The Secret to Becoming a Successful Christian Author: Church

As you’ve heard me say many times before, the key to writing books people want to read is writing books that people already want to read.

It’s easier to write a book that people want than to change someone into the kind of person who wants to read the book you wrote.

It’s hard to change yourself and your own desires, but it’s nearly impossible to change someone else. You’ve probably learned from your marriage and relationships that changing other people is impossible. It’s even harder for authors to change their readers into people who like to read what they’ve written.

In fact, you can’t change your readers, but you can change your book.

The key to success is to know your readers, but many Christian authors find that challenging.

They wonder:

• Where do I find my readers?
• How do I make friends with my readers?
• What if I have no place to connect with my readers?

If only there were a place where Christian readers gathered for regular meetings, perhaps even several times each week.

Well, guess what? There is! It’s called church.

This photo shows the interior of a small country church.

For the last 2,000 years, Christians have gathered in meetings where they pray, sing, read the Bible, and fellowship. And if you are writing for Christians or even churchgoers, your readers gather at church.

That is until recently.

There’s been a decline in church attendance that started before the pandemic. I went to a pre-COVID writers conference and was stunned that nearly half of the faculty at the Christian writers conference, who were teaching about Christian writing, were not churchgoers.

In many Christian publishing companies, only a small fraction of the team attends church, and the trend holds steady among authors.

Over the years, I’ve noticed that Christian authors who stop attending church experience decreased sales. The decrease isn’t due to supernatural forces, as some might want you to believe.

As a marketer, the cause for decreased sales seems obvious to me. Christian authors who don’t regularly attend Christian churches lose touch with Christian readers. It’s just that simple. They lose touch with what their readers want.

• How do you know what questions Christians ask if you don’t attend church and interact with them?
• How can you write a novel in tune with the music and someone’s soul if you can’t hear the music?

Books written by non-church-going Christian authors often feel tone-deaf to readers because the authors are out of touch with the music.

In this article, we’ll talk about church and how your church attendance can help you write a better, more popular book that will help more people.

Who better to consult than a pastor and writer like Chase Replogle? He is the pastor of Bent Oak Church in Springfield, Missouri, and the author of The Five Masculine Instincts. I previously interviewed Chase about his book; and since its publication, he’s been featured on many popular platforms, including Good Morning America, Christianity Today, and The Gospel Coalition.

He also hosts the popular Pastor Writer podcast, where he interviews Christian authors on topics of faith and writing.

Thomas Umstattd, Jr.: We talked a lot about patience in our first interview. What have you learned about it since?

Chase Replogle: I remember talking a lot about patience. I would like to say that once your book’s in hand, you’re done with the lesson of patience. But I’m in the process of publishing book two right now, and I’m learning more patience. Patience is the name of the game in writing and publishing.

From your perspective as a pastor and writer, why is attending church important for Christian authors?

Chase: If you call yourself a Christian, you’re partly under obligation to Christ to not neglect the gathering together of believers. That’s part of what we’re called to do as Christ’s body. The ...