y o u r w r i t e r s g r o u p...

At holidays, ebooks sell more than print

In a move that had Asia's trees all a-flutter, this season during the holidays it happened: ebooks sales of the top 6 bestsellers outsold print.

Thursday's USA Today bestseller list (1/6/11) "will show digital's new popularity: E-book versions of the top six books outsold the print versions last week. And of the top 50, 19 had higher e-book than print sales." (Thanks to The Literary Saloon!)

Okay. Who got e-readers for Christmas? 

Though the question will remain what % of publisher revenue came directly from ebooks (not to mention author revenue), this factoid is proof positive that at least for those shopping for books last week, most were (1) online, and (2) strongly favoring the anti-product over the packaged, processed, shipped and stored product when it came to the paradoxical front-list (the most-valuable-and-simultaneously-disposable titles).

It's also anyone's guess how much publishers' idea to print on toilet paper contributed to buyers' decisions, but it seems most folks were already well-stocked there. (Also, don't expect any traditional publishers to feel bad for you when you drop your iPad in the toilet. I found that one out the hard way!)

But woah. Not bad for a "derivative product" that didn't even exist a few seasons ago...

How Publishing Is Changing

Author Tim Ferriss on debuting at #1 on the NYT list:

"We’re at the dawn of the creators’ age, when you don’t have to dumb down your material to have a bestseller; you don’t have to kow-tow to big media that wants to dilute your message so that it offends no one and interests no one.  The publisher — you — can decide the fate of your ideas.  That’s should be exciting to every writer and would-be writer out there.  The timing couldn’t be better." (Thanks to GalleyCat)

Why the New Books Want to Be Free

Convergence.

Moving toward union or uniformity; especially coordinated movement of the two eyes so that the image of a single point is formed.

We might hold such truth to be self-evident, but convergence, the merging of distinct ideas, people, industries, and technologies into a unified whole balanced in equality, is the basis of our government, healthy relationships, of spiritual lives, and many things in between. It’s in the ying and yang of the ancients, predating our understanding of the perfect balance of love and justice found in God.

And this concept is just as operational in our world today. The synthesis of ideas, is happening at a faster rate today than it ever has before. So the ability to “hold to one without letting go of the other” is becoming increasingly difficult as well.

Maybe you feel this in your own life, this pull toward the “comfort” of extremes. Too often we’re attracted like magnets to the poles, wowed by the height the pendulum swings. These are the extremes. The world is full of them and they’re unbalancing factors and should be ignored. The unbalanced wants to be heard. But it also wants to be ignored as it argues for its own irrelevance (to pick on political talk show hosts: if they got what they “wanted” they’d go extinct).

This involves paradox and paradox is everywhere. If you’ve seen it and dealt with it honestly, you know that convergence is the answer.

Does God still speak today? And would he speak through prophets who are paid no heed? What if we’re missing his words because we don’t have ears to hear? Would God choose to have a prophet speak through publishing a book? My question to the traditional publishers, most now owned by conglomerates: Can you hear above the other master’s voice? And if you can, what special measures are you taking to ensure your readers reckon with it?

What needs to happen now? Chris Anderson reminds us in Free, “information wants to be free, it also wants to be expensive because it’s so valuable.” (Stewart Brand)

Paradox. Convergence.

I believe we’re entering a new age where the ideas of freedom that were relegated to the control of gatekeepers can no longer tolerate the restriction. Publishing is a game of “rights management,” a euphemism for ownership and control, but the information wants to be free. And despite their “purchase” price and devoted resources, the publishers do not own it. Not even the authors own the ideas, any more than they created their own brains and the life that sustains them. We can’t even control the influences that go into shaping the new ideas. And as for who “owns” wisdom and understanding, let alone the capacities for such things, we can all agree, it isn’t us.

Why shouldn’t everyone benefit from the current convergence of an idea surplus and the unlimited access to publishing it?

It’s time to hack in. To circumnavigate. To rethink and rebuild the new system.

