#304: Success Panel - Get Inspired by Real Stories from Authors Just Like You

Welcome to Kingdom Writers, where we help equip and empower Christian writers of all genres to share your unique gifts with the world. We're your hosts, C.J.

And Shelli Hitz.

This podcast is filled with spiritual encouragement as well as prayers to help you overcome the resistance you face as a writer. Your story matters.

Welcome to this success panel. My name is Shelly Hitz, and I'm joined here with several of our Christian Book Academy members. We have Jennifer Nelson and Lola. We have Jan Cox and Tanisha Mitchell. Why don't you all just share a copy of your book? Let us see. They're all here as published authors and they're going to be sharing with you tonight. So I'm just so excited that we get to be here with you. I'm going to go ahead and just start with a prayer really quick, and then we're going to dive in and just let these authors share some of their story, but also some tips that they've learned along the way. So, God, we just thank you so much for. For being here with us tonight. We just pray that you would just inspire, encourage, and spur us on as Kingdom Writers. We pray that you would speak through each of these authors, and we ask this in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. All right, so I am going to go ahead and have you unmute, Jennifer, and we'll get started with you. How so just introduce yourself really briefly and share with us a little bit about your. Your process of publishing.

Yes, I'm Jennifer Nelson. I am a wife of 31 years, almost 32 this month. I have three kids. I have eight grandbabies and two more on the way. I have a goat farm and so much more. But so that's kind of the backstory of how I actually became a published author by going through CBA was this past year. My backstory is I've always loved the idea of writing. And when I was a kid, I was like, I want to be a writer because I just loved language, all languages, and just wanted to create with that. And in middle school, I wrote a poem and my teacher submitted it and I won a national award, but it was like a. Wasn't like, first place, but I won a little book as a prize, and that was just kind of something that made me excited about writing. Well, then, you know, you go through high school and college and get married and, you know, know, go off in the military and life happens and then more life happens and just kind of forgot about that dream and kind of really gave up on the dream. And then last Year. Well, the past couple years, God kept putting ideas of different books and devotionals in my mind. And I'm like, oh, there's just no way. You know, I would like make notes, but then not really follow through with it. And then in last November, during a church sermon, the pastor was talking about praising God through his names. And God told me, you're going to write a book praising me alphabetically. And so I'm like, okay, you know, okay. So I did start writing it. And there was other things in my life that was going on that he had to kind of work, work me, work in me. That through the last year, through my health and mindset, I was able to write the book. But then in July, I'm like, I'm getting toward the end of this book, Lord, now what do I do? I'm like, I'm writing it in obedience to you, but now what do I do? And I'm telling you, that week, maybe even the next day through my newsfeed popped up the Kingdom Writers Free workshop that you were going to host in September. And I'm like, and the Lord's like, here's a free resource for you. You need to get it done. I'm like, okay. So I signed up for it and took a couple of the free pre courses, kind of get ready, took the workshop. And there was so much information that just helped me finish organizing the final steps. And then at the end of the workshop weekend, you know, you invited us to join cva and so I'm like, okay. God's like, do it. So I did. And following the course through the publishing, the publishing course in your academy, it, I mean literally with by, I think it was 10 days, I got my book published. So when I finished, I finished writing it, I formatted it. I love the creation part. I designed the COVID and everything. Follow the steps on formatting. And then when I got it up on KDP and when I hit that publish button, I'm telling you, everybody's getting chills now. When I hit that publish button, it was like, okay, Lord, I followed through. You gave me the resources, you gave me CBA to finish it. And so after that I was like, okay, now what else can I create? So this is only about half of the books since October that I've published. And then I've got two more. I've got an ebook that's on pre order released in next week, Pursuing Peace. It's a seven day devotional ebook and it has a companion notebook like I had for my November seven day Devotional. I made, sorry, I made a, you know, a companion notebook for that ebook. And so I have the Pursuing Peace Christmas theme on that coming up. And then my second one I haven't, I'm still working on is my 52 week prayer journal. Now this is my practical tip I want to talk about. And it was because I got this idea through Shelly and the CBA was, you know, when you go through KDP and you're putting it in there, you can order a proof copy before you submit your publish your published book. And so with this 52 week journal, it was a kind of a daunting thing. And with layout and trying to figure out the best way for the feel of it, I decided to go ahead and just put a general layout with the page, with the amount of pages I thought it would be and just got the proof copy. And that has helped me with understanding the thickness of it, how it's going to feel and some things I'm going to change. So I just, you know, the blank, what it's going to look like with the devotional and so, so I practical tip is if you're kind of like trying to figure out a layout or see what's going to feel like before you really put the content together is go ahead and get the basic format layout put up into kdp, order the proof copy and just that way you have a real hard copy of, you know, not just like a, you know, paper copy with Word, but like an actual book copy. So that's my practical tip that I learned through CBA that's kind of helped me with this book, get my mind focused.

