Watch for Your Party Invite Here!
My email account is filled with awkward requests right now. Not from other people either. These awkward requests go out from me to people I really admire. No pressure.
Awkward Requests
It’s time to nail down endorsements for my first book, The Well: The Art of Drawing Out Authentic Conversations. Endorsements? Read: Pure Panic!
Endorsements are a little like offering to let friends hold your wrinkly newborn whom you adore and asking the question, “Isn’t this the most beautiful child you’ve ever seen?” Is it even fair to put such awkward requests to truthful people?
The Easy Part
Writing the book was the easy part. Honestly, if I’d known how hard it would be to ask for endorsements, I never would have written the book in the first place. I’m not kidding.
Have you ever done something really hard only to discover the next step was even harder?
Even finding the perfect publisher, while not easy, was substantially less scary. (For more on the fabulous Elk Lake Publishing, click here.)
If your next hard thing to do is writing a book, I have a suggestion. One trip to Mount Hermon Christian Writers’ Conference and I suddenly had contacts in the publishing world. No awkward requests there, just shaking hands, getting hugged, and learning a ton.
Friendly Editors
You would think the editing piece would be a nightmare. Not so. Having professional editors hold me accountable for every word in my first two books is my dream-come-true. Seriously, my favorite part.
There’s nothing like writing a book alone in your closet for a million years until you finally have a manuscript. With trembly heart, you must show it to someone or else what’s the point?
An editor is someone who reviews every word, makes suggestion for improvement, even offers whole concepts to boost your content. All with the reader’s heart in mind. Oh yeah! That is heaven.
I open the comment panel on my manuscript in joyful anticipation each time my manuscripts bounce back to me from my editor. What wonderful ideas will they add? How can this book be better for the readers I love? (Sandra Beck, Christi McGuire, Sue Fairchild, Deb Butterfield, and Susan Stewart thank you for all the wisdom and love you’ve poured into our manuscripts.)
No Pressure
I’m noticing a theme when I ask for help of any kind, whether it’s endorsements, editing, or personal prayer requests. I tend to ask for help, then add “No pressure.”
Honestly, I hate to impose. Where’d I get the notion that helping others, even me, was an imposition? I honestly love helping other people. I just wrote a whole chapter on asking for help because it blesses folks to know they’re needed.
By the way, I’m pretty sure my editing friends will take issue with the contraction “where did = where’d,” but I’m talking Texas now. Texas is what I talk in my head when I’m being really vulnerable about feeling insecure, like I’m an imposition.
Prayer Request
So, last night I met with an author’s circle I love. (Shout out to my CrossRiver friends: DeeDee Lake, Lindsey Bell, Brooke Frick, Linnette R Mullin, Catherine Brakefield, Toby Holsinger, Elaine Marie Cooper, Nancy Kay Grace, Alycia Holston, Pauline Hylton, Vickie Phelps, Sharon Spiegel, Rebecca Thesman, Jane Tucker, Tamara Clymer, and Deb Butterfield.)
We share ideas. Mostly I listen and learn. They ask for my prayer requests even before I ask for prayer. Isn’t that the best?!
They suggested I tell you how hard this is. They think it’s only right to let the people who care about this project know the scary parts.
Will you pray for me? No pressure–I hate to impose. But I really need prayer. Please pray God will prompt people to endorse The Well. I’m asking Him to give me endorsements from the exact people He wants. Just His choices. Who does God want to see inside the cover of this book? I don’t know yet.
Also, The Well comes out next month and I need to do stuff. What exactly? I’m not really sure. It’s a pretty long list, including questions like, Do I need to figure out how to take credit cards on my website? How do I get an author’s page on Amazon? Should I plan a book party?
A Party: You’re Invited!
Okay, the party question is easy. Yes!
I’m thinking of calling it Cathy Krafve’s Amazing Mother’s Day Book Bonanza and inviting other authors to join me. Would you like that? Would you come to a book party to encourage a bunch of brave, hard-working authors? Do you have a favorite East Texas author you’d like for me to invite?
Better yet, do you want to help plan it? We’ll form a committee. No pressure.
Next Up: Endorsement Previews
Endorsements are starting to come in. This is no small miracle to me. Thank you to those who responded so generously!
Would you like to know what early readers are saying? It’s been really fun to read the ones I’ve received so far. Coming soon, I’m planning to preview some of the endorsements here.
That is, unless someone intervenes and tells me it’s bad manners to preview endorsements. I’m so new to this, I could be clueless. I’ll keep you posted.
May we pray together?
Good Father, I don’t even know how to pray for myself today. I need Your help. I need the prayers and favor of Your people. Remember, Lord, this whole book thing was Your idea. I keep stepping into my fear and facing it down. Each step is a step of faith. Thank You for faithful friends who pray with me, O Lord. What a gift of companionship! A true measure of Your unfailing love! Have mercy on me and bless me with Your presence. Give me words to reflect Your glory. Please nudge the hearts of those who You want to endorse our book. I praise You now, O Lord, because really this project is Yours, not mine. I trust You. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
We LOVE to hear from YOU!
How has a prayer partner blessed you this week? If your life had a title, what would it be? Today, how will you pass along God’s blessing to someone else?
Cathy Krafve, Columnist, Speaker, Blogger, Podcaster, and Christian Writer, invites your stories, ideas, and questions at CathyKrafve.com. Truth with a Texas Twang.
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