In Search of "Clean Reads" - Part 2

 Last month, I outlined the growing concern about Christian novels that push the envelope of propriety. Profanity, sexual innuendo, and questionable ethics increasingly mark the lives of characters who purport to be Christian, so that readers of Christian fiction wonder where they can find books that are truly inspiring and uplifting. How do we find “clean reads” in a marketplace that seems to favor irreverent, prurient stories instead of challenging us to live like Christ?

We authors have a couple of more fundamental questions: What standards of language and behavior do our intended readers have, and what standards do their gatekeepers, Christian publishers, have? 

Peter Nikolai, publisher of Westbow Press, sounds a note that most evangelical publishers would echo. “Titles should challenge people to lead lives of moral excellence and virtue through content that is fair and encourages righteousness,” he says. Essentially, Christian fiction should “raise us up and make us more like Jesus Christ.” He then lists several story features that would run contrary to this purpose and cause Westbow to reject the book outright.[1]

Most Christian publishers are forthright in stating the standards for their books. If you can’t find those standards on a publisher’s website, ask for them. A publishing house may say that they give an author considerable freedom in deciding what to include in the book. In that case, ask what purpose the publisher hopes to achieve by publishing these books. This should bring into clear focus what is permissible and what isn’t.

Back to the question at hand: How do we find “clean reads” that are entertaining and inspiring, while lifting up worthy models for Christian readers to imitate?

Seasonal Reading Lists. Evangelical Christian magazines such as Christianity Today (https://www.christianitytoday.com) and World (https://wng.org) publish lists of new books for Spring and Fall each year. These brief reviews of fiction and nonfiction books help you identify authors and topics you would enjoy.

ECLA Website. The Evangelical Church Library Association (https://eclalibraries.org) serves librarians of evangelical churches in the USA and Canada. Its website features reviews of current and forthcoming books that most of us would consider “clean reads.”

 Goodreads.com Christian Reviewers’ Group. Thousands of readers share their book reviews on goodreads.com, and a group of 2,100 reviewers specialize in Christian books (https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/193829-christian-book-reviews). Not all of these are current books and not all of the reviews are favorable; but if you’re patient to screen the posts, you can find innovative fiction that has not yet been recognized by the mainline media.

 

Joe Allison writes both fiction and nonfiction, and has been a member of the Indiana chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers since 2010. His most recent book is Hard Times (Warner Press: 2019). He lives in Anderson, IN, with his wife Maribeth.

 

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[1] “Westbow Press Editorial Standards,” https://www.westbowpress.com/en/why-westbow-press/editorial-standards, accessed October 30, 2021.

Is Religious Book Publishing Dead?

Fake news has been with us for a long time. A century ago, after Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) had been out of the country several months on a speaking tour, an American newspaper published his obituary, asserting that he had died penniless in London. A correspondent for the New York Journal contacted him for comment. The author acknowledged that his cousin James Ross Clemens had been near death in London a couple of weeks earlier, but had recovered. “The report of my illness grew out of his illness,” he said in a laconic note. “The report of my death was an exaggeration.”

Publishers of religious books find themselves in a similar predicament these days. Hundreds of bookstores have closed, including nationwide chains such as Family Christian Stores and Lifeway Stores. Major Christian trade shows have folded. Christian authors seldom appear on late-night talk shows anymore. With such visible changes, some people assume that Christian book publishing is dying.

If you hear that, take a look at the facts.

January’s statistical report from the Association of American Publishers (AAP) showed that religious book sales have increased more than any other category, up 8.1% from a year ago.  Click here to see details.

Brick-and-mortar bookstores are closing, not because people have stopped reading, but because they can find more books online. The largest physical bookstore can display just a tiny fraction of the new books published each year—nearly 305,000 new titles in the United States alone. Click here to see how our publishing output compares to other countries.

Then there’s self-publishing. First-time authors now have new technologies to publish their own books. Amazon says that more than a thousand authors earned over $100,000 each in royalties through Kindle Direct Publishing in 2017. Not all were Christian authors, to be sure, but many were. Click here to see details.  

So if someone tries to discourage you from writing because they think books are dying, give them a benign smile. As Mark Twain would say, that report is an exaggeration.

