How to Publish a Christian Book: The 5-Step Path for Faith-Driven Authors

Writing a Christian book isn't just a career goal; it's a calling. Whether you are writing fiction or nonfiction, there is a definite place in the market for good, quality books that can point people to Jesus Christ or at least reflect godly values.

The problem is that many authors get stuck trying to navigate traditional vs. self-publishing, or they don't know the exact steps they need to follow for a successful book launch.

This article will walk you through how to publish a Christian book, step by step—a clear, faith-aligned roadmap to take your manuscript from a hidden draft to a published tool for ministry.

Phase 1: Preparation & Prayer—Laying the Foundation for Your Christian Book

Define Your Why and Who

Once you have decided to write a book, the first thing you need to decide is whether you want to write fiction or nonfiction. Once that is out of the way, a key component in any publishing plan is to clarify your core spiritual message (for nonfiction) or brainstorm the story arc (for fiction).

Basically ask yourself, “Why do I want to write this book?” Your concept or story arc needs to fit in one sentence. You might have heard this described as an elevator pitch—it’s the sentence you would give someone in an elevator who asked what your book is about—it needs to be brief so you are finished talking before the elevator doors open!

When thinking of your “why” for fiction, perhaps you just want to provide a good, clean escape book for your reader. Or you might want to write an allegory (although that can be a very challenging genre to master).

If you have decided to write a nonfiction book, boil down your key message into one sentence—again, this is your elevator pitch.

Then identify who your ideal readers are. Are they busy moms? Church leaders? People dealing with grief or trauma? Whatever your message or story is, there is an audience out there tailored just for your book. Before you start writing, decide who those people are so you can keep them in mind as you write.

Market Alignment

Before writing a word in your manuscript, the next step is to research other successful books in your specific Christian sub-genre, e.g., devotional, Christian living, fiction or fiction sub-genre like fantasy, sci-fi, historical, thriller, adventure, etc. The easiest place to do this is on Amazon as they have the largest and easiest-to-search database of books available for sale—and they will track the best-sellers for you.

Look at the Kindle versions of the books in your sub-genre and open the sample pages to check the tables of contents so you can see how the books are structured. Read the first few pages to see what the writing style is like.

Also review the book covers for the best-sellers in your chosen sub-genre to see what’s working in terms of imagery, artwork, typography, and colors.

Establish a Routine

Perhaps the most important thing you can do to set yourself up as an aspiring author is to establish a routine. As followers of Jesus Christ, we have the advantage of asking the Holy Spirit to help guide us as we write. I find it useful to set aside a particular time of day and days of the week for my writing. A disciplined, prayer-fueled writing schedule is critical to helping a Christian author finish their manuscript.

Phase 2: Polishing the Message—The Editorial Process for Christian Authors

The Self-Edit

Once you have finished writing your manuscript, the next thing is to edit your own work before sending it out for professional editing. This is where you look at the big picture of your fiction or nonfiction. Does the biblical theology align? Is the tone consistent throughout? Does your manuscript follow a cohesive outline and a logical arc?

If there is a portion where your mind wanders while reading, your reader’s mind likely will too. That’s a great place to tighten things up or, for fiction, see if you can deepen the point of view (POV).

Professional Editing

As Christ-followers, I believe that we should be held up to a high standard of excellence and do everything within our power to create a top-notch product. As an author, you also get to be a business owner, an entrepreneur, a marketing manager, and more! And that includes professional editing.

Once you are satisfied that your manuscript is as clean as you can personally get it, it’s time to send it to a professional editor. The first stop is a developmental editor to check the manuscript’s structure. Typically, a developmental editor will go over your manuscript, checking for structure, arc, pacing and clarity. When finished, they should send you a document detailing what they have found and how you can address those issues.

Once you have corrected the developmental problems, next comes the copyediting, which is a line level edit to check grammar, punctuation, style inconsistencies, and readability issues. A good copyeditor will be cognizant of your author voice and align with that (rather than re-casting your words into their own voice), all while making your book shine.

The final pass is reserved for proofreading. This is where the proofreader checks for typos, errors, and formatting issues. This would be the last check before publication and should catch whatever spellcheck has missed. A proofreading pass is a critical non-negotiable for any published work.

Beta Readers

Once all the edits are finished and you have a pre-published copy of your book, it is helpful to find a group of beta readers. This can be a small test group from your church, your community, or your writing circle. What you are looking for here is honest feedback from potential readers, then address those comments in your manuscript, if necessary. Any positive feedback you receive can be saved and used later in marketing.

Phase 3: Choosing Your Publishing Pathway—Traditional, Self-Publishing, or Hybrid

To get your book to market, there are three main pathways to choose from: traditional publishing, self-publishing, and hybrid publishing.