So yes, and I love that you were like a firecracker. You know, it's just like you came in and was like it was just the right time. Right. And when it is the right time and when it's God's time, you know, it'll happen. And for all of us it's different, you know, different paces. But I mean you've had this book on your mind for a while and then it was like, okay, let's go, let's, let's finish it, let's click publish. And I love that. So do you know how many books you've published?

So it's 12 are published on KDP and then I've got the two, I've got the ebook that's going to be released and then this one, this was 12, I have 10 published and then two, no, 12 published, two more that are, you know, in the process and a lot more a Lot more in here that aren't.

I started.

Yeah, I love that and I loved your tip. I was, I published a journal as well. It's called the Illuminate Prayer Journal and I did something very similar. So I, I ordered a proof of the book before it was, you know, in the final iteration and then I was using it myself to see like, how did it feel to use it. And I was able then through that to really get a good final finished journal. You know, that really worked well in a practical day to day way. Right. So awesome. Thank you so much for sharing, Jennifer. And oh my goodness, I can't wait to see all the things that you have coming next. Thank you so much for being here and I'm so glad that Christian Book Academy was just the resource that helped you, you know, get that, that, that push that you needed. Right.

I'm so thankful God, God gave me see CBA right at the right time, his timing, the right resource. He. And so I thank you and you and CJ for being obedient and doing what you're supposed to do, because that allowed me to be obedient and do what I was supposed to do. So I do appreciate y'.

All. Yes. Amen. And that's the way it is. Like even some of you have books right now that God has called you to write and that's going to release something for someone else. Right. It's going to help them to have a freedom or, you know, healing or it's going to show them what's possible and they're going to be like, oh, I need to publish a book, you know, so, so many good things. Awesome. Well, next up we're going to talk to Lola Oshinowo. Did I say that right? Go ahead and unmute yourself and share with us just a little bit about who you are and your, your, you know, journey with publishing your book.

Yes. Thank you, Shelly. My name is Lola Oshinowo and I am originally from Nigeria. I have been in this country for 42 years. My husband and I migrated from England to the United states.

End of 1979, 80.

Came here because my husband wanted to work on his PhD at the Ohio State University. That's how I came to this country. But.

Yes, I'm from Ohio.

I don't even want to start that. Anyway, so we, we moved to Columbus, Ohio and what, what, you know, before leaving England, I had gotten my degree in computer science. And so getting to the United States, I was able to start working kind of like a software developer. So I am A coder by trade. I code computer applications and all that. And I did that for a good 37 years. And being a believer in Christ all this time, I just been wanting to pay back. So when I got an early retirement, I retired when I was 55 years old. And I'm like, I need to do something, Lord, what would you want me to do? And serve him. I wanted to serve him. So my husband is an elder in our church here. I teach Bible study, women's Bible study. I counsel women. And so when I retired.

I just continued. There's a website that I created as a software developer when there was no social media.

I coded the website.

You know, my first website was 2004.HTML, right?

All right. Yes, exactly. And I coded that, you know, and it was the comforters room.com at that time, the comforter's room. The reason that that came through was because I personally have had a lot of health issues, you know, a lot of pain. I have fibromyalgia. One pain here and there. And the one source of comfort for me was just totally depending on the Holy Spirit to help me. And so my name for the Holy Spirit in my world is the comforter. He's the one that comforts me. So hence the comforter's room. Now, when I retired and social media was out on my life, and I'm like, so I'm going to roll the comforter's room out to Facebook, and I created a group, the Comforters Room. And currently we have.

Almost 1,000 people in the group. There was a time had about 2,000. Facebook flushed them out. The people that are not active, you know, anyway, so I'm working on that. And each time. And I do biblical counseling for a lot of people, especially women, it's not uncommon to have couples that have filed for divorce and they're divorcing, and they come into our house, and I would do biblical counseling, and they. Before they leave my house, they're hugging and kissing each other through the glory of God. And then you'll hear people say, you need to write a book. I would say something and go, you need to write a book. And I'm like, okay, whatever. So. And then there's a theme that kept going in my posting. Now whatever I post, I'll put hashtag, Lola's thoughts, you know, and so I. And the one thing that God has blessed me with, sisters, is that peace. The peace that transcends all understanding. So in 2019, after burying my mother, I'm like, okay, I'm gonna Try to see if I can do some writing. And I'm like, maybe next year. And there was this company that are publishing company. I don't know how they knew I was looking to write, but they contacted me and I actually paid them that I was gonna write a book. I think I paid them almost $3,000 that. Their fees. And I told them no rush whenever I get to it. And the title of my book was.

Peaceful Living through the Knowledge of the Character of God. Because if we truly. I do believe that if we know the character of God, we will have living peace knowing him. And I was writing that book. I'm writing it with this other organization. And I kid you not, I do not know how I found CBA just came through my newsfeed. I'm like, oh, let me look at that. And Shelley, I remember calling, or when maybe I called you or you texted you, like, I would like to look into this. And of course, I joined cba, I think, in March of last year, and I was still writing the other book. And then George Floyd happened.

