47 | Finding Joy and Inspiration When the Sales Aren’t There

Are you a Christian author struggling to keep writing when the book sales just aren’t coming in? Do you ever wonder if all your hard work is even worth it? Many faith-driven writers hit that valley where motivation runs dry, burnout creeps in, and doubt whispers, “What’s the point?”

Friend, I’ve been in that quiet, dark place too so, in this powerful episode of Anointed Scribe, I share how I found lasting joy and inspiration to keep writing—not by chasing sales, rankings, or rapid-release strategies, but by rediscovering my true purpose as a writer in Christ.

Rooted in John 15:16, this message will help you:

• Break free from striving and anxious toiling as an author
• Reframe your writing journey around God’s eternal purpose
• Find encouragement and renewed passion for your calling
• Write with joy, even when the numbers don’t reflect your effort

If you’ve been searching for hope, clarity, and faith-filled motivation to keep going, this episode is for you.

👉 Listen now to uncover the secret to becoming an anointed scribe!

Transcript

One of the hardest things to do for me was to write the next book when the ones I'd already written weren't selling.

I lacked inspiration, I lacked motivation. I lacked the drive to continue.

Because what's the point, right? But I kept going. Because maybe, just maybe, the next book might be the one that brings breakthrough.

But then I wrote that one and it made little to no difference to my bottom line, plunging me back into the valley of despair I kept dragging myself up and out of.

And so the cycle continued with no real lasting solution to my problem in sight.

So how do you find inspiration to write that next book when you're in a valley? Where do you find it?

Is it a question of sheer willpower, forcing yourself to sit down in front of your computer and push yourself with all your might and strength?

Or is there another way? An easier path to lasting success that doesn't suck the joy out of your writing and soul?

Well, if you hear asking those questions today, friend, then I'm glad you tuned into today's episode because I'm here to tell you there is.

And it all starts with a simple shifting of the heart and mind rooted in one scripture that changed it all. All for me.

This is episode 47.

I'm Urcelia Teixeira, ex real estate agent turned award winning Christian fiction author.

When I wrote my first novel on a bucket list whim, I had no idea it would spark a spiritual journey that would redefine my calling.

But you know what, friend? Self publishing wasn't easy. I got caught in the hustle, chasing rankings and sales while desperately trying to stay rooted in Christ.

Now, by God's grace, I'm building my author business his way. And now he's called me to help you do the same.

Welcome to the Anointed Scribe Podcast where faith meets business for Christian writers. Let's write, publish and grow our author business God's way. Are you ready? Well then, let's get started.

Hey, it's your author friend, Urcelia. And thank you for tuning in to today's episode of the Anointed Scribe Podcast.

If you're new here, and this is the first episode you're listening to, well then, let this be your official welcome to the Anointed Scribe Tribe wherever you are on your writing journey.

I believe what we are diving into today will give you fresh hope and perspective so you can move forward in your writing journey with God.

Because here's the truth about today's topic, friend.

Most Christian writers eventually hit that point where they wrestle with God over why he isn't bringing breakthrough or more sales or more opportunities or whatever that next point of success might look like to you.

We want what we want, when we want it and how we want it, and when it doesn't happen the way we think it should, or when we think it should, we become frustrated.

And sometimes we even turn our backs on God because we start doubting ourselves, our mission, our faith, and if it's even worth pursuing whatever it is that's getting us behind the writing desk.

And so what happens is that we end up losing our motivation and we become uninspired because we aren't achieving what we set out to achieve.

We aren't getting what we desire from our author career, Right?

Maybe that's where you are right now, sitting with your head in your hands, asking yourself, what's the point? Why do I keep writing if this is so hard?

That's why today I want to take you deeper than surface level strategies or quick motivational fixes. Friendly because the answer isn't in forcing yourself to sit down and write,

scrambling to find the next secret marketing method, or anxiously toiling until you burn out.

The real answer lies in understanding your purpose, the reason you were chosen to write in the first place.

See, there came a point when I had to stop and ask myself what I really wanted out of my writing.

What was the purpose of it all? What was I in pursuit of?

Why was I really pushing so hard? What was it that I truly desired as a Christian?

And that's the exact place I want to guide you into today.

Because here's the thing that kept tripping me up as I went through yet another traditional business plan and strategy session.

Deep in my spirit, I. I knew it was never my mission to benefit from to begin with.

And that was the turning point for me.

I realized that my writing was never meant to be about me,

my comfort, my success, my plans,

or even my financial stability.

Yes,

God cares about my needs,

but the true purpose of my writing was far greater than what I could gain from it.

It was about what the kingdom could gain from it, what God wanted to do through me.

That shift in perspective opened my eyes to see that I had been building on the wrong foundation.

I wasn't called to write so that I could achieve personal success.

I was called to write so that God's purposes could be fulfilled through the words he entrusted to me.

So if we write from a place of pushing to get noticed, pushing to make money, that will give us a cushy lifestyle.

Forcing words into a book for the sake of building a large back catalog or fulfilling a rapid release strategy.

We are, as we discussed in last week's episode, anxiously toiling and building our author business on shifting sands like a house of cards that can tumble at any time because it has no sturdy foundations,

no structure,

no purpose.

Friend, money should never be your purpose or reason for writing.

Getting the bigger house and better car should never be your motivation because it only leads to burnout and disappointment.

Because as you progress through your career moving from one financial goal to the next,

the goal post will just keep moving forward. It will never be enough.

It will never satisfy because it stems from worldly desires. It has no purpose. It has no impact to the kingdom.

And as I one day sat staring at my blinking cursor, absolutely drained and exhausted from pushing so hard to get more sales,

asking myself why I'm even still fighting to make this work,

the Holy Spirit brought me to this verse in John 15:16 Jesus says,

you did not choose me,

but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide.

