How To Write A Christian Ebook

How-To Write, Publish & Sell Your Christian Book
By Akili Kumasi
GIL PUBLICATIONS
www.PublishChristianBooks.com (718) 386-6434 P. O. Box 80275, Brooklyn, NY 11208 info@PublishChristianBooks.com
2011, 2010 Akili Kumasi, God Is Love Ministries, GIL Publications
How to Write, Publish and Sell Your Christian Book
www.PublishChristianBooks.com
Table of Contents
Introduction ................................................................ 3 Purpose of this Book .............................................. 4 My Testimony .............................................................. 6 How To Write A Christian Book ....................................... 9 What to Write About .............................................. 9 Focus on Writing/Develop a Habit .......................... 11 How to Get the Words on Paper ............................. 11 Organize Your Work............................................. 13 Eliminate Obstacles to Writing ............................... 14 How to Publish Your Christian Book ............................... 16 Publishing Houses ............................................... 17 Book Proposal .............................................. 19 Literary Agent.............................................. 20 Publishing Services .............................................. 21 How Do Publishing Services Work? .................. 22 Self-Publishing .................................................... 26 Pre-Press .................................................... 26 Printing....................................................... 31 How to Sell Your Christian Book.................................... 34 Who Is Going to Sell Your Book?............................ 34 Three Categories for Marketing Your Book ............... 35 In-Person .................................................... 36 Traditional/Written ....................................... 37 Electronic/On-Line ........................................ 37 Marketing Materials ............................................. 38
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Revised: 1-Dec-10
Call to Action ............................................................. 41 Make a Real Commitment .................................. 41 Articles to Read................................................... 43 Set a Date to Finish Your Book and See It In Print .... 43 Christian Author Publishing Service ............................... 44 A Christian Authors Testimonial ............................ 48 Manuscript Preparation......................................... 49 Book Production and Printing................................. 49 Book Registrations............................................... 50 Book Marketing Services ...................................... 50 Other Services .................................................... 50 Further Reading ......................................................... 52 Books ................................................................ 52 Websites ............................................................ 52 Glossary of Terms ...................................................... 54 Final Comments ......................................................... 58
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Revised: 1-Dec-10
Introduction
The longer I live the more I realize that: Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
(1 Corinthians 10:31 KJV)
The is the first point that I wanted to make in this book on How To Write, Publish and Sell Your Christian Book. Whatever we do - we should do it for the Glory of God. If what we do is not for Gods glory then it is done in vain. The second point that needs to be made is that Christian Authors have a particular responsibility to write what God has revealed to them so that others can read it and benefit from it. When we do this, then God does get the Glory! With those two points in mind, the material herein is presented with a Christian audience in mind. But, even if
you are not a Christian or you just dont agree, thats okay -3-
too. You can use the information herein to help you write, publish and sell your book.
Purpose of this Book

The purpose of this book is twofold: (1) to educate potential and present Christian authors about the publishing industry and what it takes to get their Christian books written, published and sold; and (2) to introduce you to our Publishing Ministry and our Christian Author Publishing Service. This book will present information about the publishing process, from book idea to the finished product to book sales. Most of the presentation is simply an introduction or overview. Much more detail can be gained from reading the articles on our website www.PublishChristianBooks.com or from the many books available on the topic. The principles herein apply for authors of non-fiction, fiction and poetry. Since my books are all non-fiction (so far), it is from that
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perspective that I write.
However, I have worked with
authors of all types of books and the material herein is completely applicable. All of the books and articles listed in the section on Further Reading at the back of this book can be found on our website as well.
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My Testimony
My name is Akili Kumasi and for many years I dreamed of having my books published. I wrote manuscripts and
then submitted them to several publishers, only to be rejected if I got an answer at all. After that, I went to literary agents who were polite but they were not interested in representing my work. Next, I tried self-publishing my books by duplicating them in a copy machine, spiral binding them and selling them one-by-one. I even looked into vanity and subsidy publishers where you pay to have your book published. All of them had
publishing packages that I could not afford and most of them were only going to give me one copy of my own book unless I paid much more money.
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After too many years of un-fulfilled publishing goals, I had had enough. I knew God had called me (and equipped me) to have a publishing ministry, so in 2003 I started GIL PUBLICATIONS (the publishing arm of the God Is Love Ministries) to publish my own books. Now I have over 14 of my own books published and I operate www.PublishChristianBooks.com to help other
Christian authors get their books published. PublishChristianBooks.com has a low-cost Christian Author Publishing Service for those Christian authors who are ready to see the fruits of their hard work published in a real book. If you want to get your Christian book published let me help you. My service is individualized and it is
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inexpensive!
You will not only get your book published
and sold - you will get a website as well. I hope that the information in this book is helpful for you and whether you use my service or not, I pray that God will make a way for you to publish your Christian book as He has so deemed.
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How To Write A Christian Book

