#420 Publish with a Purpose: What to Expect Once Your Book is Released

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 Shelley 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.

What should I expect once my book is released? Hi, my name is Shelly Hitz. I'm the owner and founder of ChristianBookAcademy.com and this really is a big question. I think as a first time author, there's so much time and energy into getting the project finished and published that you don't spend much time on what happens after that. True. So we lead you through in Christian Book Academy, the Kingdom Writer's path. The FA phase one is first draft. Getting that ugly, messy first draft out of your head onto paper. Phase two is the final draft. That's where you'll do self editing. That's where you'll hire a professional editor. You get your manuscript ready to where all of the content is ready to be formatted. Step three is to self publish or to work with a publishing company and get your book published. Step four. So after you've published your book, the next step is the book launch. And so we have an entire module in Christian Book Academy on your book launch. Now your book launch can be this big thing or it can be a soft launch. It can be just getting that book out there to your current friends and family, the people that you know. And then you can always, you can always organize other promotions later. And that's where the fifth and final stage of the Kingdom Writers path is impact lives. And we call this ongoing marketing because you're going to have the opportunity to continue to impact lives just moving forward through your book. And so we encourage you to think of your book as if you're birthing a baby. Many times it could be a nine month process or it could be shorter, it could be longer. But you give birth to the baby, the pregnancy and the birthing is kind of that first draft, final draft and self publish phases. You publish that book, you've given birth to that book. Now what? Well, that's where the parenting comes in. So your book launch and your ongoing marketing is how you steward the message that God has given you, this gift that he's given you or this message. And that happens with ongoing marketing. And now you can put as much time in it as you want. You know, it's a process. Know that your book launch is just the beginning. It's not the end. But we have some resources for you that we have a book launch edition of our Kingdom Writers Conference that has a ton of information in there and you can find it@bookDOMwritersconference.com launch. But if you're a Christian Book Academy member, you have access to this in your member area in the conference Replays module. And in that conference I also talk about the post launch blues and there's a whole teaching on that in the pre conference miniseries because it's a real thing. And we've been mentoring writers since 2010. We have written and published over 70 books ourselves. And so we know like, we know that there typically is like that postpartum depression or that postpartum blues, there's like this post book launch blues and it's something that, that, that happens to many writers. And so don't get discouraged if you feel that you may need to take a little bit of time away from screens, away from all the things you know, take some time with the Lord to rest and then rise again. Resting doesn't mean you're quitting, it just means you're resting. Right? Sometimes we need to rest after that big push to publish the book, to get launch, to get it marketed into the world. And then in Christian Book Academy we have a lot of training for you on ongoing marketing. So there's a lot of things that are involved with that and we, I do recommend that you think of it in the framework of the five step marketing plan. And I'll link to that in, in the description so that you have that. But I just encourage you, just enjoy the process. Don't feel pressure. Realize this is a privilege. Enjoy this whole experience of giving birth to your first book baby. Do a launch. It doesn't have to be big, but do something, even if it's with your close family and friends. Like do something and then realize that this is going to be a marathon and not a sprint. This is about parenting that book. And it's not about just giving birth and then adopting it out to someone else. Right? That's what a lot of people want to do. They're like, can someone else just do all the marketing? For me, I really don't think that's the most effective way you can hire people to help you. But I just really think like there can be a way for you to do this in a way that feels good to you, that fits in your time and that fits with your personality and strengths. So there's a lot to it. But we cover all that in ChristianBookAcademy.com and so I'm really excited for you. Cannot wait for you to publish your book and so we can cheer you on.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Kingdom Writers. We believe that 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 Academy where we help you give birth to your books. We invite you to join our community of Kingdom Writers.

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