Write Nonfiction in November

On that note, I’m going to write about editing once more. Actually, I’m going to write about writing.

Recently, I’ve edited several projects that had my hair bristling. I found myself totally frustrated and wanting to ask my clients why they didn’t write more clearly. To be more explicit, I wanted to yell, “Write simply! Write what you mean! Don’t make it so complicated!” I had to spend huge amounts of time – and their money — trying to make sense of their sentences, which were written in amazingly convoluted ways and with the most absurdly odd word choices.

From this experience, I wan to offer this advice: As you write, rewrite and edit, keep this in mind the fact that most readers don’t want to struggle to understand what you are writing. They want to read your sentences once – - not two or three or four times — and comprehend your point. They don’t have a need for you to impress them with your amazing use of the English language, especially if that use leaves them wondering what you are trying to say. If you have a good vocabulary, use it, but write as you would speak. If you aren’t sure if your writing is easily read, read it aloud. Does it sound like you? Would anyone speak the way you’ve written? Does what you have written really make any sense? If you answer “no” to any of these questions, rewrite for clarity and simplicity. If you aren’t sure, ask someone who knows nothing about your subject to read a page or two of your manuscript. Then ask them if they understood what you wrote. You can even ask them a few pointed questions to be sure they really got your message. If they didn’t, clearly you need to go back and try again – this time more simply. Believe me, your readers (and your editor) will thank you.

My pet peeve — passive writing — gets activated almost every time I work on a client’s manuscript. Turning passive writing into active writing takes up about 75 percent or more of my time as an editor. It costs my clients a lot of money. So, here’s my last piece of advice: Learn how to write an active sentence. This means getting rid of any form of the verb “to be” whenever possible. Occasionally, the verbs “is,” “are,” “were,” and “was” do sneak into even the best writer’s work (even mine), but if you can avoid them, you’ll end up with much stronger – and more active – writing. Sometime you can substitute another verb and change a passive sentence into an active one, but, more often than not, accomplishing this requires a full sentence rewrite.

Thanks for joining me for Write Nonfiction in November. I’ve been told that maybe the San Francisco Writers Conference will get behind this idea and turn it into a real contest like NaNoWriMo at some time in the future. If so, it might not happen during November but some other month instead. If you want to know what’s happening on that front, you’ll surely hear about it on my web site, http://www.purespiritcreations.com/. Between now and next year, if anyone feels the need for some writing, editing, ghostwriting, or writing coaching services, you can find me at http://www.copywrightcommunications.com/ (which takes you to http://www.purespiritcreations.com/, because CopyWright Communications is – There’s that dirty little verb! – a division of Pure Spirit Creations). You also can e-mail me at cpywrtcom@aol.com. If you mention this blog or the Write Nonfiction in November challenge in your e-mail, I’ll give you a 20 percent discount on the first four hours of services rendered.

Happy nonfiction writing! Thanks for joining me for the past 30 days! Good luck!

I’m back from my meeting with my agents. Actually, I only met with one; the other wasn’t feeling well. We went for a lovely lunch at a nice restaurant. He brought all the materials I had sent to him, and we ate and talked for almost two and a half hours.

We never really did discuss time lines, though. I think the gist of that subject basically came down to the fact that he said someone else said you need a five-year plan. I’ve been at this longer than five years, but I haven’t had a plan for that long. So, I guess the advice for nonfiction writers comes down to: Create a five-year promotional plan that gets you from where you are now to the top of a very large platform in that amount of time. At least, that’s what I took away from that little bit of our conversation.

I asked what I should be doing to develop a platform that would make it possible for him to market that one book project he sent me off to promote. He looked over my recent accomplishments and liked the fact that I’ve landed myself a spot as a regular guest on a podcast that has over 38,000 listeners per month. (I’ll be on nine or 10 shows in the next year!) He liked what I have been doing to promote myself on the Internet and was impressed (I think) with the growing amount of traffic to my web site. He suggested I do more of whatever I’ve been doing on that front (posting lots of articles to article directories), and that I get out and do much a lot more speaking. (Why was I not surprised?)

