So different!

Twice recently, I have been reminded in no uncertain terms about how different we all are as authors. In earlier years, this would have caused me to feel so inferior. Was I on the right track? Surely those other authors had found a better way of going about things? Now, however, I realise it’s okay and, in fact, quite natural that we should be such a diverse bunch!

A few weeks ago, I saw this diversity clearly displayed when I visited the NSW Writers’ Centre for their 25^th birthday celebrations. I had been selected as one of five winners of a writing competition and was there to collect my prize. We had been required to write about an experience of being at the Centre—an easy topic for me because, at once, a conversation I had years ago with a young writer during an emerging writers’ festival there came to mind. Here is a portion of what I wrote:

 ‘So ... have you enjoyed the sessions so far?’

‘Oh, yes!’ I lie. ‘How about you?’

‘Not really. They were mostly geared towards finding a publisher.’

‘That’s a shame ... are you already published then?’

At this point, he looks at me full on, horrified. What sort of blunder have I made? Was my question plain offensive to him? Perhaps he is some famous author I should have recognised.

‘No way!’ he blurts out at last. ‘Do you really want to be published?’

I am stunned. Of course I do!  Why would I not? Why go to all that trouble of spending months, even years, writing something others will never read? Yet this young man seems deeply disturbed by the whole idea.

As I chatted with a young woman at the birthday celebrations and told her what I had written, however, I heard a vastly different response.

‘I was at a writers’ festival like that too and, at one session, this publisher told us that, out of the fifty of us there, only one would find a publisher. Straight up, I decided, ‘That person is going to be me!!’

Her confidence and joyful expectancy was so refreshing to hear that I laughed out loud.

My second experience of such diversity occurred at the recent Omega Writers’ Conference. Three other authors and I had finished taking our turns on a panel and it was time for questions. Someone asked about book promotion and a spirited discussion ensued.

‘I remember how freeing it was to discover not every author has to blog,’ one panel member declared, ‘because I hate blogging! I keep thinking I could be writing more books, rather than wasting time adding to the mountain of words already out there in blogs everywhere!’

A few moments later, I had to add my bit.

‘Er ... um ... I really love blogging! I write a personal blog each week and link it to Facebook. I find it a great way to connect with people.’

In the end, we all laughed.

Yes, we are diverse bunch—and that’s wonderful! Let’s not be put off by others or jealous of them. Let’s celebrate our differences. Let’s learn from one another but also be true to ourselves and to God. God has gifted each one of us differently and we can each impact our readers in a way no one else can. 

Jo-Anne Berthelsen lives in Sydney but grew up in Brisbane. She holds degrees in Arts and Theology and has worked as a high school teacher, editor and secretary, as well as in local church ministry. Jo-Anne is passionate about touching hearts and lives through both the written and spoken word. She is the author of six published novels and one non-fiction work, Soul Friend: the story of a shared spiritual journey. Jo-Anne is married to a retired minister and has three grown-up children and four grandchildren. For more information, please visit www.jo-anneberthelsen.com.  

Paths to Publishing 1: Trade Publishing

By Iola Goulton

Happy New Year!

The New Year is traditionally the time when we make resolutions about what we are going to achieve in the coming year—perhaps lose weight, exercise more, read the Bible and pray more, read more books.

For those of you reading this, a writing blog, resolutions might include write a book or finish a book or publish a book (do I see any hands?). For others, the resolutions might be more around marketing, to make 2016 the year when you finally start a website, a blog, a Twitter account, a Pinterest page. Or maybe the resolution is to reignite the existing accounts and actually DO something . . .

Australasian Christian Writers will be covering all these subjects (and more) in our Monday craft posts this year. But we’re going to start with the beginning of the publishing journey. Over the next four weeks I’m going to look at the four main publishing routes:

1. Trade Publishing
2. Small Press Publishing
3. Self-Publishing
4. Co-operative Publishing

We’re going to begin today with the granddaddy of them all, trade publishing.

Trade Publishing

Trade publishing is the industry term for a traditional royalty-paying publisher (although you may see self-published authors refer to trade publishers as legacy publishers).

Under the trade publishing model, an author writes a book, and a publisher purchases the rights to publish and sell the book in specified formats (e.g. hardcover, paperback, digital, audiobook) and in specified locations (e.g. the United States and Canada, Australasia) in a specified language (e.g. English).

In return for the specified rights, the publisher will pay the author a royalty on the sale of each book (which is expressed either as a percentage of the recommended retail price, or as a percentage of the actual selling price), and may also pay an advance. A publishing advance is similar to asking the boss for an advance: it is an up-front payment which will be credited against future earnings (in this case, royalty payments). An author who gets an advance won’t get any other payments from the publisher until the book has sold enough copies that the royalties on the sold copies equal the advance payment made. In publishing terms, this means the advance has “earned out”.

