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Christianity

Steps towards Self Publishing

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When most people think about self publishing, their hearts are filled with fear. This is an uncertain terrain for many aspiring Christian writers. They do not know which platform to use, which agent or publisher to use, and a lot more. We endeavor to put down some steps that one can use to make it as a self published Christian Writer.

Find the right Publisher

Always search for a publisher who shares your views. It is important that you pray before you go out and get a publisher. You need a publisher who publishes books which have Christian themes and morals. If you decide to publish where secular books are also being published, then your message may become diluted in the process. So always make sure that you really know the kind of publisher that you want before you start your grand self publishing journey.

A publisher who walks with you

You need to find a publisher who will walk with you through every step of this new literary journey. For a first time writer, this journey can be confusing and the publisher should be sensitive and patient with your requirements.  Every contact that you make within the organization should be ready to answer your questions and allay your fears and concerns.

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You want a publisher who will understand your vision right from the submission of your manuscript, all the way to viewing your cover image and design. They should have a deep understanding of what your objectives are in publishing the book. They should be willing to go out of their way to accommodate your vision for the book. The service should be exceptional and all-inclusive.

Get proper recommendations

You need to find people who will recommend you to certain Christian publishers. You should do your due diligence and find out which publisher is the best when it comes to publishing and marketing the book. Some publishers have a wide array of channels that they use to market your book. They should be enthusiastic in their efforts. Reading through some forums will help you get a clear picture of the publishers that are available for you.

Pray Always

The power of prayer is clear to every devout Christian. When you reach the point of writing your own book, you need to pray a lot for the vision of the book and also getting the right publisher. This may seem like a small matter to many, but it is not. Take time to pray before you even start structuring the book and let the Holy Spirit guide you on what you should do.

In conclusion

There are many other aspects that you should consider when you are staring off into self publishing. Not all Christian publishers may share your vision, and this could result in a frustrating process, and a bad result in the long run. The message of your book will not get to the people in the proper manner, and your vision will be diluted.

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Becoming a Christian Author or Publisher

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It is really great and encouraging that you are considering becoming a Christian writer or publisher. Getting the word of God to people is a truly noble and admirable venture. However, you need to know the proper way of becoming a Christian writer or publisher.

The first thing that you need to do is read all about the Christian publishing industry.  There are certain tenets that govern the industry, which are quite different from those of the secular publishing industry. For example, in the secular publishing industry, many people will use unethical marketing practices in order to drive traffic to their websites to maximize sales; in the Christian publishing industry, such methods are discouraged.

The next thing you need to do is think about your book as a business. You need to study the business like any other business, which means that you should know what your prospective readers want, and how you will put the message across to them.  This will require you to do some research of your own, and also talk to people about what kind of books they would like to read.

You need to look for a literary agent, and you may start off by following some of the best literary agents on social media such as Twitter or Facebook. Attend some writer conferences and introduce yourself to fellow writers and agents, and then connect with them on social media. You should also start reading their blogs. You may wonder why you need to read their blogs, but they have a lot of helpful information that you can use to build yourself as a writer or publisher. These blogs will carry information on what is going on in the world of Christian Publishing

In order to grow your knowledge and understanding of this industry, you should start commenting and also interacting with people online. Try to start up tops on forums and be a major contributor.

When you are preparing to take the next step and write a book, you should read the submission guidelines properly. If you want to be a publisher, you need to understand how you are going to launch your business and get writers to stock their books with you.

You should also avoid being the writer who is too aggressive in a negative manner. When you have your first manuscript, do not send pitches to literary agents on their social media, or hound them at conferences. They have very clear guidelines on how to submit your manuscript, and you should follow them.

As a Christian writer, you have prayed a lot about the kind of message you want to put across and also how it will perform in the market. Keep on praying even after you have submitted your manuscript. You may have just handed in the next best seller.

Keep strong in the belief that you will be a great writer. Becoming a Christian Author or Publisher has its challenges just as any other business, but with prayer, you can become successful in your endeavor.

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Beating Writer’s Block

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Now every Christian writer has struggled with this at one point or another, whether experienced or novice. It is a very crippling experience and affects your writing in a major way. There are ways in which you can manage your writer’s block so it does not become a challenge to your writing efforts. Here are some tips on how to handle this issue.

Understand what writer’s block is

For some people, the word brings about some form of paralysis and they panic and even start doubting whether they will finish the book. However, this is not some way or mountain that cannot be scaled. To better understand writer’s block, think about it as a crossroad. You simply do not have a clear idea about the direction you should take next. It does not mean that you do not have ideas, but you simply do not know which one you should follow next.

This is not unique to you

If you look at any famous Christian writer, be sure that he or she has experienced writer’s block at one time in their career. If they have at one time looked at a sheet of paper or computer monitor and failed to decide on what to write, and later went on to produce classics, then you can too. When you realize that other writers have faced the same challenge and overcome it, you will know that you will overcome it too.

Keep your standards reasonable

At times, new writers tend to set their standards too high. They start off with a wonderful idea, but it gets to a point where they cannot flesh out the full story and maintain the same standards. Always make sure that your standards are manageable. Manageable does not mean you produce poor quality, but you produce the best that you can maintain from start to finish.

Shelve it for now

You have written chapters 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6, but do not know what to write in chapter four in order to bridge these chapters. Leave it alone for now. Keep on writing and when you finish the book, you will have found a way of writing that elusive chapter 4. This method of filling in the gas is used by many writers. The stable parts of the story simply lend themselves to the gaps after a while.

Don’t wait for inspiration

If you were an accountant or a waiter, you would go to work every single day. If you are a writer, you should do the same. Write every day, even if it seems like gibberish. In this process, the inspiration will come along and the writer’s block will be gone. If you sit there for days, doing nothing and waiting for the donkey to lead you to the water, then you may be wasting your time.

These are some tips that you can use to beat writer’s block when you are looking to get published. This is a common occurrence and every Christian publisher will tell you not to worry.

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The Future of Christian Publishing

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All forms of Christian Literature, especially fiction books are really having a hard time selling to the public. The market for Christian Publishing is very large, but most publishers are having a hard time competing in the technological world of the Internet. There are still very many publishers that are still active in this market, but most of these are the ones that have been established for a long time and have a great history with their customers. We look at some of the challenges that Christian Publishers are facing today, and what they can do to make it better.

The pricing of books
The main issue affecting Christian publishers is the pricing structure today. When the time came for eBooks and the many self-published books available on the Internet, Christian publishing took a serious hit. There has been a lot of pressure to lower prices in order to keep prices at levels that would attract customers. There are customers who would not mind paying premium prices for a good book, but these are a very small portion of the total readership base.

There has been a definite race for the bottom when it comes to pricing and this makes it very hard to sell new books at the usual prices. This pricing structure has brought about complete restructuring of the Christian publishing industry over the years.

Following reader tastes
Readers of Christian books have varying tastes in the material they read. Just like the wide range of preachers in the world, each with his or her way of preaching, readers tend to follow publishers and authors who are well known. This has forced new publishers and authors to try and follow the readers, instead of the other way round. People are making the mistake of writing according to the style of yet another writer, and this dilutes the content of the book. Ideally, each author and publisher should stick to their style, market the books well, and let the readers come to them.

Expanding to mass markets
This is the situation where a Christian publisher has to go to great lengths to get a book out, pay out a lot of money for printing, and marketing of the book, and also pay out advances to the authors, and only find that the book cannot be sold at break even prices. The mass markets have been liquid when it comes to new Christian books. Some of the larger publishers enjoy a full list of customers, but others end up struggling.

These are the major factors affecting Christian publishing and they should be addressed. There is a need for a concerted effort to get Christian publishing back on the map once more. People who love owning a book, will not hesitate to buy one from the store, but others who prefer digital editions will still be a challenge for these publishers.

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Digital Christian Publishing Makes an Indelible Mark

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Digital Publishing has had a profound effect on Christianity as a whole. When people and churches set up a website, they attract a huge following from their faithful flock. Many people log onto digital publishing platforms on a daily basis looking for the latest scripture, daily inspiration, and a lot more. This shows that digital publishing has had a profound effect on how Christians relate to the Word, Church and Christian Community.

