Thanks for sharing your experience! I think you’re right to point out that there’s been a real shift in *who* is writing, in terms of expertise and life experience. Social media has majority shifted the culture’s view of who we think ought to have a (published) voice. Another shift I’ve seen—and I’d love your thoughts on this— is from believing that writers should be writing books to thinking that anyone with a “platform” should write a book. In other words, the very craft of writing seems to now be eclipsed by the opinion that books are just one more medium by which to convey a message, rather than an art form in their own right. So, any YouTuber or Pop Star with a large audience now “writes” a book- or more likely, has it ghostwritten for them.
If someone is a celebrity (of any kind, including athletes and megachurch pastors), someone will want to cash in on the book they "write." I don't fault the publishers as much as the readers who make this such a winning proposition. I mean, it's fine to want to read someone's story--but there ought to be transparency about who is writing it and who is not. Reading a book like that is, I suppose, a little better than watching the television show about the same celebrity. It's just entertainment. And to be honest, for most publishers, having a bestseller like that is the way they can pay for and support lesser writers. It's not an ideal model, but it works. I'm just not going to read those books myself.
I think it’s wise to think about the audience buying books bc ultimately the publishing house is making choices based on what people purchase.
Are there other arts where this is happening? I don’t feel like everyone with a story is making a documentary about their life, for example. Or composing an opera, or sculpting a statue… I’m wondering why writing has taken a hit in this way compared to other arts.
That’s a great question. I’ve actually thought about it some. I think a big reason is that most people can “technically” write (as opposed to sculpt bronze or play a violin). So basic competence minus literary craft can be made up for with name, kind of story, etc. With writing, everyone is near the ground level. With other arts it takes years of work to even begin to do the task.
Agreed on all of this, but really had my perspective shift after reading an interview with J.M. Darhower, author of Ghosted. She loves helping people write their stories-I can't find where I read it but it was really good! And her book Ghosted is all about her experiences writing for others.
I love the idea of gifted writers helping others tell their stories. I just wish no one would pretend they’ve written something they didn’t. I wish everyone said “with so-and-so” when they have help from a writer. I know that’s quaint, but I will never understand the need to pretend.
I’ve also learned that some people use the terms “ghost writer” and collaborating writer interchangeably. I aways thought “ghost writer” was used when the writer wasn’t acknowledged. I’m coming from the old days when I was actually shocked to learn that a certain celebrity pastor didn’t write his own books and that he used ghost writers (who were never identified). I look back at shocked me and wonder why I was so dumb.
I love Nancy and plan to read her book when I can. I am open to understanding ghostwriting better—and to understanding if we all use the term the same way! 😅
I think the transparency of acknowledging writing support is honorable and important! Within my field of medical writing, the guidelines (ICMJE criteria to be precise) specify that medical writers and editors should be acknowledged when they have helped write/edit scientific publications because the field use to have ghostwriting occur. We're not driving how the data is presenting, but helping put it in a format that the authors on the publication can drive the conclusions and discussion since these authors are doctors and physicians who need to save time where possible
I don’t think it’s quaint! It’s just honest. Why the need to claim authorship when it’s not yours? Helping people tell their stories is a gift and deserves recognition from the person being helped- it’s also a form of humility for each to acknowledge their part in the process.
Although thinking of other arts, was it not common at one time for students of painters to do the boring/ basic parts of the painting, while the master did the rest, but the master painter was the only one whose name went on it? (In that case the scenario is reversed, I guess.)
Yes! Helping people tell their stories is a gift! No one can do everything and we should celebrate all the ways we help each other and not be afraid to acknowledge our limitations.
That said, I agree a ghostwritet should be credited just as translators are. In a way, ghostwriter are translators of a person's story into literary form.
Thank you for this realistic series. After ten years of writing and trying to be noticed, I published my little book, “Religious Rebels,” last summer with a local hybrid publisher. I’m glad I did it that way.
It’s never going to be a best seller, but I’ve gotten messages and emails from people who have read it and feel hope again in their relationship with Jesus. Some of the religious baggage they collected fell off. Maybe the real God isn’t who they thought he was. And that’s enough for me!
I am not sure what a hybrid publisher is, but I will note here and may write a post on it that no one should pay anyone anything to be published. Most of those outfits are predatory, But it doesn't sound like that was your experience. I'm glad!
