Write for the King of Glory Second Edition

By Mary C. Findley

Newly revised and updated with a bigger appendix of resources. Share the fruits of seven years of publishing. Learn about blogging, writing, cover design, editing, marketing, and find a bunch of great resources to help you in your publishing journey, many of them free. I'm not the be-all and end all of Christian publishing, but I'm here to help, and so are a bunch of other Christian writers and service providers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Findley Family Video
• Release date: Aug 17, 2015
• ISBN: 9781513056050

Mary C. Findley

Mary grew up in rural NY and Michael is from AZ. We met at college, taught school in AZ, MO and PA, homeschooled, and created curriculum and videos for church and commercial productions. We have three supposedly grown children and traveled the 48 states and Canada together in a tractor trailer.Findley Family Video Publications has the key verse “Speaking the Truth in Love” from Ephesians 4:15. We have four main goals:To Present a Biblical WorldviewTo Exalt the Lord Jesus ChristTo Edify BelieversTo Teach and to DelightMichael J. Findley has been on the road most of his life and his writings reflect that motion. From the rise of the ancient Hittite Empire to a generational saga of a Space Empire, the one constant is his desire to communicate the truth of God's Word through fiction and nonfiction. Homeschoolers, church leaders, and ordinary believers who want to go deeper into the Word and reach higher to put God in the exalted place where He belongs will find many answers here.They say write what you know. Mary C. Findley has poured her real life into her writing -- From the cover designs inspired by her lifelong art studies to the love of pets and country life that worm their way into her historicals. The never-say-die heroes in her twenty-some fiction works are inspired by her husband, a crazy smart man with whom she co-writes science and history-based nonfiction. These works were jump-started by a deep awareness of the dangers in our future if we don't understand ideological enemies rooted in the past. She's a strong believer in helping others and also has books about publishing advice and the need to have strong standards in reading and writing.She has traveled internationally and around the lower 48 and Canada multiple times. Anecdotes from her small town life, college experiences, European, Canadian, and south-of-the border travels, as well as adventures as shotgun rider in a tractor trailer fill her contemporary works. She has also donned the cloak of alt-Victorian adventuress as Sophronia Belle Lyon, steampunk writer with her own League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (and ladies) from the great 1800s novelists. In all her works you will find faith, family, friendship and fulfilling stories. Do come have a look!

Book preview

Preface: Elk Jerky for the Soul – The blog where this book was born

This book is largely based on posts from our blog, Elk Jerky for the Soul. We began it about five years ago, and God has blessed it with quite a few followers. I first need to share the philosophy which led us to write what we write, on the blog and in our books, so this is one of the earliest posts.

What Is Elk Jerky for the Soul?

Today we Christians hear many messages designed to make us feel better, and above all to be easy to digest (understand, absorb), like chicken soup. Much feel good Christian teaching is, however, not biblical.

I Corinthians 3:1 says, And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.

Milk is good for babies. It’s easy to digest. Paul calls these milk-drinking Christians carnal. They shouldn’t be babies. They should have grown up by now. Today we have lots of carnal Christians subsisting on milk. We have based this blog on a passage of Scripture today’s milk-fed Christians might not know.

Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Hebrews 5:11-14

The writer of Hebrews wants to teach his audience so much, but they are not concentrating and taking in the message. He says they ought to be teachers by now, but they’re back to being milk-drinkers. They need to learn the first principles all over again.

Here’s the key portion of the passage: such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. Elk jerky is about the strongest meat we could think of. That’s why the tagline of our blog is, It’s tough, but you need it. Soldiers carving a victory out in time of war could pretty much live on jerky. It builds you up, but it’s kind of tough if you’re used to milk. Christians should understand that they are battling to carve out a victory for Christ. If you are a milk-drinking Christian, it’s time to get used to some elk jerky to feed your soul.

Do you really want to be unskillful in the word of righteousness? Don’t you want to be of full age? Are you really satisfied with what may make you feel good, but is designed for babies? Don’t you want to be one of those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil?

Use self-discipline. Push yourself to grow in Christ. Chewing elk jerky develops some physical muscle and strength. Disciplining yourself takes you out of the carnal Christian category and puts you in the full age or mature Christian category.

One of the purposes of Findley Family Video Publications is to Disestablish America’s Established Religion, Secular Humanism. Secular Humanism has taken over our world. You’ll find as you follow our posts that it’s taken over every area. History, Science, Culture, Education, Politics, and even the churches, are permeated with secularism.

We are in the Conflict of the Ages, fighting the prince of this world and spiritual wickedness in high places. We need survival rations for that battle, something light, easy to carry, but packed with what you need to keep going and growing. That’s what elk jerky for the soul really is.

Introduction: Who Am I and What Makes Me Think I Can Tell People Anything About Publishing?

