I Signed My First Traditional Book Contract (And Sort of a Second Book Contract)
Over the years I’ve written a lot of articles and a few books. Those books were either self-published or published by a small, independent Christian publisher. So this summer was a first for me. I just signed my first contract with a traditional publisher. I’m writing for Baker Books. It won’t come out until the summer of 2026, but I’m trying to find moments to work on the manuscript as much as possible.
The book explores the promise of the second coming of Christ, and how his return brings encouragement to believers, especially for those suffering. The working title is The Last Shall Be First: How the Return of Christ Makes Everything Sad Untrue. Here’s what we came up with for the summary:
Despite the confusion and controversy that often exists around the topic of the end times, the writers of Scripture believed that the promise of Christ’s return should comfort believers. With vivid imagery and passionate appeals, the biblical authors announced to Christians the happy ending of our story: justice for the wronged, family for the forsaken, new bodies for the broken, peace for the persecuted, feasting for the famished, and, best of all, faith in Christ becoming sight.
The First Shall Be Last explores seven aspects of Christ’s return, primarily from the amillennial perspective. But the book is not mainly about one specific view. Rather, pastor and author Benjamin Vrbicek encourages Christians to make the biggest and brightest truths about the return of Christ the biggest and brightest truths in our hearts. Every Christian, especially those suffering, needs the hope of the end. We need the good news that what we see now in part, we will soon see in full. When the trumpet sounds, the last shall be first, and, to borrow from Tolkien, everything sad will come untrue.
I started this project almost five years ago, and got seven rejections from publishers along the way. But as I’m getting back into the material, I’m slowly starting to remember why the topic matters so much to me and, I trust, all believers.
When I’ve worked on books in the past, the associated deadlines mainly were self-inflicted. I could hit the deadline or not and little consequence would follow either way. I did not expect the anxiety that would come with a real contract on a real book with a real publisher. Woof. I feel the pressure now.
I’ll share more about the books over the next few years. Please, if you know me and are so inclined, say a prayer for me. Pray that the words would come and that they would bless readers with the truth and hope that in Christ one day everything sad will come untrue.
As an aside, there were no pictures of me signing a contract on social media. Signing the contract was humorously anticlimactic. After months of working on the agreement (after years of working on the proposal), the actual contract took a literal four seconds to sign. It was through the Adobe electronic sign feature. It wasn’t even my signature. I just clicked a button and generic cursive showed up. Oh well. It’s probably better for my heart this way.
I also signed a book contract with Gospel-Centered Discipleship, the company I work part-time for as the managing editor. On this book, I’m not the writer but the editor. We’re publishing some of our best essays from the last few years about the local church. It’s called Broken but Beautiful: Reflections on the Blessings of the Local Church. This book will be released later in the fall. There’s so much bad press out there about the local church. I hope this book shines a light on how the true church still shines bright in the midst of all the junk.
Finally, let me just mention that I wish I wrote more essays on my blog. I still think of article ideas all the time and even make notes about what I would write if I had time. Unfortunately in this season of pastoring and coaching sports and sending children off to college next year and buying our first puppy, I mainly just drop monthly book writing and guest post and podcast updates in the blog. But I thank you for reading and rooting for me nonetheless. It means so much.
* Photo by Dominik Dancs on Unsplash