The first step in the process of getting your book published is to write the book. This section gives some
valuable suggestions on how to write your book that can be helpful to novice writers as well as experienced writers.
What to Write About

Follow your passion. What does God speak to you
about? The best thing to write about is something that you have a passion for or are enthusiastic about as well as knowledgeable about. If you have a topic that you think about all the time then that is your passion. What does God speak to you
about it? What do you like researching about it? What do you like talking about it? That is your passion and as such you already have a motivation to get you started.
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This motivation and inspiration (that you already have) is invaluable to getting your book written because it means you are driven or you have a vision to communicate something that God has given you. Use that motivation and inspiration to propel you toward finishing your book. And keep in mind what God has said about VISION: Where there is no vision, the people perish.
(Proverbs 29:19 KJV)
Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.
(Habbakuk 22 KJV)
For a more detailed discussion on the issue of having and writing about your vision, please see my article, Write the Vision: An Open Letter to Christian Authors on my website, www.PublishChristianbooks.com.
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Focus on Writing/Develop a Habit

Commit to writing a minimum amount each and every day. I find that ONE-PAGE-A-DAY is a good place to start
(five, six or seven days a week). Or it could be one-idea-aday or one-section-a-day. Whatever you choose stick to it. You will see results in a relatively short amount of time. If you do not write regularly, it is easy to put the work off. Delay after delay can lead to abandonment of the
writing project altogether.
How to Get the Words on Paper

Some people have problems writing. I am one of
them. Often it feels like I am trying to squeeze the words out of my pen. At other times, I have a real problem writing because I dont think that what comes out is good enough or I am too worried about saying it right or with the proper punctuation and grammar.
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I have learned however, that none of those things are important. What I need to do is just get my idea down on paper no matter how it looks or how it sounds and then I can pretty it up later. Here are a few tactics that I use that work well! Brainstorm. Just write whatever comes to your mind
and then sort it out later. This way, you get to do what I call a data-dump. That is, get the idea out of your head and onto the paper. Dont be concerned how it looks or sounds just write it and fix it or tweak it later. Carry a pen and paper with you at all times and use them. If you are like a lot of people who really desire to write a book then ideas come to you all the time. WRITE THEM DOWN! Do not let a good idea go to waste. When you think of it write it down. Often times when ideas come to you, it is really the Holy Spirit talking to
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you about that idea.
When God is revealing something to
you you have to write it down or you might lose it! Use a tape recorder. Whenever an idea comes to you that you would like to put into your book, speak it into a tape recorder. Then, transcribe it to a computer later. This can be very helpful when you are driving or just talking with someone (especially over the phone). helpful. Of course if you are preaching, teaching, giving a presentation, workshop or seminar you should always record your portion of the event so that you can transcribe it or have someone else transcribe it for you. Notebooks are also
Organize Your Work

Get (and use) a three-ring binder with tabs. Once you have started writing, put everything (big or small) into the three-ring binder even if it is just one idea
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expressed in a single sentence on a big piece of paper. Get some tabs for your three-ring binder and start organizing your thoughts, drafts and research into section, chapters or sub-topics. Dont wait until you have paper all over the place and you cannot keep track. Even if you have not written anything, get a binder. It will motivate you to put something in it. Dont forget to
print your Internet research and put that into the binder as well.
Eliminate Obstacles to Writing

Commit to writing a minimum amount each and every day. Oh, did I say this one already? Obviously, it bears
repeating.
This is the single most important aspect of
writing CONSTANT PROGRESS. A friend of mine once told me a profound truth, Writers write! That single statement helped me get out of a mode of constant procrastination and into a mode of constant writing. Writers write.
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Please
see
the
article,
Writers
Write
at
www.PublishchristianBooks.com. Turn off the television (or the Internet). one hour or more per day or for one program each day, turn off the For at least
television (or the Internet) so that you can devote that time to writing. Remember, Writers write. Are you a writer? If so, then what do you do?
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How to Publish Your Christian Book

Once you have your book written it will be time to publish it. You do not have to wait until you have finished writing your book to start thinking about the publishing process. The more you think ahead, the better you will be prepared when the time comes. There are essentially three avenues to getting
published: publishing houses, publishing services or selfpublishing.1 Below is an introduction to each of these
publishing avenues.
The discussion herein is concerned with paperback book and hard cover book publishing. Descriptions of electronic media and E-Books are not included in this book.
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Publishing Houses
When a publishing house accepts your manuscript to publish they will in some instances pay you an Advance (payment up front) for a portion of the anticipated sales. The publishing house might also pay you a Royalty (on-going payments of a percentage of actual sales). Being published by a publishing house is obviously how most authors want to publish their books. But the reality is that few of us ever get our manuscripts seriously considered by a publishing house. To break into the elite ranks of authors who are published by a publishing house requires at least two elements (in addition to a well-written and well-documented book): the publisher has to believe that: (1) there is a
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serious market for the topic of the book, and (2) there is a serious appeal for you as the author. Thus, you need to have credibility as an author and a perceived following (people who know you and/or your expertise) that will buy your book once it is published. This is known in some circles as an Author-Platform. Publishing houses have the right to be so demanding about what they publish because they cover all the expenses and take all the risks when publishing your book. They do this with the expectation that everyone will make money from the venture. If a book fails to sale, the publishing
house is the one who loses money. Most first-time authors do not have the type of following and in many instances they also do not have the necessary credibility as an author to guarantee that the publishing venture will be profitable. However, if you as an unknown or first-time author uses the tactics described
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herein then you can begin to develop the author-platform that will help your work get accepted by a publishing house in the future. Book Proposal Another aspect to getting published by a publishing house that is often difficult for first-time authors is the work that is required to develop a solid book proposal and/or obtain the services of a literary agent. A book proposal will spell out at least the following: what your book is about, why you as the author are qualified to write the book, the size of market for the book topic, other books have been written on the topic, and who will buy your book. For more details and a sample book proposal outline, please see my article, How To Write A Book Proposal, at www.PublishChristianBooks.com. - 19 Book Proposal
Literary Agent Literary agents present authors and their work to the publishing houses. A literary agent will receive a percentage of the sales after a book is sold to a publishing house. Since literary agents sell to publishing house, they use the same basic criteria used by publishing houses for considering authors and their work. Thus, many established literary
agents will not seriously consider your book proposal2 without: (a) a market for your topic, and (b) an established author-platform. Authors can help to establish themselves as experts in their fields by publishing a book on their topic through a publishing service or by self-publishing. This is potentially a major step to begin developing their author-platform
(credibility and a following) that will entice a publishing
Some Literary Agents prefer to first receive a Query Letter from the author that spells out the nature and scope of the writing project before they will accept a Book Proposal. If you pursue a Literary Agent, check his or her website for their preferences before you submit anything.
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house or literary agent to give their next manuscript a serious look in the future.
Publishing Services
Previously, publishing books was the exclusive domain of large publishing houses that operated large presses and had huge staffs to meet their needs. However, the
development and proliferation of technology in computers, the Internet, and in printing over the past few decades has changed all of that. Now much smaller companies
(publishing services) can perform the same tasks that were previously restricted to large publishing houses. Since publishing services can now provide the same level of product (book quality) to authors, they are able to offer very valuable fee-based services to authors who would not normally get their books published. This is very helpful for authors who previously had to rely solely on being selected by a publishing house.
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Consequently, any author can get published easily if he or she has a few thousand dollars to invest in their own book publishing effort. How Do Publishing Services Work? Publishing services provide services in four essentials categories: pre-press preparation, printing, marketing, and distribution. Pre-Press. The pre-press work performed by many Pre-press work
publishing services is their core operation.
involves taking your manuscript and preparing it for printing. At a minimum this could include: cover design, book interior layout, copyright page formatting, obtaining an International Standard Book Number (ISBN), obtaining a barcode, and preparation of production-ready files. Other services could
include: editing and proofreading, obtaining copyrights and more.
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Printing.
The printing aspect of many publishing
services is often a secondary service. Thus, when an author contracts with a publishing service the author generally gets very few copies of their book in the basic publishing package (i.e. one to five copies of the book for the author). For authors this can be a significant drawback - that many publishing services do not give you enough books in their basic publishing packages. When authors dont get books to sell, then how can they recoup the money they invested to get the book published? As a result, authors are obliged to purchase additional printing services so that they will have books that they can show to others and sell. Print-On-Demand Digital Publishing. Publishing services use (or sub-contract to) digital presses. They operate on
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whats called a Print on Demand basis (known as POD). Thats where the books are printed only when there are orders for your book. The cost for printing books on a POD basis is based on a formula that may or may not mean much profit for the author. Your profit picture will depend on the retail price of the book, the number of pages in the book, the number of photos in the book, the number of books printed at each printing, the cost of shipping, the wholesale discount, the warehousing and fulfillment charges and so on. See more about the pre-press and printing aspects of the publishing process below under Self-Publishing. Marketing. The publishing services can be very helpful to you by establishing a presence for your book with national wholesalers such as Ingram (and its Christian wing Spring Arbor) and Baker and Taylor as well as listing you on
