THE SELF-PROMOTION DILEMMA

A recent chat among colleagues about self-promotion touched a sensitive nerve in me because it is an issue I have struggled with throughout my journey as a self-published author.  I am aware of the teaching of Solomon – Let another praise you, and not your own mouth. (Proverbs 27:2), as well as the teaching of Jesus – Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. (Matthew 23:12).  Peter affirms these principles – God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.  Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time. (I Peter 5:5-6).  So, how does one approach the need to advance ministry and not violate Scriptural principles about pride and self-promotion?  Several perspectives have helped me balance this challenging dilemma.

An Acknowledgment of Divine Assignment

There was never a point when I looked in the mirror one day and said to myself, “I want to write a book and become a published author.”  So, how did that come to be?  Some radical developments I saw looming on the political horizon as the 2020 Presidential election approached led me to question what was driving those unprecedented ideologies and agendas.  With those things weighing heavily on my mind, I was reading through Paul’s first letter to Timothy when one of his revelations leaped off the pages of the Bible and hit me straight between the eyes – For the Spirit explicitly says, that in the later times, some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons. (I Timothy 4:1).  The Spirit was explicitly saying to me, “There is your answer!”

I focused on Paul’s term “doctrines of demons” and wondered what they might be.  A doctrine, of course, is a system of beliefs.  Doctrines are the fundamental principles that drive choices, behaviors, and lifestyle practices.  What qualifies as demonic doctrines?  My first list was some 12-15 items long, which I eventually narrowed down to five basic ones:  dominance, deception, deviation, division, and death.  At the church where I serve as pastor, I preached a series that expounded on those five fundamental doctrines.

Afterwards, out of a growing curiosity, I looked back at my notes, dug a bit deeper into my research, and began jotting down more thoughts.  Quite unexpectedly, one day it just hit me, “I am writing what could be a book!”  Noting how it all evolved to that point made me realize this was not just a journaling exercise; I was becoming increasingly aware that it was a divine assignment.  I determined to follow it obediently until God gave me clarity for where He might be leading it.

Over time, I completed a very rough draft manuscript.  Feeling somewhat apprehensive about the whole idea, I decided to reach out to some trusted friends and fellow servants in ministry and ask for their assessments of the content.  All were amazingly affirming and encouraging to its continued development.  God seemed to be saying through them, “This work is of Me.  Continue on.”  Their insights and contributions led to one book eventually becoming a three-volume series.  The writing, the easy part for me, was complete.  The real work lay ahead!

An Assessment of Literary & Financial Resources

I had to navigate a steep learning curve about how an unknown author with a faith-based nonfiction book might get it into the hands of interested readers.  There are basically three ways one gets published.  You can submit your manuscript to a publishing company with the hope that they might call you one day and say, “Wow!  What a great book!  We want to publish your book, pay you a $50,000 advance contract fee, promote and distribute your book in retail outlets worldwide.”  With major publishing companies receiving some 5,000 submissions annually, the odds of that happening are less than 2%.

However, multiple publishing companies would be very happy to publish an author.  All it takes is money!  I spoke with one of them, who assured me that my book would be a bestseller and highly successful.  Then she asked me one question:  “Do you have $10-15,000 you can immediately invest in your success as an author?”  When I said, “No,” the conversation ended within five minutes.  She did wish me luck, though.

The third option is to publish through online services such as Amazon Kindle, Google, Barnes & Noble, and other similar print-on-demand platforms.  It requires much less financial investment and is highly effective, providing marketing mechanisms that would otherwise cost thousands of dollars.  These resources are a God-send, but they require constant monitoring and maintenance to reap the maximum benefits, and the learning curve remains a consistent and changing factor.

Along with self-publishing through these platforms also comes self-promotion; it is just a necessary evil.  The systems and algorithms work wonders, but you still have to learn the mechanisms and employ the marketing & promotional strategies necessary to make them work in your favor.  Otherwise, your book gets buried and lost among the nearly 50 million books on Amazon, reaching few, if any, readers.  Isn’t the purpose of writing and publishing a book to get readers?  Unless there is something I have mindlessly missed, books don’t sell themselves, at least not for unknown authors like me.  You can hire professionals to do this marketing and promotional work for you, but be sure you are sitting down when they quote you their fees.

An Awareness of Gifts & Skills

Part of the self-promotion balancing act for me comes in acknowledging my spiritual gifts and how Scripture instructs us to employ them in the work of God’s Kingdom.  Closely related is an awareness of other talents and skills that God has blessed me with and given me the opportunity to develop over the years.

