I have always wanted to write books. So far, I have written three, am in the process of writing\u00a0four others, and have developed rough outlines for about twenty more.<\/p>\n
You can\u2019t find them on Amazon, or any other bookstore. Why not? Because they\u2019re not published. But then, it\u2019s hard to get published when you never submit any work to a publisher. I have never even submitted a query letter.<\/p>\n
Part of this, I\u2019m sure, is fear of rejection, but as I\u2019ve thought about writing for publication over the past few years, I\u2019m actually quite relieved those three books are not published. As I read them now, I shiver at some of what I wrote.\u00a0 I have changed so much over the past few years in my beliefs and general approach to life, I would be ashamed of those books if they were in print now.<\/p>\n
And so a part of me has hesitated to write anything else. What if I write something, and it gets published, and then I change again? If I can\u2019t believe what I thought and taught ten years ago, what if the \u201cme\u201d of ten years from now feels the same way about the \u201cme\u201d of today?<\/p>\n
But I\u2019ve recently realized that it doesn\u2019t matter. I need to write. I love to write. I just love writing. When I write, I write primarily for me. I write to think. I write to learn. I write to remember. I also write to amuse myself.<\/p>\n
And so I don\u2019t really care if anyone reads. Sure, I\u00a0want people to\u00a0read what I write, but if they don\u2019t, it doesn\u2019t matter. I will still write because I write primarily for me.<\/p>\n
The problem, of course, is that publishing companies care if people read. They need people to read. If people don\u2019t read what an author writes, publishing companies don\u2019t make any money. So publishing companies don\u2019t care too much about how good the content is, or if it is insightful, thought-provoking, or helpful. They are primarily concerned with one question: Will it sell?<\/p>\n
And how do they know if something will sell? Generally, the main thing\u00a0they look at is if the author already has a large audience. This is why most\u00a0book deals go to radio personalities, famous politicians, rock stars, sports professionals, motivational speakers, and mega-church pastors.\u00a0Such authors\u00a0have a ready-made audience who will buy their book, even if the content stinks.<\/p>\n
This is why no-name authors rarely get published, even if they have the greatest content in the world. Take The Shack<\/em> by William P. Young. Though he submitted it to numerous publishing houses, nobody would publish it. Religious publishers thought it was too controversial, and secular publishers thought it was too religious. Nobody thought it would sell. After all, who was William P. Young? So he started his own publishing company, and the rest is history. One could fill a book with stories like this. (But unless you\u2019re a well-known author, you probably couldn\u2019t get it published!)<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not saying that I have a book like The Shack<\/em> inside me. But like William Young, I am a nobody. I don\u2019t have an audience. I don\u2019t go on speaking tours. I didn\u2019t run for president. I\u2019m not on the radio. I am not the pastor of a\u00a0mega-church. Also, most of my books would be too controversial for the average publisher to touch.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But I\u2019ve decided to shoot for publication anyway. However, since I don\u2019t have an audience (other than the few readers of this blog), and so that I don\u2019t have to write \u201cwith the publisher in mind,\u201d I am going a different route, a route I believe is the publishing wave of the future. I\u2019m going to publish electronically for eBook readers like the iPad, Kindle, and Nook. This process is cheaper for everybody involved, makes it easier for books to go viral, and keeps me from having to\u00a0worry about an\u00a0editor who might be having a bad day.<\/p>\n
And yet I still need input, feedback, and the eyes of others to find misspellings, grammar mistakes, and sections that don’t make sense. So rather than just write a book and put it out there,\u00a0I will write the chapters and post them here on this blog in sections. Then, when the book is all done, I will compile the entire thing, including any helpful suggestions, and make it available as an eBook.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m going to start with a book I referenced in my previous post<\/a>, Close Your Church for Good. <\/em>Check back soon for chapter 1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"