Author Endorsements

Here I am, back in real time!

I'm so glad to be here: it was fun to tell the story of my writing journey, but I would also like to tell you what's happening right now.

This past week, I had to start asking for author endorsements.

Endorsements are the blurbs you see on back covers, telling you that this book is the best thing since Harry Potter.

Why ask for endorsements so soon, a year before the book's release?

It all has to do with printing dates. Publishing houses have deadlines that may seem odd to those who don't know how a book is made, but those deadlines make more sense after you know about galleys, proofs, sales, and marketing. Fortunately, I don't have to finalize my list for a while. This is just my preliminary endorsement list.

Endorsements don't do much good if they come from random readers. Everybody suspects that if I get an endorsement from Jane Q. Public who happens to be my best friend, she will say that the novel is life-changing and jaw-droppingly good. (I'd like to see how a reader looks while reading a jaw-droppingly good novel.)

I should note that my few best friends are very honest, and none of them would say something she did not believe, not even to help me sell my book. That integrity is why they're my best friends. But I'm sure you get my general point. A contemporary audience weary of hyperbole doesn't take much notice of endorsements unless they come from sources with high credibility.

In my genre, sources with high credibility include well-known writers of inspirational historicals, and leaders at very large churches. (No, I'm afraid I do not know Rick Warren. Or the pope.)

I have friends--or friends of friends--who hold leadership positions at two large churches. Both of these people have kindly agreed to go on my endorsement list.

The trickier part, as a debut author, is finding established writers who are willing to endorse your work.

Here's why. All professional writers know that one of the greatest challenges in the writing life is protecting your writing time.

It's all too easy to be pulled away by a need that seems urgent, or a child's activity, or even just a friend who needs help with HER activity for the day.

But you can only do so many services for others before you start to lose your writing time altogether.

Well-known authors are besieged by endorsement requests. To give an endorsement, one must at least speed-read the novel, and most prefer to really read it. Imagine that. :-)

If these well-known authors agreed to every endorsement request they received, they would have no time to write or to read anything else.

So it's a little awkward for me to ask for endorsements, knowing the pressures these authors face.

I am very grateful that two established, talented authors have agreed to endorse my novel. Three have said no. But I absolutely understand.

This is a business, for all of us. One can't take it personally if a well-known author can't endorse your work, for sheer lack of time. I am very pleased that all three of these authors sent me gracious notes explaining that they just don't have the time at the moment. (One even said she wanted me to contact her for the next novel, which was uber-gracious.)

In business, one must sometimes ask for things that may seem embarrassing, especially to those of us who are not accustomed to asking casual acquaintances for favors. I grew up in a family that believed "pressuring" people to do you a favor was bad manners. But asking is not pressuring.

My husband, an excellent salesman, has shown me by example how to have more confidence. He has led me to understand that asking is not wrong. Similarly, saying no to a professional request is not wrong.

Some of you may be more comfortable with these things than I am. If so, more power to you! But for me and others like me, I think there's a larger lesson in this endorsement dilemma.

It's not easy to occupy the "weak" or vulnerable position in any relationship. But if or when we really grow up, past adolescence, we understand that only the strongest people are able to choose to be vulnerable.

Asking for help is a test of emotional strength, because it requires humility, trust, and acceptance.

Are you willing to ask for help? Or is it too scary?

My Publishing Journey #6: Getting the Call

It's time for the last installment of my quest for a publishing contract. Of course, in the future I'll be continuing with updates about my life as a contracted debut author! But for now, I should probably narrate that episode every writer knows as "the Call."

I sent the manuscript of my second novel to my agent in the early fall.

If you've never had the experience of submitting a new manuscript to your agent BEFORE you have a contract with a publishing house, let me tell you, that suspense will keep you on the edge of your seat.

I had pushed myself very hard, prayed a lot, and done the absolute best I could. I thought I had created something good. I hoped it had the power to touch people. But my agent was the first professional who would give me her opinion. I have great confidence in my agent's judgment, so whatever she said would matter. A lot.

When she emailed me to tell me she loved it, I was overwhelmed with relief and happiness.

Next came the submission.

My dear writer friends, when this happens to you for the first time (if it hasn't already), you will be SO excited after your work goes out to publishers. You will check your email fifty times a day, even though you know that it may take a while to get any responses. After two weeks of checking your email fifty times a day, you will be completely exhausted.

Unless you're a lot cooler than I am. :-)

We received our first full manuscript request about a month after the novel proposal went out. Various other interesting things happened too, with other publishers, but for discretion's sake, I'll keep those under my hat.

So, a couple of months after that first full manuscript request, we (and I keep saying 'we' because my agent Rachelle is my partner in this submissions process) we received word that the novel was going before the full committee at one publishing house. A publishing house I really liked, with the initials TN.

Another wait began. The holidays passed.

Then, I saw a Twitter post from Rachelle announcing mysteriously that she had received two pieces of great news, but she wasn't allowed to discuss them yet.

Oh, how I hoped that was my good news!