We looked at all of my recent work and projects, my old book proposals, my more current book proposals (including the one they didn’t get sold), and then discussed how they all fit together. Basically, we tried to see how we could fit them into a niche that would be uniquely mine. I know about niche craft, but it was nice to see how I could begin to take my booklets and some other book ideas I have and begin to place them all together into a similar form for the same market. My agent has been telling me for over a year that I have the unique opportunity to really take over a particular niche if I try, and I can see how I could begin to do that through really focused promotion. Actually, many of the nonfiction projects I’ve been working on do fit together into a niche, because they have come out of my efforts to promote one or two major projects. In the course of our conversation, I began to see how I could produce a line of booklets with corresponding courses, audio programs, and such. And he suggested I do just that – and go out and use that as the foundation for my efforts to increase the number of speaking engagements I have per year.

I had hoped to come away with a better idea of where to focus my attention – on this book or that one, but instead I came away with more ideas. Some of those ideas fit my niche and some don’t. You see, I write about Jewish spirituality primarily, and, more specifically, Jewish spirituality for women. However, I have some ideas and projects with a more secular nature. These stem from my focus on Judaism, but they apply to a broader audience. So, it becomes hard to know where to focus first. Do I build outward from my small market, or do I circle back from the larger one? It’s best to do the former, my agent and I agree, but some of my ideas, I believe, deserve a bigger audience.

And there are the other book ideas…the ones that fall totally outside the realm of my niche. The ones that I’m sure could be big sellers if only I could get my agent or another agent or a publisher to just take a chance on them. But, like so many other nonfiction writers, I’m left working on my platform, chipping away at that time line, knocking off one more item on my plan, crafting my niche, honing my ideas, and wondering when the time will be right, when my time will come.

It’s hard to play small when you really want to play big. And it’s hard to sit on the sidelines waiting for the coach (an agent or publisher) to tell you its time to get into the game when you really want to run onto the field now and show everyone that you can score a goal. In the game of nonfiction publishing, however, it seems that until you are a Barry Bonds, Michael Jordan, David Beckham, Payton Manning (or James Patterson, Mary Higgins Clark, John Grisham, Danielle Steele, or Nicholas Sparks) – someone with a huge fan base, you’ll be sitting bench.

To end this blog on a positive note, I’d like to invite you all to purchase Elle Newmark’s novel, Bones of the Dead, at Amazon.com and then go to her party, which is still going strong, at www.bonesofthedead.com. Her promotion of her virtual book launch party got her seven (yes, seven) e-mails from agents and a contract from William Morris (with talk of foreign and movie rights) and made her novel an Amazon.com bestseller in two categories. She forevermore can call herself a bestselling author and her book a bestselling book. While you’re at the party, check out the party favors I’m offering. You can download my free Abracadabra! The Kabbalah of Conscious Creation Workbook. And e-mail me for a free recipe from my (hopefully) soon-to-be-published Jewish celebrity cookbook (it’s being considered by a publishing house right now). You also can help me get it published by preordering it; you’ll find out about that when you get your free recipe. And, last but not least, you can e-mail me for a coupon good for 20% off 5 hours of editing, writing, ghostwriting, and writing coaching services (a $75 value). Plus, there are lots of other great party favors being offered at the party. Anyway, what Elle accomplished serves as an inspiration to me. It doesn’t matter that she writes fiction; we nonfiction writers can take her lead and accomplish the same thing she did.

Last blog tomorrow….hope you’re finished with your project! If not, get writing. You don’t have much longer.

Tomorrow, I’m off to see my agents in San Francisco We are supposed to discuss “time lines.” I guess that means how long I have to promote myself and my work before they can help me get this next project of mine off and running. If you recall, my agent did not manage to sell one of my projects, and her husband sent me off to promote another one. They said I was “antsy” when I asked if I could find another agent who might take the project on immediately and suggested this meeting. I guess we also will take a look at where I am going, how I am going to get there and how they will help me. Those are my words. I want and need that from them. Anyway, that’s tomorrow’s agenda, and I’m a little nervous. I don’t often get a chance to spend time with them. I enjoy their company and value their time, but I’m always a little afraid of doing something “wrong.” Just my stuff… I’ll let you know how the meeting goes.

