Welcome to The Way Back Books, an award-winning hybrid press.
The Way Back Books is the new boutique hybrid publishing imprint from The Way Back to Ourselves, focusing on soul-care, authentic relationships, creative excellence, and telling “beauty from ashes” stories that beautify the Kingdom.
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The Way Back to Ourselves is an authentic Christian community for faithful creatives and leaders centered on belonging. We provide a rooted network for seekers, dreamers, and believers with a literary journal and blog, podcasts, retreats, cohorts, products, and creative services, such as editing, graphic design, marketing, publishing, counseling, spiritual direction, and more.
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The Way Back Books partners with authors through their writing journey, meeting them exactly where they are. We provide services from start to finish: mentorship, counseling, editing, typesetting, graphic design, publishing, marketing, and more. We take time to care for the author and the art they are creating. This makes us different from beginning to end when compared with other publishing experiences, and it’s an inventive and faithful model we are deeply proud of.
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Currently, we are only publishing poetry collections, but we are looking to move into the non-fiction market in 2028. We are looking for poets who are highly collaborative and innovative because we like to partner with our writers “from the ground up,” as we create spirit-infused art together. Because we are a deeply rooted community, we often give priority to faithful creatives who are familiar to us and our community members. So, we warmly invite you to get rooted with us if you feel like The Way Back Books might be home to your future collection. You belong here.
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Currently, our submission window is closed until summer of 2027. We are only accepting complete poetry collections for publishing. However, we work with nonfiction writers for self-publishing and publishing elsewhere. If you would like to learn more about publishing with The Way Back Books or using our services for another project, please visit our services page and send us an inquiry.
Enjoy
Our Literary
Collection
BE SWEPT AWAY BY OUR AUTHORS, THEIR STORIES, AND POETIC VERSE THAT HAUNTS AND HEALS. SELECTED AUTHORS ARE PUBLISHED WITH THE WAY BACK BOOKS, BUT POETS AND NONFICTION WRITERS CAN PARTNER WITH US ON THEIR SELF-PUBLISHING JOURNEY. LEARN ABOUT OUR SERVICES AND CONSULTANTS BELOW.
We aren’t afraid of the grit and glory that come from living in a fallen but radiant world. We tell “beauty from ashes” stories, so we refuse to look away from the pain and suffering that come with living. We want our readers to see how God meets us in the dark. We want our readers to be held in their own holy and hard places. And ultimately, we want our readers to realize there is always a way back: to wholeness, to healing, to hope, and to a God who loves us.
Rosa Lia Gilbert’s award-winning debut poetry collection from The Way Back Books, Under the Saman Tree, is available NOW. You can purchase this stunning bilingual collection on home, longing, and belonging from one of Christianity Today’s Young Storytellers on Amazon or wherever books are sold online.
Deborah Rutherford’s debut poetry collection from The Way Back Books, Prodigal Daughter: Poems of Light for the Lost Ones, is available NOW. You can purchase this moving memoir in verse on Amazon or wherever books are sold online. You can come home again…
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ROSA GILBERT
debut author & poet
AVAILABLE NOW ON AMAZON.
Rosa’s debut poetry collection, Under the Saman Tree, is a stunning bilingual meditation on marriage, motherhood, and the immigrant experience and how God blesses and redeems the journey. Exploring themes of longing and belonging, Rosa’s fresh and passionate voice is one that takes the reader by the hand and says, “Come with me. Let’s find our home in this wild world together and make it beautiful.” Rosa’s collection was a bestseller in Hispanic Poetry.
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KIMBERLY PHINNEY
founder, editor, & best-selling author
AVAILABLE NOW ON AMAZON AND IN THE WAY BACK STORE.
Kimberly’s second poetry collection, Exalted Ground: Poems of Praise and Lament for the Living, was published in April of 2025 as a bestseller. To answer God’s urging and show her commitment and dedication to the success of THE WAY BACK BOOKS, Kimberly prayerfully left the publisher of her best-selling debut poetry collection, Of Wings and Dirt, to join her authors in this space.
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DEBORAH RUTHERFORD
debut author & poet
COMING SPRING 2026.
Deborah’s debut poetry collection, Prodigal Daughter: Poems of Light for the Lost Ones, is a tenderly written love letter of hope for all the wayward daughters of God. Part memoir, part devotional, Deborah’s poetry goes boldly into the darkest parts of the human soul and comes out singing the most beautiful song of all: the one we call “Redemption.”
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MARIANA HERRERA MOSLI
debut author & poet
COMING SPRING 2027.
Thorns and Honey follows Mariana's journey from exile to witness, as she navigates life between the sacred and secular. Telling stories of quiet resistance, inherited grief, and stubborn hope, Mariana's poems are rooted in Scripture's underside. Written for the wounded who are learning to speak, even when the world isn't listening, Mariana invites readers to embrace healing and inheritance. Thorns and Honey dares to move toward an embodied answer to what God asked in the Garden of Eden so many years ago: "Where are you?"
Kimberly Phinney’s poetry collection from The Way Back Books, Exalted Ground: Poems of Praise and Lament for the Living, is available now. You can purchase it at The Way Back Store or on Amazon and wherever books are sold.