But the day passed and my phone didn't ring. That night, I got into bed thinking in my best Eeyore voice: "I guess that wasn't my good news."

The next day at noon, as I was taking care of my daily tasks, with my Eeyore voice mostly pushed into the background, my cell phone rang. The caller ID said "Rachelle Gardner."

I knew.

When a moment like that comes, after months of waiting and years of work, a dreamlike feeling sets in.

I picked up the phone. I listened to her tell me that we had an offer from Thomas Nelson, my dream publisher. I said several times: "Thank you so much. I just can't believe it." Or something along those lines. She ran a few things by me about the deal. I asked her to repeat one detail because my ears were not properly passing along information to my brain.

And then, after her very nice congratulations and mutual cheers, we hung up.

And I began to work to absorb the reality of what had just happened.

I still haven't completely absorbed it. Rachelle says it will seem real when I see the cover. I look forward to that day!

But here's what I know about Thomas Nelson. They choose good books. They pick good titles. They have some of the best editors in the business.

My novel is going to be in very good hands, and I am excited to see what the TN editorial staff suggests. I am blessed to be in this position. Some novelists may view their editorial suggestions with dread, but I'm anticipating mine with curiosity. What will they like? What will they want to change? Will they be OK with that character saying that rather shocking thing on page 205? :-)

OK, it's really not page 205. But you know what I mean.

Thanks for coming with me thus far. I'm looking forward to sharing the next steps with you, in real time.

P.S. Jody Hedlund had a good question about Thomas Nelson in the comments, so I'm posting a link here to a fantastic interview with Allen Arnold who is in charge of their fiction line.

Roaring Lions, Cracking Rocks

I don't do many book reviews, and I don't review fiction at all, in order to avoid potential conflicts of interest.

I'm making this special edition post to tell you about my friend Warren Baldwin's book, however, not just because he is my friend, but because he has written an excellent application study of Proverbs.

And how better to study Proverbs than through application? It's the ultimate book of application, a guide to avoiding life's pitfalls and building strong relationships.

Reading Roaring Lions, Cracking Rocks is like sitting down for a one-on-one study with an excellent conversationalist who also possesses enormous life experience.

Warren writes very well, without wasting a word. Each meaningful anecdote connects a proverb to our confusing twenty-first century world. He divides the anecdotes into eight sections based on topics, such as Husband and Wife, Parenting, Responsibility, and Wisdom in Relationships. This topical structure is an excellent guide for those who wish to use the book either as a bedside devotional or as a small group study.

Warren's book is aimed at a Christian audience, but I think his approach to Proverbs is so appealing that he should write another book on Proverbs for a secular audience.

Stay with me here. I know, it may sound crazy, but at the end of my agnostic decade, one of the evidences that led me back to faith was the fruitfulness and peace I saw in the lives of Christian friends. Proverbs MAKES SENSE, even to nonbelievers. So Warren, that's my first request of you.

I also want Warren to write a third book on Proverbs aimed at children. His style would be perfect to help children understand what it means to live a good life that honors God and others. So often, our children learn only the superficial trappings of faith, because they don't have the experience to understand suffering, evil and redemption. I think Warren is just the person to write an accessible narrative children's study, so the little ones can learn some of these principles before they have to discover them the hard way.

Christians in search of a highly-relevant application of Proverbs can order Roaring Lions, Cracking Rocks at Warren's website.

My Publishing Journey #5: If You Want to Make an Omelet...

It would be great if writing a good novel were like making a hard-boiled egg.

Just take one out of its cardboard carton, drop it in the pot, and boil. Hey presto! Why not make seven of them at once? Why not write four or five novels in a year? It's that easy! And you make more money!

:-)

Writing a good novel is more like making an omelet. Selecting the ingredients is key. Care and attention is crucial. If you don't know your technique to flip it properly at the end, you will have a royal mess on your hands.

And when you start, if you want to make an omelet, you have to break some eggs.

We all know that our kids don't learn to crack eggs overnight. Kids have to learn to exert just the right amount of force against the edge of the bowl in order to crack the egg shell neatly without getting shell fragments into the mix.

Too much force, a big mess. Too little force, and nothing happens.

Starting my second novel felt like learning to crack eggs all over again. Like a little girl, I grew frustrated with my clumsiness.

When I wrote my first novel, I didn't even know what I was doing. Not knowing how to make a good omelet, I wrote pretty easily. I didn't notice my shell fragments. But for my second novel, I knew what I wanted. My high standards brought me face to face with my own worst critic: me.

I had a meltdown after the first three chapters. You can read about that meltdown as it happened here, in "Wrestling 'Til Daybreak." I wrote that post with tears running down my face.

If you are a writer, you know that choosing to write as a way of life takes enormous reserves of inner strength. Very few people in your immediate social circles will understand what you do. For the most part, the writer's journey is a solitary one. Only YOU and God will care whether you finish that novel, and whether it is any good.

Many people think they could write a novel, and many of them probably could. But very few ever finish one.

