Publishing Won't Change You but Writing Will
The Story of my Forthcoming Book, Small Stories about Big Things
“How long did the book take you?” a friend asked recently. It’s a simple question, with what should be a simple answer.
But if you’ve written a book, then you know that’s a tricky question. Not only because you find yourself counting all the extra months and years you did not anticipate needing, but also because it’s not always obvious where to start.
“Two years,” I replied.
But when I thought later about my response, I realized I had not been honest. It began at least four years ago, and the journey from that moment until now is something I want to share with you all.
In part, because I’ve always enjoyed the ‘behind-the-scenes’ story of an artistic endeavor.
What was it really like!?
And, in part, because you - my readers - have been instrumental to many parts of this process, and it’s a particular joy for me to reflect on that aspect.
So here we go…
Self-Portrait: Four years ago I took a continuing education class over Zoom. It was in those early pandemic days when some of the folks who first figured out that they could offer their teaching expertise over Zoom also sometimes learned they could retire from in-person offerings altogether.
In this particular class, one of the very first assignments was as simple as it was profound: Do a self-portrait.
No word on what mediums we should use, how literal we should be, or what size, shape, and elements we might want to include.
Notably, this was not an art class for artists. It was a leadership class for ministry leaders who may or may not have an artistic bone in their body.
In my case, the project proved revelatory on several levels - though that’s another small story :) The relevant aspect in terms of the book was this: I cut out a picture of a pen from a magazine and glued it onto my self-portrait in a way that made clear, “I’m a writer. I love writing. I’m at my best when I am writing.”(Self-Portrait. No one said I was an artist)
It was the first time I’d admitted this to myself. And that simple shift in my self-understanding freed me to think far more seriously than ever, “What if I wrote a book one day?”1Weekly Substack: In January of 2022, I felt a growing desire to try out a creative writing outlet. Something about the pandemic had freed me to worry a lot less about how people did or did not receive my work - or even if there would be an audience at all! I simply knew that writers write, and I wanted to do that.
And while I didn’t envision any of my pieces to be part of a book, I did assume that this would help me get into the habit of writing more frequently.
In an embarrassingly short amount of time, I then cobbled together a logo on Canva using stock images, and I wrote my first piece, Lessons from a 1/2 Slice of Quiche.Actually, for the first two months, I simply edited and published pieces I’d already written in my journals from years ago, including the quiche piece. I also assumed I would sometimes edit recent sermons to work for this publication, but the truth is, I only ever did that one time.
(This was the one time. It was a very brief homily given during Advent)
In those earliest days, I couldn’t fathom finding the time and energy to write something truly new each week - though I eventually realized that was fear.
In time, it became clear that my best pieces always turned out to be the ones that were written with the energy and insight that arrived via the surprising stories still fresh in my memory.Subscribers -Once launched, weekly publishing was fun, but I admit that I soon did wonder and worry about readership.
How does one get others to subscribe?!
Certainly I had a few faithful early on (and many thanks to those of you who’ve stuck with it!), but I couldn’t help but wonder why other publications seemed to have many hundreds and thousands of readers and mine, well… didn’t.
Eventually, I embraced two fundamental facts:
a) Nobody is attracted to ‘getting’ energy. Not in Substack, not in sales, not in life. If I’m out trying to ‘get’ more subscribers, clients, money or the like… that energy repels.
Show up, give, and let the chips fall however they may - it’s ancient wisdom that feels acutely relevant to our moment, and one I re-embraced during the weekly stories.
b) Rick Rubin said it quite well when he wrote, “The audience comes last. I’m not making it for them. I’m making it for me. And it turns out that when you make something truly for yourself, you’re doing the best thing you possibly can for the audience.”
Every single time - without fail - that I wrote from a place that felt important to me in that moment, it proved far more creative and good. And yes, it also connected more readily with readers.Potential Book - By the Fall of 2022, I had written enough that I found the desire to write morphing into a desire to try a book - though I had no clear idea on where to best focus my effort.
