Later today, I’ll be sending out my e-zine with an article on the importance of having Allies.
What are Allies? Allies are your writing buddies. They are your equals or near-equals. They are the people who understand you better than anybody except your closest family members. (And they understand some things about you better than even your closest family members.)
You can’t succeed in publishing these days without Allies. You need them to bounce ideas off of. You need them to weather the storms of rejection. You need them (probably most of all) when you get successful, because a real friend can tell you when you’re starting to get full of yourself.
Where do you get Allies? You get them wherever you can find them. I made a list just now of my nine closest Allies. Of these, I met seven at writing conferences. The other two I met online, but I really only became Allies with them after meeting them in person at conferences.
I’ve often blogged about the importance of conferences, but usually I’ve talked about the fact that you meet editors and agents there, you learn how to behave like a professional, you get great training, and eventually you meet exactly the right agent or editor and make exactly the right pitch at the right time and you get the break you need and suddenly you get published.
But the unspoken secret that most professional writers know is that writing conferences are where you meet Allies. Allies are combinations of friends, professional colleagues, mentors, and shoulders to cry on. All in one.
Allies are typically writing in the same general niche that you are. The writing world has many niches. Romance writers. Mystery writers. Science fiction and fantasy writers. Etc.
Not everyone has exactly one perfect niche that they could fit into, but most writers do find one where they can belong. And most of their allies will also identify with that niche.
My own niche for most of the time I’ve been a writer has been the world of Christian fiction. It’s not the perfect fit for me. Given how weird I am, nothing could be the perfect niche. But Christian fiction has a lot going for it (including double-digit growth in market share for most of the last two decades).
It’s been a good place for me in many ways. My most recent book (WRITING FICTION FOR DUMMIES) doesn’t fit that niche, and I have some novels planned for the future that also won’t fit that niche, but that’s OK.
Most of the teaching that I do is still at Christian writing conferences (although this has also been changing in the last few years).
I have two favorite conferences, the two places where I’ve consistently met with my Allies and found new ones: The Mount Hermon conference (in the spring of every year) and the American Christian Fiction Writers conference (in September of every year).
I taught again at Mount Hermon this year and it was incredible, as always. Mount Hermon is where I met my coauthor John Olson, and it’s where some of my happiest memories in writing have happened. I had a great time this year, teaching a mentoring track with five students, hanging out with friends, meeting many new people.
I’m already gearing up mentally for this September, when I’ll be teaching a major track (on that pesky Snowflake Method of writing a novel) at the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) conference.
ACFW is an exceptional organization. It’s roughly modeled on RWA (Romance Writers of America) in its organizational structure. ACFW now has about 2500 members, many of whom are published novelists.
Last year, the ACFW conference had about 600 attendees, and we expect more this year. It was terrific last year and it looks to be even better this year. You can make appointments with any of 26 different fiction editors. Or with any of 17 different agents. Just about every Christian publisher and every Christian literary agency tries to send somebody to ACFW.
If you happen to fit into the niche of Christian fiction, there is simply no better conference on the planet than ACFW. And yes, I’m biased. I’ve been on the Advisory Board of ACFW since 2004. I’ve watched it grow from a small cadre of mostly romance writers into a massive organization of writers of every kind of Christian fiction you can imagine.
One of the high points of the ACFW conference is the awards banquet. ACFW runs two major kinds of awards, the Genesis award (for unpublished writers) and the Carol award (for traditionally published books).
These awards have grown amazingly in prestige in the last few years. Winning in one of the Genesis categories is now considered one of the best ways for an unpublished novelist to get noticed by the publishers. And winning a Carol award is now considered roughly equal in prestige to winning a Christy award.
But for me, the highest of the high points at ACFW has consistently been the time I spend hanging out with my Allies. Writing is a lonely business. It’s also a tough business, where you are only as good as your last book. Editors and agents come and go, but Allies accumulate.
As I noted earlier, my own career is trending more toward the general market. That’s just because no one niche is perfect for me. I’ll always be a multi-niche guy. The publishing world is changing and so am I. I expect that I’ll always have one foot in the niche of Christian fiction, where so many of my friends and Allies live. (I should note that some of my Allies are also trending toward the general market, so no matter where I go, I’ll never be without Allies.)
For the foreseeable future, I just plain can’t imagine missing the ACFW conference every September. Which means I’ll continue to see many of my Loyal Blog Readers there.
And for those Loyal Blog Readers who live in a different niche, it also means that there’s a good chance that I’ll see some of you as I continue to expand my footprint into other niches.
It’s a big world out there. The more Allies you have, the happier you’ll be and the better you’ll do.
You can get more info on the ACFW conference on the ACFW web site.
Great post, Randy. You are so right! The allies I’ve met at ACFW are the people I call and email today. We pray for each other. We brainstorm. We support each other and kick each other in the rear when we need it. Allies are critical and ever expanding.
If I didn’t know better, I’d say you wrote this for me! I’m registered for the ACFW conference (and for your class, as a matter of fact), and I’ll be pitching to agents for the first time. I’ve been a little nervous about that, so now I have a tool that will help me calm down and just do my best. If I focus on finding Allies I won’t be as worried about pitching. (Although I am seriously thinking of joining Susan May Warren’s pitch polish that Thursday night!)
Allies are wonderful! I never knew they existed until I went to my first Mt Hermon conference and discovered there were lots of people who thought like me 🙂 Then again, that’s scary too… lol 🙂
Great post, Randy, and so very right. These aren’t competitors, they’re allies. I can trace the development of most of my important relationships to a writing conference. And that includes meeting you, listening as you taught a bunch of at-best sophomores, and proudly reporting to you that I’d “graduated.” Thanks for your support.
