Kingdom Pen thanks Israel Wayne for this exclusive interview! Israel Wayne is a homeschool graduate, writer, and speaker.
Kingdom Pen: When did you start writing? What motivated you?
Israel Wayne: I began writing a column in the Home School Digest magazine in the Fall of 1994. I have always been a communicator at heart. I don’t write because I enjoy the process of writing, per se, but rather because I feel that I have something to say. The first two essays I wrote for the publication were (in my late teens): “Establishing Right Relationships,” and “Making Moral Choices.”
I have always felt that if you could get those two issues correct (Ethics and Relationships), rest of life will run much smoother for you. Ironically, those two themes have been a constant thread throughout the body of my work. I tend to write a lot about family and worldviews. I always cycle back around to that.
KP: How did you become a writer? Did you have to go to college?
IW: It may provide some readers a sadistic comfort to know that I flunked every writing course I ever took. I purposefully avoided college, which I felt that I did not need, and so far have not. I am not the best writer. I think the British have a notable advantage over us Americans when it comes to writing (consider G.K. Chesterton, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, T.S. Elliot, etc., not to mention Shakespeare and Chaucer!). They invented the language after all. That hasn’t caused much of a problem for me though because most Americans are pathetic writers, even the published ones. So, by comparison, I appear to be a decent writer, even though I am not.
KP: How old do you have to be to write non-fiction books? Is non-fiction writing something you can only attempt when you’re an adult and more experienced?
IW: I have always written non-fiction. I write non-fiction mainly because I rarely ever read fiction, and you must read a good deal of good fiction if you are going to be able to write good fiction. The struggle I have is in finding good fiction. Apart from the Classics, which are so for obvious reasons, I find most modern fiction to be the domain of the banal and obtuse. I have no use for most of it. So I read a good deal of non-fiction, across a variety of genres.
I think more than age, it is important to know how to create good outlines. I think in outline form. For both fiction and non-fiction, it is essential to make an outline on which to hang your narrative or prose. You need to be able to tell people your idea in a logical sequence and not get sidetracked with rabbit trails. You also need to learn economy of words. Being concise is a lost art. This world needs far more pith, and far less droning.
KP: How do you deal with criticism?
IW: Criticism, if it comes from someone who knows something, is invaluable. I always invite it with all of my books. I send the manuscript to various experts in the field on which I am writing, as well as to professional editors, and welcome them to tear it to pieces. I want them to find every flaw because if they don’t a reader who paid money to buy the book will (and it’s too late to correct it then!). If you can’t handle criticism, don’t become a writer. A major goal in writing (in my mind) is to challenge the conventional thinking of your reader. If you are doing that, you are also very likely offending them as well. People don’t like to think that their preconceived notions may be false. So if you are getting no criticism, you are a dull thinker and are probably not saying anything worthwhile.
KP: If you could only give one piece of advice on how to go about writing a non-fiction book, what would it be?
IW: Know your topic. I try to avoid writing on anything that I don’t know intimately. If I write it, it is usually because I own that concept in my own life and experience. If you write about what you know deeply and personally, you can’t go wrong.
KP: How do you get other people to read your books? What is the best way you’ve found to market your work?
IW: I used to give a lot of advice about how to get published and how to market your book. Now I just tell people to read a book by Michael Hyatt (an executive at Thomas Nelson Publishers) entitled, Platform. He says all the things that I have told people for years in a clear and concise manner.
KP: Is writing a best-selling book the only way to make a living as a writer?
IW: Very few authors write best-selling books. I saw a statistic recently that said that the average sales of a non-fiction Christian print book is only 250 copies per year, and 3,000 over the course of its life. So, if you are with a traditional book publisher and you are only getting paid $1.00-$1.50 per book, you’d better have a back-up plan.
For most authors, you write because you have a story or idea in you that needs to get out. You obviously write for the benefit of others, but if you don’t sell a lot of copies, writing is still good personal therapy. If you are going to write professionally, you either need to be the best in your craft, or you need to combine writing with a brand package that includes public speaking, events, product packages, consulting, teaching and a host of other endeavors that all work together to provide adequate income and support. You can also write for various periodicals that pay their writers, but again, you are probably looking at a couple hundred dollars a month, at best, through those channels, so you really need to diversify and take whatever work you can to make a living until your craft finally takes off.
My view is that we need to be faithful to say what God has given us to say. We should present it to the best of our abilities. In the end, however, it is God who gives the increase. If it is His will for us to write on a full-time basis, then He will provide the means. If not, we can enjoy writing as a very fulfilling hobby or part-time endeavor.
Israel Wayne is an author and conference speaker who has a passion for defending the Christian faith and promoting a Biblical worldview.
He is the author of the books Homeschooling from a Biblical Worldview, Full-Time Parenting: A Guide to Family-Based Discipleship, Questions God Asks and Questions Jesus Asks. He is a former regular columnist for Home School Digest and the Old Schoolhouse magazines. He is also the Director of Family Renewal, LLC. and site editor for ChristianWorldview.net.
Very interesting, especially the points about criticism and marketing. Thanks for sharing! I rarely read about non-fiction writing, so this was something different.