Publishing...My Unexpected Journey

Hi Friends,

I've been thinking lately how life rarely turns out like I expect (as you've probably figured out from many of my previous posts! :-)). God is so often up to something different, new . . . wild.

Recently, I was asked in an interview about how my publishing experience has met with my expectations. Of course, the question made me laugh. So, if you want to hear about the wild ride that has been my book publishing experience . . . keep on reading!

And hopefully, if you're in a place where God is doing something strange and unexpected (especially if the unexpected is something that seems not so great), you'll find that you're not the only one on that road, and you'll be encouraged to keep on walking down the path with Him ... just to see where He might lead.

So, here's what I said in that interview:

QUESTION: You’ve been in the publishing industry for a while now with four previous novels and a nonfiction book to your credit. How has your publishing experience lined up with expectations? How has it not?

MY ANSWER (after my unwritten "ha ha ha!"):

You’ll find that most of my books include a theme about life not turning out the way you plan or expect. That’s because God has given me the equivalent of a PhD in “My plans are not your plans, saith the Lord . . .” And my publishing experience has been a significant course in that learning process.

Nothing in my experience with publishing has gone according to expectation. At first, that was just because I was naïve. I thought I just had to write some good stuff, and I’d get a contract for my first books, which, at the time, was an end times series (this was before the Left Behind craze). So, I went to conferences with my proposal and heard from all the editors, “We aren’t interested in this type of futuristic fiction.” What they meant, of course, was they weren’t interested in that type of story from a newbie like me.

So, I tried historical fiction. And got a contract just as expected. Except the contract was canceled . . . that was unexpected. And it hurt.

Eventually, another publisher contracted that book and it became my first published novel (Cry Freedom). I received a few other contracts, had those books published, and then came another rude awakening in the form of sales figures. I expected to write a good book and have it do well. But that’s not how it worked for my third novel. Because of internal publishing house changes, sales went badly.

And there wasn’t anything I could do about it. That was hard because I’d written the story as an act of faithfulness to God’s call, I felt He was pleased with it, I’d done everything I could in promotion and marketing, and still it “failed.” Ouch!

At that time, I was told to expect the numbers for that book to prevent other publishers from wanting to publish future books of mine. “It would have been better for you if that book hadn’t even been published,” they said. But God was about to crush that expectation as well.

A publisher contracted my next historical novel, I wrote it, and then just before it was scheduled for release, the company went through a large restructuring – they cut fiction, most of the members of the PR department left, the fiction editor left, and my book was stranded. I hadn’t expected that either.

But God was up to something in the meantime – a new story idea that I simply had to write. A story that so moved the Multnomah team, even in its synopsis form, that they wanted to publish it despite my previous sales numbers. They wanted that story, plus two more. The story was Beyond the Night. It came as an unexpected gift from God. (P.S. And here's the final, final version of the new cover!! They added a quote from Laura Jensen Walker - you can't quite see it up there at the top. It says, "I just finished Beyond the Night and can barely see through my tears. What a beautiful love story! Move over, Nicolas Sparks. There's a new girl in town." -- Cool, huh? :-) Okay, now back to the interview question . . .)

And just like everything else in my publishing experience, it has taken me by surprise. Pre-readers are calling me and emailing saying how the story has moved them, impacted them. But it’s not because of my great planning. It’s because God has again done something that I didn’t foresee, didn’t expect. And I thank Him for it.

So, friends, may you find peace in the unexpected twists of life, and in them, may you discover the wonder of an unexpected God!