Gorillas in the Mist by Linda S. Glaz

Gorillas in the Mist.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
A Fish Named Wanda
A Streetcar Named Desire
Twister

All of these titles draw us immediately in and cause us to wonder just what the story is about. A story can be stellar, but if the title is ho-hem, your story will not get the attention you want it to have.

If you're a Motowner or Motown wannabe, Gran Torino will also hook you.

Second Hand Lions. Don't you want to know what follows?

So often we fall in love with titles that have little to do with the meat of the story; the words strung together simply sound nice for whatever reason. Are you able to let go and allow a title to grow from the story? A title is the first thing a reader sees; make yours come alive.

Be Prepared to Speak In Season & Out by Jennifer Hudson Taylor

Ever had one of those moments when someone asked you to speak at a function, you agreed, and then you panicked because you had no idea what you would speak on? If so, then you know what I'm talking about. If it hasn't happened yet, perhaps you can avoid it by following a few of these suggestions.

"Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching." (2 Timothy 4:2)


While you may not be a preacher, getting up and preaching to a congregation or speaking to an audience still requires the same preparation, confidence, and boldness. As a Christian you may go through the same processes as your pastor each Sunday, prayer, seeking God's wisdom on what to say and how to say it, searching through Scripture, etc. If you're being asked to fill in for someone, you may not have time to prepare as you would if asked weeks and months in advance. This is when we have to be ready in season and out of season. 


Prepare speeches when you don't have to speak. This may sound crazy, but the moment you're driving down the road, listening to a podcast, or reading Scripture and an idea for a speaking topic pops into your head, write it down. Begin working on an outline immediately. Then start working on a PowerPoint presentation and get it ready. Save it in a Speaking folder somewhere on your computer. It doesn't matter that you don't have it scheduled for anything specific or a target audience in mind. What matters is that you have a collection of drafts for when you are scheduled to speak and you can modify it to your target audience when needed. This way you won't be starting from scratch. It takes the panic out of the guess work and the anxiety out of the lack of time available. 


Learn PowerPoint and how to make videos and slideshows when you don't need them. You probably learned in high school and college that visual aides are just as important in a presentation as the speech itself. Use them to keep your audience's attention and drive home your point. They shouldn't distract from your message, but enhance it. At the same time, you don't want to be using outdated media and technology. These days, a poster board won't cut it. Go ahead and create these visuals when you create your presentation or write your speech. It's much easier to find the perfect photo or video to convey a message when you have time to search properly than if you need to do this in 48 hours because you're filling in for someone. 


Don't think you'll never be a replacement for someone else. People get sick and have family emergencies all the time. This is the perfect time for a new speaker to be given a chance that they otherwise wouldn't have. Event coordinators know it will be harder to get a well-known speaker in an emergency. Their schedule will most likely be full. This is where you might come in and get your chance. Will you be ready? You will be if you prepare speeches and presentations ahead of time. 


Always update a speech or presentation. It doesn't matter if you spent hours and weeks going over your speech and fine-tuning it. After leaving it alone for weeks and months, you'll come back with a fresh pair of eyes and a new perspective that will help you make it better. Plus, each new audience may require a different angle or God may lead you to target your message differently. If you included stats, you may need to update them. What have you learned since that you could incorporate? Updating a speech or presentation takes less time than thinking through and creating one from scratch. You'll still be ahead of the game by taking this approach.


Find out the logistics. Will you be able to provide a Powerpoint presentation and use video equipment? Will you need to provide a DVD, CD, memory stick, or bring your laptop? If you cannot use any electronic equipment, find out the number of attendees and try to have copies available as handouts. If you don't want to carry them on the plane due to packing constraints, find out if you can ship the copies ahead. If you do this, be sure to bring one copy as a back up plan. You could always arrange to have Kinkos, Staples, or some other nearby company make copies once you arrive. 


Brainstorming ideas for topics. If you don't know where to begin on choosing topics, think about your interests, hobbies, the kinds of articles you're prone to read. Google articles and speeches on these topics, you might find videos on speeches others have given. Take notes on what you like and dislike. From this strategy, you'll be able to start narrowing speech topics down and can begin working on a presentation, or outlining a series of presentations if the subject is broad enough with several subtopics. 


