resume

Similar to your one-page for your writing projects, you might create a one-page resume. This would showcase your writing accomplishments (if you have any). For example on my writing resume I have sections for a brief telling of my:

• article writing, 
• books, 
• online writing, and 
• screenwriting. 

Then I also share my "platform" which showcases my "reach" as an author. I include my:

• social media platform, which means how many people I can reach through social media, such as the number of Twitter followers and Facebook author page Likes. 
• How many subscribers do you have on your email newsletter list? 
• I also describe each of my blogs and how many page views I get per month.

All this information gives potential publishers an idea of the size of your platform, which means how many people you can reach if they publish your book.

Bookmarks or Flyers

If you have projects for sale, especially for writers, you might want to make up a flyer to put on the table where conference offer free giveaways such as writers guidelines from publishers. You might make a flyer if you have books or pamphlets for writers, or offer professional services such as editing or web site building.

I've written several #Kindle e-books for writers and am writing several more, so this year I’m hoping to get a flyer done to let others know about those.

Goods for Sale

If you have published books, you may be allowed to put them on the sales consignment table. These don't have to be for writers, they can be you anything you have written. People who are at the conference will be interested in your books and will be excited to buy from an author they meet, so be sure to bring some. But don't expect a lot of sales (at least from my experience). Money can be tight. There are a ton of other books competing for conferee's dollars there also. Plus many are traveling by plane and books can be heavy to transport in luggage.

A Sign Up List

Do you have an e-mail newsletter for your writing business? Do you have a blog people can sign up to receive via email? Why not take a sign up form?

When you meet and talk with new writer-friends on the way to workshops or at meals, the topic of your newsletter or blog may come up. Or you may simply ask them, would you like to receive my newsletter / blog in your inbox? You, or they, can record their email address. Tell them when you get home you'll sign them up, but they will receive a confirmation email that will require their response to complete their subscription.

When you get home, you can enter their email address in your email sign up form (like the one in the upper right corner of this blog) and they will receive the confirmation email.

Be careful you're not overbearing when asking for subscribers. Your conversation will let you know if they will benefit from being on your email list. This is not the place to ask everyone at the conference to sign up for your list. Workshop leaders might ask participants to sign up for their lists, but as a conferee you might be seen as irritating if you try to snare everyone in attendance.  And never sign someone up for your list without getting their permission in advance. (Don't use the business cards you take home for this purpose.)

Business Cards

If I could give only one piece of advice it would be this: BRING BUSINESS CARDS! (Tweet that!)

I'm amazed at how many people show up every year at the Colorado Christian Writers Conference and don't bring business cards. Most are simply new writers and say they didn't even think of it.

I don't care if you're just getting started as a writer and don't feel like you're in "business" as a write yet. You're there. Make some business cards. You still have time but you need to act soon. You'll want to trade business cards with people you meet.

If you'd like something unusual, I love the specialty cards made by: Shop MOO Mini Cards. I have my book covers on my Moo cards!

Now days most cards I get don't have street/mailing addresses on them, which might be smart for your safety. Still, put on them how people can contact you. Definitely an email address. Some put their cell phone. Put your web site.

Business cards are also a great way to share your blog, Facebook page, Twitter handle, Instagram, Amazon Author page, YouTube channel, etc. Use a URL-shortener like Bitly.com to create easy-to-remember and type links.

If you want to pay more and print the back, you can list your books titles or speaking topics.

A lot of people find it helpful if you'll put your (nice, professional) photo on your card so later we can match your face with your name.

When you get home, search out your new friends on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, or whatever social media you are on and send them a friend request, follow them, or invite them to Like your author page.

Snack, water, self-care.

Some conferences offer snacks and coffee and/or water but others don't. If you need these to get you through the day, you may want to pack some.

Casual or dress.

Find out whether your conference is casual or dress up. Even when the conference is casual, I try to look "business casual." You are, after all, making a first impression on publishers, agents, and editors. So dress for success. This is your business, not your vacation.

What to do while there

Here are some tips to help you with those scary meetings with publishers, editors, and agents:

• Be on time.

• Introduce yourself. 

• Prepare a spiel – your introduction of yourself and another one about your project. 

• Talk little, listen more. 

• React nicely – even if they're not interested in your project and that's a huge disappointment to you. Remember this is business, not personal.

• Don't take a book manuscript to leave with them. Take a one-page and the first ten pages at most. 

• Ask, "Would you like my business card?" before leaving one.

Here are some more general tips for things to do while there:

• Relax and have fun!

• Sit by someone you don't know.

