Merry Christmas, everyone. I'm one of those who really does believe in Christmas. I believe in the whole thing. I believe that Jesus was the Son of God. I believe the birth of the world's savior was foretold by prophets of old. I believe Jesus was that savior. I believe God chose to come down and live as a man, in order to reach out to us. I believe Jesus was born of a virgin, the baby inside Mary being conceived by the Holy Spirit. I believe Joseph was a good man, who assumed that Mary had been unfaithful, but was told by God in a dream that she was pregnant due to a miracle. I believe Joseph and Mary traveled to Bethlehem in order to register with the government. I believe the city was jammed with people due to the government-enforced registration, and they ended up sleeping in a stable, since it was the only place available for them. I believe while they were there Mary gave birth to a son, wrapped him up in strips of cloth, and laid him in a manger. I believe angels were so excited about the birth of the Savior they broke out into song. I believe there were shepherds in the fields nearby, who heard the singing, were amazed at what they saw, and ran into Bethlehem to see this incredible thing. I believe they saw the baby Jesus, understood He was the promised Savior, and worshipped a little baby. I believe that a bit later some wise men from the east came, because they too had been led to believe a Savior was coming, and they found Jesus, gave him gifts, and worshipped him as well. I believe King Herod was afraid of this baby because Herod was a politically-appointed king, but the baby was announced as having been "born King of the Jews." I believe Herod, who was thoroughly evil, had all the little boys in the region killed as a means of trying to stop the true King from coming. I believe that Joseph and Mary had been warned in a dream to flee the area, so the baby Jesus was saved. I believe there is abundant evidence of all these things, and that it doesn't take a huge amount of faith to believe in all of it. And I believe the Christmas season is one of joy, where we are reminded that there is a God, and He loves us, and He came down to earth to live among us. And that should lead us to rejoice.

Sure, there's plenty of bad stuff about Christmas. We can complain that it's too commercial, too focused on presents, too materialistic and not spiritual enough. But I don't really care about the commerciality, because I believe it all points to the truth that really matters: That Jesus was born and we need to remember and celebrate that. So I believe all those songs about having a White Christmas and a Holly Jolly Christmas and Walking in a Winter Wonderland are great fun, and can be enjoyed as much as any other Christmas song. I believe Christmas trees and Christmas ornaments and candles are part of the fun, part of the celebration of the newborn King.

And yes, I recognize there are bad things in this world. I believe in evil as well as good. People are fighting over land and skin color and religious technicalities. Too many of my fellow countrymen are out of work, cold, and hungry. In my own family we've had some very difficult circumstances just recently, and they make me wonder sometimes where God is in the turmoil. There is tragedy and sadness and sickness and hunger and despair in this world, and I hate that. But celebrating Christmas isn't a way to gloss over the world's problems, or to try and deny difficulty — it's a way to announce that, in a world that is too often hurting and hateful, there is hope. The King of Kings has come. The Prince of Peace has arrived. He is the Wonderful Counselor, the Everlasting Father. I really believe that.

So, in the end, my belief trumps the behaviors of this world. I see the problems, but I continue to believe. I continue to have hope that God is here, and He really does care for us, and He wants to make things better. I believe in a God who loves us so much He came down to live as a man, offering us a reason for living, a pattern to follow, and a hope for the future. I believe in the message that is Christmas, and my prayer today is that, wherever you are and whatever circumstances you may be in, the Prince of Peace will grant you peace today. I believe there is hope for this world because God is a God of miracles, and He showed it through the circumstances of that first Christmas. I believe in Christmas. Merry Christmas, everyone.

I've had several people write in lately with words to the effect of, "Here's what I most want to know about publishing…"

Tammy wrote and said, "The one thing I would most like to know is how can I make a booksigning successful?"

Booksignings can be terribly depressing experiences. Let's face it — a signing is based on celebrity, not quality of craft. So even if you've written a wonderful book, if nobody knows who you are, they aren't apt to show up and try to meet you. (I once did a signing where a guy came and spent 40 minutes trying to talk me into signing up for Amway. No kidding.) But three people I represent (Ginger Garrett, Kimberly Stuart, and Chris Coppernoll) just had a great booksigning experience in Des Moines, Iowa. After watching these authors (none of whom are a household name…yet) get a hundred people into a store and sell ten or twelve cases of books, I asked them what they'd done to make it work. Here's a summary of some of their wisdom.