As the author line says, I am Mary C. Findley. I am the sole proprietor, but actually partner with my hubby, at Findley Family Video Publications (FFVP). We have a long history of teaching, video production, graphic design, and writing, including issues nonfiction, curriculum, science fiction, historical fiction, contemporary suspense, plus blogging on all kinds of subjects, including politics, writing, and education.

I have been writing seriously for around thirty years and publishing books about seven. What was I thinking, becoming a publisher, you ask?

For around 10 years, quite some time ago, I tried to get our books published conventionally. It is a time-consuming process, and I think your chances of winning the lottery are better than getting accepted. You are expected to have an agent, and to attend conventions where publishers may take the time to see you or accept your manuscript for a looking-over. You are expected to join associations and attend conferences, classes, seminars. It might be good to hear teachers and speakers on writing and publishing and get all this instruction and information. But all of these things cost money and take time, which are the last things most aspiring authors have.

Yes, you do see lots of books traditionally published. Yes, you even see bestsellers, and people with many bestsellers. But those represent a tiny percentage of the people who try and try to get noticed by agents or publishers. Besides, even if you do manage to get a publisher, sometimes your book never makes it out. Published or not, it may not be successful, but because you have a contract, it’s stuck in limbo for years until the publisher returns the rights to you. If that ever happens.

If it does make it to publication, a publisher often leaves it mostly up to the author to make it sell. And even if it does sell, you rarely make as much as the advance they gave you, if they gave you one. And if you do get paid royalties, they come once a year, perhaps twice, from most publishers. If you have an agent, which is almost required, you have to split the royalties.

That’s the sad truth about traditional publishing. Some people make it. Most people don’t. The purpose of this book is not to say traditional publishing is bad. It’s to explain another way. Maybe after all this time I don’t have to say it, but what I do is independent publishing. We are called indies. Sometimes that includes people published by a small press or self-published under an agreement with a company that asks the author to share (or shoulder) costs. I’m not going to talk about small press publishing or co-operative publishing, either. I’m not saying they are good or bad. Different people find different ways to get published. But at least one small press I contacted has one editor, the publisher himself, and a two-year-plus backlog of manuscripts.

This book is strictly my advice and experience about going it alone – being your own publisher. FFVP doesn’t publish any other authors at this point besides myself and hubby and helping one or two relatives and friends. I hope that will change in the future. But I have given lots of advice to other self-publishers (and gotten great tips from them). I also edit and design covers, and occasionally do ebook formatting for other authors.

You see, I believe God prepared me in a remarkable way for this indie publishing stuff. I had near-private art instruction in high school. I almost decided to become an artist rather than a writer. But I also got a huge amount of encouragement and some recognition beginning in junior high to become a writer. I won a few awards for writing and art in high school and college, and even had one college English instructor read something I wrote to the class and say, Not everybody can write beautiful flowing prose like this. Wow.

After college I worked as an editor for the textbook publisher of the school I graduated from. When we moved to another state I got a job as a proofreader for a junk mail company. Yes, a junk mail company. If you think that’s degrading, think about this: They picked me out of their staff of proofreaders to work on a promotional book they were asked to publish. They also shuffled me back into the early stages of proofing when I caught several serious mistakes in the last stage before actual printing. That was after they told me, Don’t read the plates!

Along the way I got to talk to people in all the phases of printing, from artists to typesetters to other editors. One thing I learned is that being a writer isn’t just about writing. You can write all day long, on a legal pad in pencil like I used to, on a manual typewriter like I used to, on a clunky primitive gaming machine/computer that used modified audio tapes for storage and had the loudest daisy-wheel printer in the world (Thank you, hubby, for that old Coleco Adam!)

Yes, you can fill pads and notebooks and file folders and storage media with your stuff, but it won’t ever become a book that way. It likely won’t become a book if you send it off to conventional publishers. If it does, you will wait a year or two years … or more … and then you will be biting your tongue and holding your nose and saying, It’s not really the way I wanted it … but … it’s published! Oh … wait … now I have to start marketing it?

I’m living proof that you can get your book published. It doesn’t have to stay in those pre-publication versions, or be taken out of your hands and changed to the point where you hardly recognize it. God educated me through some amazing preparation and hard times to the point where I realized that it’s up to me to make my books. Nobody’s going to do it for me. At least not so that I can control it from start to finish, or within my mostly nonexistent budget, or on my timetable.

So, I have learned to be a cover designer, an editor, an ebook formatter, and everything else I need to create my own books. I have also learned some things about online marketing, to the point where we have regular monthly sales that continue to grow.

Okay. Now the clamor will start about indie writers. Some people say that experienced professionals have to be part of the process or your book will be flawed and amateurish. They will tell you that publishers and editors and cover designers are essential to the process.

