Category Archives: Uncategorized

One Ridiculously Easy Thing You Can Do to Enhance Your Creativity

Blogging, Creativity, Goals, Life, Uncategorized, Work Habits, Writing, ,

The other day I was getting ready to go for a run when it occurred to me: I’d be more comfortable in my other pair of shorts.

I also knew I would enjoy the run more if I downloaded an episode of one of my favorite podcasts. That way I could listen to it on the road.

And I should probably use the restroom before I go, I thought to myself.

That’s when Jerk Face, my evil avatar, showed up.

“You lazy slob!” says Jerk Face inside my mind. “You’re making up excuses to avoid running instead of getting out there and doing it!”

Unlike what I normally do in these cases, I paused. I took a second to assess whether Jerk Face was telling the truth.

And I decided he was full of crap.

I wasn’t generating excuses to delay the run, and even if I was, so what?

I was still going for the run, but this handful of activities was definitely going to make the run more enjoyable. What’s wrong with that?

I changed my shorts, downloaded the podcast, used the restroom, and went for my run.

No big deal, right?

I didn’t think so either, but what happened next blew me away.

Holding Ourselves Back

I ran to where I normally turn around to go home and thought, “I feel so good, I think I’ll just keep going.”

That happened four or five times.

And instead of running my usual three miles, I ran six.

Here’s what I’m learning: I often hold myself back from accomplishing my best not because I’m selfish but because I fail to believe in my value and the value of what I have to offer. 

A part of me did not believe I deserved to enjoy my run. 

In a very similar way, I often do not think what I have to offer is important enough to do what I need to do to produce my best work.

Or to put it bluntly, I often do not believe I’m valuable enough to be successful.

Can you relate?

  • You wake up too late to do your writing because you didn’t think you were worth a good night’s sleep.
  • You feel gross because you didn’t think you were worth a healthy snack, and you ate something you now regret.
  • You make a choice you’re not proud of. Then, instead of offering yourself some grace and moving on, your mood is off all day. You kick the cat and snap at the kids.
  • You don’t schedule a writing retreat because you don’t think your manuscript is worth vacation time.
  • Your relationship’s a wreck because you don’t think you’re worth the cost of therapy.

Let’s stop this. Or at least let’s take one small step away from it.

[Tweet “I often hold myself back from accomplishing my best not because I’m selfish but because I fail to believe in my value… #amwriting @ChadRAllen”]

One Small Step

What’s one thing you can do this week so that your behavior is in better alignment with your value?

You could:

  • Choose to go to bed at 10pm every night this week
  • Journal every morning
  • Schedule a writing retreat
  • Read a book for at least 15 minutes each day
  • Cut out dessert on weekdays
  • Enroll in a strength and conditioning program

Go ahead, choose what you’ll do. What’s one thing you can do this week to live up to your own worth?

Once you’ve identified your one small step, go further: Ask a friend to help you stay on track. Here’s a text you can use or adapt: “Hey! I’ve decided I’m going to journal for 15 minutes every morning this week. To stay accountable, I’ll text you each time I’ve done it. Cool?”

Will this one small step forever transform your sabotaging beliefs about yourself? No, but the more we behave in alignment with our value, with who we really are, the more we will act like the best version of ourselves. And as we live out the best version of ourselves, our beliefs will catch up with reality.

[Tweet “One Ridiculously Easy Thing You Can Do to Enhance Your Creativity #amwriting via @ChadRAllen”]

[reminder]What was most helpful to you in this blog post?[/reminder]

5 Proven Ways for Writers to Conquer Self-Doubt

Blogging, Book Proposal, Creativity, Goals, Inspirations, Life, Platform, Publishing, Uncategorized, Work Habits, Writing, , ,

My wife and I recently watched the new documentary on Mr. Rogers, Who’s My Neighbor? I highly recommend it for several reasons, but the big takeaway for me was how Fred Rogers pushed through his self-doubt.

The movie opens, for example, with Rogers questioning whether a certain metaphor makes sense. He doubts whether his PSAs after 9/11 will make any difference. And he even has doubts about his eternal destination.

The movie also points to some of Fred Rogers’ failures. Did you know he created a show for adults? It flopped.

Fred Rogers has never been so relatable as in this film!

Nevertheless, despite all his doubts and eccentricity, despite outright ridicule at times, Fred Rogers showed up and conquered his self-doubt so he could do his art. He did not do so all at once, but again and again just as you and I have to do.

