Events:

MARCH

• March 19-20 Marketing your Fiction Seminar, Nashville, TN. Contact Tiffany Colter with questions 734.474.5489 or tiffcolter@gmail.com, www.TheMasterSeminars.com. At this event we’ll show you how to create—and implement—your own, personalized marketing plan to make your novel stand out in a crowded marketplace. $399 includes seminar materials and lunch both days.

• March 15-April 23rd, Learn to Write for Children, online writing course taught by Karen Whiting, www.WIESworkshops.com. In this six-week course, you’ll learn to engage a children’s heart and mind with words and stories. Registration $125. Deadline to register is Monday, March 8th.
 
APRIL

• April 5-April 30, Dynamics of Dialogue, online writing course. www.WIESworkshops.com. In this four-week course, allow Eva Marie Everson to show you the dynamics of writing dialogue. From tag lines to staggering tags, from adding action and voice inflection, you will learn it all in a fun, hands-on workshop. By the end of four weeks, writing dialogue will come to you as naturally as … well … speaking! Registration $100. Deadline to register is Monday, March 29th.

• April 23-24, Writing a Bestselling Novel, Embassy Suites Portland Airport. Portland, OR. Contact Tiffany Colter with questions 734.474.5489 or tiffcolter@gmail.com, www.TheMasterSeminars.com. In this two-day workshop, Susan May Warren and literary agent Chip MacGregor will explain the basic elements of a bestselling novel, show you how to create great characters, and get you going on plotting a story that will be both memorable and meaningful. We’ll make the whole process understandable, and you’ll leave having taken a major step forward in your novel writing. $349 which includes all materials and lunch on Saturday.

• April 26-May 21, Basics for Beginning Fiction Writers, online writing course taught by Jeanne Marie Leach. www.WIESworkshops.com. In this four-week class you will learn the different components of a work of fiction that must be present, whether writing short stories or full-length novels. Jeanne uses a concise and methodical system to help beginning writers of fiction to know which step to take next, regardless of where they are in their writing endeavors. Registration $100. Registration deadline is Monday, April 19th.

• April 30-May 1, Workshop for Women Writers, Mt. Horeb, WI, at Life Church. Contact Nicole O’Dell with questions 708-691-0081 or nicoleodell6@gmail.com, Or visit the facebook event page. This workshop is $39.00 and that includes lunch and dinner on Saturday.

 
MAY

• May 7-8, Adding Depth to Your Fiction, Orlando, FL. Contact Tiffany Colter with questions 734.474.5489 or tiffcolter@gmail.com, www.TheMasterSeminars.com.  A chance for novelists to share a weekend with two nationally-recognized writers (Lisa Samson and award-winning writer Susan Meissner), in order to explore how to add depth and power to your fiction. Registration: $399 includes seminar materials and lunch both days.

• May 24-June 25, Writing Women’s Fiction, online writing course taught by Deborah Raney. www.WIESworkshops.com. This 5-week workshop will key on the elements of writing that pertain particularly to Contemporary Women’s Fiction, with an emphasis on characterization, evoking emotion, using setting as another “character,” and using social issues in the story plot. Registration $120. Deadline to register is Monday, May 17th.

JUNE
• June 18-19, Writing a Bestselling Novel, Embassy Suites Denver Aurora. Contact Tiffany Colter with questions 734.474.5489 or tiffcolter@gmail.com, www.TheMasterSeminars.com. In this two-day workshop, Susan May Warren and literary agent Chip MacGregor will explain the basic elements of a bestselling novel, show you how to create great characters, and get you going on plotting a story that will be both memorable and meaningful. We’ll make the whole process understandable, and you’ll leave having taken a major step forward in your novel writing. $349 which includes all materials and lunch on Saturday.
JULY
• July 23-24, Adding Depth to Your Fiction. Grand Rapids, MI. Contact Tiffany Colter with questions 734.474.5489 or tiffcolter@gmail.com, www.TheMasterSeminars.com. A chance for novelists to share a weekend with two nationally-recognized writers (Lisa Samson and award-winning writer Susan Meissner), in order to explore how to add depth and power to your fiction. Registration: $399 includes seminar materials and lunch both days.