There are definitely some predatory hybrid publishers out there, but this one—Credo House Publishers—was started by an agent to make publishing possible for people who don’t have the platform or who want to go a non-traditional route.
I did pay for the services, but it was less than half of what other hybrid companies were asking. Basically I paid for professionals to edit, do graphics, and set up my book for printing. But then all of the royalties are mine. So all of the Amazon sales are mine and all of the sales I make personally are mine. I bought printed copies that I can sell in person and through my website. It was a great experience. Tim Beals at Credo is wonderful.
I chose the indie route, too, even though I work with authors who go both ways. My goal with indie projects is that they have to be of the same quality to stand next to traditionally published books. Sometimes the author has a platform that works well for hybrid or indie. I'm thankful that the stigma around it (where the word "vanity" often showed up) has relaxed to make room for legitimate authors!
I may write a post on that. There are so many gradations now in between traditional publishing and "vanity" publishing. The line for me is paying to be published. I have lots of thoughts on that. May be another post. But self-publishing (although for most not wise) is not the same as shelling out money to a company that has little or no ability to sell your books. That makes me mad. It's exploitation.
The dividing line is not whether someone should pay. The distinction is between establishing their writing/publishing as a business and paying a fair price to the contractors who play the roles of editor, cover designer, typesetter, etc. and overpaying for ridiculous publishing packages from predators. I work with speakers who publish books and hire me to be on their publishing team, but they establish their own businesses as independent publishers and pay me hourly for my work. They keep all their royalties and publish under their own name. That is very different from paying someone the price of a car to publish their book. There are fair hybrid companies where authors pay for the services and receive royalties (sharing the cost and profits) and there are many predatory ones there too.
Thanks! That makes sense. Again, a lot of spots in between the two poles of traditional and "vanity." What you describe seems reasonable. There are so many options today, and that is great. My ire is reserved for the companies that charge someone thousands of dollars to print their manuscript and put it on the website. In the old days, authors ended up with boxes and boxes of books in their garages!
I find this strangely comforting. I can't necessarily control the outcome, or make all the math add up, but I CAN write the best book I can. Embracing the fact that good, wise, deep work takes time and demands lived experience helps me to be patient in my own book-writing process!
So good! Thank you for sharing this Karen. I also find it astonishing that people think I can share everything I’ve learned in 20 years of writing and publishing in one hour over coffee. Authors invest years into learning the craft and studying the industry. They invest a lot of money and time. It cannot be downloaded to someone else. We all must do the work of study.
So true, Michelle. There's a lot I can share over coffee, but it's a drop in the bucket. I urge people to go where the writers and publishers are (conferences). You have to make that investment of time, money, and resources to really learn and get plugged into the business.
It would be interesting to see a breakdown in genre on those newly published titles, as the mass production book publishing industry - grocery store paperback romances, ghostwritten mysteries/action stories using a popular genre author name, the generic guides to everything under the sun - would account for some of those numbers.
I am a firm believer in the filter of time. As a long time church musician, I know there have been tens of thousands, of Christian hymns that have been written in the last two millennia. A very tiny portion of those are still published today, and a still smaller portion are regularly sung. Yet among the surviving oned are very obscure authors who wrote one hymn that had enough impact that the author is still remembered. One such example is Joseph Scriven, a 19th century impoverished Canadian schoolteacher who experienced great personal loss and mental illness in his short life, yet his "What a Friend We have in Jesus" is still well known and sung around the world, comforting others. Another is Thomas Chisolm, who lived in poverty and experienced prolonged ill health, but his hymn 'Great is They Faithfulness' is still beloved.
So who knows, if one's book, or maybe poem or hymn, is worth writing, it may have a lasting impact beyond one's lifetime.
Very inspiring, Holly! I think those numbers are all out there. They may even be in some of the articles I linked. Romance is the biggest genre, I believe, by far. Alls those numbers make my eyes glaze over.
But a few, as our point out, will last. The needles in the haystack.
Thanks Karen. I consider Substack essays a form of self-publishing with the advantage over books of immediacy and interaction with readers. Not a substitute for books, but a seductive alternative.
Karen, this is the kind of advice I could have used when writing my book. My story might serve as a cautionary tale!
