{"id":70,"date":"2015-02-23T09:22:00","date_gmt":"2015-02-23T16:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/blog\/2015\/02\/23\/christian-publishing-evidently-its\/"},"modified":"2015-11-25T12:45:08","modified_gmt":"2015-11-25T19:45:08","slug":"christian-publishing-evidently-its","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/christian-publishing-evidently-its\/","title":{"rendered":"Christian Publishing: Evidently It’s Broke, So Let’s Fix It (aka Take a Breath)"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/a><\/div>\n

I\u2019ve read a couple blog posts recently that left me both
\nheartened and a little sad\u2014heartened because it was refreshing to see industry
\nprofessionals addressing these issues, and sad because the posts were proof positive
\nthe issues exist.<\/p><\/div>\n

\n<\/div>\n
\nFirst, literary agent and author, Linda Glaz addressed the
\nissue of how authors should respond to negative reviews. (http:\/\/lindaglaz.blogspot.com\/2015\/02\/answering-bad-review-with-bad-words.html<\/a>)
\nWe\u2019ve all seen the profane rants and rampages on which some embark. It\u2019s not
\nonly unbecoming, it\u2019s unprofessional. Spewing profanity in a rage accomplishes
\nnothing positive. The publishing world is small. Industry professionals are
\nwatching, readers are watching, and no one wants to support bad behaviour. Ms.
\nGlaz said it beautifully:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\nFolks, don’t burn any bridges in this industry. It
\nisn’t worth it. IF you respond to a bad review at all, simply thank the person
\nfor taking the time to read your work\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\nNext I read a wonderful post by literary agent Rachel Kent (http:\/\/www.booksandsuch.com\/blog\/keeping-c-cba\/<\/a>).
\nI think Ms. Kent might have been inside my head when she wrote that post. \ud83d\ude42 I
\nwish I could say everything in it was foreign, but alas, I\u2019ve seen or
\nexperienced it all. And it\u2019s terrible, especially coming from Christians. We
\nare supposed to be above the world. Integrity, honesty, charity; these things
\nshould be so commonplace as to be almost clich\u00e9, not so remote that we have to
\nwrite blog posts to remind people to keep the Christ(ian) in CBA. As Ms. Kent
\nso eloquently said:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n

\nSituations like
\nthese should not exist in Christian publishing. We can\u2019t change the way other
\npeople work, and we can\u2019t change that we are faulty humans, but I hope all of
\nyou will join me in working hard to honor God through the work we do. Are you with me?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n<\/div>\n
\nI\u2019m with you!<\/b> <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nAnd
\nI see a light at the end of the tunnel\u2014a solution. All we have to do is take a breath, a moment to check our motives, before we act or react<\/i>.
\nEvery one of these issues exists because people get caught up in a worldly
\npursuit. It isn\u2019t difficult to do; we\u2019re human, after all. But we are
\nintelligent beings, and we can take a breath before we launch headlong into something
\nwe shouldn\u2019t do. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nBefore we post a foul rebuttal to a negative review, pause.
\nAsk: Why do I want to post this? The answer probably will be PRIDE. Our feelings are
\nhurt by the negative review, or we feel the negative review harms our
\nreputation and we have to defend that\u2014vehemently, or both. It\u2019s pride
\nnonetheless. But, we\u2019re not supposed to feed our egos. We know that one negative
\nreview is not where our worth lies. We know that one person\u2019s opinion does not
\nmean our work is inferior. We know reading is subjective, and we know that our
\nworth comes from the immutable fact that God loves us, regardless of whether
\none person or a million people hate our book. So, if we just take a breath
\nbefore rebutting and remember that the bad
\nreview means absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things, we won\u2019t respond with anger and hurt and profanity. (Jesus had countless negative reviews, yet He neither took the
\ntime to defend Himself nor missed a step in completing his mission in all
\nrighteousness.)<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nBefore we renege on a contract and\/or turn in work we know
\nis shoddy, simply because there\u2019s a better offer on the table, we need to take
\na breath. Pause. Ask: Why do I want to go back on my word? The probable answer will be
\nworldly AMBITION. We should strive to please God. That is the only worthy
\nambition there is. But does going back on our word bring us closer to God? Of
\ncourse not. In actuality, it pulls us further from God. We can take Jesus’ example to heart. He didn\u2019t take a better offer when He got one (how easier would it
\nhave been to give in to temptation than to hang on the cross?) He completed His
\nassignment and suffered and died so that you and I might have eternal life. Do
\nwe really think that if we live a life filled with integrity, our faithfulness will
\nreturn void? That the better offer will disappear never to return (or that there can even be a “better offer” than the one Jesus extends). Or do we know as
\nChristians that if we fulfill all righteousness, He will make sure to provide
\neverything we need?<\/p>\n