Are any of these suggestions helpful? What other ways have you found to be ready in season and out when speaking opportunities arise? 

POD vs Self Publishing by Terry Burns

I've talked about this before, but one of my clients who is getting started with a small press says people are telling her that she is self-published because the book is printed by print on demand. Not true.

Yes, there are a lot in the publishing world who confuse the terms POD and self publishing – it’s something I talk about and blog about all of the time. Print on demand is a method of printing a book and has nothing to do with what type publisher they are. We see a lot of larger presses using pod technology to extend the life of book runs after an initial large press run. We see small publishers who have the capability of getting web press runs if the book demand becomes enough that it is cost efficient to do so but starting with the POD until they can see what the demand is. Most small presses do have the capability of doing the larger runs through the same people that produce the POD books if it is appropriate. These are simply methods of producing a book.

In the business world warehousing product is rapidly being replaced by ‘just-in-time’ technology where parts and products are produced and shipped in a manner to keep up with production without having a big stock of parts sitting around. The big auto manufacturers among others do a lot of this. POD technology is the ‘just-in-time’ technology for the book industry. If a book is self published the author pays for putting the book out there, does the marketing, and in a lot of situations takes a press run of books and has to store them. They CAN be self published and be done print on demand as well but not necessarily.

To find out whether a book is self-published or a small press you don’t look to the printing process but to the publisher. If the publisher is acting as a printer, taking the book and putting it out at the author’s expense and then they are through, it is indeed a self published book. If the publisher is ACTING as a publisher, assuming the financial risk of putting the book out and offering what assistance and support that they can, they are a small publisher.

Larger presses don’t serve niche markets. Particularly for authors that have books aimed at small markets, that is what brought small presses into existence, to serve those niche markets the larger presses don’t want. A debut writer has a greater chance of getting started in a small press. They are very valuable to the industry, but the author has to be careful to insure that they are indeed with a small traditional press rather than simply having books printed by a printer. Unless they indeed desire to self publish, and there is nothing wrong with that either as long as they make a conscious decision to do it and not do it by accident.

That’s my 2 cents on it, I'm trying to talk about it enough that people will quit confusing the term POD with the term self-published. The two terms are NOT  synonymous.  

Would You Read On? hosted by Diana Flegal

Welcome to our Wednesday edition of Would You Read On?. We appreciate you taking time out of your busy day to stop by our blog. Kindly comment if you would read on or not. Last week’s contributing author is revealed below this first page.

First Page:

Spaghetti legs, Daddy called them, spindly appendages that kinked when stressed—like now.

Samantha Knowles leaned against the table for support as Bailiff Don Hunter came to the front of the courtroom. “All rise.” Judge Normandy entered, his limp necessitating a much longer plod from his chamber to the bench. Soon, the wait would end—three years of sleepless nights, endless days of preparation, postponements, and courtroom theatrics by defense attorneys. After three interminable years, Justice would now show its face.

As the judge took his bench, the crowd silenced to await his summation. Sam glanced at the defendant’s table where a calm Harlan Styles sat, a wart on the cheek of humanity, an insulated icicle against the rising heat, tried and convicted—the rest up to Normandy’s guillotine.

She fingered her notes, though she didn’t need to see them—the image of Kiley’s tiny, battered body tattooed on Sam’s brain, a brazen scar, indelibly petrified.

Judge Normandy spewed his rhetoric—penal codes entwined with case facts, cold, distanced from the victim, yet succulent to Sam’s ears. In spite of their dry, unflavored essence, she feasted on his words—each pursuant finding heaped upon the other and topped with the last morsel, “The court can find no other just rendering than life imprisonment.”

Victory should taste better, like syrup over pancakes—not this metallic aftertaste.

Would You Read On?

Last week’s contributing author was David Stearman. David is a singer, songwriter and novelist. You can learn more about David at his ministry website or friend him on FB.

What's in a Name: Email Edition by Andy Scheer

I got a query the other day from a woman named Tanya—at least I thought I did. When I checked my list of incoming emails, there was her name.

But when I opened the email—surprise! The query had come from her husband—a guy named Brad—who was piggybacking on his wife's email account.

