Location: Books & Such main office, Santa Rosa, Calif.

Pretty much everyone just wants to be liked, right? Why, we’ve all taken to heart one sentence from Sally Fields’ earnest Academy-Award acceptance speech: “You like me, you really like me.”

But authors seem especially prone to need to know that they’re not only liked but also respected by the publishing industry. Which points to one of the reasons authors forgo the option of self-publishing. They want to be able to say, “My publisher likes me, really likes me.”

But I was reminded of how compelling that need is when I read a recent Wall Street Journal article about Darcie Chan, who crafted a hit, self-published novel. The Mill River Recluse is her debut novel and has sold more than 400,000 copies–in seven months. According to the WSJ article, she’s receiving offers from foreign imprints, movie studios and audio-book publishers–without having  sold a single physical copy of her book. And that’s the big rub for Chan.

Ms. Chan craves for one event to occur in her writing career that so far has eluded her: She wants a traditional publisher to produce a book–a physical book–Chan has written. Despite six film studios inquiring about movie rights and two foreign publishers bidding on the book, Chan “is holding off on such deals, for fear they might sabotage a potential contract with a domestic publisher,” according to WSJ.

“I have people writing me begging me for a hard copy,” she says, “book clubs and libraries calling me, and I don’t have a hard copy to provide for them.”

Chan is working on her second novel and hopes a traditional publisher will phone one day to say, “We like you, we really like you.”

As I read about Chan, I experienced a raft of responses. Here’s a short list:

• Obviously, this intense longing for a publisher to produce a physical book isn’t just about having a hard copy. It’s much more about Chan’s desire to have the traditional publishing experience. She wants a professional editor to work with her on her book and for her book to be available in bookstores and libraries. Yes, she could create a physical book, but it wouldn’t be the same, would it?
• Chan recognizes that a traditional publisher brings to bear certain elements the author can’t provide: Distribution to retail venues, placement in libraries, a marketing plan, an editorial eye, and a team of publishing professionals all focused on how to make her book a success.
• The desire for “legitimacy” can blind a person to the shortcomings of going the traditional route. I’m sure several traditionally-published authors reading this blog post are groaning over how much they wish they could say their book had sold 400,000 copies.
• Other self-published authors are gloating over how much money they’re making and how many fans they have. They feel plenty affirmed by their readers.
• But, really, Darcie Chan is like all of us, including me–she has a set idea of how to know if she’s really liked–and she hasn’t experienced that yet.

What’s your response to Chan’s saga?

Now, here’s the hard part, thinking about how this applies to you.

• What is the most affirming event that could occur for you, as a writer? To win a certain award (aka Sally Fields)? To sell a certain number of copies of your book? To get a multi-book contract? To hit a best-seller list (would any list do, or would it have to a specific list)?
• What might you sacrifice to achieve your goal? Might you, like Chan, put film options and audio versions on hold so as not to hurt your chances of making your goal? (Be honest!)
• How do you handle the disappointments this heartbreaking industry has handed you?
• How do you keep belief in your abilities going strong?

Location: Home Office, Santa Rosa, CA

We’ve already talked about a nefarious way to break onto The New York Times best-seller list by buying copies of your own book, but what about writing a best-selling book. Is there a trick to that?

I asked two Books & Such writers to talk about their experience, starting with the first question—did you know you were writing a best-selling book?

Like everyone, Diane Stortz wanted to produce a successful book. From her experience as both a writer and editor, she knew Bible storybooks need a “fresh, strong, clearly recognized focus and need to offer parents a good value.” She thought long and hard about how to put together the manuscript that ultimately became The Sweetest Story Bible. Released by Zonderkidz in February 2010, it’s in its sixth printing and appeared on the Christian best-seller list for several months.

“The focus of this book is who God is and how sweet his words and our relationship with him are. Zonderkidz gets the credit for suggesting a book for little girls. My original idea for the ‘sweet’ look was a candy motif,” Diane said with a laugh.

