Writing a Book, From Start to Finish

Last updated on: October 16, 2014 at 5:33 pm by Thomas Kidd

Writing a Book, From Start to Finish 2014-10-16T17:33:41-04:00 Thomas Kidd

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

One of my newsletter subscribers, Job Dalomba [jobdalomba.com] suggested that I write a post how how to do “book projects from start to finish, and share any ideas on how to get started.” Philip Jenkins and I have been posting lately about how to choose a research subject, but I loved this suggestion and want to sketch my book writing process here.

My experience as a book author is heavily shaped by my Ph.D. training as a historian and professor’s job at Baylor. Publishing a book that gets read by more than just a few people ordinarily requires some kind of platform. My platform is a combination of credentials, professional position, previous publishing record, and social media and web presence. My position at Baylor also means that I not only have time and support to write, but publishing is part of my annual performance review. I am mindful that many aspiring writers do not have this kind of built-in support, or platform. But if your professional situation does not necessarily come with publishing support, that does not mean you can’t publish. It can just make it harder to make yourself known to prominent publishers and the book-buying market.

The beginning of a book project comes with an idea of a gap to be filled, or a figure or topic that needs a new angle. In history, this requires expertise in the existing literature on a topic. For example, when I conceived the topic for my book on the Great Awakening (published in 2007), there were two main gaps I believed I could fill. One was about scope: no one had really written a comprehensive treatment of America’s Great Awakening, especially not one that took into account the specialized literature written on the Great Awakening in recent decades. The second was interpretive. I became convinced that the conventional Old Light vs. New Light framework for interpreting the revivals was inadequate, and it missed the equally significant conflict between moderate and radical evangelicals.

It came to pass that Yale University Press got interested in the project in the early stages of my writing it – they were hoping to find someone to do a new book on the awakening, and they had also had a successful experience working with my doctoral adviser George Marsden on his (brilliant) Jonathan Edwards biography. Before I knew it, I had a contract from them. This is not a typical scenario for academic writers, who normally have to present completed manuscripts to a press for consideration, especially when in the early stages of their careers. But it does speak to the value of having professional connections who serve as an introduction to a book publisher: doctoral students will often receive help from their adviser, or from colleagues at their first job, to get a hearing from a press.

With contract in hand, I began working through the major topics that I knew I would need to cover: the Puritan background, George Whitefield’s ministry, missions to Native Americans, etc. This entailed reading the relevant secondary sources by historians, and consulting primary sources such as ones in Early American Imprints, the definitive digital collection of colonial publications. I also visited about a dozen archives on the east coast to consult manuscript materials, much of which I photocopied for reference as needed.

Writing the manuscript took about two years. My progress was aided by a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities, which funds academic projects in history and other humanities disciplines. Then I entered the peer review process with Yale, in which two other scholars give (blind) reviews of the manuscript, offering suggestions and corrections. I worked through those reports, then I worked with the press on smoothing out the prose. The last stage before physical production of the book was reviewing and correcting page proofs, an electronic file of what the book will look like in printed form. I got the printed book in fall 2007.

In the past seven years, I have learned a lot more about platform, and how much authors need to work on publicity. In a way, this is another whole component of writing a book. Of course, much has changed technologically since 2007 – Twitter had only launched in 2006, for example.

Writing different books requires different strategies, too – my book on American Christians and Islam probably cut the most new factual ground of any of my books, so it required creative searching in primary sources for little-known materials on Islam. Biographies (like mine on Patrick Henry, and my forthcoming one on George Whitefield) follow a more certain narrative path, because whatever your thematic focus, they tell a person’s life story.

These days I work with a literary agent, and we seek to get a contract for a book in its early stages, rather than at the end. Questions related to publishers and platform vary quite a lot depending on your professional status, but the mechanics of actually writing the book remain fairly consistent.

Friends, if you haven’t already done so, I encourage you to sign up for the my newsletter. Each newsletter contains unique material available only to subscribers, incudling reflections on American history and the writer’s craft, and each will help you keep up with my blog posts, books, and other writings from around the web. [Your e-mail information will never be shared.] If you’re interested, you can sign up here.

Books

George Whitefield

Historical Profession

Previous Post

September 1, 2014

Bonhoeffer's "Who am I?"

Next Post

September 3, 2014 Unexpected Sites of Christian Pacifism: Charles Spurgeon Edition

