ICW Report, March 2005

This issue of the Report contains:

1. The Fifth Virtuous Practice of Better Writers
2. Free Press Release Service Really Works
3. Seoul To Be Site of Magazine Publishing Course
4. Letters

1. THE FIFTH VIRTUOUS PRACTICE OF BETTER WRITERS
Previous issues described Virtuous Practices:
1. Better Writers Relate to Other People
2. Better Writers Cultivate Healthy Attitudes Toward Their Work
3. Better Writers Work to Connect to the Reader Rather Than to "Cover the Material"
4. Better Writers Nurture Realistic Expectations for Themselves

5. BETTER WRITERS ARE STICKLERS FOR DETAIL

He shrugged and said, "It's good enough for government work." With that facetious remark the craftsman excused his less-than-excellent workmanship and packed up his tools. The government, so the thinking goes, accepts shoddy performance of a kind that private enterprise would never tolerate.

Sadly, many would-be Christian writers lack excellence and true craftsmanship in their writing. Without saying it, their thinking seems to be, It's good enough for the Christian market. With the arrival of "POD" (print on demand), their work has become "good enough" to get published.

Not many years ago, if you wanted to get published but were frustrated, some nice man from a New York firm would publish you, carefully building your hopes of the wondrous results you could expect. Several thousand dollars of your money later, you would end up with a garage or basement full of books and no prospects of ever selling them.

Now, that has changed somewhat. With Print on Demand, you can get many fewer books for much less money. One woman told me she got 100 copies of her book for $900. Well, that's better than 1000 copies for $9000, and I don't say never use POD. However, the product she got is inferior and overpriced, and the distribution is minimal, an outcome hardly good enough for government work let alone for the Lord God of the universe.

"The book is an embarrassment," another POD author told me. "They didn't edit it at all. It's full of misprints and errors. Next time, I'll know I have to produce a nearly flawless manuscript before I submit it, because they certainly won't do much."

I have two comments about that:
1. You should produce as close as you can to a flawless manuscript regardless of who publishes it or how. You are the writer, so write already. That means you must constantly polish your language skills. Personally, I find myself mentally editing just about everything I read, including cereal boxes. I am probably a brother under the skin to the French grammarian Bonhourre, whose last words on his deathbed were, "I am dying. I am about to die. Either is correct."

2. A basic flaw exists in the POD system as I have described it. Given that system, your book will probably contain embarrassing gaffes regardless of how long and hard you work, simply because not enough eyes examine everything. That's why your work must be critiqued, edited, and proofread by others, as well as rewritten by you before you ever present it for publication. Then, a mainline publisher will put your book manuscript through exhaustive editing and proofing-and not by just one person but several. On my latest book, A Funny Thing Happened on My Way to Old Age, the fine editors at InterVarsity Press were extremely thorough. Even at a late stage, after repeatedly going through the manuscript with a fine-toothed comb, they sent me an email asking me to change one word on page 72.

To be a better writer, you must pay attention to detail and not settle for "good enough." You must practice patience, perseverance, and teamwork. That's a high price to pay. But inferior work has a high price too. That book or article you should have written will be only a caricature of what it might have been.

2. FREE PRESS RELEASE SERVICE REALLY WORKS

In seeking ways to promote my new book, A Funny Thing Happened On My Way to Old Age, I have made use of a free press release service on the internet called PR WEB.
Some think a free press release service can't be much good. I have it from two reliable sources that this one is. Linda Barr Batdorf first told me about it, and Ed Grant also praised it.
You can go to PR WEB on the internet and find a wealth of information. Or if you say so, I will send them your email address and they can contact you. This second choice helps me out because for every person whose email address I give them, I get more favorable press release placement. But I would only send your address at your request.
As I said, the service is free. However, one can make a contribution in any increment of $10. Those who make the largest contributions have their press releases placed higher up on the pages. And among those who make identical contributions (including zero), those who have referred others get better placement.
The website includes a template and guidelines for submitting good press releases. A press release is a news item, not a sales pitch.
In order to slip in my own press release here, I will use it as an example of what they want.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Best-Selling Author Scores Again With Entertaining Book for Aging Boomers

While the nation debates how best to provide a living for seniors through Social Security, author Stanley Baldwin wants them also to have a life.

