3 Benefits of a Powerful Title and Subtitle
Baby names are a multi-million dollar business. A quick Amazon search for “baby names” yields over 5,000 products that promise to help you name your newborn. And if you’re really concerned, you can hire a baby-naming consultant for a measly $29,000. Well, you may not drop that kind of cash on a moniker master. But if you’ve ever been an expectant mother or father, you likely have experienced the stress of naming your child. We all know that names are important. And so is your book’s name, the working title, the one that goes on your book proposal. Yet writers often skirt right past it. Many treat it as a tangent or afterthought. It’s no wonder. Books take considerable time and energy to write. Spending time on the title can feel like futzing around the trail head when there’s a whole mountain to climb. But then experienced hikers also know the importance of identifying the right trail head! If you’re a writer, particularly of nonfiction, I encourage you to take some time to brainstorm a great working title. Here are three reasons why. [Tweet “3 Benefits of a Powerful Title and Subtitle #amwriting #writingcommunity @ChadRAllen”] 1. A Great Concept Will Give You Unmatched Writing Momentum When you brainstorm a title, you’re doing more than that. You’re developing your book idea. You’re playing with different ways to angle your concept, different ways to position it in the marketplace. Let me be clear. The goal of this process is to come up with a truly great idea. That may sound daunting. It may sound like something you can’t do on your own (which might be true). But the hard fact is you and the people to whom you’re writing deserve nothing less than a great idea to chase after. It’s going to require creativity. It may require using your mind in a way you usually don’t. Some will say I’m putting the cart before the horse. Shouldn’t a person start writing first and see what emerges for a title? Sometimes that’s necessary, and sometimes the writing of a book forces a shift to the title. I fully acknowledge that. What I’m after is a strong genesis—an animating notion that carries you forward. Stephen King said in his essay in Light the Dark that if he can get a novel’s first line right, he’s off to the races. What I’ve learned in working with hundreds of nonfiction writers over the past twenty-plus years is that if we can get a really good working title in place, the writing of the book can take on a wonderful momentum. Don’t get me wrong. Writing a book is a lot of work, but a great concept helps tremendously. And you’re going to need as much help as you can get, believe me! 2. A Great Book Concept Attracts Book Publishers When pitching your book to publishers, the old adage holds: you never get a second chance to make a first impression. Your title and subtitle all but exclusively create that first impression. If you’re a writer and you’ve been around me any length of time, you’ve likely heard me say, “The #1 reason publishers turn books down is too small a platform.” I still believe that’s true. What’s also true is that even a big platform cannot always overcome the inertia of a less-than-stellar book concept. Note, too, the corollary: a great concept can sometimes overcome the inertia of smaller platform. I’ve seen this happen numerous times. Sometimes a concept is so original, so catchy, so perfect for a time or an audience, that a publisher can’t help itself. It will take the risk of a small platform for the potential benefit of publishing a brilliant concept. [callout]Do you need some help writing a book proposal? I’ve created a Book Proposal Template that will guide you through the process, and I’d love to send it to you for free. Click here to download your copy.[/callout] 3. A Great Book Concept Attracts Readers Recently I had a conversation with successful author Scott Kedersha as part of our BookCamp community. I asked him, what are the most important things authors can do to market their books? “The first thing,” Scott said, “is get a great title.” Scott knows that the book itself is its main marketing strategy. Yes, that includes the content, but people will never get to the content if the first impression doesn’t draw them in. Concept alone isn’t enough to create a bestseller. Often you need a strong platform or rapid word-of-mouth for that to happen. But your concept gives you a fighting chance. Without it, a big platform can only do so much, and rapid word-of-mouth, though still possible, is not likely. Caution and Encouragement It is possible to spend so much time in concept development that you end up endlessly spinning your wheels. That’s no good. But many writers I work with suffer from the opposite problem—moving forward too quickly and then regretting it later. Give your concept its due. Eventually you’ll have to go with your gut and move on. But a little extra time at the beginning could give you the writing momentum you need, to say nothing of deal-making publishers and money-wielding readers! What book are you working on or dreaming about? I’d love to hear about it!
