I started Author Media while still in college. At the time it was Umstattd Media, a dorm room company without the dorm room. Since then we’ve grown, a lot.

We are now one of the largest CBA author website design companies in the United States. We’ve built over a hundred websites for clients in three continents and at least eight different time zones. Author Media is just one of several brands underneath the Castle Media Group umbrella.

My mission for this company has always been “To help the church use technology to advance the Kingdom.” To this end, Author Media is a boutique company focusing primarily on authors who write for the CBA market.

Company Values:

• Excellence (Quick, Quality, and on Budget)
• Learning (Reading, Study and Experimentation)
• Fun (Teamwork, Company Parties & Stuffed Angry Birds)

The Castle Media team. Drawing by Diana Fadal one of our summer 2012 interns.

Tweetable Quotes:

• “We provide our best work for our clients when we believe in their mission.” Click to Tweet
• “If we don’t get excited about your website, we don’t build it.” Click to Tweet
• “You deserve a company that passionately wants you to succeed.” Click to Tweet

Why We Turn Down Some Websites

Our goal is to always provide our best work to our clients. This means that we have to believe in the mission of their website.

As a Christian company, there are a few things we just don’t get that excited about, including:

• Racism or hate (We build websites that advocate love and forgiveness)
• Adult content, including erotica (We build websites that help people stay pure from pornography)
• Heresy or apostasy (We build websites that help people embrace Biblical doctrine)
• Abortion (We build Pro-Life websites)
• Divorce (We build websites that help people have healthy lifelong marriages)
• Fraud (We build websites for reputable companies who stand by their word)
• Occult or New Age material. (We build websites that advocate Christianity)

If you want a website that fits into one of the above categories, we won’t be the best company for you. There are many other web design companies that specialize in these niches that would get excited about building your website.

We turn down website projects nearly every month, so if we opt out of your website, we don’t mean it personally. You deserve to know that we just can’t give you our best work. You deserve someone who is passionate about what you do. There are thousands of web design companies and we feel that trying to be all things to all people is bad for business.

I realize that this may not be popular. The common way to run a business is to do the work for whoever is willing to pay. I don’t think this approach is good for the company or the client.  Castle Media Group is about more than money. It is about making the world a better place by advancing the Kingdom of Jesus Christ one website at a time. If that is what you want, we would love to help you.

FAQs

Q: Do I need to be a Christian for Author Media to build my website?
A: Absolutely not! We get excited about a lot of websites that are not “Christian.” If you have a book that helps people, there is a good chance we will want to help you.

Q: Why are you so intolerant?
A: There is a difference between tolerance and advocacy. Websites aren’t just construction jobs to us. Our websites are advocacy tools that help the client get their message out. To be a good advocate, we need to believe in what we are advancing. We can’t believe in everything. We can’t be both for and against human trafficking, for example. There is no way we could do a good job on a website that advocated something we don’t believe in it.

Q: Do I need to be a Christian to work at Castle Media Group?
A: No you do not. Not everyone who works here currently is a Christian. We are looking for teammates who adhere to our company values.

Q: It looks like Author Media is not a good fit for my website. Where do you recommend I go now?
A: There are several good marketplaces that connect web companies with web clients. Those include elance.com, guru.com and odesk.com. Also try googling “Your Niche” Web Design.

Q: Do you work with self-published authors?
A: Yes. We work with unpublished, self published, traditionally published and bestselling authors.

Q: What is the CBA market?
A: CBA stands for Christian Booksellers Association. The other major book market is known as the ABA or American Booksellers Association.  More info about the CBA.

Q: What is the difference between Author Media & Castle Media Group?
A: Castle Media Group, LLC is the parent company that owns Author Media. It also owns several other web design sites. Think of Castle Media Group as “General Motors” and Author Media is like “Chevrolet.”

Image Credits:

• Portrait by Lancia Smith.