Tribal Church

Recently, I’ve had a lot of people picking my brain about how they can become a writer/speaker. Here’s what I tell them… or what I wish I would have told them, depending on the situation.

1) Have something to say. Yeah, I know it seems obvious, but there are a lot of charismatic people out there who… well… don’t have much to say. You don’t want to be one of those.

How do you figure out your message? Well, pray about it. If you listen to someone else speak, and you get really, really angry, figure out why. Is it because they are not saying it the way that you would? How would you say it? Listen to your own petty jealousies, because they just might be directing you. Think about what gifts that you bring to the ministry. Do you have a unique perspective because of your religious background, age, ethnicity, technological skills? Have you done some interesting activism? Is your church growing? Do you have artistic, poetic, or musical skills? What do you have to say that the church is dying to hear? Be certain that you’re passionate about the subject, because you may be speaking about it for a long time to come.

2) Produce work. When you know what the topic is, then begin to read everything you can on the subject. Don’t just limit your reading to church books. Reach outside of our field and find out what other experts are saying as well, because sometimes the most interesting work is done when a religious leader takes cutting edge research and then reflects on it within his or her context. Then, start to write. Blogs have lost a bit of steam, but they are still an excellent way to get started when you don’t have another platform. Writing a blog can get you into the discipline of working every day. You can rework blog posts for magazine articles. And, for a while, more people knew me from my blog than my published works.

While you’re at it, begin to use Twitter as a public figure. Yes, Twitter matters. Talk to people. Unlock your privacy settings. Put your real name, position, and blog on your bio. If you’re used to being semi-anonymous on Twitter, it may take some of the fun out of it, but it’s also a powerful tool in making publishing connections. I have a wonderful friend who randomly Twittered his book idea, and a publisher contacted him. I have been contacted three times by publishers who are interested in my work because of Twitter.

3) Get published. Once you have your blog up and running, look for other places you can be published. We all think we know more than Elizabeth Gilbert, and we want to be the ones with the New York Times bestseller and big movie deal, but we may not be able to get a contract with Penguin right away. But there are places you can get published. There is a ladder. It’s not that hard to climb, but you may have to start on the bottom rung. Look at your denomination’s weekly newsletters. Are there respected religious blogs that you can write for? Often if a publication is not paying its writers and/or it has to publish often, then they’re always looking for good stories or book reviews.

Publishing (like so many things) is in a strange transition at the moment. Most publishers are having a hard time figuring out their strategies during this Internet age. This makes them very wary to publish authors who don’t sell, but it may also be helping them take a chance on newcomers. At least that’s how it seems. I don’t know… what’s your sense of this?

4) Don’t back-stab (i.e., I just changed “we all know more than Elizabeth Gilbert” to “we all think we know more than Elizabeth Gilbert”). And certainly don’t backstab in public. I said to be aware of your petty jealousies, but don’t blog about how much you hate another author. (Just to be clear: I love you, Elizabeth Gilbert). You might only have six people reading your blog, but one of them is the person who set up the blog alert to find out the feedback on his book. The religious writing world is very, very tiny. If you want to write, then you may have to be careful with your snarky comments. Of course, you can write something like this sweet homage.

Don’t write a nasty review of an author’s book on Shefari, and then turn around and ask her for a contribution to your blog. She read your review. And she might be your editor one day. Even if she’s not your editor, she may be making editorial decisions about you. (Publishers–large and small–contact me regularly to ask me what I think about certain authors or book ideas. And I’m just a small fish. I know I’ve advised against authors who have been rude to me. Not out of pettiness or vengeance, but the experience left a bad taste in my mouth when it came to their work.) You may criticize in broad terms, you might have a constructive dialogue, but don’t throw your hope-to-be colleagues under the bus. It might give you a short-term audience, but it makes you untrustworthy and it might destroy you in the long run.

5) Help and ask for help. You have a great amount of power in this new era of publishing. You can write a good Amazon review. You can Twitter when you’re enjoying a book. If you want to be a published author, help to promote the authors you enjoy. Some authors might ignore it when you do (authors often ignore me), but the smart ones will pay attention. I have scored big interviews for God Complex, because I’ve helped the author promote his or her book. I’ve made great friends this way too.

When you’ve been working hard on proposal, ask for help. And women, I’m talking to you. For some reason, it seems that men contact me for help often, and women rarely do. I mean, really close friends will send off a proposal without asking for my help. What can a seasoned author do for you? He can look at the query and proposal and tell you where your mistakes are. Often, he can make a contact with the publishers and put in a good word for you. Of course, you need to build a relationship with the author before he or she will do this. And some authors don’t have the time. There have been situations when I can’t get back to someone with advice, because I’m swamped. If I’m one of fifty people copied on an email, I’ll ignore the request. I can give advice as one person, but I don’t have time to be part of a survey. If you don’t hear back from an author, don’t take it as a failure, it’s just the nature of writing. The workload is often feast or famine, and when it’s feasting time, then the writer has to concentrate hard on prioritizing. He may not get back to you, but that’s probably not because your work sucks. It’s probably just because the writer has put it on the back-burner and forgotten. Or they don’t have the time to help new authors.

And… that’s my advice for publishing, but I’ve gone on too long and haven’t gotten to speaking. I’ll tell you about that tomorrow. So, what would you add?

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As different opportunities come up, I am coming to the startling realization that there are only a certain number hours in the day, and the hours that were once filled with blogging are now filled with other stuff.

But, I do want to let you know about the other stuff. I’m writing for the Huffington Post’s new Religion section. I was happy to see that my first post on Miriam’s Kitchen made it on to the first page. At least for a while. (Scroll down. Below the Lame Oscar Moments, below the Hustler article. Keep scrolling… there.) There will be a link to my blog on HuffPo, but I’m not sure what it is yet. I’ll be writing there a couple times a week, so I’ll let you know.

Also, God Complex Radio is doing really well. Most recently, I interviewed David Batstone about Not For Sale and the modern abolitionist movement. Coming up on Friday, we’re celebrating Women’s Day with an interview with Cynthia Rigby on the life and legacy of Mary Daly. Ryan Kemp-Pappan is also on that episode. And, I had a chance to talk to Eboo Patel for a podcast that will be coming up on the 19th. And if those amazing people are not enough to get you to iTunes to subscribe, then you surely will when I tell you that Serene Jones will be on a couple weeks following Eboo.

I’m doing a monthly post for Duke Divinity’s Faith and Leadership blog.

And… finally… I want to let you know that I’m going to be at Stony Point on March 21-23. I’ll be leading a seminar, along with Rick Ufford-Chase on Ministering to the Missing Generation, and registration is still open if you’d like to come.

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I am stepping on to some shaky blogging territory (shaky blogging territory here equals writing something in a public forum that you hope a particular person does not read)… but… here goes….

I met someone who works for a denominational publishing house, who said, five minutes after our first hello, “We would never publish one of your books.”

I’m not sure why he said it. And, of course, I was offended. I mean, I can understand getting a rejection letter after sending in a proposal. But I hadn’t sent in a proposal. I had not even hinted that I would try to send in a proposal.

He went on, “Your material is not scholarly enough.”

The truth is that this house often publishes less-than-scholarly material. I laughed and pointed that out. And I also pointed out that my book sells very well, thank you very much. And then my mind went on an extended mental rant as I thought about how I would never enquire with them anyways, and that my book is used in seminaries, and ….

Yeah… that’s right. I’m a big baby.

I have had more conversations with him, which have been much nicer. But, this initial discussion came to my mind when I was at a focus group for another, much larger, progressive religious publisher. They were asking pastors what they needed, and our answers often gravitated to the same thing, “We need books that we can hand to our church members, not seminary books.”

And, I think it was Anne Howard who suggested, “Conservative religious books are grass roots. Progressive religious books are academic.”