AUGUST

• August 13 & 14, 2010, FaithWriters conference, Radisson Hotel & Conference Center, Livonia, MI, Contact Lynda Schab, http://www.faithwriters.com/conference.php, The FaithWriters’ yearly conference is unique. Certainly, it offers a whole range of workshops for writers of all skill levels and genres, taught by dynamic speakers. But this conference goes much deeper than that–it nurtures the whole writer, spiritually, physically, creatively, and emotionally through prayer, fun, and fellowship with like-minded writers. Come and be blessed! Price: Early Bird (by June 5) FW Platinum Members $72.00 per person; All Others $82.00 per person General Rate (from June 6, 2010) FW Platinum Members $82.00 per person; All Others $92.00 per person
Rate Includes: Conference cost, Saturday morning breakfast, lunch & afternoon snack. Hotel rates: $93 per night.
Writing Contests:

MARCH

• The Genesis. Deadline March 31, 2010 8am Pacific time. www.ACFW.com/genesis Entry fee: $35

• The Frasier. Deadline March 31, 2010 11:59pm Pacific time. http://www.mybooktherapy.com/index2.php/?page_id=1005 Entry fee: $30

MAY

• Inspirational Writers Alive Open Writing Competition. Deadline: May 15. Entry Forms available by email at marthalrogers@sbcglobal.net, Guidelines available: www.tcwc.blogspot.com, Registration Fee: $15.

Don’t miss a single posting! Subscribe here to receive these postings by e-mail. Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at writingcareercoach.com.

Here is an upcoming writing course.  I wanted to give you all a chance to sign up since the deadline is March 8th.  I will be posting a list of other events and competitions within the next few days.  I hope you will take advantage of these postings and learn something new!

March 15-April 23rd, Learn to Write for Children, online writing course taught by Karen Whiting, www.WIESworkshops.com. In this six-week course, you’ll learn to engage a children’s heart and mind with words and stories. Registration $125. Deadline to register is Monday, March 8th.

Don’t miss a single posting! Subscribe here to receive these postings by e-mail. Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at writingcareercoach.com.

In my previous blog I suggested looking for work in other venues. Today I want to show how this will help you with your book or novel writing.

1. You learn to write by writing. While there is a difference between a term paper and a romance novel writing is still writing. You learn to express yourself better as you write, no matter what the writing is for.
2. You learn about people. Interacting with people is a great way to deepen character development. In novels our characters will not always react in a way that seems logical to us. We need to learn how others react to certain situations so we can integrate that in our writing.
3. You make connections with other people who could be future readers. Becoming visible in your community helps increase your platform and will lead to more sales.

While these are just a few ways you can benefit from writing for other venues, they are important. Why don’t you take a few minutes to think of how writing for others will help you build and develop your writing career and share your thoughts in the comments.

Don’t miss a single posting! Subscribe here to receive these postings by e-mail. Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at writingcareercoach.com.

Do you dream of one day living the life of a novelist? Each morning you wake up full of creativity and then spend a few hours typing beautiful prose that whisk your reader off to a world they never knew existed. As you finish one book and send it off to your agent the next one flows. You get book deals with substantial cash advances. Royalties come in and your only work is going to the book signings.

Well, that isn’t the reality. The truth is many books get a cash advance of only a few thousand dollars and first time authors don’t often get more than $12,000 for a book that took them more than a year to write. Of that 15% goes to your agent, 30% goes to the government and another sizable chunk goes to marketing. Those book signings? You set them up, not your publisher, and you handle all travel expenses.

So, why would a person want to be a writer? Passion. We cannot deny the thoughts buzzing in our minds. Our stories need to get out.

How do you earn a living at it? Diversifying is one option. Find individuals, groups, or community organizations who need writers. Offer your services to them and commit a specific number of hours each week to working on these projects.

Think of three places where you could offer your services for a fee.

Don’t miss a single posting! Subscribe here to receive these postings by e-mail. Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at writingcareercoach.com.

            What does each person do to build my business?

To determine how each of these people build your business you must first determine what role you’d like them to perform and what the specific result is. For those of you who completed “Intro to the Writer’s Life” pull out your business plan that you created and go through this as we build in this lesson. You may find that you can expand your goals by delegating tasks. You may also find that some of your goals that you created don’t directly build your business and that they should be delayed or eliminated.

Let’s start to look at each task they perform. Feel free to write in additional tasks that are specific to your writing business.

             Editors

For the purpose of this lesson Editors means the people who acquire and edit work for periodicals, publishing houses and e-zines. These are the people you will submit a project to hoping to sell to them. I include them on your business team because you cannot look at yourself as an employee of a publishing house. You are an independent business owner who is contractually obligated to complete one or more projects for their company in exchange for a portion of the profit generated by that product.

