Getting a foot in the door

April 24, 2008

hired.
hired., originally uploaded by jakebouma on flickr.

A while back I wrote a post called On writing a book which revealed that one of my life goals is to write a book. One of the toughest parts about pursuing this goal is getting your foot in the door. It's the proverbial chicken-and-egg conundrum: publishers want to see legitimate writing experience, but one can't get experience without the help of a publisher.1

Well, thanks to the grace of God and a friend by the name of Erik Ullestad, I've been officially hired/contracted to write for Augsburg Fortress Publishers, the publishing house of the ELCA. It's nothing glamorous; I'm writing devotionals for the webzine of Augsburg's confirmation curriculum. But it's a start.

My foot is planted firmly in the door.

  1. Now, I realize there are other ways to get "published", e.g., online magazines, blogs, and other various freelance endeavors... but you get my point. []

{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }

david April 24, 2008 at 3:29 pm

way to go! impress them, dude.

Reply

Tim April 24, 2008 at 4:26 pm

Jake,

Congratulations on getting your foot in the door. I’m about as new at being a publisher at Augsburg Fortress as you are as a writer with us. It’s not always glamorous, but it’s good work. Thanks for being a partner.

Tim Paulson
Publisher, Congregational Life & Learning

Reply

Rich Kirkpatrick April 24, 2008 at 11:03 pm

Congrats!

You know, we never did work on that song idea.

Reply

Jesus April 25, 2008 at 10:45 pm

Good to see you’re writing fiction. You must have a great imagination. You’d have to to believe in a crazy fantasy like Christianity.

Reply

Andrew Tatum April 26, 2008 at 7:26 am

I’m really excited for you! I’m always glad to see fellow bloggers who are also pursuing their dreams (and, in your case, achieving them). Oh, and by the way, I can’t believe you’re not on my blogroll…how silly of me.

Peace,
A.T.

Reply

Andrew Tatum April 26, 2008 at 7:32 am

Oh, also..did you create the Amazon and Librarything buttons? If so, would you mind sharing? If not…where can I find them? They’re pretty sweet.

Thanks,
A.T.

Reply

Jimmy_C April 28, 2008 at 5:14 am

Congrats Bro!

Reply

mike rucker April 28, 2008 at 10:07 am

way to go, JB!

i was always told to “follow the money”… but i never seemed to find any. hope your r’ship with AFP is a good one.

i wonder if books are going to meet the same cruel fate that awaited LPs – with the internet and CDs everywhere…

Reply

Rick Klau April 29, 2008 at 10:44 am

Jake – let me echo Tim’s “welcome” – we’re glad to have you on board!

@Mike – I’m on AF’s board, and we’ve been quite aggressive in integrating online into our product offerings. There’s still a place for books, but the exec team at AF has been investing a bunch in online offerings for years (see Akaloo.org, SundaysAndSeasons.com as two examples) and I think we’re well-prepared as the publishing world evolves.

Reply

Nathan Ketsdever May 19, 2008 at 7:17 am

Congrats! That rocks!

Reply

Leave a Comment

Previous post:

Next post: