Monthly Archives: June 2012
What books do publishers read?
I thought this video from Laurie Beshore was fitting for today for two reasons:
1) Today is the last official day of the Love Without Walls Blog Tour
2) Laurie talks about how if she didn’t read books would see “only a part” of “reality.” She says that she like books don’t just “describe what is, but what can be.”
The same is true for publishers (and I imagine any profession). If we don’t read about our profession we won’t grow in our profession. If we don’t continually read on how to be more innovative marketers, thoughtful editors, and committed Christian professionals, then eventually our books will suffer and our authors and consumers will be under-served.
So, for this series of posts on the publishing process I thought it might be fun to post a list of books publishers read. These are books I’ve read, my colleagues have read, industry standards, and other goodies.
- On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King – This book is hugely popular among writers, regardless of what type of books they write. The same is true for publishers. It’s just a compelling read about writing and King’s tumultuous career.
- Developmental Editing: A Handbook for Freelancers, Authors, and Publishers by Scott Norton – I discovered this book at the national meeting for the Society for Biblical Literature, oddly enough. It’s great reading for aspiring editors.
- ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six Figure Income, Second Edition by Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett – A fellow marketer at Z gave me this book when I first start blogging. It is an excellent resource for growing your online presence. I’ve recommended it to numerous authors, colleagues, and friends.
- Book Business: Publishing Past, Present, and Future by Jason Epstein – This is a book written by a major New York publisher. The big takeaway for me from this book was that publishers must ‘acquire for the back list’ as a way to ensure a sustainable business.
- What Would Google Do? by Jeff Jarvis – Our publishing team read this book together a few years back. It helped all of us wrap our minds around the digital revolution we’ve been through the last few years. Especially in regards to SEO, it really got our wheels turning about how we title, market, and sell our books. We know regularly use terms like “Google juice” and “Googley” as a result of reading this book.
- Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World by Michael Hyatt – I’ve not read this book yet but it’s on my short list. Others around Z are already reading it. Mike Hyatt’s wisdom and experience in publishing is just too good not read and implement.
- The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White – This little handbook is the bible of self-editing and professional writing. If you’re a writer you must own and heed this book.
- Get Known before the Book Deal by Christina Katz – This is a book I stumbled on a few years ago and have recommended to many new writers who are trying to build a platform for promoting their work.
This list is far from exhaustive, but it should give you a good idea of some of the books that float around our offices.
Until next time, may you know the joy of reading a good book that energizes you in your vocation.
-Andrew
Resource 3
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum.
Resource 2
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum.
Resource 1
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum.
John Dickson
John Dickson (PhD, Macquarie University, Sydney) is a senior research fellow of the Department of Ancient History, Macquarie University; co-director of the Centre for Public Christianity; and senior minister at St. Andrew’s Roseville. The author of more than a dozen books, he is the host of two major historical documentaries for Australian television and is a busy public speaker in corporations, universities, churches, and conferences.
Links Worth Clicking: Christianity and homosexuality, sabbaticals, and Adventures in Churchland
Wesley Hill
Interview with Wesley Hill: A two-part interview with Wesley Hill was recently posted on the Hopeful Realism blog. Here is part 1 and part 2. Wesley Hill is the author of Washed and Waiting: Reflections on Christian Faithfulness and Homosexuality. This is an interview that I hope many, many church leaders read. It’s not about ministry tips, or practical strategies for ministering to same-sex couples or anything like that. It’s a thoughtful conversation about the complexities of being a Christian and having same-sex attractions. Regardless of where you stand on this issue, or how you’re used to addressing it in your church, I hope you’ll take time to read this. Wesley is a thoughtful writer and a committed Christian. I think ministry leaders would do well to consider his story and ponder its implications for their ministry.
On Sabbaticals, Mark Buchanan: Mark Buchanan (Your Church is Too Safe) is wrapping up a four-month sabbatical. His blog post is worth reading even if, like me, you’ve never taken a sabbatical. For those of you that have, you’ll perhaps enjoy his perspective on how time passes while on sabbatical.
