A Big Step for Me

December 10, 2014 by CJ Penn 13 Comments

Six years! That’s how long, so far, I’ve been working on writing my first book. And finally, it’s about ready to publish. Friends ask me if it’s finished. I say yes, but it never feels finished. I feel I could forever tinker with it. But for now, the tinkering is over. I believe God is telling me to jump out of my boat and take the next big step in this journey with Him… start submitting the book to publishers.

I could self-publish of course. That would be easy. But there’s not much about this six year journey that has been easy for me, so why start now. And besides, something tells me God wants me to first try traditional publishing.

So the first thing I’m going to do is submit a proposal through the Christian Manuscript Submission (CMS) website. It seems like a cool way to get the book proposal in front of many different publishers.

Do any of you have experience with CMS? I could really use some advice.

Thanks, and I hope you all have a great day. CJ

Author: CJ Penn

First, my writing isn't about me. Don’t want the attention, don’t want to feed my ravenous ego (yep, I’m just a typical pride-plagued human). But I love writing - it gets me out of bed when it's way too dark, just so I can do some writing before heading off to work. I write because I’m passionate about God, Jesus, His Spirit, and His truth. And, I feel the Holy Spirit gets shortchanged in the world we call Christianity. The truth is sometimes lacking too.

13 thoughts on “A Big Step for Me”

altruistico
December 10, 2014 at 7:33 am

The best of luck on your publishing journey.

May the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob bless you and yours.

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- C.J. Penn
  December 10, 2014 at 10:21 am
  
  Thank you very much.
  
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- altruistico
  December 11, 2014 at 7:34 am
  
  You are more than welcome, C. J.. Have a great day.
  
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joe juliano
December 10, 2014 at 7:33 am

beware the dangers of turning your spiritual mission, passion into a commercial commodity. Of this I know first hand. I wish you well armor’d

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- C.J. Penn
  December 10, 2014 at 10:25 am
  
  I am consistantly aware of that temptation and my naturally weak human nature. My only hope is in the presence of the Holy Spirit. He’ll protect me from myself. Thanks for the reminder.
  
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stormiesteele
December 10, 2014 at 9:16 am

Congrats on your/His direction for publishing! My first route will be self-publishing, not as easy as it sounds…lots of work too. :)

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- C.J. Penn
  December 10, 2014 at 10:25 am
  
  Thanks and good luck to you.
  
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- stormiesteele
  December 10, 2014 at 12:58 pm
  
  :)
  
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Rick Christensen
December 10, 2014 at 11:20 am

Congratulations! Continue to pray and be guided. Beware of “co-publishing” contracts.

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- C.J. Penn
  December 10, 2014 at 1:02 pm
  
  Thanks a lot for your advice.
  
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Linda Kruschke
December 10, 2014 at 2:58 pm

I wish I had some advice, but I took the relatively easy self-publishing route via CreateSpace. Just published my book last Sunday. But for me – with a book of poetry – traditional publishing was going to be an uphill and expensive endeavor with potentially no end in sight. Praying God leads you to the right publisher for your book. Peace, Linda

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- C.J. Penn
  December 11, 2014 at 5:33 am
  
  Hi Linda. I wish you the best of luck with your book. And thanks so much for your prayers. CJ
  
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betsyborchardt
December 14, 2014 at 7:27 pm

C.J.Penn,
I’m not very familiar with CMS or how it works. But I wish you luck with those publishers involved. It’s best to stay with a traditional royalty arrangement and stay away from any co-publishing arrangement. You write very well, so you shouldn’t have much trouble conecting with a publisher. You do have to be pepaed for a wait of 6 months to 18 months for the book to be published once it is accepted by a publisher. but hey, all good things are worth waiting for. I’ve been sending my first book out to traditional publishers for the past two years with good signs but no acceptance yet. Good luck with your book.
Betsy

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