How you can help my book get on the shelf

This will be a bit different from my usual posts. In the last few years, I have been working on a book about how we can stop practicing discipleship and start being disciples. Most Western Christians either don’t understand they are called to be disciples (Far too many think the point of Christianity is going to heaven after they die.), or they believe it is only possible to be a disciple if you are in full-time vocational ministry or a monk. Numerous studies prove this out as they demonstrate there is very little difference between the lives of Christians and those outside the church.

In my book (tentatively titled Being Disciples: Following Jesus in Everyday Life), I hope to explain what it means to be a disciple and give a practical framework for being a disciple in our everyday lives. I have been working through the long and often disappointing process of shopping the proposal to various publishers, and next week I will leave my family for four days to pitch the book to some agents and publishers at a writing conference.

A number of people have asked how they can help. Many think the only way to do so is buy the book, but this is not true. You can actually help me get the book on the shelf! This post is a plea for help in that regard. One of the most important parts of getting a publishing contract is having a platform. Most Christian authors are employed in a church, which gives them a foundation for building a platform. I don’t have that foundation, so this blog and social media are my primary platform builders.

If you are reading this, you know about the blog. There are a few ways you can help me here.

1. Subscribe – If you subscribe, you will receive an email every time I publish a new post (two times a week). A growing subscriber count is a selling point with a publisher. The subscription form is at the bottom of the page.
2. Visit the site – If you don’t want to subscribe, make a point of visiting the site from time to time. I send a tweet and update Facebook when I publish a new post. If the title peaks your interest, visit the site. Site visits are another selling point with a publisher.
3. Share posts – If you read something that you like, share it. There are options to share via Facebook or Twitter at the end of each post. The posts that get the most views are the ones people like, share and retweet.

You can also help with your prayers. This book is a calling for this season of my life. I have an amazing wife who is willing to let me take time in the mornings, evenings and weekends to work on this. She has been an invaluable support, but I could use more. You can specifically pray for me in the following areas:

• For clarity with the material. This is a ministry for me, and I want to communicate what God would have me communicate. Please pray that I would hear him clearly.
• For endurance. I need a great deal of strength to push through the creatively dry times. I need the drive to get up (or stay up) and work mornings and evenings when my body would rather sleep. I need the strength of heart to push through the rejection that has and will likely come from publishers before the manuscript is accepted somewhere.
• For a productive trip next week. Please pray that I pitch the right agents and publishers and that I represent myself and this book well. And maybe pray that I walk away with an agent or a commitment from a publisher to put my proposal in their pipeline.

Thank you all so much for your support!!