Reflections on Releasing a Book

On Publishing, Faithfulness, and Letting Go

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Getting Through What You’re Going Through has been out for three weeks.

Three weeks is long enough for the adrenaline to settle.
Long enough for the congratulations to slow down.
Long enough for the book to drop in Amazon rankings.
Long enough to start seeing things clearly.

Here is what I’ve learned.

1. Writing the book is hard. Releasing the book is even harder.

Writing requires discipline. It asks for solitude, focus, and honesty. It forces you to confront your own thoughts before anyone else ever sees them.

Your pour yourself out and then try to put the puddle into understandable thoughts with appropriate punctuation.

When it’s all said and done you have a book.

It’s beautiful and you are proud and scared and hopeful and exhausted and overwhelmed.

You think you’ve reached the finish line, but really you’ve just entered into a brand new game, because there is no finish line.

Releasing your book requires something different than writing a book.

When you write, the work is still yours. When you release it, it belongs to the world. People can misunderstand it. Critique it. Ignore it. Be moved by it. Misuse it. Treasure it.

You can prepare for writing. You cannot fully prepare for being seen.

I thought finishing the manuscript would feel like the hardest part. It was not. Letting it go was.

2. You cannot control what people do with your words.

Once your words leave your hands, they no longer operate under your intentions.

Some people will read your heart correctly. Others will project their own experiences onto your pages. Some will skim. Some will study. Some will disagree.

You do not get to stand beside every reader and explain what you meant.

You do not get to reply to Amazon reviews and share your side of the story.

That realization is freeing and humbling at the same time.

Your responsibility is faithfulness, not control.

3. Numbers are not worth chasing.

Before publishing, I told myself I would not obsess over numbers.

Then, I obsessed over numbers.

Rankings. Reviews. Screenshots. Comparisons. Refreshing dashboards. Wondering why Tuesday was better than Wednesday.

The most surprising part is this. Even “good” numbers did not feel as good as I thought they would. And “bad” numbers did not hurt as long as I expected.

Metrics are loud. Meaning is quiet.

Numbers are not our identity. They are data.

Should you care about numbers? Sure.
Should you learn from them? Sure.
Should you let them determine your worth or your peace? Absolutely not.

A single thoughtful message from someone who was helped by the book carries more weight than a chart ever will.

Numbers inform strategy. They should not control your soul. They are tools, not masters.

4. You can only give what you have.

You cannot write from wisdom you do not possess.
You cannot offer healing you have not walked through.
You cannot manufacture depth.

All you can do is give what you have right now.

Not what you wish you had.
Not what someone else has.
Not what would impress more people.

Just what you have.

Getting Through What You’re Going Through is the book I wish I had written 10 years ago, but it would have been impossible for me to write, because I hadn’t lived through what I hadn’t gone through.

I did not yet carry the scars.
I did not yet carry the perspective.
I did not yet have the words.

5. What you have is not for everyone.

This one is hard to accept.

Not everyone will resonate.
Not everyone will understand.
Not everyone will support.

And that is not failure.

Trying to be for everyone dilutes what you were meant to say. Specificity reaches deeper than general appeal ever could.

The book is not meant to reach everyone, but someone.

That shift changes everything.

It replaces pressure with purpose.

6. There is no finish line.

I thought releasing the book would feel like arrival.

It does not.

It feels like stewardship.

This book is something for me to take care of, offer to the world.

To nurture, to speak about, to continue standing behind.

The work continues.
Conversations continue.
Writing continues.

Publishing is not a conclusion.
It is a continuation.

Like the best things in life, it is wonderfully exhausting.

7. Get ready to be overwhelmed with thankfulness.

I am stunned by the number of you who ordered a copy of the book.
The messages.
The texts.
The calls.
The online posts.

How do I thank you enough?
I cannot.

This is part of the gift of releasing a book.

You spend months alone with the work, wondering if it will matter.
Then you begin to hear from people it has touched.

Every message has been a gift.

Your kindness is not wasted.

Thank you.

8. Glory to God Alone

At the end of all of this, this is what matters most.

Not rankings.
Not validation.
Not visibility.

If the book helps someone endure.
If it points someone toward hope.
If it reminds someone that Jesus is with them always.
If it encourages them to rest in God’s grace.

Glory to God Alone.

Johann Sebastian Bach, a prolific eighteenth-century composer, would write SDG at the end of his compositions.

SDG is shorthand for a Latin phrase, Soli Deo Gloria, which means, “Glory to God Alone.”

The music was not to bring glory to the performers or the conductor (or even to Bach, as the composer). This music was crafted for the glory of God.

This is why I do what I do.

This was never about building a platform.

It was about being faithful with what was placed in my hands, to point others to the love and grace of the Creator.

Three weeks in, I am grateful.
Grateful for the lessons.
Grateful for the stretching.
Grateful for the reminder that obedience matters more than outcomes.

Last thing I’ll say:
The book you write will matter.
But the person you become while making it will matter more.

Publishing is not about arrival.
It’s about becoming.

And the work continues, just like the writing continues, just like the loving continues, just like the faithfulness continues.

Line by line.
Day by day.
Prayer by prayer.

SDG.

Tanner Olson

Here’s a page from my brand-new book, Getting Through What You’re Going Through — a collection of poems and essays.

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