Democratization of publishing is underway. I don’t believe my job is to help someone control the information. I’d rather make it easier to distribute. And that means convincing people to share their ideas for free. If enough innovative authors agree, publishers will be forced to change.

I think it’s relatively inevitable, but that doesn’t change the hard truth. Some will ask why this should happen. And it’s simple: the idea of controlling someone’s message, idea, or intellectual property, is profoundly connected to the control of those people themselves, and ultimately leads to a no-win for everyone involved. Author becomes indentured servant, publisher becomes greedier, and end consumer is charged increasingly more for a decreasing quality product.

It may not always bear out in every instance, but tending toward entropy is the natural cycle. New opportunities overthrow existing paradigms. Revolutions and tyrannies are cyclical. This is simply a current one. Or maybe, as Anderson says, it’s simply the most recent part of the continuing revolution that bits (computers) have made possible.

And something in me is encouraged to think it’s all outside my control.

 

The All-Time Top Reasons to Pursue Big Publishing, Part 3

The question was raised by an author who's recently been offered a contract, would it make sense to push for hardcover, the thinking being this raises credibility and importance in the eyes of buyers. Sure, if it's a good size run as well, but it'll be more expense for buyers too, so it's a gamble. And hardcover alone doesn't get you the respect you're hoping for. 

And as I've been realizing and saying in my last posts, the bigger point we're talking about here is perceptions and assumptions. Manipulating them and creating them and respecting them. If we don't understand them, we won't get anywhere. But if we just accept them and adopt them, we'll stay just as stuck. 

It'd be really cool to break down a number of publishing assumptions and dissect the resulting perceptions, or vice versa, but that sounds cumbersome and cerebral. And I'm tired and I want to get moving on the forward motion part of this journey. I'm not impatient, I just want to get going and we can talk about all this on the way. 

But above all, I want to be authentic. The troubles we have with perceptions and assumptions are largely about people not being authentic and careful in how they represent things whether it's their own work (in the case of self-promoting authors), their published books (in the case of publishers and agents), or whatever. Duplicity and selfishness tend to rule the day so there's a lot of garbage piled up in the way of trust and the real insights possible when that trust is there. I want to be trustworthy. 

I'm not going to say things to improve my "business" and I don't care if people don't agree with me. I listen, most the time but not always, to learn and make sure I'm thinking through all the angles. But ultimately, I answer to a higher purpose. I won't sit here and tell you not to pursue big publishing just so you'll come here and join the tirade against big publishing. That's not my goal and I love the people in big publishing. All I'm saying is that some authors have made it their goal to be published with big publishers and that's dangerous because big publishing is a business and businesses are soulless, so you need to take a few steps back before you get hurt. I'm asking people to let go of getting published and start with the necessary steps first.

This doesn't mean those who have taken the necessary steps of researching, writing, editing, branding, building a network, researching online marketing and building a platform aren't ready or shouldn't pursue big publishing. But they need to divorce their hearts from the process and know that it will likely mean changing a bit to fit into that hole, niche, slot, channel, whatever at the publisher. And believe me, if you're not sure what your slot is on the shelf, it means that's probably not you yet. Figure this out before you go and you'll save yourself a lot of headache. 

My "agenda" is largely to be without an agenda here. But as a guiding principle, I will promote the idea that there's a proper time and place for everything--for the writing to sing, you can't be editing and thinking about how you'll market it. Same principle when I see people at conferences taking classes on marketing and branding and such who haven't even finished their manuscript. This should be forbidden and when I'm king, I'll pass the law. But I'm just asking us to think and strategize together, break the steps down, and take them in their due course. Thing is, even if you've had some experience in all the steps, with each book, you have to do them all again, and in the right order, so it'll help to get this clear in your brain no matter where you're at. 

At the recent writers conference in Santa Barbara, I met some great people who were right on with this and I could see many of them doing very well in some of the emerging alternative publishing options. But before we go there, we need to ensure everything is where it needs to be with the book and the message, and then with the platform and presentation, so we can ensure nothing is left to chance or changed by big publishing if and when that becomes a possibility. 