I was unemployed and had time on my hands between job searches and temporary gigs to bring some money into the household. I was doing political blogging and receiving many compliments for my writing. As a result, friends and acquaintances thought I should write a book about my experiences and musings as a black man who left the political ideology of my parents and became a conservative.
I wasn't sure who would be interested in such a book, but a benefactor in my political circles paid a Christian self-publishing firm to print and promote my finished manuscript. You've warned your readers about self-publishing, and rightly so, but I was naive and didn't know any better.
Of course, it's a heady experience to hold in your hands a book with a glossy cover that has your name on it, and one of my friends booked the Army & Navy Club in downtown Washington, DC, for a book party, so I thought I was on the way to at least making up for not having a job!
To make a long story short, the rest of my time was spent traveling to various conferences and setting up an exhibit table where I would try and sell my book to interested passers-by. Meanwhile, my sales online were enough to net me a couple of small checks that would pay for a nice dinner or two. I ended up with several boxes of unsold books in my garage that I eventually gave to a non-profit organization to use as a fundraising gift. I missed a couple of boxes, though, and I still haven't figured out how to get rid of them!
After I came to Liberty University, the now-defunct Liberty University Press offered to take over the promotion and sales of my book. However, they printed too many copies that got sent back by bookstores, and the costs of those returned books came out of my meager royalties. I never saw another check; for all I know, I may still owe them money!
So, I learned my lesson. I didn't make any money, and any notoriety I gained was limited to a tiny circle of people who, given the evolution of my worldview, would disown me today. If people read my words today and ask what happened to the person who wrote that book, I tell them he had some life-changing experiences, met different people, took in new information, and kept learning and growing. Some chapters of the book stand the test of time, but others I would just as soon erase from the timeline if I could.
However, there was a silver lining. The book brought me to Liberty University, and I met a dean who eventually offered me a job. I had never worked in academia, but my wife was a teacher by profession, and she ultimately got a job at Liberty, thanks to you! She earned her doctorate there, and my two younger children got their bachelor's and master's degrees there. She's now a department chair, and my son is an assistant manager for LU Events. As for me, my 11+ years at Liberty are what helped me secure my current job, which I love. I confine my writing to Substack and the occasional project, like Cultural Engagement: A Crash Course in Contemporary Issues (thanks for that, too!).
Ron, thanks so much for sharing in such an honest (and vulnerable) way this experience. You didn’t know! So many don’t know, and that is what the predatory outfits count on.
I love how you see the big picture. And I love the little part I got to play in your wife’s career and calling! You know I love her!
Thanks so much for this Karen, I don't envy the various tensions you feel, but I'm grateful for the outcome. I've appreciated your general encouragement over the years and the time you've taken to personally guide me more recently. Thanks for lending me your perspective, so I can see my own position more clearly.
I loved your emphasis on writers needing to have authority in a topic to write a book. Writing a book is definitely one of my dreams one day, but I fully realize and acknowledge that I need more life experience to do so! In the meantime, I'll keep noodling around with ideas on Substack and reading as much as I can
Thank you for continuing this series. As more authors are generous with their knowledge of the industry I hope it will encourage positive shifts in how things are done. I look forward to the marketing installment!
so happy to have found you, Karen, lo these many years ago via "Booked" and that little publisher that could, Tweetspeak.
Adding your voice to this conversation is so very helpful and needed. Thank you for 101 perfectly spot on assessments. I'm grateful you chose to address publishing and platform, even/especially with Christian publishing.
It's still a ((mysterious)) game of numbers that keeps us praying, does it not?
I love what you said about looking for authors who are authorities on something. I still remember reading a book (for review; I also gets lots of solicited and unsolicited manuscripts) on parenting written by a woman with one 8 year old child! She really wasn't ready to write on parenting. I also read a book on overseas ministry written by someone who went for less than a year. Honestly it's amazing these books got published, but they were by people who already had platform and audience. As someone a bit further along in life's journey in both these instances, I was disappointed in both books.