Here’s another short bit of news: I finished the first draft of my Write Nonfiction in November project. In fact, I sent it off to my agents, along with a bunch of other stuff. It needs some work, but it’s not half bad. I think I told you that its a booklet based on a four-part teleseminar series I taught. I plan to sell it at the back of the room when I teach or speak and on line as well. I’ll produce it as an e-book, too.

Okay, a short post on research vs. procrastination (as per Linda’s request). Here’s my take on this subject, for whatever it’s worth. It’s very easy for a nonfiction writer to waste away the hours doing research, especially on the Internet. I have often found a whole day gone by without noticing as I’ve read surfed around the net reading all sorts of things that seem related to my topic. If you’ve got time to spare, this poses no problem. If you have a deadline or, like me, have few hours in the day to work, this does not serve you. So, Google your subject and try to find the websites that look most promising. Follow your best leads and links. Give yourself a time frame within which you have to quite researching — 2-3 hours or whatever you can spare — and then begin writing.

Use this same principle when reading for research. Tons of books have been published on most subjects. You could read for years. Pick the best few books, or the most recent few books, or the books by the most-well-known experts, and then call it quits.

I prefer conducting interviews over reading books, because I don’t have enough hours in my day to read as many books as would be necessary to do extensive research. I read a few books or parts of books, and then I start interviewing the authors or other experts. They can tell me what I need to know in a lot less time than it would take to read their whole book. Plus, they answer my questions specifically. Be cautious about spending too much time interview, though. This can become a trap as well. You can spend all your time talking to experts and never get around to writing.

Then, of course, you simply need to know when to stop researching and start writing. Ask yourself, “Am I just procrastinating and putting off writing? Do I have enough research to begin writing?”

I always err on the side of doing too much research, and I don’t recommend this. It makes writing more difficult. I think it might be better to research just enough, begin writing, and then go back and do extra research to fill in gaps. The way I do it, I end up having to distill pages and pages of research or interview transcripts into just a few paragraphs of copy. However, an overabundance of research does give you excess material for more articles, books, essays, etc.

The I received a request to write about the different forms of nonfiction. I teach this – at least in terms of article forms – in my “Writing for Publication” teleseminar and class, but I’ll give it a go here as well in shortened form and without telling you how to structure any of these articles or books.

First, of course, we have the news article. You can find a news story in any newspaper. Most newspaper articles are written in the classic “inverted pyramid” form, which means it begins with the most important facts and ends with the least important ones. News stories are comprised of all facts and no opinion. They can be slanted by presentation of facts, but they are supposed to be unslanted (written in a way that offers no opinion) and neutral. That said, I’ve read some wonderfully slanted news stories. Here’s an interesting fact: The reason the most important facts are at the top and not at the bottom of the article is due not only to the fact that they make up the crux of the story but because if that particular day’s edition happens to be crammed full of news, the story can be cut by full column inches from the bottom without worry. They just delete the least important paragraphs from the bottom up. Most news stories cover the 5 W’s and 1 H – who, what, where, when, why, and how – and they often manage to give readers those details in the first paragraph or two.

Feature stories often arise out of news stories. In a newspaper, these would be more in depth coverage of a news story. In other words, the reporter or journalist takes the basic facts and digs deeper, looking for more meaning and information. Often a feature story will deal with one aspect of a news story, an issue, a problem, etc. The story might take the form of a trend piece, or it might focus on one individual, thus becoming a profile article, or it might be a general feature about a certain subject. General features, trend stories, profiles often are found in magazines, since feature articles are the name of the game in magazine journalism. (I should know, since that’s my specialty.) You could take a news story and write a book about that news story in much the same way you write a feature article — only longer.

How-to articles, a favorite of mine, offer readers advice on – you guessed it – how to do something, such as lose weight, find a mate, sell a house, make money, or change jobs. These stories represent a staple in the magazine industry. E-zine directories also love how-to articles. Many books on the market today are how-to books.