Why Rejection Is NOT the Problem
I remember meeting with an unpublished writer in a Nashville coffee shop years ago. She told me in no uncertain terms she was a writer and was going to be published. That writer was Rachel Held Evans, and she meant what she said. Evans worked hard on her craft and nurtured an audience. She honed her first book concept and got a deal, then a second, and now she’s a well-established and beloved author. Evans had something you can’t quantify but is more valuable than perhaps any other asset: resolve. She was single-minded in her pursuit of getting her books into the world. As I’ve worked with writers over the years, I’ve come to realize that while rejection is a real possibility, it is not the problem. The problem is we give up too soon. We hit a wall and throw up our hands, believing we have less influence than we do. Having said this, it’s important to know resolve isn’t something you have or don’t have. It’s something you cultivate. Below are three simple but important ways to do that. [Tweet “”As I’ve worked with #writers, I’ve come to realize that while rejection is a real possibility, it is not the problem. The problem is we give up too soon.” @chadrallen”] 1. Tap into or Start a Supportive Community Ask any successful writer this question: “When it comes to your writing, who has believed in you from the beginning?” My guess is she or he will be able to point to at least a handful of people who have supported them along the way. Question: would you try growing a plant without water? Then don’t try growing a writing career without community. Your writing deserves support from others. Of course, it only works when you join the community first of all to be a giver. If you come only to receive, it won’t work. Truth be told, it’s actually in giving that we receive the most. By the way, if you want to tap into a wonderfully supportive community of writers, I invite you to explore BookCamp. BookCamp is a remarkable group of people who are resolute in their commitment to get their books into the world. 2. Decide on a Doable Routine and Stick to It Start easy. Write fifteen minutes per Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, for example. Don’t beat yourself up for missing a day, but try not to miss two in a row. I use a social habit-building app called Spar that might be helpful to you. Check it out. [Tweet “Why rejection is NOT the problem . . . #writing advice @ChadRAllen #amwriting”] 3. Celebrate Your Wins We might think celebrating little victories is indulgent, but it’s actually very strategic. One of the best ways to cultivate your resolve is by feeling a sense of momentum. Where does that feeling come from? Celebrating your wins. If you can do this on a daily or quasi-daily basis, that’s wonderful. Before you go to bed at night, or first thing when you wake up, or just before you turn on your computer each day, take a minute or two to jot down your wins—no matter how small. Honestly, I struggle to do this on daily basis, but at least on a weekly basis, often Monday mornings, I write down my wins in my Full Focus Planner. I’ve found this simple practice profoundly helpful. Resolve to Be a Writer Let me ask you some pointed questions: Are you ready to work hard until you succeed? Prepared to get rejected multiple times? Can you face extreme frustration and keep going? If so, congratulations. You are already a professional writer, and I’m eager to help you. We can do this. Resolve is the key, and it comes when we build into our lives the power of community and tried-and-true rhythms of writing and celebrating our triumphs. If we start with these relatively simple strategies, we’ll be making strong progress toward bringing our books to life. What will you do in the coming days to strengthen your resolve?
25 Excellent Books I Recommend to Every Writer
Two years ago I started a one-on-one coaching program for writers. A feature of the program clients rave about is their “Book of the Month.” Each month I send a book with a letter about why I think the book is a worthwhile read for their writing and platform-building. Below is a list of the first twenty-five books I sent to my clients with affiliate links and brief descriptions. I’ll list these in the order I sent them. The War of Art by Steven Pressfield: A righteous kick in the pants for any creative. Platform by Michael Hyatt: Essential tools for rising above the noise to build an audience. On Writing Well by William Zinsser: No-nonsense practical tips from a master. Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott: Funny and brilliant, this book entertains writers as it equips them. [callout]Do you want to land a book deal but need some help writing your book proposal? I recently created a Book Proposal Template that makes the process as simple as filling in the blanks. Click here to download your free copy. [/callout] Stein on Writing by Sol Stein: Longtime New York editor shares practical tips and loads of examples. Accidental Creative by Todd Henry: Creativity is a lifestyle. This book shows you how to live that lifestyle. On Writing by Stephen King: Part fascinating memoir, part hard-nosed manual, King’s book is a treasure. Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg: A refreshing Zen approach to the craft. Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert: A book that tells you you’re not alone and helps you keep going. Elements of Style by William Strunk and E. B. White: The nuts and bolts of a good writer’s toolbox. Perennial Seller by Ryan Holiday: How to write a book that stands the test of time. Deep Work by Cal Newport: A life-changing how-to for getting your most important work done. Tribes by Seth Godin: An empowering call to lead your audience (no one else will). Your First 1,000 Copies by Tim Grahl: Straightforward advice from a guy behind multiple New York Times bestsellers. Essentialism by Greg McKeown: You can get more done than you think. This book shows you how. A Curious Mind by Brian Grazer: Ron Howard’s business partner reveals the startling power of a forgotten and even spurned value—curiosity. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho: The lesson of this fable is that the universe is rigged in your favor. Inspiring. Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon: A fun format and mind-expanding read on creativity. Show Your Work by Austin Kleon: A fun format with clever, paradigm-smashing ideas on marketing. Millionaire Messenger by Brendon Burchard: The book that dared me to believe my expertise is extremely valuable. So is yours. Originals by Adam Grant: Top-rated business professor shows you how to hone your voice. Real Artists Don’t Starve by Jeff Goins: Learn about artistry from Mozart, Michelangelo, Elvis, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs, Hemingway, Picasso, Chris Rock, and the list goes on. Light the Dark edited by Joe Fassler: An edited collection about books that matter by writers who matter. Atomic Habits by James Clear: A smart training manual for changing your life to the one you want. The Writing Life by Annie Dillard: A brief, beautiful flight through the imagination of a Pulitzer Prize winner. [Tweet “25 excellent books for #writers #amwriting via @chadrallen”] Which of these books do you want to read?
