A few weeks ago, I posted about the revisions my editor and agent wanted for my upcoming book. I went back and read that post and was happy to see that I’d written this:

This time I’m going to take a deep breath and give the ideas from my editor and agent some serious consideration, remembering that they are on my side and want the best for me and this book. My challenge is to give my editor a book that she can sell that’s also a book that I can call my own. I’m up for the challenge. I have to be. Given the way my Lord works, if I don’t get it now, I’ll be facing this same situation for the rest of my career.

Well, I did exactly that. And I still couldn’t see the point of some of the requested revisions. Guess what I did then? I emailed my editor (copying my agent) and asked if we could talk again. In the email, I posted my concerns about the proposed revisions and made suggestions for what we could do instead. As I hit the “send” key, I was a bit anxious about her response. The anxiety was all for naught. My editor and I spoke the next day. She was open to all the suggestions. In fact, one of them she had considered herself. I’m feeling like the book is “my book” again, only better.

Before taking my cooling off period, I was feeling hemmed in and overwhelmed by the suggested revisions. When I went back to look for my editor’s email, I was looking for a mail with an attachment containing a dozen revision requests. I only found a simple email with about five suggestions. While I still didn’t agree with all of them, I saw the goal she was trying to achieve. As a result, I was able to write a 3-5 sentence response to each suggestion explaining how I proposed to address it. It was that simple.

I have to say that I now have a stronger story that is still my story. The process worked. Lesson learned.

I know that’s not a topic you expect to see on my blog. Actually, it’s the name of another blog by a sales person at a major publishing house. It’s an interesting blog with some good information. He recently did a post on promotion that I found helpful. What You Can Do: Twelve Easy Steps, HERE.

My vacation from blogging is about up. I’ll be back next week with new posts.

Until then, take care of yourself.

Those of you who read this blog regularly have probably noticed that I’m doing two blog posts a week: one in my Newlywed at 50 series and another about writing. Given my N@50 post about boundaries, I’m taking a break from blogging for the holidays. I’ll be back with new posts after the first of the year.

Since I’m not writing an original writing post this week, I thought I’d point you to an “interesting” article about the state of African-American fiction. To be honest, the cover and title, Afro Picks, disturbed me so badly that I have yet to read the article. I’m going to read it though and I’ll let you know what I think in 2010 which is only a week away. In the meantime, let me know what you think.

Here’s the link to the article: http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6711430.html

Here’s the link to the cover, which you have to view:
http://www.publishersweekly.com/toc-archive/2009/20091214.html

It seems a lot of folks didn’t like the cover picture. Read what the editor says: http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6711692.html

I really don’t have a problem with the image. My problem is with the combination of the image, the cover title and the article content. The image and the cover title did nothing for a genre that’s trying to mainstream itself.

The article really gave no new information. It was once again African-American fiction week at PW so the standard fare article was trotted out. I wonder what we’ll see next year.

Enjoy the holidays and be safe!

I should have titled this post, Things that make you go hmm. What I’m going to do is share with you some of my incomplete thoughts on writing Christian fiction and ideas I’ve heard around the Christian fiction community. These really are incomplete ideas so feel free to help me think them through completely.

1. Some Christian fiction writers equate their novels to the parables that Jesus told. While I sorta understand what they mean, I’ve always found the connection a bit of a stretch. A parable wasn’t 300-400 pages long. Jesus didn’t charge $6-$25 to read one. Also, Jesus didn’t get upset when someone re-told the parable and gave away the ending. That was sorta the point of the parable. I think likening Christian fiction to parables is a way of elevating the work, but I’m not sure it needs that kind of elevating. Christian fiction novels are something good but they’re not parables.

2. If writing is ministry, what does it mean that in order to benefit from the ministry one has to buy the book? I’ve never said this aloud but I’ve always equated selling a book and calling it ministry to Rev. Ike selling prayer cloths. If it’s going to bless somebody, why do they have to pay for it? If someone has a need and you have the means to meet it in a book, why do they have to pay for the book? Well, the obvious answer is “writers and publishers have to eat, too” which I certainly understand. I want to make money just like any other writer, but what is the role of money in ministry? When do we tell our publishers to reduce the cover price so more people can have access to the books? When do we take a pay cut so that book prices can be lowered or books can be given away?

3. I went back to the apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 9) to get some clarity on the relationship between ministry and money. I’ve always focused on Paul’s bold statement that he worked so the church couldn’t claim any hold over what he did and said since he didn’t depend on their money. That supports my notion that the money you live on doesn’t have to come from your ministry. But Paul was also a sponsored missionary in that he lived off the support and gifts from the church communities to whom he ministered. So how does that translate to those of us who see writing as ministry?

It is difficult for me to conclude that if our writing is ministry the only way for folks to get ministered to is to buy the books we write. That’s too capitalist for me. If it’s ministry, we rejoice when books are shared, bought used, borrowed from the library, downloaded from the Internet. All because our purpose is to get the message out. But we have a dual purpose–to get the message out and to get paid. How do we reconcile the two?

Maybe instead of writing ministries what we have are Christian businesses (in most cases, sole proprietarships) that are run according to Christian principles and that produce novels that present the truth of the gospel in stories that reflect our contemporary society. By definition, a business has to make money to survive so it’s natural for a business to charge for its products.

I don’t think using the “Christian business” terminology takes anything away from what we do as Christian fiction writers. As Christians, we are called to do everything “as unto the Lord.” This applies to our jobs, raising our families, writing our books, everything. So what do you think?

I’m now feeling the fallout of having a book with low sales. Everybody has an opinion on what the next book needs to make it a winner.