Some people will say, You can’t do it all. You don’t have a degree in graphic design or the latest version of Adobe Photoshop. You surely can’t objectively edit your own work. At the very least you’ll miss basic stuff that other eyes would catch. And on top of it all, you haven’t attended a single writer’s workshop or convention. You don’t belong to a single association. You’ve never even talked to a real, successful, published author face to face. How dare you give advice?

Please note, I am an experienced professional. I can give you a list of authors I’ve edited for, formatted books for, made covers for, and even led by the hand through the entire process (though I don’t get paid for the leading by the hand stuff.) I have also had several books chart in the top 100 repeatedly for their categories, paid, not free, on Amazon.

Still, here’s my real answer: It might sound like I do it all alone, but I don’t claim to actually be alone in this. As you go through this book, you will discover the key to whatever success I have today in publishing, besides God’s preparation and continued help. It’s called networking. That’s a word that’s been thrown around by people without a really good explanation of all that it means to the indie author.

You know what a net is. It catches things. To a fish or a bird, it’s a bad thing. But to an indie author, it’s a good thing. Out there online, there are people who will be your net as you learn how to publish. I’m talking about the kind of net that keeps acrobats from squishing when they miss that swing or those hands high up there in the air. You can find them just by doing simple searches on facebook. Look for groups of authors. You might want to be specific as to the type of books you write or want to write, such as romance or SciFi. You might want to join one of the monster groups with over a thousand members and all kinds of writers, designers, and publicists.

But my biggest piece of advice is to concentrate on finding other Christians. When I started looking online for others in indie publishing, I at first found many mixed groups with mostly unsaved members. Don’t get me wrong. I learned a lot in those groups. There are top-notch writers, designers, marketers, editors, formatters – any technical help you need can be found there, whether you just want advice or are looking to hire help.

The reason I say concentrate on finding Christians is because you are going to get discouraged, defeated, and feel like giving up many times before you get that book or those books published. Sometimes unsaved people are kind and encouraging. Often they are not. You need to find some warm, loving, encouraging, snuggly-blanket-type people you can seek out when you just don’t know what to do.

Don’t expect every Christian to be just like you, or believe or practice just like you, either. I had an adopted family who took me to church regularly, and I followed a very conservative faith and practice. One of the first things I did upon getting online and joining other Christian writers was to start reading their books and reviewing them, as well as talking to them and hearing what they believed.

Let’s just say that God will need to sort some of this stuff out, as to what’s right and wrong about these different beliefs and practices, but I have been blessed to find core agreement in the things that are life and death. The authority of Scripture and all that means – that’s not negotiable. Some other things are. I believe some practices and beliefs weaken my brothers and sisters in Christ, but I say my piece and move on, and they say theirs, and we digitally hug and go on loving each other in Christ.

In this book I will refer to these brothers and sisters in Christ, and share some of what they taught me. You can join most of us at the facebook site Christian Indie Authors Network (CIAN.)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/117510274996874/

(Note that I am including the direct link to the group here, but sometimes groups go secret on facebook to avoid spammers. If you can’t get in directly, try this link, to our portal group.)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/JoinChristianindieauthors/

These are good people. They are literally scattered all over the world. Some have been through much tougher times of preparation than I have. And all of them know stuff about publishing and share it freely.

So, my specific qualifications for writing this book are: a degree in English, some writing awards and pats on the head from people who have some skill and knowledge, and lots of experience as a writer and publisher of our own books, and as an editor, a cover designer, and an ebook and print book formatter for myself and other indie authors.

Oh, yes, we have produced print books too. All of our longer works have print editions now. I’ll cover that process too, later on, and try to make it as painless as possible, though it is more difficult. The truth, however, is that ebooks are getting to be more and more popular and you can’t go wrong if you can at least publish your books in electronic format.

This going online to learn about indie publishing has transformed me. Many writers can relate to having a shy, introverted nature. For years I just did this writing thing all alone. But nowadays I can’t resist jumping into group discussions. I ask questions, I give my opinion, and I surprise myself by reaching out and helping others who are struggling. I have played midwife to quite a few baby books, doing everything from just talking an author through uploading to completely editing, cover designing, and holding the hand of someone who still doesn’t believe he’s an author, even though he has six short novels out now.

It suddenly occurred to me that I wanted to gather all this stuff I’ve learned into one place and put it out there to see if it helps someone. I am going to

Collect here stuff I’ve written about on our blog, https://elkjerkyforthesoul.com/. I’ll also add other stuff as it occurs to me.

I’ll make a point of including resources like websites that teach all the parts of the process of publishing and marketing.

I’ll share the blogs of some of my writer friends and others who do interviews that help us get exposure.

I’ll mention those who review books honestly and insightfully.

I hope you’ll understand as you read along that I’m not so much giving you my expert advice as trying to show you where to get help. I’m not the be-all and end-all of publishing. I’ll cue you in on artists, book designers, editors, and formatters, because for sure I can’t do it all, and even what I can do