Our mission is to help Spirit-filled Christians reach their goals with their writing. To that end, we’ve had a tremendous year!
While we are certainly imperfect in our pursuit, we see Jesus at the center of everything that we do. That’s the most valuable thing that we can invite you into.
God has blessed and sustained us, and provided for our every need. We want to share with you some of our program accomplishments over the past year, but that won’t reflect lives changed—writers filled with the Holy Spirit and walking with Him, leading healthier, stronger, Biblical lifestyles, and overflowing with fruit.
All of the things in this article are more than just news from the staff and apprentices here at The Company, they’re an invitation. These are the ways that you can be a part of what’s happening at The Company. We’ll include links throughout. If something looks interesting, click and learn more.
Graduates
In August, we held our second graduation for The Company’s full-time writing and publishing apprenticeship, which we call “The Three.”
Alli Prince successfully completed the program, gaining valuable expertise and experience in the craft of writing and the publishing trades. Alli graduated the program with one book, Lawless, on the market, another in production (more on that in a moment), and certified in interior book design and developmental editing of short stories.
Through Arche Year, our part-time online program, five writers completed novel manuscripts and launched professional author platforms!
And, worth mentioning, over 160 people completed our first ever novel challenge, writing a complete manuscript over the summer! The next challenge starts on January 13 and small groups are forming now.
Books Published
There were many books published among The Company’s members (too many to mention!), so I just want to feature a few from the graduates and staff of The Company.
Lawless (January, 2024) – As part of her apprenticeship, Alli Prince developed this anthology of super cool short stories inspired by the biblical book of Judges. Alli led a team of 14 writers to produce and launch a stunning sci-fi anthology.
(Vella Karman, a current second-year apprentice, is now seeking submissions for Fantastical Summer. If you’d like to be included in a project like this, learn more here.)
The Novel Matrix (July, 2024) – The principles of storytelling found in this book are at the core of what we teach here at The Company. While our apprentices take these ideas and go much further, these are the basic fundamentals of storytelling that every novelist needs to know.
This book is the culmination of Brad Pauquette’s 15+ years of experience as a developmental editor and publishing consultant. The Novel Matrix spent 30 days as a #1 New Release on Amazon and shortly after reached bestseller status.
A Traitor’s Vow (August, 2024) – The second installment in Thirzah’s breathtaking Adventures in Eldnaire trilogy takes readers on a wild adventure as Amelia and Leon race to undo the mess they made in the first book.
A perfect series for young teen readers, look for the third and final book this spring! Thirzah graduated from The Company’s apprenticeship in the fall of 2023.
Copper Lies (December, 2024) – Alli Prince’s debut novel hit store shelves just before Christmas! This steampunk fantasy adventure with just a hint of sweet romance is perfect for teen readers.
Alli wrote Copper Lies as part of her apprenticeship at The Company. It’s a thrilling ride with deep philosophical theme that speak to God’s love for us.
Our Team Productions
We have so much fun with projects that we do together. We get to work as a team, the apprentices gain valuable experience, and we put something cool out into the world.
Spirit Stories – Every year we record our apprentices telling wondrous stories from the Church’s history and we release the video around Halloween. If the world wants to talk about the supernatural, we have some good stuff to add to that conversation!
A Cambridge Christmas – For Christmas, our apprentices write and record audio dramas. These laugh-out-loud stories are sure to brighten your holidays. We hope you have as much fun listening as we had making them!
The Pearl – The Company’s apprentices manage, produce, and promote all of the content on The Pearl, our online-literary magazine. This year alone, they’ve published 13 essays, 15 short stories, and 6 poems. Some of the content is produced by the apprentices as part of their program at The Company, but most of it is submitted by other writers. It’s a great opportunity for our apprentices to gain experience in the business of publishing while also providing opportunities for new voices to shine.
Live Events
We had a great time welcoming writers into The Company HQ in Cambridge, Ohio for our spring and fall retreats. Writers came to spend the day with us, work on their writing projects in our super neat schoolhouse, sit in on a class, and hang out with Brad and Melissa. While many of the writers who join us for the retreats are considering applying to the apprenticeship program, some come just to hang out and enjoy the community of writers here.
We haven’t officially announced it yet, but you can mark your calendar for the next retreat on May 2-3, 2025.
In addition to our regular writers’ workshops, this year we also introduced the ProCritique—a live event in which writers receive professional critique over Zoom. This allows the writers who are being critiqued to receive top-notch feedback, while giving other writers the opportunity to read and learn from the feedback too.
Our Mission
We’re here to build up Christian writers and empower you with the tools and perspective you need to be successful in a competitive industry.
Our primary focus will always be our apprentices, but we also publish tons of materials each year for members of our larger community of writers. The best way to access it all is to join our mailing list (and actually read the emails).
Almost every week, Brad sends out an encouraging article to all of our subscribers. The topics vary, but the emphasis is usually on applying our faith walk and a Biblical worldview to our writing, and elevating our work to compete in the secular marketplace. You can always find these articles (including articles from guest writers) in the “On Mission” section of our online magazine.
Most of these articles were also released as podcast episodes, along with other content and features that are exclusive to the podcast, like author interviews. “The Company Podcast with Brad Pauquette” is available on all major podcast apps, and you can also find the latest episodes on The Company’s website.
We also published helpful, practical tools to enrich your writing in the “Writing Craft” section of our online magazine. This year we’ve published articles about using vignettes to deepen your worldbuilding and mistakes authors make in their fight scenes, among others.
And we covered tons of topics on the Q&A board, where our team has now provided answers to more than 100 questions, as well as hosted answers from around our community. Thank you to everyone who has provided their experience to others through this forum.
As a fun way to engage the community and provide opportunities for new writers to thrive, we also ran three writing contests this year, giving away more than $400 in prizes and publishing the winners to The Pearl.
What comes next?
We do all this only by the grace of God, through his provision. While we are imperfect humans, we pray that everything we do brings honor and glory to Jesus and helps you to do the same.
Thank you to you for partnering with us in this Kingdom mission—raising up a better Christian media that excels beyond its secular counterparts.
There are more book releases, events, and opportunities already in the works for 2025. We’ll talk more about that in a newsletter soon. But make sure that you’re subscribed to our newsletter and connecting with us on social media so that you don’t miss anything. We love to adapt and take advantage of new opportunities as they arise.
What was your favorite thing we did in 2024? Did we miss anything? What would you like to see from The Company in 2025?
We’d love to hear from you. If you have an idea for something cool that our community could provide, or if you’ve seen something somewhere else that would be cool with a Company spin, leave a comment. Most of the projects we develop start with suggestions from writers just like you!
Thanks for sticking with us on this journey. We’re so glad you’re here.
