Writing
On Saturday, Michael Hyatt, my friend and CEO of Thomas Nelson (who is printing Permission to Speak Freely) tweeted the ECPA’s 50 Bestsellers List for March 2010.
I noticed a few interesting things in the list:
- Even though this list is for March 2010 faith-based bestsellers, only 21 of the 50 had been published in the last twelve months.
- The average price point for the books published in the last twelve months was considerably higher ($19.64) than the older books on the list ($15.39).
This made me think two things:
- Some books will live long. These books typically have strong writing, meet a universal “felt need,” or the author has a loyal following (a celebrity, a pastor of a large church, etc.). These books will continue to spread in both breadth (how many people read them) and depth (more people developing loyalty to that author).
- The recession is not to blame for declining book sales. Large groups of people are willing to pay more money for good content.
It also made me ask the question, “Why aren’t there more recently published books on the list? What does the market want that current authors and publishers aren’t providing?”
I did a survey on my blog last summer, and a majority of you read fifty books or more a year, so it’s safe to say you are “the market.”
Would you indulge me a bit and share what content in books adds value?
What disappoints you?
What determines if you purchase a book – Word of mouth? Previous work? Random chance?
Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts. They will help shape me as an author and I can assure you there are people in the publishing industry who eagerly await your response too.
“What goes in must come out.”
That adage is something I always heard growing up, especially from my parents when I would read R.L. Stine books as a kid.
And they were right.
When I was ten years old, I wrote my first “book,” which was about 80 pages long in a spiral bound notebook.
It was about a girl who, after a basketball game, went to a convenience store and drank a sports drink that was poisoned. In order for her to not be harmed by the poison, she had to give it to other people, poisoning them.
She started by poisoning her younger brother.
Somehow, one of my parents must have found my “book” and out of concern for my younger brother’s life, quietly removed it from our wholesome Christian home.
And I started therapy.
I really didn’t start therapy then, but I’ve always remembered that the things I soak my remaining brain cells in will show in other areas of my life.
A few weeks ago, I shared that I would have an opportunity to thank a former teacher in my life for the influence he had. I didn’t mention this in the earlier post, but he’s one of three people I dedicated Permission to Speak Freely to, as he taught me how to write from my heart.
He’s now a brilliant teacher at a prestigious academy in Pennsylvania, and last Monday, I got to spend some time with him (see, here’s a picture of us), hanging out in his English classes and clearing cobwebs that have been forming in my head since I was a junior in High School.
Most of us have read some of the “classics” in our high school or college days. Melville. Twain. Hemmingway. Homer. Salinger. (Etc., Etc., Etc.)
If you’re anything like I am, I left those books behind with my prom dress.
After spending time in Mr. Bennett’s classes, listening to sixteen year olds discuss the greatest line in American literature (“All right then, I’ll go to hell” – Huck Finn) I began thinking, “These kids understand classic literature more than I do,” and as the visiting “professional” author, felt entirely like a poser.
“Have you read this?”
“Ummm…once in seventh grade.”
“Do you remember the line about…”
“Never read that one.”
“Last year, when you guys read…”
“Crap.”
In the midst of jokes about Hemmingway and my feelings of inadequacy, I made a decision.
If I want to write timeless content, I should probably read timeless content.
Because what goes in must come out.
Before I wrote Mad Church Disease, I had spent my “ministry” years reading “ministry” books and lo and behold, produced a “ministry” book of my very own.
With Permission to Speak Freely, I had ventured more into memoirs, essay collections, poetry, and spiritually contemplative books and I think it’s fair to say the tone of PTSF reflects that.
The goal of any writer is to become a better version of themselves (and not give into the temptation to be the next Anne Lamott, Donald Miller, David Sedaris, or Elizabeth Gilbert).
As writers, we should hone in to cultivate our own voice and make it the best it can be.
That only happens with time.
What can we do with our time to develop ourselves into timeless writers?
We have to nurture our creative spirits, and that looks different for each of us. But within that universal pursuit, find authors who have proven themselves as staples, not trends, that speak to you. Find poets who connect with your soul on a level brief metaphors can speak to. Find music that causes your mind to journey into abstract places. Find places in nature where time stops and the colors, the smells, and the sounds pour into you, because you are a piece of nature yourself.
And write…
Workshops are good (I guess, I’ve never actually been to a writing workshop), and how-to books can be beneficial. I own my fair share of them.
But remember, practicality is rarely a pathway to creating art.
Most art isn’t practical.