 

How I Became Part of Marcher Lord Press

I first heard about Marcher Lord Press through a blog interview a few years ago. By then, I knew enough about the writing industry to know that publishing a Christian fantasy would be difficult. Hardly any Christian publishing companies were taking those kinds of books. They wanted romance, historical, Amish. Not a fantasy set in a different world. Not my kind of book.

Then I read Randy’s interview with a man named Jeff Gerke. Jeff was starting a new publishing company that would only produce Christian science fiction and fantasy. He saw a market out there that no one was reaching. So he was going to reach it.
After reading that interview, I turned to Dan and said, “My book might have a home someday.” I never realized how true those words would become.
I watched Marcher Lord Press with interest. I watched the books produced. I read the books. And they were good. Really good. I was still finishing my own book at the time, but I knew when I was done, I wanted to submit it to Marcher Lord Press.

Later that spring, I went to the Mt Hermon Writing conference with a finished book in hand, ready to show it to agents and publishers. I also met Jeff there. I told him about my book. He seemed interested and told me to submit it. But he also warned me that it would take 12-18 months for him to get back to me about it. That was fine with me.
I went home and sent off my manuscript. I also sent it off to a couple others who were interested. Then I started writing the second book. I heard back from the others. The message was the same: good book, but not for us. I didn’t lose heart. I knew I suppose to write. But that didn’t necessarily mean I would be published.

Then life happened. Dan and I found ourselves at a crossroads a couple months ago after he was let go from the church we were serving at. All thoughts of publishing disappeared from my mind. Instead, I found myself in God’s crucible. I was being reshaped and reforged by grief and heartache. Dan and I clung to each other and God as we sought what we should do next. We came out of that time with a strong love and desire to reach people with God’s love. So we decided to church plant.
But how did publishing fit in with that? I didn’t know. We were beginning a whole new way of life with me working full time and Dan taking care of the kids, going to school, and planting Living Grace Church. I finally knelt down one night and gave my writing to God. I was willing to give it up if God so chose.

After work last Friday, I received an email from Jeff. I waited until the kids were in bed. Then I did the dishes, all the while praying. Then I sat down and opened the email. His first words were would I like to be a Marcher Lord?
I ran to Dan’s office crying. Poor Dan, he couldn’t figure out if they were good tears or sad tears. I finally said he wants my book. Then we both came running back to my computer and finished the email. Then I sent off my reply. Yes, I wanted to be a Marcher Lord.

I couldn’t believe it. I walked around the house the next two days in a daze. I felt that gut twisting sensation you get when the roller coaster reaches the top and you’re looking down right before the plunge: excited and terrified. The contract came in. I read over it a couple times, had Dan read it, then signed it.

Monday, the news broke and life has not been the same since.
So that’s my writing journey. There have been a lot of people who have supported me, encouraged me, and pushed me to the next level the last few years. To name them all here would take a lot of space. You all know who you are. Thank you my friends!

Spotlight on Heartsong Presents

Many of us are anxiously thinking about pitching our projects at the ACFW conference in Indianapolis in September. With that in mind, over the next few months, I'm going to spotlight a few of the CBA publishers and agents that will be available to take appointments.

The first spotlight shines on... the Heartsong Presents line at Barbour Publishing.

Do you enjoy writing Christian romance? Are you looking for that elusive publishing house that accepts unagented submissions from first time authors? Heartsong might be the line for you.

Heartsong is a book club that mails four sweet romance novels to their members each month. As a member of the club, I enjoy the books and recommend that you join to learn about the line before submitting a proposal.

Several of our published Indiana authors first saw their novels in print in the Heartsong Presents line.

Guidelines:

Manuscripts must be between 45,000 and 50,000 words. The main story must be the romance with strong inspirational themes. These books are read by a conservative audience so the books should not have content that offends the readers. Heartsong published both contemporary and historical novels with a strong geographical sense of place.

More guidelines can be found at: http://www.barbourbooks.com/pages/downloads/bpi_heartsongpresents_guidelines.pdf

Join the book club here:

http://www.heartsongpresents.com/

Follow the editors blog at:

http://www.editcafe.blogspot.com/

Questions about Heartsong?

