Campaigning for Your Books by Author Christy Barritt

As I watched the presidential campaign last year, I was struck by how much I could identify with the candidates. Oftentimes, I feel like I have to campaign for my books.

I watched their different strategies, trying to pick up some tips. Here’s what I discovered they did:

Be confident that you have what people need. If you’ve written your best book and been faithful to the call God has on your life, then be bold in spreading the word about your books. This is often hard for me. I’d much rather other people promote me. Then I realized that my books aren’t about me. My books are evidence of the calling and message God has sent me share. So now I’m trying to take more risks and trust that God has me in this place for a reason.

Go to the people… find your niche. There’s a sign by my desk that reads: Go to the mystery readers. Too often I surround myself with other writers and try to sell my books. Now, I’m looking for niche publications and websites and book clubs that like humorous mystery novels.

Surround yourself with people who believe in you. I truly believe this is important. Writing is a lonely business. We need people in our lives to hold us up and support us. When I looked at all the people who were on the campaign trail with the candidates, I realized that each of those people were needed. Some positions were paid, others were volunteers. Similarly, as authors we need people to pray for us, critique for us, help us to spread the word about our books, to hand out flyers at book signings. Sometimes, these people will be the ones you least expect.

Work like election day is coming—the election being whether or not your publisher will “vote” yes for your next book. If you don’t yet have a deadline, set one for yourself. Work hard with the goal in sight.

Accept each media opportunity. I didn’t see the candidates turning down very many media opportunities, even when the venue meant certain scrutiny. Prepare yourself to answer the tough questions that may be thrown at you by interviewers. Turn your answers into your talking points.

Present yourself with your best foot forward. What would you have thought if one of the candidates appeared before a crowd of people wearing sweats and with bed head? They wouldn’t make a good impression. The other day as I was getting my hair done, I told my hair stylist about some issues I was having with my curls. She said, “Girl, you’re a famous author. You can’t go around with bad hair.” And she’s right. While appearance isn’t everything, do make an effort to look professional, especially when you’re making an appearance of some sort.

I hope these tips can help you as well and that you’ll get lots of votes—um, I mean readers and editors—flocking to your books!

Come back Friday for a chance to win Christy's newest book, The Good Girl.

Christy Barritt is an author, freelance writer and speaker who lives in Virginia. She's married to her Prince Charming, a man who thinks she's hilarious--but only when she's not trying to be. 

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May I Borrow From Your Book? ~ The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

About this Feature: Writing letters to characters and/or authors is nothing new, but here's the twist: these letters will be all about borrowing, in keeping with our blog title. They can be funny or serious, sweet or sassy, short or more in-depth. My hope is that the letters will be entertaining or inspiring to read and will show appreciation to authors - and to the Lord for giving us creativity! (You can click the button and then scroll down to read previously posted letters.)

If you'd like to submit a letter of your own to be posted here, feel free to e-mail me at amberstokes@corban.edu.

Today's letter is for Jennifer E. Smith, author of The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight:

 

Dear Jennifer,

As I'm preparing to dive into edits for my WIP, I sure would love to borrow some of your creativity! It's so clever that The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight is set over a 24-hour time period. So many possibilities with that! And yet, your writing had to be so tight and confident and engaging to accomplish such a feat. I've had suggestions from an early reader about playing around with the timing of my WIP... "Time is funny stuff," as Hap says in the movie Always. You convey that so well in your book. :)

I also love your "balance" in the book. Familial relationships and romantic relationships...time together and time apart...the present and the past...sweetness and pain. All mixed just so. The whole story is so quirky and yet so true to life - very memorable, in that way. (It also struck a chord with me because of my own unexpected airport miracle.) It's great to read books like yours that inspire and stir the imagination. I'm hoping I've borrowed a bit of your imagination just through the reading experience. 

And might I add that your book's title is just plain awesome? 

Sincerely,

Amber

You can purchase the book now at Amazon.com! 

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Sunday Devotional: Nothing But Brokenness

I will admit, at the end of this week, I am completely at the end ... of many things.