Following are five ways we writers can show self-doubt the door and tell it to leave our neighborhood!

Photo Credit

1. Care for Your Audience

Fred Rogers knew early on that he wanted to work with young children. The documentary shows him interacting one–on–one with young boys and girls, and it’s mesmerizing. Watching him give his attention absolutely to a child brought tears to my eyes.

And I feel convicted. Do I care about my audience as much as Fred Rogers cared about, and cared for, his audience? We as writers must always remember that we don’t write for faceless masses. We write for real people with real struggles. They need our attention; they need our best.

[Tweet “5 Proven Ways for Writers to Conquer Self-Doubt via @ChadRAllen #askeditor #amwriting”]

2. Remember Why

One thing I was unaware of, which came through crystal in the film, is that Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood developed from a sophisticated philosophy that Fred Rogers believed deeply.

He wanted kids to know they were valuable in a world that too seldom says so. Rogers’ passion to deliver this message drove him for thirty-one seasons.

When we have doubts about what we’re doing, it helps to go back to our originating passion. Why are we in this? Sometimes it helps to encapsulate your why into a brief powerful statement that you can use as a mantra to keep on keeping on.

3. Lean on Friends

I learned from the film that the character in the Neighborhood of Make-Believe most closely identified with Rogers is Daniel Striped Tiger. When we hear the puppet tiger struggle, it’s reasonable to assume we’re hearing Fred Rogers’ struggles, either in his childhood or later.

Often the tiger voices feelings of self-doubt. “I wonder if I’m a mistake,” he says in one episode. But every time, Lady Aberlin or a different character is there to lift him up—to tell him he’s not a mistake.

When Rogers doubts the importance of his Public Service Announcements after 9/11, a friend reassures him. Of course they’re important, she tells him, people listen to what you have to say.

Here’s my question: Who are your people? Who helps you out when you’re facing debilitating doubts about your abilities?

4. Fight

In 1969 President Nixon’s administration was looking for money in the budget to pay for the Vietnam War. Public television was on the chopping block. Senator John O. Pastore held hearings to listen to arguments in favor of public broadcasting, and having listened to hours of testimony, he wasn’t impressed with what he was hearing.

Fred Rogers speaks before a United States Senate Commerce Committee hearing in support of public broadcasting, May 1, 1969. Photo credit: http://www.fredrogers.org/frc/news/mister-rogers-goes-washington-may-1-1969 (United States Senate via fredrogers.org) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Then Rogers came to the microphone. He gave a heartfelt plea for what he did on Mister Rogers Neighborhood. Following is an excerpt of his remarks:

“This is what I give. I give an expression of care every day to each child, to help him realize that he is unique. I end the program by saying, ‘You’ve made this day a special day, by just your being you. There’s no person in the whole world like you, and I like you, just the way you are.’ And I feel that if we in public television can only make it clear that feelings are mentionable and manageable, we will have done a great service for mental health.”

The senator was touched. “Looks like you just earned the $20 million.”

Listen. If your writing is important, and it is, you are going to face opposition. You may not have to face a hostile government, but you will face forces that are just as if not more destructive to your art. These forces can come from inside you—laziness, feelings of inadequacy, lack of confidence, complacency. Or they can be external—Netflix, competing demands for your time, the distractions of social media.

The only way for us to combat this Resistance, to use Steven Pressfield’s term, is to fight—and keep fighting until we’ve done what we feel called to do.

5. It’s OK to Fail

Fred Rogers’ drive to make the world a better place led him eventually to try his hand at programming for adults. He hosted a series called Old Friends . . . New Friends, in which he interviewed well-known people about the meaning of life.

Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood lasted for over nine hundred episodes. Old Friends . . . New Friends didn’t make it past twenty. In other words, it didn’t catch on. It failed.

But so what? Knowing failure was a real possibility, Fred Rogers wasn’t afraid to try, and neither should we. Seth Godin said, “You can’t have good ideas unless you’re willing to generate a lot of bad ones.” We have to try again and again. We have to show up and do our art. It’s OK to fail, it’s not OK to stop.

[Tweet “It’s OK to Fail” and 4 other ways to conquer self-doubt via @ChadRAllen #askeditor #amwriting”]

[reminder]Which of these Fred Rogers–inspired takeaways is your favorite?[/reminder]

How to Quadruple Your Chances of Getting Published

Book Proposal, Goals, Publishing, Uncategorized, Writing, ,

If you’re old enough, you might remember when there were just two flavors of coffee—Maxwell House and Folgers. Not so anymore.