My Annual Review of 2018
This has been a year of transition for me! That coupled with author James Clear’s advice to do an annual review are enough for me to take up the task. Following Clear’s example, I’ll cover what went well, what didn’t go so well, and what I learned. Here we go! What Went Well This Year? Made the switch to full-time self-employment. After a 20-year career in the traditional book publishing industry, in late April I made the transition to working for myself fulltime as a writing coach and consultant. This was the culmination of a calling I’d felt for a long time, and the beginning of a whole new adventure. Grew BookCamp. BookCamp, my membership site for writers, grew from an initial 50 members to well over a hundred this year. I love serving this vibrant community of writers who have vital messages and stories to share! We also did our first in-person meetup in conjunction with Jeff Goins’ Tribe conference. If you want to get a book into the world and would like to link arms with an exceptional group of writers who are doing just that, you can find out more here: www.chadrallen.com/bookcampinvitation. We’d love to welcome you. Grew my email list. I did six partner webinars this year, which allowed me to expand the number of people I serve. My email list grew significantly, from 4,364 to 6,566. Became partially vegan. A couple of podcast interviews with Rich Roll and Julie Piatt convinced me to shift to a more plant-based way of eating. I feel healthier and have more energy. I’m not totally plant based—about 85 percent. But this shift has helped me become more intentional about my food choices, and that’s a win. Went to Harry Potter World. For spring break our family went to Orlando to visit my mom and stepdad. While there we went to Universal Studios and Harry Potter World. It might sound cheesy, but having just read all the books with my 12-year-old son, watching him step into that place was something I’ll never forget. I’ll include some pics of the moment below. Ran the Irish Jig 5K in Grand Rapids. I was about 20 seconds off my goal pace, but I’m glad I ran it. Read well over 30 books. Highlights: Deep Work by Cal Newport, The Tech-Wise Family by Andy Crouch, Milk & Honey by Rupi Kaur, Free to Focus by Michael Hyatt (I acquired and did the developmental edit on this book, releasing April 2019), Narcissus and Goldmund by Herman Hesse, Iron John by Robert Bly, The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, Profit First by Mike Michalowicz, How to Live Rich by James Lenhoff, Atomic Habits by James Clear, and Light the Dark edited by Joe Fassler. Implemented the Profit First system. My friend Jodie Vee sent me Michalowicz’s book soon after I made the transition to fulltime self-employment. I’d heard my business coach Jonathan Milligan sing the book’s praises, so a few months after the transition I read it and implemented the system. It’s been a huge win for me and my business. My shorthand way of describing the Profit First method is to say it’s like the envelope system for your business, but instead of envelopes, you create different bank accounts for different purposes. These accounts help you quickly see the strengths and weaknesses in your business. Strongly recommended for any business owner. What Did Not Go So Well This Year? Gained weight. I put on about 10 pounds this year. My fitness program was to walk at least four times a week and eat more plant-based foods. I did this for the most part, but clearly I’ll need to do something else or in addition to lose weight. Plant-based eating helps me feel better, but it’s not a weight-loss program in itself—at least not for me. Struggling with my morning routine. I’m a firm believer in the power of rituals to increase productivity and keep one’s focus on things that matter. My struggle for most of this year has been how long it takes me to get to my laptop. A typical morning goes something like this: Wake up at 6:00 am. Make coffee and have breakfast with my son. Walk him to the bus stop at 7am. Have breakfast with my daughter at 7:30. Go for a walk around 8am and get home about 8:30. Shower, etc. At 9am or so I meditate, read, and fill out my daily page in my Full Focus Planner. It’s often 10am before I get to my laptop and dive in to processing email or a blog post or whatever is the day’s work. That bothers me. It feels like I should be able to do all the above and get to my laptop by 9am, but for the life of me I can’t seem to pull it off. The solution might be to wake up at 5am, which would require going to bed earlier. Another solution is just to accept 10am as a good time to start laptop work, but up to this point satisfaction with this has proved elusive. [Tweet “2018 Annual Review: Ups, Downs, and Lessons Learned via @ChadRAllen”] What Did I Learn This Year? I was born for self-employment and running my own business. I absolutely love it, and it’s going well enough for me to keep doing it! Running a business is a family affair. I need the support of my wife and children to do this work, and I’m so grateful to them for being supportive. I love serving writers! I love serving writers at multiple levels—new writers who are just getting started; the writer who already has a platform, great concept, and is pursuing a book deal; and everybody in between. The spectrum of products I offer is designed to help writers at these various levels—from BookCamp to Book Proposal Academy to one-on-one coaching. I’d like to do more in-person events. I’d like to do this not least because the people