Thanks for the perspective you share in this post! As a children's book author who started writing and actively pursuing publishing in the mid-90's, who didn't have her first middle grade for kids published until 2019, and the second May 7th (this month!) I concur, it's HARD! Hard to get the book into agent/publisher/reader's hands with so many other book out there, many of them great stories. It has been a huge part of my faith journey as I've listened to the call to write, trusted for years and years (prayed God would take it from me, what a terrible thorn that pricked each time someone asked "where can I buy your books?" and I had to say, I haven't published . . . sometimes the follow up question was "and how long have you been writing?" Oh, I bled). But on this side, to see where the path twisted and what God was really up to, and the miracles, serious amazing miracles, to get my books into just the right hands . . . it's worth it. (And would you believe, the book that just came out is called The Minor Miracle-published by WaterBrook). But get a day job and don't quit it! Also, one of the five books you pictured at the bottom of your pst was Prayers for the Pilgrimage by David and Phaedra Taylor. I highly recommend, I keep by my sink and read a few each morning and evening as I brush my teeth (there's never enough time to read!) Gorgeous artwork!
This is such a great, REAL story. Thank you for sharing it! So much trust (as well as skill and insight) is built over the long haul. Love that you were faithful and persistent and that the call finally came.
Yes I learned so much over all those years, about myself and how to write and what I wanted to say. I have friends who published much sooner but that wasn’t my path. I lived in a tension for many years, hoping for the yes, taking the no’s. So much to learn about persistence and where my joy came from and how to dig in to commmunity. They gave me a lot of joy, and when the yes finally came, they were there to celebrate-it was quite the party!!
Thanks for sharing your experience! I think you’re right to point out that there’s been a real shift in *who* is writing, in terms of expertise and life experience. Social media has majority shifted the culture’s view of who we think ought to have a (published) voice. Another shift I’ve seen—and I’d love your thoughts on this— is from believing that writers should be writing books to thinking that anyone with a “platform” should write a book. In other words, the very craft of writing seems to now be eclipsed by the opinion that books are just one more medium by which to convey a message, rather than an art form in their own right. So, any YouTuber or Pop Star with a large audience now “writes” a book- or more likely, has it ghostwritten for them.
Oh, boy do I have thoughts about this ...
If someone is a celebrity (of any kind, including athletes and megachurch pastors), someone will want to cash in on the book they "write." I don't fault the publishers as much as the readers who make this such a winning proposition. I mean, it's fine to want to read someone's story--but there ought to be transparency about who is writing it and who is not. Reading a book like that is, I suppose, a little better than watching the television show about the same celebrity. It's just entertainment. And to be honest, for most publishers, having a bestseller like that is the way they can pay for and support lesser writers. It's not an ideal model, but it works. I'm just not going to read those books myself.
I think it’s wise to think about the audience buying books bc ultimately the publishing house is making choices based on what people purchase.
Are there other arts where this is happening? I don’t feel like everyone with a story is making a documentary about their life, for example. Or composing an opera, or sculpting a statue… I’m wondering why writing has taken a hit in this way compared to other arts.
That’s a great question. I’ve actually thought about it some. I think a big reason is that most people can “technically” write (as opposed to sculpt bronze or play a violin). So basic competence minus literary craft can be made up for with name, kind of story, etc. With writing, everyone is near the ground level. With other arts it takes years of work to even begin to do the task.
That makes a lot of sense!
Agreed on all of this, but really had my perspective shift after reading an interview with J.M. Darhower, author of Ghosted. She loves helping people write their stories-I can't find where I read it but it was really good! And her book Ghosted is all about her experiences writing for others.
I love the idea of gifted writers helping others tell their stories. I just wish no one would pretend they’ve written something they didn’t. I wish everyone said “with so-and-so” when they have help from a writer. I know that’s quaint, but I will never understand the need to pretend.
I’ve also learned that some people use the terms “ghost writer” and collaborating writer interchangeably. I aways thought “ghost writer” was used when the writer wasn’t acknowledged. I’m coming from the old days when I was actually shocked to learn that a certain celebrity pastor didn’t write his own books and that he used ghost writers (who were never identified). I look back at shocked me and wonder why I was so dumb.
Just found that interview I mentioned on Ghosted, written by Joel Miller: https://www.millersbookreview.com/p/nancy-french-lessons-in-ghostwriting?r=leyy9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
I love Nancy and plan to read her book when I can. I am open to understanding ghostwriting better—and to understanding if we all use the term the same way! 😅
Agreed, credit should go where due!