That day. We used to have. I think we used to have a.

I don't know where we would meet, Shelley. I think we used to have Zoom. Not Zoom. I think it was Zoom meeting, whatever it was. And I was sharing that.

Yeah, the productivity parties, maybe.

Productivity party, yes. And I was saying to them, I said, look, everybody, you know? So Deb.

Asks, so what progress have you made this week? And I'm like, I did not make any progress. I lost my peace because of what had just happened with George Floyd. I could not write anything. And on. And I was explaining to the group about the productivity party, about why I didn't write. And literally the Holy Spirit was like, why are you whining? Literally in my thoughts. Why are you whining? You who knows how to pray, the one powerful thing you do well is prayer. Why are you whining? Why don't you teach these parents of. Of especially African American parents how to pray to cover their children in prayer? And I'm like. And it was like. And I actually said it out loud to the productivity group. I said, I'm being led to shelf this writing that I'm doing and write a prayer book. And they all said, go for it, Lola. Do it. Do it.

Yes. And you have the book now, right? Right here. Yeah.

I started writing because the passion I had with the George Floyd death was. George Floyd was the same height as one of my sons.

Wow.

And I'm like, wow, that could have been Timmy. How can And I just could not. I wrote for every waking moment. I just. The Holy Spirit just poured it and I was just praying the word of God. The word of God and within. By August, I was done. I'm like, whoa, now what do I do? And what do I do? And seriously, everyone at cba, I just. The productivity party, I'm like, I'm done. I'm done writing these, you know, over 30,000 words pages. Where do I go? And everybody just chime in, you need to edit. You need. So I just. And of course, the publishing path that was on this, on the CBA website, I read up and I'm like, okay, I need to edit. I need. I need to self edit. I need to do. Anyway, I just followed it and literally, CBA was got. I think God knew what he needed to do with. With. With me, what was in my. In my. In me. The writing that was in me. And that's why, again, I still don't know how I found cba, but I found cpa.

We're glad you did.

Night. From the time I started writing to the day I published on Amazon, 90 days. Within 90 days, it went up. Right now, I have not done much marketing. I'm just now starting to market it, and it's doing so well. I get emails from people that are using it for their conference, women's conference, prayer conference.

It was just God. God did it. Using cba, using everybody in the productivity party.

The editors.

Heather Hart was the one that designed my cover, and everything just went through. And I think I spent less than 500 bucks. Yeah.

So you started with an investment of 3,000?

No, I got my money back, by the way. Let me tell you why. How I got my money back when as an it, I was director of information technology for years and managing contracts was when I did this especially technology contract. So I brought that here. When I was signing with that organization. I did everything they wanted me to do, but I did not sign a contract.

I said, I will give you the money. I gave them the money, but I did not sign a contract.

So because I didn't sign a contract, I just said, give me my money back. And they.

Praise God because at this point, you spent $500 to publish your book. Now you have 2,500 to invest in marketing or other things.

Exactly. I am just. God was in it. And I would have written another book, to be honest with you. But this past year and a half has been very hard for my family. Literally, we lost 11 family members.

One after the other, including three of my brothers. And so there was a time. And then when I was writing another. Another testimony. When I was writing, I was as sick as a dog, if you remember, Shelly. I had fibromyalgia, was just kicking my tail. And I just. I just kept pressing on because I got a lot of encouragement from CBA members from the productivity party was dosset and everything, just like that. And so I'm gonna start marketing, and then we'll see where the book goes. Right now is five stars on Amazon.

And I have not even done anything, so I'm hoping that God will continue to use. There's still a lot of books in me. A lot of books. I would say maybe five books that I could literally start talking and it'll. It'll spill out of my. Of my body. So anyway, it was. It was praise. God is using you. God is using you and CJ in. In a mighty way. And so I thank God for you. He sent me your way. How he did it, I don't know, and I don't have to know. Yeah.

A couple takeaways I wanted to point out from your testimony and story is, first of all, when it's God's timing and, you know, he will provide. Right. You know, that was for. As well. But also, secondly, don't be afraid to pivot. You know, you had another book that you were writing, and then the Holy Spirit was like, no, don't.

You know what? You.

You wrote a book that meets a need. It is a huge need right now in culture, you know, so that's why it's selling. That's why, you know, it's.

Exactly. It's selling itself.

But you were afraid to pivot and. And put aside that other book. You can always come back to it later to do the book that God's, you know, leading you to do now. But thank you so much for sharing.

I think the important thing is with God, if you can. If you can confirm in your heart that you're hearing God, it's foolish to not obey him. Obedience is the key. So when I heard loud and clear that. Why are you whimpering? Write something. A book about how to pray the word of God over their children. All these African American, black and brown families.

How to handle those struggles. Thank you for. For letting me speak.

Yes. Thank you for being here. We're gonna now have, Jan Cox, if you want to go ahead and unmute yourself, and we're gonna have you just share just a little bit of your journey and, you know, any tips that you have as well.

