How I got published

           In October, I became the proud father of my first book.  I am a missionary teaching English in Kenya, East Africa, at a school called Rift Valley Academy.  We live here with 300 boarding students whose parents work all over the continent.  Since this is my first book and I had some unique (and some common) obstacles to getting published, I wanted to share my experiences with you.

Back in July of 2006, as my wife Heather and I approached our one year anniversary on the mission field, I began to review all that God had taught us and felt like there were definite “plot points” that streamed through our year.  Nothing insanely monumental had happened to us, yet our uncommon life in this uncommon land does make for some interesting stories.  So I went back through old emails, blogs and journal entries and began to form a linear story.  The fact that I’d never seen a book like mine—a modern account of an American drop-out learning how to live in a foreign culture that amuses, inspires, grieves, and challenges simultaneously—spurred me on in hopes of filling this niche.

Many hours later, the book All That You Can’t Leave Behind: A Rookie Missionary’s Life in Africa was formed, and I began seeking publishers.

Most publishers in the States no longer accept unsolicited manuscripts (including Christian publishers).  Supposedly, some of them use two fee services to screen quality manuscripts for them, and then they choose from there.  If you have an agent or another connection of course, that can get your manuscript viewed by major Christian publishers, but if not, you must find another avenue.  I tried both of the fee services but received no interest in my book through them.  The feedback they gave to me about my lack of success was MISSIONS BOOKS DON’T SELL.

            I didn’t do much more during August-November ‘06 due to a busy ministry schedule, but when December rolled around, I began aggressively looking for publishers again.  I was a little more realistic with this surge of searching, going after smaller publishers and not the big boys who were lining my own bookshelves.  Although I still didn’t get any bites from U.S. publishers, I found many interested publishers in the UK.  It seems that missions books do sell in the UK, which was very odd, seeing how the American Christian book industry is ten times bigger than its UK counterpart.  You’d think the American industry would be able to afford diversity among their collections, but that’s not the case.

            (My history-loving wife finds my theory on this intriguing.  From the United States’ inception, it’s been very focused on its own survival and geographically it’s been isolated from the rest of the major world powers.  This has led the US to be very isolated and cautious in world affairs—e.g. last to enter WWI and last to enter WWII.  Perhaps the American church has followed this pattern of isolationism.  Perhaps the typical American Christian cares only about America and the commission to “go to all nations” is falling on deaf ears due to our cultural history.  Our British brothers seem to take missions seriously, judging by the books they’re choosing to publish and read, but not us?)

            The three UK publishers were extremely interested in my book, and it got to the highest level of review, only to be rejected because I’m an American.  Their market is mainly the UK, and my perspective is definitely American.

            Again, when the school term started up in January, my pursuit of publication cooled with the increased work load.  However, Harry Kraus, a missionary doctor here in Kijabe, Kenya, who also happens to be a successful writer (http://www.cuttingedgefiction.com/ ), wanted his agent to look at my manuscript.  The agent did but came back with a familiar response.  No market for missions book.

            I started seriously considering self-publishing.  I felt strongly enough about the potential for my story impacting possible future missionaries and American Christians that I was thinking about paying to get the book in print.  I knew I’d need to sell a whole lot of books to break even, but I was almost to that point.  I decided that August 2007 would be my deadline—no publisher by August would mean self-publishing.

            Then, during our next school break in April, I randomly stumbled across Angela Wilson on the Internet, and she graciously passed along her advice on being published.  Her best nuggets were 1) don’t give up, 2) don’t be afraid to try small mainstream publishers, 3) go to writing conferences for advice and contacts, 4) don’t pay anyone to read your book—whoops, I had already blown that one—and 5) don’t give up. 

She also mentioned Fathers Press.  She told me that the founder went after unusual stories and wasn’t in the business for the money.  This publisher is small, but since he has few clients, he gives a lot of personal attention and will work hard to get my story out there. 

Well, he read it and loved it.  I did most of the editing and book design on my own (which I actually enjoyed the creative control) and three months later he started sending me proofs from Missouri.  By the beginning of October, the book was in print, and now it is available on Amazon.com and FathersPress.com.  Some mainstream bookstores and online bookstores are in the process of reviewing it for sale.

Currently, we are in the marketing phase of the book, and without me around to promote it (I’m not due for a home assignment to the U.S. until July 2009), things are going slow.  But the responses have been amazing—a little less glowing than the Gutenberg Bible received but a little moreso than Satanic Verses got in Tehran—and I’m excited to see how my book could influence people as word of mouth spreads.  Marketing though is a-whole-nother ball game from writing, and I know it’ll take a little bit of luck along the way to do well.

If I could do it all over again, I’d do a few things differently.  I think I’d start looking for a publisher while I was still working on the manuscript.  Proposals and prospecti are very time-consuming, and then it takes publishers weeks (at least) and months (as the norm) to get back to you with their rejections.  I feel very fortunate to have gone from first draft to print in about 15 months; I now know that less than two years is awfully speedy in the book world.

Another thing I’ll do next time is put a bigger “blitz” on earlier.  That may be a time-drain, but this time I tried two or three publishers out at a time, waited a month or two, gathered in my rejections, and then rinsed, lathered, and repeated.  Perhaps I was a bit naïve to think I’d get snatched up right away or perhaps a bit lazy, but in any case, I think putting in extra work at the beginning would’ve paid dividends.

To wrap up, this process has been a great, wonderful, and torture-filled education.  “Writing” is so much more than writing.  Getting published, editing, and marketing are full-time jobs in themselves.  But if you’re a writer, the works calls you to itself, and sometimes the work even reward you a bit, and you find yourself published somehow.