We all shook our heads and the same cry echoed around the table, “Please, give us some smart, grass-roots books.” And we described our congregations: they are intelligent and passionate. They could tell you about the entire complicated tribal system in Afghanistan, but they may not know much about the Bible. We need books for that person.

Maybe conservatives assume that they will have converts and progressives assume that everyone grew up in the church. I don’t know, but we need those basic books.

There are some wonderful Ph.D.’s who can write on a grass-roots level, who fit this bill, but we can’t always look to the academy for what we need.

And so, I make my plea to my progressive publishing friends. Don’t dismiss those books that are for regular people. As pastors, we need to be able to hand a good book to intelligent parishioners who just might be starting out with this whole church thing. I also get requests for daily devotional books, marriage books, basic Bible books, finance books from a Christian perspectice—as progressives, we have things to say about ordinary life, and the people in the pews are really wanting to hear it.

So let’s hear it. Pastors and church leaders, what requests do you get?

Photo by Ansy

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So those of you who follow Bruce Reyes-Chow, the Presbyterian Moderator, on Twitter, know that he has been talking about certain conferences, and prodding us, wondering about our Mainline interest or disinterest in them.

And those of you who follow both of us know that I have been rather old-school, angry, and vehement in my responses to such conferences. (Old-school, meaning I’ve been taking a black-and-white, us-versus-them, my-way-or-the-highway approach.)

It actually kind of shocked me. I have a lot of opinions–there’s no doubt about that–but usually I can appreciate the viewpoints of Evangelical colleagues, even though I think that they’re wrong about many things. I have learned to embrace my heritage, as something that is an important part of me. If I hate it, then I hate myself. (Of course, there’s a fine line here. I do hate the sin that was inherent in my Evangelical formation, and confess it, and change….)

But, for some reason, my reaction to the Catalyst Conferences overwhelmed me. And I wondered why that was.

Was it jealousy? There are as many Mainliners as there are Evangelicals (and I realize that there is a lot of cross-over in terms here), but Evangelicals almost completely drive the religious book market, the religious media, and politics, because of the fantastic ability that Evangelicals have to organize huge events, and to find unity in vital causes. Authors and musicians who get invited to these sorts of conferences do really, really well. I was warned constantly when I wrote Tribal Church to make it an Evangelical book, or it would never sell.

But, I don’t think jealousy was fueling my frustration. I think the main character in the driver’s seat was fear. As you can see from the line-up, there were very few women involved in The Nines, and (I think) only one ordained woman. I’m afraid of going backwards. It’s irrational, I know. But the fear and anger are still there.

It was very difficult growing up in a religious tradition that saw me as sinful because of my growing call into ordained ministry. It was painful watching many of the women in my family, who had the same calling, not be able to pursue theirs. It’s difficult to think of all the Bible school students in my “message preparation for women course” (we were not allowed to call it preaching), where I heard some of the best sermons in my life, who pursued their M-R-S in the hopes of being a pastor’s wife, because that was the very closest that they could come to being a pastor themselves.

I understand the religious viewpoint that women should not be ordained. I know that an Evangelical conference will have a handful of women, and we should not expect more that that. But I also understand the deep sorrow and frustration that church can cause from the sexism that bleeds from generation to generation. And when I’m faced with it, then I bark, in anger and pain, as if I’m facing a dog that previously bit me.

The denominational church, even with all of the ordination difficulties, even with its less-than-flashy conferences, and its inability to unite across denominational lines to become a stronger voice in publishing and politics, has been an unbelievable font of grace for me. Welcoming my gifts, encouraging them, and allowing a place for them to flourish. And even though there have been bumps along the way, there is a way for someone like me. And I am filled with overwhelming gratitude to be a part of it.

I left the Evangelical Church, because the Mainline church—with its strong commitment to social justice, gender equality, spiritual disciplines, and intergenerational community—seemed much more relevant. And yet, now that I’m inside, I find many Mainliners wishing that we were like Evangelicals, so that we might gain relevancy.

