My Inner Struggle With Building An Author Platform

As you may know if you've read one of my earlier blogs, I'm about the business of publishing my own novel. Here's a note I received from my chosen publisher: Wheatmark.


People buy books for two reasons:
1. They're interested in the book's topic or genre
2. They've heard of either:

• the book
• the author
  or
• both.

Thus, the number of books you sell when you first publish your work will be based on the number of people who already know you. This is the size of your existing "author platform."
What's an author platform?


An author platform is how people hear about you and your book. It is your "team" of people invested in you and your project that helps spread the word to other potential buyers.
Who makes up your author platform?

• Your friends and family
• People in your immediate professional network (colleagues)
• Friends and colleagues in any extended network (i.e., a professional or trade organization or an online social networking site)
• Subscribers to your blog or e-newsletter
• People who bought your last book
• People who would make an effort to see you speak on a topic if given the opportunity

I know that as an author I must focus on platform building if more than a few are ever to read the books. But that very fact has caused me a problem, especially when I reflect upon the teaching of my Lord Jesus to His disciples. They were arguing among themselves about who would be the greatest in the kingdom Jesus, the Messiah, was about to re-establish. He said, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all" (Mark 9:33-36). 


This may sound strange, but I've been hung up with the idea that marketing my self, promoting myself as an author (!), is something like trying to be the greatest. And so I should be doing quite the opposite. I should be doing my best to disappear, as it were. After all, that's what a servant/slave is--nothing, nobody but someone who offers his life in service to others. 


That has caused me to stumble in a number of ways. I can remember trying to pitch myself and my book to an agent at a writers' conference. Suddenly I, who am very experienced with public speaking, started mumbling and fumbling like a kindergartner trying to recite the pledge of allegiance. It was a miserable failure and, needless to say, the agent was very happy to see me leave.


As I walked away from that dreadful experience, I asked myself why this happened. What was going on? I discovered this inner conflict between the need to promote myself and my work and the command of my Lord to "be the very last, the servant of all."  


Sometime later it dawned on me. The very way I have been given to be a servant is through my writing. Therefore, if I am to serve my readers--and bear witness to what I believe--I must do what is necessary to let people know about my novels. In other words, I can be a humble servant of my Lord even while I promote myself and my work as an author. What a relief. 

Why Write A Book?

As you've noticed, I have decided to publish my own third novel. One self-publishing company brags about the success of its authors. They tell me that many of their best-sellers have become hit movies, such as Legally Blonde (starring Reese Witherspon) and Proof of life (starring Meg Ryan and Russell Crowe).

This would have to be the best reason for choosing them. My book may become a best-seller, picked up by a big publisher and turned into a movie. Can't you see it now? Freya's Child, the thrilling story of a Wiccan Priestess from Nazi Germany and her attempt to steal away a little baby she believes will lead the Nazis to dominate the world!

That's nice. It really is, but first people have to discover the book, read it and pass on to others the suggestion also to buy and read it. To help me make this happen I have hired some experts. I have turned to Author Marketing Experts, Inc.  They are already teaching me many things about how to get my books into the hands of people.

But as all this goes on I'll continue asking myself, Why bother writing in the first place? My simple answer, Because I can. I'm no good at repairing cars or baking cakes or singing a songs or several thousand other ways people bless my life. But I can write. And I know my stories have blessed the lives of hundreds. They've told me so again and again.

And that fills my heart with joy. Through me the dear Lord is pouring His blessings into the lives of my readers, gaining their attention, pulling them along, helping them to celebrate, challenging them to look at themselves and what they believe and urging them to walk their own paths of love and caring.

Sound abstract? It is and it will be until you consider my protagonist Albert's love for his wife Tillie and their new baby, Louise. What if you were in Albert's place? Would you throw away your faith, your wife and your country to embrace the religion of the old Teutons and Norsemen because it promised glory and power and wealth beyond your wildest dreams?

No, of course not.

Easy to say until you find yourself in Albert's shoes. Maybe you'd better read the book before you jump to conclusions. But the book is not yet available, is it? No, but it will be. Keep watching.

 

What Books Are You Currently Reading?

I've always loved to read books. In fact, I'm quite unhappy if I do not have three or four or more I'm working on at any given time. One of the temptations I have to fight continually is the temptation to buy yet another book. I'm somewhat like Desiderius Erasmus, who is purported to have said,“When I get a little money, I buy books, and if any is left, I buy food and clothes."