Portland, Oregon (PR WEB) March 18, 2005 - Eight challenges face people as they age, and best-selling author Stanley Baldwin addresses each in his new book, A Funny Thing Happened on My Way to Old Age. Subtitled, "Life Changes After 50," the book begins by dealing with the denial phase: "old age is a state of mind." Not quite! It then addresses grouchiness, fear of death, coping with change, and threats to ones independence. One chapter explores the sense of loss that comes as more and more friends and loved ones die. Baldwin keeps the approach humorous and entertaining. For example, his chapter on overcoming "retirement depression" is entitled, "What I Want To Be When I Grow Old." The final chapter is, "I Want To Finish Well."

"Write what you know," is an adage Baldwin has pressed on other authors he has mentored over the years. Now, after recently ending a long denial about his own aging, Baldwin has put this advice into practice. The result is a deeply personal and highly entertaining book.

Baldwin expects this, his 21st book, to join his four other best-selling titles, which have sold some 300,000 copies each. "It's just a natural," he says. "There's a huge demographic out there with droves of baby boomers now becoming senior citizens." With the book yet to be released (April 1), more than 300 of the largest senior citizen ministries in the country have already requested review copies.

One of the surprises encountered in pre-publication sales was how often older people bought copies for their middle-aged children. It seems they want the 'kids' to better understand what their folks experience. And what lies ahead for them in just a few years.

Baldwin writes as a committed Christian, but his low-key style has gained this book pre-publication acceptance not only in churches but in service clubs, retirement communities, and the society in general. The book has won endorsements from a variety of leaders both in the United States and abroad.

Recent block-buster best-seller author Jerry Jenkins (Left Behind) says, "Stan Baldwin was my boss and pastor when I was a pup, and he taught me many lessons about work and writing and life. Still at the top of his game in A Funny Thing Happened on My Way to Old Age, he's now mentoring me to finish well. You'll laugh, you'll identify, you'll 'aha,' and you'll read it from cover to cover."

Author Marion Stroud of Bedford, England says, "Most of us don't think about being over the hill until we're rolling briskly down the other side. Having read Stanley Baldwin's new book, I'm now better prepared to make the latter years of my life the crowning years."

A Funny Thing Happened on My Way to Old Age becomes available April 1 through Barnes and Noble, Borders and other better bookstores nationwide, as well as online from Amazon, CBD, ivpress.com, and stanleybaldwin.com.

For additional information, contact pr@stanleybaldwin.com (503-659-2974) or kcarnet@ivpress.com (630-734-4062).

3. SEOUL TO BE SITE of MAGAZINE PUBLISHING COURSE
(Vienna) The Magazine Training Institute will offer a course on the Business of Magazine Publishing in Seoul, Korea, April 24-29, 2005. The five-and-a-half day intensive course will cover topics such as strategic planning, building circulation, increasing advertising revenue, financial management, managing personnel, generating income, research, production, and developing a magazine business plan.
The instructors are Tim Gilmour, vice-president of Group Publishing, Inc. and publisher of Group Magazine, Children's Ministry Magazine, and Rev Magazine, and John Styll, founding editor of CCM, a contemporary Christian music magazine, and former publisher of another six magazines. He is currently president of the Gospel Music Association.
Sessions will be taught in English with interpretation into Korean. Participants will receive an 80-page manual outlining the course and including valuable samples, charts, and other resources. The manual is available in Korean and English versions.
Christian magazine publishers, editors, business managers, and other magazine staff members are encouraged to attend the course. All who attend the full course will receive a certificate of completion.
Tuition of $130 includes the manual, coffee breaks, lunch each day, and a banquet on Friday night. A $30 discount is available for those who register by April 1. Housing is available at the conference center at a modest cost.
"We consider this to be one of the most important courses we offer," says Sharon Mumper, institute director. "It is possible to have a high-quality, well-designed, expertly-edited magazine with good writers and still to fail," she says. "Knowledge of good business principles will not guarantee success. But failure to apply those principles almost always guarantees failure--or at least a day-to-day struggle for survival."
The Magazine Training Institute (MTI) has offered the course in Hungary, Hong Kong, Russia, Ukraine, Slovakia, and Bulgaria. For more information about the course, send an e-mail to eemti@utanet.at or download an application form from MTI's Web site at www.magazinetraining.com.
Plans for future conferences include a conference on Publishing for Children and Youth, to be held Oct. 30-Nov. 4, 2005, in Croatia, and a Design for Magazines course to be held Nov. 6-11 in Croatia.