3 Reasons I’m Ditching Microsoft Word for Scrivener
Recently I asked Joseph Michael to present a webinar on the ins and outs of Scrivener to readers of this blog. While I was the host of the webinar, I was also a very willing attendee. You see, I have known about Scrivener for a long time. Friends like Michael Hyatt and Jeff Goins, both bestselling authors, have been singing its praises for years. But I’m embarrassed to admit I never took the time to learn about it. Here I am a full-time writing coach, and I don’t know my way around what’s been called “the best word-processing program ever invented for writers.” For shame! I showed up to the webinar ready to learn . . . and I was absolutely blown away. From now on I will definitely be using Scrivener for all my writing projects. In fact, here’s a screen shot proving I wrote this blog post using Scrivener! Here are three things I learned about the power of Scrivener from Joseph Michael on the webinar. 1. Scrivener makes it easy to place supporting materials beside (not in or totally separate from) your manuscript. Anytime you are working on a writing project there’s often the manuscript itself as well as supporting materials. Supporting material includes research, illustrations, quotes, ideas, outlines, permissions information, documentation, questions you need to ask someone, and so on. When you work in a program like Microsoft Word, supporting materials end up either in the manuscript (where you have to delete them later) or in a completely separate file (where you might have trouble finding them later). In Scrivener all that supporting material lives (quite literally) parallel to the manuscript. It’s difficult to explain if you’ve never used the Scrivener interface, but all your supporting material is neither in the manuscript nor completely separate from the manuscript. It sets right beside the manuscript in the place where it is most relevant. I can’t tell you how powerful it is to have all of that material right beside your manuscript exactly where its location makes the most sense. 2. Scrivener helps you categorize and label different types of content. Inside Scrivener, it’s very easy to do two things that are virtually impossible to do in a program like Microsoft Word. The first is dividing your content into sections or, as we professionals like to say, “chunks.” The second is labeling those different chunks. What this means is you can develop any categorization system you want for your content and easily label the different pieces using those categories. For example, I often encourage writers to have a good balance between concrete material (for example: stories, illustrations, quotes, and metaphors) and abstract material (teaching, principles). Scrivener makes it easy to label content either concrete or abstract. In this way you can quickly see how much of either type you have. You can even colorize the different types of content. [Tweet “3 Reasons I Ditched Word for Scrivener #amwriting @ChadRAllen @ScrivenerCoach @ScrivenerApp”] 3. Scrivener allows you to track your writing progress in a way that is both helpful and fun. Let’s say you’ve written 20,000 words of a 50,000-word manuscript. Your writing days are Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and you’re working with a deadline of April 1st. Wouldn’t it be nice to know how many words you need to write each day to hit your goal of a 50,000-word manuscript by April 1st? In Scrivener, you can accomplish this with just a few keystrokes. Plus, for instance, if you want to add or remove a writing day, it’s very simple to make adjustments. As if that’s not enough, Scrivener awards you with a chime when you have hit your word count goal. Fun! Are you interested in Scrivener yourself? The above are just three of many, many reasons I will begin using Scrivener for all of my writing. If you are interested in Scrivener, I encourage you to check out the replay of the webinar Joseph Michael and I recently presented. There’s just one catch. Its only available until midnight tonight (Monday, December 17). It’s worth your time! Click here to view the replay. Have you heard of Scrivener?
What Is a Writer Platform and How Do You Build One?
