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Faith writing

Written to be read more than once.

Faith books are lent, given away, worked through in groups and kept on a shelf for years. That is a different job from a book bought once and finished, and it changes almost every decision in making one.

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What we publish

Faith writing is not
one kind of book.

Almost everybody selling publishing services treats it as a single category. These are four of the kinds we handle most, and they are four different objects with four different specifications — if yours is not among them, it is still a conversation worth having.

  • Testimony and memoir

    A life told through what happened in it. The editorial question is the same as any memoir — where does the book begin — and the additional one is how much a reader outside your tradition needs explained before they can follow you.

  • Devotional

    Short entries, read daily, over a defined span. The design decides whether it survives that use: the page has to be findable, the typography has to be readable at six in the morning, and the binding has to open flat and stay open.

  • Bible study and small-group material

    Built to be written in and worked through together. Room in the margins, questions that a group can actually answer, and a structure that survives being taught by somebody who is not you.

  • Theology and teaching

    Referenced properly. Notes, a bibliography, a Scripture index where the book warrants one — the apparatus a serious reader looks for before deciding whether to trust the argument.

The thing nobody tells you

Scripture is
under copyright.

This is the most common rights problem in the category, and it is discovered late, which is the expensive way to discover it. Modern Bible translations are copyrighted works. Quoting them in a book you sell is governed by permissions the translation's publisher sets out, and those permissions have limits.

The limits vary by translation and are published openly by each one. Typically they cap the number of verses you may quote without written permission, bar you from quoting a complete book of the Bible, cap the proportion of your own work that may be Scripture, and require a specific acknowledgement line in the front matter — worded their way, not yours. A devotional built around a passage a day can pass those thresholds without the author noticing.

The King James is a special case in Britain

Almost everywhere in the world the Authorised Version is out of copyright and free to use. In the United Kingdom it is not: it sits under perpetual Crown copyright, exercised through the Crown's patentee, and permission conventions still apply to substantial use. A publisher that does not know this about its own jurisdiction is not one to hand a manuscript to.

What we do about it

We check it before the book is typeset, not after it is printed. Which translation, how much of it, what proportion of the finished book, and what the acknowledgement has to say. Where a permission is needed we tell you and we help you request it. Where a different translation would avoid the problem entirely, we say that too, and the decision is yours because it is a decision about your book rather than about paperwork.

A hand holding a red editorial pencil over a desk, an old typewriter beside it.

Our authors are seen on

BBCDigital JournalIrish Daily MailThe Yorkshire PostWashington City PaperThe Chronicle Journal

Some of the faith titles
we have published.

A few from the list, all of them on sale. Open any one and follow it through to the shop it is sold in — then ask us about the rest.

Cover of The Fathers in my Life by Louise Wynne JonesCover of Biblical View of Christian Perfection by Augustine IkwumonuCover of Encounters by Patrick B. Appiah

The Fathers in my LifeLouise Wynne Jones

Where the readers are

Faith books sell
through people.

Which changes what is worth spending on. A category that moves through churches and groups rewards different work from one that moves through search.

  • Your own congregation and ministry first

    The people who already know you are not a marketing channel, they are the beginning of the book's life. A launch that ignores them starts from nothing.

  • Small groups buy in tens

    One leader choosing your book means a dozen copies at once, and again next term. That is why format, price and a workable study structure matter more here than a clever cover.

  • Orderable everywhere

    An ISBN registered to a publisher and a record in the trade catalogues, so a church bookstall, an independent shop or a library can get copies in for somebody who asks. That is the mechanism, and it is what publishing properly buys you.

  • Speaking sells more than advertising

    A talk, a guest sermon, a conference table, a podcast in your tradition. In this category that reliably outperforms paid promotion, and it is worth planning for before publication rather than after.

How it goes

From manuscript
to shelf.

  1. 01

    You send it

    A sample and a few lines about who the book is for and which tradition it comes out of. That last part changes the edit, so it is worth saying at the start.

  2. 02

    A publisher reads it

    And calls you with a straight answer about whether it is ready. We read for the writing and the structure, not to assess your theology — that is yours.

  3. 03

    Permissions are checked

    Translations, quotations, hymn and song lyrics, and anything else quoted. Song lyrics in particular are far more tightly controlled than most authors expect, and it is much cheaper to know before typesetting.

  4. 04

    It is made

    Editorial, cover, typesetting to the way the book will actually be used, proofs. You see and approve every stage.

  5. 05

    It goes out

    ISBN registered, listed for retail, and distributed into the trade so anybody can order it in.

Not actors

Some of our authors,
talking about their own book.

Filmed after publication. Not all of them write faith titles — these are our authors talking about working with us, which is the part that transfers.

David SummervilleAuthor of Bipolar Sunset

What our authors say

4.9out of 5Excellent

See all our reviews on Trustpilot

No obligation

Tell us about
the book.

What it is, who it is for, and where it is up to. A publisher reads it and writes back within one business day.

We write back within one business day. Your details are used to answer you, never sold, and there is no newsletter.

Faith writing
questions.

No. We publish across traditions and we do not take a doctrinal position on what we print. The editorial questions we ask are about clarity, structure and whether a reader can follow you — not about whether we agree.

Who is the book for?

In this category that answer decides almost everything else. Send us a chapter and tell us, and a publisher will read it and call you.

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