Not only has the number of large coffee distributors expanded, so have the blends and flavor choices! Hazelnut Creme, anyone? How about a dark Sumatra or Guatemalan blend? 

Why is this? Why do grocery stores show us so many options?

They’ve figured out if we have options, we’re more likely to buy one of them.

If all you see is one coffee option, it’s a yes-or-no proposition.

If you see four options, the question shifts from “Do you want coffee?” to “Which sort of coffee do you find most appealing?”

Why It’s Smart to Include Multiple Titles and Subtitles in Your Nonfiction Book Proposal

The same is true for books. When you’re submitting a book proposal, you could include just one title and subtitle on the cover page. That’s the yes-or-no proposition. I suppose if you can’t stomach the idea of any other title and subtitle, go for it.

But if you want to quadruple your chances of getting published, include three alternative titles and subtitles. (A mediating position would be to include one title but a number of alternative subtitles.)

I encourage using your top pick on the cover page and up to five alternatives on the reverse side of the cover page. You might use a simple heading like “Alternative Titles and Subtitles” and then list them out as a bulleted list.

[Tweet “How to Quadruple Your Chances of Getting Published via @ChadRAllen #askeditor #amwriting”]

When More Becomes Less

You might wonder, “If five alternatives are okay, why not ten? Why not twenty? Why not a hundred?!” I would avoid including more than five alternatives because doing so can give the impression that you don’t really know what your book is about.

That’s not good. You want to let your proposal reviewers know you do have a clear idea of what your book is, but you’re also flexible enough to see multiple ways to position your book in the marketplace. Including three to five solid title-subtitle combinations gets you there. More than that, in my opinion, is when more becomes less.

Ahmad Ossayli

How to Do It: Brainstorming Alternative Titles

Let’s say you’re writing a book on how listening can revolutionize your reader’s ability to connect with a conversation partner. And let’s say your top working title-subtitle is:

Connecting: How Active Listening Will Revolutionize Your Ability to Communicate

Fine. Now brainstorm a bunch of other titles.

As you do this, it might be helpful to imagine the multiple facets of a diamond. If you hold up a diamond to the sun and slowly turn it, you’ll see the diamond’s many different facets. But it’s still the same diamond. Your brainstormed titles will bring out different aspects of the same essential concept.

Having said that, when it comes to brainstorming alternative titles, don’t overthink it. Let your mind go, like this:

  • The Power of Listening
  • Maximizing Your Conversations
  • Active Listening
  • Communication Booster
  • Reimagining Your Communication
  • Communicate!
  • Reaching Others
  • Listen to Me!
  • The Key to Engaging Conversation
  • Engaging Conversations
  • How to Listen So People Will Talk

You get the idea.

Now narrow down the list to your favorites. At this point you may want to poll your audience and see which ones they like best. After going through this process, let’s say you end up with the following alternatives:

  • The Power of Listening
  • Communication Booster
  • The Key to Engaging Conversation

Now you need some subtitles to go with these.

How to Do It: Brainstorming Alternative Subtitles

Your original subtitle, “How Active Listening Will Revolutionize Your Ability to Communicate,” may work with all three alternative titles. That’s not the point. The point is to present to the agent or publisher multiple ways to conceive of your book idea.

Let’s give it a shot:

  • The Power of Listening: How to Make Your Everyday Conversations a Lot More Engaging
  • Communication Booster: The Power of Active Listening
  • The Key to Engaging Conversation: How Active Listening Can Make You More Fun to Be Around

Do you see how these alternatives do not stray very far from the original concept? Do you also see how they bring out different nuances of the concept? That’s the goal.

When you present your book proposal reviewers with multiple ways to conceive of your book and position it in the marketplace, you’ll be dramatically improving your chances of getting published.

[Tweet “Editor @ChadRAllen says he can quadruple your chances of getting published with this simple method.”]

[reminder]Can you see how this approach can make your own book concept more attractive to a publisher?[/reminder]

How to Get Your Audience to Tell You What to Write

Blogging, Creativity, First Blog Post, Goals, Interviews, Platform, Publishing, Uncategorized, Work Habits, Writing, ,

I often hear from writers who have a vague idea of their message and who they want to serve, but they struggle to nail it all down. They don’t have clarity about how to position themselves, what to write about, and who exactly is their audience.

“I seem to be good at [fill in the blank],” they say, “but I don’t know where to go from here.”

