Saturday, August 01, 2009
Conference Writes the Book on Writing
I'm at the Pacific Northwest Writer's Association annual conference as I write this and it's been a wonderful experience. They have great sessions for people in every stage of writing and particularly for folks who are ready or are currently pitching their book and searching for an agent. Yesterday I pitched my book, Confessions of a Bible Thumper, to an editor and an agent and will meet more agents today. For any other aspiring writers out there, a writer's conference such as this one is the place to go to get grounded in book writing best practices. As is joining a writer's group and reading books like Anne LaMott's Bird by Bird or Stephen King's On Writing. The biggest lesson for me is that writing a book or any noteworthy piece goes way beyond writing the crappy first draft but is a long process of writing, rewriting, and having your work reviewed and critiqued by a variety of people to get your transforming ideas out there in a succinct, understandable, humorous, and highly engaging form.
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2 comments:
So, what did you say to the reps when they asked you, "How should we market this book -- what should we say to convince people to read it?" Or, did any even ask you questions like this?
I'm not asking this to be nasty, but because I'm really curious about how Christian-book publishers think about serving their market.
That question is answered in the book proposal. Yes, they ask such questions. At the conference, there are workshops that answer them. For me,I'm building a platform of interested folks to market to on the web, blog, my soon-to-be launched website, and through speaking engagements. Radio shows are an option.
I don't think the average Christian book publisher would be interested in my book--too controversial. My audience is restless Christians and "spiritual but not religious" folks. They would be naturally curious how someone came out of the evangelical movement and lessons they learned.
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