Amazon hearlds their lending/stealing library.

This is a blurb from Amazon! You'll see it when you log in today. It reads:

"In November we introduced our newest Prime benefit, the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library, where Kindle owners can borrow and read thousands of books for free, with no due dates. The library has grown to over 50,000 titles and includes more than 100 current and former New York Times Bestsellers such as the Hunger Games trilogy, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and Moneyball. It also features Kindle Direct Publishing top-selling authors like J.A. Konrath, C.J. Lyons, and Julie Ortolon. We've also worked hard to make Kindle devices affordable, and they start at just $79 for Kindle and $199 for Kindle Fire.

Small publishers are dropping like flies due to this stealing library. Amazon uses the guise of a "lending" library to get around asking the "kindle" publisher whether they want this to happen or not. They claim they do ask but the bottom line is if you don't allow them to "steal" your e-book, you don't get to publish. The window of opportunity to opt out is short and most "kindle" authors don't even know about it until their fate is set.

Worse than that, why are e-books lent out in the first place? Most only cost NINETY-NINE CENTS!!! Oh yes, I suppose reading an e-book for free is WAAAAAYYY better. Most every publisher I know offers at least a free first, and sometimes even second chapter preview. Plenty of time for a reader to decide whether they want to "break the bank" and support an author's hard work. Amazon is trying to sell Kindles. They're doing it at the publishers expense in a desperate attempt to avoid the inevitable, the absolute and complete death of proprietary e-books and e-book readers. This is why I won't publish a kindle on Amazon EVER! You may find Kindle versions of my book at http://www.blackbedsheet.goshopper.net

Once again history repeats itself. IBM was the first out of the gate to attempt to keep the competition at bay with their propitiatory software and personal computers. Look where we are today. If you're a publisher or an author, you'd be wise to stay away from allowing Amazon to steal your work for their own benefit. Just saying! Barnes & Noble too but apparently their lending/stealing library is too complicated for customers to care about.

A "Kindle" Author interview that disses Amazon's Kindles?

So I queried David Wisehart about doing a "Kindle Author" interview with authors who sell their e-books through their publisher and not through Amazon and he said, "sure!" So here it is! Thanks agazillion David Wisehart. You are da man!

So here's a link to:

A most unlikely Kindle Author Interview

The truth will set you free and hopefully it will allow small published authors and self-published authors actually make the money that is rightfully theirs. At least those of us who are attempting to make a living with our God given talent as opposed to giving it away for free.

Electric Angel NOT available as an Amazon Kindle!

Electric Angel is NOT available as a Kindle on Amazon. Therefore it's NOT free and you can't LEND it out to friends without the "true" publishers permission so that the "friend" can read it and NOT buy it afterwords (because who would after they've read it.)



Distributors shouldn't be able to take liberties with e-books that only a publisher should have. Purchase a Kindle of Electric Angel at Black Bed Sheet Books



Once again I must reiterate that my publisher actually does publish many books on Amazon's Kindle but respects the hell out of my decision NOT to and for that I respect the hell out of him. ;)

Kindle Author Interview? Can this be?

There's this nifty little blog hosted by David Wiseman where Mr. Wiseman interviews and features Kindle authors. Well, I thought it was a particularly attractive blog and asked Mr. Wiseman if he ever considered interviewing authors who had a Kindle book but not through Amazon and if so, could said author be interviewed. He responded with, "yes. Lets!"



So I got the questions today and turned them in today! At some point here in the very near future you will see an interview with me about Never Ceese, the Black Bed Sheet "KINDLE" Edition available only through Black Bed Sheet Books and possibly some other venues my publisher may choose but not through Amazon (because I choose not to. Yeah. My publisher's cool like that.)



Wow! Now that's cool! In the interview I explain why I personally don't use Amazon to publish my books in Kindle format as well as the advantages of not doing so. I'll let you know when the interview is up otherwise you can just keep checking David Wiseman's Kindle Authors blog! ;)

Signed copies of Electric Angel available!

I have officially ordered author copies of Electric Angel. I do not get a ginormous discount. There is no special I can offer you other than offering to sign your copy. Please place how you want the books signed in the comment section when you order through paypal or use the email there to send me a note to tell me how you'd like it signed.

I do not have the books in hand yet. It will probably be a week or so before I do. If you're eager you may go to Black Bed Sheet Books and order it as a non-amazon kindle or non-B&N Nook or any other ebook format. However, this is the only way to get one signed by me presently. And hot off the press. SO WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!!!

