A few weeks ago, I posted about the revisions my editor and agent wanted for my upcoming book. I went back and read that post and was happy to see that I’d written this:

This time I’m going to take a deep breath and give the ideas from my editor and agent some serious consideration, remembering that they are on my side and want the best for me and this book. My challenge is to give my editor a book that she can sell that’s also a book that I can call my own. I’m up for the challenge. I have to be. Given the way my Lord works, if I don’t get it now, I’ll be facing this same situation for the rest of my career.

Well, I did exactly that. And I still couldn’t see the point of some of the requested revisions. Guess what I did then? I emailed my editor (copying my agent) and asked if we could talk again. In the email, I posted my concerns about the proposed revisions and made suggestions for what we could do instead. As I hit the “send” key, I was a bit anxious about her response. The anxiety was all for naught. My editor and I spoke the next day. She was open to all the suggestions. In fact, one of them she had considered herself. I’m feeling like the book is “my book” again, only better.

Before taking my cooling off period, I was feeling hemmed in and overwhelmed by the suggested revisions. When I went back to look for my editor’s email, I was looking for a mail with an attachment containing a dozen revision requests. I only found a simple email with about five suggestions. While I still didn’t agree with all of them, I saw the goal she was trying to achieve. As a result, I was able to write a 3-5 sentence response to each suggestion explaining how I proposed to address it. It was that simple.

I have to say that I now have a stronger story that is still my story. The process worked. Lesson learned.

I know that’s not a topic you expect to see on my blog. Actually, it’s the name of another blog by a sales person at a major publishing house. It’s an interesting blog with some good information. He recently did a post on promotion that I found helpful. What You Can Do: Twelve Easy Steps, HERE.

My vacation from blogging is about up. I’ll be back next week with new posts.

Until then, take care of yourself.

Those of you who read this blog regularly have probably noticed that I’m doing two blog posts a week: one in my Newlywed at 50 series and another about writing. Given my N@50 post about boundaries, I’m taking a break from blogging for the holidays. I’ll be back with new posts after the first of the year.

Since I’m not writing an original writing post this week, I thought I’d point you to an “interesting” article about the state of African-American fiction. To be honest, the cover and title, Afro Picks, disturbed me so badly that I have yet to read the article. I’m going to read it though and I’ll let you know what I think in 2010 which is only a week away. In the meantime, let me know what you think.

Here’s the link to the article: http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6711430.html

Here’s the link to the cover, which you have to view:
http://www.publishersweekly.com/toc-archive/2009/20091214.html

It seems a lot of folks didn’t like the cover picture. Read what the editor says: http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6711692.html

I really don’t have a problem with the image. My problem is with the combination of the image, the cover title and the article content. The image and the cover title did nothing for a genre that’s trying to mainstream itself.

The article really gave no new information. It was once again African-American fiction week at PW so the standard fare article was trotted out. I wonder what we’ll see next year.

Enjoy the holidays and be safe!

I should have titled this post, Things that make you go hmm. What I’m going to do is share with you some of my incomplete thoughts on writing Christian fiction and ideas I’ve heard around the Christian fiction community. These really are incomplete ideas so feel free to help me think them through completely.

1. Some Christian fiction writers equate their novels to the parables that Jesus told. While I sorta understand what they mean, I’ve always found the connection a bit of a stretch. A parable wasn’t 300-400 pages long. Jesus didn’t charge $6-$25 to read one. Also, Jesus didn’t get upset when someone re-told the parable and gave away the ending. That was sorta the point of the parable. I think likening Christian fiction to parables is a way of elevating the work, but I’m not sure it needs that kind of elevating. Christian fiction novels are something good but they’re not parables.

2. If writing is ministry, what does it mean that in order to benefit from the ministry one has to buy the book? I’ve never said this aloud but I’ve always equated selling a book and calling it ministry to Rev. Ike selling prayer cloths. If it’s going to bless somebody, why do they have to pay for it? If someone has a need and you have the means to meet it in a book, why do they have to pay for the book? Well, the obvious answer is “writers and publishers have to eat, too” which I certainly understand. I want to make money just like any other writer, but what is the role of money in ministry? When do we tell our publishers to reduce the cover price so more people can have access to the books? When do we take a pay cut so that book prices can be lowered or books can be given away?

3. I went back to the apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 9) to get some clarity on the relationship between ministry and money. I’ve always focused on Paul’s bold statement that he worked so the church couldn’t claim any hold over what he did and said since he didn’t depend on their money. That supports my notion that the money you live on doesn’t have to come from your ministry. But Paul was also a sponsored missionary in that he lived off the support and gifts from the church communities to whom he ministered. So how does that translate to those of us who see writing as ministry?

