Ch 14: The Ebook Checklist

Writing this first book was like being on an emotional roller coaster.

Nov 07, 2024

Cracking Open the Door

The snowball was really rolling now, and I could sense the momentum. I had written bulleted outlines or assembled resources for nineteen chapters. I identified holes in my narrative. I searched my memory for appropriate stories to introduce the chapters. I hunted down books and news articles to support my arguments. I wrote even more note cards.

But I didn’t talk about my project outside that small circle of church friends. Most of my other friends had no clue what was going on with me. For one thing, I definitely wasn’t ready to ask for feedback. It’s easier to stay upbeat when you haven’t yet taken the risk of letting anybody see your work.

[Editor's Note: This article is Chapter 14 in my serialized spiritual memoir Well Guided: My Life as a Student at the International Academy of God, in which I share some of the many ways God has had a hand in my life. Access previous chapters via the Table of Contents.]

In mid-May, Husband and I drove to Pittsburgh for his god-daughter's college graduation. Her mom, my friend Betty, was having one of her famous parties to celebrate. I had known Betty for thirty years, but had never really met her sister. As the party got going, I heard someone say Betty's sister was out on the side porch. As almost-family, I figured this was a good time to get to know her.

Nancy and I introduced ourselves. She knew who I was and my relationship to the family. We shared the usual chit chat, and when I asked where she lived, she said Sharon, PA.

Oh. "I've been going to a church camp near there for most of my life," I volunteered. "In Transfer, PA."

"I know where that is," she said.

Normally, people don't start talking religion to someone they just met at a party. It's one of those taboo topics, like politics, that you try to avoid with strangers. But having mentioned church camp, an innocent attempt at making a geographic connection opened the door for exploring a spiritual connection. Nancy now knew I was the kind of person who would go to a church camp. That revelation made it okay to pursue spirituality as a topic.

Feeling Excitement, Relief, Urgency

As we gingerly tiptoed through our spiritual commonalities and differences, we became more comfortable with sharing the serious stuff. The stories you don't tell to just anyone. I told her about God asking me to write a book. She confessed she had some stories she could write up. She even shared one.

There was this time when my water heater broke. I didn't have the money to get it fixed. I didn't know who to call. I was desperate.
I decided to pray about it and ask God for help. I heard a voice telling me to call a specific county office in Mercer [the county seat]. I figured, what the heck. I looked up the phone number and called them.
And they were exactly the right government employees to call. Turns out there was a special government program I had never heard of. They told me I qualified for the program. Before I knew it, I had a new water heater. For free. God is good.

This is not a typical story I would expect to hear at one of Betty's parties. It's not a typical conversation for any party I've ever attended.

Sharing our testimonies with one another that day became yet another testimony of how God helped me write what I had been asked to write. In fact, my conversation with Nancy soon became part of Chapter 12.

On the drive back home from Pittsburgh, I told Husband about my conversation with Nancy. He was surprised. "You're really into this, aren't you?" he exclaimed. I felt like he was finally starting to understand why I was putting myself (and the family) through so much struggle. It was such a relief to feel like he was at least somewhat on board with what I couldn't help but do.

Even God seemed happy for me. On May 18th, I transcribed this in my journal:

Congratulations on finally finding something you can be excited about! I'm excited that you're excited. See that you do not waste any more time playing computer games—or even knitting to excess—until you have this book done. Use your excitement to propel you forward to the finish line.

So The Great Editor-in-Chief was continuing to dole out new content and to cheer me on in the midst of writing. But in that same journal entry, I was also hearing a sense of urgency.

Do not fail me in getting this book done soon. In the next month, if possible.

I put it into my mind that I needed to be done by the end of June.

Woman in a blazer reading from a notebook — Photo by Ketut Subiyanto on pexels

Moving on to Checklist Step Four

Back to that ebook checklist, here's the fourth rule: know who your target audience is. The internet articles on getting published said to think of your target audience in terms of an ideal reader. Then have this ideal reader in mind as you write. I was already seeing how this was important as I debated what to include or leave out. There were just so many stories. I needed a way to choose between them.

And then there was a question of style, or voice. How sophisticated did I want to sound? Was I talking to highly educated people? Or someone who hadn't been to college?

Like everything else I had to figure out about this book, it seemed like I needed to try to work it out for myself before I could expect to receive guidance. So after several days of trying to suss out the ideal reader, the voice in my head said: your ideal reader is like one of your [convenience store] employees.

I had to think about that. Especially since I knew at least some of them hadn't cracked open a book since high school.

I journaled about it that night and came away with a bit of clarification.

