Still a Chance to win a FREE copy of Electric Angel!

Yes, I do understand that the blog you have to go to is most likely the LAST place you thought you'd see me doing an interview. But I have readers from this "closed" market and I can't get to them through the venues that matter because I DON'T write specifically for the "discriminating" publishers that supply them with fiction.



Lena Nelson Dooley is one of the FEW bloggers/authors who will even humor me so I can let those fans know I've a new book out. Y'all don't have to like that sort of fiction to post (I know I don't.) You don't even have to agree with the way these targeted Christian publishers do business (again, I know I don't.) BUT go load my interview down with comments so it will keep those readers looking. Love y'all!!!



Here's the link: LenaNelsonDooley.blogspot.com



And yes, I still write general market horror/fantasy etc . . . Yeah! Yeah!



Go over there and talk up Zombies and werewolves and vampires. That should do it. LOL

My thoughts on the current trend of large bookstore closings!

Large bookstores were once small bookstores who helped large publishers get their books to readers. When technology changed and made it easier and less costly to publish, along came small publishers. Large bookstores refused to acknowledge the change. Large publishers were fine with this. It limited the competition. Large bookstores weren't about to bite the hand that has fed them so long. But I'll bet they never expected that same hand to actually starve them to death and then come back looking for the scraps. Funny how that worked out. And I don't mean funny ha-ha either. :(

For those of you who say that technology ruined the publishing industry, you couldn't be more wrong. Technology has leveled the playing field and so to all those large bookstores who are collapsing under their unwillingness to embrace small and self published authors and to all large publishers who can't figure out which way to turn now, I have only this to say and you should just be glad you can't hear me sing it. . .

Welcome to the Jungle!

You can have anything you want but you better not take it from me.

Just to remind you . . .

. . . or perhaps to clarify, I do not write for, nor have I EVER written for, that specific market of readers that CBA (and now many other copy-cat publishers) were set up to serve in 1950. My stories have general market appeal. I did begin to market to those specific readers not realizing how this would affect marketing my book. I even went as far as to have my books approved by Spring Arbor as I was told this was Ingram's Christian arm and doing so would enable me to get my books into Christian bookstores, on-line and otherwise. All it really did was make my books available for order in brick & mortar Christian bookstore and able to show up on most on-line Christian bookstores but not the larger ones that cater to affiliated and targeted publishers of which I'm not one.

I had my books unapproved by Spring Arbor so now Christian Bookstores can't even order my books if you want one. ;D However, on-line stores are still posting it as available. It isn't available and they won't be able to get it for you. I hate to show up on these sites as it implies I write for a market that doesn't support any author but those who write for a very targeted market and mostly only those who pay to be affiliated.

Just wanted to make sure y'all know I didn't sell out.

I didn't.

I still write for the general market and I still appeal to readers who enjoy work that targeted market publishers (affiliated and otherwise) put out. I'd also like to add to my author friends who frequent my blog, approval by Spring Arbor is free and easy but there is absolutely no advantage to signing up. In fact, I've yet to find a reason why they exist.

So pleased with these interviews. :)

Shelly Ring of the Christian Examiner posted part two of her interview with me just now. When you get a chance do go read it.

The link.

With Never Ceese being self-published, I need all the help I can get getting out there. Thank you so much Shelly.

For interested publishers.

Disregard this blog. LOL It suggests that larger publishers actually see blogs from a peon like me and . . . well, that just isn't the case. I apologize for taking up cyber space with the ridiculous suggestion that they might. ;)

For interested publishers (I realize there are no interested publishers but I did want to get the info out there) I'll entertain all offers should anyone be interested in making one. My current publisher is wonderful yet hard times seem to affect us all. I need help promoting. The distribution my current publisher offers is grand, (and traditional so that rocks,) but it takes more than that to get the attention of readers. On my own accord I continue to promote and to take chances in hopes of hitting pay dirt or to simply just make a living writing. Yes, I'm having some success, a drop in the bucket as far as that goes. I love writing and will continue providing stories to those interested in reading them. However, I will reconsider the "making a living writing" mentality if no help is offered soon. Please do not read this as a call for sympathy, it's not that. Just letting anyone who might be interested know that any offer will be entertained. ;)

Oh yeah, you can use the e-mail associated with this blog. Now don't all ya'll respond at once!

Christian Fiction examiner interview!

So nice when those who normally only report about happenings in the affiliated market of "Christian" fiction ask me for interviews or give a review. As a writer of horror/fantasy for the general market (Christians included,) I couldn't be more honored.

That being said, Shelly Ring is posting an ongoing interview with me on her Christian Fiction Examiner site. Do keep in mind that while anything Christian Fiction oriented is usually representative of what CBA and ECPA produce, I still do not belong to either of these affiliations. The work they produce is designed to appeal only to a very specific market of Christians and I write for the general market.

But I do "loves" having a LOT of their fans.

Thanks Shelly!!

Here's da link!

Also my work is still not actually Christian Speculative Fiction. That's just where many of my readers place it. It's general market Young Adult/horror/fantasy for the most part. You don't get short-listed for a Bram Stoker Award writing for a specific market of Christians. LOL

Little known facts about the Christian publishing industry.

These are things I've learned along my journey. Since my blog seems to be visited mainly by aspiring authors and Christian ones at that, I thought I'd share in hopes of being helpful. In other words, if you want to hear about my books, don't bore yourself reading this. ;)

1. The larger Christian bookstores used to be the Baptist Bookstores and only carry fiction produced by fee paying CBA and ECPA affiliated publishers. They will occasionally allow non-affiliated published authors in when that author has made a monetary impact in the general Christian market. Very few books have achieved this status. C. S. Lewis is one and William P. Young is another. CBA was created in 1950 to serve a very conservative evangelical market excluding all other religious preferences and has only lately started looking at opening their doors to let affiliated authors write about other religions, usually in light of being a conservative evangelical though, for example Amish fiction written from a conservative evangelical world view or vampire fiction which isn't that at all since neither CBA or ECPA (a group of CBA affiliated publishers formed in the 70's) believe their core market readers want to read about vampires of lore or anything "demonic."