Which I know is a funny thought - What do you mean you wanted to write a book but didn’t have a deep conviction about what to say?!
Just being honest.
I knew something was there, but that something was still ambiguous.
At that point, I had at least six or so ideas, including things like….The Grounded Life
The 5Gs of Leadership
Lessons from First (mixing life lessons from being the oldest child and playing first base throughout my childhood and teenage years)
Something about Sabbath and Burnout
Something around Multiracial Family Stories/Dynamics
The Sermons I Didn’t Want to Give (a compilation of the 15 hardest sermons I gave - including a brief introduction/background to each of them. These were usually following something tragic or uniquely tense in the world and/or country)
So I signed up for Stacy Ennis’s Non-Fiction Book Writing Course (highly recommend), and began working the process to figure out my book.(Early in the Stacy Ennis’s program - outlining potential themes-and-details related to possible books)
I eventually put together an outline for a book about “The Grounded Life” - a title I didn’t love, but I didn’t know what to do with it either.
As part of the Non-Fiction Course process, I sent my “Grounded Life” outline to an editor and - in a very kind but direct way - she made it clear that the book idea and outline… um, needed a lot of work. And she was right.
”I don’t know what to do,” I lamented with a friend shortly thereafter. “I feel like I have to start over.”2
”What about all your small stories? Aren’t those a book?” he asked.
And his comment felt like permission.
Who said a book needs to look like most of the other non-fiction books out there? Why can’t a book be a compilation of stories, not unlike Kitchen Table Stories: Wisdom that Heals - a book that was handed to me shortly after I embraced this revelation (funny how those kinds of things happen, isn’t it?).
More, as I explain in the introduction of my book, it was becoming clear to me that in an age so often characterized by overwhelm, disconnection, and information overload, stories are frequently the best conduit of direction, connection, and healing.(Somewhere in this timeframe, I began wondering if I needed a re-brand around the storytelling theme. I played with this “Story Salt” for a brief time. You know, “stories are the most essential ingredient for a well-lived life” or something. And then I dropped it. I share this because it’s emblematic of the creative process; namely, it’s iterative. You try lots of things. Some things feel great at first and then you drop it. Other things feel ridiculous and uncertain and they become central. This one didn’t make the cut, hence why you’ve never seen it - till now).
Choosing Stories, Finding Themes - Eventually, I went back through my Small Stories about Big Things Substack, and began pulling out my favorite stories for the book.
I did not have a particular process I followed; I simply chose ones that felt good to write and still felt good to re-read - and often those stories had solid interaction and feedback from you all.
I eventually chose forty-five stories, and then took some time to consider the overarching themes that these stories explored. Ultimately, it seemed my writing always boiled down to four essential themes:Calling/Purpose-Finding
Belonging/Connection-Building
Leadership
Grace
So, those became the four sections of the book under which the 45 stories all found a place.Editing - I had been told a good editor makes a world of difference. And it’s 110% true. I had an incredible Developmental Editor in Robin Bethel, who I met through Stacy Ennis’s Non-Fiction Book Writing course. Robin did two things exceptionally well:
She heard my voice and so helped me hear where and how my pieces landed with meaning and impact. Writing is inherently vulnerable, and it is everything when someone can affirm where that vulnerability has real connection and meaning.
She readily saw ways in which certain pieces did not go far enough, did not have enough context, or could be clarified.
Mostly, she felt my pieces would benefit a great deal by adding more description and context. Let the reader really feel the setting and context… I took her advice on a few of my pieces, but admittedly, I also ran out of energy to do it with the same vigor and depth for every story she recommended I do this for.
I also had an exceptional Line Editor in Cynthia Guidici.
As a member of a church where I had served, she was already very familiar with my voice, which helped her edit quite meaningfully while also holding onto my quirks around word choice, spacing, and capitalization.