It feels right now like there’s nothing left, to give others, even to give God.

What do we do in those moments?

With this heart open wide

From the depths from the heights

I will bring a sacrifice

With these hands lifted high

Hear my song hear my cry

I will bring a sacrifice

I will bring a sacrifice
I lay me down

I’m not my own

I belong to you alone

Lay me down

Lay me down

(Read more: CHRIS TOMLIN - LAY ME DOWN LYRICS )

As the song from the Passion conference says, we are the sacrifice ... we lay ourselves down.

“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart ...”

I learned something years ago about that word “contrite.” It often gets translated humble, but it comes from a Hebrew word that gives the sense of something crushed and ground to powder.

When the blows of life don’t just break us, but crush us, grind us down until there’s nothing recognizable of our heart ... then that itself is our sacrifice to the Lord.

Why? Why is our brokenness that which God seeks as our most precious sacrifice?

My theory is ... it’s then that we see most clearly how desperately we need Him. And it’s then that He promises to be near us, to save us, that if we bring Him our broken and crushed selves, He will not despise the sacrifice.

I suppose, then, if God has allowed me to come to this place of brokenness ... it’s because I needed it. Not because He doesn’t love me, or care about the difficulty of the situation, but because whatever He’s doing in me would not be accomplished any other way.

The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears,
And delivers them out of all their troubles.

The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart,
And saves such as have a contrite spirit. (Psalm 34:17-18)

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart—
These, O God, You will not despise. (Psalm 51:17, both NKJV)

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Winners!!

Happy Saturday, BB fans! Thanks to everyone who participated in our "puzzling" Friday giveaway! Keep all those facebook and Twitter notifications, coming!

This week's winner is:

Kelli Jo (Kellijo23 at gmail dot com) - Stress Test by Richard L. Mabry.

Congratulations, Kelli Jo! Thank you all so much for stopping by The Borrowed Book!

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Weekly Drawing

It's Fun Friday at The Borrowed Book!

To enter:

Leave the time it took you to complete the puzzle in the comments section as well as your email address for notifying you if you've won. Winners will be drawn from ALL of the times, so the person with the fastest time may not be the actual winner, but by leaving your time, you double your chances.

Want another entry? Tweet your puzzle time and mention The Borrowed Book, get another entry. RETWEET our Tweet, get two entries!

Post your puzzle time on BB's Facebook wall and...you guessed it...get another entry!

Post it on your OWN Facebook wall and you could get as many as FIVE entries.

It's all a way to spread the word about the great giveaways on BB. So c'mon! Help us spread the word, and have a little fun at the same time. :-)

This week's puzzle feature is brought to you by Dr. Richard Mabry, and his newest release, Stress Test.

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The Glamorous Writing Life of Richard Mabry

One of my favorite movies is The Muppet Movie. The reason is probably the scene in which the Muppets meet the famous producer (played by Orson Wells). After a bit of interchange, he tells his secretary to “sign them to a standard rich and famous contract.” In a movie, that’s funny. In real life, if a writer expects their first contract to bring fame and fortune, it’s sad.

After I signed the contract for the publication of my first novel, I’m not sure what I expected. I enjoyed the congratulations from my fellow writers, as well as the praise from my family. But beyond that, not much had changed. No one stopped me on the street to ask for my autograph. There was no announcement from the pulpit to bring the congregation to its feet, cheering and whistling. And the local media didn’t flock to my doorstep for interviews. In other words, it was business as usual.

So much for the “famous” part. What about “rich?” Although information about advances and royalties is hard to come by, most authors realize that they’re never going to get rich from that money. To begin with, “advance” is just what the name implies—an advance against royalties. That means that sales of the book must reach a level where royalties exceed the amount of the previously paid advance before the author makes another penny.

Stress Test will be my fifth published novel of medical suspense, and I’m proud of it. But the book that a reader will finish in anywhere from a few hours to a few days took me well over six months to write.

And I won’t become either rich or famous for the effort.

