Athena Dean Holtz
Publisher – Redemption Press
Athena Dean Holtz serves as founder and publisher at the highly acclaimed boutique collaborative publishing house, Redemption Press. Originally launched in 2014 in the Seattle area, the base of operations is now moving to Gilbert, AZ where associate publisher Carol Tetzlaff begins to step into her role as the baton is passed and legacy established.
Get To Know Athena
The life story of Athena Dean Holtz is a tale of a search for affirmation, meaning, and significance that trapped her in spiritual deception and caused her to lose everything she had. Out of the great loss of her marriage, family relationships, home, her reputation, and a twenty-year career in publishing after thirteen years in a toxic and restrictive cult, has come great restoration.
Athena Dean Holtz now uses her growing and multifaceted platform to encourage and uplift others through sharing the faithfulness of God. Her turnaround story continues. The founder and publisher of the collaborative custom publisher Redemption Press has recently been named Publisher of the Year (2022) by the Soul Cafe Awards and Best Female Podcast Host of the Year (2021) by the national Spark Media Conference. Her book co-authored with her pastor husband, Together for a Purpose: Love and Mission in Marriage and Ministry (Redemption Press, 2022) offers practical advice and encouragement for couples seeking deeper levels of connection and ministry together. Her two latest titles are PUBLISH: Your Message Matters and No Longer Hidden: You Cannot Resist What You Do Not Recognize focus on understanding the specific tactics the enemy uses to wear us down as writers and speakers and how to stand firm against him. The acclaimed She Writes for Him writer’s online events and community birthed out of the pandemic continues to connect, inform, and inspire writers across the globe through the BookMarketingProAcademy.com platform.
Breakout Session
The Story Steward Method™
Your 7-Step Guide to Turning Story into Message
Your story does not have to become a memoir to matter. It may become a devotional, Bible study, Christian living book, curriculum, teaching series, or narrative nonfiction project. The key is discerning not only what story God has entrusted to you, but also how that story can best serve the reader He intends to reach.
In this highly practical one-hour workshop, Athena Dean Holtz introduces The Story Steward Method™, a seven-step framework designed to help writers move from meaningful experiences and scattered ideas toward a clearer understanding of their message, reader, and potential book direction.
Through teaching, examples, and focused exercises, participants will learn how to identify the redemptive thread within their experiences, uncover the message beneath the story, and consider which type of book or teaching project may best communicate it.
They’ll also discover an important distinction many writers miss: your story is not always the book, it may be the doorway into the message God has given you to share.
Key Takeaways
✔ Find the thread running through your experiences and identify the transformation and truth that give your story purpose.
✔ Separate story from message so you can distinguish what happened to you from what your reader needs to receive from you.
✔ Identify your reader and the problem, question, struggle, or longing your message is intended to address.
✔ Explore the right genre direction for your material—whether memoir, devotional, Christian living, Bible study, curriculum, narrative nonfiction, or a blended approach.
✔ Recognize the role personal story should play so it strengthens your message without overpowering it.
✔ Learn what belongs—and what may not belong in the project you are developing.
✔ Leave with the beginnings of your own Story Steward Map™—including your redemptive thread, core message, intended reader, genre direction, and next step.
This workshop is ideal for writers who know they have a story or message to share but are not yet sure what kind of book it should become. Attendees will leave with a practical framework they can continue using to develop their project with greater clarity, purpose, and confidence—faithfully stewarding both the story and the message God has entrusted to them.
Map Your Story. Discover Your Message. Choose Your Direction.
15-Minute Appointments
Publisher – Redemption Press
Bringing 30 years of industry expertise to an author-centric publishing model, Redemption Press is the “best of both worlds.” All the benefits of self-publishing, along with the support and representation of a traditional publisher. One thing I know. If you’re going to self-publish, the last thing you want to do is LOOK like you did it yourself. Your book should look and read at the same level of excellence as the largest traditional publishers, and available in all the same channels. We take the time to develop custom publishing and promotion strategies specifically for you and your message. No one size fits all at Redemption Press. We are a full service, turn key, custom publishing option providing as much or as little support as you need.
I’d love to meet with you to see if we’re a good fit for each other!
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