This is very hard for many writers to accept in the beginning of their publishing career because they look at their writing as such a personal thing. I agree strongly that this is. I have spent a great deal of time researching my story, writing character sketches and building character arcs. I take great pride in the stories [both fiction and non-fiction] that I put together. However, in order to grow your business to the place that you can focus on that ARTISTIC portion of the business, you must first remove yourself emotionally from an individual story and look at the business as a whole.

So, the function of an editor as part of your business team is to be your advocate to the publishing board and also to help you shine that book in to the best it can be. Again, this is where emotionally separating yourself from your work must come in. If you get your affirmation from the exact story you wrote then this business will eat you alive. There will be no way for you to continue to function with the painful cuts in word count, the rejection of a book you spent months at and the mail from unhappy ‘fans’ if you are too emotionally connected to the project.

One great thing about writing, however, is it is highly relational. That means that as you begin to develop relationships with people on your writing team, like editors, you begin to mesh and join in a common vision. This makes it much easier to work together on future projects.

             Marketing

To decide the role of the marketer you must first recognize what marketing is. For the sake of this lesson, marketing is establishing name recognition and credibility with your target audience. This will lead to sales of book length fiction, articles, non-fiction, etc.

What are some ways a writer markets. If you took my course “Writing Career Coach Part 1: Creating a Platform” we discussed at great length how you can build this name recognition. If you don’t own it I you can get it free with my coaching program. Information is available on my website.

Based on the teachings you’ve read these last few days, what roles might these people fulfill. Respond in the comments section of this blog.

Publicity

Agent

Freelance Editors

Web Designers

Virtual Assistant/Secretary

This is excerpted from: Writing Career Coach Part 2: Your Writing Business Team. Written by Tiffany Colter

Read more excerpts and follow the links below:

A writer’s business team: Part 1

A Writer’s Business Team: Part 2

Don’t miss a single posting! Subscribe here to receive these postings by e-mail. Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at writingcareercoach.com.

Who are the people that make up the team?

Depending on your overall goals and business plan your team will vary but there are some positions that every writer must fill on their business team. Those people are:

            Editors

            Marketing

            Publicity

            Agent

 Whether you fill these roles yourself or your hire them out, every writer must include these people on their business team. In addition to these there are others that will help build your writing business and should be included in a highly successful writing business.

            Freelance Editors

            Web Designers

            Virtual Assistant/Secretary

In the beginning of your writing journey you’ll fill many of these rolls yourself. Gradually, however, you will need to focus your time and effort on doing the things that build your business and make you more productive. You will begin to outsource these tasks and focus increasing amounts of time on your actual writing.

Learning how to do this is why you bought this product.

This is excerpted from: Writing Career Coach Part 2: Your Writing Business Team. Written by Tiffany Colter.

Read more excerpts and follow th links below:

A writer’s business team: Part 1

A writer’s business team: Part 3

Don’t miss a single posting! Subscribe here to receive these postings by e-mail. Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at writingcareercoach.com.

Photo credit: Donna Hamaker

Today we are interviewing freelance writer and editor Sarah Hamaker.

 Sarah Hamaker is a freelance writer and editor, and author of Hired@Home, a guide to unlocking women’s work-from-home potential. Two of her stories have appeared in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Count Your Blessings and Chicken Soup for the Soul: All in the Family. She has a master’s degree in Literature and Language from Marymount University. Sarah lives in Virginia with her husband and four children. Visit her online at www.sarahhamaker.com.

Sarah took a few minutes to talk about editing with Writing Career Coach.

Writing Career Coach: As a freelance editor what are some of the things you do with a manuscript?
Sarah Hamaker: Editors correct grammatical and sentence structure, formatting and content, which involves story flow and more big-picture comments.

WCC: Can you explain some of the kinds of editing?
SH: There are basically two types of editing: proofreading or copyediting, and content editing. To proofread a manuscript, the copyeditor marks grammatical and formatting mistakes. For example, grammatical things she would correct include spelling, punctuation and sentence structure issues (subject-verb agreement, displaced modifiers, dangling participles, etc.). Formatting corrections involve making sure subheads, chapter titles, etc., are in the same style. The copyeditor also would make sure the manuscript adheres to an outside style guide, if applicable. Most book manuscripts are edited in the Chicago Manual of Style.
 
Content editing goes beyond grammar and formatting. A content editor reworks awkward sentences, notes holes in the story, and suggests dialogue or scene changes. Critiques by other writers generally combine content editing and copyediting.

WCC: What are things a writer can do to improve her writing before sending it to a freelance editor?
SH: There are several things writers can do to improve their writing. First, use your word processor’s spell and grammar check. I’ve received manuscripts that had very simple spelling mistakes that an electronic spell checker would have easily corrected.