It is difficult for me to conclude that if our writing is ministry the only way for folks to get ministered to is to buy the books we write. That’s too capitalist for me. If it’s ministry, we rejoice when books are shared, bought used, borrowed from the library, downloaded from the Internet. All because our purpose is to get the message out. But we have a dual purpose–to get the message out and to get paid. How do we reconcile the two?

Maybe instead of writing ministries what we have are Christian businesses (in most cases, sole proprietarships) that are run according to Christian principles and that produce novels that present the truth of the gospel in stories that reflect our contemporary society. By definition, a business has to make money to survive so it’s natural for a business to charge for its products.

I don’t think using the “Christian business” terminology takes anything away from what we do as Christian fiction writers. As Christians, we are called to do everything “as unto the Lord.” This applies to our jobs, raising our families, writing our books, everything. So what do you think?

I’m now feeling the fallout of having a book with low sales. Everybody has an opinion on what the next book needs to make it a winner.

I just hung up from a long conversation with my editor about her suggestions on the proposal for my new book. The conversation left me a bit depressed so I quickly made a follow-up call to my sister friend, Jacquelin Thomas. After complaining about all the changes my editor wanted, I asked Jacqui if I had legitimate concerns or if my pride was getting in the way. The too-honest Jacqui said it was my pride. And she was right.

One thing that I’ve always “prided” myself on in this business is that my stories were, in fact, my stories. I’ve never done a “book by committee.” In the past, I’ve dug my heels in so deep that I’ve delayed getting a book done by a year because I didn’t appreciate all the suggestions. At one point I said to an outside editor, “Why don’t you write the book and I’ll edit it?” Well, that relationship ended fairly quickly. I was glad.

As I talked to Jacqui today it became clear that I have a case of pride in wanting my work to be mine. In addition, I have a control issue. There is so much that we as writers don’t control in this business. I’ve always clung to the notion that I do control what I write. And when I feel like “they” want to take that away, my spine stiffens.

So what am I to do? In the past, I’ve pulled the book, paid back the advance money and moved on to another publisher. Or I’ve just dug in my heels and waited for the “idea person” to go away. Those moves made me feel I’d won the battle, but I’m beginning to wonder if I lost the war in the process.

This time I’m going to take a deep breath and give the ideas from my editor and agent some serious consideration, remembering that they are on my side and want the best for me and this book. My challenge is to give my editor a book that she can sell that’s also a book that I can call my own. I’m up for the challenge. I have to be. Given the way my Lord works, if I don’t get it now, I’ll be facing this same situation for the rest of my career.

NOTE: I need to distinguish here between what I consider normal edits that make the book stronger and suggestions that significantly change the story. I appreciate editorial letters that provide guidance on how to make the book stronger. My problem is with suggestions that I feel change the heart of the book. I never want to look at one of my books and see more of someone else in it than I see of myself.

If you’re a Publishers Lunch subscriber, you’ve already heard my good news. If not, here it is:

Essence bestseller, Christy finalist and RITA finalist Angela Benson’s DELILAH’S DAUGHTERS, in which Delilah and her three adult daughters see the fabric of their family unravel in their pursuit of success and also see it reshaped as each woman learns what’s most important in life, to Wendy Lee at Harper, in a two-book deal, by Natasha Kern at the Natasha Kern Literary Agency(World).

Yes, I am blessed to report that I have a new two-book contract with HarperCollins. This is good news because the sales for Up Pops the Devil, my first book with HarperCollins, were dismal. UPTD is the lowest selling of all my books. I’m not sure what happened, but it wasn’t good. I’m honored that my editor, the delightful Wendy Lee, went to bat for me, despite those numbers. Now we have the challenge of building them back up over the next few books.

While many authors are experiencing great success these days, there are many who are facing the same struggles that I’m facing. But we have to remember that people are struggling all over. Folks have lost jobs and homes. We need to show compassion and respect. Now is not the time to berate folks for loaning books or borrowing from the library or buying from used bookstores. I can’t do it. I’m blessed to have to day job ‘cos if I was living on advances from my publisher I’d have to buy all my books used!

Yes, it’s tough out here in publishing land, but let’s keep the faith and not turn on each other. We really are in this together.

I saw my Bookscan numbers today and almost cried. Then I did on a search on Bookscan since I realized I had little info on what it really was. I found this blog post that really didn’t make me feel better but did me a bit more insight on what Bookscan is. You can read it HERE. And you can find another one HERE.

