Should Christians Self-Publish? What is publishing? What’s the difference between Traditional Publishing and Self-Publishing? What is the best choice for Christians when it comes to publishing? Find the Answers to these questions and more in this Journal Entry! Check out our webpage for more Christian Self-Publishing Helps and other Biblical Topics!
I suppose the first question to answer would be, what is publishing? Publishing is designing and formatting someone’s written work to be easily consumed by other people.
What do publishers do? That would depend on the publisher; however, over all, the broad spectrum of what a publisher can do is quite a bit. A publisher can have your written work edited. They can even have “professionals” help write your book. They can hire people to draw or chose photographs for your pictures if you chose to have them in your book. They can do the formatting of your book’s pages, and help with the layout of your book. They can hire someone to design your book cover. They can make sure all your book’s files are in the proper formatting, and ready for the printers. They can help you stay on track to finish writing your book, and getting through each stage of the publishing-printing process. They can help with promoting your book, manage your book signings, and marketing your book for sales. There may be some legal negotiation before agreeing to work with you, and in some of that negotiation you may find you lose some control of how the book is finally completed and printed. Often the printing is done by an outside company, and not in-house with the publishing company.
For some, this list may seem overwhelming, and are right away ready to hire a publisher to do all of these things for them. For some, this may be their best option, and there is nothing wrong with that. What I am stepping out to offer is another perspective of publishing, and maybe even an encouraging push to take that next step of faith.
Ok. Now onto Self-Publishing. What is it? With self publishing we are Creating and designing the book from scratch. We do the written work, and illustrations or photography work. We do all the editing and research. We do the page and file formatting before sending to a printer or posting online. We purchase and fill out the paperwork for all the ISBN numbers and copyright numbers. We do all the marketing and promoting of our product. All of these together and then some sounds like a lot, but in reality, it’s just another step to take. My mama always said, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” So, how do we get through the BIG process of publishing? One step at a time. Take each step of the processes as it comes until you’ve gone through all the steps the first time. The next time it gets easier, and the next time after that even more easier, until it’s all second nature to you.
So, then back to the question. Should Christians self-publish? When I was searching for a Christian publishing company I honestly didn’t see them as anything different from regular publishing companies except the materials they published were Christian based topics. They had the same waiting time or longer to be excepted (or not excepted) as other companies, and their prices to get published by them were still in the thousands of dollars. They also kept a hefty share of the book sales like all the other publishing companies. Most of us who are called by God to do something don’t have a lot of money to start off with. So, to hand out a bunch of money to someone who may also change the whole idea and flow of your work to miss the point, makes for an undesired direction to go. For my family and I, publishing my mama’s children’s books were special and important to us. We were honoring Mama’s memory, and we wanted the gospel to be clear and simple for children to understand. We also could not afford thousands of dollars. Right off we couldn’t afford hardly one or two hundred dollars. We had to save up money, and a couple of times God provided finances in ways we were not expecting to help us speed up the process. Before and during this process the Lord was giving my family dreams to encourage us to continue with the process of publishing, and to be our own publishers. We are now understanding why He guided us into this direction.
What is the purpose for a Christian to self- publish? Is it to just get a book or written work out there for others to see? Is it to accomplish a life long goal? Is it to make a bunch of money or a supplemental income? Or is it to build a name with a reputation? Why would we want to build a name as Christians? Why do we need a name brand? We need a name brand so we will have a platform. Why do we need a platform? To share the Word of God to a wider group of people than we could ever reach in our own circle of people around us. Jesus said the whole world would hear the good news of the kingdom of God before He came back. For us, as Christians, to have a platform we are able to reach people in areas with styles and genre that would never go into a church to receive salvation, and who may never understand the usual Christian lingo or jargon to truly accept Jesus as their personal savior and closest friend. As unique created people we are able to influence a range of people for the kingdom of God. With self-publishing there is more freedom of expression of our own unique character and personality. When we publish with another company, we are held to their restrictions of what we can say or do with our work and who we associate with because we are under the publishing company’s name. We represent their name brand. When we self publish we are under our own name, and we represent our own name brand. We have more freedom to do what the Lord is leading us to do or say. We are less restricted.
Another point to add is the internet. I would say just about, if not every part of the world has internet now days. I’ve seen videos as to how in the remote parts of Africa they have internet and computers to work with. The internet is a HUGE open door for Christians. We have seen, especially in our days, how the enemy has used the internet for his evil corruption. The good news is God has a better reason for the internet. He has a quick viral way of sharing the gospel through the use of the internet. One of His ways is self-publishing. When we publish we don’t have to start or have a place to print books or other materials. We can make digital products. Later on we can add printable books and materials. Digital products have a smaller over head start up and production cost, as well as, a larger return revenue in both finances and influence. My family started with printed books because we had no real thought for digital products at that time. Looking back, I would say if we knew what we know now, we may have waited for the printed books. However, I also think having a solid book in our hands made the whole process in the end seem real to us. So which path you take to start off with is between you and the Lord.
So, should Christians self-publish? Absolutely! The work may be different or harder than we have ever done before, but in the end it is worth it. We build a foundation platform to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with the freedom to do and interact with what and who the Lord leads us to. I encourage you to take the next step of faith, and publish what the Lord has put on your heart to do.
-The George Family Library Publishing Company