Two-time Christy Award-winning author Dale Cramer gave careful thought to his recent best-seller, Paradise Valley (Bethany, 2010). “In one sense I was aiming for a larger market because for the first time I was planning to write an Amish series that featured romance and a woman’s point of view . . . I felt sure it would appeal to a larger segment of the market.”

He planned well. Paradise Valley has sold nearly twice as many copies as his last published book.

Both Dale and Diane felt their projects received big boosts from the marketing departments of their publishing houses.  The Sweetest Story Bible “got noticed early on,” Diane said. “Zonderkidz price-promoted it too, and that definitely helped.”

Early and pre-sales can make a difference in a book’s chances of becoming a best-seller. “Bethany House worked very hard to promote Paradise Valley,” Dale said. “They also planned and vigorously supported a signing tour I did in Ohio around the time the book released.” As Paradise Valley was the first of three books, Dale thought Bethany put “extra muscle behind the marketing,” to give the whole series a strong start.

Diane said there are no secret formulas for making the best-seller list. “You have to know what’s selling, what people want, and provide a new spin, but that’s not infallible.For children’s books, after the content focus, the illustrations and overall look matter quite a lot,and Zonderkidz definitely got the cover and design right.”

The real key, of course, is the quality of the book itself. “Good writing is hard,” Dale said. “To me it’s just common sense that the writer has far more control over the quality of the writing and the strength of the story.

“When people ask me how to get published I always tell them, write a good book; editors are looking for good books. How do you make the best-seller list? The same way: Readers are looking for good books.”

What do you think a writer can do to increase the odds of selling a lot of books? What have you tried? What makes you want to purchase a book?

Location: Main office, Santa Rosa, CA

Those of you who have been following my writing saga on the Books & Such blog may be interested in hearing the latest wrinkle. After releasing on September 1, 2011, A Log Cabin Christmas Collection hit #34 on The New York Times bestseller list for the week ending September 17.

To call me astounded would be an understatement. I keep repeating the words, “New York Times best-seller.” They still ring like a fantasy.

Maybe not even a fantasy; these are words I never even dreamed. So what does that make them? Fantastical? Improbable? Mythical?

Whatever. But, technically, true.

I realize A Log Cabin Christmas Collection is on the best-seller’s list because of the lead author: Wanda Brunstetter. Wanda has several other novels on the list this fall. But still, in small letters on the bottom of the cover appears, Michelle Ule–or my alias on the list: “et al.”

Some of my incredulous family members are suspicious. “How many copies of a book do you have to sell to make The New York Times Bestseller list?”

The answer varies between, “I don’t know,” and “it’s complicated.” But a more nuanced answer goes like this:

The New York Times first published their best-selling books list in 1942. The list is generated through the News Survey Department, which has nothing to do with their fine book review. The department uses weekly sales reporting samples of chain and independent bookstores, along with sales results from book wholesalers. It does not take into account Amazon’s sales or those of big box stores such as Costco or Wal-mart (which carries A Log Cabin Christmas Collection), or even Target—which also carries my book online.

It may be worth noting that only about one percent of books make it to the NYT best-seller list.

It also might be worth noting that the highest ranking A Log Cabin Christmas Collection hit on Amazon was 9,522.

Cynical family members also wonder if the NYT list could be manipulated. According to Wikipedia, it has been tried. In 1995, authors bought 10,000 copies of their book,  The Discipline of Market Leaders, claiming it was an excellent marketing investment for them. The book stayed on the list for 15 weeks and while not illegal, most publishers believe the authors’ purchase and skewing of the figures was unethical.

I didn’t do that.

The big question, of course, is what makes a book a best-seller? No one knows how to guarantee that a title will make the list, even though marketers promise they can get your book on the list. It basically winds down to catchy titles, intriguing book covers, creative marketing, hot genres, an author who has appeared on the list previously, and selling to all sorts of different people–crossover appeal.

In our case, A Log Cabin Christmas Collection is aimed at a niche market–Christmas stories in a historical setting–and is gorgeous. The greenery on the cover is embossed, and the pages are ragged-edged like a pine log. Novellas, short stories about 60 pages in length, make for quick reads, and of course these particular novellas are inspirational–one of the areas in publishing that is growing.