Second, have family, friends and other writers read your work with an eye to grammatical and spelling mistakes.

Third, read books on how to write whatever genre you are interested in writing. Groups like the American Christian Fiction Writers also provide learning opportunities through online writing courses.

Fourth, join a local writers group. Being able to meet face to face with other writers who share your passion can encourage you as a writer.

Fifth, get involved in a critique group. Either online or in person, critique groups give you constructive criticism about your writing that you can use to improve your work.
 
WCC: What are some exercises a writer can do to improve?
SH: Use every opportunity to practice. Correct the printed materials you come across. Make it a game to take a red pen and mark up your local newspapers, magazines or even church bulletins. The idea is not to ridicule another’s work, but to see if you can catch mistakes and improve the copy.

Critique other writers. Often, as I’m marking someone else’s chapter, it will dawn on me that I make the exact same mistakes. Critiquing another’s work can improve your own work as you put into practice what you critique in others.

Available on used book sites, Grammar for Journalists by E.L. Callihan has quizzes throughout the book to illustrate common errors. While geared toward reporters, this book can be a good tool in learning about writing.

Online grammar exercises abound. One free site is http://www.wadsworth.com/devenglish_d/special_features/grammarquizzes.html, which offers grammar quizzes on a variety of topics, including pronouns, subordinates and irregular verbs.

 Read more of Sarah’s interview on freelance editors here at Examiner.

Don’t miss a single posting! Subscribe here to receive these postings by e-mail.
Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at writingcareercoach.com.

STEP 1: What is a writer’s business team?

 A writer’s business team can radically change the functioning of your business. By recognizing all the functions necessary to the running of your writing business you can begin to outsource these various tasks as you grow in your writing.

 Most people recognize this truth, even if they don’t openly acknowledge it. The advent of the virtual assistant shows this. Virtual assistants usually handle email correspondence, organizing newsletters and even blog tours. There are a variety of uses for a virtual assistant but they are not the only member of a person’s business team.

 In his book, the E-myth revisited, Michael Gerber focuses on the idea of systems to create an effective business structure. On pg 12-13 he says “In the throes of your Entrepreneurial Seizure [the sudden need to start your own business], you fell victim to the most disastrous assumption anyone can make about going in to business…That Fatal Assumption is: if you understand the technical work of a business, you understand a business that does that technical work. And the reason it’s fatal is that it just isn’t true. In fact, it’s the root cause of most small business failures!”  

 This is important because it puts to rest the idea that if you are able to write a great story it does NOT necessarily mean you have what it takes to be a successful author. That is because writing is an art AND a business.

 In my course “Intro to the Writer’s Life” I lay out the basics of the people who make up your business team. We are going to revisit that idea here and expand on them.

 This is excerpted from: Writing Career Coach Part 2: Your Writing Business Team. Written by Tiffany Colter

Read more excerpts and follow th links below:

A Writer’s Business Team: Part 2

A writer’s business team: Part 3

Don’t miss a single posting! Subscribe here to receive these postings by e-mail. Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at writingcareercoach.com.

Today we are interviewing author Jennifer AlLee. Her most recent book, The Pastor’s Wife, is available through Abingdon Press.

As a child, Jennifer AlLee lived above a mortuary in the heart of Hollywood, California, which may explain her unique outlook on life. Her publishing credits include The Love of His Brother, a contemporary romance from Five Star Publishing (November 2007) as well as skits, activity pages, and over one hundred contributions to Concordia Publishing House’s popular My Devotions series. Her latest novel, The Pastor’s Wife, releases February 1, 2010 from Abingdon Press. She’s an active member of American Christian Fiction Writers and serves as the Nevada Area Coordinator. Jennifer resides in the grace-filled city of Las Vegas, Nevada with her husband and teenage son. Visit her website at http://www.jenniferallee.com/

The Pastor’s Wife: Maura Sullivan thought she knew what she was getting into when she married soon-to-be pastor Nick Shepherd. But when “the other woman” in her marriage turned out to be her husband’s congregation, she ran. Three years later, she’s back in the small community of Granger, Ohio, for the reading of a will that names both her and Nick as beneficiaries. Now Maura must face the husband – and the congregation – she left behind.

View the book trailer on YouTube.

Jennifer took a few minutes to talk about publishing from a writer’s perspective with Writing Career Coach.

Writing Career Coach: Tell us about your book, The Pastor’s Wife.
Jennifer AlLee: Simply put, it’s a story of love lost, found, and rebuilt again. It opens with Maura Sullivan returning to Granger, Ohio, six years after she left it. Though she vowed never to return, now she must face all the disappointments she tried to leave behind; a husband who ignored her, a congregation she couldn’t please, and a God who took away everything she loved.