So, before we go back on our word (even if keeping our word
\nhurts for the moment), we should take a breath and remember that money, the
\npraise of man and worldly status mean nothing. For \u201cWhat profit is there for
\none to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself?\u201d [Luke 9:25]  What
\nmatters is living life with honesty and integrity as He instructs. (Whoever
\nwalks in integrity walks securely, but whoever takes crooked paths will be
\nfound out.[Proverbs 10:9])<\/p><\/div>\n

\n<\/div>\n
\nLikewise, if we\u2019re considering instructing someone else to
\nbreak a contract, that too is ambition; only, in tacitly urging someone else to
\nwrongdoing, we fall into an even greater pit. (cf. Matthew 18:6). So, before we
\ndo that, we should stop. Take a breath. Ask: Why am I advising this? The answer
\nwill be AMBITION or perhaps PRIDE or FEAR. We want to be the agent who gets lands the
\nbiggest deal for our client\u2014maybe for our client\u2019s benefit, maybe for our own
\nego or fear of failure, maybe a little of both. But if we take a moment to realize that God
\nhonours righteousness and humility, we\u2019ll know the right path to take.<\/p>\n

In either of these cases, it isn\u2019t wrong to want to get the
\nbest deal; but it is wrong to do so at the expense of someone else\u2026and deep
\ndown, if we\u2019re striving at all to live an authentic Christian life, we know
\nthat the end never justifies the means. Sometimes, it just takes a breath to remember.<\/p><\/div>\n

\n<\/div>\n
\nDo I need to address the \u201ctake a breath\u201d that\u2019s attached to
\nbad-mouthing a person or company with malicious intent? We know that
\ndeliberately trying to harm someone\u2019s reputation is wrong, don\u2019t we? If not,
\nthen we need to take a breath and ask: Why am I saying horrible things about
\nthis person\/company? The answer will be PRIDE and perhaps FEAR that cause us to
\nbad-mouth another unjustly\u2014especially if those words are exaggerations or lies. I classify this \u201cwith malicious intent\u201d and \u201cunjustly\u201d
\nbecause there may be a \u201cjust\u201d occasion to warn a person from someone else who
\nis confirmed to be harmful. But even then, we should take a moment to check our motives. Are we truly warning someone out of charity, or are we really just attempting to manipulate in order to feed our own ego or to keep a foothold on a worldly
\nposition? The minutiae matter. At any rate, if we take a moment, give the Holy
\nSpirit time to prick the conscience before
\n<\/i>we make the misstep, we\u2019ll be all the better for it, and so will the world.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nSo there you have it. The way to eliminate all these
\nnegative tendencies from the world of Christian publishing: Before you act or
\nreact, take a breath and ask yourself why\u2026and then remember Romans 6:7-10 (emphasis mine). The correct action will present itself.<\/div>\n
\n<\/p>\n

\nMake no mistake: God is not mocked, for a person will reap
\nonly what he sows, because the one who sows for his flesh will reap corruption
\nfrom the flesh, but the one who sows for the spirit will reap eternal life from
\nthe spirit. Let us not grow tired of doing good, for in due time we shall reap
\nour harvest, if we do not give up. So then, while we have the opportunity, let
\nus do good to all, but especially to those who belong to the family of the
\nfaith.<\/i><\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve read a couple blog posts recently that left me both heartened and a little sad\u2014heartened because it was refreshing to see industry professionals addressing these issues, and sad because the posts were proof positive the issues exist. First, literary agent and author, Linda Glaz addressed the issue of how authors should respond to negative […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":778,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[513],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-misc-musings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}