4 Fears Holding Christian Writers Back From Growing an Author Business God's Way
Episode 92 · The Anointed Scribe Podcast
Did you know that one of the biggest things holding you back in your author business is fear?
We often ascribe our low book sales to a competitive market, to failing book promotions, or to a lack of funding. And while those things can certainly play a part, I came to realize that especially as a Christian author, fear played a much bigger role in whether my author business was going to be successful or not.
So today I want to talk about how to spot it, face it, and break free from it. Because there are four of these fears. And one of them, more than the others, is the one that's been running the show in your writing life without you even realizing it.
And once you can see yours clearly, I'm going to give you a way to do something about it, so that you can move your author business forward with clarity, focus, and the kind of peace and abundance God wants for you.
Get ready to break some chains, friend. This is the Anointed Scribe Podcast.
If you're a self-published Christian author who's ready for real growth in your relationship with God and in your author business, this is your home for growing your faith and building a profitable author business, God's way. I'm Urcelia Teixeira, bestselling and indie Christian author, and I'd love to walk this journey with you. Come on in, friend. It's good to have you here.
Welcome
Hey, it's your author friend Urcelia, and welcome back. If this is your first time here, I'm your host and founder of Anointed Scribe, and I'm also a bestselling and self-published Christian fiction author. And it is my honor to share a little bit of biblical wisdom and the practical lessons I learned building my own author business.
So today's topic is all about the fears that hold us back from our calling. And I'm not talking about a fear of snakes and spiders, although those are very, very real. I'm talking about the intimate fears that shape how we write and how we make decisions as Christian authors, and even how we show up to our readers.
And it's something I came to discover in my own quest for success back in 2023, and I can't tell you what a massive difference dealing with it has made to how I now build and grow my author business.
What God Actually Calls It
If you've ever read a mainstream business self-help book, you've probably heard a few similar phrases that modern business psychology masks as limiting beliefs, or breaking through your ceiling, because they sound more professional and less vulnerable. It's easier to say "I have a limiting belief" than showing weakness and admitting you're scared, right?
But do you want to know what God calls it?
The Bible frames fear as a spiritual state that opposes faith and paralyzes action. Fear are strongholds that directly operate against our faith, and thus against our calling. Did you know that? Let it sink in for a second.
It's the enemy's primary weapon that he uses against us. Fear destroys faith. And Hebrews 11:6 says it's impossible to please God without faith.
Fear causes spiritual paralysis. It stops us from stepping into our calling as Christian writers and obeying God's direction. It also distorts our reality. Fear magnifies a problem and minimizes God's power, which is the exact strategy the serpent used in the Garden of Eden.
So you can see how vital it is that we not only understand this, but that we identify our fears and then face them head on, if we want to see any kind of success as Christian authors.
Why We Don't Even Notice Our Fears
And here's the thing. Our fears are often so deeply rooted that we don't even notice them anymore. We've been carrying them along with us, sometimes since childhood, and we just kind of cope and live with them, right?
And most of us don't even call it fear. So it goes completely unnamed, and it flies under the radar. But today we are going to bring it all into the light and name it, friend. Because you can't break free from something you can't see or won't look at.
See, most author advice works on the surface. It gives you a better book launch strategy, a new Facebook ad approach, or another email framework. One more thing to try, right? And none of those things is necessarily wrong. But if a fear is driving your decisions underneath all of it, you can run every strategy perfectly and still feel stuck, because you're building on top of something that keeps shifting.
And if fear becomes the foundation of your business, you will feel rushed when you should wait, you'll freeze when you should move, hide when you're meant to be seen. And you'll even grip tighter when you're meant to let go.
And the hardest part is that it operates incognito. It just shows up as you being careful, or responsible, or even unavailable, when in reality it's fear working under the surface of your every decision.
So now that you know why this matters so much, let's get into naming the four fears that hold you back in your Christian author business. And as I walk through each one, I want you to notice which one lands in your chest. Not the one that sounds true in theory, the one that feels a little too close for comfort. You ready?
Fear One: The Fear That You're Not Enough
Okay. The first fear is the fear that you are not enough.
This is the one that lives closest to your identity. It's the voice that speaks up when another author's launch is going brilliantly and yours isn't. And in about four seconds, your own good work starts to look like nothing. It's the reason a slow book sales week doesn't just disappoint you. It unsettles you, because somewhere along the way, you let the numbers start telling you who you really are.
You often feel this fear on the mornings you check your Amazon rankings before you've even had your coffee, and the whole day tips depending on what you find, right? You feel it when you introduce yourself and hesitate to call yourself a writer, because part of you believes you haven't earned the title yet. Underneath all of this, you continue to ask yourself, am I good enough?
If your worth has been rising and falling with your sales results, your review numbers, or your Amazon rankings, this might very well be your fear.
Fear Two: The Fear of Not Having Enough
The second fear is the fear of not having enough.
