The Christian author’s dilemma

A few years back, Paul Young, author of The Shack spoke at one of our House2House conferences. When we first invited him, The Shack was barely known. A few months later, by the time he spoke at our conference, it had sold 7 million copies!   We asked Paul for  the story behind the book.  It went something like this. Paul was working three jobs when he finished writing a book for his children. Somehow he managed to scrape up the money to get 11 copies for his family and a few friends made at Kinkos. Friends sent it on to friends… From there, the rest is history. It was a God thing! No marketing, no publicity campaigns, just the Holy Spirit taking it and changing lives through it.

It was every Christian author’s dream.

But it was a once in a generation thing.

I’ve just finished compiling The Black Swan Effect: A response to gender hierarchy in the church,  and it’s now with the editors, due out in April 2014. I’d love to send it off to the printers and just have the Holy Spirit do what he wills with it. But the work for most authors when they finish a manuscript is only half done. Which is where the dilemma comes in.  I want to promote the message of the book, but I want to make sure that my motivation is not seeking recognition for myself or any kind of self-promotion.

And so I will do the things that authors need to do in our current climate to bring their books to the attention of others, while asking Jesus to deal with my heart, praying that he gives me wisdom.

It’s only the Holy Spirit who can transform lives and change the church. I pray that The Black Swan Effect will be a tool in his hands.