Essays appear commonly in magazines, but they can be found in some newspapers, too. These articles are based on personal experience; however, the writer then broadens the subject so it applies to a wider audience. I love writing essays. They are slice of life pieces with an educational twist. If you learned something from an event that happened to you, teach others what you learned. Essays require little to no research or interviews, making them quick and easy to write – another reason I like to write them.

If you prefer to voice your opinion, you can write an opinion piece. Newspapers love to publish these on their op ed pages. These are short opinionated essays on a subject you feel strongly about.

Narrative nonfiction has become a big deal these days. It’s like literary journalism or a nonfiction novel. The writer writes a story based on facts or goes out and conducts interviews and then writes a novel based on those interviews. All the information in the novel is true and factual – none of it is made up.

Other nonfiction books are based either on interviews (with experts, people who have had a common experience, etc.), research, or the author’s expertise. As such, they are factual rather than fictional.

Then, you have the autobiography, a book written about your whole life.

A biography is a book written about someone else’s whole life.

A memoir is a book written about a period of time in your own life.

An anthology is a compilation of essays or articles written by many people.

Most nonfiction writers aspire to write a book. So, maybe this blog seems a bit off base, but my college professor once told me that if I could write an article, I could write a book. He said, “Each chapter in a book is like one article. You just write one article after another.” So, if you haven’t ever written a book, you might want to try your hand at writing a few articles first.

(If I missed any article or book forms, I’m sorry. Drop me a note. I’ll write about it tomorrow.)

Today I’d like to encourage you to attend a writers conference if at all possible. I know these can be expensive, but I feel they are well worth the money and the time.

Given that I live in Northern California, for the last three years I’ve attended the San Francisco Writers Conference. When I lived in New York, I had the opportunity to attend a variety of different conferences in Manhattan. Each time I’ve attended a conference I’ve left with loads of great information on writing, getting published, the publishing industry, publishing trends, and promoting myself and my writing projects.

Conferences are a great place to hobnob with other writers and to learn what they are doing to help themselves obtain an agent or sell their work to publishing houses. As nonfiction writers, networking with other nonfiction writers who are building their platforms can help us find places to speak and think of unique ways to make ourselves known in our own marketplaces.

Conference usually feature expert speakers who offer advice on building platforms, promoting our books, self-publishing, writing query letters and proposals, gaining Internet exposure, building readership, getting an agent, approaching a publishing house, pitching our work, writing for publications, and much more. In addition, many of the sessions are led by agents and editors at publishing houses, so you get to hear from publishing professionals first hand.

In addition, at conferences you get the chance to meet agents and publisher face to face. Many conferences feature sessions during which you can pitch your book idea directly to agents and editors. For instance, at the San Francisco Writers Conference, every year I have participated in their “Speed Dating for Agents” session. I get three minutes to pitch an agent before moving on to another. Some years I’ve pitched to as many as 10 agents! The interested agents give me their contact information, and I then follow up with a proposal. Also, I can send them the requested information an envelope that indicates that they did, indeed, request it, which means my work doesn’t disappear into a slush pile. It may get read sooner; thus, I may get a reply sooner. In addition, the conference normally provides attendees with contact information for all the agents and editors participating in the conference, so you can pitch to them by query letter and at least mention that you were at the conference.

Then, of course, you might have the opportunity to talk to an agent or editor in the bar or in the lobby of the hotel where the conference is being held. Or you might meet another writer who gives you a lead on the perfect publisher for your book.

You just never know what will happen at a writers conference, but I can assure you that whatever happens it will be good and it will further your writing career.

Okay, so I know that at least Linda is still reading this blog. (Thanks, Linda, for giving me reason to keep blogging! And congratulations on writing 45,000 words of fiction and finishing your nonfiction proposal all in less than 30 days. You deserve more than just a gold star!)

Linda has asked me to go back to the topic of editing and clarify an important point – the need for professional editing. I offered a bunch of tips of self-editing your work, and I mentioned that I happen to be a fairly good editor of my own work. However, I did not mean to imply that it isn’t a good idea to get professional editing help for your nonfiction projects. In fact, I highly recommend hiring a professional editor, especially if you are going to be self-publishing your work.

