Tim Schraeder: A Guy Who Is Outspoken On All the Right Things

An Interview With Tim Schraeder

Tim Schraeder is a genuine and savvy guy who has figured out how to stir good with media. Today, I interviewed Tim–a friend of STORY and myself about his latest book project Outspoken.

**You can win a free copy of Outspoken, developed by 60 contributing writers and compiled by Tim Schraeder by leaving a comment on this post by midnight tonight.**

Sarah: Outspoken got off to a great start last year at STORY. Can you take us behind the scenes? What inspired Outspoken?

Tim: Outspoken came to be as a response to a need I saw for a holistic resource for church leaders on the topic of communication.

For every area of church ministry there are a litany of books, resources, and conferences. But, when it comes to the topic of church communication [bulletins, websites, logos, marketing, social media, etc.], the amount of resources were few and far between.

I’m a huge fan of collaborative projects and decided that rather than taking the burden upon myself to write the book, that I could serve as an instigator and help rally people who were as passionate as I was to create a collected work that would hopefully help serve the church and church leaders.

Sarah: Love the emphasis on collaboration! How did you choose the people to contribute?

Tim: There was no formal process for deciding who was able to contribute. I reached out to a small group of friends to see what they thought of the project and from there it sort of spread like wildfire. A majority of the people who contributed to the book were either connected with the Center for Church Communication [the organization I help co-lead, it’s the people behind ChurchMarketingSucks.com] or people that I had connected with on social media.

Eventually we had to put a cap on the number of people that could contribute [we have over 60 people!], but everyone who contributed are individuals who I would consider as thought leaders in the church communications space.

Sarah: 60 contributing writers is incredible! Talk to me about the reader side of things. Who is the person who stands to gain the most from this book?

Tim: This book is ideal for anyone who is responsible for how their church communicates… so anyone who designs, writes, publishes, prints, or clicks. While most churches don’t have a position that’s solely focused on communication, every church has someone who manages the messages a church communicates.

Secondly, I’d add any pastor or church leader who is trying to figure what role new communication technologies can play in the life of the church.

While the contributors may not be familiar name, the churches they represent (LifeChurch.tv, Hillsong Church, North Point, Seacoast, Granger Community Chhurch, etc.) are on most church leaders’ radar. This book gives a behind-the-scenes view of how many leading churches tackle communication.

Sarah: Great. That makes it good for a lot of the audience who reads my blog. Now for the writers who follow this site, I’d love to have you tell us about how you executed this project. You published this yourself. What made this book right for this option? What are some tips you have for people who might like to self-publish as well?

Tim: Yes, the buzz around this project was pretty remarkable! We had originally talked with a few publishers when this book was coming together and most of them, while they were interested in the subject matter, did not have much faith in publishing a book that had so many authors. Most of them wanted us to reduce the number of contributors significantly, which would have really undermined the whole idea of the book.

We wanted to have many voices contributing, not just a few! Having watched other people who had self-published successfully, I decided that this might be a good route to go with Outspoken. By design, it had a built-in marketing team and distribution channel with nearly all of the contributors having a strong presence on social media and in the blogosphere.

I think self-publishing is a great option for niche subject matter and for individuals who have a strong, established network. It means a lot of extra leg work, but in the end, it’s definitely worth it.

We’ve already been blown away by the response and the sales, and are confident we made the right decision to self-publish.

**Special Note: Have you been trying to start writing a book? Here’s something free to help you get on your way!**

If you’d like to be entered to win a free copy of Outspoken, the book described above, please leave a comment by clicking on the comment link by the title of this post to be entered in today’s drawing.