Dave Larsen: In my first year’s journey as an author, the best discovery is the readers I’m meeting

EDITOR’s NOTE: Last week, I was at the Reformed Journal booth at the Calvin Festival of Faith and Writing, where we had all of our Reformed Journal Books displayed. A woman came up to me and said, “I have looked at the cover of every book in the exhibit hall and this one has the most interesting and evocative cover here.” She was pointing at the Green Street book. We then had a long conversation about what the cover, designed by Rick Nease, suggested to her. She said things like instability, change, and the loss of the familiar for a young man. When I described the actual storyline, she said the cover was perfect. I’m pleased that Dave Larsen is a part of our Reformed Journal Books, which will be growing in coming months. And I’m glad to read—in the column below—that he’s enjoying the experience.
Jeff Munroe, founding Editor of Reformed Journal Books

By DAVE LARSEN
Author of Green Street in Black and White

“Naïveté’” doesn’t quite cover it.

It’s been just over a year since the publication of Green Street in Black and White: A Chicago Story. 

Statistics tell some of the story. My book debuted on Amazon with 3 “best seller” flags. I’ve traveled over 2,000 miles presenting the novel to book clubs, church groups, and college and university adult learner cohorts. The book launch in my church was attended by nearly 100 friends and family members. I’ve Zoomed to a group of California pastors, and appeared on two podcasts. As of this writing, the novel enjoys a 4.7-out-of-5-stars rating from 60 Amazon reviewers and a 4.3-star rating from 38 Goodreads reviewers.

I’m told that’s not bad.

Of course, like every author, I hope readers will keep buying books—and I have to sigh a little bit over the many budget-conscience readers who tell me they love the book—”and that’s why I’m passing my copy around to my family and friends.”

I’m sincerely thankful for such enthusiasm—but, like all authors, I wish a few more folks among those families and friends would order their own copies.

I am also grateful for this wonderful first year as an author to Editor Jeff Munroe at Reformed Journal books and the production-and-marketing team at Front Edge Publishing. Their collective wealth of wisdom and experience, enthusiasm and helpful criticism, marketing savvy and steady advice are the behind-the-scenes elements guiding this whole process. I couldn’t ask for a better support team in bringing me from naïveté to reality.

Their engagement included editing and proof reading, conversations over the title, book cover design in cooperation with Front Edge Art Director Rick Nease, advice on a social media presence, marketing materials, navigating the intricacies of an Amazon presence, finding a voice actor for the audio version, and monthly Zoom calls to chart progress and raise new ideas.

The delight of this first year from this author’s experience is the consistent feedback I’ve received from readers who thoughtfully engage with the plot, the characters, the humor and the conflict, in many cases because they lived through the same experiences the novel portrays. I hear it in person at book clubs and other gatherings, and what I had hoped in writing becomes tangible.

Comments like these:

“I found myself reading passages to my husband and discussing what it had to be like for the characters as they experienced what they did.”

“As the story connects the reader with characters resembling folks you may have known, dual emotions are elicited. Delight and disgust, fear and faith, acts of redemption or of outright resistance or weak-kneed resignation.”

“The narrative often had me remembering my own experiences, my own actions, my own conflicts of faith and fear.”

“The author’s contribution to the conversation on racism is thought provoking, detailed, insightful and true to life.”

“The novel deals with issues of racial tension with insight, sensitivity, and respect while speaking a truth our nation and world needs to hear.”

It’s been just a year—but already my author’s journey has proven one important thing: This book really is a memorable experience for lots of readers, most of whom I don’t know unless they somehow reach out to me. When I wrote the novel, I wondered if anyone at all, besides my own family and friends, would read it—let alone engage with it.

Writing is rewarding, but publishing is not for the faint of heart. I’ve learned that the process of publication is best entrusted to those with a track record of success. For the circle of professionals who’ve now become friends, I’m very, very grateful.