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Amazon.com and in Books in Print and other industry databases. They also provide essential desktop publishing services of developing business cards, bookmarks, flyers, brochures, post cards and the like. These marketing services are usually separate from and in addition to - the basic publishing packages and the author is charged an additional fee. Distribution. Distribution general includes warehousing your printed books, taking orders for your books from potential customers and packing and shipping books. This is also known as fulfillment services. Each of these services can be billed as monthly service fees with additional per unit charges. For example if you
have warehousing and shipping services you might pay a monthly fee to have the service available to you on-demand in addition to a per unit charge each time a book is ordered
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and then shipped to a customer.
Each publishing service
has a different fee structure but the formula is essential the same.
Self-Publishing
In a nutshell, self-publishing means an author will do (or contract with others to do) everything that the publishing house or the publishing service would have done to publish the authors book. Lets examine (or re-examine) the publishing process: earlier we noted that publishing services provide services in four essentials categories: pre-press preparation, printing, marketing, and distribution. But, let us now look more carefully at the pre-press and printing aspects of the publishing process: Pre-Press Earlier, when I described the services of the publishing services we listed the most critical elements in the pre-press
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process as: book layout, cover design, ISBN, barcode, and preparation of production-ready files. These are the
minimum number of things that has to be done to your manuscript to prepare it for printing. You can do all of these yourself or contract with a service or individual who can do each of them for you. Each is described in further detail below: Book Layout. The manuscript needs to be formatted to a layout that is appropriate for publishing. number of instances, that will be 5.5 by 8.5 inch pages or 6x9 pages. Headers, footers, page In a great
numbers, font styles and sizes, line spacing, indentation,
margins and text color are just some of the formatting issues to be decided when formatting a book.
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All of the formatting can be done on a word processor by a skilled operator, but a novice will not be able to do it without help. There are also a number of other software
programs that can format books such as InDesign or PageMaker. There are many book design wizards available on-line for low or no cost. This might work for you if you
have the skill level to download, install and learn how to use them, not to mention the time. Cover Design. Designing the front and back cover for your book is very important. Many times authors have an idea about what they want to see on the cover of their book, but it may not have anything to do with the actual content of the book. For example, your child might be cute and you might want to dedicate the book to her, but unless she is recognized in your field of study or the book is about her her baby pictures dont belong on the cover of your book. A book cover should inform readers of the title and subtitle of the book as well as entice them to want to know - 28 -
more about the content of the book. It has to help you sell the book. International Standard Book Number (ISBN). ISBNs
are required by the book industry for books to be listed in any of the industry databases or to be handled by wholesalers and distributors or purchased by bookstores or libraries. ISBNs are issued by the Bowker Company and
cannot be avoided if you want your book to be accepted as a professional product. You can obtain a series of ISBNs by registering as a publisher and paying (the last time I checked) about $325 for 10 numbers (the smallest number available). This is
great if you are planning to be a self-published author of several books. You can also purchase a single ISBN for your own use for about $100 or so from some publishing services.
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Bar Code. A barcode is required on the back cover of the book. The barcode is a digital encryption of the ISBN
and the price (price is optional). This also is an industry standard and should not be ignored. Books sold in bookstores or purchased by libraries must have a bar code of the ISBN. Without a requisite bar code your book will not even be considered by bookstores or libraries, not even Amazon.com will take your book without a bar code. Production-Ready Files. After the book cover is
completed, and the book interior is formatted to the size and look desired, the files need to be converted to a productionready format. Generally a pdf of high standard will do. If you have a pdf maker (software) or use an on-line service (about $10 per file), you can do this yourself.
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Freelancers.
There
are
also
many
Freelancers
(freelance operators) that can do any number of these services for you. They can be found on-line on many of the freelance websites. You would post your job on the website and then and the freelancers will bid on your job. Before I was able to perform certain graphic tasks for publishing my books I used the services of a freelancer from one of these websites. His work was very good. His prices were reasonable and I went back to him for repeat services a few times. You should check the references for any freelancer that you are considering using as well as the feedback from their customers which should also be posted on their listing on the website. Printing You can buy a machine that prints and binds paperback books for about $10,000. I saw one at BookExpo a couple
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of years ago (it might be a little cheaper now). The machine was about the size of a double-wide refrigerator and it took about twenty minutes to produce one book. Realistically, very few of us will do our own printing unless we plan to produce spiral-bound or comb-bound books that can be completed at the local copy shop. This is how I published my first book and I sold over 1,000 copies of it through word-of-mouth, mail order, and at trade shows. For paperback and hard cover books, offset printing and digital printing are the industry norms. Digital printing is cheaper for small print runs. Digital printing is generally used for POD (Print on Demand) printing because the files stay in the computer and can be keyed up easily. Offset printing, on the other hand, is done on large printing presses. It is less expensive (per book) for larger print jobs. But it is not practical for small print jobs as the
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start up cost to get the large printing presses up and running is not cheap. With the cost spread out over many thousands of books it is the only way to go for large print jobs. In the next section we will deal with the topic How to Sell Your Christian Book.
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How to Sell Your Christian Book