And the exciting thing is, I'm hearing a lot of people agreeing. So while I keep working on this bigger site, let's keep talking about where we're at in our processes. I'd love to hear some stories, build some community. Also, pretty soon, I'll have a few polls and things to look at on the beta site so you can sound off and tell me what's helpful and what's not. It's all underway, but in the meantime, feel free to chime in and introduce yourself, your project and experience, and maybe an insight or two if you're so inclined. 

Oh, and for the record, I told my friend that the risk and the reward of hardcover is that you're betting that more expense will better convey it's value, but other things also work against this perception with buyers, such as the size of the house, the size of the print run, the visibility of the author, and previous publishing history. So while such proof of a publishers' positive belief would be conveyed more strongly with HC, the higher risk the seller is then forced to take mitigates some of that. And if the print run isn't very large, hardcover could undermine it's chances rather than help.

The All-Time Top Reasons to Pursue Big Publishing, Part 2

Great conversation about this so far. I want to get to some of the comments at the end here.

One thing that hasn't sat well with me since "coming out" here about my secret thoughts has been the people I feel I'm leaving open. There's always a repercussion. When I was taking on the quality level of Christian fiction it was the authors, editors and big publishing community who became a blunt tool of retribution, somehow hearing in my carefully chosen words a personal slam on their mission. Now, mind you, we're all on the same team, giving our lifeblood for books, choosing this path of thankless poverty, in solidarity and mutual respect, to build up the community of dedicated creatives raising the bar of Christian reading together. This is our bond and in my mind at least, it's insoluble. 

But I have a tendency of taking that for granted. I also tend to push it to extend to the lesser members of "our" community--the ones on the outside, the unwashed, unpublished authors, those unsavory individuals who find themselves wondering why Christians who all love books can be so insular and exclusive as though it's some big club you have to prove you belong in before you can pay your admission and get a cool drink.

Truth is, I've been waiting to write this post. 

I push against the velvet rope around the club because it's the same barrier that kept the Samaritan's brother in that ditch. Listen: "Who do you think you are? Don't you have any respect? You can't just open the doors to help people because they have a need!" They don't hear themselves, but they're saying the same thing. Do they see those who have needs? Or do they see the beautiful building they've occupied for so long being changed, opened up to the riff-raff, sullied by the pungent smell of ripe feet in need of washing? In fact, some will see only rocks threatening their beautiful windows. And nothing else. 

I've been silent a long time, waiting to say it and today I finally want to say what's making me so excited about being fired and being shown the door. I was inside. I saw it. It was beautiful. But it was just a building. And you've got more going on out here than they do. "They" are a phantom so it's easy to miss who we're talking about, so don't mistake me. Everyone in that big building of publishing is a good, extremely intelligent, highly-efficient machine of well-oiled skill and experience. Together, they're a powerful force and with the big building as the stronghold, you had better make friends as best you can. Don't be stupid and throw rocks. 

But don't accept this lie of inferiority. That's what I'm excited to share. You have more opportunity today than ever before. With everything before you in online marketing and instant information, if you play your cards right, you don't need to worry about getting in the building. It will happen if you want it to once you rise to the bar that's been set. If you will wait and come with me, seek the knowledge that's building out there (much of it freely available online), you'll have more readers than you can ever respond to. What I mean is, you don't need in anymore. 

Over the past year and a half, I've begun to see just how unnecessary pursuing big publishing is. Let them pursue you. It's much better that way, believe me. I've seen authors become someone they value without even trying to and I know the secrets. The affirmation thing Katherine mentioned is perfectly reasonable and absolutely right--this IS the primary reason to pursue big publishing I see. Seems perfectly valid. But what I'm saying is, it's unlikely. You won't get it and you will kill yourself trying. Of course on a personal, emotional, and spiritual level, we know where our true affirmation and validation comes from--only one place. But professionally too, it can come only from knowing you've done your very best and not sold out to a false hope of a huge readership, critical acclaim, and giant sales. 

