It's no secret to anyone that it's a challenge at best for a new author to get sales through bookstores when larger bookstores typically only shelve books from established authors/publishers. But what some may not know is that larger Christian Bookstores have only ever carried fiction by affiliated authors. Only recently have they begun to allow in books by non-affiliated Christian authors but usually only if the work is highly targeted to their original target market, that being visitors to Christian Bookstores (which used to be The Baptist Bookstore.)
Well, I'm excited to say that many of my readers here in the US actually come from the market CBA serves meaning this group is ready for a different kind of fiction but I can't get to these readers where they shop. Lifeway sends non-affiliated books through a book buyer who determines what's best for Lifeway stores, usually in spite of a book already being deemed socially acceptable to the Christian Market. Yes. I know. How odd is that?
Unless things have changed, the name of that book buyer at Lifeway is Michael Robbins. Apparently Michael has already made a determination on my work and at this time won't allow Lifeway stores to carry it. This is what he told my local Lifeway manager who told me initially all I had to do was to have distribution through Spring Arbor. They will let a customer order my book, but will make the customer pay shipping and then they ship the book to the customer's house. Even more strange.
Nevertheless, I'd love to tour Lifeway Stores so my many CBA fans can have a chance to get their hands on my work. It seems though that it doesn't matter what I want. So if you'd like to see this happen you'll have to contact Michael Robbins yourself and tell him you'd like to see this series in Lifeway Stores. Maybe enough of you can change his mind. :)
Sadly, this goes faaaaar beyond picking on smaller published authors or unknown authors. This goes to discriminating against any author not affiliated with a fee paying CBA affiliated publisher or work from a non-affiliated publisher that is so targeted to CBA's audience they're willing to forego the publisher not paying CBA their fee to be affiliated.
ReplyDeleteLarger Christian Bookstores operating this way reminds me a lot of the way E-harmony used to operate before the lawsuit. They say their one thing but they do another. Oddly enough, they've been operating like this since 195o when CBA was formed by a group of Christian bookstores, then Baptist Bookstores. I believe the murkiness entered when they stopped calling themselves Baptist Bookstores and started calling themselves Christian Bookstores.
So yes, very different than the usual picking on the small, unknown author. IMO :)
This goes to discriminating against any author not affiliated with a fee paying CBA affiliated publisher...
ReplyDeleteAgain, how does that differ from Payola?