2022 Takeaways for Writers … and Insights for 2023!

2022 was a great year for writers and authors and it offered some wonderful insights. In this episode of the Writing Momentum podcast, Chris and Gena talk about what they took away from 2022 and how it will change the way they approach their careers in 2023. See if they’re the same for you!

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Links:

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Episode 51 Transcription:

[00:00:14].050] - Chris
Hello and welcome to the Writing Momentum podcast. I'm Christopher Maselli, and I'm here with my wife Gena. Gena, how's it going?

[00:00:20].190] - Gena
It's going really great.

[00:00:21].480] - Chris
OOH. We are excited because it is the end of 2022. It has been a good year. It's been a busy year. We've learned a lot this year, I think, and that's what we want to talk about today on the podcast. There's some of our takeaways from 2022 and the momentum we have for going into 2023, right?

[00:00:39].500] - Gena
I think so. And we always I love Christmas, I love the holidays. But I have to admit that one of my favorite times of year is this period between Christmas and New Year when you and I always sit down and talk about where we're going in the future. And we have done this for years, where this has been a time where we take a breath, we look at what's going on, where we're going, what we accomplished in the past, where we want to go in the future. And it always just spurs us on and gets us ready for that next step in the next year.

[00:01:12].140] - Chris
Yeah, this is our kind of time just to get on all the good things that have happened forward to what's coming in the new year. That's just what we want to share with you today, with some of our takeaways and what we're looking at when it comes to the state of publishing and marketing and the writing life in this last year and this coming year. Because we know that you're all living the writing life, and we are too, we thought that you might benefit from some of our takeaways, and we'd love to hear yours, too. So please go ahead and send those.

[00:01:39].790] - Gena
To us, and I hope these are encouraging for everybody. Chris and I are very real about the writing life. We've been in a really long time. We try not to just hype it up and tell you, like, everything's going to be rainbows and fairy dust, but we want to be real about it. But we also are very optimistic about it. And there are some things that we have learned. There are things we are still learning, some things that are setting us up for the future, and we do want to share those with you. Because if there's something that we have learned and we can shorten your learning curve, then, boy, let's just do it. We're all for let's share it and let's go.

[00:02:16].540] - Chris
Yeah, that's right. Okay. So the first thing I think that is a big takeaway for us is that if you've been listening to this podcast for some time, you've heard us say this, and that is that there is no easier time to get published and we don't just mean that in a trite kind of way. Oh, it's easier than ever because of technology. We mean it's literally easier than ever. If you have an idea for a book and you're wanting to get published and you're thinking, I wonder if an editor will listen to this, or I wonder if there's a way that I can self publish this, let me tell you, it is easier than ever to get your book published. It's submitting it to editors and agents through the Internet, going to a writer's conference, or especially self publishing. There are almost no barriers to self publishing at this point. And it's so much we have to constantly encourage writers to make sure they have their material edited and get a second look at it because the barriers are so low that anyone can publish anything, even if it's not ready to be published, wouldn't you say?

[00:03:16].240] - Gena
I would absolutely say that. And that's my one caveat with it being such a prime time for getting published. I think that is wonderful. We are all benefiting from that. How many people spent years just trying to get their stuff in the door because it was a little bit different? We've talked before. Publishers, it's a business. They only have so many dollars that they can spend on kind of experimental publishing ventures. They need sure things. And so they're looking for sure things. Even big traditional publishers now, they are looking for sure thing, looking for name recognition. They're looking for name recognition. They want to know that what somebody that the person that's bringing it to them, that they can sell what they have. And they need it to be a pretty good big splash so that they can stay in business. But for the independent author, it's perfect because you can get out there. But Chris is so right. Guys, please, if there's anything that you take away, it is please have your work edited. Please be open to feedback. Chris and I both have we have worked with authors before who think that what they've written is the masterpiece on par with the Mona Lisa.

[00:04:38].990] - Gena
And they think that there's nothing more that can be done to improve it. And you know what? It's a mess. It is a flat out mess. They've got streams of thought that don't make sense. They have put things together that just it's in a weird order. So really make time, energy, and be willing to pay for a good editor who will help take your book to the next level.

[00:05:07].910] - Chris
Yeah, just get others opinions, but get professional opinions and pay attention to those opinions. And that is not just about the text in the middle of the book, about the copy. It's also about the flow of the book. It's about the images on the front cover. It's about the title of the book. Right. It's about every piece of that. Also, other people can help you see the ways you need to market it. And that's really important, too. It is, absolutely.

[00:05:37].050] - Gena
You know what? In our recent writing moments, this past week I was talking about hiring an editor. That is something that Chris and I both do. We are hired by different organizations, different independent authors, just different people to edit their books. And we love helping them take it across the finish line. That's always a lot of fun. But we did talk in that time, and our good friend Renee Gutteridge was there and she was talking from a fiction standpoint about there are different types of editors. So for the nonfiction editor, we're one, we can big picture where we're looking at the story overall or what you're trying to tell overall for fiction, then you get a little more granular. You're looking at just a technical editor and copy editor who's going to get in there and make sure that you're making sense. More for your sentences, but also for your paragraphs. And then we even recommend having somebody proof it before it goes out the door, having that another pair of eyes on that can go through and say, this doesn't make sense. I don't understand this sentence. I don't like this thing that you've said here, or it seems like you've taken a left turn in this chapter.

