…If you or anyone has any advice for me related to how to get started in Christian non-fiction writing (publisher suggestions, writing suggestions, anything...), please share! I feel like now is the time to step out in faith and get started, somehow…
Haelie
Hi Haelie!
I love your question. I think you’re totally off to a great start by creating a blog. I say that because a blog is a great way to test out ideas and see whose needs your non-fiction can meet. The best way to do that is to ask yourself a couple of questions about what you want to accomplish:
First – Who do you want to reach?
Second – What are your qualifications and how can you grow them?
After you’ve determined your audience and its needs, you can begin blogging about those topics. (Incidentally, you may notice that your blog already runs along a particular theme.)
As you blog you can also think about magazines and other publications that reach the same demographic. For instance: I manage realteenfaith.com– so it’s a natural outflow for me to also write for Susie Magazine and similar outlets.
When you publish in various venues, you are building your publishing credits. This is something publishers love.
Of course, that isn’t the only way to get started with non-fiction. Excellent writing can overcome a lack of a platform with some publishers. But in this economy, almost all publishers want to see writers (especially non-fiction writers) growing a platform through social media, magazine articles, etc.
(Here’s my view on it: I am doing myself a favor by building an audience. I’m not doing it just to get a publisher’s interest – I’m doing it because I want my books and articles to reach as many people as they can for the glory of God.)
I'm looking forward to the other Scribble Chicks jumping in with advice about the other aspects of publishing you mentioned.
God bless you as you write for Him!
BJ
Editor, Real Teen Faith
www.realteenfaith.com
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Great advice on platforms! They definitely are importnat lately, especially in today's economy when publishers are being pushed to sell more and more books. I think people get scared when they hear "platform" because it sounds so big and official and intimidating. But a platform doesn't have to be a "FEED THE WORLD" campaign or something really huge. It can be just a theme you keep in your stories that you can then blog about, a faith element, or even something vague and widespread like stay-at-home moms. So don't panic, guys. Just think about what means a lot to you, and how you can incorporate that into your writing. Voila, platform!
ReplyDeleteThank you, BJ and Betsy, very much!!! I have not had a chance to read Scribble Chicks in the last couple of days, and I am so glad I did just now! I will definitely take your advice to heart.
ReplyDeleteI do have one platform I have been going with on the blog I started back in November, which is just as it is titled "To Not Decide Is To Decide..." (www.tonotdecideistodecide.blogspot.com) If any of you ever feel like checking it out and giving me feedback I'd love it (positive and, well, constructive!). Oh, and do keep in mind that I actually started the blog more as an outlet of my thoughts and a ministry than a literary writing venture (hence the structure, punctuation, grammar may not be perfect but I don't think it's too far off, either).
I also last week got on a brand new Facebook-like community that Max Lucado just started last week. I have started a group on there by the same title and have a few members and have gotten some good feedback already. (More than on the blog itself, though I basically post the blogposts as individual discussions in the group.)
I, like you BJ, really do see this as exposing God as much as...really much moreso than myself! Thanks again, so very much!
Oh, and one more thing about my blog, in case you check it out. I suggest starting with my 2nd post (November 2009, "What's with the name?") and work your way forward chronologically from there as you wish. The posts do stand alone pretty well, though in that post I issue a challenge to which I refer throughout many of the subsequent posts. You'll see what I mean. :o)
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