Getting noticed as a new author is still possible. But if you're working at it just to be good enough to be published, you're missing the point. Do it and hold on to your rights while you're starting out so you can control the establishment of your own career. Then when it begins to get noticed, you can decide your terms when they come to you. But holding off a while is your best bet. This is, in essence, all I'm saying. 

Now, don't read this as license to go self-publish without editing or paying a vanity press thousands of dollars. You are likely ruining your chances of ever gaining a real audience if you do. Be patient. Research, read, contemplate, write, rewrite, edit, critique, review, learn, brand, market, build, explore, listen, watch, wait, craft, strategize. Remember another parable: if you got a talent and a call, it is your responsibility how to invest it. If you act out of fear, selfishness, or anything other than his kingdom, you already know what happens. If you invest with maturity and intelligence, you have no idea the real reward that awaits. 

Are you getting it? This is just the barest of bones--the full plan is much more detailed. But do you want to come? I could use the help. 

The All-Time Top Reasons to Pursue Big Publishing, Part 1

So this is a quick, rather spurious post full of some rambling thoughts. But this is where my brain is and I'm hoping for some feedback from folks on this. It's an intriguing topic...

What are the arguments for pursuing traditional royalty-paying publishing? Some I know of are professional editing, design, & production. And these are usually great b/c corporate publishers tend to have some top-notch professionals. Of course, they're also overworked and understaffed these days, and they are working on dozens of books a year, so it's usually the most expensive projects that get the most attention. This holds all the way down the line too: sales and marketing, publicity and promotion. And with these, there's also the growing public disinterest in traditional advertising and selling methods. Big authors can do better on their own, why not small ones? Same principles for each.

Maybe a key is distribution. I know this can be a big one for mid-list authors who've maxed out what they can fulfill on their own. But with PDQ (check out Dan Poynter on this) and some great partnerships with self-publishers by the top distributors now, I'm not sure even this reason holds much anymore.

Advances can be nice, but they're really just loans and you pay them back out of your own royalties. And usually, you won't make it back as a new author, so you're out for any future deals. And if you do make it back, your royalty rate is lower than it would have been with a smaller or self publisher, so are you really better off with an advance? Most of the time, I'd have to say I've seen it being more of a liability to authors than a help.

Being on the shelves at B&N is a big draw. This is the cache reason. And I get it. It's not fun to have a book out no one can go and get at a bookstore. But just because it isn't stocked on the shelf doesn't mean they can't get it, and if people go in asking for your book, how many times do you think it takes for them to realize they may need to stock it? Maybe you can have friends in strategic places around the country help you out with this and save the hassle of hiring a publisher with a sales force.

What are some others I'm forgetting?

Writers for God, How Can We Answer the Call in All 5 Stages?

If you’re a writer, you might as well accept it: you need help.

Your friends have been saying it for years, right? But if you write for God, you need more than mental help. In 2004 I started this blog to inspire authors to write for a greater purpose. I envisioned a website where writers could learn, socialize, develop and spout off. Since then, the industry has changed. A lot. Some say we’re in the perfect publishing storm and no one knows what will emerge out the other side. Many people are holding their breath, afraid to blink or cough too hard.

Bottom line, it’s not getting any easier. And if you're still fighting to believe and write for God, it's probably safe to say you've been "called." I'm not entirely comfortable with the implications (how do you know that you know?) and it's Christianese, but if you're called to write for a greater purpose than seeing your name in print, you're part of a quiet writing revolution. Yes, a revolution.

Why? Read on.

But first, here are the five things you must do to answer the call to write for God:

1. Write.
2. Edit.
3. Brand.
4. Network.
5. Publish.

Now, traditional publishing may or may not have something to do with that last one. But it has nothing at all to do with the first 4. Before the first 4 stages have been thoroughly exhausted, no publishing option is right. And obviously, each has multiple steps; entire libraries have been written about each one.