Plus, she caught EVERYTHING. I was genuinely amazed by how many times I needed to “accept track changes” in Microsoft Word whenever she sent back a few chapters.
After two top-notch editors had worked with my book, it is not an understatement to say that it was entirely new - and truly a level of quality I could never have produced myself. I cannot thank Robin and Cynthia enough.
Nor cannot help but take a comment to other writers and aspiring authors: Whatever you do, get an editor! And I have two exceptional recommendations if you don’t know where to start :)Judge a Book by Its Cover - While Cynthia was doing final edits on the final chapters of the book, I sent you - the SSBT readers - a Book Cover Poll this past April.
My brother, Michael Lippert, did an incredible job drafting up a few possible covers, and you all did a great job voting while also providing a significant amount of written feedback via Substack comments, direct emails, and texts.
Ultimately, the final cover turned out fantastic because of your input, the input of my NSA Austin “Hive” (my unique cohort of professional speakers with whom I meet every week for a mix of master-minding, encouragement, and accountability) and Michael’s creativity.
Notably, many of you commented that it was important that the cover have two people (and not one, as some early cover versions had) since so many of my stories have to do with connection/belonging. Great input!
All of this was more critically important than I first recognized it would be. As I discovered via blogs, bookstores, and the input of dozens of authors - all of us do, in fact, judge a book by its cover. There’s no getting around it. And it’s also very important that the book title can be read in a tiny box - like the one Amazon gives your book.
So again, to the writers and aspiring authors out there, one more bit of advice: give more thought and intentionality to your cover than you ever imagined. You’d like to think this whole thing is about the writing but in the end, the cover can make or break whether or not anyone reads the material.Good Things Take Time - Cynthia sent me the final, edited chapters this past spring, which had me thinking I’d be publishing the book in May (which was already few months later than I’d first anticipated).
I used the month of May to invite a few folks to do an advance reading of the book and provide “Advance Praise” which would then go into the front portion of the book (and a big thanks to those folks! Their thoughtful comments are, in fact, in the book).(one voice of Advance Praise…)
I also took this month to write my “Acknowledgements” section, which I tried to pair down to people who directly influenced this particular book’s creation - rather than a ‘thank you’ to every person in my life, which is how it started out.
Ultimately, I found a lot of guidance for my acknowledgments section by looking through the books of my peers, most especially my NSA Austin friend and colleague, Kymberli Speight (Check out her book!… I Need To Know You: How to Meet Ordinary, Extraordinary People and Improve Your Life)
But truly, after that, it was just a matter of uploading the finalized book cover and publishing… Right!?Self-Publishing is Not (Exactly) Easy - I mean, I think if I did this a second time around it’d be much better. However, figuring out the…
minutia of the title page
ISBN number details
potential selling platforms
precise font and size for the spine of the book
…took A LOT (read: way too much) time.
More, I went through Lulu.com because I knew of a couple of friends who had used it successfully, albeit a few years ago. And while Lulu is very solid, every time I had an issue it required an email.
There’s no phone support - and as responsive as they are on email (they are!) I found myself increasingly just wanting to talk through everything with a real human. Don’t we all, of course…The other challenge that unfolded last spring was the fact that there were so many small manuscript details to attend to - even post-editing. Most especially there were several spacing issues involving the table of contents and each chapter opening as well as a host of details about making headers and footers work well on each.
After much trial and error on my part, I reached out to a Microsoft Word expert on Fiverr so he could take care of everything from the other side of the globe. I regret not reaching out to this person earlier (like immediately after my editors were through), because, honestly, the book would probably have been published in June had I done so.
Book Launch - There is way more involved with the book launch process than I ever realized could be possible.
Admittedly, I’m not doing even half of all of the things that are recommended at this stage, but I have a newfound appreciation for everyone who leans into their launch season because, truly, it can be a full-time job if you really do all the things.
At the same time, it is an important process insofar as you believe in your work.