You can edit your work numerous times and still miss content issues and serious grammatical mistakes. Because you know your topic so well and are so close to your work, after you’ve edited your project a certain number of times your eyes can no longer see even the most glaring errors – not to mention the smaller ones. A fresh set of eyes on your work always proves helpful, and a set of eyes that are honed to look for anything concerning grammar and punctuation, content, structure, and flow of a book can be invaluable.

Believe me, I realize that hiring a professional editor represents an expensive undertaking. (I know what people pay me to edit their books — and what they pay other editors that charge more than I do. Plus, I need a good fiction editor for my novel, and I haven’t yet been able to afford one.) So, I’d love to be able to tell those of you who can’t afford to hire a professional editor like myself that it’s enough to find a good friend who was an English major in college to give your work a read through, but I can’t in good conscience do that. It’s true that finding a few good readers for feedback and a bit of editing helps. Don’t ever turn down the offer, but distinguish between “readers” and “professional editors.”

I’m editing a project right now that my client told me was edited twice before. She actually paid two people – one who said she was an editor and one who was a school teacher (I’m not sure if she is an English teacher or not) – to read her manuscript. She was amazed when I sent the first chapter back to her. The other two “editors” hadn’t corrected even half of what I corrected. They had left all her passive sentences (those using any derivation of the verb “to be”) without even mentioning that the book consisted of only about 15% active sentences. (Passive sentences are boring to read because they create weak and uninteresting writing.) These two people also were very familiar with the subject of her book, and, therefore, didn’t notice when she wrote about something without fully explaining it in a way that anyone – even someone not familiar with the subject – would understand. (I read every book I edit as if I know nothing about the subject at all, even if I know something about it. And I assume the reader knows less than I do. In this way, I help the writer fill in content gaps, or questions that might have been left in the readers’ minds. You can’t do this for yourself, nor can someone else who knows your subject really well – unless they are trained to do so.)

Also, distinguish between “editors” and “proofreaders.” After all the editing is complete, you need a good proofreader to catch any typos, misspellings, extra spaces, etc, but your proofreader shouldn’t be making grammatical changes. I edited a book for a client who then hired a proofreader who thought she was an editor. He let her go through the whole book and change every “he” and “she” to “he/she.” She also changed how I was using commas in a series, so the usage no longer was consistent throughout the book.

So, by all means learn how to be a good editor of your own work. And when you can edit your work no more, hire a professional editor. And when that editor completes the job, hire a good proofreader.

Okay…I admit it. I don’t feel like blogging today. I don’t feel like writing today.

I’ve been working on my new booklet, but it’s been slow going. I should have gotten a lot more done than I have. I’ve stuck with it for several hours, however, and at least I’ve gotten something done. Sometimes as a nonfiction writer you can only say for the work you’ve done , “I persevered. I stayed in front of the computer, and I wrote. I don’t know if what I wrote is good, but I put one word after the other.” That I did. (Remember NaNoWriMo is NOT about good writing; it’s just about writing 50,000 words. I haven’t even asked you to write a certain number of words. I’ve just challenged you to write and finish a project this month.)

Here’s the deal: I’m jet lagged. I flew all the way across the country and back in four days. My body is sore from sitting so much (six hours on a plane plus an hour and a half in a car to get to and from the airport and two hours waiting to board the plane). And now I’m sitting again, this time in front of my computer.

I’ve got a big work week ahead of me, plus I’ve got lots of things to handle for my children. On top of that, my husband and I have some stress factors to deal with concerning his employment situation. All in all, I’d like to just crawl into a hole rather than write a blog or a booklet. I love my clients, but at this moment, I don’t feel like editing either. I want to sleep or read or watch TV or stare into space. I want to do anything but write.

In addition, I can’t think of one interesting subject to write about at this particular moment. I wouldn’t say I’ve got writer’s block. I could write if I knew what to write about. I’ve got idea block.

I keep wondering if anyone is reading this blog anymore…If you are, why don’t you send along a comment asking me to cover a specific topic? That would be helpful. I’ve got one more week to go, and, actually, I’d love to write about something important to you (if it’s a subject I feel competent to cover) rather than something I think might be important or helpful to you.

