I recently served as a guest-presenter in a seminar titled “Writing for Youth Ministry” at the National Youth Workers Convention in Dallas, Texas. Ginny Olson, publisher for Youth Specialties (Zondervan print) was the speaker, but she asked David A. Zimmerman (Editor at InterVarsity Press) and me to join her speak about writing for the niche market of youth ministry and how the writing business is changing. And, wow, is that business changing!
Ginny and I did a similar seminar in San Diego earlier where we detailed the amount of work that an author has to do to first sell his/her book idea to an agent or editor. We followed that by discussing what is required of authors to then promote the books and how publishing companies will usually invest very little, if any at all, to market the books beyond their sales distribution. In fact, more than ever, nonfiction authors (unless they’re known well) have to make the case to publishing companies that they will market a book well.
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Posted on Tuesday, November 27th, 2012 at 6:23 AM in CONNECT EFFECTIVELY. No comments
Most of us have read and heard Seth Godin talk about our work as ‘making art.’ To be honest, I am not sure I quite understood what he meant until recently when I heard Ryan Yazel speak. Ryan shared how in high school he used to ‘draw’ a house on his Texas Instruments TI-83 Plus Graphing Calculator
. Classmates were amazed and asked, “How did you draw that?”
Ryan them compared his dot matrix creations to moments when we encounter true art. We don’t ask how they were created, we ask, “How did you think of that?” Art takes us somewhere beyond mechanistic manufacturing. We feel differently, we are challenged in new ways, and we for a moment in time see life differently.
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Posted on Monday, July 23rd, 2012 at 7:11 AM in CONNECT EFFECTIVELY, LEAD WELL, THE WORLD. No comments
I’ve discovered a new writer-ism this year, a variation of slang that looks like a full sentence, but sounds like a bumper sticker. Perhaps another name for this is slogan writing. Slogan writing takes place when the writer uses a sentence that reads more like a headings. And that’s it. Nothing more. When the writer uses them, he or she has a full picture or scene in mind. When they read it, they fully understand its depth and significance. When the reader reads it, however, that meaning is lost. The reader lacks the background, insight … if there was any at all in the first place.
The solution for writers is to a) slow down and b) look for single sentences that are loaded in meaning and implications, but stand alone without support. Then c) we can make that into a paragraph rich with clarity and detail.
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Posted on Thursday, May 3rd, 2012 at 10:05 AM in CONNECT EFFECTIVELY. No comments
On a recent business trip, I stopped (thanks to Foursquare. I’m not sure I would’ve seen it tucked away) at a Espresso Love Coffee in Mukwonago, Wisconsin. It is a delightful place and clearly loved by the community as people of all sorts (farmers, business-types, shoppers, and the usual coffee shop types) came and went, or stayed and chatted. It was what a local coffee shop should be.
Perhaps due to the economic situation, but Kel and I have become more committed to buying local than we once did. We consciously work to support local businesses and to frequent local coffee shops over the common name brand types that have corporate influence. One of my favorites is Quincy’s, who serve my favorite coffee, Intelligentsia (roasted in nearby Chicago…. that’s local, isn’t it?). 
I love hanging out at Quincy’s not only because of the coffee and service, but also its communal vibe, that the people who hang out here see and live life creatively and aren’t just sitting by while others shape the world.
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Posted on Thursday, December 22nd, 2011 at 7:10 AM in CONNECT EFFECTIVELY, THE WORLD. No comments
The end of the school year is usually full of pressure to get papers finished, to wrap up loose ends long put off, and to feverishly work so you can enjoy the summer.
And that’s just for us teachers!
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Posted on Tuesday, April 26th, 2011 at 7:10 AM in CONNECT EFFECTIVELY. No comments
Would you say we have a plethora of conferences? Seems like everywhere I turn I run into another conference and every weekend has a conference that applies to one of the fields in which I work. I am not sure why there are so many, nor do I have it figured what the rise indicates about current culture. Maybe it’s just the rise of social media and its inexpensive promotion of regional conferences. I do know that once the conferences begin, Twitter hashtags provide a play-by-play stream of content, notable speakers, and significant events from these conferences. And, yes, I would say it seems like we do have a plethora of them.
I work in four different fields and each have a long list of conferences available year ‘round. In the Christian leadership world it seems that every weekend boasts a conference with a cool name – Catalyst, And, or Innovate. The social media world has and conferences and conferences for youth (e.g. Converge, Merge) seem more numerous than the stars. Writers can attend regional genre conferences (Music City Romance Writers of America is meeting nearby as I write this) as well as national genre conferences (e.g. Thrillerfest, American Christian Fiction Writers) and conferences to help aspiring writers (e.g. Backspace Conference).
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Posted on Monday, November 22nd, 2010 at 5:47 AM in LEAD WELL, THE WORLD. No comments
Photo by Rob Carr (AP)
My writing “career” began with fundraising letters for a nonprofit youth ministry I worked for at the time. Each month I crafted a letter that featured a heart-tugging story which I tied back to thank those who supported me and made it all possible. I owe those people so much for the eight years they supported my ministry.
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Posted on Thursday, October 7th, 2010 at 12:44 PM in CONNECT EFFECTIVELY. No comments
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