One of the questions I was asked on the virtual tour for my latest book, Sins of the Father, was how I felt about book reviews.

Here’s the question from Shades of Romance Magazine and my answer:

Okay, a not-so-fun question. How important are reviews to you as a writer?

I like good ones and bad ones make me feel down for a minute or two. I’ve gotten philosophical about it though. If everybody loves my book, it means that I didn’t have good distribution. I don’t expect everybody who reads my work to enjoy it. I don’t think that’s realistic.

I was honest with that answer but I didn’t say as much as I could have. I didn’t share the paranoia. I’ll share them here in Angela’s Review Rules. These rules come out of my review paranoia so they don’t have to be true and you don’t have to agree with them.

Rule 1. On a 5-point scale, there is no way a rating of “3” means the reader liked the book, regardless of what’s written in the text of the review. When I get a review of “3” of lower, I want to understand why. Since I’d never question a reader or a reviewer, I collect data and draw conclusions. If it’s an Amazon review, I look at other reviews posted by the reviewer for books similar to mine. You know what I’ve concluded: There’s no figuring out people’s preferences. They like what they like and don’t like what they don’t like. I’m the same way as a reader so I fully understand.

Rule 2. While ratings are important, the number of reviews is more important. If nothing else, a lot of reviews means a lot of people read the book. The bestselling books all have lots of reviews, with ratings in every category. I truly believe that in order to find the people who enjoy your work, you have to go through quite a few who don’t.

Rule 3. Never parse a review to change its meaning. For example, I got a “bad” review for my second book, For All Time, back in 1995. The reviewer for a local newspaper wrote something like, “A good story is hampered by stupid characters and weak writing.” Okay, it wasn’t that bad, but you get my drift. Anyway, I used that review and the newspaper’s name in my promo material. It came out as something like, “A good book. . .” Now that was wrong on my part since I totally distorted the review.

Those are Angela’s Review Rules. Do you have any?

That’s my topic today over at Blogging in Black. Come over and join me.

Okay, Chip MacGregor has another great article HERE on authors and money. It’s a must-read. You should just add him to the list of blogs that you regularly.

I saw this fabulous article on agent Chip MacGregor’s blog. I think it’s a must read for authors looking to promote their work. Check out the article HERE.

I know it’s a good article, but to be honest, I got tired just reading it. Now I have to decide which of the books he suggests to purchase first. Decisions, decisions. Are you going to purchase one? If so, which one?

In my book, Telling the Tale: The African-American Fiction Writers Guide, I devote a chapter to a discussion of how I develop chapters from scenes.  Since my first book, I’ve roughly gone with 15 page chapters with 3 5-page scenes. That’s just a rough guides. Some of my chapters are longer, some shorter, some have more scenes, rarely do they have fewer.  The rule-of-thumb really worked for me.

I’m also a scene-sequel writing, even though many of my sequel are implied and not explicit.

When I was on the Soul Expressions Author Tour, I had the chance to discuss book construction with some other authors.  Victoria Christopher Murray shared that she wrote her scenes as chapters. That really intrigued me so I decided to try it with my work-in-progress. Guess what? It’s working pretty well.

What I’ve found is that there is no room for sequel; they’re all implicit rather than explicit.  I also think the “scene is chapter” construction makes the book move faster.  We’ll have to see what readers (and my editor) think.  I may end up having to combine of the scenes into chapters during the revision process, but that will be pretty easy to do.

Tonight I took a few minutes and when back and looked at one of Victoria’s books.  She’s not a strict “scene is chapter” writer.  Some of her chapters consist of multiple scenes, but most of them are single scene chapters.

What I also found in Victoria’s book is that her chapters tend to be much shorter than mine. I’d guess her longest chapters were 10 pages, most were shorter.  I also checked books by Jacquelin Thomas and Kimberla Lawson Roby.  Their longest chapters tended to be around the 10-11 page limit.

When I looked at my books, I found that my shortest chapters were around 10 pages.  Most of them were around 14 but there were some with 16 pages and 18 pages.  In general, my chapters tended to be longer than the chapters of the other writers that I investigated.

So what do you like best — longer chapters or shorter chapters?  Do you even notice chapter length when you’re reading? To be honest, I hadn’t noticed and I read all three of the aforementioned authors on a regular basis.