• Respect faculty.

• Sit at an editor's table at a meal, but respect if they're sitting with someone else. They may have planned a breakfast/lunch/dinner meeting with that person.

• Befriend another lonely writer.

• First thing in the morning, say a prayer. Ask God to direct who you meet that day, who you walk beside on the trail or in the hallway, and who you sit beside in workshops and at meals. (Tweet that!) This makes the whole conference an exciting adventure of supernaturally orchestrated divine appointments.

More than anything go to have fun. I know it's hard for some people, but you really don't need to be nervous. You're here to learn. You're here to enjoy. You don't have to speak up in class if you don't want to. You're not in the spotlight. Take advantage of every opportunity you possibly can. And know that this experience is going to be great for your writing career.

SPECIAL NOTES:

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Writing from Your Core Message - How to Create Fantastic Fiction or Nonfiction that Reaches the Heart of Your Audience

I recently wrote a "new" story that is getting some great attention. I put "new" in quotations because in reality the story isn't a new one for me in the sense that I've been developing this story for around ten years. But I only recently wrote it. When I did actually write it, I've been pleased with the positive attention it has been getting. By that I mean the kind of attention that may result in bringing it to a large audience. But I wanted to stop to evaluate why this story is getting this attention. Obviously I'd like to repeat the experience and create another story or two (or ten) that get positive attention. (Tweetable) So why do I think this story is receiving such attention? I'm so sure in my gut this is the answer: Because this story comes from the core of my being, the core of what I know to be true. In other words, this story required me to write from my core message.

There are stories that are created just for the sake of telling a story, to entertain. But a story from your core message goes deeper.  (Tweetable)

Defining What I Mean by "Core Message"

I so remember where and when this idea became solid for me. The idea of it floated in the back of my mind, and I think that's true for every writer. But it was when I attended the Act One Writing for Film & Television Program* in 2010 that co-founder Barbara Nicolosi put it into words. She not only presented the idea to us but also challenged us to create a story from our core truth -- a credo from our life -- and present that story to the class before we left that program.

Act One trains Christians for write for film and TV
in order to influence film and television
for Jesus Christ.

Barbara called it our "Credo story." I'm calling it a "core message." You may have another name for it. I can't remember much more about how Barbara explained this, so from here on this idea is filtered through my own thoughts and understanding.

But I do remember that I knew immediately what mine would be because I had the "credo" or core message in my heart. I already knew it. I was working to build a story to express it. I just was still learning how to structure a story to work out expressing it.

What Barbara called a "credo" I'm calling a "core message." It is a deep truth from your life that you know in the depths of your heart to be true. (Tweetable) I'd say it's most likely something you've learned through the hard knocks in life. It didn't come easy. (If it did, it's more a cliche everybody already knows.)

Mine was a lesson I learned, a truth that came from hard places and tragedies in my life. I lived it. I learned from it. I grew from it. And I found a truth that helped me when I lived it. That truth has become part of my core being. And I believe that our core messages can help others in the same way they help us -- if we'll share them.

Our core messages may be hard to share because they are so deeply personal. They are hard-fought and hard-won. But they are truths of life. (Tweetable) And that means they apply to others, not just to us.

Core messages are also positive in nature. At least I demand mine to be, because there's no sense in taking an audience to a negative place and leaving them there. If a core message is negative, then you haven't lived through to the positive outcome yet and it's too soon to try to share the message. (Tweetable)

So the question is, how do you come to your core message?

*If you apply to attend Act One, please note on your application that you heard it from me, Dianne E. Butts. Act One would want to know. Thank you for remember me when you contact them.

How to Discover Your Core Message

You may know yours immediately. You may already have lived it and discovered it and stated it in words that you know and remember in your heart. Now is the time to write it down.

If you aren't to the place where you can write it down, then I'll warn you it may be harder than you think. (Tweetable) But you can:

• Brainstorm. Collect words that express your core message. Work until you can form a sentence. Don't stop there, but massage and tweak the message until you know that you know that you know it is hitting the target exactly. 

• Mind Map it. Use a large piece of newsprint. Write your collected words you brainstormed on it and then group other ideas around each word. The purpose is to get to the point where you can articulate your core message in a sentence.

• Articulate it. Write it down. Make it a statement. A Credo statement. This is much like writing a Thesis Statement which I wrote about in my December 2014 article. A Thesis Statement is any core message (even an assigned message) you want to express in an article or story. A Core Message statement is a truth or deeply held belief from your own life.