That’s it for today, folks. I’m just not inspired. It’s one of those days. We all have them. At least I tried. I sat down. I wrote something. (I did work on my Write Nonfiction in November writing project, which I really need to do more work on if I’m to finish it in the next week. This blog has become my Write Nonfiction in November writing project…I guess I’ll be able to say I completed that. I know I missed a few days, but I did blog almost all month. Well, I do have a week to go…and I do want to finish that booklet, so off I go to write a bit more.)

My journalism training included just a little bit of information on how to conduct interviews. However, interviews represent an essential part of what I do as both a journalist and as an author. I use interviews every time I write an article for which I need expert sources to quote and every time I write a book or booklet for which I need to research a subject and choose to go directly to expert sources for information. Over the years I’ve learned a few tricks and rules that I’d like to share with you here today.

First, if you are interviewing several sources for an article or for a book project, it’s best, if possible, to start with a source who can provide you with a general overview of your subject. With this overview, you can then begin to hone your questions down to more specific ones, which you can direct to sources with more specific knowledge. In fact, your first source may be able to direct you to these other expert sources.

Second, if you are looking for sources, there are services on line that can help you. (I’m not at home at the moment, so I don’t have access to my files; and I don’t have good Internet access – just enough to post this blog, but you can look on line for public relations services that help you find the experts you need.) For example, I am listed with ExpertClick.com, or The Yearbook of Experts. Journalists can access this list for free. Or begin asking people who know something about your subject for suggestions on who you might interview. If you begin putting out feelers, before long, you will find yourself with some useful interview sources.

Third, always write out your list of questions before you conduct an interview. I like to set up the questions in an order that follows the order I think my article might follow (or my chapter, booklet, etc.) Later, if you choose to transcribe your tape of the interview, you can edit the transcript, writing your copy as you do so. This makes the writing go much faster. I often do this when writing articles.

Fourth, I always tape my interviews and type while I conduct them. In many states, you are required by law to tell someone you interview over the phone that you are, indeed, tape recording them. So, be sure you are aware of the laws in your state, or simply make it a practice to tell all your interview subjects that you are taping them before you begin the interview. I type even when I interview someone in person. (I bring along my laptop.) This gives me a partial transcript (I go back and complete the transcript later.) and ensures that I get as many quotes down on paper as possible, and that I do so as accurately as possible. I can write pretty quickly, but my writing is sloppy, and even I often can’t read what I’ve written under the best of circumstances.

Fifth, when an expert source tells you something “off the record,” which means you can’t use the information they just told you, it’s off the record…unless they tell you it’s off the record after they tell you. That said, I honor their request that the information be off the record no matter when they say those specific words. I want them to trust me and to allow me to come back to them again, if I need them as a source again. I might go to another source and try to get them to give me the same information on the record.

Sixth, don’t change quotes. However, I often ask people if they’d like me to correct their grammar. No one likes to sound stupid, and my articles sound better with expert sources that use correct grammar. Most people prefer to have their quotes “cleaned up.”

Seventh, don’t quote someone out of context.

Eighth, don’t misquote anyone ever.

Ninth, at the beginning of an interview, always get the basics handled: get the correct spelling of the person’s name, their title, their address, etc. Doing this at the beginning is a great ice breaker. Plus, this ensures that you don’t forget to do sp at the end.

Tenth, treat the interview like a conversation, if possible. Take some time at the beginning to explain why you are interviewing them or to remind them of why you are writing the article or what your book is about. Ask them what the weather is like where they live. Do whatever you can to make your source feel comfortable and to relieve yourself of your own nerves.

Eleventh, it’s best to avoid agreeing to have your sources read what you’ve written, although they often ask to do so. You don’t want them to change their minds about what they’ve said once they read their words. If you must agree, let them read only their quotes and not the whole article, chapter, book, etc. If they want to read the whole piece to understand the context within which their quote is being used, make sure they understand that they have no say over your manuscript. They cannot edit or change it. Nor can they edit or change their quotes (unless it’s for the better).

Twelfth, remember to send your sources a thank you note and a copy of the finished product.