I just wish we, the Mainliners, could see what gifts we have, celebrate them, and I guess along the way… I wish that we could learn to organize a little better.

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It is often difficult to explain to people the shifts that are taking place in today’s culture. And, it is easy for people to completely discard things like blogging as a fad, or a vehicle for imprudent exhibitionists.

And yet, as I’ve been blogging for a while now, I realize that there is more to it than that. For instance, I was preparing for the God Complex show the other day, and I printed out my blog post on how we can’t afford an educated clergy. As the papers spewed out, I studied the posts that responded to it, and all the comments. I was surprised that it came up to well over 25 pages. And I mean, well-thought-out pages. Comments and replies coming from professionals of all sorts of denominations.

Perhaps it was just having the stack of paper in my hand that stunned me, but it felt like a magazine. Except that I knew that I would not have been able to get that kind of brain-power together if I had been an editor. I began to wonder if even I have been underestimating the power of the blog.

We have all heard the criticisms before—blogs are narcissistic ramblings of the self-important amateur. Sometimes it’s true. We’ve all ventured onto blogs where the comments are completely outrageous, vacuous, or tedious.

And yet… as I stood holding the pile of substantial and thoughtful conversation, I knew that it had the weight (physical and mental) of a publication. The comments were constructive, moving into different directions, leading people to different studies and streams of thought. There was a continuity to the discussion, that was more organic than an editor’s vision. It was fascinating, reading it in paper form.

Certainly there is an emotional intensity in blogging that people may (or may not) enjoy. There is a personal narrative that may (or may not) be so fascinating. But, I don’t think that I am going to buy the notion that blogging is a medium without depth any longer.

Without the restraints of an editorial board, we are beginning to learn some important things about our institutions and ourselves. We are beginning to hear from people who may have never gotten through the rigors of formal publication, or who may not have had the right connections for the mass-produced, printed word. A different sort of conversation is taking place, as the tired and cliche magazine subjects are being set aside and replaced by problems that people are dealing with on a regular basis. People are reading, and people are listening, and a different sort of thought is igniting.

Traditional publications are floundering right now. I don’t think that they will all go away, but they would be wise if they begin to use blogs as places to farm for new thought, ideas, and talent. It’s easy to tell how hot a topic is through looking at blogs. The comments start to pile up immediately. For publications that need a fresh, new readership, looking at what generates traffic and conversation is a good place to start.

I could even imagine a magazine that used a blog as it’s primary starting point, and invited the people who comment to write articles around the topic.

What do you think is the future of all of this? How comfortable is your church with blogging? Do you see it as a source of important thought, or just a distraction from your real work?

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I am fascinated by change, and I love reading and talking to smart people about how publishing is changing. I wish that I could quote specific people, but since I have not gotten any permission, I won’t.

I will say that I’m in the midst of an interesting stream of people who are thinking about this stuff all of the time. My husband and I have friends who work for NPR. My colleague, John Wimberly, is on the board of the Presbyterian Outlook. I write for Alban Institute, and, of course, I have a wonderful group of creative friends who write and keep up with all of this.

So, let me tell you what I’ve gleaned recently…

We have heard the horrible news of newspaper after newspaper going under. What is happening? What will people be looking for in the future? Here are my predictions, which aren’t really mine because they have all been stolen from people who are much smarter than me.

If publications dig in their heels, and stick only with print media, they will die a slow and sad death. There’s just not much growth in print-only media, and the business there is based on nostalgia. If companies hold on to print-only media ideals, they will end up with an increasingly older, shrinking demographic as their readership.

I know it’s painful. I know we are longing for the way that it was, the smell of an old book and the feel of having a newspaper in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other, but younger generations don’t pick up newspapers and they subscribe to few magazines.

And so publishers need to begin thinking of themselves as media outlets, instead of just people working in newsprint. They will need to start diversifying into informative websites, podcasts, twitter blasts, social networking, and whatever else might stick.

