Tuesday, February 22, 2011
If you follow publishing at all, you probably see authors moving around from house to house all the time. But sometimes magic happens both with love and with business relationships, and authors choose to stay with a publisher long term. That's where I am now. I've been at Nelson 9 years this year. :)
Allen Arnold, fiction publisher at Thomas Nelson, invited me down to speak at the sales conference last week. On Friday Dave and I took candy to the staff at Thomas Nelson. It was like visiting family after a long time away. Love them so much! Then we had lunch with Mike and Gail Hyatt as well as Ami and Allen from my fiction team. I hadn't seen Mike and Gail in forever so we could have talked for hours (well, okay, we DID talk for hours. But we could have spent even more time!) We took Allen hot sauce that was supposed to make him sweat, but he just chowed down on it like it was candy. Sheesh, what a disappointment! :)
Dave and I helped Ami with some things at her house over the weekend like wallpaper removal and painting. Dave will do most things for most people but he hates to paint so it meant a lot that he painted for her. :)
Then Monday was the sales conference. What can I say about it? I got to see our terrific sales staff and share my passion for story. I got to meet book buyers and reps. But the best thing is that I was with my family. Truly, they are like my own flesh and blood. Brothers and sisters. And coming home, I realized magic really can happen even with business dealings. From my publisher to my editor, cover design to marketing and sales and to everything in between, Thomas Nelson has been such a blessing to me. I love them so much!
I'm curious. When you read a book, do you notice who the publisher is? Do you read the acknowledgements in the back?
Labels: Allen Arnold, Ami McConnell, Gail Hyatt, Michael Hyatt, Thomas Nelson
Colleen Coble
posted at
5:11 AM
Comments (14)
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Did you hear that scream this morning? That was me leaping out of bed to pack. Two days. TWO DAYS! Then the five of us will be together at the
ACFW conference. This is the highlight of our year.
Amber Zimmerman, Di's daughter, is a fabulous photographer. If you click on her name, you'll be taken to her website. Anyway, she's going to take some fun pics of the five of us this week. If you listen closely, you'll be able to hear us laughing starting on Thursday.
I'm taking gluten free chocolate chip cookies (made with almond flour) and some fabulous candy for snacks. We're going to see our fabulous agent, Karen Solem, as well. I haven't seen Karen in a year and can't wait to hug her. She was laughing yesterday when we talked and wasn't sure she'd recognize me. I told her she'e recognize my loud voice. LOL My darling Ami McConnell will be there. I just saw her at Thomas Nelson two weeks ago, but it will be fun to be all together again. Natalie Hanemann and Allen Arnold are both coming from Thomas Nelson too, so all of my peeps will be in one place. That just NEVER happens so to say I'm excited this week is an understatement. :-)
I'm looking forward to my mentoring appts too. I'm chatting with ten gals about their careers and I adore talking about writing.
All in all, there will be too much coffee, too much laughing, too much chocolate (Debrand truffles) and too much camaraderie to stand it. Oh wait, is that even possible? :-) Oh and MAJOR news! I'll get to see The Lightkeeper's Bride for the first time!!!! It is shipping to stores this week.
What about you? How is your week going. Need us to pray for you or have something you want to share we can rejoice with you about?
Labels: ACFW Conference, Allen Arnold, Ami McConnell, Natalie Hanemann
Colleen Coble
posted at
8:45 AM
Comments (10)
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
YOU KNOW YOU'RE A WRITER WHEN. . .
This is me and my husband Dave at the Christy awards in St. Louis this past weekend. The 2nd one is of Nelson authors with our publisher Allen Arnold and our publicist Katie Bond. I spent the entire weekend with author friends and it was sooo fun! Sitting around the table with Allen and Katie was a real highlight and it drove home to me how authors are, well, different. LOL
And it's rubbed off on Allen. He was telling us about an incident where a man was taking pictures of his neighborhood. He followed the guy to find out what he was doing and my mind immediately thought of a murder mystery. Allen would have been dead in my story and the protagonist would have had to figure out why the guy was taking pictures and how he'd gotten shot. LOL I'm happy to report Allen's incident was totally innocuous but the what ifs are always present in the backs of our minds. Rachel Hauck had a different scenario in mind. Erin Healy, Kim Tate and Lisa Samson had other plots spring to mind, but we all had plots. Even Allen followed the guy because he suspected he was up to no good. I'm telling you, we corrupt everyone we are around! LOL
So let's have fun with this. If you saw a guy taking pictures of houses in your neighborhood, what would you think he was doing?
