Book Review: Writing to a Post-Christian World

There are a lot of views around what is or is not 'Christian fiction'. The only consistent definition is that Christian fiction 'promotes a Christian world view'. If you have ever wondered exactly what that statement means, Ann Tatlock answers the question in this book.

I have to admit that I find Ann Tatlock's fiction a bit hard going. She doesn't do frothy romance or spine-chilling thrillers or romantic suspense that is a combination of the two. She writes fiction that makes you think - think about God, yourself and how the two relate. She brings this same style into the non-fiction realm, but I find it easier to deal with here, because this is what I am expecting. And this book is certainly worth reading.

Despite the long title, Writing to a Post-Christian World: Top Ways to Battle Revisionism, Relativism and the Muddled Thinking of Postmodernism with the Written Word is not a long book. It explains both what postmodernism is and why it is vital that Christian authors should not follow the literary trend towards postmodernism.

What is postmodernism? What does it mean that we’re living in a postmodern culture? In simplest terms, it means we no longer believe in absolutes. There’s no such thing as absolute truth. Everything is relative…In postmodern literature, the author isn’t saying anything. More accurately, the author can’t say anything… You, the reader, have to decide what the text is saying to you.

Based on this book I would say that if you are a Christian, your writing should proclaim a Christian world view whether you are writing for the Christian (CBA) market or the general (ABA) market. If it does not, then you are deceiving your readers and possibly yourself.  C S Lewis credits Phantastes by George MaDonald as opening his eyes to the possibility of holiness. American atheist William Murray credits Taylor Caldwell and her Dear and Glorious Physician. Fiction can change lives, so never be ashamed of writing it. You have no idea what seed you may be sowing, watering or reaping.

A must-read for Christian authors, and currently only USD 2.99 on Kindle.
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Marketing Basics Part 2: Subsidy and Self Publishing

Subsidy Publishing

Subsidy publishing is also referred to as vanity publishing. Under this model, you pay all the costs of publication (including marketing), but the publisher may pay you a ‘royalty’ – but it would be unusual if you actually managed to earn back the amount you invested. Subsidy publishers should be approached with caution, as they frequently feature at well-known blogs such as Writer Beware and Predators and Editors (or just Google 'Publish America Scam', and think about the possibly apocryphal story that Publish America accepted a compilation of shopping lists for publication, despite claiming that their Acquisitions Editors will "determine whether or not your work has what it takes to be a PublishAmerica book").

If you choose to publish through a subsidy publisher, they will determine the price of your book, and will arrange for your book to be listed on the major online stores (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords), and in industry catalogues. But the responsibility for promotion will remain with the person who has the most vested in the success of the book – you, the author.

Self-publishing

Those who choose to self-publish will be responsible for everything. You will either have to do it yourself, or pay (or bribe or beg) someone else to do it for you. This involves a lot of decisions, and you would be wise to get advice from someone who has been through the process before (and recently – things can change very quickly, particularly when it comes to e-books).

In terms of the product, you will be responsible for decisions around whether to publish a paperback, an e-book or both, and for arranging external editing and/or proofreading, then formatting, preparing cover graphics and the back cover blurb, and getting an ISBN number, either yourself or with external assistance. You will need to arrange the e-book conversion, printing and distribution.

You will then need to consider Place: where you are going to sell (online or through shops), Price, and then get on with the hard work of building your platform and promoting your book at the same time as trying to manage your personal life and write your next book.  This can be a lot of work, but the rewards can be huge.

So, over the next few weeks, I will be looking at the basics of marketing books so that you understand just what it entails, and can begin to work towards your aim.

Marketing Basics Part 1: Trade Publishing

I imagine that anyone who has ever done a course in marketing will have heard of The Four P’s that form the basis of marketing strategies – Product, Price, Promotion and Place. But how does that apply to publishing? This series will look at what you need to know about the Four P’s and what you can do to successfully market your book.

But before we get into the Four P’s, we need to look at the different ways to get published, because the publishing route you choose will dictate how much input you have into the marketing process. There are three main ways of getting your book published: trade publishing, subsidy publishing and self-publishing.

Trade Publishing

Trade Publishing is the accepted term for the traditional royalty-paying publisher (also referred to as a legacy publisher). You may receive an advance (particularly for second and subsequent books), and you will be paid a defined amount for each copy of the book sold. Actual terms will be outlined in a detailed contract, and for your own protection, you should have this reviewed by a professional before signing.

The Big Six publishers (Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin, Random House and Simon & Schuster, along with all their associated imprints) will almost always only accept manuscripts from a recognised literary agent. Unsolicited submissions are likely to be returned unread (or, worse, trashed unacknowledged and unread).

There are many small press publishers that still accept direct author submissions, particularly in Australia and New Zealand. However, while they do accept unagented submissions, they may well request that all manuscripts have been professionally edited prior to submission.

These small presses are a lot more likely to work with the author to develop the product, such as having a say in choosing the title of the book and the cover artwork (which means that your novel with a dark-haired heroine is less likely to appear with a blonde bombshell on the cover). However, they will not have the same level of marketing support, or the in-store brand recognition of Zondervan or other major Christian imprints.

If you receive a contract from a trade publisher, they will make the decisions around product, price and place (and you might even find yourself disagreeing with those decisions). The author will be expected to contribute to the promotion of the book, through a combination of organised promotional efforts, and through leveraging their own contacts. They are unlikely to publish a hardcover edition of a novel, but will almost certainly publish both a paperback and an e-book version.

My next post will look at Subsidy Publishing and Self-publishing.