I have studied the Biblical concept of spiritual gifts and have taken various inventories over the years to assess my specific spiritual gifts.  I have always consistently scored highest on the Gift of Teaching.  It is why I feel so comfortable on a platform, behind a podium, or in a pulpit.  It is the “engine” that fuels and drives whatever effective ministry work I have ever been blessed to accomplish.  It is the empowering dynamic behind my study, preaching, singing, teaching, and writing.  These gifts are given to help us share the Gospel, edify the church, and proclaim Biblical truth.  They are designed to be employed in whatever arena they are most effective (Ephesians 4:7-13).

Over my working years, I have had many opportunities to develop marketing, promotional, and advertising skills.  I have worked in radio & television broadcasting, franchise marketing, and developed skills in art graphic layout design, digital content creation, audio & video production, and more.  I have always measured the high cost of marketing & promotional services against my own skills and abilities to produce these elements and decided it would be better stewardship of my resources to do as much of this work myself as possible.  While that may be perceived by some as extravagant self-promotion, it is actually a cost-saving measure very important in the publishing world.

An Adjustment in Promotional Focus

The fundamental question to ask is, “What are you promoting?”  Are you promoting yourself, or a book?  Are you promoting your writing or the message embedded in the writing?  There is an important distinction to be made, although you are the author of the book.  Some might see no difference, but there is.  A man running for public office promotes a campaign.  Is he promoting himself or the seat in Congress?  If he is elected, he will be the one sitting in the seat, obviously.  If the pastor promotes a new sermon series, is he promoting the series or his preaching?  He is the one who will be doing the preaching.  You cannot separate the two, but you can draw attention to the more important element – the message.

My promotional graphics commonly emphasize the awards my books have garnered.  When two literary organizations have qualified a book’s message as pertinent and impactful, readers are assured of its credibility based on the praise of others.  My graphics highlight words or phrases from actual readers and reviews that convey the personal impact my books have had on them.  Some promotions bear my image to help readers connect a real person to a genuine book, which is especially helpful in today’s AI-generated world.  The focus always targets the books and their message, and not the author, even though I am the author.  You can’t get around that, and prudent readers don’t expect you to.

One thing I have learned in the “indie” self-publishing world, especially as an unknown author, is that you don’t get rich selling books.  My tax preparer will verify that I have always invested more money in the production, marketing, and promotion of my books than the sales revenue they have generated.  Why would an author do that?  I can only answer for myself.  The message is more important than the sales.  My prayer for these books has always been that God would make sure they fall into the hands of those who need their message the most, and that hearts will be enlightened, changed, and lost persons would come to know Jesus in a very personal way from having read them.

My Amazon report indicates that over 900 units of my books have been purchased.  I am told that is better than the average for a self-published independent author.  I am grateful for that blessing, but that statistic is not the one that means the most to me.  Amazon Kindle has a unique program called Kindle Edition Normalized Pages (KENP), which tracks how many pages of my ebooks have been read by persons in that program.  To date, it indicates over 21,750 pages.  This represents hundreds of readers across the United States and eight other countries in the Kindle program.  It does not include those who have purchased print editions or those from other platforms other than Amazon.  When I see this report from day to day, I always pause and ask God to reveal Himself through the message so that their lives are enriched and changed according to His will, plan, and purpose for each one.  With those reading from Germany, Brazil, India, the United Kingdom, and other countries, I would have never reached them with Biblical truth otherwise.

I’m sure there will always be some who see self-promotion as an ego-centric, narcissistic, and shameless demonstration of vanity, no matter how it is packaged or focused.  I guess you can never get around those people, so you press on and do your best with a humble motivation and spirit.  Too many others will embrace your offer, read your books, and be changed by the message God’s Spirit breathes into them.  If even a little self-promotion could accomplish that, it seems worth the effort to me.  After all, readers commonly choose a book because of the person who wrote it.  They have come to trust that what he or she writes about is worthy and meaningful to read.

I think the words of John serve to guide our book promotions as faith-based authors  – He must increase, but I must decrease. (John 3:30).  As I strive diligently to do that, I encourage you to set your focus on God and His righteous truth in the message, and allow yourself, the author, to fade into the background.  God will conjoin the two as He sees fit, in ways that will bring the greatest glory and honor to Him, whether it exalts you or not.  That fits comfortably in my heart.  How about yours?

Striving to Abide,

Rick M. Smith