For the past eight years, I have been publishing books through my publishing company, Higher Ground Books & Media. When it all started, I hadn’t really intended to publish anyone else’s books. I was merely trying to find a way to keep my books out there for people to buy. My publisher had decided to close and at that point in time, he had published several of the books in my mystery series, The Rona Shively Stories. So, it was either let seven books disappear from the marketplace or figure out a way to re-release them. I was still writing the stories, so I decided to open my own publishing company. Somehow, I was approached by a few people who were also interested in being published and they asked if I would consider publishing for them. I prayed about it and it seemed like the right thing to do, so I opened up my company to submissions and took on my first couple of authors.

My first two authors were good friends of mine who had written books that I knew the world needed to read. The first was a handbook for a very successful Small Group Study at our church called Overcomer. I helped the author, Forrest Henslee create a much more cost-effective handbook that was also professionally bound and able to be purchased through Amazon for people who wanted to start their own group. The second book was for a friend I’d met at a Christian book fair several years before I had even decided to go back to church. I had been very self-conscious about being one of only a handful of non-Christian authors (I was still a believer, but at the time I’d been out of church for a while), and I remember that Steen Burke had made me feel at ease so that I could enjoy the event. She brought her book, A Path to Shalom, to me and we wrote up a contract. I published this wonderful book and she stayed with me for several years before deciding to try a different direction.

These books were the only ones I had on the roster besides my own for a long while. But something happened about a year or two later and I suddenly began receiving more submissions. One of the first was Janet Kay Teresa’s book, From a Hole in My Life to a Life Made Whole. An awesome book about recovery and God’s healing power. From there, one by one, we added authors and some of the best books about healing and faith that you could hope to get your hands on. Raw stories from people who have been to the bottom of the pit and lived to tell their stories.

We are now at over sixty authors and around 150 titles. I’ve made some great friends and I’ve been privileged to work with some ofthe most amazing storytellers around. I would never have guessed that I would be sitting here blogging about how God has allowed this company to grow. If you had asked me years ago whether or not I would ever become a publisher, I probably would have said no. It seemed like something that was out of reach and beyond the realm of possibility for me. But God told me to trust Him and I decided that I would do just that. He has given me so much wonderful experience through this business and I am happy to say that after eight years, we are still going strong!

If you haven’t had a chance to check out our selection, please take a moment and visit the HGBM Shop. I actually have a very important birthday coming up this year and I am planning to run a special on all of our titles very soon. My goal is to sell at least fifty copies of any combination of our books by August 3rd. A modest goal, but one I would very much like to achieve. More details about our special will be posted soon. So be sure to stop back by! And by all means, feel free to pick up a few of our great titles anytime. Higher Ground books & Media has very much been a labor of love and your support is always greatly appreciated.

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