If it was, it probably wouldn’t move us in the way that art often does.
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I had the pleasure of being introduced to Anne Jackson through a ministry partner and friend, Eric Bryant. He told me that we have a lot in common and that I have to look up this chick, @FlowerDust!
It wasn’t until six months later did I come to learn Anne’s incredible value in my life.
I struggle with acute anxiety, and it had been five years since my last burnout. Anne’s book “Mad Church Disease” and her article in Outreach Magazine encouraged me to keep going. I kept all of her encouraging emails to me through my transition from working at Outreach Events to full time speaker & writer.
Why the long intro?
Because I believe there are hurting people everywhere (not just Haiti). Jesus said in Matthew 9:12 that the healthy don’t need a doctor. Sick people do!
I write devotionals because I myself have suffered. Fourteen years ago my mom gave me a One-Year Bible when I was in the hospital with severe eczema and told me to read it. Every day I grew closer to the father heart of God. I journaled. Cried and sobbed and threw fits. If a God who loved me allowed me to suffer-then there He must be able to exercise divine providence.
I’ve kept my word to follow Him daily and my book, “Faithbook of Jesus” is a direct result of my daily time with Him. “Faithbook of Jesus” is the only daily devotional on the market written by a 20-somethings (me) for young people. I’ve surveyed over 300 young adults, ages 18-35 and quoted them in my book to match the day’s verse/devotional.
And if that weren’t enough, my story should inspire you because I was discovered on Twitter by my agent and publisher.
I hope my story inspires hope. Hope for a future because God does what he says will do.
Keep living.
Keep reading and follow Him daily!
That is my prayer!
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Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a “sponsored post.” The company or identity who sponsored it compensated me via a cash payment, gift, or something else of value to write it. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Today (Ash Wednesday) only, Mad Church Disease is available for download for FREE on the Kindle and the Nook.
If you like the free version, buy the real deal and help me pay my heating bill. :)
1996 and 1997 were really difficult years for me.
A few months into my junior year (which was 1996), my mom got a teaching job in Dallas and we moved three hours away from Abilene, where we had lived for almost four years. I was the new kid at a new school for the sixth time in sixteen years. I hated it. I wanted to move back so I could be with my friends (and my first real romance…a senior named Nathan who made amazing Cherry Cokes at the IHOP where he worked).
When I enrolled, I learned that since I had been on the honors track my first two years in high school, I could actually graduate early – I would just have to take two English courses to get the four required English credits. That meant I could graduate as a junior.
As I entered into my last semester of high school in the Spring of 1997, I was in and out of an abusive relationship, was still lonely from moving, and had nowhere to turn.
It was also that semester when my senior English class had a student teacher from a local university. His project for us was to keep a journal every day for that semester.
My journal entries started out more like a diary:
“Went to school. Skipped third and fourth period. Went to work. Did homework. Went to bed.”
“It’s my brother’s birthday. I forgot.”
However, we didn’t just keep the journal in class. We read literature and we studied grammar and we wrote an endless amount of book reports. And I don’t remember the context, but at some point mid-semester, the student teacher said something in class that I’ll never forget.
“When you feel something, no matter how good or bad it is, feel it as deeply as you can. And remember it. Write it down.”
After he said that, something magical happened.
I started writing poems.
Abstract, moody, emotive poems.
And those poems — they set me free.
They helped me process my emotions.
They helped me heal.
They probably saved me.
After I graduated, I didn’t stop. I kept writing. I have journals full of poems and prose that carried me through so many seasons – good and bad. Some of the poems you can find here.
And I still write. I feel something deeply and I write about it.
Not because I have to…but because somewhere along the way, I fell in love with words.
Words have become my life.
And it all goes back to the words from this teacher.
In a month or so, I may get a chance to see him after thirteen years. I’m speaking about an hour away from where he teaches.
And it would mean the world to me to tell him how grateful I am for the way he taught us.
I really think if he wouldn’t have assigned us that journal project, and if he wouldn’t have said that thing about feeling deeply, I would probably be an engineer or a police officer or in retail or business.
All of which are respectable careers, but in the end, they weren’t for me.
This blog wouldn’t exist.
My books wouldn’t exist.
My heart – in the way that it feels things so deeply (maybe too deeply at times…but that’s okay with me) – wouldn’t exist.
This teacher had a tremendous influence on me, although it’s taken thirteen years to fully realize it, now that I do, I just want to tell him…
THANK YOU.
So I’m curious.