2. These larger Christian bookstores do not distinguish their market from the the general Christian market which is confusing or rather misleading IMO.

Click here to see who they view their market as:
http://www.usask.ca/relst/jrpc/art6-xianfiction.html There's a more understandable definition at cba.org.

3. Ingram purchased CBA's distributor Spring Arbor from them yet having your work accepted by Spring Arbor doesn't get you into larger Christian bookstores. However it did make it possible for CBA and ECPA affiliated publishers to flood general market bookstores with their highly targeted fiction. The merge upset many CBA and ECPA publishers because, according to blogs, they didn't feel Ingram understood their very targeted market. Many affiliated publishers threatened and did drop Spring Arbor as their distributor but seeing how things didn't really change all that much, they eventually came back, realizing that even if Spring Arbor was approving non-affiliated Christian work it didn't affect them. Larger Christian bookstore, both on-line and otherwise, still exclude and only place affiliated work.

4. Any blog tour, blogs, award etc . . . representing "the best in Christian Fiction" is generally only indicative of the best in CBA/ECPA Christian fiction.

6. General market publishing houses are just fine publishing stories written by authors who are Christians and do it all day long. However there seem to be many authors who write too "churchy" for a general market publisher and too "edgy" for CBA/ECPA publishers to touch.

7. Many affiliated published authors don't seem to think their publishers' affiliation has any bearing on them as an author. Sue Dent contends guilty by affiliation. Deal with it.

8. There are quite a few affiliated houses that do not advertise they are that. Here are a few major CBA or ECPA affiliated houses some operating as imprints of larger general market houses: Thomas Nelson, Waterbrook/Multnomah, Harvest House, Bethany House, Steeple Hill, Zondervan. For a more comprehensive list you can go to cba.org

I may add more as I experience them. ;)

Aspiring author question.

I always enjoy being asked questions about my journey thus far and I'm always surprised as well. It's not like I've made any kind of an impact. Good grief. Set your goals higher! LOL Anyway, here's the question with identifying information left out.

Dear Ms. Dent,

I have a completed Christian speculative fiction novel, "{name of book}" which I am sending out to agents - could I ask the name of yours, and if s/he is accepting unsolicited queries?

Thanks so much!
{Seminary Professor}


My first suggestion would be to hire a professional editor to have the MS edited. This is what your competition will be doing. And prospective publishers (small traditional houses as you won't get the attention of a large house not even with an agent should you manage to snag one of those)will greatly appreciate the fact that you cared enough to put a little money (make sure editor's quotes are competitive)into your venture. Plus they'll actually look at you should they be interested in the genre or story you've submitted. Rejections will simply be based on whether they're taking new work at the time. I'm speaking from experience here.

You can ask for the name of my agent but you already know it. It's Sue Dent. You can look for an agent if you like, but you'll just be adding to the rejection letters you get and time you'll waste. And agents aren't even publishers.

Also you might call your work something other than Christian Speculative Fiction. This isn't a genre recognized by publishers and there isn't really an audience for stories labeled as such. My work has been called Christian Speculative Fiction but I never called it that. If I had, I'd never have been published unless I self-published that is.

Don't fall into the trap of looking for CBA affiliated Christian agents either, or rather agents who will only show your work to CBA houses. Sadly it's hard to tell them apart from the other agents out there who gladly take work written by Christians and actually call themselves Christian agents as well. Affiliated houses won't even look at your MS if it's called Christian Speculative Fiction. I contacted several Christian agents not understanding that the CBA publishers they submitted to ran from this genre like the plague, when it seemed most of my readers were from the "Christian" market and I was told by every one of them that none of the publishers they submitted to would look at my work.

When I suggested to one of the largest "Christian" agents out there that I felt CBA publishers would take a look at my MS, he still refused to represent me. His words of encouragement were, "what do I know? I turned down Dekker." On a side note, Dekker's work isn't Christian Speculative Fiction either. Like I said, the genre is new and not really a genre at all. It doesn't make sense to call your work this if you're trying to get a publisher to look at you. Dekker wrote very safe CBA oriented work initially. After all, he was and is published by an affiliated house . . . well except for his latest book. That was published under another non-affiliated imprint that to date hasn't published anyone but affiliated publishers. Sort of a non-affiliated, affiliated imprint. I know, right?

For those of you who don't know who Ted Dekker is, perhaps because you don't care anything about the CBA market, he's one of their bigger named authors. Like many affiliated authors his work now shows up in general market bookstores even though the association his publisher belongs to doesn't allow non-affiliated work into their stores without extremely heavy scrutiny if at all. His work is still completely CBA friendly though CBA seems to be content to let him step outside their boundaries every now and again. I suppose so he can pull over potential customers. Who knows?

Bottom line, even if you think your work fits the criteria for Christian Speculative Fiction, don't present it as such to a publisher. General Market publishers (yes I mean non-affiliated Christian houses too) will drop you faster than a hot potato if they pick your query up at all. And CBA affiliated Christian agents and publishers will reject you even faster. There are smaller publishers accepting work called Christian Speculative Fiction but they are few and far between and most are ex-CBA affiliated publishers or editors who still only know how to write for a very closed and exclusive market and well, they know how to work that market.

Good luck though. I wish you well. ;)