Six Writing Myths YOU Should Know

Over on noveldoctor, Stephen Parolini blogged about Seven Writing Myth He Made Up So He Could Debunk Them.

This got me thinking about the writing myths I'm aware of so why not toss them out there. Thanks noveldoctor for the idea.

The Myth - Writer's make a lot of money.
The Truth - Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Oh, man, shew, good one.

The Myth - If I make the story weird, they'll buy it.
The Truth - Hahahahahahahahaha. . . okay, I guess I can't do that too many times. If you make your story or proposal weird in an effort to get attention, editors and agent will only think you're weird and you'll wind up on some, "you'll never believe what someone sent to me," list. I've shared good laughs with editors and agents over this one. In fact, it's writer conference chatter, "So, what's the weirdest proposal you've ever received?"

The Myth - Leading with "God told me to write this," will get me a contract.
The Truth - No. Neither will, "This is the best thing you'll ever read." Playing the God card or the Aren't-I-Bold card does not ingratiate any author with an editor or agent. God speaks to all of us and if God really told you to write a book and take it to Mr. Certain Agent, He's going to tell the agent you're coming. Most Christian authors seek God about their work, about their agent and publisher. So don't think you're the first and only.

Being overly bold sometimes works in the corporate world, but back fires in the publishing arena. Authors, especially new ones, MUST be humble and teachable. No one writes a perfect book no matter how engaging the story. There are a few exceptions for first time novelists hitting the market with a bang -- J.K. Rowling and Stephanie Myers -- but don't count on being in that class. Yippee if it happens to you, but don't expect it. If it does, sleep with your lights on. The rest of us will haunt you.

The Myth - My publisher will promote the heck out of my book.
The Truth - Not possible. Most publishers have a small team to promote their books and there is simply more work than people. Most publishers do a minimum for each book, but seasoned and long time authors get the bulk of attention and money. Rightfully so. Or a new "lead" author gets attention. And of course, anyone who writes Amish. ;)

Be prepared to toot your own horn. Get on Facebook and Twitter. Build a nice web site with a blog. Join writers groups for help and support. Tout other authors who might in turn tout you. But be sincere! Hire someone like LitFuse to put together a blog tour for you.

The Myth - Once you're published, you're in, on the road, fame is the only sun on your horizon.
The Truth - Being published is certainly a help in gaining more contracts, but once you are published many other factors come into play. Some you can help, some you cannot. At the end of the day, even if you have written great stories, you also have to sell decently. Getting your book in the hands of readers is not as easy as you'd think. A book buyer for Barnes and Noble might determine all the purchases for an entire region. If a previous book didn't sell well, they are less likely to take a chance on the author's second or third book. A new author has a better chance of getting picked up.

The Myth - There's a reason writers struggle with their weight.
The Truth - Yes! It's called my desk is thirty feet from my refrigerator and my in-house office is one mile from Publix, McDonalds, Burger King, Subway, Soprano's Pizza, Beef O'Brady's and 7-11.

The gym is fives miles away. Do the math. ;)

Building your author brand online

Over on Michael Hyatt's blog, he talks about building your author brand online. Mike offers great advice -- from a CEO's chair.

With his genius in mind, I thought I'd write about building an author's brand online and managing social media from an author's point of view.

Just before my first Thomas Nelson book released, Lost In Nashvegas, I joined MySpace to keep up with kids in the youth church. Then I had a brain blip, "What if I use it to announce my books?"

And social media, which wasn't called social media in '05, came alive to me.

I hopped on Facebook the first moment it was opened to non college students. I have a Xanga and MyCCM account. I'm on Shoutlife, Goodreads, and BeenUp2. I have a Tumbr site.

I love Twitter. I blog here and on Faithchick.com.

I created all these accounts, signed up for blog rolls, to keep up with the public, generate buzz or interest in my books -- if possible -- but my real goal in life is to write great stories.

It is impossible to keep up with everything. I decided I had to pick the most traveled and popular cyber venues to concentrate my efforts. I casually keep up with the rest.

Concentration of efforts: Facebook and Twitter are my most active cyber spots. When I'm on deadline, it's easy to to tweet four or five times a day, link it to Facebook, than to keep up with blogging. Blogging becomes hard on deadline because I can't spare my creative brain power to write a comprehensive or slightly intelligent blog.

It's easy to respond to Facebook comments, Twitter replies and blog comments. And part of building an online presence is keeping up with dialog.