This is for my US fans only and shipping as been worked into the cost which is

$14.98

two dollars more than retail. Sorry, but even at that price I'll still eat some shipping. Here's your link and happy ordering. ;)

Electric Angel NOW available!!!

***This just in: One customer, when ordering, had to use Internet Explorer as the WONDERFUL Google Chrome couldn't cut it. So if you're having problems ordering, ditch the Chrome if that's what you're using. ;) ***

In case you miss it when you order an e-book, this is how it works at Black Bed Sheet Books:

THE WAY IT WORKS:

Make a selection and proceed through your shopping cart purchase. We will process your order and send your purchase as an attachment to your email address within 2 business days, but most likely sooner, like within 24 hours, but we say 2 days in case of emergency.

All ebooks available on this site, no matter what format, costs five U.S. dollars plus twenty-five American cents, or cheaper, ladies and gentlemen, or what equals that amount in foreign currency.

This is front and center on the E-book ordering page. This information does not print out on the receipt you get. In an age where instant gratification is usually key to securing a sale, I felt it was important to point this out. The check out program Black Bed Sheet Book uses doesn't presently support instant download capability but will very soon. If you think BBS should get a better check out program then buy their books so they can pay for one. For the record the receipt may very well boast the same message shortly. Again, thanks for being patient as we iron out the kinks.

On sale starting today for a VERY limited time at Black Bed Sheet Books!

ONLY $10.00

It will be available for sale anywhere books are sold but NONE of those sites or stores will be able to give you this kind of deal!!! And NO, you won't see it on the shelf of any large bookstore because I refuse to shoot myself in the head with my own gun by making my books returnable which is the only way one gets into large bookstores.

They can order my books so that's all you need to know. Folks, small publishers do not see the books that large bookstores order, and then return because they can,and are therefore out the print cost of the book and the shipping cost for the book which they never see again. I WILL NOT subscribe to such lunacy just to say my book is in a large bookstore. Get over it!!!

For all my good Christian readers, the ones who favor work put out by targeted denominational publishers like Thomas Nelson, Zondervan etc . . . Electric Angel will also be available through Spring Arbor. That means large Christian Bookstores CAN order it but like large general market bookstores won't put it on the shelf.

Best bet, go to Black Bed Sheet Books to place your order. And here's a nice perk. Electric Angel is also available in Kindle format, Nook Format, Microsoft Reader Format WITH additional pictures added from the photo shoot with Jim Sorfleet of sNs-photo.net of Ron Fitzgerald the cover model. For an additional amount I will even sign the e-book copy of your choice.

No the Kindle won't be through Amazon and the Nook won't be through Barnes & Noble. Why would I do that when they give away an authors e-book for free. Don't think that's gonna be happening.

Here's a link to the page at Black Bed Sheet Books where you can purchase a Kindle or Nook or whatever! :D (Thanks Caprice!)

But yes, I put a LOT of time, effort and money into each MS, including paying for a high-quality professional edit with reviews from past work to prove that it's worth it. So I ain't gonna say it again. Go buy the darn thing! ;D

** Please be patient as we're still working out a few kinks we didn't know about in the ordering process. You can now order an e-book WITHOUT having to choose a shipping method. LOL It is charging tax though but I believe this will be fixed shortly. Also a message will be added, once you purchase the e-book to state that the file will be sent to you within 24-48 hours after purchase. It does say this on the Black Bed Sheet site but one can easily miss this so the message will be added to the receipt you recieve. Thanks so much for all y'all's patience!! Especially you Caprice. ;)***

Take that Barnes & Noble!

So I learn, after working my tail off to make my e-book available through Smashwords and into their Premium catalog, that once you're in the catalog B&N will list your Smashwords e-book as a Nook AND without asking will put your book in their wonderful "lending" aka "stealing" library. That's right. If Smashwords knows about this they put it in real small print because I never saw this. I'd never give an on-line store the right to "lend/steal/giveaway" an EBOOK for 14 days to see if someone wants to buy it just so they can sell more of their stupid readers. WHAT A RACKET and a joke!!!! So HA! My ebook is now out of Smashwords and I feel soooooooooooooooo much better. ;)

Want Never Ceese the ebook? Go to www.blackbedsheet.goshopper.net and order it in either Kindle or Nook very soon. But not through Amazon or Barnes & Noble because they're keen on giving things away for free . . . without permission. Funny how they get away with it too.

Just to show you how screwed up it all is.