Are you ready for what might be a rude-awakening?
Who Is Going to Sell Your Book?

This is a bottom-line point about being an author and getting published that most authors never discover: As the author, you are responsible for selling your book! The publishing house or the publishing service can develop all the marketing materials in the world for your book, they can list you in every database there is, they can print thousands of copies of your book (at your expense), but if there is no demand for you or your book, if no one goes to the store to ask for your book, guess what happens: nothing!
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Sorry to be so cynical about it, but that is the reality. If you are to be a successful author, you must sell your book. Your job after you finish writing your book is to get it published. Your most important job after you write and publish your book is to sell it. If you dont do it it will not get done. Of course there are exceptions to this, some authors write a great book, get an Advance from a publishing house and then live happily-everafter. If that is you, then I Praise God for your success. But for the majority of us, publishing our first books will involve marketing our books by using many creative methods including those listed below.
Three Categories for Marketing Your Book

To help me organize my marketing efforts, I have divided book marketing into three basic categories:
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in-person, traditional/written, and electronic/on-line. of these is distinct but with significant overlapping.
Each
In addition to these three basic categories we also need to list the marketing materials that can be used to reach potential buyers in each of the three basic categories. In this e-book I am just listing the marketing methods as a full description of each of these methods is beyond the scope of this e-book. Several of them are described in
articles on my website, www.PublishChristianBooks.com. All of them are explained with step-by-step instructions in the books on self-publishing. In-Person A. B. C. D. E. F. Book Launch Word of Mouth Book Signings Speaking Engagements Book Fairs/Shows Mailing List Development & Marketing
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Traditional/Written A. Manuscript Submission to Publishing Houses 1) 2) Literary Agents Evangelical Christian Publishing Association Manuscript Submission Program
B. C. D. E. F.
Bookstores Wholesalers/Distributors Libraries Listings Media/Press (see below) 1) 2) 3) Press Releases Advertisements Reviews (Trade publications, Christian newspapers)
G.
Coop Mailings to Bookstores and Libraries
Electronic/On-Line A. Authors Website 1) 2) 3) 4) B. 1) Traffic Generators (directories, search engines, etc.) E-Commerce Payment Processor Blog Mailing List Development/Management Amazon.com
On-Line Bookstores
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2) 3) 4) 5) 6)
Barnes and Noble.com Borders.com ChristianBook.com Other On-Line bookstores Author Pages and Search Programs (Amazon-Search Inside and Google Books) Facebook Twitter Others Author marketing and networking websites (Christian & Secular)
C.
Social Media 1) 2) 3) 4)
Marketing Materials
A. Media Kit 1) 2) 3) 4) 4) B. C. D. E. F. G. Cover Letter Press (Publicity) Release Basic Flyer Basic Brochure Draft Review
Postcards Poster (for events) Author Biography Book Fact Sheet for Book Industry contacts Business Cards Bookmarks
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I can remember one day I was in a Christian bookstore and I looked up on one of the shelves of books and saw a book that I recognized. It took me a moment after I
recognized the book to also realize that it was my book that I was looking at. I can remember my first thought, I know that book. Then in a flash I said to myself, Thats me. Then I looked around to see who was
Thats my book. looking at me.
I sort of jumped up and down and smiled
ear-to-ear. I had arrived. I was an author and I was elated. On another occasion, I was in a different Christian bookstore in another city. I was going through the stacks I saw a book by Charles
looking around at the books.
Stanley, then another by Tony Evans and then one of my books, Fatherhood Principles of Joseph the Carpenter. What great company my book was in. I had great satisfaction from seeing my book on the shelf in the bookstore when I wasnt even looking for it and next to very accomplished authors. - 39 -
You too can have that same satisfaction if you are willing to persevere and follow the steps necessary to be a successful author.
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Call to Action
Is this the year that you publish your book? If not this year, then when?
Make a Real Commitment