Labels: Allen Arnold, imagination, Katie Bond, Kim Tate, Lisa Samson, Rachel Hauck, Thomas Nelson
Colleen Coble
posted at
10:26 AM
Comments (10)
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
ACFW CONFERENCE
We were quiet last week but for a good reason. For the first time in three years or so we were all together in one place! Di brought us all DeBrand truffles and Kristin brought us manicure stuff. Fits, doesn't it? LOL We barely got any sleep, but oh it was so worth it! Kimberley Woodhouse
(Welcome Home about her experience with Extreme Home Makeover) got us from the airport. She is a super talented photographer and took some pics of us that we'll be posting later. Girls Write Out's own Jaime Sundsmo was there and we got to "meet" little Chloe whom we've practically prayed into existence. That's her we're all touching!
The hotel (Marriott Tech Center) was fabulous. The staff couldn't be beat, though no matter what we did I couldn't charge anything to my room even though Robin told them three times I was CEO and on the master account. This didn't matter except it seriously cut my coffee consumption since I tended to run over to Starbucks without my wallet. The food was terrific and our servers were just awesome. Everything ran so smoothly with our conference director Robin Miller and conference coordinator Sydney Zech overseeing everything.
The thing that set the foundation for it all was how our president, Cynthia Ruchti, and our conference director, Robin Miller, prayed over the meeting rooms and the halls outside the sleeping rooms. The Spirit just hovered over that place and blessed us all beyond measure. Debbie Macomber's messages as keynote were exactly what we needed this year. I have my 3 x 5 card with my goals all written out and have been mulling over other things she's said.
I got to spend time with my wonderful agent, Karen Solem, this year too. Everything good that's happened in my career I lay at her feet (and Jesus's of course.) She was the lynchpin that got it all rolling in the right direction. And the grand announcement that my fabulous Ami McConnell won Editor of the Year just blessed me beyond measure! She is such a terrific editor and has taught me so much! I was so excited when she won that I could barely speak. I rushed back to the table, grabbed my phone and called her from the banquet hall. When I realized from the giggles around me that I was talking too loudly, I rushed for the hall so I could squeal with abandon. LOL She was thrilled!
I arranged a dinner for the Nelson authors and we had the best time with superman Allen Arnold and editor Becky Monds! I'm so blessed to be part of the family. In the other post for the day, I'll post some more pictures. It would only let me post four. :( I learned something new about Allen. I knew he loved Mexican food but I DIDN'T know he liked to order big bowls of salsa and eat it with a spoon! He ate two bowls of it! My beloved Erin Healy also showed up!
The workshops were exemplary and I learned so much from the advanced class taught by Allen Arnold and Karen Ball. Though some faces paled when he suggested we all do Twitter and Facebook. I was one of the first Christian authors on Twitter so that was one thing I didn't have to change. Okay, this is so Kristin. Late in the morning of the 2nd class, she decided she was going to run to Target and she'd be back before our "graduation." Cheryl Hodde went with her. When K's name was called and she wasn't there, Karen Ball said, "Oh she probably went shopping." It was a joke but the room roared when they found out she actually HAD gone shopping!
And I always get so tickled to see our quiet little Denise up there banging away on the drums. Friends, she is an AWESOME drummer! I'm so proud of her! Rachel Hauck is the leader of the worship team and she just leads us right into the presence of the Lord. I just love that part of it!
So I'm tired but happy today. And so blessed with friends!
Labels: ACFW Conference, Allen Arnold, Ami McConnell, Becky Monds, DeBrand truffles, Erin Healy, Karen Ball, Karen Solem, Kim Woodhouse
Colleen Coble
posted at
8:48 AM
Comments (10)
If you follow publishing at all, you probably see authors moving around from house to house all the time. But sometimes magic happens both with love and with business relationships, and authors choose to stay with a publisher long term. That's where I am now. I've been at Nelson 9 years this year. :)
Delicious
Did you hear that scream this morning? That was me leaping out of bed to pack. Two days. TWO DAYS! Then the five of us will be together at the ACFW conference. This is the highlight of our year. Amber Zimmerman, Di's daughter, is a fabulous photographer. If you click on her name, you'll be taken to her website. Anyway, she's going to take some fun pics of the five of us this week. If you listen closely, you'll be able to hear us laughing starting on Thursday. 