• Give yourself permission to own more than one Core Message. (Tweetable) I find if I limit myself to the core message, or one core message, I then have this battle raging about which one is most important. As if I only get one! No, you can have more than one. Just pick one for each story. Articulate it. Write about it, whether in fictional story or in nonfiction memoir or other. To write another story, pick another core message.

Develop Your Core Message Into a Story

Whether you're writing fiction or nonfiction, short pieces or long, you can develop a meaningful piece of writing out of your Core Message. (Tweetable) Please understand when I use the word "story" here, it could mean either fiction or nonfiction.

For mine, I wanted to express my "Credo Story" in a long story, meaning a novel, a feature-length screenplay, or both.

So I wanted to build a fictional story around my Core Message to express that message. This is where learning about story structure really helped me. In order to build your story around your core message, think about these points:

• Create a story that expresses all sides of the issue involved. (Tweetable) Doing so allows you to show what happens when life is lived in contradiction to your core truth.

• Develop story lines that look at the issue from all sides. This gives your story conflict in different views.

• Use these different views to create "B stories," which are subplots.

In my opinion, as writers we don't just write a story. We have to build a story. We build brick upon brick. We journey through life step after step. We build or develop a story in the same way. (Tweetable)

• Let it percolate. Let your story cook long enough to be fully cooked. You can't rush this anymore than you can rush growing up. You can only "rush" the expression of it by forcing yourself to do the hard part of articulating a fully-cooked core truth. If you never sit down to do this hard work of putting it into words, it can cook forever and you still won't have your core message in a concrete form. It will be there, but it will be in the mush that's cooking.

Tips for Developing Your Core Message Story

Along the way of my own writing journey, I've picked up some tips I've learned from mentors. Let me share some with you:

• Don't be afraid to say it out loud in your story. I've often heard or been taught in workshops or writing articles that we should not start with a message. I think that's nonsense. (Tweetable) If we want our writing to be meaningful where else would we start? (For contrast, I've heard over and over in workshops and such we should start with an interesting character. Fewer teachers allow us to start with an interesting plot.) I say, start with something you really want to say. A core message.

• Don't be so subtle no one "gets it." Again, we are told to keep it subtle, but from what I've seen subtlety often means the message is either missed or misunderstood. (Tweetable) I'd rather we simply state our message outright. Done well, it works.

• Don't be preachy. The above cautions are so we don't come off as "preachy." Of course we don't want to be preachy. That turns off an audience. I'm sure you can figure out for yourself what preachy is. You already know not to do that. Sometimes we have to start preachy and then work through it to find a way to work out of it while leaving the message. It can be done. Take careful steps to make sure your final product is not preachy. (Some will call you preachy even when you're not.)

• Let a character state your core message at the beginning.  Besides Act One, I've attended many other screenwriting and story-building workshops. I remember in a screenwriting class taught by Dr. Ted Baehr that he encouraged us to go ahead and state the theme (I consider that our core message) outright and up front. That is the direct opposite of what I've been taught elsewhere, but I agree with this! Ted taught that in movies, a character (often not the main character) states the theme of the movie or story in the beginning of the story. (Tweetable) I'd never notices that. But when I did, I then saw that the story develops and "lives out" that theme, and at the end we come back around to that core message, which is now a "truth." Watch for this the next time you watch a well-written movie.

• Don't be afraid to have an agenda. Again, this is from Ted Baehr. Again, this is the opposite of what we usual are taught. However I remember him encouraging Christian writers to go ahead and have an agenda. He reminded us that everyone else in Hollywood has an agenda! Christians can too. (Tweetable) Others are not afraid to let their agenda be known. Christians can too. So go ahead and have an agenda...and let it be known in your story. This is not wrong. This is, instead, freeing.

Core Messages Reach the Heart of Your Audience

I believe writing from my core message produced a story that is reaching hearts on a deep level, and that is why it is gaining positive attention from people of influence. (Tweetable) There are stories that are written solely to entertain. But stories from our core, from the deepest part of our heart, that speak the deep truths we've learned from the hardest places in our lives, hold truth and meaning that connects with other people in a way that is far beyond just entertainment.

Stories from our Core not only reach hearts and minds, they change hearts and minds. While an audience may not be able to understand why some stories stick with them, hold onto them, and will not let them go, it is because that story is burrowing deep into their souls. (Tweetable) That causes change. That is what story, in its true purpose, is for.

That's the kind of story I want to write. Again and again.

Please Note...