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abolitionism Abortion Abraham Joshua Heschel Abraham Kuyper Abraham Lincoln Academia Activism Adam Renberg Advent Adventist africa African American Religion Agnes Howard Albert Camus American History American Religious History American Revolution American West Anabaptists Ancient History Andrea Turpin Andrei Tarkovsky Anglicanism Annales Ansley Lillian Quiros anti-Catholicism Antisemitism Anxious Bench apologetics Apparitions Arash Azizi Archaeology archives art Artificial Intelligence Asia Asian Americans Augustine Authors Bad Bunny Baptism Baptists Barack Obama Battle of Hastings Benjamin Franklin Bernard-Henri Levy Beth Allison Barr Beth Moore Bethany Mannon Bible Bill Cunningham Billy Graham Black Music Bob Dylan Body Boenhoffer Books Breastfeeding Bruce Springsteen C.S. Lewis Calvinism Cancel Culture Capitalism Carmelites Catholicism Cedric Robinson Cesar Chavez Charismaticism charity Charles Dickens Charles Lindbergh Che Guevara Chicago Children Chinese Christianity Chris Gehrz Christ Christian death Christian Higher Education Christian life Christian Nation Christian Nationalism Christianity Today Christmas Church life Church Practice cinema Civil Religion Civil Rights Movement Civil War civility Classics Climate Change Cold War Colonial Mexico colonialism Comer Communism community complementarianism Conference on Faith and History Congregationalism Conspiracies Conspiracy Conversion Narratives Coronavirus Costa Rica Council of Nicaea Covid-19 Creation Critical Race Theory Crusades Culture culture wars Daniel K. Williams David Barton David Swartz Death Ways death with dignity DEI democracy Democratic Party Devotion Digital Age Diplomacy discipleship diversity Donald Trump Drama Dua Lipa Early Church early modern Early modern Catholicism Easter Eastern Christianity economic exploitation Education elections Elie Wiesel Elizabeth II Elizabeth Taylor emotions Empire Engineering England enslavement Entertainment Episcopal Church Erica Ramirez eschatology Eurocentrism Evangelicalism Evangelicals Exegesis Family Feminism Film Flannery O'Connor folk music Food Foreign Policy founding fathers Franciscans Franciscus Junius fundamentalism Funerals G.K. Chesterton Gender Genocide genre geography George W. Bush George Washington George Whitefield Global Christianity Global church Grief Guadalupe guest post Guest Post gun control gun violence Gustavo Gutierrez Hamid Dabashi Harold John Ockenga Harvest Hate Hawaiian Christianity Healing health care Heather Cox Richardson Hell Heresy Hermeneutics Higher Education Hinduism Hippocratic oath Historical Fiction Historical Methodology Historical Profession Historical Profession Historical Theology Historical Thinking historiography Holidays Holocaust horror movies Human rights Humanitarian Work humanities Hummingbirds Hungary hymns Imago Dei Immigration Injustice Interviews Iran Islam Islamophobia Israel Ivan's Childhood Jacob Randolph James Bratt Janine Giordano Drake Japanese history Japanese Literature Jean Paul Sartre Jesse Miranda Jesus Jesus Christ Jimmy Carter Joan Baez Joan Didion Joanne Freeman João B. Chaves Joao Chaves Joey Cochran John Calvin John Fea John Tillotson John Turner Johnny Cash Jonathan Edwards Jonathan Tran Joseph Smith Josh Howerton Journalism Jr. Judaism Jürgen Moltmann Just War Justice Justin Brierley Karl Barth Katelyn Beaty koi ponds Kris Kristofferson Kristin Kobes Du Mez Latin American Religious History Latino Americans Lectio Divina Leisure Lent Leonard Cohen liberal arts liberalism Liberation Theology Linda Ronstadt Lisa Clark Diller Literature Lou Reed Lynchings Lynneth Miller Renberg Mainline Protestantism Malcolm Foley Marilyn Monroe Maritime history Mark Noll Marriage Martin Luther Martin Luther King Martyrdom Marxism Mary Masih Alinejad mass shootings material culture medieval Christianity Medieval Ethiopia Melissa Borja memory Mennonites Mental Health Mental Illness Methodism Mexican Americans Mexicans Mike Madrid Miles Mullin Min Jin Lee Miscarriage Missionaries Mister Rogers Mitt Romney modernity Monasticism Mormonism Motherhood Mothers of the Church Moving Music Musicals Nadya Williams Nahua Christianity Native Americans Natsume Sōseki New Contributor New England New Year New York Nico Non-Violent Protest Orthodoxy pacifism Paleo Evangelicals Palestinians Parenting Patti Smith Paul Kingsnorth Pedro Calderón de la Barca Pentecostalism Philip Jenkins Phillis Wheatley physician-assisted suicide pilgrimage Pilgrims pluralism Plutocracy Poetry Politics Pope Francis Pope Leo XIV post-modernism prayer preaching Presbyterians prosperity gospel Protest Public history Publishing Puritans purity culture Quakers race Race Massacres Racial Capitalism racial reconciliation racialization Racism Raha Bahloulipour Re-Enchantment reading Reformation Refugees religion and the university religion and war Religious Freedom Religious Nones Religious Pluralism Religious Symbols religious violence Republican Party Revival Rita Coolidge Ritual Roger Williams Roman Catholic church Royalty Russell Moore same-sex marriage Sarah Irving-Stonebraker Scandinavia Science Science and Technology Scopes trial Scriptural Interpretation secularism Selena Quintanilla seminary Seventh-Day Adventists sexual morality Sexuality Sikhs Silence slaveholders theology Slavery Slavoj Zizek social justice Social Media Southern Baptist Convention Southern Religion Spain Spiritual Autobiography Spiritual but not religious Spiritual Discipline Sports Stanley Hauerwas Suffering Summer Camps Sunday Night Odds and Ends Supernatural Supreme Court Syriac Christianity Tal Howard Taylor Swift Teaching Technology Television Thanksgiving The Beatles The Mission theater TheoBros Theology Thomas Dixon Thomas Jefferson Thomas Kidd Thomas Merton Tim Gloege Tim Walz Tom Holland Tourism tradition Tragedy Translation Transnationalism Travel Trump Ukraine Uncategorized Unitarians United Methodist Church US History Vanessa Chan Velvet Underground Verónica A. Gutiérrez Veronica Gutierrez Vikings Violence Virgin Mary Virtue Virtue ethics Visions Voting War WCTU Wendell Berry Westminster Assembly White Evangelicalism Wildfires Winnie the Pooh Witches women Women in Ministry Women's and Gender Studies Work Worship writing Yasunari Kawabata Zena Hitz

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. What will God make my feet like?

Select your answer to see how you score.

A gazelle's legs Lions' paws The feet of a deer Eagles' wings