The Story Behind Selah Press

In May of 2011 I published my first book How to Make Melt & Pour Soap Base from Scratch: A Beginner’s Guide to Melt & Pour Soap Base Manufacturing. It was my first self-published book and I was learning along the way. I had written the book. It had been edited by Lesley Anne Craig and Dana Brown. It was all done being formatted by Alex Badcock. I was ready to publish it. I stood in Alex’s office at Essential Wholesale while he loaded the first draft into CreateSpace. When I chose to do a custom ISBN number I discovered I needed a publishing house to be the publisher of record for my imprint. What? I hadn’t even thought of that detail. I really was learning on the fly.

My mind went immediately to the name Selah. I have loved that name ever since I first discovered it in 1999 when we named our daughter Selah. The original meaning I found was to take a contemplative pause. It can be found in Psalms and Habakkuk in the Bible. Other translations I have since discovered say it means “to measure or weigh in the balances” or from the Hebrew s_lah, “to praise”; and s_lal, “to lift up”; and salah, “to pause.” It is believed that Selah is a musical direction to the singers and musicians who performed the Psalms. Each time Selah appears in psalm the musicians paused.

To me Selah Press is the perfect name for a book publisher. Reading is contemplative. Reading is a pause in my day. And what I learn from books helps me weigh my opinions and educate myself.

Recently Selah Press went through a huge overall as I shifted from using it to self-publish my own books to opening it up as a publisher to other authors. I also added resources and services including: book publishing, bite-sized book publishing, business and author coaching, platform building packages, and à la carte services. Now that you know the story behind the name – come on over and check it out.