Nick Shepherd thought he’d put the past behind him until the day his estranged wife walks back into town. Intending only to help Maura with her crisis of faith, Nick finds his feelings for her never died. Now, he must face the mistakes he made and find a way to give and receive forgiveness.

As God works in both their lives, Nick and Maura believe they can repair their broken relationship and reunite as man and wife. But Maura has something to tell Nick before they can move forward. It’s what drove her to leave years earlier, and the one thing that can destroy the fragile trust they’ve managed to rebuild.

WCC: How do you plan and write your books?
JA: When I began my writing journey, I was a seat-of-the-pants writer all the way. This means I’d sit down at my keyboard with little more than an idea and let the story unfold from there. But over the last few years, I’ve become a bit more strategic. I’m still not a detailed outliner. And don’t even get me started on character sketches… they drive me crazy! But I’ve learned that it helps me to write a very loose outline. It’s more like a synopsis, which every writer needs to know how to write anyway. That little bit of pre-planning helps me avoid hours of staring at a blank screen.

WCC: What is it like working with editors? Do you have tips for getting along and building a great relationship with them?
JA: I love my editor at Abingdon Press. Barbara Scott is an amazing woman. But sometimes the editing process in painful. It’s hard to hear that you need to rewrite the entire first chapter of your book! The most important thing to remember is that you and the editor have the same main goal: to make your book the best it can be. One huge advantage the editor has is objective perspective. I may think that every word of my manuscript is golden, but the editor can stand back and see the thin, tarnished spots. A good editor is your best friend and a smart writer will take advantage of her knowledge.

Read more of Jennifer’s interview at Examiner and find out how she maintains balance.

YOU COULD WIN!
Leave a comment on this posting and you could win a copy of The Pastor’s Wife. The drawing will take place on Feb. 9, 2010. This give away is for US residents only. There is no fee to enter.

Other books by Jennifer AlLee:
The Love of His Brother

 Don’t miss a single posting! Subscribe here to receive these postings by e-mail.
Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at writingcareercoach.com.

     Okay, maybe I’m behind the times. Maybe all of you have known about the more than 100 free books available on Kindle for a long time and I’m just now catching up.

     For those of you who didn’t already know this, let me enlighten you. There are more than 100 books available for free to Kindle owners from Amazon.com. When I got mine on Christmas day I was a bit tapped out financially so I was geeked when I saw the free books I could get. These included classics like The Scarlet Letter and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. I was having a blast filling my library with books like Frankenstein [a book I’ve always wanted to read but never did] and Dracula.

     Then I started poking around in the Kindle Top Sellers and I was finding relatively new books available for free. I soared passed geeked and moved right on to spazzed [those of you reading now realize I graduated from High School in the 90s by my out dated slang].

     The week after Christmas a writing group I’m a part of [ACFW.com] did some chattering about the free books. I was also reading “The Long Tail” on CD. All three things came together in a Perfect Storm [ha-ha, another book title] and I realized how brilliant these free books were.

     See, this is what authors are doing. They are offering their books for free download which is sending their books to the most downloaded list. We live in a society of lists. When a book makes the Kindle top 100 list there is a perceived value.

“Wow, this must be a great book to be 25 on the Kindle list.” And when we see it is free it DOESN’T diminish the value of the book. That is the crazy thing. If you saw a book in the dollar store you’d think “Reject”, but since it is still pretty on the Amazon site [or your Kindle reader] you think “BONUS!!”

     So you download it, read it, like it….

And go buy other books from the authors.

     This all comes back to the thing I harp on the most. As writers we must have incredible content continually to offer our readers. I spend hours every week researching to present new information here. That is because when you come you expect to learn something or be presented something you already knew in a way that it makes sense to you.

     I present this day after day, week after week because I want to help aspiring writers grow. I want to help people just like I was helped. I want you to remember me when the time comes for you to have your project edited. I want you to buy the books I write and the magazines I contribute to.  I want to develop a relationship with my readers.

     That is what makes this Kindle Freebie thing so brilliant. Just think about it, these authors are offering thousands of people who just got a new toy for Christmas the opportunity to play with it. This is the single best time there is to allow someone to find out about who you are and what you write. What better way to do it than by giving out a novel.

     So, while you may not have a book on Kindle you can do the same thing by giving your best to your current readers. Give them something that will make them want to come back. Give real content, not “free” stuff that is little more than a thinly veiled infomercial.

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Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at writingcareercoach.com