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Author News 2019

Hello! I hope you all are surviving the last gusts of winter as we come face to face soon with Spring! I’m looking forward to it!

I’ve been sitting on some exciting author news since October 2018. Nearly four months—but as they say, it takes time for things to happen in the publishing industry.

Being able to combine two loves has been a thrill. Being able to write has been a gift and a blessing. I’m so thankful for every day that I can write. And I’m even more thankful for the writing community and the writer-friends who have invested a lot of time and effort answering questions, talking shop, and encouraging me.

In the fall, Revell will publish an essay of mine! I’m super excited to join other horse people too!! My essay is where I get to share my experience with horses and how they enriched my life, as well as those around me. Horses are like an heirloom…

Here’s me signing my contract!

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So … keep your eyes open for more announcements in the coming months! I’ll hopefully be sharing the cover, giving background to the essay, and hosting a giveaway too!

If you haven’t signed up for my newsletter, that’s where all the fun activity will happen! Hope you sign up — I’ll look forward to seeing you soon!

Newsletter here — Tisha Martin, Author & Editor and let’s keep in touch! http://eepurl.com/c7tRMX

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The Publishing Dictionary

(first published in 2018)

Next to owning The Christian Writer’s Manual of Style and The Chicago Manual of Style, all people (who have even a small part) in the publishing industry need to own

The Publishing Dictionary by Mary Hollingsworth.

Any writer, agent, editor, publisher, and anyone in between, will tell you that when they attended their first conference, started writing or editing or learning about the publishing industry, they hadn’t the foggiest idea what copyedit, point of view, on spec, characterization, dangling modifier, types of layout, book proposal, etc. meant. Mary’s here to offer a dictionary to those who need a hands-on reference guide.

If you’re to work with small publishers or large publishers, you’ll need to know what deal points are. Is a reader really one who purchases and reads your book? A signature is more than your scrawl across a page.

While I’ve not personally met Mary Hollingsworth, author of this helpful resource dictionary, I have spoken with her over the phone, and I’ve just gotta tell you—she’s one of the most welcoming, helpful, and knowledgeable people I know.

Mary’s celebrating 35 years of servant leadership in the publishing industry. Congratulations, Mary! Thank you for all you’ve done for our industry, for those you’ve guided, mentored, and served in this wonderful publishing industry.

Be informed. This book fits alongside your laptop! To purchase a copy of this treasure trove of a dictionary, go to Amazon. It will be the most profitable $11.99 you’ve ever spent!

Plus, what’s not to love about quotes like this:

“When I get a little money, I buy books; and if any is left, I buy food and clothes.”

–Desiderius

106329777811101CDP - Version 2 – Version 3About Mary Hollingsworth

Mary Hollingsworth is celebrating her thirty-fourth year in Christian publishing. She is author of more than one hundred ten Christian books, which have appeared on bestseller lists more than one hundred times. Three of her books have sold more than one million copies each. Total sales of her books now approach 8 million copies.

One of Mary’s bestsellers, Hugs for Women, was a finalist for the Christian Booksellers Association Inspirational Gift Book of the Year award. Her children’s book Polka Dots, Stripes, Humps ‘n’ Hatracks received the C. S. Lewis All-Time Top Ten Favorites award. She has also won several literary awards, including Howard Books/Simon & Schuster’s Spiritual Development Award, the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association Gold Book Award (twice), and the ECPA Platinum Book Award (twice). In April 2018 she received the Global Media Summit’s Platinum Award for Excellence in Communication.

Mary currently serves as president and publisher of Creative Enterprises Studio, hosting two hundred of Christian publishing’s top editorial and marketing freelancers. Through CES these freelancers work on books for major publishers, such as HarperCollins, Thomas Nelson, Zondervan, Harvest House, and many independent authors, companies, and ministries. They work regularly with such bestselling authors as Max Lucado, Tony Evans, Sheila Walsh, Rick Warren, Candace Cameron Bure, John MacArthur, and many others.