Just in case you didn’t download Seth’s awesomely free “What Matters Now” eBook, I thought I’d share my contribution which is an essay titled “Fear.” It’s adapted from my new book.
The world needs your story in order to be complete.—–
Oh, where to begin!
There are so many things I adore about Seth Godin (and I know many of you feel the same), but one thing I love most is his ability to collaborate and communicate in quick, memorable ways. He cuts through the junk and leaves you with a thought that will leave you thinking for days (if not months years indefinitely).
Seth released a free (of course!) eBook today with 72 brief (about 200 words each) and meaningful snapshots from people all over the world, including one from yours truly, asking us to share a few words on what matters now.
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My little snippet is on page 6, and is titled Fear. Because I think so often that fear stops us dead in our tracks.
How do we move forward when all we hear is fear filling us up with impossibility?
Some of my favorite contributors to this project are Seth Godin, Elizabeth Gilbert, Jessica Hagy, Jacqueline Novogratz, Howard Mann, Michael Hyatt, Steven Pressfield, Megan Casey, Merlin Mann, Penelope Trunk, Arianna Huffington, and Dan Roam (and many others – these were just a handful!)
What Matters Now is totally free, totally inspiring, and the time you spend reading through it will definitely be the best fifteen minutes of your day.
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Just click the image below to download your copy (and share it with a friend or two or forty-seven).
And, since we’re all about free downloads today, I thought I’d also point you in the direction of two free downloads from my first book Mad Church Disease, and a free excerpt from my forthcoming book, Permission to Speak Freely.
- Chapter 3 from Mad Church Disease – Internal Risk Factors
- Chapter 11 from Mad Church Disease – Processing through Pain
- The prologue to Permission to Speak Freely – Meet Fear (where my blurb in Seth’s eBook was adapted from).
Happy free reading Monday! :)
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Looking Through the Eyes of Love
Today is my monthly contribution over at inCourage. Below is a sneak peek. You have to visit over there to read the full article. Enjoy!
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It had been a really long day.
6 am came too soon, and as usual, I was running late to the airport. Due to the extra few minutes I spent taming my hair, I was unable to stop by Sonic for my habitual Diet Cherry Dr. Pepper.
The tragedy.
The flight from Nashville to Houston was one of the bumpiest I’ve ever been on. And I fly. A lot. This year alone, it’s somewhere around 45,000 miles. No kidding.
Several people on our plane threw up and one even passed out on our descent into the stormy city of Houston.
Once in the terminal, I checked my next flight on the screens.
My 12 pm flight to Dallas was delayed until 1 pm.
Then 2 pm.
Then 3:15 pm.
4:15 pm.
Canceled.
I got word a couple days ago that Mad Church Disease is on its fourth printing. Especially considering it’s a niche book in a struggling economy, I am so thankful that the words are bringing hope and healing to many people. It’s not like it’s sold a billion copies, but I think it’s tracking well and really appreciate the stories you have shared with me as you have read it, or passed it on to friends. It is amazing to see how God can redeem our mistakes and brokenness so we can be a healthy hope for the world.
To celebrate the fourth printing, I’d like to offer you guys a chance to buy an autographed copy for just $10. The book is normally $16.99 (or around $14+ shipping if you buy it online) so I figure with Christmas coming up, maybe it would be a great idea to give to your staff or ministry team or parents or children or a friend.
This offer won’t last forever. If you want to get the $10 price, you’ll need to purchase it by November 14. They will ship a few days later.
If you want to buy 20 or more copies, I’ll discount it even deeper to $8.50 per book. If that’s you, email me.
((SORRY…this special offer is over. Thanks for your support!))
I am so excited to announce that the official site for my new book Permission to Speak Freely: Essays and Art on Fear, Confession and Grace is LIVE. Huge thanks to Brad Ruggles for his tireless work on this project. He did an amazing job with the design…it is simply beautiful!
What I love about this site is that yes, you can see some of the confessions we’ve received (and will continue to update as the project continues – remember – it is never too late to mail in a confession) but we also have FREE resources for churches or groups which include adult and student/young adult studies, leader guides, and an HD video (click the link for RSS readers) for the studies.
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Oh, if you use the free resources for your church, you can get a free copy of the book for your church.
So, I’d love it if you’d pop on over and check out the site and if you so desire, tell a friend or two.
Nifty Links:
*Follow PTSF on Twitter for exclusive sneak peeks & free stuff
*Become a Facebook Fan
*Sign up to see new confessions
*Send in a confession of your own
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