I need to be be honest with you … Blog news
Hello dear reader!
I want to be honest with you and tell you that this blog might have a very short lifespan.
Since starting this website two years ago, there has been very little interest in it or in the books. That’s okay. I’ve been content to let the website do what it wants to do. But it does leave me with decisions about how long I want to continue it for. Perhaps I’ll tell you the story so you understand what’s going on behind the scenes…
You see, in August this year, the website was coming up for renewal. Originally my sister Naomi – who designed this site and all my covers and, well, pretty much anything visually related – generously paid for two years of hosting and a domain name. By June of this year, I had thought the website had reached its natural conclusion, and I asked Naomi to pull the plug. She didn’t. She convinced me to wait until it reached its natural cut off date on August 30th to allow God time to do something in the meantime. I reluctantly agreed.
The beginning of August came along and something did happen. My father was encouraged by an author friend to send his non-fiction books, which have been on the market for some time, to a publisher in Australia that was doing things very differently. I had never intended to even consider another publisher, but this was a Christian publisher who offered no-rights contracts. Basically, as an author, you keep all the rights, which is unheard of in the industry. And when my father received his acceptance letter, I began to hear more about how they operated and was impressed. I had been stung by a publisher and a rights contract before, very badly in fact (see About Me for that story), and the idea of a no-rights contract and a publisher that was doing things very differently to how the mainstream market behaved, got me very interested.
I am only doing this, and I mean ONLY, in case there are others out there who can make more of what I know than I am able to.
I saw this timing as possibly God’s doing, so with my heart in my throat, I sent off a proposal. I explained my sordid publishing history, and I also explained that the website – which had all the information they could possibly want – was about to expire. I received a reply back very quickly that they were interested and would offer a no-rights contract, but they wanted me to keep the website if I published through them. Was I interested? I said that I was very interested, and asked a few questions in reply. I was told they would get back to me the next week.
Extend the website, huh? That seemed to be God’s doing. And when I questioned whether I should or shouldn’t extend it, I believe God said a resounding “Extend!” So I did what I thought I would never do, and I extended the website three months while I waited to see what happened.
Well, the publisher never got back to me “next week” or any week after that. That was two months ago. That’s the way the business goes. I am used to that after twenty-five years. But the website was extended whether I liked the idea or not.
During that time of waiting, I was really starting to think about the coming end of all things with my books and wondering about this wealth of knowledge I had. It seemed a waste for it to just die with me. I was reading, at the time, a book by Christian author and founder of Bethel church, Bill Johnson called, “Dreaming with God” and it talked about how God gives us wisdom and direct knowledge from heaven to change our world and our industries, not just to prosper us. After a dream one night where I started a blog specifically about writing and editing, I remembered then how God had truly blessed me with what can only be described as a God Education. To date, I had really only passed on fragments of it to those I helped tutor. And I thought, “So much knowledge for just a handful of people.” Did God want me to pass on all that I knew? I had to consider that this was the next right thing. And so I quickly set up this blog.
But it all depends now on readers. There’s no point talking to myself. And I am being totally honest when I tell you that I am not doing this for publicity or for book sales or to build a following or to feel good about myself or just for the pleasure of doing a blog. I am only doing this, and I mean ONLY, in case there are others out there who can make more of what I know than I am able to. Who can grab what I know and run with it to change their world and their future and then maybe even pass the information on like I have.
So, is what I have to say useful to people and will it find its way to readers? Like everything in my life, I am watching and waiting to see what God will do. This whole site expires at the end of November. If there isn’t any decent interest in this site, it will close and that will be that. And I’m okay with that. It has taken me a long, long, long time to be okay with whatever God really wants with the books, even if that’s nothing at all. But if he has more in mind than I had for myself, then I will continue the site.
I intend to come to this blog entirely as myself, flaws and weaknesses and all. I want to be honest. I never want to make myself look better and more successful than I am. I did that for years – the world calls it marketing and promotions but it was just another way to lie – and it depleted my spirit and my happiness every time I did it.
So if this blog is useful to you or you are at least keen to try it for a while, I encourage you to mention it to others who also might find it useful, and consider subscribing to notifications. It tells me you are “out there” and reading.
So enjoy this blog while it’s here. If you like an article and think you might want to keep it, I suggest saving the text somewhere just in case. Maybe the blog will continue. We will see what God does, yes?
Thanks for reading. I never take my readers for granted. Ever.
Lisa
The Lonely Creative
About the Author: Lisa Saul