[00:06:49].650] - Gena
And I'll tell you, being in this business a long time that Chris and I have definitely seen times where some of those parts get skipped, especially that proofreader time. And we have seen books go out, be published, hard copy published with a typo on the front. Ouch. Nobody wants that. So please just do your due diligence, make sure your stuff is edited, make sure it's quality. So that here's the thing, is that you want people to take your message and you seriously and you don't want them to come to that fifth typo or that fifth paragraph or chapter that's rambling that's going on and have somebody go, I don't know what this person is talking about, and they put your book aside and never finish it. What you've got to say is too important.

[00:07:41].510] - Chris
That's right. That's our rant about publishing today.

[00:07:44].280] - Gena
Did I pull out my soapbox? I think I pulled out my soapbox.

[00:07:47].480] - Chris
Yeah, we both do.

[00:07:48].290] - Chris
You all have heard of us talk a lot about this because there is no easier time to get published. And so please do not allow yourself to have any more excuses get published in this coming year because it is easier than ever. That said, our second point ties into that a bit, and that is that you must do more than get published today. And you've also heard us rant about this. So let us just rant about this for a minute today. It's not just about getting your book out there. Getting your book book out there today is a lot like what it was when you might have put out your first website. And you remember when you put out your website and you thought, oh, people are going to love this and so many people are going to come and find my website and learn all about me and buy my stuff. And then you put it out there and you discover that no one even realizes this. It's the same with publishing your book today and put it on Amazon. You can even have a publisher publish it, but they're expecting you to do the marketing.

[00:08:45].760] - Chris
And if you do it yourself, you've got to do the marketing. Plus, there's so much competition today, so much because the barriers to entry are so low. You have to set yourself apart. You do set yourself apart in quality, like we talked about. You also set yourself apart by having a really good audience, right? Having people who are already following what you're doing, that means you have to have some kind of presence online, usually. It means you have to be going in speaking places, usually at least pick out some of these things that you can do, right? It means you might be running ads for your book. It means you might be using it in real life. Like if you're writing a book for a nonprofit, you may go travel with a nonprofit to promote that book, right? If you got something on history, you may go to the different places that sell history books, different locations around the US. And actually see if they'll carry your book. It's a lot of legwork, but you have to do more than just get published. That's why Gena and I don't just write our own books, but we also we have freelance career where we help other people with their books and their material.

[00:09:52].170] - Chris
We help them formatting. We have this podcast, we have the website. We have a lot of different things we do because it all helps build together.

[00:10:00].260] - Gena
Including our writing moments, which is another... I kind of think of it as a wheel with a lot of different spokes on it.

[00:10:07].890] - Chris
Yes.

[00:10:08].320] - Gena
And on those different spokes are the different ways that you are going to promote or build an audience or build a career in your writing. Build a community and by building a community. And so that's one thing that I think people really need to think about, especially I think of this especially with nonfiction writers as well. Although I know fiction writers, they're working hard. I see them in my Facebook feeds and in our Facebook group even, we see them working. But with nonfiction authors. If you are writing about something that is near and dear to your heart, something that you have learned, lessons you've learned, the education that you've gained, that book that you produce, it's not going to be like, oh, I'm just going to put everything that I know about the subject into this book, and then I'm going to put it out there and it's going to change the world. That's the dream. The reality is you need to promote that book through. Maybe you're doing webinars. Maybe you're going and speaking to different groups, to different professional organizations. Maybe you are blogging or you're guest blogging on other sites. Maybe you are writing newspaper or magazine articles or e-zines.

[00:11:20].980] - Gena
There's all these different ways that you have to get that message out there. Maybe you're like a really good friend of ours, Christy Johnson. She has got some beautiful nonfiction books about finding freedom after destructive relationships. And so she has groups where she mentors women on that exact subject. Think about it in terms of your book is a tool, but where are you going to take it from there and just really sit down and brainstorm, meditate, pray, think about how you can position your book, because in a way, your book is your calling card. And it may be that the book is what gets you in the door, but then you're speaking or you're training or your mentoring or something like that. Is the thing that really is that a money maker?

[00:12:10].470] - Chris
Yeah. We like to say you have more than a book in you, right. An entire message. And that's what you're sharing. And likewise, you've got more than just the people who might find your book on a bookshelf. You've got to be building relationships, because that's what marketing is today, is about relationships. And that brings us to the third point.

[00:12:28].620] - Gena
Third point, the value of newsletters. We really encourage you to have a newsletter. We encourage you to have a website. If you don't have a website, let's get that started. It doesn't have to be really elaborate, but you need to have a website there. And through your website, you want to be capturing names. You want to be starting those conversations with people. And that Chris talks a lot about creating that funnel, creating that lead magnet, creating websites. That's something that Chris also does helps, especially authors create websites so that they can start that conversation, find their tribe, build their tribe, get their books out there. It's that's another part of that.