Friend, if that verse didn't make you sit up, then I urge you to read it again,

because here's the heart of it all.

You are chosen by God. You are not secondary to someone else in God's kingdom.

He has formed you and chosen you to go and bear fruit,

and Jesus desires that our fruit would abide.

He has chosen you to make a lasting impact on the earth.

He has chosen you for a specific purpose.

And newsflash, that purpose does not involve you having a cushy lifestyle.

Does God want abundance, wealth and success for you?

If it is for his glory to be used as a tool to reach his kingdom, then absolutely.

But these are the byproducts of the fruit of your labour that come naturally as a result of you walking out your purpose and calling as and notice I didn't say as you walk in your purpose.

You can walk in your purpose,

publishing one Christian book at a time and never walk out your purpose.

Your words could be just words on a page, but have zero impact behind them.

See, you might have thought that you chose to become a Christian writer,

that you made the decision to be an author.

But John 15:16 tells us the opposite.

God chose us before you and I were even born. God chose us for his purpose.

Money is not your big why.

I don't care what the world makes you believe that this is your reason to write because I believe the word of God. Instead,

I choose to believe that God has created me for a purpose that he knows the plans he has for me. Plans to prosper me, not to harm me.

And friend chasing Amazon rankings and book sales,

striving, fighting, pushing your way into burnout is harming you.

Those aren't the plans God has for you. His plan for you is to write words that will encourage uplift and build his kingdom.

His purpose for you is to make an impact with your books and platform.

To turn people's hearts towards Christ.

To share the Gospel of Christ.

See, you can have all the money and fame in the world and still not have purpose.

Still not feel like you have a reason to do what you do.

You just keep running the hamster wheel, churning out books, doing what you do every day and still feel like you are just here on the earth to merely exist.

But when you shift your mind away from yourself and focus on the two things God created you for,

Love God and love others.

Suddenly you feel like you are here to make a difference.

You start noticing readers turning to Christ in times of trouble.

You start seeing God as your loving Father who provides all you need,

not want.

You begin to feel value in the words you are writing because you see the impact it carries.

You have purpose.

And guess what?

When you discover you have that purpose, it doesn't matter if you live in a tiny two bed apartment or have to take the bus everywhere, because your value comes from your purpose, not the money you have or don't have in the bank.

You start writing from a place of joy where all you want to do is write stories that will lift a reader's spirits up when they're going through a difficult time or you introduce them to characters that will keep them company when their spouse just passed away or left them.

You want to give them hope and remind them that there is a God who sent his only Son to carry the weight of the world for them.

And here's the truth.

All the money and fame can't buy your readers that I've learned that the one purpose that leads to the greatest measure of life and joy,

not just as an author,

but as a person, as a Christian, as a believer, is the pursuit of God.

Not the pursuit of wealth, not the pursuit of perfection,

not the pursuit of fame, not the pursuit of a little orange ribbon that's here today and gone tomorrow.

All God wants you to pursue is Him.

All he's asking you to do is to use the talents and the gifts he's blessed you with as a writer and write a book that makes impact and changes lives.

He'll take care of the rest he he'll provide the money to buy the ISBNs and the book covers. He'll match your books to those readers who need to hear your message.

Because guess what?

He loves them too.

And just as he's working in your life, he's working in theirs.

All you have to do is abide in him and write what His Spirit guides you to write.

So, friend, are you going to spend the rest of your one life you have on this earth pursuing more book sales, a bigger house,

an award title to be seen to be recognized,

to find something that will make you feel that you are worth something?

Or are you going to spend your time loving God and loving his kingdom?

What lasting fruit does God intend for you here on this earth?

And as I have discovered, as I asked myself these questions,

is that answering them should start with the words of Jesus in John 15:16 Allow God's commandments to lay the defining foundation of your purpose.

Your life here is of eternal value, friend.

A life spent simply waiting for heaven is a life wasted.

God has placed an eternal purpose on your life,

a purpose meant to be pursued and lived out in every minute of every day.

You don't have time to waste, and the compelling truth is you will never be satisfied until you devote your life to ministering this incredible gospel of restoration and love.

Until you pursue seeing God's kingdom come through your writing, relationships and time,

you will never experience the joy and passion in your author career. Only God's purpose can bring you Money will only take you so far.

God doesn't have a cookie cutter mold. He tries to fit all believers into.

He's formed you for a specific and unique purpose no other believer will be able to accomplish.

No other author will accomplish the same unique purpose.

His plans for you are your own and no one else's.

So choose today to live your life for your Heavenly Father. Work with him in all that you do,

love him and others with every fiber of your being, and experience the joy of making a deep eternal impact with all that you do.

We are not purposed to merely write for the sake of writing.

God's kingdom is here on earth, and we are his workmanship.

We are his priests.

Acts 26:16 says,

Rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose,

to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen Me and to those in which I will appear to you.

Matthew 28:19 says, Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

My prayer for you today, dear Anointed Scribe, is that you reach out to God today so that he can renew your sense of purpose today.

Let God be your driving force, your motivation, your inspiration for why you write, and let that be what inspires you to keep writing.

May you make the choice today and every day to be inspired by the only one that truly matters.

God has incredible plans and purposes in store for you, friend,

if you will simply open your heart and your hands to him and say,

here I am Lord.

Use me friend. Before I let you go, I want you to use the send me a message link in the show notes and let me know where you need God to show up for you today so I can pray for you.

It's 100% anonymous. I can't see your name or your email or your phone number. I can't even reply to you.

But I can read your request and I can pray for you.

So I encourage you to use this feature to send me a private message to let me know what you are struggling with right now so we can come together and take this to the Lord in prayer.

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Thank you for listening. And remember, for such a time as this,

you have been called to thrive as God's anointed scribe.