Remember that nobody comes to  a signing for an author who is unfamiliar to them. And yet the goal is to get people in the door, meet them, and tell them about your book. So think of a signing in three stages…

First, get people in the door. Contact everyone on your mailing and email list. Do so more than once, and be very clear about date, time, and place. Go to libraries, bookstores, reading groups, coffee houses, churches, and any organization that may find your book interesting, and solicit their participation. Don't just tell them about the signing — ask them to help you make it successful. It's numbers that drive a signing more than anything else. If you can afford it, do a mailing with postcards to likely participants — expensive, but effective. Arrange for media the days prior to the signing — a local radio talk show or TV news crew looking for a good human interest story will help spread the word. Contact the newspaper and offer them a story angle. If you're a Christian novelist, connect with the local ACFW chapter and ask them to show up in support (same goes with RWA or any other writing organization). Check with Borders and B&N to see if there are local writers' groups that may enjoy rubbing shoulders with you. If there's a college in town that has a writing program, invite the students to come out and talk books. If you're doing a signing in a city where there is a publishing house, invite the editors — they love to hang out with other people in the industry. (Many writers don't realize that it's typical for editors from every house to be at a big New York signing.) And ask your publisher if they have any sales reps in the area — a great way to connect with the people actually pushing your book. Again, the goal is to have as many people walk in the door as possible. This all takes work — but a big crowd suggests to everyone that "this is a big event," and therefore you must be pretty important.

Second, meet them. Don't just say hello — offer the folks who come in the door something. It might be food, or a chance to win a free book, or the opportunity to talk writing and books. Give them some content — in some venues you can even schedule a brief workshop or talk to the crowd. Chat them up, bring a hostess who is great at greeting people as they come in the door and saying, "Wouldn't it be great to meet a bestselling author? Well, you're in luck!" Get someone to steer people your direction.

Third, pitch them on your book gently. Think of a book-signing as a relationship event rather than a sales event. You really want to meet these folks who have taken time out of their lives to stop in and see you. Talk to them. Ask questions. Listen to the answers. Let them see you as a real person. If they like you, they're much more apt to purchase your book (in fact, they're more apt to purchase all your books). The goal should be more on friend-raising, not fund-raising. If that doesn't appeal to you, then book-signings aren't for you. But try to capture names and email addresses, so you can stay in touch later.

Bring a new Sharpie to sign with, and have a backup. And always ask how to spell their name before signing the book. Always. I once met a guy whose name was "Bob," but he spelled it "Bobb." No kidding. And you won't make friends if you misspell their name. I hope this helps. Most booksignings are deflating experiences for authors, because they come in with high hopes, then spend an hour smiling and pointing people to the bathrooms and the stack of Karen Kingsbury titles in the corner. The fact is, if you're not a celebrity, having a booksigning may not be a very helpful idea (and it's downright painful to your ego when somebody looks at your book, glances at you, sniffs, and moves away). So try to make it an event, get people in the door, and you'll stand a much better chance of surviving with your self-esteem intact.

Lucinda wrote to ask, "The one thing I need to know is what should be on my author website?"

Your site should include a dynamite photo of yourself, where the reader can see you clearly, and you look charming and cute (if at all possible). Have a professional do the job. You should have an intro that tells the reader why they are visitng your site and what they can find there. Give them encouragement to check out your various pages. Include a well-written bio. You should have your book covers, with blurbs about the books and info on how to order them. And endorsements for both your books and your self. Show off some great reviews, if you've got them. Include sample chapters, so that readers can delight in your work. (Don't worry about "giving away" your writing — you want to give away something on your site.) Make sure to have a link to your blog, and include mentions of awards you've won, places you're speaking, and books you've got coming out. Audio or video clips from when you've done TV and radio programs are nice (or you can simply record an interview and post it). Have links to interviews with you or profiles that have been done on you. Have something about your speaking schedule, if you have one, complete with dates, locations, and contact information for the event. Assuming you're always giving away books, you should have info on how the reader can get a free book. And, of course, show the reader a way to contact you. Many authors include links to their publisher, their agent, their speakers' bureau, and other sites that would be of interest. Check out the author websites of Ginger Garrett and Jenny B Jones — two authors I represent who have dynamite sites.