Let me know your thoughts on chapter lenght

Grit for the Oyster: 250 Pearls of Wisdom for Aspiring Writers is an upcoming book by Suzanne Woods Fisher, Debora M. Coty, Faith Tibbetts McDonald, and Joanna Bloss.  I fell in love with it when Suzanne told me the title and I immediately asked her to share it with me and you.  She and her co-authors put together the following interview for you.  A link to a great excerpt is provided at the end of the interview.  It’ll have you running out to buy the book.

Grit for the Oyster Author Chat
Interview with Baba Waters

Baba: Would anyone care for another latte?

Faith: Absolutely. I never say no to a latte.

Suzanne: Oh, my gosh! I love lattes.

Joanna: Thanks, I’m good.

Debora: I’ve already got a monster caramel-mocha mustache. Is there any more Godiva?

Baba: So what’s it like for four gals to co-author a book? Any cat fights? Squalls? Secret cliques? Pajama parties?

Faith: If it was up to me, I’d probably still be wondering if the manuscript was good enough to send off to the publisher…it’s hard for me to take that step. But Suzanne’s drive, Deb’s enthusiasm and Joanna’s zest inspired me again and again. It was really fun to work with these girls.

Joanna: And I think our variety of perspectives added something-we’ve got very different personalities, levels of writing experience, and live in four different parts of the country: the northeast, south, mid-west and Pacific coast.

Baba: I know Grit for the Oyster was your baby, Suzanne. How was the idea birthed?

Suzanne: The idea came out of a need. As I was trying to figure out how to break through into book publishing from magazine writing, I kept wishing there was some kind of guide to let me know what felt normal (discouragement) and what I needed to do (persevere). I went to a writers’ conference and met Deb and Faith; the idea to share the book grew out of that conference. A blessed moment!

Baba: Word is that tons of famous authors contributed exclusive tips on how to be successful. Is this true?

Debora: We’re excited to include writing tips from amazing authors like Liz Curtis Higgs, Dr. Gary Chapman, BJ Hoff, James Scott Bell, Athol Dickson, Rhonda Rhea, Dr. Emerson Eggerichs, Phil Callaway, Karol Ladd, and many others. And we couldn’t be more thrilled to have lovely endorsements from best-selling authors Terri Blackstock, David Kopp, Linda Danis, and Ruth Carmichael Ellinger. Oh, and the foreword is penned by none other than Sally Stuart.

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Today is Open Mic Day for Writers.  You’re welcome (and encouraged) to post Comments and Questions related to writing.  I won’t be able to answer until next week, but you’re free to answer each other as you like.  We have some smart people visiting this blog, many of them published authors.  I”m sure they’ll help out.

Have at it!  I look forward to reading your comments when I get back from the Soul Expressions Author Tour.

Author J.A. Konrath has converted his popular blog, The Newbie’s Guide to Publishing, into a free book for download. I find his blog a rich source of helpful information for new and not-so-new authors. That’s he’s taken that valuable information, organized it, and published it in book format is a boon for authors looking for a resource guide for the profession of commercial fiction writing.

Before I give you the link to download the book, I want to encourage you to buy one of the guy’s books. He writes mysteries, but even if you don’t like mysteries, you should buy one of his. Why? Because he’s giving you this resource for free. You have to be willing to give back and the best way to do that is to buy one of his books. Give it away as a gift if you don’t like it. Toss in the corner and never look at it. Whatever. Just buy it.

You can find his book list HERE:

You can download The Newbie’s Guide to Publishing Book HERE.

Enjoy!

This post is about book reviews, from those on Amazon.com to those in Publishers Weekly.  I’ve always wanted to talk about reviews–bad ones–but in order to do that I’d have to tell people that I’ve gotten ones.  And nobody wants to advertise they’ve gotten a bad review.

People are really funny about bad reviews, especially author friends.  Nobody mentions them.  It’s as though they never happened. I got a bad review in an Atlanta paper on my second book (yes, I remember it), and nobody in my writing group mentioned it.  Now I know they’d read it because the book reviewer had visited our RWA chapter meeting and agreed to review romance novels.  It’s like when you know you’re having a “bad hair day” but nobody comments on it, not even to joke.  That’s when you know how seriously we writers take these reviews.

PW has reviewed a couple of my books.  Back in the day, it was hard for a romance novel to get a review, and one without a back-handed insult was hard to find.  But we writers learned to deal with PW. Let’s say the PW reviewer writes that “the author butchered this book and destroyed what could have been wonderful characters.”  Well, the creative author turns lemons into lemonade.  The next thing you know, the author has a quote from PW on her web site or the cover of her book and it says “. . .wonderful characters. -PW”  Just lose a few words and a bad review becomes a good review.