[00:13:12].900] - Chris
So when we talk about creating a newsletter, what we mean is an electronic communications piece with the people who follow you yeah. In the email. When I think of a newsletter, yeah. Often I think of a paper newsletter right. That comes in the mail. That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about just an email communication with the people who follow you. And there's a lot of good programs out there that can help you do that. And Gena and I will do a podcast on this in the near future. We'll talk about some of our favorite email services that we recommend you use. We're also putting together some other fun stuff with that. And it's just a way that you can regularly send out a piece of communication. And it doesn't have to be fancy. Right. It doesn't have to have a bunch of graphics and look like you're selling something from Kohls. Right? You've seen their emails with all the crazy stuff. No, we're just talking about how it can just be a communications piece. You can just have a paragraph or two that you want to write to your audience this week and you're good to go.

[00:14:05].780] - Chris
That's really the value of what a newsletter is. It's just staying in communication with your audience.

[00:14:10].840] - Gena
And if you're questioning that, we have a newsletter that we send out every week, so go to our writingmomentum.com and sign up for it. And every week, we don't spam you, we don't sell your information, but we do send out emails that we hope will help people in their journey as writers. We want to help you get where you want to be. This isn't about us. It's about helping you get where you want to be.

[00:14:36].220] - Chris
Yeah, get our newsletter and then study it. See what we're doing, see how we're doing it. We've increased our open rate dramatically. We've increased our click through rate, which means those are important metrics to know how many people are opening it, how many people are clicking on links in it, how many people are responding to it, because that tells you whether you're having a dialogue with your audience or not. So those are important things. And if you look at what we've done, you can see that. We can see what works for us, and at least it's a test to see. Right? And you can unsubscribe at any time, but I think you'll like what's inside enough that you won't want to. Plus, we give you some free stuff when you subscribe.

[00:15:09].400] - Gena
Yeah. And if you look back at some past podcasts that we've done, that we've done, we have talked about our fumbling around figuring out the whole email system and how to make it work. So go back and look for the ones where we talk about the email and some of our false starts and some of our how we gained momentum and how it's been growing and we're still learning. Here's the thing. We are still learning. We've been doing this now for almost 30 years, and we are learning still and growing still, and the market is changing still. So we are constantly learning. Yeah, check ours out and go along on the ride for it with us.

[00:15:49].120] - Chris
That's writingmomentum.com. And then finally, we want to encourage you in something else that we've learned in 2022, and we continue to know that we're going to use to have momentum into 2023. And that is the value of getting help. Okay. There are two ways that we get help, primarily, that we have really capitalized on in this last year. One is we have hired virtual assistants. They're people who work with us to get this message out and to communicate with you. So rather than try to do all the editing of our podcast ourselves, all of the social media posts ourselves, all of even the management of our freelance business, all ourselves. We have hired people to help us with that. And it has helped us open up time so that we can do what only we can do are things that are in our voice. But there are things like video editing. Anyone could do that. So why not hire someone who's really good at that? That's one way that we've got received help. The other way is through accountability, keeping ourselves accountable to other writers to get our writing done every single week. And that's the reason we started Writing Moments, isn't it?

[00:17:01].100] - Gena
Yes. Writing Moments has been huge. We've had our first success with one of our writers who finished his book. He has now published it. It is out, and I had the privilege of editing it. But every week we get together on Wednesdays at noon Central, and we have a short teaching where either Chris or myself or Rene Gutteridge will teach for the first 15 minutes or so, and then we will write together for 45 minutes.

[00:17:28].220] - Chris
Yes.

[00:17:28].580] - Gena
And we have purposely kept it very affordable. We've had lots of people who tell us that we should increase the price on it, and we haven't done that yet. We're going to evaluate that in the near future. But we do that really because we want to build a community of people who are there for one another and who can cheer each other on and we can learn from one another. So that's the goal of Writing Moments. And you can just go to WritingMoments.com, learn more about that.

[00:17:56].820] - Chris
Yes. So those are four takeaways for 2022. The four things that we have seen that are the most important. One is that there's no better time to get published. Two is that you must do more than get published, and you've got a bigger message in you than just that initial book. Three is the value of newsletters indicating with your audience. And four is the value of getting help and accountability.

[00:18:18].290] - Gena
Yes.

[00:18:18].780] - Chris
So, anyway, we hope that this has been beneficial to you. We've certainly enjoyed being with you in 2022. This is our 51st podcast. We've done 51 of these. And because of the way the weeks fall, we won't have 52. Even though there's 52 weeks in the year. I guess because we're doing this on Wednesdays, it didn't give us 52 this year. Had to give us 51. But we've had 51 podcasts. And if you have found this valuable, please subscribe to the podcast that makes sure that you'll never miss a topic that we talk about. You can subscribe on your favorite Pod app, or you can subscribe on your computer, or you can subscribe to our YouTube channel, which is Youtube.com/@WritingMomentum, and you'll find us there. And we would love to have you join us because, hey, you guys are the reason we do all this. And so don't forget, until next time what, Gena?

[00:19:10].030] - Gena
Together. We have writing momentum.