Mary holds a Bachelor of Science in business education degree from Abilene Christian University, with minor equivalents in Bible and journalism. Her master’s work is in mass media from Texas A&M Commerce.

For a more complete review of Mary’s career, see MaryHollingsworth.com.

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PENCON 2018: Grand Rapids, Michigan

2018 Conference Review_ for editors by editors

Going from a writer’s conference the end of March to an editors’ conference the beginning of May was drastic. But you know what? I enjoyed both! Call me weird. I accept that descriptor. Gladly.

Gearing up for an editors’ conference is much like gearing up for a writers’ conference. You plan your sessions, choose the editors you’ll make appointments with, and you continue to grow in the craft—yes, craft—of editing, proofreading, formatting, or whatever form of editing you’re known for.

I’ll admit, the atmosphere is not like a writers’ conference. While the atmosphere at a writers’ conference is all about excited dialogue with others about your story, the atmosphere at an editors’ conference is all about excited dialogue about . . . um, well, grammar. And the rules of what makes good editing that shapes a really good book. Think it’s boring? Well, perhaps you might. But I thoroughly enjoyed being with my #grammar nerds and Chicago Manual of Style lovers.

For you writers, you may ask: What do editors talk about?

And to that an editor says, We talk about words, standard editing rules, our authors (it’s all good! We love helping our authors excel and we always find better ways to help them grow as writers), books that meet the expectations of great writing, and we talk about the style books. The manuals. Kinda boring, you might think, especially if you aren’t a word nerd, but not so because we attend editing conferences to help our authors exceed.

It’s a huge circle, this publishing industry. Each piece has an important part. The marketer helps the author, the publisher helps the reader, the editor helps the agent, the author helps the editor . . . do you see? We all support each other. And we all work very hard to produce good quality reading material and get it into the hands of hungry readers.

So . . . what did editors do at PENCON?

We drank gallons and gallons of coffee.

And we listened to and learned from Robert Hudson, author of The Christian Writer’s Manual of Style, deliver poignant lessons on how to be listening editors for our authors and beyond.

We toured Our Daily Bread, a ministry that’s been around since the 1930s. If you’ve never been, you should visit!

Just like writers attend writing sessions, we attended editing sessions. We learned new ways to organize our comments when editing our authors’ manuscripts and learned the importance of copyediting and what it really means to fight for each word or not at all. We explored how a book is made and what that means for the publishing industry. We laughed about editing mistakes and how to handle those hard feedback comments with grace. We learned the ins and outs of The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition.

Yes. There was an entire session devoted to a style manual. Not just any style manual, but THE editors’ Bible across the Christian publishing industry. (Other types of publishing have their own “Bible” and may not refer to CMS as their top resource.)

We drank more coffee and had delicious snacks. We recommended books to each other—fiction, nonfiction, style guides and manuals, writing craft books, and editing craft books and online courses and editing networks to join.

We asked questions of and listened to a publishing industry panel share their thoughts about the direction of the industry, what their houses publish, and how publishers can work with freelancers (editors) in a more cooperative and encouraging manner.

We learned how to help our authors market their books better. Yes, Indie Authors, we’ve got your back whenever you have any random marketing question! And some freelance editors are also book marketers or social media consultants.

Overall, I had a wonderful time, reconnecting with friends and meeting new friends. And like writers meeting writers, editors meeting editors seek to make friendships for a lifetime. You never know how you may help someone you met at a writers’ conference, and vice versa.

And to top it off, as the assistant director of PENCON, it was super rewarding to work with Director Jenne Acevedo and to  see all our hard work pay off. To see everyone enjoying themselves, learning, networking, talking about words—brought such a smile to my face. PENCON 2018 was the fifth year for a conference for professional editors. And to see it grow is so much like watering a seed and watching it grow into a rosebush.

That’s why editors attend an editors’ conference. We want to learn more about the craft of editing so we can see words and writers grow, as well as see readers grow. And learn. And love. And laugh. And encourage.

Yes. That’s our wonderful publishing industry.

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