Inspire the World: A Christian Writer’s Guide to Writing and Self-Publishing a Book

Are you a Christian with a message to share? Do you have a heart for God’s Word and a passion for inspiring and uplifting others?

If so, you have the potential to write a powerful book that can impact countless lives. But the journey from a spark of an idea to a finished manuscript can be challenging. That’s where we come in with a step-by-step guide to writing your Christian book and self-publishing it.

With years of experience in Christian publishing, we are dedicated to helping budding writers like you bring your vision to life. Our team of experienced editors will guide you through each step of the publishing process, from crafting a compelling outline to helping you create a stunning book cover and getting it into the hands of fellow Christians.

Whether you’re a seasoned writer or just starting out, we’re here to support you and help you achieve your Christian writing goals.

Organize Your Notes

Categorise: Sort your notes into thematic categories that align with your book’s central message.

Digitalise: Scan or type your handwritten notes and organize them digitally. Pen to Print is a useful service for deciphering handwriting and converting it to text.

Cross-Reference: Identify connections between different topics and create a visual map or mind map to visualise the flow of ideas.

Develop Your Draft

Outline a compelling introduction that hooks the reader and a conclusion that summarises key points and leaves a lasting impact.

Central Thesis: Clearly articulate the core message or doctrine you want to convey.

Main Points: Break down your thesis into 3-5 main points that support it.

Sub-Points: For each main point, develop 2-3 sub-points to provide further detail and background material.

Conclusion: Once you have a clear understanding of your book’s content and structure, you can work on an impactful conclusion.

Tips for writing a strong conclusion for a Christian nonfiction book:

Recap the Main Points: Briefly summarise the key arguments and themes discussed in the book.

Reinforce the Central Thesis: Restate your core message in a powerful and memorable way.

Call to Action: Encourage readers to apply the book’s teachings to their own lives. This could involve specific actions, prayers, lifestyle changes or even joining a local church.

Offer Hope and Encouragement: Remind readers of God’s love, grace, and power to transform lives.

End on a Positive Note: Conclude with a hopeful and inspiring statement that leaves a lasting impression.

Here’s a sample conclusion for a Christian nonfiction book about overcoming adversity to give you an idea of what is required:

The journey of faith is often marked by trials and tribulations. Yet, as we have explored in these pages, God can use our struggles to shape us into His image. Remember, adversity is not a roadblock but a stepping stone. It is in the midst of our challenges that we discover the depths of God’s love and the strength of His grace. As you continue your own journey, may you trust in the Lord, cling to His promises, and embrace the hope that only He can provide.

Craft Your Writing Process

Dedicated Workspace: Create a quiet, distraction-free space for writing.

Daily Writing Habit: Set a realistic daily writing goal. For example, it could be 1,000 words per day.

Free Writing: Start with a free-writing session to generate ideas and overcome writer’s block.

Focused Writing: Once you have a clear direction, switch to focused writing, adhering to your outline.

Book Editing Process

Developmental Edit: Focuses on the big picture: structure, content, premise, and overall discourse.

Line Edit: Refines sentence structure, word choice, and clarity.

Copy Edit: Correcting grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors.

Seek Feedback & Critiques

Writing Groups: Join a writing group to receive constructive feedback from fellow writers.

Beta Readers: Share your manuscript with trusted readers for honest opinions.

Why Hire a Beta Reader?

Professional Assessment: Consider hiring a professional editor for in-depth feedback.

What is a Manuscript Assessment?

Professional Editing

Developmental Editing: A developmental editor will help you strengthen your book’s structure, content, and overall argument.

Line Editing: A line editor will focus on improving sentence structure, word choice, and clarity.

Copy Editing: A copy editor will correct grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors.

Our Christian Book Editing Services

Self-Publishing Process

Choose a Platform: Select a self-publishing platform like Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) or SmashWords.

Format Your Book: Ensure your manuscript is formatted correctly for your chosen platform.

Design Your Cover: Create an eye-catching book cover that reflects your book’s content.

Set Your Price: Determine a fair price for your book, considering factors like length, genre, and target audience.

Market Your Book: Promote your book through social media, email marketing, and book reviews.

Recommended:

Why Work With Us?

How to Get Your First Book Published

Additional Tips

Pray: Seek God’s guidance and inspiration throughout the writing process.

Be Patient: Writing a book takes time and effort.

Don’t Give Up: Persist through challenges and setbacks.

Celebrate Your Accomplishments: Take pride in your hard work and the finished product.

By following these steps and seeking professional guidance, you can effectively transform your words into a powerful and impactful Christian book.

Here’s what our authors had to say..

- Philip K.

Hello Declan – I have been through your further assessment, thanks for those insights I can certainly work with those and will follow up on the contacts you suggest asap. I’m pleased to report that after many months of research and writing I have finally been able, this week, to self publish on Amazon the novel named “Treaty or Treason”! A close call with Penguin Ireland sadly didn’t work out for traditional publication. I would like to pass on particular thanks to Declan at Writerful Books (Dublin and Melbourne) who assessed the manuscript and helped me with many comments and kept me trudging or swimming on. Some famous author once commented that writing a book is like swimming the English Channel, you don’t know where you are, don’t know how far you have come or how far it is to go, but you have to keep swimming! Couldn’t agree more. Philip Kerrigan.
- Philip K.
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- Joseph C.

Report received, many thanks. I'll let you know how it goes once I get stuck into the drafting. Cheers - Joe
- Joseph C.
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- Michael P.