Note what's not here: Lots of photos of you with your dog. Pictures of your grandchild's graduation. Why authors feel a need to show me pictures of their dogs and grandchildren is beyond me, though my wife tells me some readers find that sort of thing interesting.

And may I offer the big lesson? Capture the name and email address. That's what will help you when it's time to market your book, but readers are wary of handing over that information in this day of spammers. So give away something of value, trade it for a name and email, and you'll discover people are much more willing to swap their personal info with you.

Got a question about publishing and writing? Let me hear from you.

People send me interesting stuff, but it usually sits around while I'm answering people's questions, so today I'm trying to empty the random non-question stuff in my box…

–The good people at Library Journal have just released their list of the Best Books of 2008, and in the religious fiction category are two friends of mine: Lisa Samson's wonderful book Embrace Me (about a group of people with deformities who earn their living in a carnival sideshow) and Claudia Mair Burney's Wounded (about a struggling woman who find peace and stigmata). Both of these are great books, from writers with talent and depth. Congrats!

–A couple times I've mentioned marketing guru Rob Eagar's Wildfire Marketing research on CBA. In his most recent report, he offered one fascinating fact: The e-book version of Rob Bell's Jesus Wants to Save Christians has outsold the print version on Amazon. Now that's interesting…

–The folks at www.bachelorsdegreeonline.com blog have posted a cool thing: "50 Useful Google Applications for Writers." It's free — check it out. Correction: The full address is: www.bachelorsdegreeonline.com/blog/2008/50-useful-google-apps-for-writers/

–Terry Whalin's website, www.right-writing.com, has just posted a free e-book entitled Platform-Building Ideas for Every Author. Like most of the things on Terry's site, it's worth a look.

–While I'm mentioning resources, the folks at ECPA have revamped their www.ChristianManuscriptSubmissions.com site. The proposals can now be screened by literary agents, which is a good thing. I've not always been a huge fan of the program, but this is certainly a positive step.

–Bad news for the industry: Random House made some more staff cuts this week. So did Macmillan and Chronicle. I don't have the gift of prophecy, but with all these cuts going on at houses that have already contracted books, I'd like to predict that people in publishing next year will either be (A) very busy, or (B) looking for a job.

–On the good news side, Wiley, Scholastic, and Harlequin have all stayed in the black, and Hachette had such a good year they actually are paying Christmas bonuses.

–A few months ago, HarperCollins made a big announcement that they were starting HarperStudio, which would create and sell nonreturnable books (a model publishing has to move toward). Retailers didn't exactly jump up and down with excitement, since that means the pressure to sell is now on them. But some good news: earlier this week Borders announced they would be working with the new imprint. Now if we can just keep Borders in business…

–People are beginning to wonder how this lousy economy is going to affect BEA and ICRS (and, to a lesser extent, the new Christian Book Expo scheduled for Dallas in March). My guess: We're going to see more publishers follow the example of Mike Hyatt, the Prez at Thomas Nelson, and pull out of the trade shows. I've heard some people say they don't think the new CBE is going to work, but I happen to think they're wrong — it's appeal is to readers, not retailers, and it's a model that has worked well in several other cities. I'm pulling for it to be a success.

–Can I pitch you on a really cool new book that has just released? Zondervan has done A Faith and Culture Devotional, which offers daily readings on theology, history, philsophy, science, literature, art, and contemporary culture. The writings were done by great thinkers (Os Guinness, Francis Schaeffer, John Stott, R.C. Sproul, John Eldredge, etc), and the whole project was put together by Kelly Kullberg (author of Finding God at Harvard) and Lael Arrington (a radio host and author of several titles). A lot of people are talking about this one — I just saw a copy, and it's great. Honest. While bookstores are bragging about The Intellectual Devotional, this book offers better content and actual HOPE. Take a look.

–A couple months ago, I told you that a novelist I represent, Jennifer King, had her feet displayed in a national advertisement for bath rugs. Knowing your never-ending need for celebrity details, Jennifer's face now appears at www.frontgate.com, modeling cashmere pajamas. If you go there and search for them, she's the brunette…and if you need a great gift idea, the pajamas and robe sell for a mere $800. The cashmere slippers are an extra $119. What's stopping you from dropping a thousand bucks on pajamas? Cheapskate!

