Nancie Carmichael’s newest book and corresponding study guide, The Unexpected Power of Home: Why We Need It More Than Ever, releases this week. We are so excited that she chose to publish it with our team here at Deep River Books. We feel especially honored because Nancie’s previous books were published by traditional publishing houses. She could have easily gone that route with this book as well, but she didn’t—she trusted it to us. We thought our newsletter readers might be curious about why Nancie chose the partner publishing process at Deep River Books, so we asked her to share a little more about it. Here’s what she had to say: I have been working on my heart-and-soul book, The Unexpected Power of Home, for a couple of years and (joy of joys!) I am now holding the book in my hands—along with the accompanying study guide. If you’re an author, you know the feeling of opening that box at your front door and cradling your new “baby.” This new book of mine comes out of a lifetime of learning about home, of its importance. In our crazy, strife-filled world, Home is our best defense, and we can make it a priority. It is a place where the gospel gets personal…practical…and powerful. How we need Home now! I’ve written 12 books for various publishing houses: Harvest House; Thomas Nelson; Crossway; Tyndale; Howard-Simon & Schuster; Baker; as well as others. When I got serious about getting my Home book published, I weighed my options. The more I prayed and thought about it, the more I wanted to be a Deep River Books author. I am fully aware that it’s a different scenario: No publishing house would be writing me a check, as Deep River Books is a partnership publisher. I’d need to help launch the book. But as I weighed the options, the more convinced I became that I wanted to be a Deep River Books author. As we are publishers of DRB, I told my husband Bill, and my son Andy, “I think it’s important that if you own the restaurant, you should eat there, too!” You should know that I went through the steps of submitting a proposal, just as you have done, if you are a DRB author. The great news is that my heart-and-soul book, The Unexpected Power of Home, just launched this week, published by Deep River Books. It has been a wonderful, hands-on journey. I’m so pleased with the cover—and with DRB’s program, the author gets more input into that all-important cover. And trust me—they push back and encouraged me to trust the professionals, which I did. The artist who did the illustration for my cover is Gwendolyn Babbitt, who illustrated my columns in Virtue Magazine years ago when we were publishing Virtue. Full circle! The Deep River team has made this book a joyous experience. I can now say with first-hand experience that being on the author end of this publishing venture has given me a delightful view of our publishing team as the true professionals they are who give utmost care and support to their authors. And I’m not just saying that! Heartfelt thanks to my husband Bill Carmichael, Andy Carmichael, Tamara Barnet, Bev Tucker, and Alexis Miller. I couldn’t have had a better editor than Rachel Starr Thomson. So, if you are trying to decide if partnership publishing may be an option for you, take it from me—the Deep River Books team will take good care of your publishing dream and help it become a reality. Every journey brings you back home and to yourself. –Marty Rubin Nancie Carmichael Author/Speaker/Publisher