The giveaway concept: I'm just going to be honest here. This idea wears me out. One, I barely make enough money to help my household and keep up with business expenses, let alone give away books or gift baskets to keep readers interested and build an online presence. Giveaways has created a community of people who expect freebies. I've had folks sign up for my newsletter to get a chance to win. When they didn't, they removed their name.

I love giving away my author copies -- that's what they are for -- but so many authors are giving away big gifts like GPSs, iPods, gift baskets, and more. I'm not saying I won't ever do this again, but I've not found it to be productive. It's more discouraging than encouraging.

What do you think?

Building a street team or a tribe: This takes time. Little by little readers and fans begin to gather around and tell people about your work. This is the absolute best marketing. But writing books that make readers want to tell others about also takes time and energy. For me, this is my biggest focus and concern. I want to write great books. I believe the majority of my time and effort should be focused on my stories.

That is my continual gift to you. A great book.

For the release of The Sweet By and By, a street team member, April, created a Twitter account for the book. She gives away copies, tweets lines from the book, lets followers know what's up with Sara Evans or me. What a blessing she's been. She's part of our tribe.

You can't make a reader or fan create a Twitter for you, but sooner or later your fans will speak out!

Dialog with street team members is key, BTW.

But I'm not published yet: I recently spent a weekend with a bunch of writers. Between working on their craft, we talked about other things they can be doing to build their name and brand. Susie Warren and I encouraged them all to Twitter and blog.

Blogging is great for several reasons, but the key being to force you to write three, four, five times a week. Editing your blog posts trains you to write well. Blogging forces you to look at life and see beneath the surface. A good part of writing is about observing life and molding it into a story. If you can't observe enough to write a blog, you might not have enough texture and depth to write a compelling novel. Look for life's symbols and metaphors, blog about them. Figure out how to fold them into your characters.

Above all, be kind: If you're trying to build an online presence, and hope to one day see your work in print with your name on the cover, be kind to other authors! Don't blast their books. Don't snark at them in public, or private. Follow industry leaders like Michael Hyatt, Chip MacGregor, Rachelle Gardner, Steve Laube and others. Chime into conversations. If you disagree, do so intelligently. If you can't say anything nice... walk away from your computer. :)

Write reviews that edify. Write blogs that bring insight. I often blog about politics, but I try to do so in a constructive way because many of my fellow authors and readers might disagree with me.

Same with spiritual topics. My main goal is to edify Jesus. Not preach theology.

My sister blogs about her family and it's so funny. But she never puts any of them down in her posts.

What are your thoughts on building an online presence? Any additional advice? Any suggestions or thoughts?

Cute video on Facebook Etiquette

The Changing World

Hubby and I were talking about communication in this Internet age and how easy it is for information to travel.

Do you know it used to take a decade for a book to cross a nation, a hundred years to cross a Continent?

In high school, a friend of mine traveled half way around the world to visit her dad in Australia. I remember thinking how incredible it was to travel so far. We had to communicate the old fashioned, snail mail way. I still have the stuff kola bear she brought me as a souvenir.

In the '80s, went to Australia twice. On the dawn of the information age, traveling to work on computers but only with my handy-dandy walkman to keep me company, I had to wake up at 4:00 a.m. to call work and check in, get help with problems.

Now I chat instantaneously to one of my good friends, book reviewer, Rel, who lives Down Under.

What a glorious way to spread the Good News of Jesus. Information on Him is readily available in cyberspace. There's almost no excuse any more.

Even if you don't believe in Him, you owe it to yourself to investigate. How can you not when Jesus is a Google away?

Makes me wonder what God is up to in this hour of history.

Recently a bunch of my family members got on Facebook. It's been fun catching up with cousins I haven't seen in years.

What about you? How has cyberspace changed your world? Good or bad?

Loving Facebook

I am loving Facebook these days. 

The design and layout is simple, easy to read. It's the same for every member so I don't get lost in a bunch of whacky designs.

The best part? Connecting with family. Siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins. The other night I came home to find a friend request from a cousin I hadn't talk to or seen in years. He's a few days older than my oldest brother - they're like twin cousins - and it's been great to catch up with his life. And with all the cousins.

Because that cousin joined, I was able to get my big brother to join. Mom and middle brother, we need you now! You're our last hold outs.

Facebook, for all the cyber communities out there, is the best, friendliest and least likely to assault me with half naked ladies asking if I want to go out with them. Girls, have some respect for yourself.

Otherwise, I'm writing. Working on book two in a series. I'm having fun with it because I already know the characters and their back story so I'm right into the writing and working toward my plot points.

More later...