Social Media
Every Christian Bookshop London has a social media site, where they announce their latest releases, and any offers that they may have. The sites are also used to pass on tidbits from some of the publications in an effort to influence their followers to buy the titles. Some of the social media sites run competitions that offer publications as prizes to the winners. Basically all this is only possible thanks to digital publishing. The books promoted in this way can easily be downloaded and read, without having to go to the Christian Bookshop London.

Audio books
Now this is one of the digital publishing platforms that is yet to take hold in Christian Circles. People love to read and see pictures, rather than listen to the book being read to them. However, for people who would not mind listening to the book, (not a sermon), audio books are a great way to get Christian publications in an easy-to-follow format. Some audio books go a little further to explain some of the issues and concepts that are found in the book.

Video
Now this is one of the best ways of publishing digital content online. It has been shown that some Christian writers have first produced content on sites like YouTube, which has then been published for sale at a Christian bookshop London, and have gone on to be bestsellers. The visual appeal of video can be seen even when you go to physical churches and video is used to explain what is being preached about in the sermon. People tend to remember videos much better than the scripted word. So authors should look into ways of publishing their books in video formats. The book entitled “The Secret” is one such boo that has successfully been produced as a video.

eBooks
One cannot talk about digital publishing without talking about Books. This is one of the simplest ways of getting your book published and sold on the Internet. Every Christian Bookshop London has a digital eBook store, where their audience can buy and download some of the titles that they stock in hard cover or paperback. eBooks are safe, thanks to digital signatures, and can be produced within a fraction of the time it takes to print a paper copy of the same.

Digital publishing has changed the landscape for the way a Christian Bookshop London can get books to their readers. It has also changed how authors and publishers work in today’s digital world. Basically, this new way of publishing books has left an indelible mark in the world of Christian publishing.

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Christian Publishing and the eBook Boom

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Electronic books, also known as eBooks, have become a popular means of getting literature to readers. The ales of electronic books have by far surpassed those of hardcover and paperback editions. Christian Publishers UK have embraced this kind of dissemination, with a wide range of publications available for Christian readers.

The audience for digital Christian books has continued to grow over the years. Many publishers have seen it grow exponentially and have structured their online stores to provide eBooks for their readers. How has the eBook boom affected the Christian publishing environment?

The Copyright Issue

The copyright issue was quite a sensitive one, when eBooks were launched. One book would eventually and up being distributed to so many people, thereby denying the author and publisher their dues for the intellectual property.

The main distribution software developers eventually developed ways in which copyrights could be protected. Digital signatures were developed which meant that a digital product could only be downloaded once to a particular computer or Smart device, and could not be distributed beyond that device.

This was great news for Christian Publishers UK and the world over. Finally digital books were protected and they could publish without fear. This kind of protection further accelerated the use of eBooks as a means of disseminating published Christian works.

More authors can be accommodated

Traditionally, Christian Publishers UK would have a warehouse where they would store books from the authors that they publish. There is a limit to the number of slots that you can have in a warehouse for such books. When it comes to eBooks, such limits become obsolete.

Christian Publishers UK were able to concentrate on quality without thinking of the confines of quality. It can take about 6 to 12 months to print a book, right from the manuscript stage to the final print edition, but when you look at digital eBooks, the final copy is ready within a very short time. This has resulted in more books being published in the digital platform within the same time that it would take to publish a single book.

The costs associated with printing books are minimized when it comes to digital eBooks. Christian Publishers UK have given authors a means of earning money from their published work, without having to incur large initial costs. Some authors prefer to have their printed editions done after they have reached certain sales benchmarks for their digital versions. This means that they will have some money to cover the costs of printing their books.

Christian Publishers UK have digital Christian eBooks from great authors such as Pastors Andy and Maria Yiangou. Their books appeal to both young and old, and have valuable Christian Lessons to teach. Publishers have taken up digital publishing to easily give people from all over the world, access to such inspiring books. Spreading the Word of God is not as difficult as it used to be in the past. eBooks have ensured that the books can be easily downloaded from Christian Publishers such as Kingdom Publishers UK.