Wednesday, July 25, 2018
Do you write and publish consistently? Most writers would reply, “No.” Yet, consistency leads to writing and publishing success. That’s why W. Terry Whalin (
@TerryWhalin) has chosen to discuss this topic and how it has impacted his career as a writer.
There is great merit to consistently working at your writing craft. Yet, in my study of publishing over the last 25+ years, I’ve rarely found consistency discussed as a critical characteristic for successful writers.
No matter what type of writing you choose to do—
magazine articles, blog posts, newsletters, or books—consistency can catapult your success and, in the process help you improve your craft. Not only that, over time, you’ll discover you’ve created an enormous amount of published work.
It’s not magic, but consistency counts.Click To Tweet
Build a Body of Work Over Time
You may choose to work on a newsletter of your own or published by someone else. For the last few years, I’ve put together my newsletter, the
Right Writing News. The back issues now comprise over 700 pages of how-to-write information. This archive of content didn’t suddenly appear but was written consistently one issue at a time.
Maybe you decide to create a blog. I publish a post on a different aspect of publishing every week consistently
The Writing Life. To date, I’ve written almost 1,400 entries. This body of work didn’t appear instantly but was built through consistent action.
I have written for over 50 print publications. It happened one publication at a time.
Are you building a body of work—online or in print? If not, the lack of consistency may be the issue.
No matter what type of writing you choose to do, consistency can catapult your success.Click To Tweet
One at a Time
During a teleseminar interview about
Book Proposals That Sell, I was asked when my first book was published. The common misconception is that my first book was published many decades ago. My first book, a little children’s picture book, actually was published in 1992. At this time, I have written over 60 books, and people wonder how such a body of work was created. It’s not difficult to understand when you consider the merits of consistency.
I’m continually working to develop new projects, in particular for Morgan James. I write like everyone else—one page at a time, one chapter at a time, and one book at a time. Over a period of time, the list of my titles ends up being substantial.
It’s not magic, but consistency counts.
Consistency is Not Rocket Science
I meet editors and listen when they speak about their needs for their publication or publishing house. I pitch my ideas like every other writer, but when an editor expresses interest and asks me to send them something. I make a note, then follow up and submit after the event.
I consistently pitch my ideas, and then, if accepted, produce a manuscript.
It is not rocket science, and not all of my submissions are accepted. Yes, I get rejected, too. But the simple act of follow-through and consistency provides one of the keys to consistent publication, which means successful authorship.
About the Author
W. Terry Whalin, a writer and acquisitions editor lives in Colorado. A former magazine editor and former literary agent, Terry is an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing. He has written more than 60 nonfiction books including
Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams and
Billy Graham. To help writers catch the attention of editors and agents, Terry wrote his bestselling
Book Proposals That $ell, 21 Secrets To Speed Your Success. Check out his free Ebook,
Platform Building Ideas for Every Author. His website is located at
www.terrywhalin.com. Connect with Terry on
Twitter,
Facebook and
LinkedIn.
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Why Writers Must Be Consistent appeared first on
Write Nonfiction NOW!.
Nina Amir, the bestselling author of How to Blog a Book and The Author Training Manual, is a speaker, a blogger, and an author, book, blog-to-book, and high-performance coach. Known as the Inspiration to Creation Coach, she helps creative people combine their passion and purpose so they move from idea to inspired action and positively and meaningfully impact the world as writers, bloggers, authorpreneurs, and blogpreneurs. Some of Nina’s clients have sold 300,000+ copies of their books, landed deals with major publishing houses and created thriving businesses around their books. She is the founder of National Nonfiction Writing Month, National Book Blogging Month, and the Nonfiction Writers’ University. As a hybrid author she has published 19 books and had as many as four books on the Amazon Top 100 list at the same time. Her most recent book is called Creative Visualization for Writers, and tomorrow her 19th book will be released, The Write Nonfiction NOW! Guide to Creativity and Flow. Find all her books at booksbyninaamir.com or find out more about her at ninaamir.com.