Here are a few of the books I'm currently into and some of the things I'm learning:
What's So Great About Christianity by Dinesh D'Souza. D'Souza points out that the whole science versus religion story is a nineteenth century fabrication. To this day many people believe that the medieval church held that the earth was flat until modern science demonstrated that the globe is round. In fact, the ancient Greeks and medieval Christians knew this. Dante's medieval cosmology, for instance, was based on the idea of a spherical earth.

I'm enjoying D'Souza, especially because he explodes many such false ideas about Christian faith and history.

Women Pastors? The Ordination of Women in Biblical Lutheran Perspective, edited by Matthew C. Harrison and John T. Pless. I have written much about this topic, especially since there is a very strong opinion in our modern world that men and women are equal. These Lutheran theologians from around the world point out that this begs the question. That's not really the issue. The point is that clergy are appointed by Christ to be His public voice and Christ chose to become incarnate in the male gender. Why? So that he might demonstrate that His Father is the Giver and that through Him the heavenly Father gives forgiveness and grace. We of the church are the receivers, the Bride to whom Christ gives life and mercy. It is Christ's intent then that the public ministers who preach, teach and administer the sacraments be of the male gender so that by their very persons they demonstrate this gift of God's grace.

The Return of The Prodigal Son by Henri J.M. Nouwen. This is really Nouwen's reflections upon a reproduction of Rembrandt's The Return of the Prodigal Son. I'm dismally trained to study and reflect upon painting and know so very little about it. This is why I've been so grateful to Nouwen as he not only takes me into the mind of Rembrandt, but helps me to reflect upon the wondrous parable and learn how this applies to my life. For instance, he writes, "The joy at the dramatic return of the younger son in no way means that the elder son was less loved, less appreciated, less favored. The father does not compare the two sons. He loves them both with a complete love and expresses that love according to their individual journeys."

George MacDonald: The Best From All His Works, The Christian Classics collection, vol. 1. I won this volume in a draw at a writing group meeting. I accepted the book gratefully because I know of the influence MacDonald had on C.S. Lewis, one of my all-time favorite authors. I'm enjoying a couple of MacDonald's fantasy writings in this volume. Here's what he says in one of his unspoken sermons, published in 1886. "The life the Lord came to give us is a life exceeding that of the highest undivine man, by far more than the life of that man exceeds the life of the animal the least human. More and more of it is for each who will receive it, and to eternity. The Father has given to the Son to have life in himself; that life is our light. We know life only as light; it is the life in us that makes us see. All the growth of the Christian is the more and more life he is receiving."

There you have them, four that I'm currently into. What books are you reading? I'm always looking for good recommendations.

Things Are Changing

A few of you have been following my blogging over these past three years. Up to now I've always posted my thoughts, research and comments on my own personal website. But that's changing, as I've noted in several earlier postings. Here's what's going on.

I'm changing the entire website. It will have the same title as this Blog, BUT it will be the depository of a new monthly e-zine, once James and I get it up and going. Oh, the 360+ Blogs that I've posted will still be there, but they will be archived. I'll not be adding any more Blogs to that list. Everything else in terms of blogging will happen here. I know, I know. I said I was going to use another service, but I've changed my mind. I like Blogger.com much better. It is easier to set up and easier to use.

In the past week I've been doing a ton of surfing and research. I'm looking for e-zines that do what I and my friends propose. We want to post a monthly e-zine that will provide ministry resources to Christians who live and work in local communities. We don't want to become another theological journal. We want to be a down-to-earth resource, based upon the Word of God and available in language a high schooler can understand. Oh, another thing. We want to speak from the perspective of Lutherans, people who believe in the wondrous grace of God, the supreme authority of the Bible and with faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Of course, there's a whole lot more to being Lutheran, but you get the idea for now. So far I have not found any e-zine that does this, so perhaps in the vast world of cyberspace, there's room for our voice.

There are tons of challenges we Christians face every day. So I'm inviting pastors and lay leaders alike to send me contributions on family life, worship, Bible study, current events, challenges for other faiths, e.g. Muslims, sharing the Good News, personal stories and on and on. The only caveat is this: it must be readable.

I'll wait to hear from you. Hopefully, in God's good time we'll get this e-zine up and going sometime in September.