The good folks at Nordskog Publishing have made my novel West Oversea available in e-book format now.
Your Kindle version is here.
Your Nook version is here.
Happy Easter.
Category Archives: Publishing
‘Biblically Based’ Author Argues Against Biblical Morality
Matthew Vines is not a new author. He has been around for a few years, arguing that Christianity and homosexuality are not incompatible. He has a new book coming out next week making the same arguments, but the bigger news may be who is publishing it. It’s Stephen W. Cobb, the chief executive of both WaterBrook Multnomah and the new imprint Convergent.
Cobb says the two imprints do not have the same audiences and editorial guidelines, so they aren’t the identical, but he does call the final shots for both. With Convergent, those shots are “nonfiction for less traditional Christians and spiritual seekers who are drawn to an open, inclusive, and culturally engaged exploration of faith,” such as Matthew Vines’ new book, God and the Gay Christian.
World Magazine makes a big deal about these imprints being unified under one corporate umbrella, but what strikes me as odd is Cobb’s insistence that he isn’t publishing heresy under the Convergent label. He claims Vines’ “believes in the inerrancy and the divinity and the correctness of Scripture,” so his book is “biblically based.” He says he intends to publish only biblically based books through Convergent.
How orthodox does a “biblically based” book need to be in order to remain based on the Bible? The Book of Mormon and the Koran are literally based on the Bible, but would we call them “biblically based”? If this is the main criteria, then I would understand a wide variety of views being published, but we expect more, don’t we?
How much orthodox stock do you put into this publisher or any publisher? Do you notice the publisher of a book and believe the topic, whatever it is, has been thoroughly vetted? Do you believe WaterBrook is still committed to “creating products that both intensify and satisfy the elemental thirst for a deeper relationship with God,” as their marketing people say?
That Self-Published Book is a Bestseller
Author Robin O’Bryant writes, “I self-published my first book in shame. I was disappointed that after two years of work with my top tier literary agent in New York, editors still didn’t think I had a platform large enough to sell a book.”
That book lived for about two years before hitting multiple bestseller lists, due in part to her tireless promotion. Now, Ketchup is a Vegetable and Other Lies Moms Tell Themselves, is re-released, and Mrs. O’Bryant has a two-book deal with St. Martin’s Press.
“Give me an E!”
I wasn’t aware of this until recently, but my novel West Oversea has been made available in e-book form, for Kindle or Nook, by the publisher, Nordskog Publishing. It’s not on Amazon at this time, but you can get it from Nordskog here.
Five Writing Rules You Can’t Live Without Breaking
Editor Nick Harrison talks about the writing advice he dislikes, such as writing what you know and never using passive voice.
“Write even if you know you’ll never be published.” Apparently the idea is that a writer writes because he has to (which I agree with) and that writing is somehow its own reward (which I disagree with). I don’t know about you, but I’m writing to be published. I’m glad I don’t know whether or not I will have more books published in the future because if I knew my writing would never see the light of day, I’d probably be tempted to quit.
5 Reasons You May Never Be Published
Steve Laube gives this list of reasons some writers may never see their work in print:
- You Won’t Do the Work
- You Are Hard of Hearing
- You Aren’t Ready
- Your Idea has Already Been Done
- Agents and Editors are Blind to Your Genius
“The bottom line” he says, “is that if you do the work, have a teachable spirit, are fully prepared, and with a unique idea…number five on the list shouldn’t be a problem.”
Do You Read eBooks on Your Phone?
Last year, Digital Book World asked its Twitter crowd, “Do you read on your smartphone? Do you read on other devices, too?” They got 30 answers. About half said they read on multiple devices; the other half said they don’t read long works on their phones.
Now, 56% of Americans have smartphones, which are also called pocket reading devices. Some companies are marketing ebooks only to their pocket readers, like the Samsung Galaxy S4.
With some many mobile devices like this, publishers should consider them first when designing ebooks and ebook marketplaces.
Investigations and Delays
“More publishers investigate Mark Driscoll: Crossway and NavPress begin reviews of the megachurch pastor’s books amid concerns of plagiarism.” The company Ithenticate labels this the #3 plagiarism story of 2013.
In other news, ABC plans to stop immediate release of its shows for free online. On January 6, Hulu.com and ABC.com will release broadcast episodes 8 days after to non-paying viewers.
And here’s an odd article complaining about works that are not moving into public domain.
How to Publish a History Book
Professor Thomas Kidd walks through publishing his next book, a biography on George Whitefield. He says, “There are already excellent biographies on Whitefield, written both from explicitly Christian/pastoral perspectives, and from more academic/scholarly perspectives. I thought perhaps I could bridge those two approaches, as a professional historian and an evangelical Christian. Whitefield’s 300th birthday is coming up in December 2014, so the timing seemed right.”
You Gots a Big Platform? I Make You a Deal.
A platform is a way to “get noticed in a noisy world,” to borrow from Michael Hyatt’s book of the same subtitle. Hunter Baker has a helpful critique of this idea.
“Stop badgering would-be authors with applications designed to tease out how large their platforms are and spend more time locating the best manuscripts,” he writes. In the near future, he suggests a big platform will be the very reason speakers and authors will not submit their document to a traditional publisher. They will self-publish.
Scot McKnight also has several questions about platform and current publishing tactics:
I get hundreds of books sent to me each year, many of them by people with a sizable platform, and I can say without reservation that the bigger the platform the less the author has to say (not always, but often). Big platform authors are guaranteed sales. They’re not guaranteed good content. I get books on my desk from no-name authors that have much better content than big-name authors. …
I know a pastor who was given a 3-book contract, a previously unpublished pastor, had no idea what he wanted to write about, but was told “We’ll take care of that by listening to your sermons.” At about the same time a young author sent me a manuscript that was rejected by the same publisher because he had no platform, but they did agree he had very good content.
All of this is troubling, but I don’t know what to recommend as a sane alternative. Aren’t there publishers who print what they believe to be the best manuscripts they receive? What success are they having? Should litblogs, like this one, have cutthroat review competitions to compare good vs. big platform books?