Hi, I'm Janice Cox. I'm Jan to friends, and Janice is in business.

I am a wife of 50 years, and I have three married children and seven grandchildren. I think I'm trying to think back because I'm the oldest of this group, and I did publish a book in 2012, and it was from following the Holy Spirit in going to writers conferences and realizing that God had given me a gift of writing. I was a teacher and then a businesswoman and retired at 52. I beat you, Lola.

At that time, God said, okay, that's. This is the new path. You want you to be an artist and a writer. And I also came to know Jesus at that time. So I'm a late bloomer for my faith, but he has really taken me on quite a. Quite a journey. My first book was Taddy O'Turtle. It came from journaling, and I went to a conference, met a publisher.

I paid. Are you ready? $5,000 to have my books published. And they were very nice. They, you know, but the marketing was terrible. They didn't do anything. So I just. I ended up marketing again myself, going to fairs, and I probably have sold over a thousand books of those. Of those books, but it's still. They were over $10, almost at $10 a piece, and I was selling them to 13. So it's taken a long time to put that money out, and I don't.

Even know if I've got it back.

I thought, okay, number two, I'll do this again. But I really would like to do it myself, but I don't know how to do it myself. Now, I had met Shelley at the time, but somehow that wasn't the way. I should have said, go with you right at the beginning, but I didn't. And so I went with another publisher. And this time it was the same thing. It cost $3,000. And I had another pile of books. So I don't have many tattoos left, but the kingdom throne. These are children's books. I have a number of those left. And I thought, okay, I can't do this anymore. I can't just keep throwing money away. I want control.

And Shelley walked back into my life again. And as soon as she did that with her art, believe it or not, she and I bonded through art. And then I went, okay, she's got something here. But it still took me, what, two years, three years before I said, all right, I'm ready to do this. And I think it was 2019. I went, I'm going to join.

Yes.

And that was the Most amazing time. I've never met such wonderful people and so much help and so much encouragement and prayer. I have never had a group that prayed as relaxed as your group praise. So the first thing I did was take those two books and learn to do them again myself. So I printed both books.

Through KDP. I learned how to do Adobe InDesign. These are quite a lot of learning curves.

Yeah. And. And for those of you that don't know, Jan is also the illustrator of her books. So, you know, all those illustrations are her. So she wasn't paying for the publisher, she wasn't paying the illustrator. You know what I mean? Like, that would have been an additional fee. But show them the difference between the ones that the publishing company did and then the ones that you independently.

First publisher did this one.

And then I printed this one.

Yeah.

So it's my own artwork. And when I did it, you know, when I put it inside and I did the printing, to me, they look quite good.

Yeah, they look very similar to what.

You had right now.

I did pay for somebody to do the, you know, putting it together, but then she couldn't figure out how to do kdp, so I ended up.

Not doing that well. And so this is the new one. And what's really nice I have to tell you about KDP is if I don't like something that's happened in the book, I can fix it. I don't have to have 30,000 copies or 300 copies or 50 copies. Oh, I have to sell them first.

Yeah.

And, you know, you don't have to buy thousands of copies up front or hundreds of copies because they do print on demand. So Amazon will print one book as someone buys it, and you can buy as many author copies as you want. But right now, you still have boxes from your previous publisher that, that you bought, and it was part of your. Was it part of your contract and that sort of thing to buy those books.

The more you bought, the cheaper it was with the shipping. So I thought, okay, I'll buy lots. I can do this with the ship. But, you know, every book of the first book was $9 something. And this one turned out to be, oops, wrong one. This one turned out to be $8. I mean, these cost me 250 or something. Or three.

There's a much bigger profit margin now. You have control. If you want to change anything, you can.

You can publish as many books as you want now. Right. Because you know the process.

And then it got even better because last year I joined in 2019 did those two. But I also did a coloring book with a Bible study. I did Taddy O Turtle activities. And then last year I also did my very first.

Devotional journal writing. And this year I just published the second in the series of the same, Growing Through God's Word. And I'm ready to do the next one. But I also love, and I've got to say, this is my thing. I love not just publishing the books and knowing how to do it. CBA teaches you to market, teaches you to do social media where it's fun, where you interact. I've never had so much interaction as today when I asked about the one that you did where you put what you ate with what color you were wearing.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, my goodness. People were going crazy with that one.

Yeah.

And for people who don't know, we have every month a mini marketing messages kit which gives you templates that you can use on social media in your email. And so Jan's been using those on a regular basis and really been seeing more engagement and even sales coming from some of those posts. Right?

That's true. That's true for sure.

That's awesome. So what is one tip you have for any writers that are watching right now?

Take it simple. I would say simple because my problem is I'm as. I'm a painter. I'm painting on tea bags right now. I'm painting on tea bags. And I have to say, okay, Jan, right now you're going to do this. Put the blinders on and go.

Yeah.