So which stage are you in? I’m somewhere around 1.6.4 and maybe I'll be 1.6.5 by next week. I’ve lost track, but my novel’s been more than 7 years in the making and I’m doing it to the glory of God, nothing half-assed. And someday soon, I'll think about publishing options.

But first things first. All writers must be driven to completion.

Of course, drive isn’t all we need. Each of these 5 things require humility, teachability, tenacity, patience, and some would say stupidity. Vital components, each one. But to fully complete any of these stages, I’ve found writers absolutely must keep the inspiration level high. Like, full tilt. There will be times you'll want to quit and never open that document again. You’ll lose your way. Lose your file. You won’t want to keep going. You’ll doubt. One way to improve is to begin thinking like a professional. This helps you resist the resistance (thanks to Ann for her recommendation of Steven Pressfield's The War of Art).

But after we've prepared for setbacks and failures along the way, after you've accepted and learned from them, we still need support to keep on going.

I've seen this is true for many writers no matter which stage they're in. We can take each stage one at a time and commit and pray and push ourselves forward, but that's not enough. Today, from my new home office in Beaverton, Oregon, surrounded by boxes and paint cans and wondering when I’ll have a normal work schedule again, I know if I can push through to just the next task in this stage, and the next, the work will eventually get done. But will it be as good as it could have been if I'd had a community around me providing input?

See, I need help, as I've found many writers do. Maybe you, too.

Now if you're in the writing stage like me, there are some great options for support out there. But what if you want to develop in the other 4 areas as well and learn from professionals, not just peers? And what if you're writing Christian nonfiction? Memoir, advice, self-help, devotionals, studies, your options are slimmer. And what if you want balanced info about what the changes in publishing mean to you?

Publishing is changing almost completely and over the past decade, no single year has held so much change. And it's not over yet. There are some blogs and websites out there where you can pick up some pieces about this and the different stages. Conferences can be a great option too, if expensive.

But rarely do we get the whole package of what we need--experienced advice, hands-on help, considered wisdom, inspiration, and encouragement.

This is what I want from Your Writers Group. Tall order, I know. But the view I've gotten from behind closed doors has made me realize that the same needs to apply to me personally and professionally: I need to completely change how I've been doing what I do. And I need encouragement and inspiration to consistently grab my opportunities and actualize them. You see, I have several steps and several stages beyond that left to go.

For years I’ve been dreaming about starting a website dedicated to developing the whole writer. It’s been a long time coming, but it’s right on time. I'm hanging out my shingle with as much restraint as I can muster and beginning to gather the best advice from my time as an acquisitions and developmental editor, editing manuscripts for publication, consulting others who needed advice, and preparing authors for their release into the wild. This has been my day job and will continue to be. But while I work through the 5 stages, I want to offer my experience as lessons, especially as publishing gets stranger and stranger by the day.

If you’ve been looking for help and inspiration to navigate the emerging professional writing world, I hope you’ll stick around. My big idea here is no more than being open to new talent and offering an open forum to develop our talents through some good old cooperation—like Sesame Street used to be. Only in this neighborhood, we’ll also have everything to develop the whole writer for the new opportunities before us—creatively, mentally, spiritually, and practically. And everyone is invited.

I want to introduce you to some of my favorite people, the amazing writers I’ve gotten to know in my travels around the country. The ones who’ve continued to smile while shelling out good money to be told most publishers don’t want them. The ones who’ve continued to believe, despite rampant questionable practices in mainstream publishing, that there's a place in the new market for them.

I can’t tell much more than this but it’ll be a low-fee paid service for serious authors looking for serious help. And I’m giving away 100 free 1-year memberships to make sure people know this is comprehensive information you just can’t find anywhere.

Who knows, this may be someone’s ticket to future fame and fortune. And no reason we can't make some great friends in the meantime.

It’s all coming very soon, so hang on. I think you’re going to like this new frontier.