Below are questions I received recently about how to build a writer platform followed by my responses. My hope is that these questions are broadly representative of those many writers have about this often vexing topic. Before I jump into the questions, let me first define what I mean by platform. An author’s platform is essentially any means an author has for promoting her book. These days one of the key metrics for a platform is email subscribers. This is because email is one of the most effective ways to market anything right now. Marketing expert Neil Patel said, “Email remains one of the most effective channels of marketing, with a median ROI that’s nearly 5x that of other channels like social media, direct mail, and paid search.” With that as background, here we go! First question . . . Q: “My biggest roadblock, honestly my greatest frustration, is platform. I understand what it is and why it’s so important for nonfiction writers, but what escapes me is exactly how large one’s platform has to be to get a traditional book deal with a major publisher. I have seen some articles that say 10,000 email subscribers, still others say 100,000! Those numbers are vastly different. Which one is most accurate?!” Having a platform is important to landing a book deal. In fact, in my experience too small a platform is the number one reason publishers turn books down. The rule of thumb I offer to writers is to have at least a thousand email subscribers before you start submitting your book proposal. Having a thousand subscribers takes work, but I believe just about anyone can do it—with some hustle and time. The ultimate measure of the effectiveness of your platform is this: If a publisher sent a thousand or five thousand (or whatever number of) copies of your book to your garage or basement, could you move them? At this point you might be tempted to balk. Isn’t it your job to write the book and the publisher’s job to promote it? In a word, no, not when it comes to trade publishing. Publishers have always relied on authors’ ability to promote their work. One result of this is that you as an author are in competition with authors who are quite willing to do that promotional, platform-building work. If you were a publisher and you were deciding where to invest your capital, would you pick an author who had the ability and desire to help you promote or the author who thought promotion is entirely the domain of the publisher? So aim for a thousand subscribers to start. Then keep serving your audience, collaborate with people in your niche who already have an audience, do giveaways, write great guest posts for other bloggers. The list of ways to build your list is endless. [Tweet “”Too small a platform is the number one reason publishers turn books down.” #Platform tips #amwriting @ChadRAllen”] Q: “What’s the best way to establish a platform and build an audience if you’re still working on the manuscript?” The best way to establish a platform and build an audience is to begin serving the audience you envision for your book. You can do this in many different ways. For example, you can repurpose snippets of your manuscript in content that you publish via your blog, vlog, or podcast. You don’t want to get too carried away with this, but a bit here and there is no problem. You can also build your platform by inviting people to go on the journey with you. Let them know you’re writing a book. Let readers know you want to make the book as engaging or as helpful as possible, and would they go on the journey with you? They’re out there, I promise. Your tribe is waiting for you to call them together. [callout]BookCamp members Evelyn Sherwood, Deb Hucke, and Doris Swift are rapidly building their audiences. Using the trainings inside BookCamp, they went from zero to hundreds of email subscribers in less than a month. I invite you to visit www.BookCamp.us to learn more and register! We’d love to help you get your book into the world.[/callout] You’re not at a disadvantage to be working on your platform prior to completing your manuscript. In fact, if you can get feedback on your blog content, your manuscript will likely benefit. As you publish posts, you’re going to learn about what resonates with your readers. You’ll naturally shape your manuscript accordingly. [Tweet “What Is a Writer Platform and How Do You Build One? #amwriting #askeditor @ChadRAllen”] Q: “What kind of content should be in a blog or website to build an audience for a work in progress?” In short, blog for the audience you envision for your book. What questions do they have? What problems can you help them solve? What interests them? What do they like to geek out about? Use your blog to serve them. If you keep using your blog or website to solve problems for your audience, they will respond when you have a book to offer because they will trust you. Q: “Can I work with a publisher if I haven’t previously written a book and have no sales records to show?” Yes! In fact, it is generally easier to land a book deal as a first-time author than it is to do so if you’ve written a book that has not sold very well. In most cases you don’t need a sales record to land a book deal. Publishers make publishing decisions based on three primary factors: how compelling a concept is, how effective a platform is, and how engaging the writing is (aka the three C’s: Concept, Crowd, and Craft). If you can demonstrate you have those three things, you have a really good shot at a book deal. What questions do you have about building a writer platform?
