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MY EXPERIENCE AS A SELF PUBLISHER
by sana edoja Five years ago, I wrote my first book called "KWNOWING GOD" which I got edited by a church member who happened to be also an editor. Hopeful, I sent my book to quite a few publishers but, unfortunately, I only got one positive response. The interested publisher was very thrilled with my book and started the process of publishing it ,but, only after asking me to pay a small fee to contribute to the marketing process. A few months later, this publisher went bankrupt and I decided to read a few reviews on the internet about the company who was not highly recommended by his previous customers. However, I learnt that I should have made a search on this publisher before giving him my book to publish. Disappointed, I decided to take a bible course online and felt led by the Lord to ask my bible teacher to help me improve my book. She gladly guided me through making coherent changes. Both of us learnt so much about the word of God over the whole process. Then, I put an advert on the Faithwriters website for the editing and got an offer from a person who did an excellent job. Finding it hard to find a credible publisher, I decided to self-published my book with the company called booksurge which has now become CreateSpace, they also have put my book for sale through amazon. The downside is that after paying booksurge for the publishing process, I couldn't' afford a marketing campaign. Despite having advertised my book through a few Christian network websites, I didn't get successful in making a single sale; I even sent my book to a Christian radio who promised me an interview that never happened. I also sent my book for free to a few network people in exchange for feedback but got only one review out of the whole process. After failing to interest a few literacy agents in helping me to market my book, I gave up writing all together not until recently when I was inspired by the story of an amazing young singer called Charice Pempengco. She is a young Philippines lady who started singing at the age of 6 years old, her talent was noticed by her mum who helped her developed her singing and brought her to a lot of song contests. God used the money that Charice Pempengco won at the song contests to support her family, as her dad separated from her mum when she was little. Her dad almost shot her mother with a gun before running away after the neighbours intervened, alerted by the screams of the commotion. Charice Pempengco got finally noticed when a nurse student followed her song tv contests on the internet and posted her singing videos on the social network called "you tube". After being noticed by a recording company in Sweeden, she recorded her first album and was soon invited by US talk shows Oprah Winfrey and Ellen Degeneres. When Charice Pempengco was little, she made some drawings of herself singing with Celine Dion as well as with the famous Andrea Bocelli. Amazingly, her drawings came to life when she sang a few years later with those two worldwide stars. It was also through the recommendation of Oprah Winfrey that music producer David Foster took Charice Pempengco under his wing. As a result of her perseverance and the hand of God, Charice Pempengco is today a well-known singer all over the world. Through Charice Pempengco testimony, I noticed that Charice Pempengco never gave up her singing even if things were tough for her and her family at the beginning. God transformed her life in an amazing fairy-tale. It made me realise that I should never give up the gift of writing that the Lord has blessed me with. I should keep on writing the thoughts that God is giving me and God will do the rest for my writing to be recognised and use it to spread his word to those who need it most. With these lovely insights, I recently decided to post my articles on a regular basis on my blog and a few Christian websites. I cannot believe the results. My articles are being read by quite a few readers and also being used by quite a few Christian publications. Having made the first step of posting my work on those social Christian websites, God is already using readers to spread his world a hundredfold. I think that whatever gift or passion God has given us; we need to keep working at it and God will multiply the seeds in millions of fruits. 1 Corinthians 3:7- So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. To conclude, I think my book didn't sell for lake of advertisement and marketing campaign, I'm sure that by keeping on posting my writing on regular basis, God will find the right persons to market it. I even have been suggested on a social Christian networking the ideas of promoting my book through book trailers. The famous writer Joyce Meyer uses them on regular basis to promote her work. Everything should be used to spread the word of God and build his kingdom. Hebrews 10:24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. God bless. Sana Edoja http://sanaedoja.wixsite.com/monsite/blog https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01I2I52MW#nav-subnav Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |