Novelist Sue Dent on Christian Fiction

Never Ceese is fantasy/ horror written from a Christian worldview. What venue do most of your book sales come from?

Sales, as you know, has a lot to do with how you publish. I wanted the best opportunity to get into bookstores even though I knew my sales wouldn't come from bookstores initially. I was a debut novelist. Nobody knew me and no publisher that could make a difference in that area had any reason to believe I was any different from the other thousands of authors they see everyday. Still, I wanted my best chance to get into bookstores. No matter what anyone hears, an author's best chance to get into boosktores is by using a traditional publisher. True traditional publishers (not the ones who say they are but aren't) will have a relationship with a distributor who will have relationships with the bigger book wholesalers. The bigger booksellers, who won't look at you initially because you're a virtual unknown, work with the wholesalers as distribtors directly. This is expensive but they can afford it!

Oh, the question. My first publisher was with STL/ Faithworks in the beginning but STL is a CBA-affiliated distributor (Christian Booksellers Association) and wasn't doing a good job of getting any of her books in CBA affiliated stores. She dropped them and instead went with Baker & Taylor as a wholesaler. She never got another distributor! My best chance for getting into bookstores went right out the window (even at that, STL/ Faithworks basically only tried to get a publisher's books into CBA and ECPA affiliated bookstores.)

Fortunately, Never Ceese was short-listed for a Bram Stoker Award and then I began showing up on-line all over the place. I did as much as I could to get a web presence going and let then let book sell itself. It did quite well in this department.

Because my first publisher was with Baker & Taylor as a wholesaler her books showed up at all of the on-line venues and we were able to get into the B&N bookstores and a couple of other chains as well. But because she had no distributor except herself, egads! we had to do all the calling etc . . . and the sad truth was, she didn't really know how to market YA books and decided later that she'd rather just concentrate on her children's line. Sales would not come from a bookstore presence now. So I didn't concentrate on that. I concentrated on finding a new traditional publisher, a qualification my first publisher only met for a short while, long enough for me to sign a contract.

As far as sales from Christian bookstores, I thought this would be a given considering Christian readers were embracing my novel. Not gonna happen. A large percentage (and that would be most all) Christian bookstores, independent or otherwise have been led to believe that CBA and ECPA (Evangelical Christian Publishers Association) fiction are the types of book that ALL Christians want to read. They assume anything not published through ECPA needs to be judged and considered very carefully.

They do not understand that CBA and ECPA serve a niche market of conservative evangelicals. Because of this, they'll stock ANYTHING ECPA publishers put out but heavily scrutinize anything else put out for the general Christian market. A very sad sitiuation indeed. So sales would not come and will never come through Christian bookstores unless you consider the small Christian sections in bigger booksellers stores such as B&N a Christian bookstore, which I do!!!

Are you reluctant to call your book "horror" despite the traditional elements of vampires and werewolfs? Why or why not?

Yes I'm reluctant to call it horror. I asked W.D. Gagliani about this, an up and coming horror writer and member of the Horror Writers Association, when I asked him to review it. I told him not to bother if he decided it just wasn't "horror"ible enough for him. He quickly pointed out that there were many different levels to the horror genre and that not all readers were "gore" hounds. He had very nice things to say about the book and left a grand review. I'm not a "gore" hound fan of horror writing but may get a little "edgier" to try and grab that audience. I like a good challenge.

What kind of message can be given in Christian horror that cannot be provided in "Gentle Reads" or typical CBA market fiction?

So many messages! What better genre to show good and evil. And you can be real with it and gritty and that's what it takes to appeal to the broader Christian market. At least, that's what it looks like.

Tell us about the audience for whom you write. Never Ceese is listed as young adult, but do most of your readers fall into this category?

I wrote the story for everyone to enjoy, even those who don't read horror or vampire/ werewolf stories. I've had so many say they never read this kind of book but were impressed by how much they liked this one. My audience is so diverse I don't know how to classify it so I've stopped trying. I only listed it as YA because my editor told me it read like a YA.

When you've spoken to agents and publishers that deal with the ECPA houses and CBA niche market of Christian fiction, how do they respond to the idea of sci-fi/ fantasy/ horror in this niche market?

I only approached them about taking the my sequel since it was going over so well with their core readers. The reviews weren't enough to sway them to consider. Most wanted to see sales figures-from a debut novel, as if that were going to be impressive! They'd go onto say that their market wasn't ready for this. I brought to their attention that many of their readers said otherwise and that even their own editors were soliciting for this kind of work. They remained steadfast. We serve a conservative evangelical market. They're not ready for this. It was a very mind boggling experience. The only reason I went to these publishers is because they were saying they wanted this sort of thing. They felt the market was ready. I don't think they know what they want. If they do, they're not doing a very good job of showing it.

What is your take on the greater Christian fiction market? is it more open to reading books that are not considered "suitable" for the niche CBA stores market?

They're downright starving for this kind of work. They want real stories marketed toward ALL Christians not just conservative evangelicals. Real stories put out by two affiliations who get to decide what is real and what isn't. I didn't ask for readers of ECPA fantasy to take my work to heart, they did it on their own. And why not? I'm an author who is a Christian. CBA and ECPA are desperate to get "Christians" to come back and buy fiction and fantasy from Christian bookstores yet they only offer niche market work. No other Christian publisher can even get into a Christian bookstore in volumes that will make a difference. And with the ECPA putting books out as fast they do, that's not likely to change. You want more Christian readers to buy from Christian bookstores. Stock something other than niche market books and make the distinction. Don't throw them on the shelve with niche market books. It's not rocket science.

What is your take on the niche to which the ECPA houses market? Who is their market? why are they not wide open to fantasy/ sic-fi/ horror fiction?

ECPA houses serve a very conservative evangelical market. Their writing guidelines are extreme in this area. They know their market and they serve it well. They've said many times they're not open to fanasty/ Sci-Fi and especially horror but what they fail to understand is that because they use the label "Christian" to define the work they put out, others innocently think this means they serve the broader Christian market. Wake up people! CBA and ECPA do not and never have served the broader Christian market. They serve a very large niche market and are very successful at it. They have the money to prove it. They aren't going to change what they will and won't publish anytime soon. And for heaven's sake, why should they! It doesn't matter. There are plenty of other publishers (who don't necessarily attach the label Christian to their company name), who will publish and are publishing the kind of work ECPA doesn't want to publish.

Other projects.
Tell us about Forever Richard

I couldn't finish Never Ceese in a word count that any publisher would look at so I decided to leave room for a sequel. Guess what? I seem to have had the same issue with Forever Richard . . . and that's all I'm gonna say about that!

Tell us about the book you and Cynthia MacKinnon, your publisher, are writing about the Christian fiction industry.

There is way too much misinformation out there to make it easy for a Christian author to get published. The obstacles are enough without the added mess. We've decided to help straighten some of that mess out. I suppose if there is to be one underlying theme it would be that CBA and ECPA do not market to the general Christian market but serve a rather conservative niche market. We seem to find something new everyday. The book will be well worth the money. And honestly, I'd give it away to keep authors from going through what many have already gone through due to this misconception.

Thank you Sue. We all look forward to reading more about your upcoming books.