Things that disturb me.

Since I'll be in the Dayton Ohio area for "Lockdown at Bellbrook" I decided to see what "Independent" bookstores I could find in the area since Barnes & Noble won't let any less-than-large publisher in to do an event anymore, not even on consignment.

I found the St. Mark Bookstore and decided to check it out since it sounded Catholic and not "Christian" or rather "evangelical" or rather what would have been a Baptist Bookstore back in the day.

It sounded like a really neat store but I had to flinch at the wording on their Mission Declaration page. It reads:

St. Mark Bookshop, Inc. is an ecumenical Christian bookshop dedicated to presenting the best of all publishers and manufacturers of Christian and Roman Catholic books, media and religious gift items. We serve all of our customers with courtesy, honesty, efficiency and expediency.

An ecumenical Christian bookshop with ecumenical meaning, the aim of unity among all Christian churches throughout the world. The part that disturbs me greatly is this. The store acknowledges a desire to be an ecumenical Christian bookshop. And their dedication is to present the best of all publishers and manufacturers of Christian and Roman Catholic Books?

Are Roman Catholics not Christian? And you can't use the label Christian anymore in publishing without it marking only "one" group of publishers who write targeted fiction for a very discriminating Christian audience.

Hard to be ecumenical if these are the only publishers a bookstore pulls stock from.

No publisher as ever labeled themselves a Christian publisher except those who provide "targeted" fiction to one denominational audience. The proof is in the pudding. Catholics do indeed fall under the broad label Christian yet those publishers don't call their work Christian fiction or Christian non-fiction. They mark it as Roman Catholic or Catholic.

So yes, I remain disturbed by this.

Is the average Joe disturbed by this? Probably not but if you're an author trying to compete in this market, you should be.

Exposé on the Christian Publishing Industry

Addendum: You will have to scroll waaaaaay down once you click on the link to find my article but it is there. :) Other good stuff too so don't forget to check it out.

I can't believe I haven't posted to this sooner. I was approached by Kelly Mortimer of the newly formed Christian Media Association to write an article for her first newsletter (at least I think it was her first newsletter) and I happily took her up on her offer. If you don't know who Kelly is and you're an author or publisher, you should definitely get to know her. You can read this entire newsletter to learn more. Here's a teaser to how my article starts and then you can click on the passage to go to the newsletter to read more. It's everything I've learned so far but do keep in mind, I'm still learning. :)

Exposé on the Christian Publishing Industry – Everything You Wanted to Know, But Were Afraid to Ask.

By Sue Dent


. . . With CBA and ECPA defining the Christian Publishing Industry, and meeting no resistance, it is no surprise that absolutely everything in Christian publishing, called “Christian,” is associated with these two fee-requiring affiliations. . .

Keep in mind, with the way publishing is here in the US, the so called Christian publishing industry isn't necessarily about looking down on smaller published, self-published or unknown authors, it's more of a discriminatory nature. If you read my article, upon scrolling down a bit, you'll see this. So on top of the usual battle of getting noticed because you're a new author, if you find your work appealing to this audience, you also have the unwinnable battle of never being able to get to this industry's readers unless you have a fee-paying affiliated publisher with strict requirements regarding how you should write to appeal to their audience -- even if you're already appealing to them. Yeah. I think I said that right.

Discount for my Christian readers.

Since I just learned today that the larger Christian Bookstores will only order my book if a customer asks for it and then only have it shipped to that customers address making the customer pay shipping, I decided to take a stand.

My stand would be to tell you to please not order Never Ceese the paperback or Forever Richard through any of the larger Christian Booksellers. Save yourself a bundle by ordering on-line through any other venue. There are a host of true Christian websites selling both books at a very reasonable cost and of course, all general market booksellers.

Also, should on-line sales continue as they are going, and larger Christian Booksellers decide it might be worth the money to carry my book after all, please continue to buy my books anywhere else. There are sooooo many smaller Christian brick and mortar stores carrying fiction books to appeal to all Christians and not just a very narrow market. Support these stores if you prefer to keep your money supporting Christian businesses.

Just don't want any of my readers to get burned and if some are buying through the larger Christian booksellers, they are in fact not getting a good deal at all.

7-31-09 Changed Hearts Christian Bookstore

Yes, I have a local Christian Bookstore right up the street here in Jackson, Mississippi but you'll have to go to Changed Hearts Creations in Lucedale, Mississippi to find me signing. A true Christian Bookstore serving all Christian faiths.

Though both my books have been deemed socially acceptable for the Christian Market and therefore distributable by Spring Arbor, none of the larger Christian Bookstores will carry it. They can only order it for you and send it to your house and you will have to pay shipping. How nice! So please don't frequent these stores if you're not looking for narrowly targeted and usually quite overt fiction specific to the very conservative audience that visit the larger Christian Bookstores.

Come instead to venues like Changed Hearts who can and will carry books like mine (books that appeal to a wide variety of Christian readers, including general market readers) all day long without question. My paperback version of Never Ceese will be available along with Forever Richard of course. So unless something changes, here's the "deets":

Changed Hearts Christian Bookstore
Lucedale, Mississippi
11:00 until whenever y'all get sick of me. :)

BTW, my local Lifeway can't even offer me a local signing because Michael Robbins, their bookbuyer, sees no reason to add a book already approved by Spring Arbor to LIfeway's system because I guess he just doesn't want to take the time to look at it and approve it himself for their stores. Who knows.

*In case you didn't know it, all the larger Christian Bookstores only carry fiction specific to a very narrow market. They just don't say it.*

So see you guys in Lucedale. I'll be off to the beach next. Follow me down and we'll have a grand time. :)