In all fairness, I don’t think we do that anymore.  It’s pretty clear it’s not an honest representation of how PW felt about the book.  Just goes to show the lengths we’ll go to get a good review.

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My “Write that Book” Teleseminar has been scheduled and the invitations have gone out to the contest winners.  If you’re  a contest winner and you haven’t received an invitation, please comment here to let me know. 

I have some plans for expanding this seminar into a seminar series, but I can’t talk about the details now.  Keep watching the blog for update.

If anyone tells you’re they’re fun, don’t believe them! 

I bet you’ve guessed that I’m on deadline. What I bet you don’t know is that I’m always on deadline.  Something is always due, and if you’re a teacher or a working mother or a writer with a full-time job or just a very busy person, I’m sure you understand.  To keep my sanity, I maintain a calendar in Outlook to manage my deadlines.  I’m due date driven so seeing that task list helps keep me focused.

I read something on Tyler Perry’s web page (by the way, House of Payne was kicking this week) that’s been sticking with me as I work through all my task list.  It’s something we all know, but it’s nice to be reminded.  Here it is for you to ponder:

. . .we as human beings almost always sabotage our own success.

There are many reasons why we do this but the main reason that I used to do it and so many of us still do it is because we don’t feel that we deserve good things to happen to us. Be it because of what we were told as children or what someone may have done to us, even as of late. . .

. . .if you are the type of person that gets close but never makes it in, what that tells me is that you have the faith to get to the door, but not enough to open it. There are different levels of faith. One can take you to the door. Then you need faith to open it. A lot of times fear will keep you from opening it, because a lot of us are afraid of change.  Then you need faith to go through the door. This is the biggest part because it means you have to conquer the unknown. This kind of faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

Let’s walk through the door, y’all.

Since I haven’t talked much about publishing lately, I thought I’d take a moment and talk about royalty statements since it’s that time of year.

September 30 was a big day for a lot of authors. It was royalty day. Publishing contracts typically pay out every six months. The contract states that royalties for the Jan-Jun 2006 period must be mailed to the author by September 30. So, if you visit the blogs of all your favorite authors and they’re deliriously happy, it probably means they got paid. 🙂 Some authors out there may not be so happy as they may not have earned as much as they wanted to earn. That’s the way it goes.

A couple of contract clauses can make royalty time a bit depressing for authors: joint accounting and reduced royalties on deeply discounted books. Let’s talk about these two so that you’ll know what authors face.

Joint accounting, also basket accounting. What is joint accounting? I don’t have a definition but I can give an example. Suppose you have a two-book contract that includes an advance for the first book and an advance for the second book. In joint accounting, you have to earn back the money for both books before you get any more money. Let’s say you get $10,000 for the first book and $20,000 for the second book, a total of $30,000.

Typically, you’d get half of the first advance ($5000) and half of the second ($10,000), a total of $15,000, upon signing the contract. When you turn in book one and it’s accepted, you get the second half of the first advance ($5000), for a total of $20,000 in advance received. When the second book is turned in, you get the second half of the second advance ($10,000), for a total of $30,000 in advance received.

In joint accounting, you don’t get another dime from the publisher until you earn back the full $30,000. Suppose your first book earns $25,000 the first year? You don’t get any money because you still owe the publisher $5000 under joint accounting. Without joint accounting, you would have received royalties of $15,000 on the first book ($25,000 – $10,ooo advance already received). Of course, you wouldn’t get any money on book 2 until you had earned back the $20,000 advance paid for book 2.

So, in joint accounting the payments for the books are lumped together, as opposed to each book standing on its own. Of course, if you’re getting $100,000 for the first book and $200,000 for the second book, you may not mind joint accounting. You really have to look at all the terms of the contract.

Reduced royalties on books sold at a discount. Typically, bookstores buy books from publisers at 60% of the cover price. On a hard cover book, the standard royalty rate (the rate the author is paid) is 10% of the cover price for the first 5000 copies sold, 12.5% for the next 5000, and 15% for anything over 10,000. If you sell 1-5000 copies of a book that has a cover price of $22 dollars, you get $2.20/book.

The reduced royalties on discounted books means you’d get 10% of the net receipts of the book, rather than 10% of the cover price. So, if the publisher sells the book to the bookstore at a 50% discount, you 10% of the discounted price. If the book is $22, you get 10% of $11 or $1.10/book. You’ll notice that this is half of what you’d get under normal royalties. [To be fair, I think 55% is the deep discount point for most publishers, but 50% was an easier number to work with in the example.]