5 Proven Ways for Writers to Conquer Self-Doubt
My wife and I recently watched the new documentary on Mr. Rogers, Who’s My Neighbor? I highly recommend it for several reasons, but the big takeaway for me was how Fred Rogers pushed through his self-doubt. The movie opens, for example, with Rogers questioning whether a certain metaphor makes sense. He doubts whether his PSAs after 9/11 will make any difference. And he even has doubts about his eternal destination. The movie also points to some of Fred Rogers’ failures. Did you know he created a show for adults? It flopped. Fred Rogers has never been so relatable as in this film! Nevertheless, despite all his doubts and eccentricity, despite outright ridicule at times, Fred Rogers showed up and conquered his self-doubt so he could do his art. He did not do so all at once, but again and again just as you and I have to do. Following are five ways we writers can show self-doubt the door and tell it to leave our neighborhood! Photo Credit 1. Care for Your Audience Fred Rogers knew early on that he wanted to work with young children. The documentary shows him interacting one–on–one with young boys and girls, and it’s mesmerizing. Watching him give his attention absolutely to a child brought tears to my eyes. And I feel convicted. Do I care about my audience as much as Fred Rogers cared about, and cared for, his audience? We as writers must always remember that we don’t write for faceless masses. We write for real people with real struggles. They need our attention; they need our best. [Tweet “5 Proven Ways for Writers to Conquer Self-Doubt via @ChadRAllen #askeditor #amwriting”] 2. Remember Why One thing I was unaware of, which came through crystal in the film, is that Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood developed from a sophisticated philosophy that Fred Rogers believed deeply. He wanted kids to know they were valuable in a world that too seldom says so. Rogers’ passion to deliver this message drove him for thirty-one seasons. When we have doubts about what we’re doing, it helps to go back to our originating passion. Why are we in this? Sometimes it helps to encapsulate your why into a brief powerful statement that you can use as a mantra to keep on keeping on. 3. Lean on Friends I learned from the film that the character in the Neighborhood of Make-Believe most closely identified with Rogers is Daniel Striped Tiger. When we hear the puppet tiger struggle, it’s reasonable to assume we’re hearing Fred Rogers’ struggles, either in his childhood or later. Often the tiger voices feelings of self-doubt. “I wonder if I’m a mistake,” he says in one episode. But every time, Lady Aberlin or a different character is there to lift him up—to tell him he’s not a mistake. When Rogers doubts the importance of his Public Service Announcements after 9/11, a friend reassures him. Of course they’re important, she tells him, people listen to what you have to say. Here’s my question: Who are your people? Who helps you out when you’re facing debilitating doubts about your abilities? 4. Fight In 1969 President Nixon’s administration was looking for money in the budget to pay for the Vietnam War. Public television was on the chopping block. Senator John O. Pastore held hearings to listen to arguments in favor of public broadcasting, and having listened to hours of testimony, he wasn’t impressed with what he was hearing. Then Rogers came to the microphone. He gave a heartfelt plea for what he did on Mister Rogers Neighborhood. Following is an excerpt of his remarks: “This is what I give. I give an expression of care every day to each child, to help him realize that he is unique. I end the program by saying, ‘You’ve made this day a special day, by just your being you. There’s no person in the whole world like you, and I like you, just the way you are.’ And I feel that if we in public television can only make it clear that feelings are mentionable and manageable, we will have done a great service for mental health.” The senator was touched. “Looks like you just earned the $20 million.” Listen. If your writing is important, and it is, you are going to face opposition. You may not have to face a hostile government, but you will face forces that are just as if not more destructive to your art. These forces can come from inside you—laziness, feelings of inadequacy, lack of confidence, complacency. Or they can be external—Netflix, competing demands for your time, the distractions of social media. The only way for us to combat this Resistance, to use Steven Pressfield’s term, is to fight—and keep fighting until we’ve done what we feel called to do. 5. It’s OK to Fail Fred Rogers’ drive to make the world a better place led him eventually to try his hand at programming for adults. He hosted a series called Old Friends . . . New Friends, in which he interviewed well-known people about the meaning of life. Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood lasted for over nine hundred episodes. Old Friends . . . New Friends didn’t make it past twenty. In other words, it didn’t catch on. It failed. But so what? Knowing failure was a real possibility, Fred Rogers wasn’t afraid to try, and neither should we. Seth Godin said, “You can’t have good ideas unless you’re willing to generate a lot of bad ones.” We have to try again and again. We have to show up and do our art. It’s OK to fail, it’s not OK to stop. [Tweet “It’s OK to Fail” and 4 other ways to conquer self-doubt via @ChadRAllen #askeditor #amwriting”] Which of these Fred Rogers–inspired takeaways is your favorite?
