WEBVTT 00:00:00.010 --> 00:00:04.410 Tell me about your vision. Well, Harry, I've 00:00:04.410 --> 00:00:08.089 been in publishing for a long time. And part 00:00:08.089 --> 00:00:10.269 of the reason that I'm in publishing is because 00:00:10.269 --> 00:00:14.890 I know that books change people's lives. And 00:00:14.890 --> 00:00:20.510 I know that firsthand because I majored in journalism 00:00:20.510 --> 00:00:23.969 in college. I went to Indiana University. And 00:00:23.969 --> 00:00:28.660 back then. I was working on the campus newspaper. 00:00:29.019 --> 00:00:33.920 And I was, as I look back on my life, I realized 00:00:33.920 --> 00:00:40.600 I was rebelling from my upbringing, from my parents. 00:00:40.780 --> 00:00:43.600 And I was on this big campus, Indiana University, 00:00:43.780 --> 00:00:49.340 30 ,000 students on the main campus. And I was 00:00:49.340 --> 00:00:51.899 working on the college paper, and I couldn't 00:00:51.899 --> 00:00:54.600 get my fingers on the right keyboard. And so 00:00:54.600 --> 00:00:57.820 I kept... muttering to myself, Jesus Christ, 00:00:57.979 --> 00:01:01.439 Jesus Christ. And this little blonde haired girl 00:01:01.439 --> 00:01:03.259 that was sitting next to me turned to me and 00:01:03.259 --> 00:01:05.299 she said, oh, Terry, don't say that about Jesus, 00:01:05.379 --> 00:01:07.400 because one of these days when you really need 00:01:07.400 --> 00:01:09.299 him, you'll call out for him and he won't be 00:01:09.299 --> 00:01:12.700 there. And I thought, what's this? I'm a Christian. 00:01:12.859 --> 00:01:15.120 I go to church when I'm at home. I read the Bible 00:01:15.120 --> 00:01:18.120 in church when I'm at home. I knew nothing, Harry, 00:01:18.260 --> 00:01:21.590 about. really Christianity, but she invited me 00:01:21.590 --> 00:01:23.709 to go to this little bookstore a couple blocks 00:01:23.709 --> 00:01:26.430 off the Indiana campus. They had pretty cards 00:01:26.430 --> 00:01:28.769 and posters, and maybe I'd find a book that interested 00:01:28.769 --> 00:01:31.709 me. So I wandered down there a couple days later 00:01:31.709 --> 00:01:34.230 about this book called Jesus the Revolutionary. 00:01:34.250 --> 00:01:36.129 I thought, how in the world could Jesus be a 00:01:36.129 --> 00:01:39.170 revolutionary? And so I took that book back to 00:01:39.170 --> 00:01:41.250 my room. I read that book, and it showed me a 00:01:41.250 --> 00:01:43.489 different side of Jesus than I'd ever seen before. 00:01:43.769 --> 00:01:46.599 And about that time, Somebody invited me to this 00:01:46.599 --> 00:01:49.239 Jesus people gathering in downtown Bloomington. 00:01:49.260 --> 00:01:51.400 People were sitting on little scraps of carpets 00:01:51.400 --> 00:01:55.780 with little candles lit. And I knew from being 00:01:55.780 --> 00:01:57.819 in that room that those people had something 00:01:57.819 --> 00:02:02.540 that I didn't have. So I got a Bible and I changed 00:02:02.540 --> 00:02:05.480 the direction of my life. So instead of becoming 00:02:05.480 --> 00:02:08.240 a newspaper reporter, which is what I thought 00:02:08.240 --> 00:02:10.500 I was going to do, I joined this group called 00:02:10.500 --> 00:02:14.879 Wycliffe Bible Translators. Studied linguistics. 