I found this on the Smashwords site after my book was approved for premium distribution. What a bunch of bull. Here's what it said:

NOTE: Per the rules of the International ISBN agency, you CANNOT use the same ISBN for your print book as you do for your ebook. Bowker and the Int'l ISBN agency say each ebook format should have it's own unique ISBN, so if you previously attached an ISBN to your PDF or Kindle version, you should assign a new one to your EPUB version here. If our retail partners or Bowker (the U.S. ISBN registrar) report back to Smashwords that you have supplied us an already-issued ISBN associated with a different book, your book may be pulled from the Premium Catalog. If you supply us your own ISBN, it is your responsibility to register this ISBN with your country's ISBN registrar.

There's nothing accurate about this. Not one thing. All it stands to do is confuse anyone new to publishing. It doesn't matter one bit what Bowker wants. NOT ONE BIT! Amazon doesn't require a ISBN for any kindle you do through them and in fact could care less if you use one. They assign their own funky number and it ain't no ISBN. Bowker doesn't touch them because it doesn't matter. Smashwords will give you a free one but then says it doesn't mean anything. So why worry with it? Each e-book format should not and does not need a separate ISBN. It's the same damn book. Just thought I drop that out there.

Just when I thought Smashwords was definitely the way to go.

While Smashwords is better than other ebook distributors for reasons mentioned before and so I won't repeat myself here, I found this today whilst looking over information they provide.

Refunds: If you see a line item listed as "refund to buyer," it means that the customer's credit card company reversed the charge, or the customer was refunded for some other reason deemed reasonable by Smashwords.

Epic Fail!

So it seems every distributor thinks they have the right to determine for themselves whether "your" book should be returned. They should only have this right if you tell them they can have it. This is never stated anywhere on Smashwords. These are ebooks. There is no reasonable reason for a return. At least 20% of the book can be previewed before purchase. And even at that, the distributor shouldn't be the one deciding whether the reason is good enough. Even at that, most ebooks cost less than $5.00

GIVE ME A BREAK!!!!!!!!!!!

Come on Smashwords! Break the mold! EGADS!

Boycott {insert publisher of choice}

A new trend? It does seem to be the case. But I've found, at least so far, that the publishers being singled out by their authors don't operate much differently than all the other traditional presses out there.

They're attempting to play the game as set up by the money controlling "big dog" publishers without considering that doing so means certain death. The publishing industry rules only work for the larger publishers. Small presses need a completely different set of rules to survive.

So do I agree with boycotting small traditional houses? Not really (and I've been with two who went under due to believing they could actually operate under the rules set in place by large publishers.) And boycotting large houses is futile because they control the industry and are far tooooo big to be touched by our rock throwing. Readers aren't being affected by authors being "screwed" so life will go on.

And just in case you think I don't have a dog in the hunt, there are over 4000 hard-back copies of Never Ceese out there that I'll never see a penny from. Not one cent will come to me . . . ever. Gotta love that. ;)

Sue's Virtual Book Signing makes Gothic.Net Front Page news!

And here's the page where you can read all about it!



And if you're in the are do not miss this event being thrown in honor of Gothic.net's new design. ;)

Never Ceese approved for premiere status on Smashwords.

Wow! What does that mean?

Well let's just explore that shall we. ;)

What that means is the content and the layout of the PDF uploaded to Smashwords to go through "their" meat grinder meets all "their" criteria to be approved for premium status which means Black Bed Sheet Books (in this instance) is officially a part of "their" distribution included but not limited to having Never Ceese (or any other approved PDF) show up in Nook format on Barnes & Noble on-line WITHOUT having to go through B&N (the bullies that they are.)

So far Smashwords hasn't been able to woo Amazon into letting them list smashword kindles on Amazon. GO FIGURE!! I'm sure it's because Amazon won't have control of those kindles and can't give them away like they want to. Also if Smashwords PDF's converted to kindle shows up on Amazon well then they'd be considered for the New York Times best selling e-book list without being associated with Amazon except they'd be listed on Amazon. But since B&N is already allowing this to happen I'm sure Amazon will eventually cave. But as far as the New York Times best sellers list for ebooks go, listing smashwords kindle won't really help small pubbed authors get on it. NYT only hits the more "popular" and large on-line booksellers who are controlled by, you guessed it, large publishers.

So whoop-di-doo!

Do keep in mind you only get the signed and personalized DRM free PDF completely convertible into any format from www.neverceese.com and soon Black Bed Sheet Books as well.