Book Review: Dan Kimball’s newest book, Adventures in Churchland: Finding Jesus in the Mess of Organized Religion was just reviewed on the Englewood Review of Books. This is the perfect book to give to people who are on the fringe of going to church. If you know anyone that says, “Why do I need to go to a local church? What does that have to do with my faith?”…give them this book. It’s a humorous read and it will help them understand why Jesus loves the church.
Audio Book: Listen to chapter 1 of Dan Kimball’s book They Like Jesus But Not the Church. If you’ve never read Kimball then you’re in for a treat. Not only will he give you insight into how the younger generation views the church and the Lord, but he’ll also make you laugh! The entire chapter is available on YouTube.
How “Love Without Walls” can help your ministry serve the global church better
Here’s a short video interview with Laurie Beshore, founding outreach pastor at Mariners Church in Irvine, CA and author of Love Without Walls.
After watching this video I took Laurie’s advice and read chapter 9 of Love Without Walls. This chapter is called, “Oops, We Did it Again.” In it Laurie talks about how their successful, twenty-five year old outreach ministry began to fail to make an impact, and what they eventually did to make changes and realign their vision.
She writes that they had “too many ministries” and that it was “diffusing [their] impact in the community.” She later says, “certain ministries were sliding away from the original vision.” In order to realign their vision and values they eventually had to eliminate “40 percent of [their] ministries and a third of [their] staff.” (132)
How hard that must’ve been. Have you or someone you know ever been through a “realignment” like that? It can be very difficult to handle for all parties involved.
But as Laurie says in the video above, she’s excited about the future. Why? Because of what God showed them.
Blog Tour: Love Without Walls by Laurie Beshore
The Love Without Walls Blog Tour
The blog tour is this week! I’ll be keeping a list below of the stops on the tour. I will update it as the reviews are posted. So be sure to check back.
If you serve in an outreach ministry either through your church or through another non-profit organization I highly recommend this book to you. These blog links will give you many ideas as to why this book is one not to miss. Read on!
- Stop #1: Richard Burkey’s review - This blog isn’t officially part of the tour, but it’s a great post to get us started. Here’s a line from the review that I really enjoyed: “Laurie Beshore does more then write a how to move your church into the community. She writes of stories and transformation, mistakes and missteps. She doesn’t come off with having all the answers, just a simple plan follow where God guides, bring His love and keep at it, no matter how many missteps along the way.”
- Stop #2: Gary Ware’s “MGPC Pastor’s Blog” – Gary is one of our regular reviewers and blog tourers (tourers?). Gary ends his review with some thoughts on what he’s “not sure about”. I thought they were worth posting here because others may have something to add: “I’d like to see some of the biblical underpinnings for the contention that the work of the church, empowered by the Gospel in this current age, is to effect the redemption and restoration of all creation. (pg 139) I accept social mission is an integral aspect of Christian life, I don’t know that it’s part of our great commission.”
- Stop #3: Chris Kidd, minister in the UK – Chris mentions one of the author’s ideas that stuck with me too: You have to create safe opportunities for new volunteers to get involved if you hope to recruit new people into your ministry.
- Stop #4: Conrade Yap’s “Panorama of a Book Saint” blog: Dr. Yap is one of my favorite reviewers to follow. He has a way with words. Like these: “Outreach is about building bridges with planks of love. We cannot look at the gulf before us and get discouraged into non-action. Instead, we need to realize how deep God’s love is for miserable old me, so that we can share the love of God, as one beggar showing another beggar where to find food.”
- Stop #5: Random Thoughts about Life blog: This blogger posted a quick excerpt from the book. Thanks for the nugget to think on, Martin!
- Stop #6: Let Them Come: This blogger relates the message of the book to her experience volunteering in VBS.
Love Without Walls is available in print and as an eBook wherever books are sold.
Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, ChristianBook.com, and Zondervan.com
Download a PDF sample.