Lisa Faye Harman

B&H Publishing

Did you always want to be an author? How did you get published?
These are questions I get now and then these days but there were times along my journey to publication where they seemed like they would only happen in a dream.

The short answer is Thomas Walters at B&H Publishing decided to take a risk on me. I’d sent in a proposal for Snow Angel (at the time simply titled, Elizabeth) and he loved it. But that moment when he called me and offered me my first three-book deal, the moment where my heart paused with a leap of fear and longing, that was a long time coming.

I’d like to share a little of that journey and a very cool video that B&H has put together to tell a little about their publishing house. And I’d be happy to answer any questions anyone might have in regards to B&H to the best of my ability - .

My first novel, Snow Angel was born on a frosty night in an old farmhouse in Fishers, Indiana, where the cold floor gave me plenty of motivation for the snow scene. Two years later, armed with my jewel, I sat out to get it published. That began some of the hardest years of waiting that I have yet endured. When I look back on it, I can hardly believe all the crazy things that happened. I began my search for publication with the conference thing, meeting with editors and learning the submission process, studying the publishing houses and markets for romance novels. Then I sent out several query letters to both ABA and CBA publishing houses. It took months and sometimes years to hear back, but each one was a rejection letter. I wasn’t sure what to do next, so I just kept researching and waiting.

My first break came in 2000 when Time Warner started an online writing group called iPublish. There was a lot of talk at that time about ebooks and how big they might become, so TW thought to tap into that market with an online community of writers providing the content for these ebooks. I signed up and within a couple of months got a call from an editor with Time Warner. They loved my book and felt that in this new format they could stretch out into something on the inspirational side with little risk on their end. Now, I wasn’t crazy about the whole ebook idea, but by that point, I was pretty desperate, so I signed the contract, hoped that my book would be so successful that they would eventually print it and looked at the whole thing like a possible springboard for my career.
After 9/11 I received the news that Time Warner was shutting down the ebook division and letting all the ebook authors out of their contracts. One of the editors went to bat for my book to be traditionally published in trade paperback because she loved it so much. These were months of living on gut-wrenching hope, but it was determined that it was too inspirational. I sank into a minor depression for a couple of months after that and didn’t write anything. I kept praying and asking God what was going on, wondering what His will was for my life. It felt horrible to think of letting my dream go, but I wanted to prove to Him and myself that it wasn’t bigger than He was to me.

If you’re wondering if I was looking for an agent during these times, the answer is, of course! But I had always heard that getting an agent was even harder than getting a publisher on a first time book. One day, I was online looking up agents and came across an agency that I had never seen before. They had an online form so I filled it out. I was shocked to get a call from one of their agents who had just relocated to Indianapolis. Within minutes of talking, he asked if I would like to meet him somewhere with the manuscript.

I was a nervous wreck as I handed it over to him at a Borders, believing he was my ticket to publication. He read it and loved it. So again, I signed the papers without knowing very much about him. Now this man was a really wonderful person, but he had never sold fiction before, only non-fiction in the technology field. During the next ten months, I continued to have great hope that my agent would sell my book. At the end of the tenth month with him, realizing he hadn’t sent out more than two proposals, I decided to take a leap of faith and part ways. This terrified me, because now I was back on my own, but I honestly thought I could do a better job myself, and I kept hearing that still, quiet voice say, “I’ll be your agent.”

“Really?” My slacker-faith self asked.

“If I am for you, who can be against you?”

“Really?” I whispered as tears began to flow down my cheeks.

Armed with fresh faith I set out to query every possible publishing company that had ever published a romance novel. I poured over each word and sentence in that query letter. I used a sample proposal from a well-known agency as a template and polished my 40 page proposal until it was the best that I could make it.

Then, in November 2005, I sat at my kitchen table and looked at the giant stack of brown envelopes. A part of me felt hope, a part of me felt fear, but a big part of me said, “This is it, Lord. If this doesn’t work, I’m going back to college. Then, surprisingly, my sister dropped by on her way to work. Jennifer is something of a prayer warrior and we laid hands on the stack and prayed over it, asking God to bless each proposal. Within two months I had a bite from Bethany House, Warner Books and B&H Publishing. B&H gave me a call.
Here's a peak of B&H:

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