May 21, 2009: Do not fear to proceed as I have outlined for indeed your employees and their kind may not read your book. Nevertheless, thinking about them will target your writing into the level and style I want.
This book should not sound like every other book out there. It must be easy to read, as you already see. It must reach people where they are—in American culture.

Okay. I could work with this.

Finally, I decided to interpret this guidance to mean my ideal reader was someone with these characteristics: (1) intelligent enough to go to college, but either hadn’t gone or hadn’t finished; (2) Christian, but not necessarily religious, not necessarily spiritual, and not a Bible reader; and (3) someone who had perhaps asked questions of ministers in the past, but had not received satisfying answers.

Mostly, my ideal reader would not be “set in their religious ways,” but would be open to what I had to share. That openness was important, since I would be sharing some ideas that were not acceptable in mainstream conservative thinking.

And what about that reference to American culture? Because of that guidance, I began to include cultural references. Movie quotes. Snippets of newspaper articles. Relatable stuff I imagined my audience would recognize and connect to, and which would make the book easier to digest.

What's the Plan for Publishing?

The fifth rule is to have a plan for how to publish: ebook, print-on-demand, or traditional publishing. Back when I was just beginning to actually write (in late April), God had been vague about this part. No surprise there, I guess.

I will not tell you how to have it published, for others have their agency as well, as you know. Try all avenues that seem appropriate and leave no possible stone unturned.

Now, the experience I had gained in playing with eBay appeared to have been part of the whole plan. Any understanding of buying and selling online was going to be helpful. If you’re a scripture nerd, think: “All things work together for good for those who love the Lord” (Romans 8:28).

A month later (late May), non-traditional publishing was beginning to look more appealing. I had read a relevant blog post by publishing expert Michael Hyatt about publishers wanting their authors to have an existing platform. What he meant was that new authors should already have an audience in place. Say, you pastored a large church, or had a popular website, or were otherwise known in circles beyond your friends and family. Any of that would amount to having an existing platform.

In that May 21st journal message, the one that mentioned audience, God kept the net wide on publishing. And, there was a suggestion about creating my own platform.

Indeed, ebook and POD will avoid you having to rationalize any of this [target audience and content] to anyone. You are wise to consider these. Consider also learning website design.

Go learn something? Something techie? Music to my ears! The next day, I started searching for information on how to build a website.

Controversy? You Bet!

The sixth rule was, to my ears, the most unexpected: controversy is good. The experts insist that the worst thing is for people to be indifferent about your message. Then it clicked. I had received a warning back when I was gathering my existing material.

God had said I would be subject to scorn, misunderstanding, and prejudice because of this book. At the time, I didn't fully appreciate what that meant. By mid-June, the meaning of this warning became clear. I had written a chapter called "Ministry by Monogamy." A large part of it was devoted to an argument in favor of same-sex marriage. In 2009, this was a super-charged, controversial topic.

Then again, I could already see that lots of other parts were going to be controversial, too. My theology is quite progressive. A lot of my readers would not be.

A Roller Coaster Ride?

Already by mid-June, about ten weeks in, the ebook checklist was pretty much under control. And I had sent out some early pages to close family members and spiritual mentors. The response was mostly positive.

But then there were the stories that gave me pause. Like my stepmother Lois's story of telling a few people at church about a spiritual experience she had had of which one man in her congregation said, "Oh, you don't really expect me to believe that actually happened, do you?"

Lois and I belong to the same progressive denomination. To hear a comment like that from someone I would expect to be open to spiritual experiences was pretty discouraging. I should add that I wasn’t as brave back then as I am now. So any challenge to my truthfulness or my sanity or my theology would have been hard to take. And I was already worrying about internet trolls.

I have since grown less concerned with what people think. (That’s one perk of being retired. I no longer have to worry about a job interview with someone who might judge me based on what I’ve written about my spirituality.) But most of this shift is just the wisdom and perspective that comes with age.

That said, overall, writing this first book was like being on an emotional roller coaster.

In real life, I love roller coasters. I used to be a member of American Coaster Enthusiasts. Going to amusement parks was our family hobby when our children were growing up. Emotional roller coasters are something else entirely. I would prefer to avoid those.

Fortunately, throughout the writing process, I had more up days than down. The work was tedious sometimes, but I was more driven to finish this project than any other before or since. After messing around with typing in those journals for an entire year, I had internalized God’s sense of urgency.

If I could just stay focused and stay positive—if I could just hang on—I felt I should be able to ride that coaster for as long as it would take to produce that book and weather the reactions, good and bad, regardless of where they came from.