Marketing In His Hands

Happy Monday from Gail Gaymer Martin www.gailmaritn.com The other day I was thinking about promoting and marketing, and I realized that no matter what I do, it may not make one bit of difference. Why? Because I truly believe in Proverbs 16:9. In his heart a man plans his course but the Lord directs his steps.

The obvious question is why would the Lord not bless an author’s attempts to market a book which he or she had written to God’s glory? If you give this some thought, I think you’ll find many answers. So it leaves you with the next question. Should you give up?

First we need to think about God’s Word. He has created us for His purpose. He knows the desires of our hearts, and yet he also knows when we are ready to use His gifts to the best of our ability. Too often writers believe their work is ready for publication, but God knows this isn’t the writers best work. The Bible tells us He will make everything beautiful in its time. It’s God’s timing and not our own.

Next the Lord also knows when the author is mentally, physically and emotionally ready to take on the difficult task of balancing a powerhouse writing career with one that’s only a bud or perhaps a fresh blossom. It’s important to know when you become popular and sell thousands of books, new demands are placed on you from both your publishers and your readers. Some of you love to speak at various events. I spend many hours preparing keynote addresses for churches and other events, and I also spend much time preparing workshops to teach writing. A gift is not to be put under a bushel but to provide salt and light to the world. This means that not only should our books reach out to readers, but we should give back the God-given talent by providing help to newer writers who want to use their gifts. These hours cut time from writing time and add stress to our lives. It also means we must cut somewhere, and we have to balance our household duties, our jobs if we have them, our family, our church, our social life and hobbies, and our private time with the Lord. Are you ready?

Finally our books touch other people’s lives, and the Lord knows the time that our books can make the greatest impact on those who need to read them. Though I’m a novelist, each of my stories has a spiritual takeaway. Each has believable characters dealing with real life issues, and readers are touched by what they read. My reader mail shares these messages with me on what the novel meant to them and how it gave them hope, deeper love of the Lord, a plan to follow, or a better understanding of themselves. God uses our books to make a difference in people’s lives.

Does this mean we should stop marketing and promoting? Not at all, but what it means is that when our efforts seem in vain or when our promotion takes time from perfecting our talent, then we need to draw back and put our trust in the Lord, knowing that He will direct our steps when we pray and when we sense in our hearts it is time to move forward. It’s a difficult balance, but it is one that needs thought and prayer. Rejoice as the Lord blesses your work for Him.

Comments

[Kristi Holl]

What a lot of wisdom here! This is so very true. God's timing is perfect, whether we understand it at the time or not. You're so right about the increased demands on time and energy after books are published. I think it's harder to find sufficient time to write now than it was when I had lots of small children underfoot. It's a heavenly balancing act.