A Timeline of Book Development, Part 1
Sharing my book progress from initial idea to final conceptualization
Does a book start when you put pen to paper, ideas to keyboard, and write that first word, first title, first phrase? Or does a book begin far before that, as the first sprout of ideas begin germinating, that thought that won’t let go of you, like a pebble in your shoe that keeps reminding you “I’m here, don’t forget about me!”?
My book, Recovering from Purity Culture, releases on Tuesday, October 15! You have just four more days to pre-order and get bonuses, including the audiobook, for free! Find out more on my website.
You’re also invited to “Recovering from Purity Culture: A Conversation with Sheila Wray Gregoire and Dr. Camden” on Monday, October 14 at 8pm EST on Zoom.
This free webinar, hosted by Sheila Wray Gregoire and Rebecca Gregoire Lindenbach, celebrates the release of my book as we cast a vision for the path forward to healing, both individually and in our culture. Register here!
Today I’m sharing the beginnings of my book development. As you may know (or can guess!), writing and publishing a book is a long process. But most people focus on the writing part–from signing a contract until the book is in your hands (that itself is usually a 1.5 to 2 year process).
For me, the book process actually started seven years ago with the first idea. So let’s go from that very first idea of a book up until the final conception of it.
2017:
I got married in 2016 and first became aware of the public criticism of purity culture in 2017. I also started working in a college counseling center (and later became a psychology professor at this college) and saw young adults sorely unprepared for sex and marriage. I began having conversations with friends, reading articles, and taking notes for an idea for a book that I was originally thinking of titling “Faithful Sexuality”. No books critiquing purity culture had been published yet (that I was aware of), and I realized that so much of what I had been taught about purity culture were actually myths.
2018-2019:
I wrote my first article, “5 Myths of Purity Culture” and submitted it to Christians for Biblical Equality’s writing contest. I was surprised that the first article I ever wrote and submitted somewhere was selected as one of their winners of the contest! I had my daughter in 2018, and the article published May 2019. I started my website and blog and wrote several other articles for CBE.
2020:
The pandemic radically changed all of our lives; for me, I was laid off from my job as a full-time psychology professor. While this was devastating for me professionally, I decided to pivot and go into private practice which allows a more flexible schedule. That summer as I was in between jobs, I joined Hope Writers and began crafting a book proposal for a book on purity culture.
I attended a virtual writing conference and scheduled a meeting with a literary agent. The appointment spots filled up so fast that even though I signed on the minute they opened, I snagged the last spot with the agent I wanted to meet with, Keely Boeving of WordServe Literary. I had a friend who worked with Keely, and I liked the kinds of books and authors she represented. Keely and I met via Zoom and she was interested in hearing more about my book idea, but also encouraged me to build a platform. I spent the rest of 2020 finishing my book proposal (which included 3 sample chapters), writing and networking on social media and my blog, and speaking on podcasts as a way to try to connect with other readers and thought leaders in this space.
2021:
I signed with Keely as my agent in January 2021. She wanted me to take six months to one year to build my platform before we could pitch my proposal, and she gave me some numbers to try to hit (which I eventually did!). This was a bit discouraging, but ended up being a good thing because it gave time for this idea to percolate and refine, as well as time to connect with purity culture survivors to hear what they really needed.
I wrote and published more articles and edited my proposal, but life events, including a family crisis, a major change in our childcare arrangement, and my second pregnancy, put a lot on pause. I decided to start a coaching business because so many people contacted me from my social media and podcast appearances, wanting to work with me, but licensing laws restrict me to provide therapy only in Tennessee. I learned how to ethically and legally provide coaching (as opposed to therapy) and began seeing coaching clients. I am so grateful for those early clients (many whose stories appear in my book!) for teaching me what purity culture recovery looks like for different people.
2022:
I had my second baby and took some more pauses from working on my book proposal. But the focus of the book also began to shift. Originally, I envisioned the book more as support for a traditional sexual ethic—why it still matters, why it is biblical, and how we can live that out in a shame-free (non-purity culture) way. I didn’t see myself in the purity culture books being written by authors who no longer believed in traditional sexual morals or didn’t identify as Christian any more. I hoped to provide another perspective as a purity culture survivor: one in which we can hold onto our faith and love for Jesus (and even still affirm the value of saving sex for marriage), but without patriarchy, shame, fear, and control.
However, through my work with my coaching clients and interacting with my social media audience, I realized that wasn’t what readers needed. Readers didn’t need another book that told them what to believe and argued why. They already knew what the problems with purity culture are (because so many authors and books have done great work to research and identify those problems). They needed to know how to heal. They needed a path forward from the myths and shame of purity culture to rebuilding a healthy faith and sexuality. They needed to know how to reconstruct their sexual ethic, not a prescribed belief system.
Knowing I had a unique position as both a purity culture survivor myself (the personal experience) and a therapist and coach on sexuality, trauma, and faith (the professional experience), I changed the focus of my book to one of healing and recovery from purity culture. And while I still personally believe in a traditional sexual ethic (premarital sexual abstinence and faithfulness within a covenantal marriage) and I am honest about that in my book, I chose not to argue, defend, or prescribe that sexual ethic to readers. Instead, I offer a guide for how to figure out your beliefs without prescribing what to believe
So that takes us from a baby book idea to a formal conceptualization!
What questions do you have about book conceptualization? What do you think of my process from the first article I wrote and published, up to the current focus of my book?
Next week in A Timeline of Book Development, Part 2, I’ll describe the process from pitching the book proposal, to signing a contract, to actually writing and editing the book.
You have four more days to get pre-order bonuses! If you want to learn more about this process of healing from purity culture, I hope you’ll consider pre-ordering Recovering from Purity Culture before it releases on Tuesday, October 15!
Let’s find the path forward together.
What is the difference between the therapy that you're allowed to do in Tennessee and the coaching that you do for people outside of that area?
I appreciate this timeline so much, as I’m right in the proposal process myself (on a totally different topic). It helps me see that I’m right where I need to be.