Oh and if you want it for your Ipad or Ipad 2 then don't sweat it. To the best of my knowledge PDF's can be read on the Ipad's and so can kindles and nooks and every other dang format. So what in the world is the big deal about large publishers making their work so only theirs is available in a "specific" format that sells in the Ipad store. Good grief!

But yes, if you one day see Never Ceese available for the Nook reader on B&N just keep in mind I didn't sell out. It's on there through Smashwords. I'm not beholding to B&N though just laughing at B&N and Amazon for thinking they could run the world!!!

Cleaning house on FB once more.

I know, right? And to think Social Media has become such a tool that it's important to qualify actions you take on your account. It's true though. I've many FaceBook friends and fans and sometimes I invite authors because we're all in this together.

A recent housecleaning had me getting rid of all those authors that wrote for targeted Christian publishers who, though claiming to write fiction that appeals to all Christian readers (something no one can actually do,) only write fiction for a very strict denominational segment excluding and rejecting ALL authors who submit MS's believing these publishers are something they truly aren't.

The next batch will be those authors who sell Kindle's on Amazon. I sell Kindle versions of my book (actually a DRM free PDF that the customer can convert to Kindle for free from any of the sites designed for this) but I don't sell a specific version for Amazon to steal from me. They take liberties with e-books that a distributor shouldn't be allowed to take. I've no time for that.

Actually it doesn't hurt to have author friends who publish their ebooks with Amazon as a Kindle but it hurts my heart to see Amazon promoted as the site to sell e-books. I suppose I'll keep a few of these authors has friends because they were friends first but the others have to go.

Sorry but the publishing industry has to change and while I can't change it all by my lonesome, I can choose not to see the postings of others who can't see the forest from the trees.

New York Times Best Sellers List for E-BOOKS???

Sure. Why not? And it seems some self-pubbed authors are making the list.

Oh my!

Should we be impressed?

Well, I don't know about impressed. It did make me want to go explore however. And so I did.
It should be common knowledge by now that the New York Times Best Selling print book list is determined by the number of books a publisher sells to bookstores. It should also be common knowledge that large publishers regularly ship tons of new releases to their large bookstores to ensure their numbers stay up, something small press and self-pubbed authors can't do. One, because they can't afford to play the big bookstores game of making books returnable and two, large bookstores won't order their books in large quantities. That's a deal they have with large publishers only.

Therefore the New York Times Best Sellers list for print books reflects which large publisher unloaded more books to their bookstores than say, the other large publishers that month. The number is not based on actual purchases of the books. There's no way to accurately track that.

Now lets look at how they're judging (or not judging) sales of ebooks. Here's what it says on the bottom of the list if you look:

E-book rankings reflect sales from leading online vendors of e-books in a variety of popular e-reader formats.

You don't say. Leading on-line vendors. Hmm . . . who would that be I wonder. Amazon, Barnes & Noble, the very few on-line sites that cater to and are associated with large publishers. I noticed a few e-books on the list from authors who self-pubbed at Lulu. I thought, wow, they're considering books that Lulu sells. Then I decided that since all small press and self-pubbed authors end up on Amazon, whether they like it or not, that this is where the ranking comes from.

"Big deal," you say. "It still made the list."

You have a point there but the point is lost with me as I'll not list my ebooks on Amazon or Barnes & Noble because they still don't embrace small press or self-pubbed authors and never have. Well, to be fair, Amazon makes an attempt but usually succumbs to the barking big dog publishers when it comes down to it. Also both Amazon and Barnes & Noble take liberties with the e-books they list such as offering returns? or giving them away for free in an effort to sell their e-reader?

Therefore my ebooks will never show up on the New York Times ebook best seller's list even if I sell a million copies at my virtual book signing on March 20th. And neither will thousands of other authors who choose to distribute their work through sites that aren't considered "leading online vendors" and who don't take liberties with the work that they are only supposed to be distributing. EGADS!

And so it continues!!

So nope. For right now, I'm not impressed that a self-pubbed author makes the NYT best-sellers ebook lists but you can be impressed if you want to be.

Not your usual LAME Virtual Book Signing!

That's right. There have been a few others ATTEMPTING to do a BRICK & MORTAR book signing and broadcasting it live via whatever platform providing the guest with a signed electronic CARD or label they can PASTE into their PRINT book should that be what they order.

My Virtual Book Singing will be the first ever and probably only one of its kind for quite a while where you receive, shortly after the signing, your very own personally signed DRM Free PDF to be converted into whatever format is your preference via one of many sites out there that allow this.