It's good, you know, to have that focus and, you know, really moving forward. Well, you're so inspiring, Jan. Thank you so much for sharing with us and all that you have been doing. And Tanisha, want to welcome you on if you want to unmute yourself. Just share a little bit about you and your publishing journey.

Sure.

My name is Tanisia Mitchell, and during the day I am a scientist and professor at a local institution. So I write every day for work. I write grants, manuscripts, and publications. And at night I come home and write even more because I love writing. And I'm here to really share about my book, which is called Renew the Inner your. And the subtitle is a practical guide to counting your thoughts, emotions and responses. And this book was really birthed out of a lot of experiences of pain and frustration and just having so many different emotions and a really difficult time of my life. And I remember God telling me to start writing this book. And I was, I really questioned him. I said, are you really sure about This, I don't think I'm qualified to even talk about emotions because my emotions are all over the place, and I'm losing it sometimes. So I need you to help me. Are you sure you want me to talk about this and put this in a book? And so I wrote the first outline in 2016, and it was just published last week. So it took me five years to get this done.

Yes. And congratulations.

And I want to highlight the importance of recognizing that it is God's timing. You know, a lot of times I was like, oh, man, I'm really ready to get this book done. Every New Year's, I'm like, for 2020, I'm getting this book done. 2019, et cetera, I'm getting this book published. And, you know, I would start, I would stop, I would start and stop again. And it really was just a difficult process because I had to deal with all of these different emotions. So my book consists of several different emotions, such as anger, frustration.

Even wanting to feel like you want to quit, or worrying. And I just have what's called a five step or five plan strategy that God has given me to help me deal with those type of thoughts that enter into my mind and how to combat them. And so there are scriptures, prayers, and confessions, as well as short practical steps. So the objective really was just to marry the natural component as well as the spiritual component to really address those emotions. So that's what my book is about. But I really want to highlight how CBA has been a blessing to me, because when I found cba, which was in, I think, September, when we had a training authors conference.

Right before then, I literally, like a week before, similar to Jennifer's testimony, I was praying to God. I said, all right, I have a draft. I just don't know what to do next. Like, I've talked to other authors, and they give me little bits, a little bit of advice here and there. But I'm a person that really kind of likes the blueprint, and it's just. It's a lot easier. You know, the. The path is really laid out. So that was one thing I really appreciated about cba. So I really appreciate your effort, Shelly, and also your husband as well. But I like to think of you all as midwives of authors. Like, you just really give us the strategies and the tips to get those books out. And then I remember going through the modules, and I'm like, wow, they really have thought of everything. Like, I cannot believe this. Like, you really have put so much thought and effort into the process. So I remember thinking several times, there's no way. No one cannot publish a book if they go through cba. Like, there's no way. If you don't, it's just because you don't want to follow the steps because they are literally, literally written from A to Z in such a simple way. And they're also not very time consuming because for me, I don't have a lot of extra time, but I made sure to squeeze in the time, and they've been extremely beneficial. I wrote down a couple of tips, so I hope it's okay if I share more than one for the authors.

Yeah, go for it. Let's get some bonus tips here, too.

Yeah. So one thing that I really appreciated was how you encouraged us to have the business meeting with. With God. And so I bought a special journal. This is my business meeting with God. And I take this journal with me, and I go through the steps that you gave us. And I decided to be really intentional about it. You know, I made it every Sunday morning, or if I couldn't do it in the morning, I would do it right after church. And I strategized. I said, all right, let's go to the library after church. You're going to have your business meeting with God. And after you finish that meeting now, we're going to just go ahead and write a little bit. And it just was. It was a great adjustment to my life because it helped me to really write my grant. I mean, excuse me, my book. I'm so used to saying grant my book. And so I really want to encourage people is, you know, this is a temporary phase. You know, you have to make some sacrifices and adjustments. I lost some sleep, but it was by the grace of God. I woke up in the morning as if I had eight hours sleep because I was focused on what he wanted. So he will give you the grace, the energy, the strength to get it done. It's just a matter of making some sacrifices. And then the other thing that I started to do was I have to do lists all the time. So it's just something I do every single day. And I remember writing out to do lists according to the advice you would give us through the modules. But what I found myself doing was once I completed something, I moved it to a completed list and I put the date by it, and it motivated me to keep getting more things done. And, you know, I realized it didn't matter how big the task was, it still was a victory. So that meant I created my KDP account. Oh, that was a victory, you know. Oh, that meant that, you know, what else did I write on there?

I ordered, I bought a vellum package for formatting my book. So I wrote that down. It didn't matter if it was big or small. I wrote it down. And eventually the list got longer and longer and I'm like, oh, I'm making momentum. This is great. You know, just keep going step by step. Tunisia. And I found that when I did that, I really saw that God was moving through me and helping me. And so I would just really encourage people to remember that you don't have to do it by yourself. Holy spirit. Spirit is there. And the fun part about it, I just love him. The fun part about him is that he gives you like this tailor made strategy for you so it works for someone else. You know, Shelly gives us a great blueprint and it's solid. I'm telling you, it's solid. But he also will say, okay, make sure you do this, do that. Okay, you don't have to do that part. And that's the fun part. It's not so much a tour. I think you just have to also.

