Becky, Becky, Becky…

Hi Becky,

Having “been there – done that”, I would like to share my perspective on the question “Should I write a book?” Each of us has different motivations and promoters. Ultimately only you and God know, and sometimes He is not all that forthcoming.

My reluctance to actually publish came from an understanding of scripture and a knowledge of me. There are plenty of fools saying things which are partial truths and I certainly did not want to be one of them. I also was not sure I had enough of value to fill more than a few pages. There is no end to the number of books being written and I certainly was not a fan of what was in most. What would I even put in a book? For the longest time I said that if God wanted me to write a book I would. And I continued to tell the joke of the man who died in a flood and asked God why He did not save him. God said “I sent you two rowboats and a helicopter…”

So what if I do this and it never gets published? Who would publish it? How do I market it? Do I really need the rejection when people who like the occasional piece I write, don’t feel like there is enough value in one hundred and fifty pages to shell out ten or fifteen dollars for it. And besides where will I find the time? Oh Yeah, all this and much, much more. Yet it won’t go away. Should I write and publish a book?

I actually had to leave many stories out of Ripples when I compiled it. Every time I wrote something to include, more ideas would come to mind. Lately I too have been getting a good deal of encouragement to do a devotional style book. Should I? Should you?      – Probably.

It cost around $3500.00 to publish through Xulon press. Then I spent another $4000.00 to purchase twelve or thirteen hundred copies to sell and give away. Twenty months later I have sold two hundred and have given away about that many. And still have five thousand dollars on that credit card that I was going to pay off with the profits…

I have learned that :
People do appreciate what I write being in a book.
It takes a lot of time to make it happen; months of hours and hours.
$15 is a bit much for 150 pages targeted at a limited audience.
The joy of signing and giving away a book I have written is immense.
Being acknowledged as a published author opens doors.
Many people are successful writing $1 to $3 e-books
There are cheaper ways to start out and if I had spent more I would have had better success

 So, bottom line, should YOU write a book? Yes.

Yes, whether you publish it or not, Yes. Compile it, get a few friends to proof it, get a high school English teacher to edit it, maybe even someone who is incarcerated might have time to evaluate a copy.  

Write the book, or really, compile it, add to it and complete it. Print a couple hundred and e-book it.  If what you do affects even one life for good for the cause of Jesus the Christ, then it was the right thing to do. I am praying for you to do the right thing.

 Your friend SMHG John, author of Ripples, 2011, Xulon Press

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