If you find yourself in this situation, it can be frustrating and even scary. You end up asking yourself questions like:

  • What should I write about?
  • Who are my readers?
  • How should I go about this?
  • Will this ever get off the ground!?

These questions can cut you off at the knees. In today’s blog post I share four steps that will help take the load off and get your audience to tell you what to write.

Bernard Osei

Step 1: Write and publish a lot

If you’re a little fuzzy about what to write or who to write it for, the best thing you can do is start writing. Clarity comes with action.

In the beginning resist the temptation to measure traffic, shares, subscribers, and so on. Measure your own hustle. Are you getting your writing in? Are you producing content? Are you hitting “publish” regularly and letting the world know that you have something new to share?

Hang out in “write and publish” land for a while. Make it your goal to get thirty blog posts published before you do much at all in the way of assessment.

One more thing: Work hard to serve somebody with what you write. Do your best work.

Step 2: Notice how people are responding.

After you’ve written thirty blog posts, go back now and pay attention:

  • Which blog posts did people notice?
  • Which ones were shared?
  • Which ones received comments?

Jot down some observations. If you are not getting much interest at all, go back to step 1 and write another thirty blog posts.

Step 3: Identify what’s reproducible and what isn’t.

When you have a sense of what’s working for your audience, think through questions such as:

  • What patterns do I see?
  • What sort of content do people seem to enjoy and find helpful?
  • What seems to resonate that I can do over and over again?
  • What is not reproducible?

It’s true that some things cannot be repeated. If you share a story about winning the lottery and you get a bunch of traffic, chances are you won’t be able to tell another story about winning another lottery.

But be careful here. Often we assume something is not reproducible when really it is. It might be hard work, it might take some additional creativity, but try not to sell you or your audience short. Once you have clarity about what your audience wants, hold onto it.

For example, one of my best-performing posts was an interview I did with literary agent Christopher Ferebee. I might be tempted to think, “Oh, I can’t reproduce that! There’s only one Christopher Ferebee!” But that would be giving up too easy. The natural question is, Who else do I have access to that my audience would find helpful? And of course the possibilities are endless, which is why I have done a number of interviews since then.

[Tweet “”How to Get Your Audience to Tell You What to Write” via @ChadRAllen”]

Step 4: Keep writing, keep noticing, tweak as necessary.

Frederick Buechner said, “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”

That’s what we’re after. We want to write out of a sense of calling, of deep gladness, and then notice where our audience is hungry. That’s our sweet spot. That’s clarity.

One of the great joys of writing in our day and age is it takes very little time to find out how the world will respond to something we’ve written. I think of it like a dance. We take a step and then it’s our audience’s turn.

We go back and forth like that until we get a feel for each other, and then we keep innovating. It is a process that is at times maddening and at other times absolutely euphoric. And the whole project is an almost unimaginable privilege.

[reminder]What about you? What are you interested in writing about? Who’s your audience? What are you noticing in how your audience responds to your work?[/reminder]

How Writers Can Crush Absolutely Any Obstacle in Their Path

Blogging, Book Proposal, Creativity, Goals, Life, Platform, Publishing, Uncategorized, Work Habits, Writing, , ,

When my son was in preschool, he came downstairs with a concerned look on his face.

“I don’t think I can go to school today,” he told his mom and me. He generally liked school, so this was a little strange.

“Why’s that, Sweetie?” we asked.

“Something’s wrong with my throat,” he said. Now my wife and I were starting to get concerned.

“What’s wrong with it, Buddy? Is it sore?”

“No,” he said, “just listen.”

We leaned in close until we heard the telltale catch and release of a hiccup. “See?” he said.

My wife and I did our best not to laugh. Then we explained what hiccups were and why he was perfectly fine to go to school.

Courtesy of Unsplash

The Reality of Obstacles

Sometimes what we think is an obstacle is actually just a hiccup. Other times obstacles are very real barriers to the things we most want to accomplish.

As a writer you inevitably will face many obstacles. Writer’s block. Platform stagnation. Lack of traffic. The comparison game. No motivation. The list goes on.

I’ve worked with many writers over the past twenty years, and I’ve noticed a handful of strategies that really help them, regardless of the obstacle. In this post I’m going to share seven main strategies you can use right now to move through and beyond whatever difficulty you’re facing.

1. Check your perspective.

Like my son’s hiccups, sometimes what we think is a problem isn’t really a problem. I remember working with a client who was obsessed with his blog’s traffic and lack of subscribers. He had been blogging for just a few months, and already he was consumed with the extent to which people interacted with his content.