Alban does a good job with this. They don’t just publish books, or a magazine, but they have webinars, emails, podcasts, blogs, and twitter updates. They have consultants and speakers. And they are even rethinking their educational events so that they might be communities of spiritual practice and learning. They are exploring the possibilities of on-line publishing. 

News will be distilled to fit onto a Blackberry/iPhone screen. We have gotten more and more used to headline news, the scrolling bits, and the distillation of a story into 140 characters or less.

Book demand will increase. This was actually a surprise to me, but a friend in the industry said that people will be looking at short headlines, but when they want to read more, they will turn to books. The in-depth reporters that are being laid off from newspapers, will start writing timely volumes. He forecasted that the quality and pricing of books will go down, and the demand will rise even more.

So what do you think? What would your predictions be? What will all of this look like for church leaders? Will we also be expected to be versed in the multiple mediums? Should seminaries start teaching classes on how to create podcasts and give pointers on what to put on a blog? Should denominations offer continuing ed on social networking? Should pastor search committees be looking for aptitude in these things as they search for a pastor? (For Presbyterians, should it at least be listed as one of the skills on our PIF?) Should we keep putting our church advertising money into newspaper ads? And (at the very least) shouldn’t our colleagues quit ranting about how all this stuff is a just a waste of time?

Photo by alankcrain

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We haven’t changed the windshield wipers in a long time. The reason is pretty simple. It’s because we can’t do it ourselves, we need a special tool, and we couldn’t do it at the oil change place, because they don’t have the tool either. So, we have to go to the dealership to get the windshield wipers replaced, and the dealership is such a hassle. They take at least an hour to do the most menial tasks, and (here’s the kicker) then they call and ask me to respond to a phone survey every time I go in.

I hate surveys. Actually, I love reading data when it comes to something interesting. But when we have to make sure that the person behind the desk was friendly and helpful, it doesn’t quite seem fair. What if the person had been chewed out just moments before she helped me? Or what if she just found out that her mother just died? Isn’t anyone allowed to have a bad day any longer? I know that everyone should be nice, but do we really need take a Gallup poll every time we get the oil changed? Or when we talk to the customer service person at the bank?

I once heard that polling in general is skewed, because people are much more motivated to share their opinions when their opinions are negative. People rarely go out of their way to give compliments, but they will if they want to complain.

We live in a very odd culture, in many ways. One of the interesting things that has occurred, as the Internet has developed, is we have gone from a flat-screen information system, to a much more complex form of communication. We no longer just go to the internet for one-way communication, but rather, we go to the sites to discuss and dialogue. And we have the ability to review just about everything. We review products, books, restaurants, doctors, professors, and even churches. Our society seems to be filled with polls. We evaluate everything.

Don’t get me wrong. I love to be a critic. But, I wonder what this does to people, especially to the artists in our society. I mean, there are many times when an artist, a writer, or a musician, just needs to put out a bad product, before he or she can produce something beautiful. In our churches, we also need to have creative debacles before something wonderful happens. Or in the (twittered) words of Leon Bloder, “there is no space to fail in our culture and especially not in the church. And failing produces better results.”

When we think about planting churches, we point to the ones that have failed. When we think about starting something new, we reach back in our collective memories, and say that we tried that before. As if trying something thirty years ago proves that it will fail now. I wonder if we allow enough space in our culture for church leaders to be innovative, without constant feedback and (often) criticism.

There is a sense that the feedback will be helpful, that it will make us better at what we do. I’m sure it works that way sometimes. But it doesn’t work that way all the time. Many artistic movements were first met with icy-cold receptions. What if the Impressionists decided to use the feedback from popular opinion to drive their work? What about all of the musicians who changed their sound, plugged in their guitar, or unplugged it back in? Or what if Martin Luther King, Jr. constantly based his message on evaluations that he received? And, of course, in the midst of Holy Week, we know how relying on popular opinion worked out for Jesus.