• New E-Book! Check out my newest e-book coming soon. If you have a book out, or plan to, you'll want to find ways to let people know your book exists. One great way to do that is to hold a book signing at a book store. That can be intimidating...until you do a few. In this new e-book I share what I've learned, what I've done right and wrong, and how to make a book signing work for you.

Releasing soon. Pre-Order yours now here:

Book Signings: 

How to Set Up Your In-Store Author Event and 

What do Do While Your're There!

• Colorado Christian Writer's Conference. It's coming soon! May 13 - 16. Sign up now!

Gleaning New Writing Projects from What You've Planted and Harvested in the Past

Gleanings!

This month "Gleanings" is on my mind. There's a reason for that.

On my other blog I've been studying and writing about the "Shemitah." I'm currently reading a nonfiction book about it titled The Mystery of the Shemitah by Jonathan Cahn.

I know what you're thinking: "What the heck is the Shemitah?!"

I'm so glad you ask. The Shemitah is a year-event and also a day-event. The Shemitah is the 7th year in a 7-year cycle on the Jewish/Hebrew calendar. And for those Jewish people following the Old Testament regulations, they let the land rest through the 7th year or the Shemitah year. Just as in the weekly calendar God instructed one day of rest per 7-day week, in the same pattern He instructed them to let the land rest through the seventh year in a 7-year "week" of years, Of course this also meant the people would rest through that year because they did not work the land. But they still had to eat, right?

What do they eat? Whatever grew. On its own. The gleanings.

They still had to do some work because they had to go out and gather the gleanings, but they do not work the land and all the land belongs to all the people to glean wherever they want to.

The whole Shemitah is really an exercise in faith. The Jewish people had to believe that God would provide for them during that year...and the next until they planted and another harvest came in.

The last day of the Shemitah year is also an event. At the end of this day, all the debts are forgiven. It's a national financial re-set. Whoever owes money is set free from that debt. And whoever is owed money releases it. It's an object lesson of how the Lord God releases the sin-debt of those who trust in Him and He gives us rest. The word shemitah translated means "the Lord's release."

Did you know we are currently living in a Shemitah year? As a matter of fact, because the Jewish calendar begins in the fall of the year (last September) we are almost half way through the Shemitah year, which will end Sunday, September 13, 2015. The exact mid-point of this Shemitah year is March 20th, so it seems appropriate to talk about the Shemitah and gleanings this month. (Plus, I only just now thought about applying this to my writing.)

Gleanings for Writers

Okay, I know what you're thinking: "Enough with the Bible lesson. What does that have to do with us as writers?"

My study of the Shemitah caused "gleanings" to be on my mind. Suddenly I realized I already am gleaning in my writing. (Tweet that!) But it also gave me an awesome idea to glean another project from my past writing. (Tweet that!) Let me explain, and then we'll toss around some ideas for how you might glean new writing projects from what you've already planted and harvested in the past. (Tweet that!)

Turn Gleanings into E-Books

How to Get Published

When I thought about gleaning in my writing, I realized I already am gleaning with my series of "Getting Published" e-books I'm releasing. You've already seen two of my titles that have released.

Glean from a Pamphlet

The first e-book I made, "How to Get Published," was gleaned from a pamphlet I wrote back in 2003, printed on 11 x 17 paper, folded as multi-page pamphlets, and sold at writers conferences. I  took the same information, updated it, and released it as a Kindle book last year. It continues to sell well on Kindle.

only $.99
Cutting the Passive Voice

Glean from an Article

The second e-book, "Cutting the Passive Voice," came out a few months ago. The information for this little Kindle book was gleaned from an article I wrote back in the '90s. It was published a few times in small Christian writer's magazines. It's still good and helpful information and I wanted to share it with more writers and make it available to a much larger audience. I still owned all the rights to it, so I renewed and refreshed it, added a little more information, and formatted it into a Kindle book. It's been selling quite well since its release, which is exciting and encourages me to do more.

Glean from a Workshop You Teach

You may remember I ask through a survey which e-book you'd like me to create next and I gave three options. Here are the results so far:

• Ten Tools for Marketing Your Book - 83% of votes
• The Shape of Story: How to Shape your Novel's Story to Make a Great Screenplay - 17% of votes
• Query Letters: How to Write the Query (and Cover) Letter You Dread to Magazine Editors and Book Publishers - 8% of votes

You can vote for more than one which is why they add up to more than 100%.

For the first two I will glean material from workshops I teach on those topics. The project on Query Letters I will glean from another pamphlet I wrote back in 2003.

Book Signings
Pre-Order now!