My advice was to stop measuring traffic and start measuring how often he published. “Get obsessed with that,” I told him, “because at this point that’s the only metric that matters.”

[Tweet “How #Writers Can Crush Absolutely Any Obstacle in Their Path #amwriting #askeditor via @chadrallen”]

Stephen Covey said, “If the ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step we take just gets us to the wrong place faster.” So check your perspective and make sure that your obstacle really is an obstacle. It may not be.

2. Reach out to a friend.

Sometimes it’s pride. Sometimes we’re so consumed with our own inner struggle it’s simply not on our radar. Whatever our reasons for not reaching out to a friend (and I’m as guilty as anyone here), generally speaking we all need to get quicker at this.

If you have a friend with some experience in whatever your struggle is, that’s terrific, but don’t get hung up on this. Often the simple act of explaining your problem out loud to someone who cares will help you move forward.

3. Ask, “What’s one simple thing I can do right now?”

I love the serenity prayer: “God, grant me the wisdom to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” I love it because it limits our responsibility.

Writer, you are not responsible for things you cannot do. You are only responsible for things you can do. So ask yourself, “What’s one simple thing I can do right now?”

Don’t get overwhelmed with the gigantic size of whatever obstacle you’re facing. That’s not your concern. Your concern is the small thing you can do right now to move forward.

4. Look for the easier path.

Sometimes we need to question our assumption that this thing we’re attempting is really difficult. Ask yourself a series of questions like this:

  • What if this were easy? How would that look?
  • How could I make this easier for myself?
  • If this were to be done by tomorrow (or next week, etc.), how would I go about that?

Presenting these questions to your consciousness has a way of shifting the way you see your problem. Your brain will automatically get creative and often will serve up a solution you didn’t notice before.

5. Seek wisdom from those who are further along.

Sometimes we do need expertise from someone who’s “been there, done that.” Often you can find this advice via a Google search. Sometimes you’ll want to pay for such advice.

Just remember that your problem is almost never entirely unique. Someone has been where you are. If you can find them, you can save yourself a lot of time, pain, and energy.

6. Get started early.

Have you ever had a big project, like writing a manuscript or getting a book proposal ready for a writer’s conference, and it scared you so much you procrastinated getting started? Then you end up frustrated and even more scared because now you have even less time, and . . . nah, that’s never happened to you. Don’t know what I’m talking about, right?

The strategy I’ve seen work really well in these cases is getting started early, earlier than you think you should. Even if it’s just thirty minutes, there’s something about going from anticipating a project to actually doing it that is magic. You get some momentum going. You get some perspective on how much work this project is going to take. And you adjust accordingly.

7. Cultivate gratitude.

This whole thing is a gift. That you and I get to sit at our keyboards today or tomorrow and make stuff—it’s an incalculable privilege only a few people in history get to do. Don’t forget that. You are one lucky lady or dude. You were born at the right time, the right place, with the right skills, and here you are.

[Tweet “Writers: “This whole thing is a gift…a privilege only a few people in history get to do.” @chadrallen”]

Yes, it’s up to you to get better, but the opportunity underneath it all? It is not our doing; we can’t take credit for it. What we can do is cultivate a sense of awe and gratitude. When we do, our obstacles become less daunting.

[reminder preface=”Your Turn:”]What’s an obstacle you’re facing right now, and which of these above methods do you find most useful?[/reminder]

A Powerful Insight for Nonfiction Writers That Makes All the Difference

Creativity, Publishing, Uncategorized, Work Habits, Writing, ,

I’ve been re-reading Stephen King’s On Writing, and as I come to the end of it one thing stands out to me above the rest. That’s significant because it’s a very good book, and many things stand out to me as helpful and wise. If you haven’t read it, you should. But this one things stands out to me as not just helpful and wise but also really important.

So here it is: Your book is a piece of art.

Courtesy of Unsplash

The Problem with Missing This

I think too often nonfiction writers think of themselves as merely transmitting information or conveying a message or teaching how to do something. The problem with this is that we end up writing stuff nobody reads.

Remember this, nonfiction writer: how you say something is just as important as what you say. You are creating art. You’re crafting an experience for the reader, and you owe it to that reader to make the experience as compelling as possible.

[Tweet “Remember this, nonfiction writer: how you say something is just as important as what you say. You are creating art. #amwriting #askeditor”]

The one exception might be if you really are writing an instruction manual for, say, building a piece of furniture. Then you can be boring just so long as you’re clear.

