Lake Drive Books began with a vision to do book publishing for authors and readers who want a fresh and honest approach to questions of religion and spirituality. We publish fiction and nonfiction books that address subjects like faith deconstruction, self-improvement, theology, race, class, gender, and sexuality. Our innovative publishing model empowers authors and is attuned to how books get discovered today.

Traditional Publishing, Untraditional Model

We are a traditional trade publisher that curates a selective number of annual titles and provides professional editing, composition, design, distribution, marketing, publicity, and advertising for each. We are untraditional in that we offer a more hands-on author experience, author platform coaching, and a collaborative financial model in which the author participates in costs but is rewarded with a 50% higher royalty for the life of the book.

Editorial Vision

Nonfiction: We publish spiritual and personal growth books that help you heal, grow, and discover. We create books for readers who want to move beyond broken narratives and are ready to be real and feel seen. Our books offer stories and strategies, not ideologies. We publish books on spiritual growth and living in a post-evangelical world, nonfiction memoir, personal health, memoir and personal narrative, trauma recovery and emotional healing, cultural criticism and social analysis, and advocacy-driven works with strong narrative voice. We seek authors with important lived experience, strong insight, and a desire to engage readers thoughtfully and constructively.

Fiction: We publish emotionally resonant, genre-grounded fiction with well rounded characters, exploring identity, agency, belonging, and life in the aftermath of high-control systems of belief. We seek authors to support as they build commercially compelling series and loyal readerships over multiple books. Categories include contemporary romance, romantic suspense, psychological suspense, mystery and thriller, contemporary fiction, literary fiction, women’s fiction, coming-of-age fiction, and speculative fiction (science fiction and fantasy).

Distribution and Online Platforming

Books published by Lake Drive are available everywhere books in the English language are sold in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook. In today’s marketplace, however, the phrase “everywhere books are sold” now means that the vast majority of sales go through just a few online retailers.

Therefore, online platform—including email list, website, blogs, social media—offers more potential to reach readers than most authors and publishers realize. With a consistent and growing platform, authors can progress better in developing their audience, author network, and speaking. 

Lake Drive encourages authors to grow their online platforms, while staying committed to its own dynamic online presence, offering outreach opportunities through the Lake Drive platform. Keep up with what we’re doing by subscribing to our online newsletter or following our authors online.

Marketing and Publicity

Book marketing today is built on the author’s “engine of discoverability.” That engine can take many forms, but it often begins with the power of online community. That’s why we give focus to leveraging an author’s platform to create launch marketing strategies. 

Nonfiction: Nonfiction marketing is message-driven and platform-oriented. We actively help authors reach readers through earned media and thought leadership channels. Lake Drive Books supports nonfiction authors through media pitching to podcasts, journalists, and online media, strategic positioning of the author as a thought leader, social media and content guidance, launch strategy planning, direct promotion through Lake Drive Books channels. Nonfiction books often succeed through authority, message relevance, and author visibility. We help authors develop and execute a strategy that supports long-term influence and readership.

Some of our nonfiction media placements include:

Publishers Weekly • Ms. Magazine • Spirituality and Practice • A Little Bit Culty • Religion News Service • Religion Dispatches • Guideposts • The Christian Century • Baptist News Global • Dangerous Dogma • What's Your Grief? • Writing for Your Life • Good Faith Media • In Coversation with Frank Schaeffer • Bodies Behind the Bus • IndoctriNation • Preacher Boys • A People's Theology

Fiction: Fiction marketing is readership-driven and built around regular and consistent publishing, genre clarity, and direct reader engagement. Lake Drive supports fiction authors through:

• • Strategic genre positioning and category alignment
  • Cover design and branding optimized for genre readers 
  • Amazon and retail optimization
  • Cross-promotion among Lake Drive fiction authors and direct promotion through Lake Drive Books channels
  • Launch strategy and release cadence planning

We focus on helping authors build sustainable readership through multiple releases, strong positioning, and high-quality publishing standards.

Author Partnership

We expect our authors to be ongoing partners aligned in content, driving awareness of books, and financial investment and reward. As a trade publisher with a hybrid financial model, we pay authors for the life of their book significantly higher royalty percentages than conventional publishers. We require less upfront author investment than many publishers using the hybrid model, and offer a more robust built-in marketing plan than most hybrid publishers. Let us also help you see how crowdfunding can help with upfront costs while also developing your audience, so ask us about our Lake Drive Books Kickstarter Guide.

Printing

Lake Drive Books uses high-quality print-on-demand technology to produce and distribute our books worldwide. Most of our titles are published as professionally designed trade paperbacks, with hardcover and audiobook options available. Print-on-demand allows books to be manufactured individually as they are ordered through major retailers such as Amazon and other global distribution channels. This ensures consistent availability and avoids the significant costs and risks associated with traditional offset printing, warehousing, and fulfillment centers. This model supports our mission of building a sustainable publishing program focused on long-term author success and readership growth.

Submit Your Book Proposal

We're currently seeking proposals for books such as the following:

• • • Anxiety and trauma: how our culture creates it and how to heal.
    • Re-engagement with spirituality post deconstruction/patriarchy/colonialism.
    • Marriage or parenting for post-evangelicals or exvangelicals.
    • Deeply reflective essay collections on living in the present.
    • Shorter book of reflections on life lessons.
    • Genre fiction with series potential centered on issues of faith, identity, and coping with the effects of high-control religion.

If you’re ready with a well-thought-out concept that fits within the Lake Drive editorial vision, and you have a growing audience and platform, we’d love to hear your stories and insights in a fully developed book proposal. Feel free to use our nonfiction proposal template or fiction proposal template, which includes instructions for filling in each section. A well-developed book proposal can provide many benefits in developing your idea and serves as a guide for both the publisher and the author. Please submit your proposal to [email protected].

Finally, publishing a book can be one of life’s most satisfying experiences, not just because of what it can do for you, but also how your book can impact readers. Books are powerful. They can change people by entertaining, informing, and enlightening them. But books also create change by bringing people closer together and creating stronger networks. One of our favorite things at Lake Drive Books is to help make that happen with our authors. If that’s what you’re about, we’d love to have you join us.

Benefits Summary of Publishing with Lake Drive Books

Significantly Higher Royalties • High Author Participation • Author Platform and Marketing Coaching • Strongly Curated Publishing • Customized Launch Marketing and Publicity • Multiple Formats at Launch • Better and More Responsive Sales Reporting • Amazon and Social Media Advertising • Better Author Discount