These two clauses are enough reasons to get an agent to negotiate on your behalf. Your agent may not always be able to get them out, but she can advise you on ways to minimize their impact on your bottom line. Have a good one!

This question has been rolling around in my mind for quite a while now. Just to be clear, the IT is Christian fiction. So, what makes Christian fiction Christian?

I started writing Christian fiction back around 1999. At that time, the books were being sold primarily in CBA (Christian Bookseller Association) bookstores and published by publishers who served those bookstores, called CBA publishers. Yourgeneral bookstores, chain (Border’s, Amazon, etc) or independent (Black Images Book Bazaar in Dallas, Karibou in DC/Maryland), are called ABA (or, BEA) bookstores. You’ll find Christian fiction sections of varying sizes in ABA stores. Industry reports suggest that Christian fiction is one of the fastest growing markets. But I’m getting off track . . .

One of the things that surprised me when I entered CBA publishing was the complaint of some CBA authors (authors I’d read and enjoyed) that CBA publishing guidelines contrained them in their writing and didn’t allow them to tell the stories they really wanted to tell. The authors seemed to feel constrained from telling “real” stories.

That wanting to write real stories about real people refrain is one that is still heard among Christian authors and, to be honest, I’ve said it myself. Only recently have I begun to ask myself exactly what the refrain means. I’ve heard that the characters in some Christian fiction were/are unrealistic because the people were/are too perfect. More recently, there’s the refrain among African-American authors and readers of Christian fiction that CBA Christian fiction does not speak to the reality of their lives. So now we have CBA fiction, where CBA has somehow become code for “white” and gospel fiction, code for “black.” [Okay, Dee, kick me if I’m misusing your term.]

I think the two aforementioned reasons are why we have the real refrain from Christian authors and readers. Unfortunately, the fallout I’m seeing from this is that in some (and I do say “some”) books it’s difficult to distinguish the Christian characters from the non-Christian characters. This is the problem that gets me back to the initial question in this post, What makes IT Christian? What makes Christian fiction Christian?

The conclusion I’ve come to is that “real” Christian fiction doesn’t seek to show how weak Christians are, but rather to show people of faith in situations where they’re challenged to live their faith. Sometimes they’ll meet the challenge and, at others, they won’t. But in the course of the challenges, we see a growing relationship with God through Christ.

I’ve concluded that the challenge of writing Christian fiction is not in showing how far Christians can fall, but in showing, through words and story, what it means to love God, to be in relationship with Him. I think this is reality for Christians.

So how do I show this reality in my stories? How do I write a compelling story about a person who loves God? How do I show a relationship with an invisible God on the very visible pages of a book? Now that’s a challenge.

In next week’s post, I’ll reflect on how I wrote The Amen Sisters as a way of looking more closely at these questions. Please note that I’m not saying that I have the answers, just that I want to explore the questions more.

Okay, those are my thoughts. What do you think?

The other day I was thinking about characters and the power we as authors have in our creation of them. We have goals for our characters and in our execution of those goals we take our readers into a land we created and ask them to join in with us. Some enter and decide to stay with us, while others decide our land is not the place for them. That’s the truth that authors have to embrace: Everybody is not going to like your book. That’s hard to hear, but I deal with it by telling myself that if everybody who reads my books likes them, then I didn’t have very good distribution. You see, I’m good at turning lemons into lemonade. 🙂

I remember the first time I wanted to write to an author. That author was Julie Garwood. Yes, Julie Garwood, the then historical romance author. Okay, the then NYTimes bestselling historical romance author. In the 90’s, she wrote For the Roses. That book had me boo-hooing. Not because I was sad, but because I was touched. You see, For the Roses had a black male character as a member of Rose family, four orphans who banded together because no one wanted them. Three white men, one white woman (a baby when the teen-aged boys formed their family) and Adam.

In For the Roses, Julie Garwood took me into a world I had never entered. In Julie Garwood’s world, Adam’s “brothers” didn’t take rooms in the fancy hotel while Adam stayed in the livery. They didn’t ride in the comfortable passenger cars and leave Adam alone in a cattle car. In Julie Garwood’s world, Adam’s brothers loved him and showed that love by the way they treated him. In her world, Adam was the wise older brother, whose love and care for his family was returned in full measure.

Later, I read somewhere that For the Roses was among Julie Garwood’s worst-selling books. Still, a bestseller, but not as much so as her other titles. I hope that’s not true. I also remember reading one reader characterizing the book as unrealistic. I’m not sure what she meant, but I wonder if what I found touching in For the Roses, other readers found unrealistic. You see, in most books set in that time period, good ole Adam would have been left alone in the livery and the cattle car with a smile and a “take care.” But in Julie’s world, love worked differently.