But my hunch is, if you’re reading this, you’re not writing an instruction manual. That’s the sort of thing companies pay technical writers to do. No, you’re here because you have a story or message to get into the world, and I’m here to tell you: the best way to do that is with artful prose.

What Is Nonfiction Art?

So what is it? What is nonfiction art?

For one thing it’s delightful. Artful nonfiction is a joy to read. You may tell yourself you only have fifteen minutes to read this, but if the author’s done her job you want to keep going. You may end up being late to wherever you’re supposed to be because the book enticed you to stick around.

That’s what a good book will do, fiction or nonfiction.

Artful nonfiction is also authentic. It’s true. You’re not just pulling this stuff out of thin air. You have experience or research to back it up, and you can prove it. Another piece of authenticity is vulnerability. We’ve had enough of experts who know it all. Show some warts, please. Become human so that we can relate to you.

It’s also imaginative. I recently heard political consultant Frank Luntz say “imagine” is the most powerful word in the English language. He may be right. When we imagine something, we are conjuring up a whole other world that is different from where we are right now. That’s what artful nonfiction does too. A good nonfiction book will take you places.

Delightful. Authentic. Imaginative. The more our nonfiction becomes defined by these adjectives, the more artful it will be.

[callout]Need some help doing your art? Check out my ebook, Do Your Art: A Manifesto on Rejecting Apathy to Bring Your Best to the World. Creativity expert Todd Henry calls it “a wonderful (and welcome) kick in the pants.” Click here to download your free copy.[/callout]

[reminder]What has been most useful to you in this article?[/reminder]

7 Ways to Make It Easy for Publishers to Offer You a Book Contract

Book Proposal, Goals, Life, Platform, Publishing, Uncategorized, Work Habits, Writing, ,

Recently my wife texted me while I was at work just after a snow storm. “We started to shovel,” she said, “but it’s too much. Can you blow it?”

“I’d love to!” I replied.

I wasn’t being sarcastic. I love operating my snowblower, not least because it makes an otherwise grueling job a relatively simple one. What used to take hours now takes 10 minutes.  That’s awesome!

We all enjoy finding the easy way to do something, and publishers are no different. They love to find book projects that are an easy yes.

Courtesy of Unsplash

Did you know it’s possible to make it easy for publishers to offer you a book contract? Following are seven ways ways to do just that.

1. Get 10,000 or more email subscribers.

If you can grow your email list to 10,000 subscribers, in most cases you’ll have an audience to which publishers will be eager to help you publish. Publishers like to be sure of the market before they publish. Bringing the market with you knocks down a huge hurdle to getting a book contract.

2. Sell 5,000 or more copies of a reasonably priced self-published book.

If you can demonstrate you don’t need a publisher’s help to sell a significant quantity of your book at a reasonable price, they’ll be eager to help you leverage and expand on that already existing influence. (To find out how much money you can expect make from your first book deal, click here.)

3. Come up with an amazingly compelling book concept.

A great concept is one that is so timely or so tuned in to an audience’s need, and so well captured in a title, that as long as a publisher can get it on shelves, the book will virtually sell itself.

Hindsight’s 20/20, of course, so I’m cheating here, but examples of books with particularly compelling concepts include:

  • 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
  • How to Win Friends and Influence People
  • Start with Why
  • Secrets of Closing the Sale
  • 90 Minutes in Heaven
  • Laugh Out Loud Jokes for Kids
  • How to Talk So People Will Listen
  • 50 People Every Christian Should Know
  • I Became a Christian, and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt
  • The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up
  • His Needs, Her Needs
  • The 5 Love Languages
  • The Circle Maker
  • The Purpose-Driven Life
  • Have a New Kid by Friday
  • Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts

 4. Develop a powerful and detailed marketing plan.

Want to make it hard for publisher to ignore you? Demonstrate your ability to hustle with a robust and detailed marketing plan. The one section of a book proposal it’s virtually impossible to make too long is your marketing plan. Consider starting with a line such as “My personal goal is to sell [number] copies of this book in the first twelve months.” Then back that promise up with a solid plan.

[Tweet “7 Ways to Make It Easy for Publishers to Offer You a Book Contract #askeditor #getpublished #amwriting”]

5. Coauthor your book with someone who already has a significant platform.

Do you know someone with a significant audience who may or may not have thought about writing a book?  Why not approach them about coauthoring a book, letting them know you’re happy to do all the heavy-lifting? All they can do is say no, right? They just might say yes.