Like, renew your mind and your perspective about it. Like, God is chosen, you or us to fulfill an assignment, to share something that's on his heart with the world. And it's not something we have to do in our own strength. And we get to partner with him to carry it out. And so when we start thinking about it that way, instead of, oh, my gosh, this is year three and I'm still working on it, that doesn't help. So I would recommend. All right, let's try to shift your perspective because at the end of the day, it's not about us, it's about him. And really just being used as his vessels to carry out what he wants to be shared with the earth.

Awesome. Well, I'm so excited for you. This was a five year, you know, pregnancy, but now you birthed the baby.

It's time to message out. And I'm so excited for you. I just know it's God's timing for you and that there is an anointing on you for what he's called you to do. So I love that where you said, you know, to write what you've accomplished and put a date on it. That was a great tip. I think that is, you know, it's like you, you, you're acknowledging. I worked with a life coach one time and she's like, Shelly, you, you aren't really even acknowledging what you are Doing, you know, it's just so easy to keep, you know, think of the next to do list, the next to do list. And so I love that you did that and that's a great tip. Thank you so much, all of you for sharing. And we actually had a Christian Book Academy member from Australia that wanted to share as well, but she couldn't be on here live at this time. So I'm going to try to share her video. It's Esther Espinosa.

Hi, Testa here. I've just recently joined CBA and it's actually been only three weeks, weeks. And I am loving it so far. It's exactly what I want, what I was looking for. I'm loving that Shelley's workshops are really practical. So when you do, when she teaches a workshop, she gives you time during the workshop to actually implement and write in your workbook and put your action steps. And that is amazing because most of the times, as you know, we watch a workshop and we, we don't fill in any of the books or anything and then we forget about it. But here it's, we're accountable and we can take it away and we can fill it out straight away. So I recently joined one of her workshops, which was to sell more books during the holidays. And one of the things that kept really standing out to me when Shelley was talking was she said, what's in your hand? What has God given you? What do you have in your hands that you could sell? And so I did a little inventory and I did a bit of time with God and I prayed about it. And then this book for teen girls popped into my mind. I actually have a few boxes sitting there that I haven't done anything with for the last few months. And, and I was thinking, well, our teen girls need these resources. It's a great book for them to have. So I took note of everything she said in the workshop. I picked what I was going to choose, which of the, you could say the steps I was going to take. So I took one of them and I said, I'm going to sell them in bulk. I'm going to get this, this booklet and I'm going to sell them in bulk. And then what I did was I made A list of 15 pastors of churches and pastors that I. Some I don't know, but some of the churches I have visited and I thought, I'll write to them, tell them what I have in my hand and see what they say. So I gave them some options. In the email, I read a really Nice email. And I said to them, these are the options I have. These books will be great for teen girls, especially during Christmas, or if you have any visiting girls that could come to. To your church, you can gift this out. If there's baptisms, if there's birthdays, these books are actually fantastic, fantastic for them. So I gave them in the email a few options of how many they could have in the bulk. And I didn't want to do too many options because I would confuse them, but I just did three different options and. And that was it. And I sent it off. And so I heard back from three of them. And I have sold a hundred of this so far just by following that simple workshop, but so profound that Shelley taught. And it's amazing. So I don't have a hundred of these booklets sitting there anymore that have actually been sold. And that is amazing. And I know that the others will email soon as well with more orders. And it's just really exciting. And I just encourage you to look and see what you do have in your house or you do have in your hands that you could sell. And this is going to bless 110 girls so far for Christmas. I don't know how many more are going to come in, but that's a huge win. So thank you so much, Shelly, for everything that you're teaching. And I know that God is leading you so that you can teach people like me who find it hard to implement marketing and so overwhelming. You're doing in a really simple way and you just give us a few options that we can pick from and we can go all in. So I am loving this and I'm praising God because he is leading and he. He is going to bless the girl. So thank you so much.

I loved that from Esther and just. Just powerful, right? And so I'm going to bring back all of the speakers here. You can see us and we're going to have some time for Q and A. I see Doc is on here. And Doc recently shared in our Christian Book Academy group that he sold like over $200 worth of books this year, this month. There's some creative ways that God had given him. And so I just love hearing, you know, as you know, we give you the practical training like Tanisia was saying. And yet when you're connecting with the Lord, right, you're connecting with God and he's giving you the exact strategies for you at this time and at this moment, what is going to work best for you. But somebody did have a question for you. Tanisia about the business meetings with God. And for those of you that, that don't have that training, you can get it for free at training authors.com forward/businessmeeting. So if you want to check that out. But why don't you just share Tanisia if you're willing. Just a little bit of like, what does a business meeting with God look like for you?