I think the transparency of acknowledging writing support is honorable and important! Within my field of medical writing, the guidelines (ICMJE criteria to be precise) specify that medical writers and editors should be acknowledged when they have helped write/edit scientific publications because the field use to have ghostwriting occur. We're not driving how the data is presenting, but helping put it in a format that the authors on the publication can drive the conclusions and discussion since these authors are doctors and physicians who need to save time where possible
I don’t think it’s quaint! It’s just honest. Why the need to claim authorship when it’s not yours? Helping people tell their stories is a gift and deserves recognition from the person being helped- it’s also a form of humility for each to acknowledge their part in the process.
Although thinking of other arts, was it not common at one time for students of painters to do the boring/ basic parts of the painting, while the master did the rest, but the master painter was the only one whose name went on it? (In that case the scenario is reversed, I guess.)
Yes! Helping people tell their stories is a gift! No one can do everything and we should celebrate all the ways we help each other and not be afraid to acknowledge our limitations.
I agree with this insight about it being a form of humility, that really came through in the article Joel Miller wrote (I liked to it above)
Yes it was common for Renaissance artists to have a workshop with apprentices and assistants: https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1611/life-in-a-renaissance-artists-workshop/
That said, I agree a ghostwritet should be credited just as translators are. In a way, ghostwriter are translators of a person's story into literary form.
That is an EXCELLENT way to put it!
Thank you for this realistic series. After ten years of writing and trying to be noticed, I published my little book, “Religious Rebels,” last summer with a local hybrid publisher. I’m glad I did it that way.
It’s never going to be a best seller, but I’ve gotten messages and emails from people who have read it and feel hope again in their relationship with Jesus. Some of the religious baggage they collected fell off. Maybe the real God isn’t who they thought he was. And that’s enough for me!
I love that!
I am not sure what a hybrid publisher is, but I will note here and may write a post on it that no one should pay anyone anything to be published. Most of those outfits are predatory, But it doesn't sound like that was your experience. I'm glad!
There are definitely some predatory hybrid publishers out there, but this one—Credo House Publishers—was started by an agent to make publishing possible for people who don’t have the platform or who want to go a non-traditional route.
I did pay for the services, but it was less than half of what other hybrid companies were asking. Basically I paid for professionals to edit, do graphics, and set up my book for printing. But then all of the royalties are mine. So all of the Amazon sales are mine and all of the sales I make personally are mine. I bought printed copies that I can sell in person and through my website. It was a great experience. Tim Beals at Credo is wonderful.
That sounds like a good experience. Thanks for illuminating that route.
Happy to! Let me know if you’d like more info when (if) you write the follow up essay about hybrid publishing. I’d love to share more of my journey.
Will do! Thank you!
I chose the indie route, too, even though I work with authors who go both ways. My goal with indie projects is that they have to be of the same quality to stand next to traditionally published books. Sometimes the author has a platform that works well for hybrid or indie. I'm thankful that the stigma around it (where the word "vanity" often showed up) has relaxed to make room for legitimate authors!
I may write a post on that. There are so many gradations now in between traditional publishing and "vanity" publishing. The line for me is paying to be published. I have lots of thoughts on that. May be another post. But self-publishing (although for most not wise) is not the same as shelling out money to a company that has little or no ability to sell your books. That makes me mad. It's exploitation.
The dividing line is not whether someone should pay. The distinction is between establishing their writing/publishing as a business and paying a fair price to the contractors who play the roles of editor, cover designer, typesetter, etc. and overpaying for ridiculous publishing packages from predators. I work with speakers who publish books and hire me to be on their publishing team, but they establish their own businesses as independent publishers and pay me hourly for my work. They keep all their royalties and publish under their own name. That is very different from paying someone the price of a car to publish their book. There are fair hybrid companies where authors pay for the services and receive royalties (sharing the cost and profits) and there are many predatory ones there too.
Thanks! That makes sense. Again, a lot of spots in between the two poles of traditional and "vanity." What you describe seems reasonable. There are so many options today, and that is great. My ire is reserved for the companies that charge someone thousands of dollars to print their manuscript and put it on the website. In the old days, authors ended up with boxes and boxes of books in their garages!
And I would add that many people new to publishing who don't know these differences get taken in by the predatory businesses.