6. See to it that your most recent traditionally published book sells well.

If you land a book deal and want to publish again, it’s really important for your first book to sell well. Make it your mission to move as many copies as you can. If you succeed, you may get a book contract without even having to write a book proposal!

7. Combine two or more of the above ideas.

Why stick to just one of the above methods? If you can bring a compelling concept to a potential coauthor with a platform, go for it! Why not get 10,000 email subscribers and provide a detailed marketing? Combining the methods above will only increase your chances, not to mention the financial value of the offer a publisher sends to you.

[callout]Do you have an idea (or several!) for a book but don’t know where to begin? A great place to start is writing a book proposal, and I would be happy to send you the same book proposal guidelines that have helped hundreds of authors win book contracts. To download your copy of the guidelines for free, click here.[/callout]

[reminder]Which of these seven methods is the best fit for you?[/reminder]

The One Crippling Fear Every Writer Faces

Blogging, Book Proposal, Creativity, Goals, Life, Publishing, Uncategorized, Work Habits, Writing, , , ,

What’s your deepest fear?” That’s the question I asked in a recent survey of writers and other creatives, and following were some of the responses:

  • “That people will see the real me and discover it’s not all that great.”
  • “That my voice (in writing) will not be valued or desired. “
  • “The fear of rejection and in particular, being irrelevant”
  • “That I don’t have anything worth saying.”
  • “That I’ll make a fool of myself”

What strikes me about these and other responses is the object of their focus. These comments are not about the work as much as the commenters.

When you say you’re afraid people will see the real you and discover “it” is not that great, you are not really talking about your work. When you say you’re afraid of making a fool of yourself, again that’s not a statement about the value of your work. It’s about your value as a person.

And I’m here to tell you: that’s a problem.

Courtesy of Unsplash

Our creative work is vitally important, but it does not establish our value as people. I would say our value as people comes from our Creator. Others might say it comes from the cosmos or some other place. But I think we all can agree, as soon as we place our own value in the hands of others’ perceptions of our work, we’ve gone terribly wrong.

And of course we do it all the time, so how do we get out of this mess?

[Tweet “The One Crippling Fear Every Writer Faces . . . And How to Overcome It #amwriting #askeditor #creativity via @ChadRAllen”]

Practices That Affirm Our Value

As soon as I refer to affirming our value, I immediately think of Stuart Smalley’s Daily Affirmation on Saturday Night Live. Stuart, an effeminate television show host, encourages his viewers to look in the mirror and repeat after him:

“I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!”

Why is that sketch so funny?

It’s funny because Stuart embodies our insecurities and helps us experience the relief of laughing at them. If we didn’t have insecurities, Stuart Smalley wouldn’t be as hilarious as he is. The way humor often works is it points to something real and then exaggerates it. In other words, as painful as it is to admit, Stuart Smalley touches close to home.

I don’t find it very helpful to look in a mirror and say affirming things. I find that as funny as you do, no doubt.

What I do find helpful is asking, “What sorts of things would I do regularly if I believed in my value and in the value I have to offer others?”

The answer: I’d take care of myself, and I would do my best to take care of others. Sometimes we have to “fake it till we make it,” to choose actions that bring the feelings we want to have.

Taking Care of Self and Others

I would exercise, eat well, drink plenty of water, meditate and pray, and get a good night’s rest. I would travel to fascinating places “just because” and take a lot of vacations and read good books and hang out with friends and get a massage every now and again. In short, I’d live well.

And I would do my best to serve others as often and as well as I could. I would do my art. I’d show up for the people who look to me for help and advice. I’d listen well. I would lead them to do good work, to bring out the best in themselves. I would encourage them. I would be bummed when they’re bummed, but I would try to help them take one brave step forward.

Two Challenges

How about you? Do you ever struggle with the temptation to doubt your worth? If so, I want to give you two challenges:

  1. What’s one thing you can do today to take especially good care of yourself? Take 20 seconds to think of something right now.
  2. What’s one thing you can do today to take especially good care of the people you wish to serve and lead? Again, twenty seconds . . .

Press on! We need you to take care of yourself, and we need you to do your art!

I’d love to send you my manifesto, DO YOUR ART: A Manifesto on Rejecting Apathy to Bring Your Best to the World. To download a copy, click here.