Sales were helped by Wanda Brunstetter’s name, but we had several other well-know writers in the mix: Jane Kirkpatrick and Margaret Brownley, not to mention Kelly Eileen Hake, Liz Johnson, Liz Tolsma, Debra Ullrick and Erica Vetsch.

All in all, it’s been a wonderful, fun experience. And in my own case, friends are laughing with me and asking a really hard question: “If your debut novella winds up on The New York Times bestseller list, what will you do next?”

Indeed.

Think of best-sellers you’ve enjoyed. What led you to that particular book? Did it make a difference that it was on The New York Times or some other bestseller list? What role do best-selling lists play in your choice of reading material? Should a list make that big of a difference? Do you think quality determines whether a book will be on a list?

Location: From ICRS, Atlanta

Sunday– Four Meetings plus the Annual Books & Such Brunch. Plus the Baker-Bethany-Revell Dinner.

Monday– Ten Meetings plus the Gala Christy Awards

Condition: Totally Exhausted (but happy)

After a full day on the show floor today and ten excellent hour-long meetings with some of our favorite editors, Janet and I headed over to the Hyatt Regency for the Christy Awards.

The Christys are the premier awards for Christian fiction. Every year publishers are invited to submit novels written from a Christian worldview and copyrighted in the year preceding the awards. Each novel is entered in one of several genre categories and/or the first novel category or young adult category. Each category is then read and evaluated against a ten-point criteria by a panel of seven judges. The novel in each category with the highest score is named a Christy Award winner.

Books & Such had three finalists— DiAnn Mills in Contemporary Romance for Sworn to Protect; Anne Elisabeth Stengl in First Novel for Heartless; and Melanie Dickerson in Young Adult for The Healer’s Apprentice. We were so proud as each one went forward to receive her Christy Finalist medallion.

Liz Curtis Higgs emceed the event and she was at her funniest ever. We laughed our way through all the introductions and Liz’s infectious chuckle rang out above everyone’s. She announced that we would have to wait until the very end to learn who had won the awards. Dinner was served– a spring greens salad with crostini and goat cheese followed by roasted rosemary chicken with risotto. Desert was creme brulee with a chocolate dipped tea cookie.

Randall Wallace, Oscar-nominated screenwriter, director, producer, songwriter and New York Times bestselling author was the keynote speaker. What a storyteller! He told us stories from his movies, Braveheart, The Man in the Iron Mask, Pearl Harbor, We Were Soldiers, and Secretariat, as well as from his life. He had us all laughing and crying throughout and jumping to our feet to give him a standing ovation when he finished. His publisher, Tyndale House, presented everyone with advance copies of his new book, The Touch.

When he finished, it was time for the presentation of the Christys. Both DiAnn Mills and Anne Elisabeth Stengl won! What a night!

Anne Elisabeth Stengl giving her acceptance speech.

DiAnn Mills accepting her award.

The Christy Awards are always a sparkling affair and this year was no exception. It’s always fun to see everyone dressed to the nines.Congratulations to all the finalists and to the winners!

Location: Books & Such Nashville Office

Weather: mid-70s

As you could see from the list of ACFW awards for historical fiction in Monday’s blog, an author can approach writing stories set in the past a number of ways. Those awards are based on genre or format. But as I think about how to choose a historical novel to read, one of the things I look for when the story is set. Is it an era in which I’m interested or want to learn more about?

Like many American readers, I love a good Civil War novel (though I’m getting a little tired of novels based loosely on Gone with the Wind) or a World War II novel like James Michener’s Tales of the South Pacific.  One reason the cache of historical novels is increasing is because many that were written as contemporary novels have become historical as time has passed.

For those of us writing historical fiction today, a good place to start is exploring not only the masterpieces of the past (think The Scarlet Letter, 1850), but also the years which they portrayed. Then look for pockets of time and incidents in history that have not been portrayed in detail or maybe not recently.