Still interested in writing? Good. If you’re interested in writing for publication because you have a message you want to get out, if you write because the words are burning inside you and you have to share them, if you write because—as I’ve heard my fellow authors say—you can’t not write, then welcome aboard. The life isn’t glamorous. Matter of fact, as deadlines approach, edits have to be done, the demands of keeping a presence on social media suck away your time, the writing life is downright tough. And I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

*        *        *

            Dr. Richard Mabry is a retired physician, past Vice-President of the American Christian Fiction Writers, and the author of four published novels of medical suspense. His books have been finalists in competitions including ACFW’s Carol Award and Romantic Times’ Inspirational Book of the Year. His last novel, Lethal Remedy, won a 2012 Selah Award from the Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference.

            Richard’s website is http://rmabry.com, and he posts regularly on his blog, http://rmabry.blogspot.com. He is also active on Twitter (RichardMabry), Facebook (rmabrybooks), and GoodReads.

Come back tomorrow and enter to win a free copy of Stress Test!

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Did You Know? ~ Benjamin Franklin's Son, William

Just when you think you know someone, you find out something that makes you realize you never knew them at all. Of course, when the person you thought you knew was an historical figure, chances are excellent there are many, many things you didn’t know about them.

What historical figure am I talking about? Benjamin Franklin. I discovered today that he had an illegitimate son named William. No, I’m not being judgmental because he had a kid out of wedlock; I was just surprised. (And if this is something everyone else in the world already knew, please just don’t make me be feel stupid by saying so. Just read my blog article and smile.)

Years ago, in my child’s mind, Mr. Franklin was a kindly, spectacle-wearing man who flew a kite with a key on it in the middle of a thunder and lightning storm. In fact, my little child’s mind had all of our founding fathers on a pedestal of perfection, and I’m afraid that a bit of that idealism stayed with me into adulthood. Then, four years ago, I read a biography of John Adams, and my view of Benjamin Franklin (along with all our founding fathers) began to radically change. He, and all the rest, became quite human.

William Franklin

So, it wasn’t Benjamin Franklin’s humanness in conceiving a son out of wedlock that surprised me. It was the circumstances. No one knows who William’s mother was. Some say that she was a prostitute. Others say she was Benjamin’s common law wife, Deborah Read, and Benjamin took the blame to protect her honor. At any rate, in 1730, when Benjamin Franklin was 24, he publicly acknowledged William and raised him in his household along with the children he and Deborah had. (Francis Folger Franklin, born October 1732, who died of smallpox in 1736, and Sarah Franklin, called Sally, who was born in 1743. She eventually married Richard Bache, had seven chidren, and cared for her father in his old age.)

William was educated in Philadelphia, and in the 1760s, studied law in London. There William fathered an illegitimate son, William Temple Franklin, who was born on February 22, 1762. The boy’s mother was never identified. I thought it weird that he followed  his father’s footsteps so closely. The boy, called Temple, was placed in foster care. Later that year, William married Elizabeth Downes, the daughter of a planter from Barbados. After William passed the bar in 1763, Benjamin helped him gain an appointment in 1763 as the last Royal Governor of New Jersey.

William Temple Franklin

When the American Revolution began, William stayed loyal to England. Father and son found themselves on the opposite sides of the war, and this forever strained their relationship. I’ll bet. Can you imagine the turmoil for both of them? William having to acknowledge that in England’s eyes, his father is a traitor. Benjamin perhaps feeling rejected by his son’s choice. As a result, William was cut out of Benjamin’s will. Benjamin Franklin said if the war had gone the way William wanted it to, Benjamin would never have made his fortune, so William deserved none of it. Yeah, okay. More human nature. . .

(As an aside, Benjamin found out about Temple, his illegitimate grandson, and took custody of him.)

Benjamin Franklin was a brilliant man. An inventor, writer, musician, politician. . .he accomplished much in his life. And he was one of the men who risked his life to give birth to our country. His humanness only makes him all the more interesting. And it is very possible that in addition to all of the things he did, he really was a kindly, spectacle-wearing man. At least I’d like to think so.

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