And I do believe stories are a uniquely relevant and important gift in the times in which we live. Specifically, I believe a lot of us are searching for direction, wanting a deeper sense of connection (to ourselves and others), and would welcome seeing more regularly the surprising gifts unfolding all around us - and these stories serve as portals into those kinds of spaces.
Anchored in that conviction, I’ve done a few things regarding The SSBT Book Launch:
Podcasts - I reached out to a few podcasts, and I’m excited I’ll be able to talk about the book and its relevant themes on a few of them in the coming days.
Launch Team - I reached out to some of my most regular readers and friends to see if they might want to participate on the SSBT Book Launch Team - and I provided a few ways that they could participate.
Social Media - I’ve done a few posts on social media - mainly LinkedIn - and I’ll continue with that. Others have kindly posted likewise.
Partnership Win-Win - A friend of mine owns an online business. Late this month, he is going to offer his customers a one-time 25% discount on his products for anybody who purchases the SSBT book. He believes in the book, he knows his margins, and he sees a win-win opportunity.
Local Book Store - Our local bookstore, Lark & Owl, is a gem. I’m truly grateful and excited to be able to do a formal book launch event with them on Tuesday, September 24th at 7pm (locals can RSVP here!).
Currently, Lark & Owl is the exclusive retailer for the paperback version of the book. The paperback then arrives to Amazon on September 26 (and it arrived to Kindle yesterday).
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There is a great deal more I could share about this journey, and I’m happy to share some of that if you have questions or follow-up! You can reply in the comments section or via email.
For now, let me say that book publishing has not changed me. I do not now somehow feel more confident, competent, and courageous. If anything, I very much still wrestle with the same self-doubts, imposter syndrome, and inability to focus on the things I really want to focus on.
What has changed me, however, is the routine of writing. We become our habits, no?
In my case, I am grateful to be a little more attentive to and grateful for the people, circumstances, gifts and possibilities that exist in every moment of existence.
Writing awakens that.
Stories reveal that.
Publishing a book lets others know that this life is available - and provides a glimpse of what that feels like.
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Thank you, as always, for your faithful, generous, and engaged readership.
May you continue to discover all the Big Things in the small stories unfolding around and within you - today and always.
Notably, I continue to find this kind of thing to be true in my coaching work. Once someone embraces a core aspect of their identity (“I’m the kind of person who works out regularly,” for instance), they begin acting on the things far more habitually (“So I’m showing up to the gym today,” for instance).
My friend and coach,
, has been INSTRUMENTAL in every step of this book’s creation, and it’s a special gift that he is going to be my author conversation partner at the book launch event on September 24. Also notable is the fact that he introduced me to Stacy Ennis and Robin Bethel - which is often how these things work. Good people know good people, and they help connect you to them. And the ball moves forward.
Thank you for an insight to how much energy it took to write this book. I look forward to reading it. Thank you for all of your uplifting, insightful ways of looking at the world.
Thanks Bobby for sharing your book’s journey. My book of poems will arrive in November of 2025 - published by a small press in Kentucky - Finishing Line Press. I took 130 poems and selected 75 for submittal. It took 6 months before the nice handwritten, two sentence rejection arrived. While waiting I rewrote 60 of the poems and sent them to FLP in December of 2023. I received an acceptance letter in February and signed a contract. I don’t have an agent or editor. Most of work has been through group critiques and public readings. I’ve been writing business and technical docs. since 1990. I started writing poems in 2012. I’ve had 7 poems published in journals and magazines. Competition is heavy and at first it was a big ego boost. The last 2 poems published I enjoyed writing, they’ve been well received by maybe 20 people, so the ego is tamed. I’m pleased that a book is coming out, I’ll probably be on some type of reading circuit, unpaid. It’s a line on a CV, but3 I’m a retired IT worker, with an incredible family, that’s what brings me blessings. I’ll keep writin because I enjoy it.