–Speaking of cute things, actress Robyne Parrish wrote to me and said not only does she read my blog, but she came up with a name for it: "Chip Off the Old Blog." Okay, so it's not brilliant, but it's cute.

–And a question of my own to ask you: What's the best novel you read that released in 2008? Leave a comment and let me know.

I'll be back with publishing questions in a day or two. Have a merry Christmas!

I've had a bunch of questions about the business side of writing lately…

Dawn asked about a reprint issue: "I noticed that Amazon allows people to search inside my books — but that  means they've posted a sample chapter. Is that legal? Isn't that giving away a section of the book in violation of my publishing contract?"

If you'll take a look at your publishing contract, you'll see in the "marketing" section some wording that allows the publisher the right to use short sections of your book for marketing purposes. That's the clause allowing publishers to work with Amazon's "Search Inside" feature. They monitor how many pages a customer can actually view, and they limit the page count so that nobody can read the entire book. In cases where the Table of Contents is critical, they don't make that available. Amazon also blocks readers from copying the text, so they've created a feature that helps sell your book, but tries not to give too much away.

The folks at Amazon have noted that this is their way of competing with your local bookstore. If you walk into any Borders or B&N, you can take a book off the shelf and flip through it. (In fact, you could sit at their cafe and read the whole thing — a feature you cannot do on Amazon.) So the "search inside" aspect is a form of marketing — letting potential readers get a peek at your book. Perfectly legal.

Jessy wrote this: "I'm a volunteer writer for a quarterly publication. Recently the publisher told me he would be issuing a special anniversary edition, and would include all my stories. I've never received any monetary compensation for my writing, so my question is: To whom do those stories belong — the magazine or me?"

First, take a look at your publishing agreement, Jessy. If you've got a written contract of some kind (whether it's for a story, or for your work for the publication), it should spell out ownership. Second, it's customary for writers to retain the rights to stories in periodicals, so you'll probably find that others in your situation have retained their reprint and secondary rights. Third, talk to the publisher. If you've been volunteering, there must be some sense of good will that's been built. I doubt he or she will want you to come away from this with a bad taste in your mouth. My guess is a quick discussion could resolve much of this. If there's a dispute, rely on what's written. If there's nothing written, both you and your publisher are going to need to resolve this in a way that's fair to both sides.

Oh, and fourth: I'm not a lawyer, so I'm not giving you legal advice. If this looks like it's headed toward what you feel is a violation of your intellectual property rights, go chat with a lawyer. It's possible all is will take is for him or her to write a letter to the publisher.

Kaye wrote and said, "I have published four children's books with the same publisher. The books were all written on assignment. Would they be considered impressive to another publisher I want to pitch an idea to? Or do publishers prefer to only hear about books that were not assigned?"

Absolutely, Kaye. Assuming you're listed as the author, it won't matter if the books were assigned or if you came up with the ideas. The fact that you've done four of them should impress publishers.

Jean wrote and noted, "I had submitted a proposal to a publishing house, and they sent me back a 'co-publishing' email in which they basically invite me to pay them to publish my book. They say they'll print it, market it, distribute it, warehouse it, and pay me royalties on it. The cost is about $20,000 for 2000 copies of the book. A good deal?"

Let me get this straight… You sent a proposal to a publisher, and they wrote back to say, "If you give us twenty grand, we'll do your book?" Egad. That's a sure sign that you might want to check into the legitimacy of that publisher. Frankly, I've never had that happen — either as an agent or as an author. Seems like the publishing side is nothing more than a front for a vanity press, which is probably where they really make their money. And I would have serious doubts about them doing much in the way of marketing or sales for your book (there's something to get in writing).

On top of that, you're talking about spending $10 per book with that arrangement. That's higher than you would do with one of the several legitimate vanity press operations. It's even higher than your cost would be if you were to simply use some of the Publish On Demand services that are available. My advice? Walk away. And warn others.

Breanna wants to know about right of first refusal clauses: "I've seen contracts with the right of first refusal on future books, but I'm confused about what that entails for the publisher. How long do they have before they have to give the author an answer on the next proposal? And does a rejection on the next proposal free the author from having to send other books for consideration? What's the standard clause?"