Glean from a Blog

While I waited for the survey results to come it, I've been working on another e-book. Book Signings: How to Set Up Your In-Store Author Event and What to Do While You're There! contains a ton of information I gleaned from three different posts on this blog.

While the material is already available for free here on the blog, I feel there's value in gathering it all together into one product for easy access instead of the reader having to hop around searching on this blog. Besides, I'm sure there are a lot of readers who don't even realize this information is available here so they don't know to go searching for it. Plus, readers can keep the e-book handy on their e-reader for easy reference when needed. Furthermore, I believe the e-book will reach a whole new audience of authors who can use the information but who don't even know about this blog. Therefore it may even bring new readers to the blog.

This e-book isn't completely ready to go at this date, but it is available for pre-order right now. That means you can order it and you will receive it as soon as it releases.

What has me especially excited right now is that while I was thinking about the Shemitah, and while I suddenly thought to apply "gleanings" to my writing, I realized I have a TON of information on my other blog about the Shemitah, the current tetrad of lunar eclipses (being called the "Blood Moons"), the 7 Feasts of the Lord on which these eclipses are falling, the solar eclipse on March 20 at the mid-point of the Shemitah year, and so much more along with the spiritual and prophetic meaning of it all. Again, all this information is spattered through many posts over the past year on my Bible Prophecies Fulfilled blog. So why not gather all of that information into an e-book?!

Again, this is a ton of writing and research I have already completed. I can organize all this information for easy reading in one place so readers can find it easily and keep it on their e-reader for easy access. I can reach a whole new audience. This will give me another income stream. And I can bring readers to my blog who don't know about it right now. Why didn't I think of this e-book before?! You can bet I'll be at work on it to get it out as soon as I can.

What Do You Have to Glean?

So the question for you is, what material do you have that's already written that you could re-purpose into a Kindle e-book and share with the world? (Tweet that!) And it doesn't have to be material that has already been published. What about that project of your heart that never got published? You can make your material available on platforms other than Kindle through Smashwords.com. I learned how to format for Kindle by printing out their instructions. It's not that hard. In fact, I put those printed instructions in page-protectors and in a small notebook and I refer to them and walk through them step by step whenever I'm making a new Kindle book.

Turn Gleanings into Videos

If you follow my other blog, you saw in my December posts that I created videos for my posts for the Christmas Advent season.

What material can you glean that you can turn into videos? You can take your writing material and tell it to your laptop's camera, edit it on YouTube.com, and upload it to YouTube. Then you can share that video on your blog, your web site, on Facebook, and probably other places I haven't thought of.

When you say it in video, you reach an entirely new audience. Many people don't want to read. They want to see and hear. So glean material from your books, articles, blogs, and more and make a video. Even if you're only reading your article or a section of a book!

I've been asked to make some of my Bible Prophecy Fulfilled blog posts into videos by just reading them. I haven't got that far yet but I'd like to. That way busy people can hear me read my own blog posts while they are busily doing something else.

It works. It's a whole new audience. What material do you have that would make a great video or series of short videos?

Turn Gleanings into Articles

Perhaps all writers have an abundance of material we've gathered and researched for writing projects. What work have you already done that you can glean articles from?

Or, can you take some material you've put into articles and create other material from it, such as an e-book or series of blog posts?

Can you take your fiction and make it into a series of short stories for your blog or a series of short e-books? (Tweet that!)

Turn Gleanings into Books and More

We've talked about gleaning material you've written and creating e-books. But what about print books? Do you have an abundance of material you can gather together and have enough for a print book? (Tweet that!)

You could add more material, if you want. Update it. Freshen it.

What can you add? Maybe add an appendix, list, or chart. For my new Book Signings e-book I added a list I use when preparing for an in-a-bookstore book signing. That list is material that I haven't published before. It's not on this blog. So it's added value to the e-book.

For the e-book on the Blood Moons and all that related information, I think I'll add a Leader's Guide to the back of the book. That will be new material I will need to create, but it will help readers share the incredibly important information in the book. It will make it easier to lead a discussion with a group of interested people.

Maybe you can glean from stories you've written and use them to create a screenplay or take your nonfiction and make a documentary. The ideas truly are endless.

Renew and Release

Take a fresh look at the material you've already produced. Take a special look at the unpublished material you've created that has never found a home to be published in. Review it. Glean from it. Renew and refresh it. Reuse it. Re-purpose it. Then release it to accomplish that purpose for which it was created.

May your gleanings of new writing projects from what you've already planted and harvested in the past provide you with an abundant blessing of new products, new readers benefiting from your work, and new income streams!