And as always, if you have a comment or suggestion, feel free.

Book Proposals Made Easy

This is part 3 in a 6-part series, "Your Best Book Now." Or "Everything You Need to Know to Create a Bestseller." Or "Breaking Into the Publishing Sweatshop, er, Industry". This week's episode: "How to Write a Top-Notch Proposal."

 

So, dear authors, you’ve got your 3 wheels, or 3 legs well on their way and you’re becoming a Perfect-3 Author. Next stop, the proposal:

The creativity, craftsmanship, and care reflected in your proposal reflects on your book, and ultimately on you.

Go ahead and write that down, but keep reading—there are 10 essentials to cover here as well….

There are a variety of proposal approaches that can work, but job #1, your proposal should convey the uniqueness of the author and your message. Show them both your understanding of that message and your heart commitment to it, and like Psalm 15:2 says, they’ll know you are a writer “who speaks the truth from his heart.”

So with that, here are your 10 steps to a winning book proposal:

  1.  Summarize in 30 words or less, the unique, compelling appeal of your message.

(Why would anyone care to read it?)

  2. Describe the realistic and specific audience for your book.

(What is the profile of the reader who will likely buy it?)

When you’ve written your manuscript—and if you’re a first-time author, you need to finish it before proposal stage—describe the profile of the reader you wrote the book to (a writer without a royalty book contract is a first-time writer).

  3.  Describe felt need—what’s the reader’s problem?

(Why does the reader need this book, and not to simply explore the topic?)

  4.  Describe how your message will meet that need.

(What’s your solution to the reader’s problem? Be specific.)

Ask, Where is this reader mentally, emotionally, spiritually when he or she picks up my book? Where will she be after she’s read it? What exactly will my book do for her? Why should she bother to read your book rather than someone else’s?

  5.  Provide much support as possible to prove your market exists.

(What stats, research, trend reports, etc. can you point out?)

  6.  Survey the competition.

(What other books are like this currently in print from competing publishers? How are they different? How does yours differ or improve on theirs?)

  7.  Outline your writing experience. Embellish as needed.

  8.  Outline your educational and career background.

  9.  Explain your qualifications to write on this topic and your natural platform.

    (speaking ministry, affiliations with ministries, churches, other groups, endorsers, influencers     you have access to, etc. And how will you promote the book?)

Bonus:

    * Find an influencer to write an endo or foreword to vouch for the importance of your ms, and     put it with your proposal. This can really help sway the room when your proposal reaches the     publishing board.

   10. Include a short writing sample of the work. (30 pages max)

Put all ingredients in a blender and whip until frothy. Submit your shiny new proposal to your favorite editor at the next writers conference.

You can do this. Yes, you can. And now you have no excuses.

Are You a PERFECT 3 Author?

This is part 2 in a 6-part series on writing your best book now. With apologies to Thomas Nelson and Joel Osteen.

You’ve noticed the perfect 3. It’s holding together your beginning, your complication, and your resolution. It’s in liquid, ice, and steam. It’s the animal, the mineral, and the vegetable. It makes up the trinity, the cord of 3 strands, the what was, what is, and is to come.

The perfect 3 defines our lives in a number of deeply profound ways, a number which is probably even divisible by 3. Our veteran editorial veep at WaterBrook Multnomah likes to say the best books need 3 legs to be stable: platform, subject, and writing. Someone recently improved upon the metaphor by suggesting a tricycle.

Three wheels. Very stable. You can stand on it, if you want. A bicycle can also get you where you’re going, though less safely. But a unicycle is always inadvisable. For a number of reasons (again divisible by 3). Doesn’t mean people don’t use unicycles and succeed at staying aloft. Just involves more training. More time.

And often laughing crowds.

Now it’s a sad little publishing truism that you do not need great writing or an excellent subject from a platform author, but that book will still sell. At least for a while. But eventually it’ll fall down and the other books will laugh at it. There are also excellently written books from no-name authors who wouldn’t know a proper subject if they spent all day searching their cabinets and sock drawers.