For many Christian fiction authors, this is the publishing dream: a contract from one of the major publishers, whether a Big Five imprint, or one of the major independent publishers operating exclusively within the Christian fiction market. These are probably are the publishers who publish your favourite Christian writers, authors like Irene Hannon, Karen Kingsbury, DiAnn Mills, Tracie Petersen or Susan May Warren. These are the paperbacks you see in your local Christian bookstore, online at Amazon or Christian Book Distributors, and in large print hardcover at your local library.

The big publishers publish four or more fiction titles a month. They have beautiful covers. The books are well written and well edited. The authors have pretty websites, and the Amazon pages are full of glowing reviews (often because the publishers have included an expensive blog tour as part of the book’s marketing package).

It’s easy to see why any Christian fiction author would want to be published with one of these companies. It’s a sign you’re a ‘real’ author; you’ve made it.

But there is a down side. While these publishers produce four or more fiction titles a month, that’s only a tiny fraction of the titles submitted to them, and most of their books will be from established authors. They may have as few as six slots in their annual publishing schedule for novels from a debut authors.

And few (if any) will accept direct submissions from authors.

It is generally accepted that the best route towards a trade publishing contract with a larger publisher is through a recognised literary agent who is active in the relevant market—for Christian fiction writers, this means a reputable agent who is active in the CBA. Many smaller presses accept submissions directly from author, which makes it important for the author to know what differentiates a quality small press from an amateur, or worse, a vanity press masquerading as a “traditional publisher” (which we’ll cover in a future post).

Next week, I’ll be back to look at small presses: trade publishers which don’t require an agent. In the meantime, what questions do you have about traditional publishing?

About Iola Goulton

I am a freelance editor specialising in Christian fiction, and you can find out more about my services at my website (www.christianediting.co.nz), or follow me on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/christianediting), Twitter (@IolaGoulton) or Pinterest (http://pinterest.com/iolasreads).

Watching our babies grow

On 4^th March this year, our fourth grandchild was born—a little girl called Maxine. Of course, she is

gorgeous! She has lots of black hair, big dark eyes and lovely, milk chocolate skin, courtesy of her Ghanaian father. And now she has a beautiful smile that has become wider and wider and appears more often these days. We look forward to the next stages of her development too, which no doubt will include things like noticing her own hands and rolling over onto her tummy. At the moment, we can’t imagine her sitting or crawling or eventually walking and talking, but we trust all that will happen in due course.

I thought of Maxine recently, in the midst of writing my second work of non-fiction. This book was conceived towards the end of last year and is taking some time to develop. It is another memoir, but, unlike Soul Friend, it follows a particular thread of my journey from my earliest years to the present. As well, each chapter contains some teaching on one facet of that journey and some reflection questions for readers. At the moment, I am unsure if it will work—and whether it will even be considered suitable for publication. Some days, I want to forget about the whole idea, because this book is proving quite difficult to bring together in the shape I envisage. But I press on. After all, it’s my baby—it has a name already and I can visualise that cover even now.

I remember a time in 2005 when I was looking for a publisher for my very first novel Heléna. I had almost given up and shared my dilemma with some Christian women leaders at a retreat. As we prayed for one another, one younger woman prayed specifically that I would find a publisher and that Heléna would in fact be birthed safely. I was touched to the point of tears that she understood how this first novel did indeed feel like a real baby to me. It had actually gestated within me for years and years—and I longed for it to see the light of day. Later, she quietly told me she had seen an ad for a new Christian publisher in a magazine at her mother’s place and would send me the details. I knew she was a busy, young mum and doubted she would remember—but she did. Many months later, this was the publisher who released my first novel Heléna.

Yes, sometimes it’s exhausting work, coaxing those books inside us into being, helping them take shape in the way God wants. But I take heart as I watch our little Maxine develop more and more as a little person. As I put time and effort and prayer into this current writing project of mine, it will come together, if God wants it to touch others for the Kingdom. As I nurture it carefully and as God breathes life into it, it will grow and blossom, just as God has reminded me through our little granddaughter.

If you too are in the midst of wrestling with a writing project, may you take heart today and keep going. May God give you great joy as you watch that precious baby grow and develop—and eventually stand on its own two feet!

Jo-Anne Berthelsen lives in Sydney but grew up in Brisbane. She holds degrees in Arts and Theology and has worked as a high school teacher, editor and secretary, as well as in local church ministry. Jo-Anne is passionate about touching hearts and lives through both the written and spoken word. She is the author of six published novels and one non-fiction work, Soul Friend: the story of a shared spiritual journey. Jo-Anne is married to a retired minister and has three grown-up children and three grandchildren. For more information, please visit www.jo-anneberthelsen.com or www.soulfriend.com.au.