There have been many people who spoke about things way before their time, whose words did not always get a hearty welcome from the consuming public right away. Often those artists could keep laboring on in obscurity, but not now. Now, book reviewers can give an author one star, even the reviewer cannot finish a sentence. In order for artists to put their works out to the public, they will be up for critique. From strangers.

I wonder how this will play out, in the long run. Of course, in my own life, most of the rating systems, reviews, bloggers, comments, and emails from strangers have been incredibly positive. Often they give me encouragement for weeks. But, it doesn’t always pan out that way…

So, what do you think about hyper-critical culture? Is it good for us? Does it create a society where we are holding each other accountable? Or does it lead to needless criticism? What about pastors? Do you encourage evaluations in your congregations?

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A quote from a recent conversation with guy who doesn’t understand blogging.

Guy: I just don’t understand why blogs are suddenly so important. I read them, and it’s all crap. It’s all personal stuff about people’s lives, and I just don’t care. People say that there are good blogs out there, but I can’t find any. Who’s got all that time? Who’s going to sort through all of that stuff? And the comments are so mean-spirited. Who cares what those people think?

Actually, this is one quote, but I’ve had the conversation a hundred times. It’s voiced in different ways, but it’s usually the same stream of questions. It feels like they are asking, “Why would I care about your life? How can anything substantial regarding ecclesiology come from people who do not have the proper credentials, who are self-publishing? Why would I want to read material that has not gone through the rigors of selection and editing?”

So, what would you say to them?

It seems like there is a shift happening here. Maybe I have too much time on my hands, or maybe I just watch less television, but I’m often sorting through blogs. Visiting my favorite ones and discovering new ones. I like the fact that they seem kind of raw and unedited. I like the mundanity. I like reading the rants that would have no life left in them after they went through the sterilizing editing process, or if the author put more time and thought into them. I like being able to talk back and question the writers and readers. I love the feeling of building a relationship with someone that I’ve never met.

But what about those questions? Are some of them valid? If church leaders are going to be expected to blog (and I think they will), isn’t that just another layer of hassle on top of our already too busy lives? How do you find blogs that are interesting? Do you think that anything important is happening here? Why do you read, write, and comment on them?

And while I’m on this barrage of questions… is there a blogging etiquette? If there is, what does it include? Personally, these are the formerly unwritten rules that I abide by:

If I write a blog, I should read blogs. I don’t know why. It just feels like someone is too big for the genre if they’re not willing to show up on someone else’s site a little bit. Plus, it’s about the conversation and not the dissemination of information.

If someone comments on my site, then I usually visit their site. Again, it just feels like a common courtesy.

I try not to post a comment that’s longer than the original post. Although I’m not always able to do it, and I love reading comments that are longer than my post, I know that it annoys other bloggers.

I try to always remember that it’s a hobby. I love taglines that proclaim how the author is changing the face of Christianity with his blog, or other such grandiose idea. But I realize I’m just banging out my thoughts. Reflecting on everyday life. And, you know, if it’s no longer fun, then I’ll walk away.

So what would you add?

photo’s by MrLomo

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So I was in the midst of book marketing, when another author came to visit.

“What are you doing?”

“Trying to sell my book.”

“But that’s the publisher’s job.”

Well, yes. But not really. If you’re a big name, and you have a big publisher, they might pull out a spread in the Christian Century or something. But, I was a very tiny name. I knew that the good folks at Alban would do all they could, but the bulk of it would be up to me. And, lucky for me, my husband got into the act, and did a great job of it.

If you know me personally, then you’re probably laughing right now. Because the fact is, I kind of suck at marketing my own book. Half of my own congregation probably doesn’t know that I wrote a book. Ask me what my book is about and I’ll mumble something incoherent to you. My friend Tara Spuhler McCabe reminds me of how bad I am about every time I see her….