Traditional Publishing

Choosing a traditional legacy publisher will require you to pitch your book to Christian publishers. You will need a book proposal, often a literary agent as many traditional publishers will not accept unagented manuscripts, and hopefully a platform of some kind. The upside is that there are zero upfront costs associated with this method. The downside is that any royalties earned are typically very small—unless you are famous and already have a built-in audience.

If you choose a traditional publisher, be prepared to do your own marketing, just as if you were self-published. Your publisher's job is to sell your book to bookstores, not to readers. Marketing to readers is your job.

Self-Publishing (Indie)

Becoming an independent self-published author gives you total creative and theological control. However, it also requires monies to be invested in cover design, professional editing, proofreading, formatting, and distribution platforms (like Amazon KDP or IngramSpark).

As a self-published author, your royalties will not need to be shared with your traditional publisher, but instead a small cut will be withheld by your distributor (like Amazon or IngramSpark).

Hybrid Publishing

Hybrid publishing is a middle ground where authors pay for publishing services but also gain a publisher’s vetting and distribution network. The financial arrangement between authors and hybrid publishers can vary widely, depending on the publisher.

Phase 4: Production & Aesthetics for Your Christian Book

Cover Design

Let’s talk book covers. Writing and publishing a book can be likened to having a baby. And you want to give your baby every chance to succeed in the world, right? A good quality book cover is the first thing your potential readers will see and I cannot stress enough the importance of having a high-quality book cover.

If a potential reader sees an amateur cover, they will automatically assume your book is not of high quality, which can hurt your sales. So not only does your book cover need to be attractive and genre-specific to attract your ideal reader, it also needs to be visible in a one-inch thumbnail because that is the size of sample book covers on distribution sites like Amazon. Reviewing the covers of other comparable books will give you an idea as to how to achieve this.

Interior Formatting

Another thing you can do to make your book a pleasure to read is to make certain your interior formatting is on-point. Rather than uploading a Word document to Amazon and letting the system format it into an ebook, it is highly recommended to have the interior of your book designed and formatted by a professional (if you cannot do this yourself).

If you need to save a few dollars and are tech-friendly, other options for you would be computer software programs like Vellum (Mac only) and Atticus. But know that if you haven’t done this before, there can be a steep learning curve associated with learning the process.

The point is to make certain the interior of your book (both paperback and ebook) is clean, free of errors, easy to read, and follows industry standards.

Legal & Metadata

Unless you are planning to publish exclusively on Amazon, you will need to purchase an ISBN identifier from Bowker so your book can be entered into the marketplace system. If you are publishing exclusively on Amazon and do not wish to distribute on a wide basis, you can make do with Amazon’s free ASIN system instead.

That said, every version of your book will need a tracking number. Presuming you choose to distribute to the wide market (which I recommend), you will need separate ISBN identifiers for your ebook, paperback, and hardcover (if you choose to offer a hardcover version).

You will also need to create a compelling back-cover blurb, an author bio, and marketing copy for the distribution landing page.

The last items in this category are keywords and categories. You will also need to select appropriate keywords and categories for marketing purposes, which Amazon and other distributors will ask for. Publisher Rocket is a great tool you can purchase online for a modest price to help in this task.

Phase 5: Launching—Marketing & Distribution for Your Christian Book

So now you have written your book, had it professionally edited and designed, purchased a killer book cover, and got all your legal stuff and metadata out of the way. What's next?

Building a Launch Team

A critical component of any successful book launch is a launch team—a group of enthusiastic early readers who can leave reviews on Amazon and Goodreads on launch day. This will help the Amazon algorithm take notice of your new book and hopefully help promote it. You can tap into online sources for early reviewers, or ask your community, friends, and neighbors. And don't forget to invite your beta readers to join your launch team!

Local and Faith-Based Outreach

As a faith-based author, another option open to you for marketing, whether you are traditionally published or self-published, is to partner with local churches, Christian podcasts, and faith bloggers to help get the word out about your new book.

The Long-Game Mindset

One key consideration to help you sell books beyond the first week after your launch is to shift from the “selling a product” mentality to “serving a community.” If you have been focused on reaching your ideal reader since before you started writing, keep focused on this audience to sustain your book sales over time.

Above All, Trust in God

To the new author, this list might seem a bit overwhelming, even though I have only given a broad overview of the entire process of how to publish a Christian book. But as mentioned at the beginning of this article, writing a Christian book is a calling—and well worth the effort.

If you truly believe that God is behind your passion to write a book, remember as well that God will provide the strength you need to finish what he has called you to start. It has been said, and aptly so, God doesn't always call the qualified, but he does qualify those he calls.

If you need help at any stage of this process, feel free to reach out to us at Ember & Ink Press. We help authors through the entire publishing process, depending on what they need. Go to emberinkpress.com and book an obligation-free, no-cost call and let’s chat about your project.

Dona Watson, the founder of Ember & Ink Press, combines 40 years of writing, editing, and bestselling ghostwriting experience with full publishing services to help faith-driven authors craft and publish books that impact God's kingdom.