aefenglommung (aefenglommung) wrote,
aefenglommung
aefenglommung

Seeing it into print

I opened a Lulu account last night. I've been wrestling for years with how to publish my best stuff. Ideas for books and collections have collected dust (well, metaphorical dust, since they mostly reside on my computer's hard drives), and I have been too busy to work on seeing them into print.

What are we talking about? Well, several collections of sermons and my research notes on Revelation top the list. If I were a Big Name among some ecclesiastical interest group, I could probably get this stuff published by their allied press, but I haven't cultivated those relationships. The only national org I've helped lead is NAUMS, and we don't have a press allied to us, nor any deep pockets to support a publishing effort.

And it's not like I'm that concerned about selling a ton of books. I just don't want my best stuff to be taken to the curb when I go, and I can't see anybody else acting as literary executor. Even if only a few people have an interest, I want to communicate with them. So to reach them, Lulu is a good choice.

Republishing My Lord Knows the Way through the Wilderness is another matter. I've got another two years on the NAUMS Board to try to figure out how to get this re-printed, so that it is available to the small, but enthusiastic, audience that keeps asking me for it.

For those who don't know, MLKTWTTW is a handbook for leading worship in the field with Scouts and other campers and retreat groups. It is particularly aimed at helping youth lead worship themselves when clergy are not available. It took fifteen years to get it written and published, and most of that time was spent trying to find someone to clear copyright on the resources in it -- particularly songs. In the end, all the song publishers gave us gratis use of their material for a one-time-only, limited print run to be given away free. Our Conference Committee on CYSA/Scouting paid for the printing, and we spent several years giving away a thousand copies.

They're all basically gone now, but I keep getting requests from people for more. I think it's a viable project for a small commercial publisher, but so far I've found no takers. If, in my remaining time as NAUMS President, I can't find a publisher for this book, I may print it through Lulu after I step down, and offer it through NAUMS. I should know whether Lulu could do the job well by that time.

All of these are works which are basically written. One which I keep saying I need to do, but haven't done more than outline, is my book on Christian Education. I may not get that done for some years, but that's okay. If I can be working on my backlog for a while, publishing, say, one or two volumes per year for the next couple-three years, that gives me some time to do some basic composition on Xtn Ed.
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