I think now that I should have written to Julie Garwood and thanked her for writing For the Roses. From her, I learned the power that we as authors have. We choose the reality of our stories. We write fiction; we make up stories. We decide what to show and what to leave to the imagination. We decide what’s important and what’s not important in the worlds we create. And, in doing so, we hope to present the reader the truth that is reality. Now that’s a hard job. Some might even think of it as a calling.

My hat is off and my heart is open to my brother and sister authors who attempt to do this everyday with Christian fiction. We’re not going to please every reader every time, and sometimes we’re not going to please each other, but what we can do is give each other the space to tell the stories that God gives us. What may not work for me, could be life-saving for somebody else. Now that is reality.

Have a great day, everybody.

I’ve been getting quite a few messages from new writers lately and I thought I’d make you all aware of the writing resources on this web site. If you look down the right panel, you’ll see a section with the heading Writing Resources with two links listed. The first link takes you to some my personal writing tips, which I encourage you to browse.

Also, if you’re in the NYC area on April 22, you might want to check out the Faith and Fiction Function being hosted by Kingdom Baptist Church in Yonkers, NY. I’ll be there, along with Tiffany Warren and LaTonya Mason. We’ll have a time of praise, prayer, fellowship and sharing what we know about publishing in the Christian fiction arena as well as in the general market.

Don’t forget the Faith Based Arts Conference. At lot of your favorite Chrsitian authors will be in attendance. I’m teaching a Writer’s Workshop. It’ll be a great time! Oh, yes, and for $75 you can get a professional critique of the synopsis and first chapter of your manuscript.

In the new few weeks, we’ll be wrapping up the Taking Back the Past series. Any ideas for publishing topics that we can tackle then?

 

1. Finish at least one manuscript. It’s important for new writers to know that they can finish a book. It might not be the best book in the world, but you will have proved to yourself that you can tell a story from beginning to end. That knowledge will make finishing the second book much easier. As you write more books, you’ll find that you develop a rhythm to your writing. You’ll begin to notice how long your chapters are, how many scenes are usually in a chapter, how long it takes you to write a scene or chapter, etc. This knowledge will prove invaluable once you start writing to deadline.

2. Make time to read at least one book a month. Most writers start as avid readers. Once readers start to write, they sometimes find their lives so busy that reading is neglected. Don’t let that happen to you. Don’t lose your love and appreciation of good stories. In addition to hours of pleasure, reading will keep you up to date on the market.

3. Rejoice in the success of other writers. Every time a new writer sells a book, a struggling writer should be encouraged. That sale is proof that publishers are still buying new writers. Take time to congratulate that writer and be sure to purchase the book when it hits the shelves.

Telling the Tale

In 2000, Berkeley published my writing book, Telling the Tale: The African-American Fiction Writer’s Guide. This book is a good place for new writers to start. Telling the Tale is out-of-print now, but you can find copies at most online stores.

“Benson knows her stuff, and her wonderful reference book for African-American fiction writers would be equally useful to writers of any ethnicity. ” –The Internet Writing Journal

A Word of Encouragement from Angela (excerpted from Telling the Tale)

How did I sell my first book?

I sold the first book that I wrote. I started writing it in 92, sold it in 93 and it was published in 94. That’s not bad for writers.

But a lot happened between the time I started writing and the time I sold my book. The first, and I think the most important, is that I joined Romance Writers of America, the national chapter and the local chapter. The support and information that I received from this group has been invaluable.

Second, I joined a critique group of new writers like myself. We met at the local RWA meeting. When we started meeting we knew next to nothing about writing, but we learned together. Five people participated in the critique group and three of us are now published.

Third, I set goals and kept them. My first goal was to write a synopsis and three chapters so I could enter a contest. I accomplished that goal. My next goal was to finish the book in order to enter another contest. I accomplished that one was well. Using contests as milestones help me set and manage my goals. In addition, the critiques from contest judges helped me hone my writing skills.

Last, I learned to accept rejection. All writers want their work to be loved and adored by all. I do too, but that’s not a realistic expectation. Your writing is not going to resonant with every reader. That’s a fact of life. Think about John Grisham and Danielle Steel. Not everybody thinks their work is wonderful, yet they have magnificent careers-careers that we’d all like to have. As a beginning writer, you have to be prepared for rejection. You can’t let one rejection or ten rejections get you so down that you become discouraged and quit writing. You have to hang in there until you sell. And even after you sell, rejection is still a part of the writer’s life.

