Christian Publishing Show

You've likely heard the advice that writers should show instead of tell. Sometimes, it's good advice and can make your scenes better and your story more compelling. But it can also be terrible advice that will make your book unbelievably long and hard to get through.
If you show every single thing in the room or on the journey where your story takes place, then the plot, characters, and even the dialogue get crowded o...

Stories communicate truth in ways that facts and statistics cannot. They touch places in our souls that sermons cannot reach. When you open your Bible, the very first thing you find is not the Ten Commandments but a story. Even biblical instruction is often couched in a story because a story is a powerful tool for communicating truth.
God knows that. He created in us a desire for story.
Christian authors can leverage story ...

Some authors just want to get their book "out there." They don't plan on writing additional books or becoming professionals. But others want to make writing a career and maybe pay the bills with income earned from their writing.
If you want to have a career as a professional writer, you have to do at least two things.
First, you must become an amazing writer. Second, you need to start acting like a business o...

If you've ever transcribed a conversation between two people, you know the resulting text is a bunch of incomprehensible, run-on sentences and fragments. Natural conversation does not translate well onto the written page.
When we write novels, we need to realize that good, written dialogue does not imitate the way real people talk. We also don't want our written dialogue to sound contrived and awkward.
How do you ...

Most humans try to avoid conflict as much as possible, but novelists love conflict.

Without conflict, a novelist has no story. Conflict keeps your novel moving forward and your readers turning pages.

As Vladimir Nabokov once said, "The writer's job is to get the main character up a tree, and then once they are up there, throw rocks at them."

But how do you get your protagonist up a tree? ...

You’re probably tired of hearing that you need a large platform to be a successful author.
Some industry professionals believe having a large platform is equivalent to having a large social media following.
If you’ve been listening to the Christian Publishing Show or Novel Marketing, you know that having a social media following doesn’t necessarily mean you have a platform. Nor does it mean you’ll sell more books than someo...

When authors attend writers conferences, they often have big expectations but make common mistakes that squash their goals and diminish the return on their investment in the conference.
In this episode, you’ll learn

• 11 common mistakes authors often make and how to avoid them
• How to avoid missing opportunities
• The right time to attend your first conference

Listen in or read the blog version to find out how to make the most ...

The stories we ingest shape the morality we develop, but only to a point.
If a story’s morality strays from reality or gets too twisted, the story fails to resonate with readers. Moral confusion is why movies and TV shows are less entertaining than they used to be.
But what is morality?
Why is it so important for good stories?
How do you put a message into your book without being preachy?
In this month’s episode...

Thirty days. That’s all you’ve got.

Do it wrong, and you’re toast. Do it right, and it’s crème brûlée that will last for months, maybe even years. 

What 30 days are we talking about? The first 30 days after you make your book available to the world. 

During the first 30 days after your release, bookstores decide whether to keep your book on the shelves. If you have a strong launch, bookstores will continue to stock your book and order...