The best interviews I’ve conducted are the ones when my interview sources actually thank me for interviewing them when we are finished. Yes, that actually happens occasionally. Sometimes they find the subject interesting and enjoy the opportunity to think about it and discuss it with me. At these times, when I hang up the phone, I feel very grateful for the people who have agreed to let me interview them, have given me their time and have been willing to share their thoughts and expertise with me, and for the fact that my job as a nonfiction writer offers me the opportunity to interview such knowledgeable people on such fascinating subjects.

I’ve gotten quite infatuated with writing short booklets rather than books. I came upon this form of nonfiction writing when a friend of mine shared with me what she had learned in a class about speaking and promotion for writers. (Surprise, surprise. We’re back on that subject again, but only briefly.) The man who taught the class suggested that speakers should have something to sell at the back of the room (of course), and he suggested selling booklets. These short (often only 28-pages) little books can be printed at your local Office Depot or Kinko’s, since they are simply copied, stapled and folded. This man’s version didn’t involve a color cover, just cover stock.

I set out to produce one of these when I got frustrated by my inability to get one of my book projects sold to a publisher. I pulled one section of the book-to-be out of the manuscript and published it myself as a booklet, which I called From Empty Practice to Meaning-Full and Spirit-Full Prayers and Rituals…In 7 Simple Steps. Unwilling to wait for a publisher to pick up another book project about which I felt quite passionate, this past year I produced a second booklet, Abracadabra! The Kabbalah of Conscious Creation (10 Mystical Steps to Manifesting Your Dreams and Desires). My Write Nonfiction in November project involves writing a third booklet, again from a book project; while promoting this project I taught a four-part teleseminar based on several chapters in the book. I am now taking my class scripts and putting them into a booklet called The Priestess Practice.

I like this form of publication for several reasons. First, I can revise my booklets as often as I like. I don’t publish very many of them at a time, so if I want to make changes, it’s no problem. I make the changes on my computer and then run a disc down to Kinkos. The next day, I have new booklets. Abracadabra! has already grown by eight pages, and I’m about to revise it once again. When I’m done, it will have grown by at least another eight pages. One day it will be large enough for me to actually get self-published in another form, but in the meantime I can continue selling it when I speak and on my web site, which allows me to promote prior the book being complete.

Second, I really believe that people prefer to read short books. A booklet simply is a short book – a quick and easy read. With the busy lifestyle most of us read today, this published form appeals to many people. In fact, I recently saw a series of booklets on sale in Border’s, which looked just like the ones my friends teacher suggested producing. They were short and simple with no spine – just copied and stapled. (And they were self-published). The fact that Border’s had them featured at the check out convinced me that production and sales of booklets would soon be on the rise.

Third, booklets provide a quick and easy structure for producing a book. I can take an idea I have for a full-length book and write it in booklet form in just a week or two. I then have a product to sell. People get to read what I’ve written, and I get to sell my booklet. In the process, that booklet helps me promote the book I ultimately wan to sell to a publisher. That booklet also helps me show a publisher how I would deal with the subject I am proposing and that I am serious about helping promote and market my book project.

Fourth, should my book project never get published, I’ve not waited around so long that I’ve lost interest in ever writing about that subject. In the meantime, I’ve produced a piece of nonfiction writing that I have self-published, that people can read, and from which I can earn a bit of money.

And, when I go speak somewhere, I’ve got something to sell at the back of the room – like all good writers – I mean speakers – should have.

Blogger’s Note: Happy Thanksgiving! No Blog tommorrow. Sorry about missing yesterday. We were delayed in several airports and didn’t arrive at our destination until 2 a.m. We travel again on Friday. I’ll try to post, but no promises.

Okay, so this blog isn’t really about nonfiction writing. It’s about speaking – speaking about what you write as a means of promoting yourself and your writing projects (books). I’m choosing this topic for one reason: I recently discovered that I didn’t know enough about it, and I had to go searching for information. So, I’d like to share that information with you.

As I’ve mentioned before, we nonfiction writers need to develop a platform, and we do this by either writing enough, speaking enough, teaching enough, blogging enough – doing something enough so that lots of people either know who we are or we build a big enough mailing list that we are able to promote our books successfully. In other words, we can sell our books to all these people who know us or who are on our mailing list. Speaking represents one of the most common ways for writers to build their platforms.

