Real Courage

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Sherry Kyle here to encourage you from my laptop in Central California.  Here’s a quote we all can identify with as writers: "Real courage is when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what." 
-Harper Lee (To Kill A Mockingbird, 1960) If you’re anything like me, you feel this way daily. When I place my hands on the keyboard, I wonder if the words I’m going to write will be any good, if they’ll have meaning or if I’m wasting my time. That’s when courage comes into play. It takes…

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Connecting at Conferences

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Aloha from Karen , treasurer of CAN, There’s synergy when people come together and connect, especially when they share ideas or brainstorm. CAN is all about sharing ideas and connecting authors to authors and readers. I love networking and making lots of connections as well as building on connections I’ve already made. For me, writing conferences are the perfect place for connecting with writers. And things happen at conferences–that’s where many of my books originated.

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Out With the Old and In With the… Old

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How to Reinvent Your Merchandising Postcards, bookmarks, business cards and flyers have all been consistent elements in book promotion for several years. Together they make a standard part of a publisher’s marketing plan and an asset to an author’s promotion toolbox. And yet, they are just so… old. Marketing is about creating a splash and catching someone’s attention. More than that, our industry requires marketing campaigns to build relationships with readers. Merchandising pieces have traditionally offered a take-away that not only catch attention but also give the reader something to look at later to remind them of a book’s title,…

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Tips from the Pros: Susan Titus Osborn

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Hello from Sarah Sundin on a blustery day in northern California. Today I have the honor of interviewing a veteran writing professional, Susan Titus Osborn, author of over thirty books, including several on the craft and business of writing. Susan is also director of the Christian Communicator Manuscript Critique Service, and offers many on-line writing courses on her website. Susan, how did you get into writing? In 1978 while I was teaching Sunday school, I decided to write some stories for the kids. They loved my stories, so I thought I would sell them to church school take-home paper markets. A…

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Unshakeable Faith: 8 Traits for Rock-Solid Living

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Title: Unshakeable Faith: 8 Traits for Rock-Solid LivingAuthor: Kathy HowardPublisher: New Hope PublishersISBN: 978-1596692978 Women are usually prepared for everything from patching scraped knees to managing a huge work load to whipping up dinner at a moment’s notice. We keep ourselves and our families together and running smoothly. But is our faith prepared to withstand difficult trials or even persecution? Unshakeable Faith, an eight-week Bible study for women, explores the life of Peter to help you build a rock-solid faith that is strong enough to weather the harshest storms of life.

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Spread the News…in a Newsletter

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  Hi, all – Ava Pennington here. Happy Valentine’s Day a few days early! February is the month of hearts, flowers, and love notes. Whether or not you write love notes to that special someone in your life, every author should be writing love notes…to their readers! Okay, maybe not love notes, but we should be keeping in touch with our readers on a regular basis, and email newsletters are an effective, low-cost way to do it.

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CAN Book Feature: Drawing Closer to God by Dianne Neal Matthews

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Drawing Closer to God Dianne Neal Matthews The Bible is full of questions asked by God, Jesus, ordinary people, Satan, and even a donkey. Some are questions that we wrestle with but are reluctant to voice. Others are asked to comfort, to convict, or to reinforce spiritual principles. Drawing Closer to God: 365 Daily Meditations on Questions from Scripture explores 365 of these questions and shares practical application that can help deepen our relationship with God and strengthen our daily walk.

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Making the Most of Small Talk with Editors

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Aloha from Karen Next week I’ll be teaching at the Florida Christian Writers Conference. Preparing to go is also a time I reflect on all that happened over the years of attending conferences. Amazingly, it’s been short, quick chats that led to many books.That’s a good reminder to connect with anyone, and make the most of every opportunity. Let me share a few of those past chats and what happened.

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