00:02:15.240 --> 00:02:18.120 I worked in Guatemala, Central America among 00:02:18.120 --> 00:02:21.680 the Southwest Cachiquel people. Then I wandered 00:02:21.680 --> 00:02:24.240 back to my writing and that's kind of where I've 00:02:24.240 --> 00:02:27.120 been ever since. But I wouldn't have made those 00:02:27.120 --> 00:02:31.020 kind of choices if I hadn't read this book years 00:02:31.020 --> 00:02:34.240 ago. So I know books change people's lives firsthand 00:02:34.240 --> 00:02:37.500 because I read this book and it changed my life. 00:02:37.740 --> 00:02:40.259 Yeah, that's awesome. Thank you for sharing that. 00:02:40.940 --> 00:02:44.759 So how did that land you to where you are at 00:02:44.759 --> 00:02:47.740 right now? How did that journey from reading 00:02:47.740 --> 00:02:51.639 a book to becoming an author yourself? Yeah, 00:02:51.719 --> 00:02:54.599 that's a great question. I started writing for 00:02:54.599 --> 00:02:58.319 magazines, and I ultimately became the editor 00:02:58.319 --> 00:03:02.439 of our mission's newspaper, Work with Bible Translators, 00:03:02.620 --> 00:03:06.639 and I went to writers' conferences. And that's 00:03:06.639 --> 00:03:09.169 always a thing that I advise. I encourage people 00:03:09.169 --> 00:03:11.310 to do is to go to a writer's conference because 00:03:11.310 --> 00:03:13.669 you can meet editors and you can learn a ton 00:03:13.669 --> 00:03:16.490 about how the publishing business works if you 00:03:16.490 --> 00:03:19.969 do that. So I was at one of these writer's conferences 00:03:19.969 --> 00:03:23.310 and I was talking with an editor and she said, 00:03:23.389 --> 00:03:27.789 Terry, I've got this problem. And we do children's 00:03:27.789 --> 00:03:31.530 books at David C. Cook. And we're charged really 00:03:31.530 --> 00:03:34.669 to write, to encourage children to go to the 00:03:34.669 --> 00:03:38.650 world with. with their lives. But we don't have 00:03:38.650 --> 00:03:42.030 a single book that talks about that. So what 00:03:42.030 --> 00:03:44.310 kind of ideas do you have? Well, at that time, 00:03:44.310 --> 00:03:47.110 my kids were little. So I was reading a lot of 00:03:47.110 --> 00:03:50.490 children's books to kids. And I knew that Stephen 00:03:50.490 --> 00:03:53.330 Lawhead, who writes fantasy books, also had this 00:03:53.330 --> 00:03:56.009 set of children's books that he wrote under the 00:03:56.009 --> 00:03:59.610 name Steve Lawhead. And they combined a real 00:03:59.610 --> 00:04:03.150 photo with a little cartoon character to show 00:04:03.150 --> 00:04:06.490 kids that. to help them get into the imagination 00:04:06.490 --> 00:04:10.349 part of the story. Howard had a hot air balloon. 00:04:10.490 --> 00:04:13.349 Howard had a spaceship. And so I said to the 00:04:13.349 --> 00:04:16.689 senator, what if we combine real pictures from 00:04:16.689 --> 00:04:19.189 our mission work around the world with a little 00:04:19.189 --> 00:04:21.889 cartoon character to show kids that they could 00:04:21.889 --> 00:04:25.029 go anywhere? She said, oh, that's a good idea. 00:04:25.209 --> 00:04:28.050 Write that up and send that to me. And so I made 00:04:28.050 --> 00:04:30.329 a little note. I went home. I wrote it up. And 00:04:30.329 --> 00:04:33.980 we went through a number of versions of that 00:04:33.980 --> 00:04:36.339 book before it actually got published but in 00:04:36.339 --> 00:04:40.579 1992 that was my first book harry that was published 00:04:40.579 --> 00:04:44.000 called when i grow up i can go anywhere for jesus 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:46.879 a little 32 page children's book that i wrote 00:04:46.879 --> 00:04:50.279 that's awesome wow thank you for sharing that 00:04:50.279 --> 00:04:56.699 so what would you say terry is your why about 00:04:56.699 --> 00:04:58.879 your vision like why do you do what you do now 00:04:58.879 --> 00:05:03.920 yeah you know the why I do what I do is I work 00:05:03.920 --> 00:05:06.000 in publishing. I've been working at a New York 00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:08.120 publishing house, Morgan James Publishing now 00:05:08.120 --> 00:05:11.319 for the last 13 years. It's my third publisher. 