There's not really a "standard" clause — different houses do it different ways. That's why this always gets negotiated. But it's reasonable to think that your publisher, who has made a huge commitment to your career in doing your first book, can ask for a first look at your next book. It's common to negotiate into that first look clause a window of time (something saying the publisher has 90 days to review the next book and make a decision). And yes, if you grant your publisher a firsts look at your next book, once you've shown them your next book, you have probably fulfilled your contractual obligation.

Got a question about writing or publishing? Send it to me and we'll discuss it.

Over the past couple of months, I've received a boatload of personal questions about agenting in general, and my agency in particular. Instead of taking each one separately, I'm going to clump them together and try to answer as many as possible. But be warned: Some of this reads like a commercial. I'm sorry about that — my intention on this blog is to answer the questions that come in. But since I've had so many questions like this, I decided it was best to try and answer a bunch of them at once, rather than routinely sprinkle self-serving questions throughout my posts. Here goes…

David, Tracy, and several others asked, "How long have you been an agent, and how did you get your start?"

Ouch. I don't mean to be the bearer of bad news, but today was a really, REALLY lousy day for all of us who work in publishing. Today…

-Simon & Schuster cut 35 people (2% of its workforce).

-Thomas Nelson cut 54 people (10% of its workforce).

-Random House axed some of its top people and announced it is restructuring — and will disband the Doubleday Publishing Group.

-It has been reported that Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has let go of several employees (the company doesn't comment on personnel matters). Becky Saletan, the publisher, has been let go.

-And Borders' stock price fell under one dollar. That's a very bad thing — if their stock price stays under $1 for ninety days, they have to do a consolidation of stock (the  opposite of a stock split).

This qualifies as a really crappy day. And yes, most of it traces back to the lousy economy.

Yeesh. The one bit of good news? Retail sales on "Black Friday" looked better than expected, proving that books are still recession-resistant. Today's news reveals that they are certainly not "recession proof." But people are still buying books, so that's something to take to heart.

UPDATE: While there was some other news that wasn't too encouraging (Penguin has put a freeze on any raises this year), there was also some good news for everyone… Books sales in November rose 6% over this time last year, according to a story by Jim Milliot on PW Daily. He also noted that children's book sales rose more than 33% in that period (!), and YA sales were also up (thank you Stephenie Meyer!). When times are hard, people still read books.

I've had a number of people asking state-of-the-industry questions, so…

– In case you haven't heard, the Author's Guild (along with most of the big New York publishers) finally settled their lawsuit with Google over their Library Search program. Basically, Google was scanning books from libraries and making them available, which seemed like a clear violation of copyright laws. In the end, Google paid $125 million and agreed to set up a new licensing system. The goal is to give readers more access to out-of-print books, make it easier for libraries and universities to access hard-to-find pages, and offer new avenues for people to buy copyrighted books online. The $125 M will be used to set up a nonprofit book registry, and it's expected that most American publishers will participate. This is good news for authors, who won't be getting jobbed by Google any more.

– Publishers Weekly has come out with its long list of the "Best Books of the Year," and in the religious fiction category, there are only two titles: Anne Rice's Christ the Lord and Susan Meissner's The Shape of Mercy. Woo-hoo! SO glad to see Susan's book on that list. From the moment she turned that manuscript in to her editor, I expected to see this sort of response. If you haven't read it, go buy a copy. Honest — it'll be one of the best novels you'll read this year.

– Rob Eager, the president of Wildfire Marketing in Atlanta, has done a fascinating study of CBA publishers. He dug into the sales numbers of 15 publishers on Amazon, and made some determinations based on the sales of each company's top twenty books. It's an interesting study, since it doesn't allow one hit to skew the results, but bases its research on each house's top twenty books. His findings:

1. Zondervan's top 20 titles have an average sales rank on Amazon of 1807. (Their top title was all the way up to #45.)

2. Thomas Nelson's top 20 titles have an average sales rank of 1954.

3. The next publishers in order were Tyndale (2341), Waterbrook/Multnomah (3666), and Baker (3793).

4. After that there was a big dropoff — FaithWords (8725), Harvest House (9558), B&H (12,066), NavPress (12,966), and Moody Press (15,589).