Sure, no problem. It's a little bit of an extension of you what you've already provided. But I start off with gratitude and then repent for any sins that I've had and ask God to keep my heart humble as I continue to write and grow and develop until he's called me into who he has called me to be. Also write prayers out and then I wait and ask for feedback so I can say, all right, I think I want to make, you know, some posts on social media. What do you think those, what should, what should, what should I use for the content? What is that? What do you think I should use God? And he might say, oh well, use this picture from back in the day and write this particular sentence with it. Or he'll say just, just wait, I'll give it to you throughout the week. Just trust me to give you the story to add. Because if I'm honest with you all, I don't really like to post a lot. It's a struggle for me because I can be analytical. So I'm thinking is sound, right? Will they get it? I mean, I don't know. So I'm always saying, okay, God, what do you think? You know, I do that every, I've made it a habit outside of even just the business meeting, it's simple as what do I wear today or how should I put my hair. Like what do you think? It's just a partnership. So if you, you know, if you are trying to get in the habit of having that business meeting of getting his thoughts and waiting and listening, the best way to start even sharpening your, your ears to hear from him is just a day to day walk from what should I eat? Or should I eat just two cookies or four? Is it okay? And I know that sounds really simple and probably like really, do you think God cares? And it's yes, he, he really wants to be that involved. And so he and I are that entwined where I asked him, you know, should I make a left or right? You know, it's just that when I'm driving, it's just that that intimacy that is required. And I think when you have those business meetings, it starts to develop like that. And the business meetings don't sound so much like business meeting, like serious. It really can be a few minutes or it can turn into an entire worship experience. It just depends on what he wants. And I think the key is just to be.

Open and ready and willing to listen to him. And even if he gives you something that makes you feel like, oh, that's too much, it's just, all right, I'm going to try. He just wants obedience. And I think you say that all the time, Shelly. Obedience is success. Right? Isn't that what you say? So I love.

Success is obedience. Right?

Success is obedience. Yes, that's what I meant. So, yeah, that's what those business meetings look like for me. And oh, I also want to make sure I mention this. The fun part is after I do it and I go back, I like to read the prayers I wrote and then I can see the ones he answered. I'm like, yes, he did it. And it just.

That's so good. And Vicki was the one that asked that. She says, wow, I love that, you know, asking, what do you think? So that was so good. And thank you so much for sharing. And yeah, I mean, when I started to include God in the whole, you know, the whole process, you know, why I didn't do that from the beginning, I don't know. But it's just like, oh, so much breakthrough and just all of that. And so, Jennifer, why don't you share just a little bit of like, you've written so many books and published so many books in such a short period of time. Share a little bit about the low content, you know, type of books that you've been publishing.

Yeah, of course. So I'll show a couple that I have here. I showed earlier the companion book to my ebook, which is just pretty much just the same pages you just do. Like I have a doodle area and a notebook area to write in journal. So you just. You and I do it in PowerPoint, making the pages and then download it and put it up into kdp. It's very simple. I guess what some people might think of is difficult will be the actual cover design. But I thrive. I love creating the designs on the COVID So that to me was just part extra. Part of it is enjoying the creativity of designing the covers. But you can always get somebody if you don't know how to do a cover. But it's. They're so simple to just. You can use the same format like I made. This is my. As I have a goat farm. And so I made a weekly journal.

Let's.

Let's Go Get Done is the title. This Cute little goat. But it's just a.

So it has like a week for Monday through Sunday. Just kind of basic ideas you can write in there. And then a thoughts page and a notes page. And so that's just repeated over and over again. Or this would be for 52 weeks, for a year. And then I made a one with them with the cow, because some people like cows. I made the same. Pretty much the same layout just with the cow. So it's just, you know, really any ideas you have, it's just getting the layout. The format. Once you get the format for one book, it's pretty much the basic idea for all the other books. And so. And then for another idea from my. This is my AB. This is my very first book. I published my ABCs of praise, praising God through his names and attributes. That's the one where that God told me to write. And it is where alphabetically I wrote poems, three stanzas each and the letter the Alphabet praising him. And then there's, you know, Bible verses that go along with those words. And that's the journal. So then I also made a companion poet. Just a poetry book where it's not the journal, it's just the poems with a coloring page. Something simple and small. You can give smaller versions. You put stocking stuff or just as a little gift. And then I don't have a. I don't have my copy of it, but I made a children's companion book to go with this with little activities, coloring pages and drawing page, some different puzzles that as a family devotional. So the parents can have the adult version, the kids can have the children's version. They can do it as a family devotional. So that's my. For a companion book. So really you have one idea. You can have 10 books from one idea. So it's just really, you know, just being creative and just think outside the box. And really, I mean, literally, once I. Once I follow the steps in CVA and got that first one done, it's just again, practical. It's like, okay, just follow the steps. Get the next one done. Follow the steps. The next one done. Yeah, so you give me the action step, I'm going to do it. So.

Yeah.