00:05:11.480 --> 00:05:13.839 So I've worked with hundreds of authors through 00:05:13.839 --> 00:05:16.879 the years. And I guess the reason I do this and 00:05:16.879 --> 00:05:19.100 get up every day and do this kind of work is 00:05:19.100 --> 00:05:22.800 because these books are important. And I know 00:05:22.800 --> 00:05:25.540 the messages that are inside them are important 00:05:25.540 --> 00:05:28.480 to the authors. And I just want to help them 00:05:28.480 --> 00:05:31.730 get out there and be successful. So one of the 00:05:31.730 --> 00:05:33.930 things that I know from working in this too, 00:05:34.069 --> 00:05:38.129 Harry, is that many authors have false expectations 00:05:38.129 --> 00:05:40.790 about their book and what's going to happen with 00:05:40.790 --> 00:05:44.370 it. So I wrote this little book called 10 Publishing 00:05:44.370 --> 00:05:47.230 Myths, Insights Every Author Needs to Succeed. 00:05:48.350 --> 00:05:50.370 I want people to be able to get this book. So 00:05:50.370 --> 00:05:53.889 I've set up this website. If they go to publishingoffer 00:05:53.889 --> 00:05:58.050 .com, publishingoffer .com, they can get the 00:05:58.050 --> 00:06:01.569 book for only $10 from me, along with over $200 00:06:01.569 --> 00:06:04.910 worth of free bonuses. And that includes the 00:06:04.910 --> 00:06:07.790 shipping and everything. And part of the reason 00:06:07.790 --> 00:06:11.610 I did that is because I really want authors to 00:06:11.610 --> 00:06:15.050 understand there's a lot. in the publishing process 00:06:15.050 --> 00:06:17.689 that they can't control. It's outside of things 00:06:17.689 --> 00:06:20.110 that they can do. But there are a number of things 00:06:20.110 --> 00:06:23.329 that they can do. And so I really tried to emphasize 00:06:23.329 --> 00:06:27.009 in this book practical actions that every author 00:06:27.009 --> 00:06:30.470 can take to help spread the news about their 00:06:30.470 --> 00:06:33.389 book and get the word out there about it. That's 00:06:33.389 --> 00:06:35.310 awesome. That's amazing. Thank you for sharing 00:06:35.310 --> 00:06:39.269 that with me. I have one more question for you 00:06:39.269 --> 00:06:44.689 before we end today's segment. Do you have a 00:06:44.689 --> 00:06:47.750 story that pertains to your why that you want 00:06:47.750 --> 00:06:50.910 to share with the audience today? Well, yeah. 00:06:51.029 --> 00:06:54.569 The biggest story that I have related to my why 00:06:54.569 --> 00:06:56.949 is that life -changing decision that I told you 00:06:56.949 --> 00:07:01.889 I made reading that book, Jesus the Revolutionary. 00:07:01.889 --> 00:07:07.290 That was the story behind my why. Another story 00:07:07.290 --> 00:07:11.529 that comes to mind is I was a literary agent 00:07:11.529 --> 00:07:15.389 for a while. And Mark Victor Hansen, the co -author 00:07:15.389 --> 00:07:18.629 from Chicken Soup for the Soul, invited me to 00:07:18.629 --> 00:07:21.810 come out to Los Angeles. He was having this event 00:07:21.810 --> 00:07:25.569 called Mega Bookmarking University. And so I 00:07:25.569 --> 00:07:27.810 went to this event and I took pictures from people 00:07:27.810 --> 00:07:30.470 during the event. But I also sat there with 400 00:07:30.470 --> 00:07:33.449 people and listened to all the different speakers. 00:07:33.850 --> 00:07:36.870 And at that point in my life, Harry, I'd written 00:07:36.870 --> 00:07:40.720 about 50 books for traditional publishers. publishers 00:07:40.720 --> 00:07:43.800 were paying me advances they were making pretty 00:07:43.800 --> 00:07:45.660 books they were getting them in the bookstore 00:07:45.660 --> 00:07:49.160 all that kind of thing but but my books weren't 00:07:49.160 --> 00:07:52.459 making money because once a year or maybe quarterly 00:07:52.459 --> 00:07:55.220 publishers send you a financial statement and 00:07:55.220 --> 00:07:58.000 