How to Quadruple Your Chances of Getting Published
If you’re old enough, you might remember when there were just two flavors of coffee—Maxwell House and Folgers. Not so anymore. Not only has the number of large coffee distributors expanded, so have the blends and flavor choices! Hazelnut Creme, anyone? How about a dark Sumatra or Guatemalan blend? Why is this? Why do grocery stores show us so many options? They’ve figured out if we have options, we’re more likely to buy one of them. If all you see is one coffee option, it’s a yes-or-no proposition. If you see four options, the question shifts from “Do you want coffee?” to “Which sort of coffee do you find most appealing?” Why It’s Smart to Include Multiple Titles and Subtitles in Your Nonfiction Book Proposal The same is true for books. When you’re submitting a book proposal, you could include just one title and subtitle on the cover page. That’s the yes-or-no proposition. I suppose if you can’t stomach the idea of any other title and subtitle, go for it. But if you want to quadruple your chances of getting published, include three alternative titles and subtitles. (A mediating position would be to include one title but a number of alternative subtitles.) I encourage using your top pick on the cover page and up to five alternatives on the reverse side of the cover page. You might use a simple heading like “Alternative Titles and Subtitles” and then list them out as a bulleted list. [Tweet “How to Quadruple Your Chances of Getting Published via @ChadRAllen #askeditor #amwriting”] When More Becomes Less You might wonder, “If five alternatives are okay, why not ten? Why not twenty? Why not a hundred?!” I would avoid including more than five alternatives because doing so can give the impression that you don’t really know what your book is about. That’s not good. You want to let your proposal reviewers know you do have a clear idea of what your book is, but you’re also flexible enough to see multiple ways to position your book in the marketplace. Including three to five solid title-subtitle combinations gets you there. More than that, in my opinion, is when more becomes less. How to Do It: Brainstorming Alternative Titles Let’s say you’re writing a book on how listening can revolutionize your reader’s ability to connect with a conversation partner. And let’s say your top working title-subtitle is: Connecting: How Active Listening Will Revolutionize Your Ability to Communicate Fine. Now brainstorm a bunch of other titles. As you do this, it might be helpful to imagine the multiple facets of a diamond. If you hold up a diamond to the sun and slowly turn it, you’ll see the diamond’s many different facets. But it’s still the same diamond. Your brainstormed titles will bring out different aspects of the same essential concept. Having said that, when it comes to brainstorming alternative titles, don’t overthink it. Let your mind go, like this: The Power of Listening Maximizing Your Conversations Active Listening Communication Booster Reimagining Your Communication Communicate! Reaching Others Listen to Me! The Key to Engaging Conversation Engaging Conversations How to Listen So People Will Talk You get the idea. Now narrow down the list to your favorites. At this point you may want to poll your audience and see which ones they like best. After going through this process, let’s say you end up with the following alternatives: The Power of Listening Communication Booster The Key to Engaging Conversation Now you need some subtitles to go with these. How to Do It: Brainstorming Alternative Subtitles Your original subtitle, “How Active Listening Will Revolutionize Your Ability to Communicate,” may work with all three alternative titles. That’s not the point. The point is to present to the agent or publisher multiple ways to conceive of your book idea. Let’s give it a shot: The Power of Listening: How to Make Your Everyday Conversations a Lot More Engaging Communication Booster: The Power of Active Listening The Key to Engaging Conversation: How Active Listening Can Make You More Fun to Be Around Do you see how these alternatives do not stray very far from the original concept? Do you also see how they bring out different nuances of the concept? That’s the goal. When you present your book proposal reviewers with multiple ways to conceive of your book and position it in the marketplace, you’ll be dramatically improving your chances of getting published. [Tweet “Editor @ChadRAllen says he can quadruple your chances of getting published with this simple method.”] Can you see how this approach can make your own book concept more attractive to a publisher?
How to Get Your Audience to Tell You What to Write
I often hear from writers who have a vague idea of their message and who they want to serve, but they struggle to nail it all down. They don’t have clarity about how to position themselves, what to write about, and who exactly is their audience. “I seem to be good at [fill in the blank],” they say, “but I don’t know where to go from here.” If you find yourself in this situation, it can be frustrating and even scary. You end up asking yourself questions like: What should I write about? Who are my readers? How should I go about this? Will this ever get off the ground!? These questions can cut you off at the knees. In today’s blog post I share four steps that will help take the load off and get your audience to tell you what to write. Step 1: Write and publish a lot If you’re a little fuzzy about what to write or who to write it for, the best thing you can do is start writing. Clarity comes with action. In the beginning resist the temptation to measure traffic, shares, subscribers, and so on. Measure your own hustle. Are you getting your writing in? Are you producing content? Are you hitting “publish” regularly and letting the world know that you have something new to share? Hang out in “write and publish” land for a while. Make it your goal to get thirty blog posts published before you do much at all in the way of assessment. One more thing: Work hard to serve somebody with what you write. Do your best work. Step 2: Notice how people are responding. After you’ve written thirty blog posts, go back now and pay attention: Which blog posts did people notice? Which ones were shared? Which ones received comments? Jot down some observations. If you are not getting much interest at all, go back to step 1 and write another thirty blog posts. Step 3: Identify what’s reproducible and what isn’t. When you have a sense of what’s working for your audience, think through questions such as: What patterns do I see? What sort of content do people seem to enjoy and find helpful? What seems to resonate that I can do over and over again? What is not reproducible? It’s true that some things cannot be repeated. If you share a story about winning the lottery and you get a bunch of traffic, chances are you won’t be able to tell another story about winning another lottery. But be careful here. Often we assume something is not reproducible when really it is. It might be hard work, it might take some additional creativity, but try not to sell you or your audience short. Once you have clarity about what your audience wants, hold onto it. For example, one of my best-performing posts was an interview I did with literary agent Christopher Ferebee. I might be tempted to think, “Oh, I can’t reproduce that! There’s only one Christopher Ferebee!” But that would be giving up too easy. The natural question is, Who else do I have access to that my audience would find helpful? And of course the possibilities are endless, which is why I have done a number of interviews since then. [Tweet “”How to Get Your Audience to Tell You What to Write” via @ChadRAllen”] Step 4: Keep writing, keep noticing, tweak as necessary. Frederick Buechner said, “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” That’s what we’re after. We want to write out of a sense of calling, of deep gladness, and then notice where our audience is hungry. That’s our sweet spot. That’s clarity. One of the great joys of writing in our day and age is it takes very little time to find out how the world will respond to something we’ve written. I think of it like a dance. We take a step and then it’s our audience’s turn. We go back and forth like that until we get a feel for each other, and then we keep innovating. It is a process that is at times maddening and at other times absolutely euphoric. And the whole project is an almost unimaginable privilege. What about you? What are you interested in writing about? Who’s your audience? What are you noticing in how your audience responds to your work?