This one doesn't feel like fear. This one feels like duty, or even responsibility. It's the grip you keep on everything. The control, the sense that if you stop pushing, or stop planning, stop holding it all together for even just a second, your entire author life falls apart.
You feel this fear in the exhaustion that no amount of sleep can fix. You feel it when you make a decision out of panic instead of wisdom. The rushed launch, the book you only wrote because you needed the money, the inflated book prices you set from having a scarcity mindset.
And underneath it is a real and heavy pressure. Because running an author business costs money. And when the sales aren't steady, worry hums in the background all day long. And you might catch yourself asking, what if I'm not doing enough? What if I can't keep this thing going and I can't pay the bills?
So you carry it all yourself. White-knuckled, certain that if you loosen your grip even just a little, it slips away.
If you're tired in a way that rest can't fix, and you can't seem to hand any of it over to God, this might be your fear.
Fear Three: The Fear of Getting It Wrong
The third fear is the fear of getting it wrong.
This is the fear that keeps you busy and going nowhere at the same time. You're doing a lot, more than ever maybe. But if someone asked you who you're writing for and what you're really about, you'd struggle to say it in a sentence.
And without that clarity, every decision feels impossible. You feel overwhelmed all the time. So you either chase every idea at once, or you freeze completely. This is when you get into that analysis paralysis mode as well. You're too afraid of the wrong turn to take any step at all.
You feel this fear standing at a crossroads, unable to choose. Because what if you pick the wrong direction and waste another year, or waste more money? You feel it in the scattered busyness, the ten half-finished things, the to-do list that never gets shorter, the sense that you're working hard without knowing where any of it is headed.
And you feel it every time you consume one more piece of expert advice, one more opinion, hoping this will be the one that finally makes it clear. And instead you find it just adds to the noise, so you abandon ship altogether.
If you find yourself busy but drifting, unsure what you're building or where you're aiming, this might be your fear.
Fear Four: The Fear of Being Seen
The fourth fear is the fear of being seen.
This is the one that keeps your best work tucked away where it's safe, right? We crawl into our writing caves. The book that stays unpublished, the post that sits in drafts, the email you write and never send. Not because you can't do the work, but because putting it out there means being visible. And being visible feels vulnerable and dangerous.
You feel this fear every time you tell yourself you are not ready yet. You need more time. You'll launch when it's perfect, when what you're really doing is protecting yourself from being looked at and found inadequate.
You feel it in the hidden season you've made peace with, the long quiet stretch where you write and serve with almost no one watching. And part of you has decided it's safer to just stay there. Because while your words are hidden, they can't be criticized, right? The moment you share them, someone could reject not just your writing, but a piece of you.
If you keep waiting to feel ready before you step out, and ready never quite comes, this might be your fear.
Which One Is Yours?
So there they are. The fear that you're not enough, the fear of not having enough, the fear of getting it wrong, and the fear of being seen.
Now, maybe one of those landed harder than the rest, and you already know which one has been running your decisions. If that's you, sit with it this week. Naming it is the first honest thing, and it's more than most authors ever do.
But maybe you heard yourself in two or three of them, and you're not sure which one is really at the root. That's normal, because these fears tangle together, and the loudest one isn't always the deepest one.
So if you're not 100% clear which fear is most holding you back, the free Growth Quiz will give you an instant, clear answer. It takes about a minute or two, and it names the exact area God wants to deliver you from today. You can take the quiz at anointedscribe.com/quiz.
Here's the thing though. Knowing which fear it is, that's only knowledge. And knowledge on its own doesn't set you free. The goal here isn't to walk around with a label. The goal is to actually break free from the fear that's been holding you back, so you can move your author business forward.
So once you get your quiz result, I've made a seven-day bootcamp to help you do exactly that. It's short, bite-sized, one small step a day, built for the specific fear the quiz surfaces in you. We don't just name the thing, friend, we walk it out together with Scripture until it starts to loosen its grip.
You're in Good Company
Even the men God used most powerfully wrestled with these same fears I just shared with you, and they had to work through them before they could walk out their calling.
Moses doubted he was enough. Joshua had to be told again and again not to be afraid. David knew what it was to hide, and Paul had to learn to loosen his grip and trust God with the outcome.
So whichever of those fears is yours, hear this. The fear is real, but it doesn't get to lead. It was never from God, and it was never meant to run your author business. Do not give it a foothold in your author business.
There's a truer voice underneath it, and he's the one growing you, even in the parts you can't see.
So take the quiz, find your fear. Then come, let God do something about it. AnointedScribe.com/quiz. The Growth Quiz link is in the episode description for you.
May your pen stay faithful, your roots grow deep, and every word you write bear fruit for His glory.
© 2026 Urcelia Teixeira. All rights reserved. This episode and its accompanying materials may not be reproduced, republished, transcribed, or adapted without written permission.