4. LETTERS
From Alma Dole:
What an extraordinary blessing, substantial facilitation, and welcome encouragement pop into my inbox with the simple subject line of "ICW Report"!
Thank you, dear brother in Christ, for the hours of work invested for our benefit and His glory. May you always know that it is appreciated---not only by this not-so-young missionary/writer in Brazil but by untold others!
Unfortunately, my hard drive died, and I lost everything, including all incoming mail from before and during the crisis. So, The FOURTH Virtuous Practice of Better Writers was my first!
COULD you possibly send me the first three? That would certainly be a gift of love. But if you simply don't have the time, that's fine too. I'll still love you & pray for you, ok?
May the year 2005 bring you exciting opportunities for Christ, as you press on to know Him. In our 35 years on the mission field, my Luv and I have absolutely ascertained that the bottom line is: HE IS FAITHFUL!
Yours to see Him glorified,
Alma Gordon Dole (aka Mrs.Dee, or Alminha, which in Portuguese is "Little Alma.")

From Alma Dole (letter 2)
Good morning! Hope you're not freezing or snowed under up that-a-way. Here, our Fall is beginning, and today is a balmy 69-degree sunny Saturday.
(Editor's note: Where the Report originates {Portland, Oregon}, our winter is just ending with a remarkable extended period of warm dry weather, and we too had 70-degree temperatures).
Stan, I just wanted to send you a chubby THANK YOU, because I know you took time you "didn't have" to find and send me those. Perfect timing, too, coming in on an amazingly free Saturday morning. Consequently, I have just invested a couple of hours in reading them (as I moved them from email to WP (making the space adjustments) and appreciating them, as well as taking time to apply them personally. Just as if I had sat in a seminar with you, dear brother. Something I hope I can do someday.
Meanwhile, may our Wondrous Lord stretch your hours and shrink your frustrations, as you press on to know Him.
HE IS FAITHFUL!

From Bobbe Brooks (new member):
This newsletter is awesome! Thank you,

From Jeannie St. John Taylor:
I've been eagerly awaiting the arrival of your new book (A Funny Thing Happened on My Way to Old Age). I'll buy a copy the second it comes out. Just send around an e-mail announcement. (Here's the announcement; it's out April 1.)
My newest book Who Did It? is out. I co-authored it with (the late) Ron Mehl and then did the illustrations. All the royalties go to a ministry he established called Compassion. I feel so blessed to be able to do that.
I may send you a photo show of it.
I love you, Stan. You mentored me. You taught me to write. Your life has influenced me. You have been a wonderful and loving friend. I can't tell you how THRILLED I am about the impact I expect your new book to make.
(Jeannie is an author/illustrator of several books including Am I Praying? {Kregel} and How To Be a Praying Mom {AMG Publishers}).

From Dr. C. D. Jebasingh:
There are constant requests for "Drama Workshops" in this country (India). I shall be grateful if you would recommend someone who is available.
(Any suggestions, members?)

From Mary Lou Redding ("The Upper Room")
Thanks for including the call for meditations on forgiveness in the Report (February). We've had a great response to the invitation. We'll be asking for meds on a different subject very soon, and I appreciate your helping us get the word out.
I hope you're well. I'm heading off to the Florida Christian Writers Conference in a few days. When I get back here, I'll be having knee-replacement surgery and will be out of the office for six to eight weeks. I'll appreciate your prayers for patience and strength as I do the nasty rehab. I am not looking forward to it.

From G. L. Daily:
I am missing Virtuous Practice articles 1 and 2. Could you please resend them to me?
Thanks.
( Visit G.L. Daily at http://www.g-guard.com. His available Free ebooks include Introduction to Writing For Christians.

Until next time, keep writing.

Stanley C. Baldwin, Director

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