For many years I asked myself those two questions above. That is, until seven years ago when I finally self-
published two books that I had wanted to publish for years. Those two books had been written years earlier but I just could not get them into print. NOW, I HAVE PUBLISHED OVER 14 OF MY BOOKS! The secret to getting your book published is that there is no secret. There are just hidden truths that can be
discovered, uncovered, understood and implemented. The biggest truth that I had to uncover was this: If I didnt do it, then it was not going to get done!
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You can pray about writing a book all day and all night. But, if you dont get up and write down what God has given to you, then you will never complete the book. You can pray endlessly for your written manuscript to be published as a book. But, if you do not do your research and find the right avenue to get your book published then your manuscript will just gather dust and it will be a sore topic of conversation. You can pray for sales all day and all night. But, if you dont tell people about the book that God had you write and publish, then the printed books will just sit in the boxes. They will not sell themselves. So therefore, if you really want to publish your Christian book then I strongly suggest you read (or re-read) these three articles that you can find on my website (www.PublishChristianBooks.com) AND follow the other suggestions below.
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Articles to Read
1) 2) 3) Are You a Christian Author? Write the Vision An Open Letter to Christian Authors Writers Write!
Set a Date to Finish Your Book and See It In Print

I encourage you to start out with a clear purpose in mind to publish your book. dates. 1) 2) When will you finish writing the book? When will the book be printed and in your hands? Set dates and diligently work toward those
So, once again, I want to ask you this question: Is this the year that you publish your book?
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Christian Author Publishing Service

GIL Publications has created a no non-sense publishing opportunity for Christian Authors. It is straight-forward and simple too. We can help you publish your Godly books at a reasonable cost then show you how to sell them and make money for your cause. Our personalized Christian Author Publishing Service is different. 1) We give you a minimum of 50 books. Most
publishing services only give you 1 to 5 books when you contract with them for publishing services. Even though
those companies offer very good services they can be expensive and they just dont give you books in your hand that you can sell without having to pay extra fees for printing services.
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Books-in-hand is a very important aspect of publishing, because without getting printed books into your hand, you cannot sell your book to make money. How will you pay for the printing and other costs? How else can you raise money for whatever cause you am working for? Our motto: Give us your manuscript and we will give you fifty book. Its that simple. With our Christian Author Publishing
Service your book will be published. You will get enough copies to sell and make a profit. 2) Our prices are affordable. Check our prices for
all three of our Christian Author Publishing Packages (Gold, Silver and Bronze). You cold easily pay three or four times as much with a publishing service. If you have looked around and investigated publishing services then you know this is a fabulous opportunity because most publishing services are generally over-priced
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and in most instances you only get one to five copies of your book. Most of us cannot afford this type of elite service. We need someone to take our manuscript and give us some books that we can sell. 3) We Provide Personalized Service. It cannot
get any more personal than me and my wife, working together to develop this publishing ministry. You will deal
with only us. We answer the phone. We format your book. We design your book cover and marketing materials. We
call you back and talk to you about your project, your book and your revelation from God to write and publish your book. project. 4) GIL Publications is a Ministry. This aspect of At times, we even pray with you over your book
our service is the most important! It should be made clear now, before we go any further. We are here to help you.
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BUT, we do not publish every book that is presented to us. First, I personally read every manuscript before we agree to publish it. Why, because if the manuscript does not reflect the Word of God we cannot publish it. We will be happy to refer you to a publishing service that will publish your book, but we (GIL Publications) only publish Godly Christian books. After I have read your manuscript, I will send you a proposed agreement. can get started. 5) You Can Pay as You Go. Once you agree to When you are ready to publish, we
have us publish your book, then we enter into a Publishing Agreement. Our fee is then divided into three payment
amounts that are paid as follows: a) One-third is paid at the beginning when we enter into an agreement.
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b)
One-third is paid at the time that you, the author, accepts the final book layout and cover design. We then print the books.
c)
One-third is paid after the books are printed and you are ready to have the books delivered to you.
A Christian Authors Testimonial
Several months ago, I was blessed to encounter Mr. and Mrs. Kumasi [Daisy and Akili], the principals of Gil Publications. I say blessed because I have had interactions with other wellknown publishers, which interactions resulted only in discouragement or disappointment. Contrarily, my exposure, and subsequent contract, with Gil Publications proved to be a refreshing alternative. They went above and beyond the terms of our flexible contract by providing exceptional support and personal attention to my needs. They also stayed in touch with me in a timely manner, through every facet of the publishing process, offering suggestions along the way that were ultimately in my best interest, and at their own expense. I highly recommend Gil Publications to any author of inspirational works especially novice authors. You will not be disappointed! I personally am indebted to them for their stellar intervention - 48 -
in the final product my first published Gospel Poetry Book, Licorice Lyrics: Poetic Praises A Book of Gospel Verse. D. Marie Braggs You can see Maries book on Amazon.com.
PublishChristianBooks.com takes the hassle out of publishing your book. Our Christian Author Publishing
Service features the following:
Manuscript Preparation
Format Entire Book (from word processing files) Custom made Cover Design (4 color cover) Format Copyright Page Convert word processing files to printer-ready files Electronic Book Layout Proof for author Bound proof for author
Book Production and Printing

