You’ve felt it—that quiet, persistent nudge toward a book. Maybe you’ve been carrying a message for years, or maybe the idea arrived suddenly and hasn’t let go. You’ve done the work of writing, praying over it, and believing it’s meant to reach people.
But the road to publishing can be long, and the waiting can feel like standing still. Query letters, submission windows, responses that take months, manuscript edits and rewrites—it’s a process that requires both persistence and patience. And somewhere in the middle of all that waiting, it can start to feel like the message is sitting on a shelf.
Here’s what we want you to know: the message doesn’t have to wait!
Sharing your writing in other formats while you pursue publication is wise. It’s stewarding what God has placed in your hands, right now, with what’s available to you. It’s creating manuscript and messaging drafts and connecting with beta readers and audiences that will help you refine what you have to say. And as it turns out, it also makes you a stronger candidate when the publishing doors do open.
1. Start a Blog or Website
A blog is one of the most flexible and lasting ways to share your writing. Each post can draw from the themes, stories, and insights of your book—not giving everything away, but offering a window into the world your message lives in.
Each chapter likely contains multiple ideas or principles that could stand on their own as a blog post. You can expand those concepts your manuscript, exploring them from different angles, and let readers begin to encounter the heart of what you’re writing.
Over time, a consistent blog also builds the kind of platform that publishers genuinely look for. When we work with authors through our publishing services, one of the most valuable things an aspiring author can bring to the table is an existing, engaged audience, and a blog is one of the best places to grow that.
2. Build an Email List
An email list is one of the most direct relationships you can build with your readers. Unlike social media where algorithms decide who sees your content, your email list is yours. It’s a group of people who raised their hand and said they want to hear from you.
A regular newsletter doesn’t have to be long or complicated. It can be a brief reflection, a story from the writing process, or a truth from your message that felt especially alive that week. Think of it as a letter to your readers, written with the same heart you’re pouring into your book.
The people who open your emails week after week are also your most engaged early readers, and when your book releases, they’re often the first to buy, share, and review it.
3. Consider Substack
Substack sits somewhere between a blog and a newsletter, or maybe it’s a combination of the two. It’s a platform built specifically for writers who want to publish directly to subscribers. It’s free to use, straightforward to set up, and has a built-in discovery feature that can help new readers find your work organically.
For authors in the middle of the publishing journey, Substack is particularly well-suited. It’s a place where long-form, thoughtful writing is expected, which means the kind of writing that comes from someone working on a book fits right in. You can share chapters in progress, behind-the-scenes reflections, or fully developed essays that grow from your manuscript’s themes.
4. Show Up on Social Media
Social media posts don’t have to feel like marketing. For a writer, they can simply be small moments of sharing—a line that moved you while writing, a question your message keeps circling back to, or a story that didn’t make it into the manuscript but still feels worth telling.
Social platforms also give you real-time feedback. The posts that generate conversation, questions, and shares are telling you something important about which parts of your message resonate most. Pay attention to that. It will inform not only how you write but how you eventually talk about your book to publishers, agents, and readers.
5. Create a Small-Scope Resource
Your message doesn’t have to live only in long-form writing. Some of the most meaningful content can be distilled into a focused, standalone resource—a PDF guide, a printable workbook, a guided journal, or even a short online course built around one core idea from your book.
Think about the transformation at the heart of your message. Is there a process your reader needs to walk through? A set of questions worth sitting with? A framework that would serve someone even before they hold the full book in their hands? That’s the seed of a resource.
A well-crafted PDF or printable workbook can be offered as a free gift to grow your email list, or sold as a low-cost introduction to your work. An online course takes that a step further, allowing you to teach the principles of your message in a more structured, interactive format while your book is still making its way toward publication.
These kinds of resources let your audience experience your message, not just read about it. And the people who engage with your workbook or complete your course will come to your book with context, trust, and investment already built.
Your Audience Is Also Your Beta Reader
Every person who reads your blog post, opens your newsletter, or responds to your social media caption is giving you a gift. They’re telling you, in real time, what lands and what doesn’t. What resonates deeply and what needs more context. What questions your message raises that you haven’t yet answered.
Traditional publishers pay for focus groups and market research to get this kind of feedback. You’re building it organically, one post at a time, by simply showing up and sharing. By the time your book is ready for publication, you’ll have a clearer, more refined message, and you’ll know exactly who it’s for.
The Message Was Always Meant to Move
We believe deeply that if God has placed a message in you, it’s because He intends for it to reach people. The publishing timeline is part of the journey, but it’s not the whole story, and it’s certainly not the only path for your words to travel.
Start where you are. Share what you have. Build the audience one post at a time. And when that publishing door opens, you’ll walk through it with a body of work, a community of readers, and a message that has already been tested, refined, and proven.
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