Who Are The Big Six Publishers?

You will often see references to the 'Big Six' in discussions about publishing. Who are the Big Six, and why are they important?  The Big Six are important because they control around 90% of the books published in the United States, and (through their international imprints) a huge proportion of all publishing worldwide. They are:

• Hachette;
• HarperCollins;
• Macmillan;
• Penguin;
• Random House and
• Simon & Schuster

As The Writers Workshop points out, they are all subsidiaries of much larger media corporations, and each publish books under dozens of imprints. Several major Christian publishing houses are actually Big Six subsidiaries.

Within the US, the major Christian publishers participate in the annual Christy Awards. They are:
Abingdon Press

Barbour Publishing

Baker Publishing Group (which publishes under the names Bethany House Publishers and Revell Publishing)

Broadman & Holman Publishers

Credo House Publishers

David C. Cook

Deward Publishing Company

Hatchette Book Group USA (an imprint of Hatchette, one of the Big Six)

Harvest House Publishers

Howard Books (an imprint of Simon & Schuster, one of the Big Six)

Journey Forth, a division of BJU Press 

Kregel Publications

Marcher Lord Press

Micah House Media

Moody Publishers

New Hope Publishers

Penguin Group USA (a Big Six publisher)

Pecan Row Press

Sophia Institute

Summerside Press

Tate Publishing & Enterprises (subsidy publishing)

Thomas Nelson (an imprint of HarperCollins, a Big Six publisher). Thomas Nelson also have a subsidy publishing imprint, WestBow Press.

Tyndale House

WaterbrookMultnomah Publishing Group (an imprint of Random House, one of the Big Six)

Whitaker House

Winepress Group

Zondervan (an imprint of HarperCollins, a Big Six publisher)

Harlequin Mills & Boon do not participate in the Christy Awards, but publish over 100 Christian romance novels each year through their Love Inspired, Love Inspired Historical, Love Inspired Suspense and Steeple Hill Women's Fiction lines. They have also recently taken over the HeartQuest imprint, which will add another four genre romances per month.

Faithwords, the inspirational imprint of Big Six publisher Hachette, is also not a Christy Awards participant. Hachette publish several big-name Christian non-fiction authors such as Joyce Meyer and Joel Osteen, as well as the world’s most famous Latter Day Saint author, Stephenie Meyer. Faithwords also provide distribution services for titles published by Windblown Media, a little-known company founded to publish The Shack.

This is not to say that Christian books are only published by American companies. There are a number of specialist Australasian Christian publishers, including:

Acorn Press

Ark House Press

Even Before Publishing

HSM (Heart Soul Mind)

Hyaline House

Matthias Media

Salt and Light Publishing

Many of these smaller publishers are also members of the Christian Small Publishers Association, a

network of over 100 small Christian publishers in the US and internationally.

Ask an Agent

Sorry to anyone who thought I was talking about the ultimate agent, secret agent James Bond, but actually I meant another type of agent. Chip MacGregor, a well-known Christian literary agent, has recently been running an ‘Ask an Agent’ feature on his blog. Each week he answers two or three questions from the intelligent and insightful to the… umm… not so intelligent. The whole series has been very informative.

For those of who missed it, here are the links with the questions in each post:

Ask an Agent Part 1: 

How long does it take an agent to respond to a submission they requested?

Is it wrong to send submissions to several agents at once?

Why hasn’t the agent responded to my submission?

Ask an Agent Part 2: 

Is it normal for an agent to charge an up-front fee?

Is it true that the best place to contact an agent is to attend a conference?

Do I mention that a publisher has requested my manuscript when I query an agent?

Ask an Agent Part 3:

When is the best time to approach an agent?

Do agents want to see part of my non-fiction book or the whole book?

Do I tell agents/publishers about my writing for e-zines and web sites?

Ask an Agent Part 4:

What do you think of writing contests?

What do I do if my agent only represents non-fiction and I also want to write fiction?

Do I have to copyright my manuscript before I submit it?

How do I Get an Agent?

Do I need an agent?

When should I get an agent?

Ask an Agent Part 5: 

When is it appropriate to enquire about the status of a submission?

Is there a rule about using the word ‘bestseller’ in their promotional materials?

How much should I spend on my website?

Does a Beginning Writer Need an Agent? 

How will I know I need an agent?

What should an agent do for me?

What is the best way to find an agent?

Ask an Agent Part 6: 

I have a contract but no agent – should I get one?

Should I worry that the agent turned me down but referred me to his editorial service?

Is this legal?

There is some great advice in these posts (and also a couple of laughs).

What question would you want to ask a literary agent?

What is Christian Fiction?

Believe it or not, there is no clear definition of what is (or what is not) Christian Fiction.


However, there are fairly clear definitions of what consitutes Christian Publishing. The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) is an international organization of companies that are involved in the publishing and distribution of Christian content worldwide.

Content published by ECPA members must be consistent with their Statement of Faith, which is essentially the same as the Statement of Faith of the National Association of Evangelicals. 

The Statement of Faith of the Association is as follows:

I. We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God.
II. We believe there is only one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
III. We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His personal return in power and glory.
IV. We believe that for the salvation of the lost and sinful, regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential.
V. We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life.
VI. We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; they that are saved unto the resurrection of life and they that are lost unto the resurrection of damnation.
VII. We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Further information is available at the ECPA website.  Other relevant industry organisations are the Christian Small Publishers Association, a network of over 100 small Christian publishers in the US and internationally, and the CBA (formerly the Christian Booksellers Association), the trade association for approximately 1,700 US Christian retail outlets.