I realize that some writers are reclusive and may not enjoy being around large groups of people, let alone getting up in front of them and speaking to them. I also realize that some writers – including me – would rather be writing than speaking.

Now, I do enjoy speaking and teaching, but I have sometimes felt a bit out of integrity when I’ve called myself a “speaker” or “teacher” since I know that what I really am is a “writer.” I simply speak about what I write. As speaker or teacher I’m supposed to be an “expert” on whatever I’m speaking about, yet I normally feel like I know just a little bit about my subject – just the little bit I wrote about. But I guess that’s must my “stuff.” Let’s move on…

Let me get back to the point of this blog: My agent keeps asking me how much money I want to earn from my speaking. I’ve been giving him a huge, pie-in-the-sky figure, but, in fact, until recently I’ve had no idea what I could actually earn speaking. I do speak here and there and as often as I can. Many times I speak for free, and because I speak on a “spiritual” topic I tend to speak in small churches and synagogues where the pay, when there is any, is pretty low. Sometimes I speak or teach at conferences, and then I’m lucky to get my expenses paid. I do most of this for the sake of promotion. When I realized that he thought I was a bit crazy or misled in my beliefs, I decided maybe I should actually find out what I could get paid to go out and speak.

I realized, however, that no one actually talks to writers about this. To discover anything about speaking, you have to treat yourself like a speaker and join a speakers bureau or the National Speakers Association (NSA), take a class on speaking or at least begin doing research on speaking. This begins to open the doors of information.

While I did not join any such group or class, I did begin doing research and I asked a friend if I could join her mastermind group, which consisted of four or five women who focused on sharing leads and information on speaking. Prior to the first meeting, I contacted one of the other women in the group who knew me and who I knew did a lot of speaking. I asked her what she thought I should be charging for my speaking services. I was shocked when she replied, “$1,500.”

“Do you think I can even ask this of a synagogue with a small budget?” I replied.

She said, “Your fee should be $1,500. If they can’t pay you that, see what they can pay you. Ask them what their budget is. If they can’t pay you that much, accept $500. That should be your minimum payment.”

Well, that was a starting point, I thought, although I was still reeling from the first amount.

I then contacted someone I had met once who was a member of the NSA. I asked her about speaking fees, and she sent me a chart that broke speaking payment down into levels. This was most helpful and gave me something concrete to work from when it came to seriously considering what to charge. I can’t share the whole chart, since it contained a copyright, but I can tell you that the levels ranged from beginning speakers, who were unpaid, to part-time speakers, who were paid $100-850, to non-professional speakers, who were paid $1,000-2,000, to professional, full-time speakers, who were paid $4,000-9,000, to celebrity and famous speakers, who were paid between $10,000 to $25,000+.

At this point, I still speak for free and for expenses on many occasions, because I am still trying to build my platform. I speak on a regular basis at a small church where I’m paid $125 – their standard fee. However, with every addition “gig” that I put on my list of recently speaking engagements, I know that I am moving closer and closer to being able to charge more. I have now set up my own desired speaking fee schedule, and while I am willing to work within most organizations’ budgets, I do plan on earning that $1,500 (or close to it) when I go out and speak in the not too distant future.

So, now you don’t have to wonder about what to charge as a speaker. You can transform yourself from a writer into a speaker with less questions and lack of information than I experienced.

Now, if you have a fear of speaking or need help with your public speaking ability, I suggest you join Toastmasters, a speaking class, NSA, or some other group that will support you. And go out and begin speaking. I found that the best way to get over my nerves and get better at speaking was, as the Nike ads says, to just do it. That same little church has a small congregation, and they asked me to come every few months and to speak on a different topic each time. I showed up, gave it my best shot, tried different things, and eventually began to feel comfortable and confident. Now, when I go to new places to speak, that same level of comfort and confidence tends to come with me. So, if nothing else, get some experience. And ask for feedback; people are happy to tell you how to improve on your presentation. Or, ask someone to video tape you while you speak. Watching the video afterwards provides a wonderful learning tool.