Let me assure you that I’m not a natural sales person. And promoting my own work feels about as comfortable as pulling my own molars out. But… I did something right. The book sold more than expected. I’m on my publisher’s bestseller list, right under some very established authors. So, in case there are some budding authors out there, I thought I’d let you know what I did.

But, I may have to begin with an explanation, because people look at book prices and assume that the author’s taking home a pile of change. When, actually, authors often make about 8-12 percent of the cover. And most books sell about a thousand copies. So, you can do the math. If an author makes 10 percent on a book that costs $15, and she sells 1,000 copies, then she will make $1,500.

Most people think that marketing a book is about making lots of money, but there are only a handful of people who are making an actual living on books alone. A friend of mine was at the Cathedral a couple of weeks ago with Barbara Brown Taylor, Nora Gallager, and Lauren Winner. Three huge names in our little publishing corner–and they all have day jobs.

Book marketing is less about making money, and more about the small hope that someone just might actually read what you’ve written. And…okay…it’s a little bit about making money…because after spending a good year neglecting your family, it is kind of nice to take your husband out to eat with the royalty check.

I’ll start with what didn’t work. But let me do it with the caveat that you have to try anything and everything.

I had a book table at my Presbytery, and I might have sold two books. It was kind of embarrassing.

Then, we made postcards and mailed them out, but it was very expensive. To get a couple hundred one-sided, color postcards, it costs a couple hundred dollars. And, remember, we’re talking about $1,500. So in the end, I figured that spending $400 on junk mail wasn’t the best way to go about it.

The main thing that I did was try to get it out on the web as much as possible. And the two things that worked were this blog and sending out personal emails. Since you’re here, I assume you know about the blog. Other bloggers were really the key. I got wonderful reviews from them. (Thank you sooo much! And please, let me know what I can do to return the favor.)

I put together an email, with an electronic version of the postcard, and went about the pain-staking business of sending them out to everyone I could think of. First it was family. Then it was friends. Then it was leaders in progressive mainline organizations. Brian compiled the lists, and I wrote personal messages in each one, and sent them out individually, hoping that they wouldn’t be deleted as spam. I did this for the first six months, every time my Amazon ranking got lower than 100,000.

I didn’t get a response from most of the people. But, it was amazing how many wonderful replies I did get. I even formed some good relationships through it.

It is strange who will buy the book and who will promote it. Many of my family members didn’t buy it. Only a couple members of my congregation have read it. The editor whom I knew personally didn’t include a review in his publication. And then others, people I never met, jumped on reviews. Some people who knew me well (like the good people at my seminary), bent over backwards to promote it, others paid no attention to it.

All of this was interesting. I mean, when a friend of mine writes a book, I’m on the publisher’s waiting list. I can’t wait to read it and spread the news. Hhmmm…. is all this saying something about how unimpressive I am personally? Maybe.

Or maybe it’s just how it is. It’s a strange mix between “it’s who you know” and “a prophet is without honor in her hometown.” (Not saying that I’m a prophet…just saying those words of Jesus were quite comforting at times.)

The traveling is really fun, and I started out going anywhere, at any time, at any price. But then my calendar filled up, and I realized how hard it can be on the family. Plus, I still have a full-time pastorate, and my job description has only gotten bigger. So, where I’ve been willing to travel at cost, I’m at the place now where I need to start asking for an honorarium. You know. There are only 24 hours in a day. It’s the time factor. I guess I shouldn’t feel so bad, though. I know people in this business who charge for phone calls!

The emergent church guys are doing something interesting. You see, I go to conferences, get paid for travel and an honorarium. Then, I hope that I can sell a few books in the process. But it seems that they are eschewing that model and inventing a new one. They’re renting their own spaces, or finding churches that will host them. They put together their own conferences and book promo shows. Then they sell tickets, and sell books on top of that. With the small amount that authors make, I wonder if this is the model we’ll all be going to soon.

