What Next? And Where are we now . . . Summer 2023
We self-published our first book last fall, and it has been a huge learning curve. From realizing that if we wanted to get it published, we would need to do it ourselves, to finding an editor and a publisher, to ordering books and trying to learn how to market our book.
We are still in the learning stages but are confident we will get better as time goes on. Our first book, In Truth, It’s All About the Baby, sold well to people who we know but has been pretty much unrecognized on sites like Amazon, Kindle, and other major distributors. This is disappointing in a way, but allso it is helping us to realize several things.
First, the book cover is very important. I designed the book cover myself when I was unable to find anyone else to do it, or we did not have the budget to pay for it on this first book. I still love the cover, but one thing we discovered is that most people, when they see the cover, believe it is a children’s book. While the book is perfectly fine for readers or listeners of all ages, we did not set out to write it as a children’s book. We wrote it as an encouragement for believers and non-believers to see themselves in the Bible stories as they are reading. Our current plan is to rebrand In Truth, It’s All About the Baby with a new cover and see if that and a little more marketing will help it to distribute more widely.
To go along with our first book, we are in the process of completing a stage play adaptation. We hope this will be a different kind of Christmas or Easter or just-about-anytime play that groups will enjoy producing and audiences viewing. We also hope that productions of the play will encourage others to buy the book to get a more complete look into the characters than a short play can accomplish. We hope to have the play ready to “test out” locally soon and will post more on that and availability for performance rights later.
We are also learning more about branding, which my sister Billie has been researching. She has been learning some important facts about facets of marketing, book covers for example, and we are attempting to learn more about how to establish our own unique style and brand while remaining true to our purpose and the types of books we hope to produce.
If you are a praying person, you might add our company, SGBLit, and us to your prayer list. First, pray that we will to honor and glorify God in all we do, and we continue to work towards strategies that focus on getting these books out to help others grow in their own personal relationship with our Heavenly Father. Second, we do not always see eye to eye on just what or how the next set of books should look like. We are all creative, but our styles and ideas are sometimes different, and it can be a little challenging to come to an agreement. We all discern things a little differently, so pray that we can be of one accord as we move forward.
Then, as mentioned above, there is marketing. How do we get the word out to a larger audience about our books? We are still working on a shoestring budget, so cannot spend a fortune on marketing. It seems there are so many different ways to market literature. We need to discover the best way to reach the audience we need to reach. Do we need to be on Instagram, advertise on Facebook, get our blog going on a more regular basis, and get it out onto bigger platforms, all of the above, and others? I must admit that all three of us currently lack the knowledge to bring this about. With this in mind, another prayer request is that we get clear direction about how to proceed in this area or even that God sends us someone to help with our marketing.
Time is also a significant concern. We all feel we need more time to devote to our writing, editing, and creating, but we all have busy lives, and it just isn’t as easy as we would like to find the time. I, myself, am partially retired. What does this mean? Well, let’s see. I am working part-time, minimally, for a non-profit organization. I may need to find another part-time job to help with finances; as most of you may know, getting by on Social Security is not as easy feat today. I also live with my mother, and being here with her is my privilege and blessing. I probably sit down and write more freely than my sisters, but still find time divided between work, mom, church, and housekeeping. I have never been the best time manager and often tend to let things go too long. I am also trying to work on my physical self, as I have managed to gain too much weight since returning from the overseas mission field and have gotten out of shape. In addition to all else, I am trying to add water aerobics three times a week. Whew. I’m tired just writing about it.
Our youngest sister, Billie, sometimes amazes me with all that she manages to fit into her days and weeks. She also often feels frustrated that she cannot put the time in that she would like to work on these books. She is really looking forward to retiring from teaching in the next year or two. Watching how she goes and knowing how busy I manage to stay, even though retired, I’m not sure she will have a lot more time. She and her gem of a husband spend much of their free time visiting grandbabies as often as they can get away. She has three beautiful granddaughters she adores and tries to spend as much time as possible with them. She realizes that it will still be a challenge to prioritize her time, just as it is now.
Gail, our third sister and business manager, has had quite a busy time also. Her youngest daughter is getting married next month, and we are all so very happy for her. This has placed added things on Gail’s to-do list. Between two surgeries since January and one more to go, she is working with her husband in her family business, helping as needed with wedding preparations, and probably the most difficult, preparing for that younger daughter to join her husband and leave the nest for good.
My current focus right now is working on a series of four books on miracles found in the Bible. I hope to have the first one ready to publish by this fall. As you have already read, we have many things to work out before publishing this book. I am finding the writing is the easiest part. Please pray that we will follow the right path for these books and that they will be used to honor God and point whomever reads them to a strong personal relationship with Him.
Billie is also working on completing a children's book or two and is currently trying to discern the right illustrations for her book. Please pray that she and those helping her with the illustrations will get a clear idea of how God wants to see this book.
All these endeavors are, for us, labors of love. We pray for you, our friends and readers, that you also discover labors of love in your lives that keep you connected to our Heavenly Father and bring you peace and joy.
Thank you for following along with us.
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