Often a good approach to finding these unexplored areas is to read current popular nonfiction, especially biographies. A local example comes to mind in John Sieganthaler’s recent biography of President James K. Polk (one Tennessean writing about another). Reading that book yielded several good ideas for novels set in the years around Polk’s administration, 1845-1849, which lie between the War of 1812 and prior to the outburst of tensions leading to the Civil War. The settlement of the West was the big event going on in U.S. history then, and many novels are based around settlement issues. But important issues were happening east of the Mississippi and in the upper Midwest as well.

Thinking about U.S. history prior to 1950, are there periods or events that you think have been “over-exposed” in historical fiction? Is there such a thing as over-exposure of a time period in fiction, or do character and plot weigh more heavily? What do you think creates interest about a historical period?

Location:  Books & Such Nashville Office

Weather:   Low 90s

Looking at the American Library Association’s lists of awards and prizes over the years, I see several authors and books from other cultures. The Mildred L. Bachelder Award for best work of translation is probably the best known of these. Begun in 1966 and named in honor of a children’s librarian whose work had international influence, the award is intended to promote communication between the peoples of the world. In 2003 author Cornelia Funke won that award for The Thief Lord, originally published in German. Funke has written several best-sellers since then and is now part of a promotional tour in the US along with several other juvenile authors.

In 2009 the Bachelder Award went to Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit by Nahoko Uehashi, originally published in Japanese. Even though it was published in the U.S. by Arthur A. Levine of Scholastic, the same imprint that brought us Harry Potter from Britain, the book has not appealed to readers in the same way as Funke’s. It has also been outsold by a Bachelder honor book that same year, Tiger Moon by Antonia Michaelis, originally published in German.

I may be making too much of this, but I feel several things are at play here: The American taste for intrigue and mystery rather than for spiritual symbolism. There may also be some underlying feeling of more ethnic identity with Germanic culture than with Asian. Or it could be something more obvious–page count, helpful glossary in the back, etc.

Within the realm of Christian publishing for children and youth, I feel we have too few books about children from other cultures, and I wonder why. Are we too preoccupied with the moral development of our own kids that we focus on the culture in which they are growing up? Why aren’t we publishing and promoting stories about our children learning, giving, and receiving with children from other countries? Eager to hear your answers.

Location: Books & Such Nashville office

Africa has been popping up in one way or another during the past year for me. Last fall, I heard the organizer of the centennial for native Tennessean James Agee, who wrote the screenplay for The African Queen, speak. I was startled to realize how many great changes had taken place on that continent in the 60 years since Agee had not only written that story for film (starring Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn), but also Let Us Now Praise Famous Men and A Death in the Family, for which he won the Pulitzer after his sudden death in 1955.

In January Desmond Tutu’s daughter Naomi, in full South African garb, spoke at a local university here in Tennessee. I didn’t get to hear her, but this quote indicates she has the same spirit as her father: “It doesn’t matter what the prime minister of South Africa thinks of me. It only matters what I think of them, and I think of them as my brothers and sisters.”

In June, at The International Christian Retail Show, I heard Christy Award keynote speaker, Lisa Samson, talk about her life-changing trip to Africa with her daughter to combat the AIDS crisis. The trip and its impact are fully described in her new book, Love Mercy: A Mother & Daughter’s Journey from the American Dream to the Kingdom of God.  Perhaps the most valuable parts of the book are the Appendix covering “Social Justice in Scripture” and the Acknowledgments, which includes a collection of African children’s pictures—most of them happy.

I know several of you are writing books, both fiction and nonfiction, about Africa. It’s a very large continent with many different stories—as Alexander McCall Smith has shown. It’s also considered the birth place of human beings. Tell us about books based in Africa you’ve enjoyed reading, or about what you’ve written on Africa.

Location:  Books & Such Nashville Office

Weather:  Still hot

After writing about words for three days, I’ve realized that the hardest writing may be description–not dialogue–because description is more visual. It calls for painting pictures with words, and that’s really difficult to do well. It’s hard to evoke the feelings derived from texture, smell and color.