The up side, I don't have to go near a large "bully" book store and YOU get an ebook signed to YOU or to whoever you'd like it signed to with a personalized message. Just wanted to clarify that. No other author or publisher has offered this to date.

Here's the link once more in case you need it. ;D

Hope to see you there!

Oh Let's do dicuss Random House shall we!

Alternante-Title: How many times do we have to watch large publishers go down this road?

New article out and hot of the press. What are large publishers doing now besides running around blindly as they hit wall after wall after wall. Well here ya go! A nice article on Random House's goings on.

Again just a link to support my discussion about parts of it. ;)

Random House, one of the largest book publishers in the world, has finally joined its peers in coming on board to Apple's digital e-book platform, the last of the major publishers to do so.

Oh boy! Small publishers of the world rejoice as one. The large publishers who could care less about your existence and step on you at every turn have now ALL decided on a way to hopefully keep you locked out of the market.

Random House books do appear on the Kindle and Nook stores . . .

No! Really? Of course they showed up on Kinde and Nook stores. The Nook is Barnes & Nobles ereader format. Barnes & Noble is a chain bookstore set up to distribute books published by large publishers. DUH! And Amazon . . . well, they're just Amazon and for Random House another safe haven because the books are DRM encrypted (which really means very little if you know anything about anything.)

Apple has tweaked its guidelines and enforcement for apps like Kindle and Nook, which means it may soon not be possible to buy e-books on an iPad from any place other than the official iBooks outlet. . .

What? What? What?

Oh YEAH!!!! Another distributor attempting to corner the market by making something digital impossible to buy from anyone but them. *Sue chanting* "Go Apple, it's your birthday . . . go Apple . . .!"

I'm so glad all the large publishers know what they're doing. Aren't y'all? All I can say about this particular news is that, well, the APPLE doesn't fall far from the tree! HA!

Did you really think large publishers weren't going to band together to try and form some sort of alliance. They did it during the depression to survive with Simon and Schuster going out on that proverbial limb to extend that insane return policy to keep their bookstores from going under. All the other publishers of the day had to follow suit or go under.

Just keep this in mind. When it says large publishers have all joined together to do something, it doesn't mean they all agree. It simply means they don't trust each other. They're all in heated competition and each one is so influential that if something works for one of them the others are sure to fail if they don't go along with it.

This should all be very interesting to watch. *Sue sits back with her bucket of popcorn.* Very interesting indeed.

Big publishers trying to weasel their way in?

With technology making e-books more than just a novelty, it's only a matter of time before larger publishers try to find a way to make the kind of profits off them that they did on print books. Seems they've already started and it also seems that they're relying heavily on reader's ignorance.

Why should an e-book from a larger publisher sell for almost the exact same price as a print book?

No matter what is said, there's absolutely no reason for this kind of pricing. The cost to produce e-books is next to nothing, there are no warehousing issues or none of the other things that drove the price of a print book up.

Well . . . there is one thing that might drive the price of a large publisher's e-book up since they choose to only use Amazon's Kindle or B&N's Nook to publish. That would be the cost of paying for the ENCRYPTION to keep these books from being read on anything BUT the exclusive readers purchased from either Amazon or B&N. Adobe works with B&N to secure their Nook books. I'm sure Adobe charges enough for that. And I'll bet it isn't cheap for Amazon to keep up to date with their encryption.

But why encrypt anyway?

I know I've said a lot about SmashWords lately but here's why. Their books are DRM free! What's that mean? It means the Kindle book they produce can be read on a Kindle reader WITHOUT the publisher of the book having to deal with a company like Amazon who attempts to act like the publisher and distributor by forcing things such as their "lending library" on their publishers. Then of course there's the allowing 7 days for an e-book to be returned. As I've said before, return of any item should be the publisher's choice, not one made by the distributor. Barnes & Noble's Nook also allows for returns I'm sure since B&N doesn't know any other way to operate.

SmashWord's books are DRM free!

I suppose they could be called the Napster of e-books. Oh and no, you won't see the large publishers going to SmashWords for e-book distribution. They aren't interested in anything but taking the most money they can from the reader. Well . . . they might if folks stopped buying Kindle's from Amazon or Nook books from B&N. But we all know that ain't gonna happen. In fact, the "big dog" publishers are counting on it!!!

Quite frankly I think it's time for a revolution. I'm just saying.

from your .doc and the Nook they produce can be read on ANY o only specific e-book readers can read them is simply a way to knock all other publish

Oh I am so in love with Smashwords right now!