Yet what I see most often in the writers I meet at conferences is some great people with great subjects…and very little writing ability or platform. I’ve seen people at it so long they despise the words “craft” and “platform.” Without those other legs, they’re going to remain imbalanced.

But here’s where The Perfect 3 can help. Many things go into those other two legs besides time.

Research.

Analyzation.

Prayer.

Focus.

Self-awareness.

Acuity. 

Sacrifice.

Support.

A strong will.

Good bladder control.

An eye for opportunity. Great personality. Tooth whitening. Sense of humor. Confidence. Basically, all the unmentioned things that go into making a wonderful, attractive, well-rounded person.

Are you weak in any of those things? Me too! (Let's hear it for bladder control!)

So, author, what do you want to do about the rest of those?

Most people don’t have the strength, discipline, and humility to accept where they’re weak and decide to fix it. Many of those areas will require assistance that’s too painful. Of course, that's not you, is it?

And despite what my mom used to say about my uncanny ability to get out of traffic tickets, no one is born charmed.

The 3 essential qualities that build The Perfect 3 author are:

            1) the determination to continually push yourself to acquire new skills,

2) the tenacity to get up again and again after failure, and

3) the humility to learn the essential lessons from it each time.

Do this.

Don’t skip corners.

Don’t even look for a shortcut. You are not a cheater.

Show up every time, do it until you’re done, and do it again tomorrow with all 3 of those legs (or wheels) of your project:

·               Researching your subject (& is it a good and needed one?),

·               Writing (and the rewriting, revising, & macro and micro editing),

·               Platform building (and the resulting back-breaking publicity)

In the end, your creativity, craftsmanship, and care shows your audience you’re the perfectly-balanced author you’ve worked to become.

This Dangerous Platform

Writers who are honest feel fear about self-promotion.

The initial excitement and hope fades into something else, and those fears can blossom into putrid black blooms. (Did you know there's a guy leading seminars on how to make videos go viral who intentionally falls off a stage and posts the videos on YouTube as examples? The quest for fame does make people do some pretty stupid things.)

I get one of two questions from authors when they're about to be published. The first is, "What should I do to get the message out?" And the second: "What if I become a phony?" (they don't always use that term. But I know what they mean.) Phonies are people who fake it. They don't feel real, so they have to pretend they know what being real is. And they desperately have to prove it to you. But even if you have fame shoved on you, problems with being a phony only come when you begin to worry about it. Fame requires authenticity and people know the real deal when they see it.

"But won't I have to change?" they ask. Well, yes, but you always have to change, even if you don't become well-known. Remember Holden Caufield's big fear? After the success of The Catcher In the Rye, part of the reason Salinger disappeared was because Holden was a part of him, and when fame came, it became his prison. Can we blame him?

How do you write without being affected by all that noise? You have to ignore it. People will not like it and they won't always like what you write. But fame or no fame, everything changes you and it's your job to take it all as it comes and continue responding positively and inspiring the same. Everything is an opportunity to invest a little more.

Many people say “God, if you make me famous, I’ll use it for your glory” but if you really meant that would you want to be famous? I’ve told several authors I’d only take their book forward if they promised not to become a phony when the accolades came. Most have no trouble saying it, expecting few accolades. People who stand on truth are far from the danger of falling off their platform, big or little. I haven’t seen many dramatic changes in authors who went on to become famous in their genre or area of expertise because I tend to work with well-grounded people. No matter what you might get at some conferences and reading the trades, publishing books isn't much like American Idol.

I once read a great email from Dave Eggers whose postmodern memoir Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius went on to become a #1 bestseller for several months, and somewhat launched the "young po-mo memoir" publishing phenom (along with Augusten Burroughs, Haven Kimmel, Lauren Winner, Don Miller, several others). Eggers denounced the perception that fame had made him a phony, contesting he didn't much care if people thought he'd sold out. Because look what he was able to do with it, much more good than he'd ever been able to before. I think that's something. How does a kid with his story end up with that truth--that giving to others for a higher purpose is the real focus and worrying about selling out is so juvenile and self-conscious?