5 Reasons I’m Beyond Excited to Be a Full-time Writing Coach
I published my first blog post back in August 2012, nearly six years ago. I have warm memories of waking up at 5am to go down to Common Ground Coffee House to do my art. Eventually I wrote a manifesto, Do Your Art, daring and equipping others to do the same. Click here to check it out. My blog’s original tagline was “Reflections on Writing, Publishing, Life, and Creativity,” which eventually morphed into “Find Your Voice. Do Your Art.” Now it’s “Helping Writers Get Their Books into the World.” The tagline’s evolution is reflective of my developing understanding of my calling. I’m here to help writers build platforms and write books and navigate the publishing world—to help them “make a ruckus,” as Seth Godin recently encouraged me to do. My last post gave five reasons I loved working at Baker Publishing Group. Now I’d like to take stock of what’s ahead. So, without further ado, following are five reasons I’m beyond excited to begin my journey as a full-time writing coach. 1. Books! I’m passionate about helping more people get their books into the world. One of the drawbacks of working in the traditional publishing world is I had to say no even when I thought some coaching could reverse that no into a yes. Often I just didn’t have the bandwidth to do the coaching. Now I get to say a gigantic YES to just about anyone who wants to make progress toward their goal of getting a book in the world. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not interested in crappy books, and neither is the marketplace. But you’re not interested in that either, so let’s do this thing! Through resources like BookCamp (stay tuned!), Book Proposal Academy, and coaching I get to help more and more people make this dream come true. 2. More Writing! Some of my happiest moments are when I’m doing what I’m doing right now, sitting at a keyboard tapping out my musings, doing my best to serve readers. I love it, and I’m excited to do more of it. 3. Live Events! Imagine getting away to a beautiful location to make hay on that project you’ve been struggling to finish. Imagine being in the company of fellow writers who can help you expand your influence and improve your writing. Imagine meeting at a B&B with a small group of people to mastermind book proposals together. Imagine yoga in the morning, powerful talks during the day, and friendly conversation at night. These are the dreams I’m having, and I hope some of you are as excited as I am to make them happen! [Tweet “”Imagine meeting at a B&B with a small group of people to mastermind book proposals together.” Editor @ChadRAllen imagines the future…”] 4. Partnerships! Just in this first couple weeks of full-time self-employment I’ve had some amazing conversations with people I deeply admire. I’ve begun partnering with some of them already, and it’s just an enormous blessing to me. These are my heroes, and now I get to collaborate with them! 5. Greater Joy! Recently I was talking with Jeff Goins about the importance of gratitude. We both acknowledged that sometimes we get so caught up in the next thing we have to accomplish, we forget to enjoy the journey. But these days I’m constantly pinching myself. Is this really my life? To be living out my purpose and helping writers do the same—wow! Bonus: Casual Wardrobe! I was getting pretty tired of button-down shirts and khakis. I’ll dress professionally when the occasion calls for it, but otherwise, picture me in shorts or jeans and a T-shirt or hoodie. Now we’re talking! One Last Thing . . . Earlier this week I sent emails to ten people who have made a huge impact on me and helped me make this transition. If I could, I’d send a personalized email to each of you who read this blog or have purchased one of my products or sent me an encouraging note. This whole thing is only possible because of this community. All I can do is say thank you. That seems too small in light of what you’ve given me, but it’s what I have. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I’ll do my best to honor your attention, to serve you as well as I possibly can. OK. Enough musing about what I’m going to do. It’s time to do it. I’m curious, what do you feel called to do? It might be related to a book or blog or podcast or a particular audience you want to serve. I’d love to hear about it.