Just spent some time this morning with Leif and Margaret Feinberg. Margaret was a huge encouragement to me when I was a wanna-be author. We talked writing and publishing for about ninety minutes. I feel as called to write as I do to pastor. So I'm really trying to learn the ropes.
Margaret shared some great insights.
#1 In every cinderella story there is a fairy Godmother!
She said that most best-sellers are created best-sellers. A publisher bets the farm marketing the book. Or gives away 50,000 copies to create momentum. Our just pulls out all the stops!
#2 Writing is like buying a lotto ticket. The odds are low, but there's always a chance!
95% of books don't sell 5,000 copies. In other words, it's a crapshoot. You really have to write for intrinsic reasons. You have to write because you feel called to write and let the chips fall where they may.
And I love the last analogy Margaret used. Think of writing as climbing the publishing mountain.
#3 There is a difference between driving and hiking to the top of the mountain.
Margaret talked about hiking a 14er--a mountain with elevation greater than 14,000 feet. She said the drivers and hikers see the same view, but they look different and smell different because of how they got there! I also think they feel different. A hiker appreciates the view a little bit more.
When it comes to pastoring and writing, I want to be a hiker. I don't want to get to the summit to fast. I want to make sure I'm becoming the person God wants me to be. Plus, if you get to the summit too quickly or too easily it is easy to forget who got you there!
Really appreciate the writing trail that Margaret has blazed. FYI. She's doing a workshop on How to Get Published at the Fusion Conference.
Margaret shared some great insights.
#1 In every cinderella story there is a fairy Godmother!
She said that most best-sellers are created best-sellers. A publisher bets the farm marketing the book. Or gives away 50,000 copies to create momentum. Our just pulls out all the stops!
#2 Writing is like buying a lotto ticket. The odds are low, but there's always a chance!
95% of books don't sell 5,000 copies. In other words, it's a crapshoot. You really have to write for intrinsic reasons. You have to write because you feel called to write and let the chips fall where they may.
And I love the last analogy Margaret used. Think of writing as climbing the publishing mountain.
#3 There is a difference between driving and hiking to the top of the mountain.
Margaret talked about hiking a 14er--a mountain with elevation greater than 14,000 feet. She said the drivers and hikers see the same view, but they look different and smell different because of how they got there! I also think they feel different. A hiker appreciates the view a little bit more.
When it comes to pastoring and writing, I want to be a hiker. I don't want to get to the summit to fast. I want to make sure I'm becoming the person God wants me to be. Plus, if you get to the summit too quickly or too easily it is easy to forget who got you there!
Really appreciate the writing trail that Margaret has blazed. FYI. She's doing a workshop on How to Get Published at the Fusion Conference.
6 Comments:
Thanks for this post. I'm an author/pastor and Margaret's insights are the reality check and perspective that I feel need to be communicated to anyone who feels called to write. I feel called to write, too, but I answer my calling now (after 4 years of experience in the Christian and secular publishing world)with the following realities in mind:
1) I'm a joke and my writing is worthless without God and his blessings on it, behind it, and speaking through it.
2) It's not about the money . . . because, unless your last name is Warren, Lucado, Dekker, or ______ (insert name of best-selling author here), you're never going to be able to support yourself and your family on what you make from advancements and royalties. This is one of the biggest misconceptions I've encountered as a Christian author. People mistakenly think that being published equals wealth. It's not the case and not a good reason to write (writing to get rich--that is). I agree with you in promoting writing for "intrinsic reasons."
3) The publishing business is definitely a business. Publishers want to produce books, sell books, and deposit large sums of money into their account. This is not evil--it's survival in the business world. They will invest a little money into marketing every book, but will only invest a lot of money into a book that sells, so and author must be prepared to market his/her own book.
4) Writing is a stewardship of an author's gifts and a reader's time and financial investment, so it must be taken seriously.
These are just the thoughts your post generated . . . for what it's worth.
Thanks Aaron! Great stuff!
Mark
Great advice! Now to motivate myself to write that book instead of articles and chapters.....
I'm reading Margaret's book "Organic God" now. Lovin it!
I think with books there are "franchise" books that are manufactured best sellers and then there are books that become best sellers by hiking versus driving to the top. Great content + great publicity = success. It's often a "little engine that could" scenario of building enough momentum to reach a point where the book takes on a life of its own. A tipping point. I truly believe that "In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy" day is just such a book and over time with God's grace it will continue to build the inertia to see the summit. But regardless of "best seller" status or selling 1 copy... if it changes 1 life then that is what matters most. :)
BTW... Arron Chambers is a pastor at the church I attend in Jax Florida. His new book that is coming out soon is gearing up to be a hit too!
First off, pleased to see Arron here. I have the great honor of being one of the essayists in Scripture to Live by, out just this March. This is my first Christian publication. I had just gotten my first contract for an historical novel, but was still dithering about whether or not I should be writing and what and for whom... Still in confusion due to many personal issues and choices this past winter, I spent a 30 day prayer time asking for guidance. In February, I sold another essay. In March, I got my first contract offer from a Christian publisher. In April, I finaled in a fairly prestigeous writing competition. And the Lord brought me a great writing mentor. How far my writing will go, I don't know, and I do know that it is what the Lord wants me to be doing. Christian fiction did so much for bringing me back to the Lord, I am thrilled to now be a part of its ministry.
Writing is a calling. You MUST believe that you are called to write and have faith and confidence in the value of the printed word. I remember the day God told me to “pick up my pen and write”. It was in a church service, January 2001; and the exact seat, row is still in my memory. If writing is not a “calling” you will become discouraged multiple times during the process.
On average it takes 475 hours to write a fiction title and 725 hours to write a nonfiction title. Additionally 61 hours are spent in the editing process. The average book published in the U.S. sells less than 2,000 copies in its lifetime. But remember this average includes the big names and best sellers. More relevant is the fact that only 14% of the nearly 3 million titles in print sell more than 200 books/units. Only about 3% sell more than 500 units during the life of the book.
I operate a church based Christian publishing company and know that it takes sales of 10,000 units per title to break even on our investment. The competition is fierce. A book must move in the bookstores in a very short period of six weeks, or it is returned to the publisher. I’ve read somewhere that out of every 10,000 children’s books that are written, only 3 get published. I’ve been blessed, having sold more than 30,000 books that I’ve authored in the past four years (www.RichBrott.com). But that’s the exception, not the rule.
Bottom line, if it’s not a calling; if your purpose in writing is not for ministry…don’t bother. You’ll just wind up with disappointment and no sense of fulfillment. On the other hand, if you have something to say, and your purpose is not $$, then by all means, put the pen to the paper and spread the word.
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