5. The next five publishers listed were a suprise: Regal (a growing company, 15,589), Howard (21,202 — how does a Simon & Schuster imprint rank this low?), Barbour (21,616, which surprised me because of all their fiction sales), IVP (22,756), and Kregel (47,738).

And yes, there are limitations to this study: Amazon isn't a perfect reflection of the market. A publisher could have one book making a huge pile of money for them, so this doesn't reflect income or overall business success. But it does offer some cool insight into which publishers are routinely helping books move toward the top of the lists. You can see the whole thing at www.StartaWildfire.com.

– At the ECPA dinner in Chicago last month (a gathering of 25 religious publishers), Simon & Schuster President Carolyn Reidy woke everyone up. She told her fellow publishing execs that it's time we face facts: books are no longer recession-proof. Retail sales are in steep decline, backlist isn't selling, publishers are getting squeezed by retailers who demand better terms, and it will all probably get worse before it gets better. Reidy noted that self publishing has become a realistic option for many authors, explained how the economics of digital publishing make it look like publishers will be making less on each book sold, and called into question the practice of full-credit returns (yay!). There was a lot of other thoughtful stuff — Barnes & Noble and other retailers publishing their own books, bestselling authors potentially creating their own publishing houses, and CBA readers leaving Christian bookstores behind in order to go to one-stop book-shopping outlets. Then she reminded everyone that in all her years in the business, publishing has always been considered "an industry in trouble." Yet here we are — threatened, and needing to change because of new technology, but still educating and entertaining readers, and ready to adapt to the new business realities as well as the new technology. If you can get a copy of her speech, by all means do so. Fascinating stuff, and it includes a call to religious publishers to make the tent big enough to include everyone.

– An editor at Macmillan, Nicholas Blake, has garnered a lot of interest for a presentation he made to the Society of Young Publishers back in September. In essence, Mr. Blake made the case that there are ten essential skills an editor needs to be successful in contemporary publishing of digital titles. I've been asked about it so many times that I felt a need to clarify the source — you can find it at www.thedigitalist.net. For the record, he states that the "islands of knowledge" an editor needs to become familiar with are: (1) Make sure to get the correct rights to each work; (2) Understand moral rights to a work; (3) Learn to assign ISBN's correctly; (4) Understand localization so that you can sell the work in all the appropriate countries; (5) Understand version control, since there are no impression numbers in ebooks; (6) Get to know all the output formats your company will offer; (7) Understand the conversion or output process at your company; (8) Understand metadata in your titles; (9) Know how to build in metadata elements in your books; and (10) Understand a digital workflow.

– I suppose if I have any measure of fame, it's for hosting my annual "Bad Poetry Contest" on my birthday each year. So I was thrilled when author Keri Kent sent me a notice that Writer's Digest is having their 4th Annual Poetry Contest. Woo-hoo! I'm sure you'll all want to race out and contribute. Remember: Let them know you're a sensitive artist with angst. That's sure to help you win.

– News of the Weird: So last week Houghton-Mifflin-Harcourt announced they were not going to do any new acquisitions. (In more than 20 years in the book business, I've never heard of a company doing that, unless they were about to go out of business.) The VP of Communications (that will be funnier as you finish this sentence), Josef Blumenfeld, used the word "freeze" when making this announcement. Then some agents reported doing some new deals with HMH, and he mentioned it was just a "freeze-light," noting it wasn't a "hard freeze." Then the communications whiz was told that certain segments of the company were still acquiring new titles, and he responded to the press that talk of a freeze "had been taken out of context." So they're frozen, but not really frozen. And yes, he is in charge of communication for HMH. Be aware, everyone: The word "freeze" doesn't mean "freeze" so much as "cool." Or maybe "room temperature." We'll be asking Mr. Blumenfeld for a weather update soon. ("It's not really a blizzard — all that snow is made of water, so it's more like a flood…or maybe a spring thaw. In fact, this blizzard is blotting out a sunny day. But you're taking my use of the term blizzard out of context…")

– News of the Weird II: A French novelist, Mathias Enard, is publishing his first book, entitled Zone. It's a 500-page novel about a guy making his way way across Italy on a train, and it consists of one long sentence. No joke.