This summer in Nashville we have the most spectacular exhibit of colorful glass sculpture by Seattle artist Dale Chihuly. From the 30-foot tall, massive golden glass spiral at the entrance to the glass balls in the Japanese sand garden to the blue glass crane shapes in the reflecting pool, and on and on, everywhere you look there is one or more entrancing pieces of beautifully colored blown glass. As I listened to the exhibit chief talk about the installation, I was struck by how low-key and plain-spoken he was. Then I realized that he knew the exhibit would speak for itself as it was viewed. Words can’t do it justice.

I make no secret of the fact that my favorite book format is the picture book, that careful design of few words and colorful pictures to convey meaning to young children. Yes, the color printing process makes picture books more expensive to publish and the number of picture books being produced in the last few years has diminished. But when a richly colored book such as this year’s Caldecott Award winner, The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney, hits the market, we know it’s worth sharing for years to come.

Editors and critics often mention the “color” of an author’s work even though no visual element is involved. I think they are referring to a particular vividness of imagery. Most writers do have a mental picture of their protagonists, and it’s often a help if the author keeps close at hand photos or paintings of the setting where the narrative takes place. That way a writer might produce more colorful words, not bogging the manuscript down with description. It’s a tough act to write a colorful piece with only words.

Who are some of your favorite “colorful” authors?

Location: International Christian Retailers Show, Denver, CO

Many writers see agents as just another gatekeeper, barring entry into the garden of publishing. The common lament is, “You can’t get published without an agent, and you can’t get an agent to even look at your manuscript.”  I addressed that fallacy in an earlier post but the truth is agents love nothing more than to discover a treasure.

In fact, that’s one of the best parts of my job. Not all books are discovered, of course, but each has its own path to travel.

Some of the books I’ve sold have come about through trial and error–submitting and honing, testing and going back to the drawing board.  Other books, especially nonfiction books, develop as a team effort. The author may know where he wants to go, but there are so many possible ways to get there.  We all put our heads together to brainstorm the format. I call it “building the book,” and sometimes it takes testing a lot of building plans before we find the right structure on which to hang the material.

Recently, we’ve had a number of book ideas come from publishers. An editor comes to our agency with an idea he would like to see, and we help him to find the right author for that book. I’ll talk more about matchmaking tomorrow–it’s another great part of our job.

But perhaps the most fun of all is dipping into a manuscript and finding that perfect gem. Every agent can tell stories of their favorite discoveries. I’ve got a slew of them, like the time Gayle Roper, head of the fiction mentoring track at Mount Hermon, slipped me a note that read, “Look for Camy Tang. Amazing.” I did, and she is.

Or when I had an email from N.J. Lindquist, director of Write! Canada, asking me if I’d look at a manuscript from a brand new writer, Bonnie Grove. Halfway through the manuscript, Talking to the Dead, I called Bonnie and offered representation. The book is pure genius.

Novelist and teacher at many writers conferences, James Scott Bell told me to watch for Debbie Fuller Thomas. It only took a few chapters of Tuesday Night at the Blue Moon for me to know Jim was right. (That book ended up being a finalist for the Christy Award held Saturday night.)

Novelist and Internet guru Randy Ingermanson pointed me toward Sharon Souza. Her novel, Lying on Sunday, is a finalist for RWA’s Inspirational Reader’s Choice award.

Hmm. Looks like I’ve had a lot of help with my discoveries.

Jennifer Valent is another debut author I loved at first read. When I met her, she had just won the Jerry Jenkins/ Tyndale House Operation First Novel Competition at Writing for the Soul. Her novel, Fireflies in December, received a starred review in Publishers Weekly and has been critically acclaimed.

I’d known Andy McGuire for a while before I ever saw his art and writing. Andy was my own fiction editor. At a writing conference, he showed me the art for his first picture book, Rainy Day Games. It was love at first sight. Andy is both an extraordinary illustrator and a gifted writer. His book is a finalist for the 2009 Retailer’s Choice Awards.

I could go on and on. There’s nothing better than discovering one of those books readers will treasure forever. But now it’s your turn. What part have you had in discovering a new writer? Readers discover gems all the time and recommend authors to others. Tell us your favorite discovery.