I regularly have conversations with people who want to write but don’t know where to start. These are often people who are really interested in history, or in writing for the church, but it isn’t clear how one becomes a “writer.”
Typically you become a writer from a position of expertise born out of graduate education, or practical experience, or both. Not that you can’t get started writing early, but it is easier to establish and sustain an audience if your experience and education matches your topic.
Someone who’s been in pastoral ministry for 20 years makes sense as an author on pastoral ministry.
Someone who has a Ph.D. in church history makes sense as the author of a church history book (often one’s revised dissertation).
Obviously some people “jump the line” by (for example) becoming a professional provocateur on social media, and parlaying sensationalism into a writing career.
Or certain academics who become ultra-inflammatory are able to write for a big audience on subjects in which they have little actual expertise. (Contrary to some academics’ impression, having a Ph.D. does not make you an expert on everything.)
But the writers you and I follow should be people who have spent years studying and/or practicing in their chosen field. They have wise expertise to share, not just loud opinions.
But all writers have to start somewhere. It is easier now than ever to get started on public writing. But you do have to get started, if you hope to develop even a modest-sized writing platform.
What should aspiring authors do? Here are a few tips:
Start a blog or a Substack. To be an author, you have to write things that are publicly accessible. Beginning with publishing a book is not feasible for most people who are just getting started. (Self-publishing a book is not a good option for most aspiring writers, as most of those books sell few to no copies and are of dubious quality.) But writing at a blog or at Substack is feasible for anyone, and it is free.
I’m not persuaded by people who say “I want to be a writer” but who also say they don’t have time to write posts at a blog or a Substack. If you can’t produce a 1000 word post once a month, how are you going to produce a 100,000 word book or dissertation?
Good writing requires practice, editing, and discipline. Get started now with the ways that you can write. Share your posts with your friends, and on social media. Commit to doing a post on a regular schedule (once every two weeks?) for six months. Re-evaluate at the end of that time period. If you can’t do that, I’m not sure why you want to be a writer.
Slowly expand to relevant websites or publications in your field. Journals and websites, especially smaller ones, are often open to having new authors write book reviews or similar pieces for them. Turn connections in your field, or ones from social media, into opportunities to write beyond your blog or Substack.
You will have a better chance of placing pieces if you have some job experience and at least a modest social media presence. In other words, a niche journal or ministry website might not publish a random person, but they might accept a piece from a person who has several years of relevant experience, a Substack with 500 followers, and 1000+ followers on their primary social media accounts.
Consider a doctoral program. Depending on the type of program, lots of doctoral students do their degree for professional advancement and/or personal edification. Such students might not have publishing ambitions, and that’s fine. Not everyone needs to publish!
But if you are doing a Ph.D., that generally implies you’re writing a dissertation. And if you write a good dissertation, you should think about trying to publish it as a book, or at least publishing articles from it.
One of the hardest things about “writing a book” is that most people do not have the drive, know-how, or structure in their lives to actually produce a book-length manuscript. A doctorate ideally provides you the know-how and structure to do just that. (You will need to supply the drive yourself!)
If you do have publishing ambitions, you need to be very selective about the program and prospective adviser you choose. Does he/she do the kind of publishing you want to do? If not, why would you choose that program?
For example, our Ph.D. program at Midwestern Baptist Seminary has an exceptionally strong roster of publishing scholars in areas including biblical studies and church history. I encourage you to check it out and apply if you have interest in doctoral work.
I have doctoral students in Historical Theology/Church History working in topics including Baptist churches and elder leadership; missions to Native Americans; Baptists and modernist thought; Southern Baptists and the “Lost Cause” of southern/Confederate identity; conversionism vs. the social gospel in missions; Baptist reactions to World War I; the SBC and post-World War II cultural engagement; sacramentalism in the Second Great Awakening; and other topics.
I mention this both to recommend our program, but also to explain that most of my current students are pastors or teachers. It is exceedingly unlikely that they would write a book-length manuscript on their own time.
Working with someone like me provides them the structure, accountability, and mentoring to produce a dissertation. For some students, the dissertation is effectively a first draft of what will become a published book.
In Fall 2025, I am teaching a Master’s-level course (cross-listed for undergraduates) on the First and Second Great Awakenings.
I am also co-teaching The Baptist Tradition doctoral seminar with Dr. Jason Duesing. Check out all our Fall ‘25 course offerings at Midwestern Seminary.