And if you're an author, you should be in love with Smashwords too! Want to know why? Of course you do! With e-books quickly gaining ground over print books, an inevitable move all things considered, I began looking for the best way to get mine out there. Of course because Amazon was so LOUD with their Kindle program I went there first. But as e-book distributors go, their program really sucks.

The kindle lending library is a fine example of that too. It's not exactly publisher friendly when the distributor can force a publisher into doing something they should have a choice over. The only choice the publisher has in this case is to un-publish their Kindle e-book and move on to another distributor.

Another fine example of an e-book distributors lameness is when they allow e-books to be returned. I actually didn't look to see what Smashwords policy was on this until after the fact. I therefore went to their FAQ section with one eye closed not exactly sure I wanted to see what I might find. This is where the love affair starts. This question and it's answer should make every publisher grin and smile from ear to ear and SHOULD have them racing right over to Smashwords for the simple fact that Smashwords is doing everything right. So here ya go. Read it and weep Amazon and all you other e-book distributors who THINK you know how to do things. From Smashwords FAQ:

Are books returnable if I don't like them?

No. All sales are final. This is why most authors allow you to sample much of their book for free so you can try before you buy.

Oh my gorsh!!!!! Let's read that again shall we?

Are books returnable if I don't like them?

No. All sales are final. This is why most authors allow you to sample much of their book for free so you can try before you buy.

I love you smashwords, more than words can say. Thank-you for not giving our work away. Thank-you soooooooo much!!!!

E-books are no different than music or software. If you're with an e-book distributor that allows refunds and takes that power away from you the publisher, then you need to find another distributor. IMO

Kindle version of Never Ceese!

What's that you say? Never Ceese is now available in the infamous KINDLE format? Has Sue Dent lost her mind?

That's right folks, Never Ceese is now available in KINDLE format and not through Amazon!!! Simply go to this link here. Say it once, say it twice, say it three times.:

SmashwordsSmashwordsSmashwords

and purchase Never Ceese in a variety of e-book formats including but not limited to Kindle. Straight from the publisher, Black Bed Sheet Books via Smashwords.

The jokes on you too Amazon, as you won't be giving this Kindle away for FREE via your little "Lending Library" scheme that you force Kindle publishers to participate in just so Amazon can sell more Kindle e-readers.

So off you go people with Kindles and every other e-reader device. The future is here and so are the e-books.

Christian Small Publisher Book of the Year Award

Below is a fine example of what everyone should know about anything labeled "Christian" when it comes to publishing.

Nothing can be grander for an author than to learn their work appeals to an audience they never knew existed. At the same time nothing could be more disconcerting than to be collectively ignored by each and every publisher and media outlet that serve that audience.

Even the awards for books written for this specific audience are geared to "weed out" undesirables or rather those authors who dare to write outside CBA's restrictive guidelines that target a denomination instead of embracing the fact that we all serve the same God.

Yes, like many awards labeled "Christian" I considered entering this one (why wouldn't I? I are one.) I went straight to eligibility and found this:

Books must be Christian in nature, promote the Christian faith, and intended for the Christian marketplace. The Christian marketplace is defined as the marketplace that is served by CBA member retail stores

Wow! They even went a step further to define "Christian market place." Even took it one more step further to say that CBA, an exclusive trade organization (because member publishers and bookstores have to pay fees to belong) actually serves a specific audience of Christians and not all Christian readers.

For those who are new to my blog, I'll briefly lay out my experiences with attempting to gain marketability in the "Christian Marketplace." I was told that all I needed to do was have my books approved by Ingram's Spring Arbor. I did that. Keep in mind, I don't write for CBA's audience. Didn't even know what a CBA was until their audience started raving about my books. The next thing I learned was that Spring Arbor approval isn't what it's cracked up to be. Large Christian Bookstores do not order books based on Spring Arbor approval. They only order books from publishers who serve their "target" audience.

In the past they only ordered books from CBA affiliated publishers but have moved a tiny minuscule nudge to allow books from non-affiliated "targeted" publishers. I've since had my books "unapproved" by Spring Arbor.

The conclusion is that based on the eligibility rules, the winner will be the same old same old. Tacking the label "Christian" on simply marks it as "targeted" work which is fine if that's what you enjoy reading. Just don't think it represents titles that appeal to general market readers, Christian or otherwise.

Aw, you probably didn't anyway. Most folks already know. ;D