I just hung up from a long conversation with my editor about her suggestions on the proposal for my new book. The conversation left me a bit depressed so I quickly made a follow-up call to my sister friend, Jacquelin Thomas. After complaining about all the changes my editor wanted, I asked Jacqui if I had legitimate concerns or if my pride was getting in the way. The too-honest Jacqui said it was my pride. And she was right.

One thing that I’ve always “prided” myself on in this business is that my stories were, in fact, my stories. I’ve never done a “book by committee.” In the past, I’ve dug my heels in so deep that I’ve delayed getting a book done by a year because I didn’t appreciate all the suggestions. At one point I said to an outside editor, “Why don’t you write the book and I’ll edit it?” Well, that relationship ended fairly quickly. I was glad.

As I talked to Jacqui today it became clear that I have a case of pride in wanting my work to be mine. In addition, I have a control issue. There is so much that we as writers don’t control in this business. I’ve always clung to the notion that I do control what I write. And when I feel like “they” want to take that away, my spine stiffens.

So what am I to do? In the past, I’ve pulled the book, paid back the advance money and moved on to another publisher. Or I’ve just dug in my heels and waited for the “idea person” to go away. Those moves made me feel I’d won the battle, but I’m beginning to wonder if I lost the war in the process.

This time I’m going to take a deep breath and give the ideas from my editor and agent some serious consideration, remembering that they are on my side and want the best for me and this book. My challenge is to give my editor a book that she can sell that’s also a book that I can call my own. I’m up for the challenge. I have to be. Given the way my Lord works, if I don’t get it now, I’ll be facing this same situation for the rest of my career.

NOTE: I need to distinguish here between what I consider normal edits that make the book stronger and suggestions that significantly change the story. I appreciate editorial letters that provide guidance on how to make the book stronger. My problem is with suggestions that I feel change the heart of the book. I never want to look at one of my books and see more of someone else in it than I see of myself.

If you’re a Publishers Lunch subscriber, you’ve already heard my good news. If not, here it is:

Essence bestseller, Christy finalist and RITA finalist Angela Benson’s DELILAH’S DAUGHTERS, in which Delilah and her three adult daughters see the fabric of their family unravel in their pursuit of success and also see it reshaped as each woman learns what’s most important in life, to Wendy Lee at Harper, in a two-book deal, by Natasha Kern at the Natasha Kern Literary Agency(World).

Yes, I am blessed to report that I have a new two-book contract with HarperCollins. This is good news because the sales for Up Pops the Devil, my first book with HarperCollins, were dismal. UPTD is the lowest selling of all my books. I’m not sure what happened, but it wasn’t good. I’m honored that my editor, the delightful Wendy Lee, went to bat for me, despite those numbers. Now we have the challenge of building them back up over the next few books.

While many authors are experiencing great success these days, there are many who are facing the same struggles that I’m facing. But we have to remember that people are struggling all over. Folks have lost jobs and homes. We need to show compassion and respect. Now is not the time to berate folks for loaning books or borrowing from the library or buying from used bookstores. I can’t do it. I’m blessed to have to day job ‘cos if I was living on advances from my publisher I’d have to buy all my books used!

Yes, it’s tough out here in publishing land, but let’s keep the faith and not turn on each other. We really are in this together.

I saw my Bookscan numbers today and almost cried. Then I did on a search on Bookscan since I realized I had little info on what it really was. I found this blog post that really didn’t make me feel better but did me a bit more insight on what Bookscan is. You can read it HERE. And you can find another one HERE.

One of the questions I was asked on the virtual tour for my latest book, Sins of the Father, was how I felt about book reviews.

Here’s the question from Shades of Romance Magazine and my answer:

Okay, a not-so-fun question. How important are reviews to you as a writer?

I like good ones and bad ones make me feel down for a minute or two. I’ve gotten philosophical about it though. If everybody loves my book, it means that I didn’t have good distribution. I don’t expect everybody who reads my work to enjoy it. I don’t think that’s realistic.

I was honest with that answer but I didn’t say as much as I could have. I didn’t share the paranoia. I’ll share them here in Angela’s Review Rules. These rules come out of my review paranoia so they don’t have to be true and you don’t have to agree with them.

Rule 1. On a 5-point scale, there is no way a rating of “3″ means the reader liked the book, regardless of what’s written in the text of the review. When I get a review of “3″ of lower, I want to understand why. Since I’d never question a reader or a reviewer, I collect data and draw conclusions. If it’s an Amazon review, I look at other reviews posted by the reviewer for books similar to mine. You know what I’ve concluded: There’s no figuring out people’s preferences. They like what they like and don’t like what they don’t like. I’m the same way as a reader so I fully understand.

Rule 2. While ratings are important, the number of reviews is more important. If nothing else, a lot of reviews means a lot of people read the book. The bestselling books all have lots of reviews, with ratings in every category. I truly believe that in order to find the people who enjoy your work, you have to go through quite a few who don’t.

Rule 3. Never parse a review to change its meaning. For example, I got a “bad” review for my second book, For All Time, back in 1995. The reviewer for a local newspaper wrote something like, “A good story is hampered by stupid characters and weak writing.” Okay, it wasn’t that bad, but you get my drift. Anyway, I used that review and the newspaper’s name in my promo material. It came out as something like, “A good book. . .” Now that was wrong on my part since I totally distorted the review.

Those are Angela’s Review Rules. Do you have any?

That’s my topic today over at Blogging in Black. Come over and join me.

Okay, Chip MacGregor has another great article HERE on authors and money. It’s a must-read. You should just add him to the list of blogs that you regularly.