Only a small percentage of would-be novelists have the focus and self-discipline to carve out large chunks of time and make writing a priority. I want to say something to you, my friends who are doing this hard and sometimes discouraging work. If you have finished a novel, you are unusually gifted, no matter how the novel turns out. You are gifted in dedication and persistence. You have self-discipline, which is rare in a culture that celebrates hedonism with greater fervor and decadence every year.

It has been fascinating to watch the reaction of non-writers to my news that I am going to be a "real" published writer. Suddenly, I have acquired glamor in the eyes of the non-writing world. But I know, and you know, that the life of a writer is NOT glamorous, whether we are published or unpublished. It is hard work. It wracks us emotionally when we face our own limitations.

Writing is sacrificial.

I was able to complete my second novel and meet my own high standard for two reasons.

I prayed my way through it. I asked for help again and again to make the novel what it could be. I asked for the ability to write this story as well as it should be written.

I held firmly to my conviction that writing is sacrificial. As a Christian writer, I believe that my writing is a service to others. That's why I do it. If I did not believe that I was serving others, I would not be able to make the necessary sacrifices. I would not be able to persist through self-doubt, frustration, and fear of failure, which we all face at times as we work on our writing.

To start that second novel, I broke some eggs, and when it didn't work, I broke them again until I got it right. It wasn't fun or easy. The emotional strain of that period oozed into the rest of my life, and worst of all, there was no way I could explain what was going on to non-writers! But once I got through the initial breaking, the rest of the process came more smoothly.

And if I did it, you can do it too.


Next: My Publishing Journey #6: Getting the Call

My Publishing Journey #4: Our Hapless Writer Faces a Reckoning

Before I submitted my partial to Rachelle in June of '08, I was reading lots and lots of writing websites. I realized something unsettling.

My first few chapters could use some revision. And those were the chapters I needed to submit to Rachelle!

The problem: I had spent seven years of graduate school reading nineteenth-century novels. They don't read like today's novels. They usually contain a lot of exposition (backstory). Their slower pace suited a more leisurely world in which nights were long, books were expensive, and readers enjoyed their stories too much to want to finish them quickly.

Most of my first novel flowed at the (correct) rapid pace of a twenty-first century story. But I had made the mistake of thinking I could get away with just a paragraph of exposition here and there in the first few chapters.

I figured out through my self-education in writing that I was probably wrong, and some of that stuff needed to go, but I wasn't completely sure of my own judgment. So I contacted a professional editor to ask her advice.

That was the best $250 I ever invested in my writing career.

She told me that yes, I had included too much exposition. She also showed me a few writing tics that were weakening my prose and slowing it down.

I took her valuable advice, cut the exposition, and plowed through the rest of my manuscript trimming and reshaping. My writing was forever changed for the better.

At last, I submitted the improved version to Rachelle.

Three weeks later, I got the call, and Rachelle became my agent.

But that was July '08, you're thinking. What on earth happened between then and now?

Here's what happened. That first novel attracted the interest of one publisher, whom I will call Publisher Primo. Primo liked it, but not enough to buy it.

In retrospect, I'm grateful for that time in '08, which was discouraging but educational.

I'm glad that Publisher Primo saw some potential in the novel. I'm also glad they gave me some constructive criticism explaining why they didn't buy it.

Their criticism lit a FIRE in me to write a second novel so good that no one could resist the plot. I would make it so unified and so compelling that it would be unrejectable.

This goal is impossible. Every novel is rejectable. But aiming for this ideal of unrejectability made my standards very high, and that was a good thing.

The second blessing of that initial rejection was the gift of time.

I had time to learn to craft a novel at a higher level.

I had time to learn which publishers fit my work and which gave me that funny heeby-jeeby feeling. (Note: my heebie-jeebies were proven absolutely correct later, which doesn't surprise me as my intuition has usually served me well. But that's a story I won't be able to tell for a long while!)

By November '08, I had researched and plotted my new novel. I began the first draft.

Next: My Publishing Journey #5: If You Want to Make an Omelet...

Splendiferous News At Last to Share!

The news is finally here, and the long silence can end.

I have signed a three-book deal for my nineteenth-century historical novels with:

THOMAS NELSON Publishers


It's so surreal I'm pinching myself. I have to stop myself from raving on and on about what a wonderful blessing this is for my work, and how much I admire this particular publishing house. Not to mention that for a history buff, it's thrilling that Thomas Nelson was founded in 1798. LOVE IT.

On Monday, I will continue telling the story of how I ended up in this amazing position. But I did want to let you know, as soon as I could, and thank you for your support. All of you have been a great source of friendship and comfort as I walked this road. I really appreciate all of your comments, and all of your blogs. Your words are--and will continue to be--a constant inspiration.

I am so grateful for the time I have spent waiting, and the ups and downs of my writing journey. I have learned so much, and I have personal experience of how it feels when things don't go smoothly. Over the coming weeks, I will tell you about my new phase of life as a debut author-to-be, and the things I learn. I am sure there will be PLENTY to tell.

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow.