Ten take-aways from the 2016 Cedar Falls Christian Writers’ Workshop

Post date: Jun 29, 2016 3:43:39 PM

Ten Takeaways from the 2016 Cedar Falls Christian Writers’ Workshop

A few pictures from Geeky Grandma's Photo Album (the group of Speakers, above, at Sue's house)

We had a wonderful conference this year, with great presentations, lots of practical advice, and plenty of time to talk to each other about our projects, progress, and plans. I filled half of a spiral notebook with notes and had my iPad by my side, where I located articles, blogs, and online resources as presenters mentioned them and then posted them on my Facebook page. While I decided not to do a presentation this year, because of not knowing how well I would be doing after foot surgery, I worked one on one with a handful of writers with questions about blogging or technology. We had great speakers this year, including Tammy Clymer, Founder and President of CrossRiver Media. We are blessed with some great writers and speakers in our own circle: Shelly Beach (our Founder), Jean Vaux, Sue Schuerman, Gail Kittleson, Mary Potter Kenyon, Mary Jedlicka Humston, and Jolene Philo and her daughter, Anne Philo Fleck. Carrie Worthington, Creativity Coach, also offered a session. A number of participants brought their books to sell, so we had displays around the auditorium and time for each person to do a brief speech about their work.

Here are just Ten of the Takeaways I made note of....

1. Look for opportunities to publish “shorts,” little pieces that do not require query letters, which is also a great way to get writing. Anthologies like Chicken Soup are a good example--Mary Potter Kenyon

2. Follow the publisher’s guidelines! Find out what they are, using the Writer’s Market and Christian Writer’s Market. Think about your marketing plan, audience, and how well your book fits the individual publisher’s mission--Tammy Clymer

3. Build your platform: this is a process, not an overnight success. Update and maintain an online presence: be consistent and selective. Your platform is measured by the numbers of people you have access to on various social media and blog platforms—Tammy Clymer.

4. Grab your audience with your first sentence! Use active voice, build in tension and drama, and use each scene to ratchet up the tension until you reach the climax of action--Shelly Beach

5. Don’t give up! She sent out one manuscript 88 times before she got it accepted: another time, she sent out a manuscript to 8 publishers and four were interested. Support each other: review each other’s books and celebrate their successes—Mary Potter Kenyon.

6. Use pictures and video to engage your audience: see Andy Lee’s blog. She has a live broadcast each morning, using an app called Periscope. Develop a press kit with pictures, clips, and questions and answers. Many writers also speak. Develop an email list. Add discussion questions to the end of your book for book clubs—Tammy Clymer.

http://wordsbyandylee.com/you-tube/ Andy Lee’s website, with links to YouTube. “Join Twitter, then get the Periscope app on your smartphone, and you can watch my live broadcast every morning at 8:20 ET.”

7. Use dialogue to develop your character’s backstory and draw in your reader—Shelly Beach.

8. There are three levels of editing: proofreading for errors, manuscript for content, and final, line by line editing. This is Intensive work: it can take 30 to 40 hours to work on a 90,000-word manuscript. Lots of things to consider, such as the title. She shared her own experience with recent book title changes. Some like to meet face to face to go over manuscripts, while others use technology like Google Chat--Jolene Philo and Anne Philo Fleck.

9. Writers who self-publish need to know the industry, the terminology, their own limits, and their audience. Get help designing covers, editing manuscript, etc. Determine best format: print or Kindle only? Recommended article by Alycia Morales, “Ten things to do before you Hire an Editor,” from her blog The Write Editing—Tammy Clymer.

10. Reality check: many books run only 1,000 to 2,000 copies. Several of our authors have certainly exceeded that, but it means that publishers have to find your book a good fit to want to publish it.

Last Updated June 29, 2016