Despite the title of this blog, I don’t talk about the nuts and bolts of editing as often as I should. What I do instead, is talk about the content ideas that I edit–Christianity and the daily living. A few days ago, Mary DeMuth pinned me down and interviewed me about editing for TheHighCalling.org, an online magazine about faith and work. You can read the full interview on Mary’s site, So You Want To Be Published. Here’s a quick excerpt.

MARY: What type of writer are you looking for there [at TheHighCalling.org]?

ME: Our ideal writer has talent, insight, online platform, and name recognition. It’s not something we often get, but it is always my primary goal.

Thus the title of this post. Four things that define marketable writers.

1. Talent/Craft – Spend 10,000 hours at something and you will develop some real talent. I suggest 1-2 hours a day for a decade or two. Seriously. Hone your craft. Learn what makes a good sentence by reading a lot and writing a lot. Blogs are a great classroom for learning the craft in my opinion. You get quick feedback on the effectiveness of your posts to motivate readers.
2. Insight - As much as I value a writer who understands sentences and paragraphs, I need substance over style. I don’t like intensive editorial rewrites, but if a person’s ideas are good enough, I have done that on a few occasions. I think of it this way: A good editor can clean up the style if the content is good, but an editor can’t add substance to sentences that say nothing.
3. Platform - Publishers want to know who your audience is. They are looking for writers who bring a ready market. More and more web publishers will be looking for the same thing. How many people read your blog (and could click on a link to your article if you posted one)? How many people subscribe to your Twitter feed (and could click on a link to your article if you posted one)? How many Facebook friends, etc. In a perfect world good writing would stand on its own. The reality is that magazines and publishers have to pay attention to the size of an author’s current market.
4. Name Recognition - This is related to platform. Where online platform can be an active driver of traffic, name recognition is more about credibility for the site. Some authors have great online name recognition but weak online platform. (Eugene Peterson is an example.) Other authors have great online platform, but weak name recognition. (I won’t give an example of this because I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings.)

The real question for writers is this: Which of these four areas do you need the most work? If your craft and insight needs work, then nothing else matters. Don’t worry about platform or name recognition. Just write and read like a crazy person for the next ten years.

If you’ve already done that, then think about realistic ways to develop your platform. Although social media has not yet proven helpful for selling books, it can generate an online platform that is useful for online publications.

Which leaves us finally with name recognition. I don’t know how to develop this except to just keep in the business. Hone your speaking skills. Help others. Work hard. Start local.

As an editor, I know when I’ve found someone with all four elements. As a writer, I keep working on my craft and my insights.

{ 0 comments }