I received your report and took a gander. I’ll have more time later tonight to read it in detail. [...] Generally speaking, you highlighted exactly what I expected (not a bad thing). I knew going into this project that it would be a challenge staying “in the moment” i.e., biblical times/language. It has been fun. The protagonist’s journey – that’s what it’s all about. I’ll be in touch. Thank you. Michael. - Michael P.
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- Jo D.

Thank you for the report. I like my premise for this work, but clearly I’m having trouble pulling it off. Thanks for catching so much.

Best,
Jo - Jo D.
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- Alessandro S.

Thanks so much for the essay and the editing, it's all very encouraging and it has gotten me back into self-editing at full speed! [...] Sorry for babbling a bit, but I felt inspired! Thanks again for this, and by all means feel free to ask anything you like. If you or the reader want to talk about it face-to-face (digitally so to speak) I am also very open to it, I don't have much opportunity to speak about my writing with people in the industry so it would be a great experience for me to chat about it. Kind Regards, Alessandro.
- Alessandro S.
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- Helen G.

Thank you so much for your insightful comments. I had to laugh at the grammatical errors. It seems no matter how hard I try to find them, some always get through. Grammarly is good, but it doesn’t seem to ever catch it all. This novel went through 4 edits with the program and it missed all of those you specified. I need to read it aloud, which I haven’t done. It is the best way but time consuming. - Helen G.
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- Russell T.

Thank you for the assessment. I will make some of the changes you suggested and go forward. I don't know if the work is good enough for publishing, either by a commercial publisher or by self-publishing. Do you think I should try to publish it? Thanks for your input. RT - Russell T.
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- Joanne O.

Thank you so very, very much for your feedback. I don't think I was expecting anything quite so resoundingly positive and I feel tremendously uplifted to know that you enjoyed reading my novel! This is my first attempt at writing and I have been working away at this manuscript for a good two years now, through various rounds of feedback, fine-tuning and the like. I'm not quite sure what to say! I would absolutely love to submit the piece and I confess I really have very little clue as to how to go about contacting agents. I will look into that and let's see where it takes me. Thank you once again - it really did make my day! Regards, Joanne. - Joanne O.
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- Jodi L.

I just read your comments and am feeling deeply grateful. You've given me a new confidence that the subtleties I was hoping to convey are coming through to a caring and thoughtful reader. I will certainly work on the few words you suggested reconsidering. One one of them ("knacker") I was wondering about myself ... whether it had too many other meanings to be clear in that context. Indeed I struggled with hating to use the language of the era, but knowing it was how the characters would speak. I am glad you felt that was a reasonable choice. Also, as this was a new epilogue (after several tries that weren't working all that well), I am quite grateful that you've given it a stamp of approval. I do feel that I'm finally ready to send this book to agents... to let it out of my own little world. It's been a very long road of discovering this challenging craft, and readers like you make it worth it. Many thanks to you, and I quite expect I'll get back in touch for the next one. Rinse and repeat.... that's a writing life!
- Jodi L.
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- Catherine C.

Thanks so much Declan. I’m going to make a few modifications now thanks to your suggestions. Great thanks so much!

As you say good writing is rewriting, and as I re-read the rest of the manuscript I am struck with how many glaring holes there are and how many (lots!) opportunities for improvement!

So, I think I will continue to work on it before I send the rest of it to you.

Thanks for the feedback. I felt my writing had improved, so its nice to know I am not delusional.

BTW, this is a completely new story, with the previous 2 manuscripts as only back story.

Thanks so much. It is a very well written, comprehensive report. I’m very impressed with the quality.

There are some helpful suggestions for improvement and the summary of characters and plot is spot on.

[...]

Thanks again for such an in-depth report, I know that was beyond the realm of a beta read, so I really appreciate it!

Catherine Craig. - Catherine C.
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- AJ F.

Please pass on my sincere thanks to the reader. Some generous and kind comments along with some solid pick ups. I’ve not yet had the ms proofread in case it needed some serious work, hence the typos. - AJ F.
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- Jim C.

Thanks for the feedback. I have gone through about half of it so far and find myself in agreement with most of the points and having a good think about some broader issues they raise. Will probably have a few questions once I have had time to digest things a bit. Best wishes, Jim. - Jim C.
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- Stephenos M.

I wanted to take a moment to thank you so much again for the meaningful and insightful feedback you left on the manuscript assessment. I really appreciate your work and the ways your feedback has led to the improvement of my writing. Sincerely, Stephenos. - Stephenos M.
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- Mary K.

Thanks for your quick turnaround on the report, but even more importantly, thank you for your thoughtful and constructive comments. I've been hesitant to contact the victim's family but you've encouraged me to give it a go and see what happens. Truthfully, in my mind this book is about possibly getting justice for Tatanisha as well as Dell. Thanks again for your excellent suggestions. Sincerely, Mary. - Mary K.
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- Hanif M.

Thank you for your concise report which was quite helpful in highlighting the areas which need to be worked on in the manuscript. Indeed the middle part did seem to go off point and there is no need for several characters/situations.

Additionally your comments on the appropriate dialogue and South London lingo are well noted.

There were some attempts to highlight the disillusionment the protagonist faced when arriving Nigeria. That was also supposed to be part of his journey.

However It's clear that the manuscript does require a good plot overhaul/change in the sections mentioned

Naturally the services of a developmental and copy editor would be engaged. The point of this assessment was to ensure if the story had some potential.

Best regards

Hanif - Hanif M.
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- Frank

Thank you for your report by Carrie. Please pass on my thanks to her also, particularly for her involvement in the story. I have made some changes in accordance with Carrie's recommendations. [...] Well Declan I guess it is time to test the publishers. I am still deliberating on whether to use a Literary Agent or just go direct to Publishers. Any ideas on this would be gratefully received. All the best, Frank. - Frank
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