Earn Your Reader’s Trust -- Commit to Credible, Accurate Citations

Earn Your Reader’s Trust -- Commit to Credible, Accurate Citations
Saturday, January 18, 2025 by Cindy Sproles

By Denise Loock

Trust is essential in all enduring relationships, including the one between author and reader. Building and maintaining that trust requires more than engaging, memorable content for fiction and nonfiction authors. A commitment to accuracy is vital too.

For nonfiction authors, correct documentation is imperative. “I saw it somewhere on the internet … heard it at church, at a conference, on TV” won’t work. Misquotes and erroneous attributions abound in cyberspace and on bookshelves. Eugene Peterson is routinely credited with describing discipleship as “a long journey in the same direction.” That is the title of one of his books, but Peterson rightly attributes the phrase to Friedrich Nietzsche. Writers may credit Max Lucado with this quip about God’s love: “If he had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it.” But a professional doesn’t document that citation with a link to Goodreads. She cites Lucado’s delightful gift book, God Thinks You’re Wonderful!

I recently asked a client to check the accuracy of three citations. In a subsequent email, she gave me the Goodreads link for each quote. After some internet sleuthing, I discovered that a quote attributed to Albert Einstein on Goodreads was not something he said. On another website, a statement attributed to Joni Eareckson Tada had been misquoted. (I checked my print copy.) The third citation documented an incident in Corrie ten Boom’s The Hiding Place, but the author had heard the story in a sermon and related it from memory. (I consulted my Kindle version and corrected the error). So, use original print or e-book sources and credible online sites. Goodreads and BrainyQuote aren’t reliable resources. Neither is Wikipedia.

Fiction writers need to be accurate too. Research the adages and illustrations your characters use.

Make sure your characters had access to those writers, ideas, and stories in the setting you’ve chosen.

Many authors and speakers love websites like sermonillustrations.com, which boasts “10,000+ sermons and 50,000+ illustrations.” But thousands of other people also use that site. You’ll build more trust with your readers, and create more memorable content, if you glean illustrations and spiritual applications from your life.

Likewise for fiction writers. When your character uses an adage or relates a story, create one that reflects their life, reveals their character, and advances the plot—not something you, the author, heard in a sermon or read on the internet.

Christian authors often use song or hymn lyrics. Most classic hymn lyrics are in the public domain and can be used. But if a hymn is copyrighted, such as “How Great Thou Art,” you need permission from the copyright holder. To verify a song’s status, check a hymnal or hymnary.org.

In the past, the use of any copyrighted lyrics was prohibited without written permission from the copyright holder. But The Chicago Manual of Style, 18^th Edition now says, “written permission may be needed, especially for direct quotations … for more than a line or two of a poem or song lyric in copyright” (emphasis added).

This week check your manuscript for accurate references and citations. When in doubt, leave it out.

Photo 1 courtesy of Pixaby.com and alison506 / Photo 2 Courtesy of Pixaby.com and Ben_Kerckx