Hopefully, conversations like these will help folks!
Yes to this. This was also my experience.
I find this strangely comforting. I can't necessarily control the outcome, or make all the math add up, but I CAN write the best book I can. Embracing the fact that good, wise, deep work takes time and demands lived experience helps me to be patient in my own book-writing process!
Yes! That's the note of hope I want to offer--hope in the whole process over time, not the single product.
Very very well-said thank you!
So good! Thank you for sharing this Karen. I also find it astonishing that people think I can share everything I’ve learned in 20 years of writing and publishing in one hour over coffee. Authors invest years into learning the craft and studying the industry. They invest a lot of money and time. It cannot be downloaded to someone else. We all must do the work of study.
So true, Michelle. There's a lot I can share over coffee, but it's a drop in the bucket. I urge people to go where the writers and publishers are (conferences). You have to make that investment of time, money, and resources to really learn and get plugged into the business.
Yes, to conferences!
It would be interesting to see a breakdown in genre on those newly published titles, as the mass production book publishing industry - grocery store paperback romances, ghostwritten mysteries/action stories using a popular genre author name, the generic guides to everything under the sun - would account for some of those numbers.
I am a firm believer in the filter of time. As a long time church musician, I know there have been tens of thousands, of Christian hymns that have been written in the last two millennia. A very tiny portion of those are still published today, and a still smaller portion are regularly sung. Yet among the surviving oned are very obscure authors who wrote one hymn that had enough impact that the author is still remembered. One such example is Joseph Scriven, a 19th century impoverished Canadian schoolteacher who experienced great personal loss and mental illness in his short life, yet his "What a Friend We have in Jesus" is still well known and sung around the world, comforting others. Another is Thomas Chisolm, who lived in poverty and experienced prolonged ill health, but his hymn 'Great is They Faithfulness' is still beloved.
So who knows, if one's book, or maybe poem or hymn, is worth writing, it may have a lasting impact beyond one's lifetime.
Very inspiring, Holly! I think those numbers are all out there. They may even be in some of the articles I linked. Romance is the biggest genre, I believe, by far. Alls those numbers make my eyes glaze over.
But a few, as our point out, will last. The needles in the haystack.
Thanks Karen. I consider Substack essays a form of self-publishing with the advantage over books of immediacy and interaction with readers. Not a substitute for books, but a seductive alternative.
Yes! It does seem to be carving out an alternative, if not equivalent, space rich with possibilities.
Karen, this is the kind of advice I could have used when writing my book. My story might serve as a cautionary tale!
I was unemployed and had time on my hands between job searches and temporary gigs to bring some money into the household. I was doing political blogging and receiving many compliments for my writing. As a result, friends and acquaintances thought I should write a book about my experiences and musings as a black man who left the political ideology of my parents and became a conservative.
I wasn't sure who would be interested in such a book, but a benefactor in my political circles paid a Christian self-publishing firm to print and promote my finished manuscript. You've warned your readers about self-publishing, and rightly so, but I was naive and didn't know any better.
Of course, it's a heady experience to hold in your hands a book with a glossy cover that has your name on it, and one of my friends booked the Army & Navy Club in downtown Washington, DC, for a book party, so I thought I was on the way to at least making up for not having a job!
To make a long story short, the rest of my time was spent traveling to various conferences and setting up an exhibit table where I would try and sell my book to interested passers-by. Meanwhile, my sales online were enough to net me a couple of small checks that would pay for a nice dinner or two. I ended up with several boxes of unsold books in my garage that I eventually gave to a non-profit organization to use as a fundraising gift. I missed a couple of boxes, though, and I still haven't figured out how to get rid of them!
After I came to Liberty University, the now-defunct Liberty University Press offered to take over the promotion and sales of my book. However, they printed too many copies that got sent back by bookstores, and the costs of those returned books came out of my meager royalties. I never saw another check; for all I know, I may still owe them money!
So, I learned my lesson. I didn't make any money, and any notoriety I gained was limited to a tiny circle of people who, given the evolution of my worldview, would disown me today. If people read my words today and ask what happened to the person who wrote that book, I tell them he had some life-changing experiences, met different people, took in new information, and kept learning and growing. Some chapters of the book stand the test of time, but others I would just as soon erase from the timeline if I could.
