subject: Christian Self Publishing Secrets... Revealed [print this page] Christian Self Publishing Secrets..Christian Self Publishing Secrets... Revealed
A considerable number of people all around the world are either writing a manuscript, planning to write one, or holding on to that finished piece without knowing how to get a respectable audience to read it. There can be many publishing portals for fiction, biographies, music, cooking, and all other subject matter. However, Christian literature is a completely separate and unique genre that must be given just the right amount of effort and attention to be noticed and have a voice to tower all others blaring and screaming in today's modern world.
After a manuscript is completed, the next big step would be to get the book "out there". After all, books are meant to be read and not kept in dusty attics or hidden into oblivion. A lot of writers prefer to enter into contracts with commercial publishers who do the work for them in exchange for the purchase of all rights from the author. Another alternative, however, would be to consider self-publishing where one retains full control over everything that goes into the published work -- from cover to cover.
Christian self publishing can be a rather tricky art, but if given significant attention by the author and most importantly the readers, should guarantee a very rewarding experience indeed. Basic background, inside secrets, and robust determination can pretty much bring that book to the spotlight:
An Exceptional Manuscript
With the millions of books sold worldwide, including those available in online bookstores, the mixed-and-matched ideas, the "unique approaches" duplicated generation after generation, nothing is hardly original these days. What makes the manuscript different from everything else already in print -- paper, or electronic -- is perhaps the most important factor that will drive readers to pick that one instead of all the rest. Christian books come in the form of novels, self-help, devotionals, Bible study guides, comics, illustrated versions, and the like. These can be mixed and matched to achieve a very unique and enticing new piece of literature that will intrigue readers from around the globe.
A Specific Audience
Although it may appear otherwise, it helps if a book addresses a narrowed readership rather than just the general public. That way, it has more direction and more heart. Authors cannot enter into a deeper level with their readers if their readers are like a salad bowl of different ages, cultures, professions, and personalities. In order for a book to stir the heart of an audience it has to relate to that audience in a different level, one that only the two of them can fully understand. Self-help books for teens, devotionals for women and real-life Bible experiences for pastors are more likely to appeal to these people as something of substance rather than one elaborating on how to "Learn More About Life."
Designs that Speak
Since the author is the one responsible for designing his entire book from the cover art to page illustrations to font styles and text arrangements, he has to have a feel of what the entire work is trying to bring to its readers and allow that atmosphere to come out in the pages' colors, lines, curves, shapes -- the overall design. A self-help book that attempts to guide people through relaxation and meditation would do well to be dressed in cool colors like different shades of blue and green woven in a unique symphony across a white background.
Patient Funds
Like any other independent undertaking, Christian self publishing requires a sizeable amount of funds as well as an author who is willing to wait -- and work while waiting. Promotional activities, marketing, distribution, and advertising are only some of the tasks a self-published author has to accomplish on his own once the book is in print. Also, this is the part where marketing strategies would definitely come in handy.
Self-publishing can be rather costly, but the experience is like no other. Instead of selling a manuscript to a publishing company -- and all the rights along with it -- writers can choose to have full control over what goes in and out of their work, how their material will appear, and finally have full confidence to look at it and say, "This is my book."
