Publishing Requires Advanced Planning



I started my writing career in the newspaper world. The deadlines were steep but it was an exciting experience as a writer. We’d have editorial meetings in the morning, get our story assignments, have an 11 am deadline to write and  turn in our story. Then we would read it in the afternoon newspaper.

Magazines are a little slower with working two to six months ahead on the various issues. As a writer you should understand that December issues are generally put together in July. You have to plan ahead for such issues—and the writer has to know about it to pitch appropriate seasonal stories.

Books are the slowest. Sometimes a book will take 18 to 24 months after it is contracted to get published. As a writer such information will feed into the planning of your publishing.



For Writers on the Move, I write once a month. I want to give you an opportunity to help me celebrate an amazing milestone. Billy Graham will turn 99 on November 7th. For the last six decades, Mr Graham has been on the list of the most admired men in America. He has mostly disappeared from the public eye except for rare occasions. I’m encouraging you to wish Mr. Graham a Happy Birthday and I want to give you some tools and ideas for those wishes. I’ve prepared a series of social media posts and some images that you can use at:

Beyond this advanced planning to celebrate Mr. Graham’s birthday. I’ve been working on the audiobook version of my book. You can hear the retail sample of the book here and even use this link to encourage your local library to order the book.

If you hear this sample, you will know that it is not my voice but Andrew L Barnes, an experienced audiobook specialist. As I wrote about recently here, audiobooks continue to explode in the book world and I’m happy to announce my book’s availability in audio.

How is advanced planning affecting your writing? Let me know in the comment section below.

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W. Terry Whalin is an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing. He has written for more than 50 magazines and published more than 60 books for traditional publishers including his latest Billy Graham, A Biography of America's Greatest Evangelist. Terry is active on Twitter and lives in Colorado. 

4 comments:

Carolyn Howard-Johnson said...

Terry, anyone who doesn’t follow your advice to use your template for contacting local libraries is missing a bet!

Karen Cioffi said...

I agree, Terry. The template to encourage your local library to order a book is a sure bet. I never thought of using something like that.

And, writers do need to know the time frame involved in the different writing arenas. It helps us pace ourselves. Thanks for sharing!

Terry Whalin said...

Carolyn,

Thank you for the feedback and encouragement.

Terry

Terry Whalin said...

Karen,

Thank you for this comment and the feedback. Terry

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