all of mine were in the minus category and so 00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:00.779 i just didn't know what i was what i was i must 00:08:00.779 --> 00:08:02.660 be doing something wrong i just couldn't figure 00:08:02.660 --> 00:08:05.740 out what it was as i listened to these people 00:08:05.740 --> 00:08:09.579 i realized how little i was actually doing to 00:08:10.120 --> 00:08:12.899 be telling people about my my own book back then 00:08:12.899 --> 00:08:16.199 sure i had a terrywhalen .com website but i was 00:08:16.199 --> 00:08:18.579 doing hardly anything else to be telling people 00:08:18.579 --> 00:08:22.959 and one of the speakers at this at this event 00:08:22.959 --> 00:08:26.000 was jack canfield the other co -author on the 00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:28.100 chicken soup for the soul books and jack has 00:08:28.100 --> 00:08:31.540 this book called the success principles yeah 00:08:31.540 --> 00:08:34.179 where he really studies what does it take to 00:08:34.179 --> 00:08:37.019 be successful the very first success principle 00:08:37.019 --> 00:08:40.700 says that i will take a hundred percent responsibility 00:08:40.700 --> 00:08:44.600 for my own success now none of us want to take 00:08:44.600 --> 00:08:47.600 100 responsibility we want some publisher or 00:08:47.600 --> 00:08:50.399 some marketing person somebody other than us 00:08:50.399 --> 00:08:53.139 to do the work but i decided back right there 00:08:53.139 --> 00:08:56.820 that i was going to take 100 responsibility for 00:08:56.820 --> 00:09:01.139 my own success so i started to blog and I've 00:09:01.139 --> 00:09:05.419 been blogging, Harry, since like 2004. I got 00:09:05.419 --> 00:09:07.539 in on the early days of blogging, but I've been 00:09:07.539 --> 00:09:12.440 blogging every week since 2004. Now, they say 00:09:12.440 --> 00:09:15.019 there's over 600 million blogs that are out there, 00:09:15.080 --> 00:09:17.179 but I found an article about a year ago that 00:09:17.179 --> 00:09:21.100 listed the top 27 content producers out there. 00:09:21.299 --> 00:09:25.159 And Seth Godin, Ryan Holiday, people like that. 00:09:25.279 --> 00:09:29.110 And my name was among those 27. And it's not 00:09:29.110 --> 00:09:31.049 that I've done anything magical here. I've just 00:09:31.049 --> 00:09:36.409 been consistently blogging every week for years. 00:09:36.950 --> 00:09:40.169 And suddenly that builds up to be a huge volume 00:09:40.169 --> 00:09:42.970 of material. I've got over 1 ,700 entries in 00:09:42.970 --> 00:09:45.690 my blog. I mean, there's a lot of content in 00:09:45.690 --> 00:09:49.590 that thing. And it's helped a lot of people. 00:09:49.970 --> 00:09:55.220 And it just shows me that... Everybody can do 00:09:55.220 --> 00:09:59.259 this. You just have to do it persistently and 00:09:59.259 --> 00:10:02.240 consistently is really what it takes in order 00:10:02.240 --> 00:10:05.320 to be able to find success when it comes to book 00:10:05.320 --> 00:10:07.639 publishing. Thank you for being here today. I'm 00:10:07.639 --> 00:10:09.379 really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros 00:10:09.379 --> 00:10:12.340 Live. I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions 00:10:12.340 --> 00:10:14.960 as these episodes continue to move forward. This 00:10:14.960 --> 00:10:16.879 is going to get more and more fun. We'll have 00:10:16.879 --> 00:10:18.700 more and more engagement as well. We'll invite 00:10:18.700 --> 00:10:21.320 people to participate in the show and thank you 00:10:21.320 --> 00:10:23.200 for giving us your time and attention. Have an 00:10:23.200 --> 00:10:25.980 excellent time building out your vision and becoming 00:10:25.980 --> 00:10:26.820 a vision pro yourself.