And one of our mentors in. In Christian Book Academy, Lana Scroggins, and she also spoke on this at the Kingdom Writers Conference. She says she's. Her friends call her the author who. Who doesn't write because she does a lot of activity books or, you know, kind of low content books like you've done. And it's just a great option. And even, like Tanisia, you could, you know, have like, a corresponding journal with, you know, your book. So, Jan, you have been being consistent on social media lately. And talk to us a little bit about just showing up on social media and being consistent and engaging with your audience.

Well, I like your plan, although I must say I'm kind of behind.

I've had some health issues, so I've had to kind of hold back. But when I was on a roll, I can say, okay, I've got this. Here's her templates, here's her ideas. I'll put them in. You can put them on Facebook, business page, and you can schedule them. And then you just have to be there when people start coming in the notifications.

What I like is when I can ask a question, and I was never doing that in social media. I would post things, even for my spiritual ones that I do, I would give them, and people would say, yes, I really like that, whatever. But they wouldn't go for themselves. So asking a question helps bring them into what I've been saying. Yeah, I think that has really helped.

Yeah.

And, you know, past my bedtime, I can't.

Yeah, it's good.

I just want to say, too, that, you know, you're in a season right now that is a little bit different. You know, you're going through some health things. And I always say, you know, to go at the pace of God's grace. Right. And so there are different paces in different seasons. And just talking about that, Lola, you've had kind of a crazy season yourself. And, you know, you've been saying, I want to market this book. I want to market this book. I want to market this book. And yet you've had all of this tragedy in your family, all of this grief, and yet you've stood back and you've watched some things that God has done, right?

Well, I just want to say, if there's one, one pointer I want to give to others.

Cba. I don't. Without being part of cba, I don't think I would have written a book. I'll tell you why.

What?

During the time I was writing the book, it was the most stressful of my life and prayers from everyone on CBA. You know, C.J. and Shelly, the way they pray for us, Us. And there are times they would ask, do you have any prayer requests? You know, and I Would put my prayer requests out there. During those times, not only was I ill, little physically, my daughter, who's a physician, contracted Covid.

And she was pregnant. And she's been trying to get pregnant, you know, forever. She finally got pregnant and then she contracted Covid and she was hospitalized. Literally called my husband and I to say goodbye.

Oh, wow.

We were. We weren't sure if she was going to make it. I was in the middle of writing this book, the stress, the nine days that she was in icu, probably.

I didn't know how I survived those nine days.

And God gave me the writing as my place to go to. Just, you know, and so I'm not saying this because Shelley's here. I'm saying this as a believer in Christ, as one who knows the power that is in prayer, the power of God that he unleashes when we trust him and then when we obey him, and then when we have people. There are so many times that CBA members were the ones that were holding me up. It got to a point I could not pray. I was that stressed.

And having members of CBA lift me up in prayer at the most difficult times of my life, Losing my brother, family members, and my 40. Then she was 40 years old, daughter, I'm 65 now, 40 years old daughter.

Not thinking I was going to lose her.

With her baby. She was actually telling us, you know, she's going to try. Colleagues, her other doctors were the ones taking care of her. And she. She said, try to save my baby if possible if she was going to lose her life. She actually gave them instruction to just, if they can take the baby out, you know, before she passes all of that. And I'm in the middle of all of these and trying to write a book. All but God, but God.

So thank you all for the prayer. So the prayers alone is motivation, is encouragement. When I thought I wasn't going to survive this whole stressful time. The encouragement from CBA members and from the prayers request that I will submit over and over. Sometimes I sounded like.

I'm repeating myself in the prayer request, but they prayed for me, so I'm forever breaking.

Yes. And we do believe in the power of prayer. And in the comments, Vicki was saying, I agree, Lola. Beautiful to be prayed over by Shelly and C.J. and she says, I'm so sorry for all of your losses. The book I'm working on was birthed in Grief. And you are so inspiring. She said so. But thank you so much to all of you for sharing and just so grateful it's. This is work that we get to do, right? We get to help people like Jennifer and Lola and Janice and Denisia give birth to these books and see you reach more people with your message or Esther as well, you know, and. And helping teen girls in Australia and so all over the world. And I just get chills because it's just. It's just incredible. It's all glory to God, right? We would love to invite you to join our community of Kingdom writers and see what God will do with your step of faith, with your obedience. Like Lola was saying, when you trust him and you take those steps of obedience, you can join us@christianbookacademy.com and we'd love to have you as part of our community. But again, thank you all for coming and sharing your hearts. And these authors are going to be sharing their links in the comments of this video to their books. So support them, go check out their books and we will see you all soon. All right, thank you for being here. Bye.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Kingdom Writers. We believe that you, you as a Christian writer, have a specific role to play in the kingdom of Heaven to.

Impact lives for eternity.

And because of this, we choose to pour out our lives into encouraging writers like you to not only tell your stories, but to take the courageous step of self publishing your stories in books that will outlive you and leave behind a powerful legacy. This podcast is sponsored by Christian Book Exchange Academy, where we help you give birth to your books. We invite you to join our community of Kingdom writers.