[reminder]What did you find most helpful in this article?[/reminder]

Why Every Artist Needs a Confession Booth

Blogging, Book Proposal, Creativity, Goals, Life, Platform, Publishing, Uncategorized, Work Habits, Writing, , , ,

You’ve just stepped into a confession booth, but don’t worry: I’m not a priest, and you don’t have to share your sins with me.

This is a different kind of confession.

Courtesy of Unsplash

I want to know your deepest fears and greatest hopes as a writer, artist, musician, leader, designer, or other creative role.

What’s your deep fear?

What’s your great hope?

At this point you might be thinking, Why do you care, Chad?

I care because we creative people don’t often get to the heart of what scares us and what motivates us.

I don’t think we’re consciously avoiding it. We’re just busy doing our thing, and that’s okay. But every once in a while it’s healthy to stop—to name our truth. The survey I link to below is an opportunity to do that.

Your responses will be completely anonymous. I have no way of tracking who you are or what you said, so you can be as raw and honest as you want.

I will wait for a good number of responses and then share quotes from what I heard.

Will you do this with me? (Yes, I’ll be taking the survey too.)

Click here to take the survey.

How to Develop a Book Concept That Has Bestseller Potential

Blogging, Creativity, Platform, Publishing, Uncategorized, Writing,

Recently a writer friend told me about her desire to write a book that wakes people up. “Everybody’s asleep,” she said, “they need to be woken up!”

“OK,” I said, “but look at it from your readers’ perspective. What’s the need they would tell you they have that you want to help them with?”

We talked for a while and figured out that the need this writer wanted to address is a lack of fulfilment. She wants to help readers get more intentional and experience a thriving, meaningful life as a result.

Let me ask you. Which is more appealing to you:

  • a book that will “wake you up”
  • a book that will help you live a more fulfilling life

The second option, to my mind, is a much better way for this writer to frame her concept. Why? Because it meets a need that real people really have.

The problem with writing to a need readers don’t have, or don’t believe they have, is you end up writing a book few people want to read. But if you write to a need readers have, now your book has bestseller potential.

How do we identify a need readers have and still get to say what we want to say? That’s what this blog post is all about.

Acknowledge the Gap

The first step is to notice when a gap exists, and it often does. On the one hand is what you want to happen for your reader when they read your book. On the other is the need readers actually have that will bring them to your book. Notice the gap, be honest about it.

[Tweet “How to develop a book concept that has bestseller potential #amwriting #askeditor via @ChadRAllen”]

Don’t Judge Their Need

At this point we can be tempted to get on our high horse and think, “Well, that’s not the need they should have. They should want this instead.” But we don’t get to determine what other people want or need. All we get to do is decide whether we’re going to serve their need or not.

Courtesy of Unsplash

Develop “I” Statements

Often it’s helpful to develop “I” statements to help us get inside the minds of our readers. Taking the earlier example as a case in point, we might ask, what are some “I” statements a reader might have just prior to picking up my book and buying it. The need that book is addressing is a need for fulfillment, so some relevant “I” statements might be:

  • “I feel like I’m missing something in my life.”
  • “I’m just going through the motions. I’m not really enjoying life.”
  • “I wish I had a sense of purpose and meaning.”

As we develop “I” statements, we’re getting an even clearer picture of the need our readers have, so that hopefully we are even more likely to address it.

Research How Other Writers Address the Need

Do searches on Amazon, Google, and YouTube. Look for how others are addressing the need your book is going to address. The goal here is to understand the context in which your book will live. What seems to be working in this space already, and how will your book be distinctive?

Ask Readers

It’s also a good idea to ask your audience about the need they have. Ideally you’ve cultivated a readership already through a blog or email list or both, and you can go to them and ask, “Do you have this need?” Use both multiple choice as well as open-ended questions to get as clear a picture of this as possible. If you can get on the phone or go out to coffee with some people in your audience to hear directly from them, this can be extremely clarifying.

Frame Your Concept

Now that you know what your readers want, develop a handful of working titles and subtitles for your book that speak as compelling as possible to this need. Sketch out a structure for your book that contains within it the promise of meeting the need readers have. You can start by simply listing relevant topics; eventually, of course, you’ll want to develop chapter titles and subtitles.

Bring Them Along

It is at this point that you can think about how to take readers from the need they have to where you want them to go. In other words, having done the hard work of listening and understanding their need, now you can take them where you believe they should go. Work this into your book structure as well.

[reminder]What was most helpful to you in this blog post? [/reminder]