Print 50, 100 or 200 copies of your book (5.5 x 8.5 or 6 x 9) See website for current pricing www.PublishChristianBooks.com Four-color laminated Cover
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Book Registrations
Copyright from the U.S. Library of Congress Library catalog number from U.S. Library of Congress International Standard Book Number (ISBN) from R.R. Bowker Obtain Barcode for back cover of book
Book Marketing Services

Personalized Author Webpage (for 1 year) Listing with Amazon.com and Baker and Taylor distributors Listing in Books In Print database On-Going Marketing Consultation Access to GIL Publications book marketing techniques
Other Services
Free shipping of printed books to author (within the continental U.S.) For more details on our Christian Author Publishing Service please visit our website. We also encourage you to compare our Christian Author Publishing Service to the publishing services on-line to see what they are offering and their prices.
- 50 -
Give us a call or send us an e-mail. We look forward to hearing from you and answering any questions that you have about our Christian Author Publishing Service.
Akili and Daisy Kumasi info@PublishChristianBooks.com GIL Publications P. O. Box 80275 Brooklyn, NY 11208 (718) 386-6434 (347) 885-3625 You can also submit an inquiry at: www.PublishChristianBooks.com
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Further Reading
In addition to the several articles on our website, www.PublishChristianBooks.com, below are a number of books and websites that I personally recommend.
Books
Self-Publishing Manual: How to Write, Print, and Sell You Own Book (16th Edition), by Dan Poynter. 1001 Ways to Market Your Books: For Authors Publishers (6th Edition), by John Kremer. and
Christian Writers Marketers Guide: The Essential Reference Tool for the Christian Writer, 2010, by Sally Stuart. Plug Your Book, Online Book Marketing for Authors, by Steve Weber. Get Known Before the Book Deal: Use Your Personal Strengthens to Grow an Author Platform, by Christina Katz.
Websites
www.parapublishing.com Dan Poynter More information on writing, publishing and selling books than you can imagine!
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www.bookmarket.com
John Kremer A ton of free resources and information. Michael Hyatt is the CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers. His blog is packed with valuable information of how to publish in the Christian world. Steve Weber Master book marketer, informative blog, on-line specialist.
www.michaelhyatt.com
www.weberbooks.com
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Glossary of Terms
Below are a few of the key terms used in the book publishing industry. If these terms are not familiar to you, try to get used to them as knowledge can be power when trying to understand how the publishing industry works.
Advance
An Advance is the amount that a Publishing House pays you when they agree to publish your book. An Author-Platform is the authors following (people who know the author and his or her expertise in their field. A percentage of these people will buy your book once it is published. A Book Proposal is a paper that describes the book project, the competition, market size and more. The Book Proposal is required by most Publishing Houses and Literary Agents so they can evaluate your book project.
Author-Platform
Book Proposal
- 54 -
Books In Print
Books In Print is a published book or directory. It is accepted as the book publishing industrys list of all books in print. It is used by bookstores, libraries and others to find and purchase books. Distributors market published books to bookstores, libraries and wholesalers. They have teams of marketers and marketing programs for publishers and authors. The ISBN is required for all published books. This unique identifier number is issued by R. R. Bowker and is used by all bookstores, libraries, wholesalers, distributors and databases. Without it, your book cannot be accepted or sold in the book industry. A Freelancer offers his or her services to the general public for a fee. Many freelancers can do the same services as the publishing services to prepare your manuscript for printing. You can find them on the freelancer websites.
Distributor
International Standard Book Number (ISBN)
Freelancer
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Fulfillment
The fulfillment aspect of publishing includes: receiving orders, filling orders, warehousing books, and shipping books. Literary Agents market author books to Publishing Houses and receive a percent of the authors Advance and Royalties for their services. A Manuscript is your book after you finish writing it. It is your book prior to Pre-Press formatting. . POD is made possible by Digital Printers who store authors books in a computer and can print books in small quantities, from one copy on up. POD means printing only the amount of books needed. A Publishing House is a large publishing concern that contracts with authors to publish their books. They frequently pay an Advance and Royalties when they agree to publish an authors book.
Literary Agent
Manuscript
Print On Demand (POD)
Publishing House
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Publishing Service
A Publishing Service is a company that charges a fee to prepare an authors book for printing. They also provide authors with fee-based printing, marketing and distribution services. A Query Letter describes the nature and extend of a book project or manuscript. Many Literary Agents prefer to receive a Query Letter prior to the Book Proposal. A Royalty is the amount paid by a Publishing House once the authors book begins to sale. To Self-Publish is when an author publishes a book him or herself or by outsourcing the Pre-Press, Publishing or Marketing functions. Wholesalers buy published books from publishers and then sells them to stores, bookstores and libraries.
Query Letter
Royalty
Self-Publishing
Wholesaler
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Final Comments
We hope you have enjoyed this book and have learned something that will be helpful to you in writing, publishing and selling your Christian book. If we can be of service to you please let us know and feel free to go to our website to gain more knowledge and information that will help to more your forward. Please Publishing keep Service in mind that our Christian Author can
(www.PublishChristianBooks.com)
take the hassle out of publishing your book. 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) We give you a minimum of 50 books. Our prices are affordable. We Provide Personalized Service. GIL Publications is a Ministry. You Can Pay as You Go.
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Give us a call or send us an e-mail to ask any questions about our Christian Author Publishing Service. Thank you for taking the time to read our book, How to Write, Publish and Sell Your Christian Book. Please feel free to pass it along to others. Thank you. Akili and Daisy Kumasi info@PublishChristianBooks.com GIL Publications P. O. Box 80275 Brooklyn, NY 11208 (718) 386-6434 (347) 885-3625 You can also submit an inquiry at: www.PublishChristianBooks.com
- 59 -