I've always been a myopic kid, so concerned about "selling out." But once I saw how adolescent it really was, I decided to be done with it. The right question is, "Am I selling out right now to the idea of changing things for the better?" Because that's entirely up to you. I’ve had a half dose of fame since growing up in a fishbowl as a pastor's kid, possibly to inoculate me and convince me it's a necessary evil and certainly not something to strive for.

You may think you'd like fame, but believe me, sane people don't like it. You think it'd be so nice being known, being of interest. But fame is never really being "known." What people know, they want it from you, and many act as though they have a right to claim it. They don't, but when you're famous, you don't get to decide that. I grew up the oldest son of the senior pastor at a growing church. I was known in that little circle in our small town, so even becoming a book editor took me time to embrace. I still don't enjoy the attention I sometimes face. People come with all kinds of expectations that feel very similar to being told I had to perform perfectly to set a good example, and that this was God's plan for me, to do good things so others would. Then God would be happy. I never knew if what I was doing was enough or good enough, and most the time, I fought the desire to secretly rebel just to get the voices out and deny their access.

In my limited experience, the more people you encounter, the harder it becomes to hear God.

The struggle is good and worthwhile, but my portion of fame has taught me that the challenge is only an opportunity when I'm striving very hard against it to hold onto resting in God. Will you become a phony? Or are you sold out to changing things for the better?

People who become phony are people who don’t know themselves. They want to present an image and fit in because they lack assurance about who they really are. Most of us know this on some level, but plenty of folks--self-proclaimed Christians--self-promote like crazy, as though becoming famous may finally convince them they're lovable and finally overwhelm their fragile egos with sufficient evidence that they're good enough and smart enough for people to like, doggone it. And some become crazy, attention-grabbing loud mouths.

Listen: when there’s no misunderstanding about where our identity is secured, that doesn't happen. On the other hand, if there’s a in you wanting to be liked, affirmed, comforted by a surrogate daddy, you will smell desperate. And it's a bad cologne. Writers conferences usually reek with it, people desperate to be published. It’s hard to miss. But the real phonies are those with an entourage. They have handlers and no real ability to write. The book is their next chance to be a star and pop the panacea to keep the affirmation fixes coming, the endless fixes that haven’t quite fixed them. Regular folk don't have to worry much about becoming a vampire like them.

My best advice for those worried about self-promotion is to get with your maker right now. Do some soul work and ask the omniscient Creator to point out any place where there’s still a desperation in you to be loved, affirmed, comforted or known. He'll show you and your eyes will be opened. Do the work he gives you. And forget everything else and just keep doing it. Give that to him and let him fill that void in you. You will find your peace and no substitute can look attractive when you have that.

And from there, you won’t have to shun the limelight, though you may want to. If you can use it as one more of his gifts for reconnecting with others, you may end up feeling his smile on you. Imagine his pride in you for investing wisely. Be realistic and don't expect it to be easy, invasive fans waiting to confront you about your sins, mobs of hungry faces looking for a morsel of your flesh, enemies who'd like a chance to stone you. Most people won't care. It normally takes a long time in publishing to gain people's attention. But some will care too much. And they'll hurt you with their hurts.

Remember your real goal is hearing those words: “Well done. Well done my wonderful son, my wonderful daughter of grace.”

Faith is a gift. It is not an ability to gain. It is not a commitment to muster. God supplies it to those who ask for it. So ask. And use your platform the same way you use all his gifts, to highlight the wonders you’ve been shown. To point others to the source. To turn their eager faces to the one who provided your eyes to see it. The ones who help you craft it. The supporters who readers need to know have helped and invested so they could receive it. The endless gifts given to make more and more opportunities to share his love.

As a good friend of mine likes to say, all is grace. And I've discovered it’s really true. All is grace. So what part of ALL do we not yet understand?