However, there was a silver lining. The book brought me to Liberty University, and I met a dean who eventually offered me a job. I had never worked in academia, but my wife was a teacher by profession, and she ultimately got a job at Liberty, thanks to you! She earned her doctorate there, and my two younger children got their bachelor's and master's degrees there. She's now a department chair, and my son is an assistant manager for LU Events. As for me, my 11+ years at Liberty are what helped me secure my current job, which I love. I confine my writing to Substack and the occasional project, like Cultural Engagement: A Crash Course in Contemporary Issues (thanks for that, too!).
Ron, thanks so much for sharing in such an honest (and vulnerable) way this experience. You didn’t know! So many don’t know, and that is what the predatory outfits count on.
I love how you see the big picture. And I love the little part I got to play in your wife’s career and calling! You know I love her!
Oh, and one more thing. Like you, I do not like math, nor am I good at it!
😂
Thanks so much for this Karen, I don't envy the various tensions you feel, but I'm grateful for the outcome. I've appreciated your general encouragement over the years and the time you've taken to personally guide me more recently. Thanks for lending me your perspective, so I can see my own position more clearly.
It is an honor to share what I can as I can!
I too am grateful to have been published by TS Poetry. L.L. Barkat believed in me before I believed in myself.
Love this, Megan.
I loved your emphasis on writers needing to have authority in a topic to write a book. Writing a book is definitely one of my dreams one day, but I fully realize and acknowledge that I need more life experience to do so! In the meantime, I'll keep noodling around with ideas on Substack and reading as much as I can
Thank you for continuing this series. As more authors are generous with their knowledge of the industry I hope it will encourage positive shifts in how things are done. I look forward to the marketing installment!
so happy to have found you, Karen, lo these many years ago via "Booked" and that little publisher that could, Tweetspeak.
Adding your voice to this conversation is so very helpful and needed. Thank you for 101 perfectly spot on assessments. I'm grateful you chose to address publishing and platform, even/especially with Christian publishing.
It's still a ((mysterious)) game of numbers that keeps us praying, does it not?
Indeed, Jodi. (Going to email you later today.)
Thanks Karen for "doing the math".
I love what you said about looking for authors who are authorities on something. I still remember reading a book (for review; I also gets lots of solicited and unsolicited manuscripts) on parenting written by a woman with one 8 year old child! She really wasn't ready to write on parenting. I also read a book on overseas ministry written by someone who went for less than a year. Honestly it's amazing these books got published, but they were by people who already had platform and audience. As someone a bit further along in life's journey in both these instances, I was disappointed in both books.
Excellent examples. Thank you.
Thanks for the perspective you share in this post! As a children's book author who started writing and actively pursuing publishing in the mid-90's, who didn't have her first middle grade for kids published until 2019, and the second May 7th (this month!) I concur, it's HARD! Hard to get the book into agent/publisher/reader's hands with so many other book out there, many of them great stories. It has been a huge part of my faith journey as I've listened to the call to write, trusted for years and years (prayed God would take it from me, what a terrible thorn that pricked each time someone asked "where can I buy your books?" and I had to say, I haven't published . . . sometimes the follow up question was "and how long have you been writing?" Oh, I bled). But on this side, to see where the path twisted and what God was really up to, and the miracles, serious amazing miracles, to get my books into just the right hands . . . it's worth it. (And would you believe, the book that just came out is called The Minor Miracle-published by WaterBrook). But get a day job and don't quit it! Also, one of the five books you pictured at the bottom of your pst was Prayers for the Pilgrimage by David and Phaedra Taylor. I highly recommend, I keep by my sink and read a few each morning and evening as I brush my teeth (there's never enough time to read!) Gorgeous artwork!
This is such a great, REAL story. Thank you for sharing it! So much trust (as well as skill and insight) is built over the long haul. Love that you were faithful and persistent and that the call finally came.
Yes I learned so much over all those years, about myself and how to write and what I wanted to say. I have friends who published much sooner but that wasn’t my path. I lived in a tension for many years, hoping for the yes, taking the no’s. So much to learn about persistence and where my joy came from and how to dig in to commmunity. They gave me a lot of joy, and when the yes finally came, they were there to celebrate-it was quite the party!!
I appreciate your frankness here, it's good. I'm looking forward to Donne.