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How-To Write, Publish & Sell Your Christian Book

How to Write, Publish and Sell Your Christian Book

How to Write, Publish and Sell Your Christian Book

How to Write, Publish and Sell Your Christian Book

How to Write, Publish and Sell Your Christian Book

Purpose of this Book

How to Write, Publish and Sell Your Christian Book

perspective that I write.

However, I have worked with

How to Write, Publish and Sell Your Christian Book

How to Write, Publish and Sell Your Christian Book

How to Write, Publish and Sell Your Christian Book

You will not only get your book published

How to Write, Publish and Sell Your Christian Book

How To Write A Christian Book

What to Write About

How to Write, Publish and Sell Your Christian Book

How to Write, Publish and Sell Your Christian Book

Focus on Writing/Develop a Habit

writing project altogether.

How to Get the Words on Paper

How to Write, Publish and Sell Your Christian Book

How to Write, Publish and Sell Your Christian Book

you about that idea.

When God is revealing something to

Organize Your Work

How to Write, Publish and Sell Your Christian Book

Eliminate Obstacles to Writing

This is the single most important aspect of

How to Write, Publish and Sell Your Christian Book

How to Write, Publish and Sell Your Christian Book

How to Publish Your Christian Book

How to Write, Publish and Sell Your Christian Book

How to Write, Publish and Sell Your Christian Book

How to Write, Publish and Sell Your Christian Book

How to Write, Publish and Sell Your Christian Book

(credibility and a following) that will entice a publishing

How to Write, Publish and Sell Your Christian Book

How to Write, Publish and Sell Your Christian Book

publishing services is their core operation.

include: editing and proofreading, obtaining copyrights and more.

How to Write, Publish and Sell Your Christian Book

The printing aspect of many publishing

How to Write, Publish and Sell Your Christian Book

How to Write, Publish and Sell Your Christian Book

How to Write, Publish and Sell Your Christian Book

and then shipped to a customer.

Each publishing service

How to Write, Publish and Sell Your Christian Book

numbers, font styles and sizes, line spacing, indentation,

How to Write, Publish and Sell Your Christian Book

How to Write, Publish and Sell Your Christian Book

How to Write, Publish and Sell Your Christian Book

How to Write, Publish and Sell Your Christian Book

How to Write, Publish and Sell Your Christian Book

How to Write, Publish and Sell Your Christian Book

How to Write, Publish and Sell Your Christian Book

How to Sell Your Christian Book

Who Is Going to Sell Your Book?

How to Write, Publish and Sell Your Christian Book

Three Categories for Marketing Your Book

How to Write, Publish and Sell Your Christian Book

How to Write, Publish and Sell Your Christian Book