So, questions for y’all. I’ve had a couple authors whom I don’t know friend me on facebook. And now their status updates only include information on book tours. On one hand, I shrug and think, Whatever it takes. When my book came out, I posted it on the wall of groups that I was a part of… but… on the other hand, it does seem like there’s a line somewhere between good marketing and bad taste. Where’s the line? When did you think it was crossed? When is it good use of social networking, and when is it using your friends to sell books? What annoys you about book marketing? What works?

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Perhaps I’m not typical of my postmodern generation, because sometimes I like a good label. You know, I don’t think one word encompasses the whole of who I am, but it’s like when you have some sort of strange disease, and you just feel better when the doctor diagnosis it. You feel like you have some control over it. You now have something that you can google.

Or, when I first took the Meyers Briggs and found out that I was an INFP. I was in high school, feeling like a total freak because I was the only one of my artist/skater friends who wore black clothing every day and wanted to go into the ministry. But when I read my label description and realized that I was INFP, the world made a whole lot more sense. I felt less like a freak and more like a rarity.

I met a wonderful professor recently, and he said, “It’s so nice to meet you. It’s always good to meet a pastor/scholar.”

And I thought, Yeah. Pastor/scholar. That’s it. It was a defining moment for me, in more ways that one. I understood what I was doing a bit more. I felt a bit more validated in my work.

Writing can be hard. Not the actual putting words down. That’s fun. I love researching, forming ideas, and shaping sentences. It’s the other stuff that goes on in my head. I typically don’t have an over-abundance of ego. When I was writing my first book, I would just sit down and promise myself that no one would read it. If I didn’t, I had a crowd of people in my head telling me that they didn’t approve of me, or that they would certainly disown me.

(Okay, I’m about five years behind everybody else. I’m just now reading Harry Potter with my daughter. What about those Dementors? Wow. Amazing characters. I can see how a writer can conjure that sort of demon up….)

Now that I’m writing my second book, and no one has disowned me or said that I was a fraud, I have a different set of fears. Some of them come from snarky comments that people make to my face, some come from reading blog reviews.

The good news for writers nowadays is that anyone can review a book. We don’t have to rely on major magazines or professional critics to review our books in order for them to sell. Which is a huge relief, especially since Christian Century is a very thin publication, and… you know… they tend to have their favorites. Now, ordinary people can write about books and recommend them, and it does seem to be creating a meritocracy of sorts. Leveling out the playing field for unknown or unconnected authors.

The bad thing is that anyone can review a book. And while professional reviews are typically very kind, and the writer is very careful about what (s)he says, blog reviews are often more blunt.

Anyways, the most stinging comment that I’ve gotten from people is that my writing is too personal. Too much of my own opinions. It’s not based in research. I respond to this in different ways, depending on the day. Usually, my response is, “What do you expect? I’m a mom and a pastor. I’m writing from 4:30 a.m. to 7:30 a.m., in those mere three hours in the day that I have alone. I don’t have a wad of research money, or a research staff, or even a research assistant. I don’t work for a university. I work for a church.”

I’m beginning to feel a little less defensive now though. I study other people’s research very, very carefully. Plus I have something that researchers don’t have. I’m actually doing the job. I’m a pastor who has been going to work at vital, growing churches every day for the last ten years. I roll up my sleeves, work with children, talk to homeless people, and connect with college students. I may not be conducting one-hour surveys for thousands of young adults, but I’m talking to them every single day. I’ve been intricately and deeply involved in their lives for years. A person simply cannot get that pool of knowledge from an hour survey. And, because of that, I think there should be room in our church studies for…um…the people who are actually leading churches.

I am a pastor/scholar. Just like so many of you who are diligently working, and studying, and thinking. So many of you who create wonderful sermons and thoughtful blog posts. I am thankful for the academics who have the resources to conduct in-depth research. I will continue to read them with great care. But, I also think that the opinions of people who are actually doing the job matter. Our discoveries, formed after long-term engagement, should not be dismissed.

The photo is by fanz

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