What happens after you sell that first book?

This question is asked by many writers still waiting to sell their first book. Though the process varies from publishing house to publishing house, the general steps are:

1. The editor calls and makes an offer to buy your book. After negotiating, you accept.

2. The editor sends a revision letter. Yes, she bought your book, but there are some changes, some clarifications, that you’ll need to make to make your book better. You’re given about 2-3 weeks to make the changes.

3. After you finish the revisions, you send the book back to the editor. Hopefully, she okays your revisions and your manuscript goes to be typeset. Some publishing houses typeset from disk; others typeset from the manuscript page. At this stage errors can actually be introduced into your work. Some of the typos that you see in books were not put there by the authors, but were introduced during the typeset process.

4. The next thing you’ll get will be the galleys. These are the typeset manuscript pages. Your job is to check for typographical errors, missing words, missing paragraphs, duplicate paragraphs, that kind of thing. You have about a week.

5. You return the galley pages that need correcting and, if all goes well, the corrections are made.

6. Your editor sends the galleys to reviewers for advance reviews.

7. Your book is shipped from the warehouse a month before its release date. If a book is an August book, it starts to ship from the warehouse in July. By August 1, it should have arrived in all bookstores across the country. Of course, some stores will get the book in July, usually around the middle of the month.

For my first book, the time from Step 2 to Step 6 was nine months. For my second book it was five months.

Tip for submitting your work

Do your research. The Writer’s Market, Romance Writer’s Sourcebook and Romance Writers Pink Pages are excellent places to start. They list publishing houses and agents according to genre. These books also tell you what to include in your submission: query or synopsis and chapters.

Critique groups: what are they and how do you find one

A critique group is three to four writers who meet on a regular basis to read and critique each other’s work, set goals and provide mutual motivation. They require commitment and compatibility. Sometimes you aren’t lucky enough to get both on the first go round. The best place to find potential critique partners would be at your local writing group. Look for writers who are at the same level as you. Most new writers want to get paired with an established, published author but I don’t think that works very well since the relationship tends to be one of mentor and student rather than partners. Look for partners. Mentors can come later.

Hot Tip 

Don’t edit yourself as you write your first draft. Allow yourself to write bad prose, but force yourself to get the first draft on paper. In our effort to write our story perfectly the first time, we can discourage ourselves so much that we never finish. So, write that first draft. You’ll have plenty of time to make it perfect AFTER the draft is complete.

BOOKS OF INTEREST

For the beginning writer:

Make Your Words Work, Gary Provost
The Elements of Grammar, Margaret Shertzer
The Weekend Novelist, Robert Ray
Free Within Ourselves: Fiction Lessons for Black Writers, Jewel Parker Rhodes

Polishing that completed manuscript:

Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Renni Browne & Dave King
The Writer’s Journey, Chris Vogler

Marketing your work:

The African-American Writer’s Handbook, Robert Fleming
The Writer’s Market, Writer’s Digest Books

Magazines: Writer’s Digest Magazine, Black Issues Book Review

Web Resources

I don’t know Joe Konrath (mystery author) personally, but I do know that his web site and blog provide a lot of information about the publishing business. Take a look at some of his materials. I have bought one of his books since visiting his site and, if you find his information helpful, please show your gratitude by purchasing one of his books. You don’t have to like mysteries in order to support him either. You can always give the book to a friend or donate it to a shelter or library. The key is to give back.

J.A. Konrath’s Writing Tips

J.A. Konrath’s “A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing”

I don’t know Holly Lisle (suspense author) either but she’s taken the time to put together some wonderful resources for writers. I haven’t purchased one of Holly’s books yet, but I will soon. Like with Joe, if you use her materials, show your gratitude by purchasing one of her books.

Holly Lisle’s “Fast Forward for Writers”

Randy Ingermanson (Christian fiction author) has another site with lots of information for writers. Ditto what I said for Joe and Holly.

Randy Ingermanson’s “On Writing”

The following links are to a variety of writer’s resources, including writing organizations. Take some time to browse through.

American Christian Fiction Writers

African American Online Writing Guild

Romance Writers of America

Christian Booksellers Association

Publisher’s Weekly

Over the past few years, I’ve given a few writing workshops. The following links take you to the materials that I used. Please note that I have not updated the materials since the workshop.

Writing Christian Fiction, Romance Slam Jam 2004

Writing the Synopsis

Last updated February 20, 2006.

Copyright (c) 1997-2006 Angela D. Benson.