Fortunately, I already had an easy decision. Tayna's husband was pitching a book that plowed much the same ground as a project I already represent. To avoid a conflict of interest, I suggested Mr. Tanya try another agent.

But if his project had attracted me, I would have had a nagging question: Why didn't he use his own email account? Is he shy? Is he a technophobe? Neither is an attractive prospect when everyone expects authors to promote their work electronically. At the least, the writer had given no thought to communicating an air of professionalism.

Cutesy Names

Which brings me to writers who insist on using “creative” email addresses. You've seen them. Addresses like GodsChosenWriter@isp.com. Or CutePuppies&Kittens@isp.com. Or BonnetsandVampiresWrytr@isp.com.

Please, save your creativity for your prose. In an email address, you can't go wrong with   FirstnameLastname@isp.com. Or Firstname@FirstnameLastname.com.

Having an email account you use exclusively for your writing adds to the impression you're serious about the craft. Much more than a funky-named account that's shared with your personal email. And definitely more than your spouse's account.

What's the cost of making a poor first impression? A lot more than the price of establishing a free email account for your writing business--in your own name.

Collecting Data-Whoopee by Linda S. Glaz

Terry and I have been collecting data from agents and editors about some of those pet peeves they have concerning submissions. The list is GROWING . . .

Terry’s been very open about how and why he responds, and I find his method caring and encouraging. Although, I realize all agents aren’t the same, so . . .

. . . for the sake of fairness, I’d like to know how authors feel about how their submissions are handled. Authors send out their pride and joy, and how are they treated?

And in telling us how you feel about the way you are treated, what would you like to see? Other than a publishing contract, of course. What can an agent or editor do to lessen the pain of a rejection?

I can totally empathize. I know for a fact, before the wondrous day of email submissions that I spent more than a thousand dollars snail mailing. I won’t begin to tell you what I got as replies, when I got any at all. Those were the days of: really? Another rejection on a slip of TP? Just kidding, but it felt that way more times than not. (of course, a few were flushed nonetheless)

The prize goes to the one who perseveres, but that’s a whole different blog post.

Let’s find out what you all think about rejection, plain and simple.
C’mon. Cough it up. I know you’ve got plenty to say.

Take Advantage of Amazon Author Central by Jennifer Hudson Taylor

It's like having you're own personal website on Amazon. If a reader is surfing on Amazon for a particular book, that individual should be able to click on the author's name and not only view a list of other books by that author, but a whole section ABOUT the author. Who wouldn't want to have their own space on a site that averages 100 million people visiting per month and generating billions of dollars? Certainly not anyone trying to sell books.

Amazon Author Central requires a separate registration from your regular Amazon account. The image below is what you should see on the login home page.

Once you login, you'll see blue tabs across the top for Books, Profile, Sales Info, Customer Reviews, and Help.

Books Tab
You can upload new books as soon as you have a cover image and the ISBN number. There is a Review section where you can post reviews from professional reviewers such as Publisher's Weekly, Library Journal, and RT Book Reviews or other endorsers. You'll also be able to update the book description. An interesting area is a Book Extras tab where you can post information about the individual characters in your novel. The info you place here will be auto-uploaded on Shelfari, an affiliate site that Amazon purchased where individuals post reviews of books. It's similar to Goodreads.


Profile Tab
This is where you may update your biography. In this section you may also add your blogs so that the latest blog post will automatically appear. There is an Events section where you can list all your book signings, writer conferences, and speaking engagements. Additionally, you may add author photos, up to eight video book trailers, as well as link your Twitter accounts so that your latest tweet automatically appears.

Sales Info
You can choose to view the sales info of all your books at once your individually across the country and compare states and/or regions. This sales info includes bookstores beyond Amazon, all the ones that report their sales numbers to the BookScan Highlights. If you scroll down below the American map, bar graph of Kindle sales for all books. Below is an image of my Sales info with the numbers blotted out in black.

At this time, this is the best record of sales authors have until they receive their royalty statements from their publishers. Readers will not be able to see this sales info, only what authors post on their profile tab. As you may set your individual brand name for your Facebook page, you may now set a name for your Amazon Author Central page. For example, mine is listed as amazon.com/author/jenniferhudsontaylor.

I highly recommend you create you Amazon Author Central page. Do you already have one established? What are your thoughts about it?