Randy sez: That’s a critical thing to learn–the other writers are not your competition. You are your only competition. One should remember that it’s impossible to get to know everybody. But you can still be nice to everybody you meet and you can find a few like-minded people and build close ties with them. That’s so much better than thinking everybody else is the enemy.
Great post Randy!! I’m just curious as to how pertinent ACFW would be for someone who does not live in the states. I live in Canada but have been toying with the idea of attending. This year I am attending the Christian Writer’s Conference in Canada. ACFW sounds like a wonderful group and I’d love to be involved!
Randy sez: ACFW is actually quite international and has a number of writers who live outside the US. If you live in Canada, you might actually be closer to the conference than I am. I think you’d get a lot out of the conference, this year or any year that you choose to go.
Randy, my allies came from ACFW, though, to be honest I don’t consider ACFW as an organization to be my ally. You know I’ve taken a different root for my own writer’s journey. My critique group (who are my key allies) I’ve been with for years came out of ACFW, but they have been supportive of the direction God has given me.
ACFW is a wonderful organization for anyone pursuing traditional publishing. The people which make up ACFW have a unified and great desire to help people grow in their writing.
For myself, I’m keeping my eyes open for allies who are not so opposed to the route I’m going, which is the route I believe God has designed for me–which is not the route ACFW has chosen. 🙂 And that’s okay. Still love the people I’ve come to know there. And those I’m closest to do understand and support me.
I’ll be attending the ACFW conference for the first time in several years and I look forward to reunions with some of my longtime allies. Friends are the best part of the writing journey, for so many reasons.
Allies–the word conjures up scenes of D-Day. But then writing, publishing, and marketing do share a few traits with combat, I think.
Back to the Allies thing–I guess I need some, but I have a problem with encountering them. First, I’m “shy” by nature. That I can deal with. No biggie. I’m also a disabled person (as the PC crowd says, “physically challenged”). So attending conferences is a major problem. As Walter Brennan used to say on some western TV show, “No brag, just fact.” The question becomes this: what is a workable alternate to meeting potential Allies?
I am presently hip deep in your Snowflake program, working on a first novel. Writing and publishing are not new to me–I have had three nonfiction books published (commercial, traditional, or whatever term you like), plus scores of articles in national magazines.
I wrote a couple of very bad short stories about 30 years ago, they got the rejections they deserved (mercifully), and I shifted gears into nonfiction as fast as I could. Now I want to retry fiction writing, and I am actually pleased with how my idea is holding together and maturing (thanks, in great part, to your Snowflake). So, back to the Allies question, what are your musings on alternate approaches to this endeavor? Thanks.
Randy sez: You’re right, the shyness thing is not a big deal. Few people are more introverted (or more socially inept) than I am, but writing conferences are one place where I just forget all that. Because most writers are introverts.
As for not being able to go to conferences, that’s not such an obstacle as it was before the online world was born. You can make some great friends online. Yes, there’s nothing like meeting in person. But online can be a pretty good second best, and if that’s what you’ve got, then that’s what you’ve got. I have many friends that I’ve never met in person, and the great majority of my interaction with all my friends is online.
So true, Randy! With every conference I attend, I meet and bond with new allies. Last year at ACFW was a banner year–several of us Revell authors got to hang out together and just chat (and bond). Now we stay in close touch through Facebook while waiting for the next conference.
I’ve only ever been to the Colorado Christian Writer’s Conference. But one day I’d like to attend a bigger one like Mount Hermon or ACFW. It would be awesome to connect with people there. To be honest, though, I don’t know much about those conferences, nor the amount of money I’d have to save up just to get to one of them from here (Wyoming). So I guess that’s something I’ll have to explore further.
Shoulders to cry on… LOL!
Wow, this is spot on!
The Seekers formed in 2005 after butting heads in unpublished writing contests. Six years later, we’re all published. All 15 of us can’t always make it to the ACFW conference every year, but we did manage to all go to Denver. What fun!
My other allies definitely came from joining ACFW, attending the conference, being an officer, volunteering. It’s one thing to meet people online, and you can become great friends (and allies), but once you meet them in person at a conference, you REALLY become allies!
Absolutely true, Randy. I met my Allies at the Greater Philly conference 11 years ago. We only meet once a year because we’re pretty scattered across the country, but we keep in touch via email and several of us live close enough to see each other. If I did not have this group, I would have given up long ago. Our mentor is a best selling author and has been so incredibly generous with her time and instruction. We’ve morphed into something waaaay more than a writer’s group. It’s amazing. And when other authors find out what we have, they always ask if they can join us. But we’ve closed ourselves. That may sound snobby, but we’ve had so many years together and there is such a shared spirit between us that it would be like having another person enter into an established marriage. I don’t know anyone else who has this kind of group, but I’m sure there are some out there.
So, yes, listen to Randy and get thee to a writer’s conference! And be ready to give of yourself as well as receive what you need. It will make all the difference to your writing and your life.
Great post and I echo the importance of conferences. I founded one last year that I hope to have you come to sometime. I tell every new writer I meet that it’s important to connect with other writers as much as possible. Conferences are so much fun and challenging at the same time. Keep pushing them!
For anyone interested here is our conference website:
www.inlandnwchristianwriters.com
Blessings!
Such truth, Randy! And I will vouch for Mount Hermon. Go expecting one thing and get another. That is the way it works. I made connections there that have already changed my life.