Let me start by saying I believe there is a place for “old school” publishers and traditional publishing companies. Academia, for example, thrives on peer-reviewed articles published in known scholarly journals. And authors receive credibility when prestigious imprints release their books. But academic writing is a world unto itself, a land whose inhabitants talk mostly to just each other.
Beyond academia, there are scores of popular legacy publishers that have been around for decades, publishing varieties of books for varieties of audiences. But how necessary is a popular imprint emblazoned upon your book’s spine? Well, just consider this: HarperCollins is one of the world’s largest “Big 5” English language publishing companies. Last year HarperCollins published roughly 10,000 new books. Ten thousand!! But here’s the question: Without Googling, name just 3 of those books. See what I mean? We don’t remember the publishers as much as we remember the content of the books.
Thankfully–and with apologies to Bob Dylan–”the times they are a-changin’!” New roads are being paved in the publishing landscape with the ease of internet access and the advent of eBooks. For this reason, disciplined pastors have greater potential to write books that will bless their congregations and grow the Kingdom across the globe. I want to offer three reasons why pastors should seriously consider independent publishing:
1) You Have Greater Control Over Circulation
If you publish an eBook, you can build the Kingdom by reaching people worldwide. One of the greatest joys I receive from writing is hearing from people in different parts of the world who have purchased my books or are using my blog. And I can keep my books circulating by continuing to promote them and discount them. Unfortunately, many traditional book publishers do little to promote books beyond their initial launch.
If you want to get your book into circulation, publish it with your own imprint and make it available everywhere. You can publish an eBook for free on Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing platform. Like many large corporations, Amazon has issues that often frustrate evangelicals, but as of today, they will platform your book, so why not use their platform? Did you know that Amazon enjoys 70% of the eBook market share? Seven out of every ten eBooks are sold by Amazon! So create your publishing imprint, get your eBook on that platform, and Amazon will sell it all over God’s green earth.
2) You Have Greater Control Over Content
I read a biblical commentary years ago in which the author lamented his publisher’s control over chapter content. Specifically, his editor insisted he not begin each chapter with biblical text because modern readers were largely uninterested in reading lengthy biblical passages. When you are your own publisher, you control all your book’s content. Like the author mentioned above, I like to print the biblical text at the beginning of each chapter if I’m offering an exposition of it. I also don’t care much for lengthy illustrative stories found in many popular books today. Because I am my own editor, what I say goes! I realize publishers do what they do because they believe it enlarges the author’s readership, but publishing independently allows you to stand on your convictions.
3) You Have Greater Control Over Cost
Unless you’re a popular author, you won’t make much money publishing your books. But that’s not primarily why you’re writing them, right? You have greater control over book prices and royalties when you are the publisher. And you will get more books into circulation by offering them at generous prices. You can also purchase author copies of your print books at cost and give them away as the Lord leads.
It also doesn’t cost much to get started, so what are you waiting for? Get to editing those sermon manuscripts and start reformatting them into different kinds of books! And if you offer high-quality content, you might even make a little spending money for your coffee!😃
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