The books that sell (and get finished) on Amazon might surprise you…
16 Oct 2025 · 6 min
C.J. and Shelley Hitz argue Christian writers should publish shorter books because readers want quick wins and Amazon actively promotes Kindle Short Reads under 100 pages. Lois Martin sold over 100 books in her launch by going short.
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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.
If someone doesn't finish reading your book, God can't use it to impact their life. And that's why writing shorter books might be the most strategic decision you can make. Hi, my name is Shelli Hits, and in the next few minutes, I'm going to show you why shorter books not only get finished, but they actually sell. And I'll back up my opinion with reader behavior, Amazon strategy, and real world results from inside our community. So, first of all, readers love short wins. And let's face the fact our readers are busy, right? And many of them want to finish a book in one sitting, especially if it's spiritual encouragement or a testimony. And the moment they finish, that's when impact happens. That's when they can review it, share it, reflect on it, and apply it to their lives so it actually changes them, right? But if they don't finish, the book, can't do what God intended it to do. And so, first of all, our readers love short wins. Second of all, Amazon knows that short books work as well. So that's why they created an entire category on Amazon called Kindle Short Reads. It's specifically for books under a hundred pages designed to be read in 15 minutes to two hours. And these short books are strategic. So if you've written a devotional or a tiny testimony book, like we like to call it, you fit perfectly into what Amazon is already helping readers to discover into this category of short reads. Now, we recommend that you publish your short book as a Kindle book and as a print book, because that print book can be passed around and it is just so powerful to do both. But. But Amazon does specifically have this category for the Kindle books. So first of all, your readers love short wins. Second of all, Amazon knows that short books work as well. And finally, this isn't just theory. I've seen it played out time and time again in real time. So Inside Christian Book Academy, our membership for kingdom writers like you who want to finally finish their book, we recommend that you start with a short book. And those who do that consistently publish faster and build momentum sooner. For example, one of our members, Lois Martin, set aside her idea for a full length memoir and decided instead to write a tiny testimony book. She's already sold over a hundred books just in her book launch alone and readers are telling her that it's bringing them healing. If she would have waited to finish her full length memoir, she may have never finished that book because she had been waiting for years and years. And so this is something that you can apply as well. You know, if you're stuck trying to write the big book, the full memoir, the complete program, or teaching, maybe it's not that you're doing it wrong, maybe you're just starting too big for this first project. Especially a short book doesn't mean small impact. Believe me. We have seen this over and over again with our books as well. But it means real progress, real readers in a finished book that God can actually use. So I hope that this has encouraged you. Let us know in the comments below if you are open to publishing a short book.
If you're ready to take a step of faith and finally finish your book, we have a few ways we can help you. First of all, you can join our Free Writing Week challenge to create a writing habit in just 15 minutes a day. Thousands of writers have taken this over the years and it is incredible the progress that you'll see. So join us@writingweek.com and again, this is completely free. Inside our Book Writing Lab workshop, you can choose your book topic, write an outline, and create a writing plan in just 90 minutes so you'll finally feel confident that you'll actually finish your book. Get started@bookwritinglab.com and finally you can get more support and personalized feedback from myself and our team by joining Christian Book Academy. Because the honest truth is most writers stay stuck and never finished their first draft. But inside Christian Book Academy, we help you partner with God to write your book so you can become a published author.
So finally, ditch your self doubt and.
Take a step of faith so you can finish your book. Join Christian book academy@christianbookacademy.com and get 50% off your first month by using the Coupon Code Podcast at checkout. There's a special coupon code for our podcast listeners.
We love you.
So come over to ChristianBookAcademy.com, use the coupon Code podcast and we look forward to working closely with you.
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.