Sunday, December 8, 2013

Is Christian Publishing Forgetting Christ?

Dear Mr. Christian Publisher:

When I hung out my shingle as a literary agent, I had a crucial decision to make: Did I want to work in the “Christian” market, or the “general” (non-religious) market, or both? The future of my career could very well hinge on this important choice.

Certainly I began my publishing career with a religious book, released by a “Christian” house in 2006. I didn’t even bother pitching it to Dutton or Doubleday, because it clearly wasn’t in their wheelhouse. The good news is that we live in a big world of many options, which has a place for everyone and every genre.


So, which side did I choose? After much deliberation and soliciting advice from those who had gone before, I decided to go for “all of the above.” Of course this choice meant that I had a steeper hill to climb, more editors to meet and schmooze, and more guidelines to read. More conventions, more newsletters, more personnel changes to track. But I welcomed the challenge.
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Two and a-half years in, I find myself asking, do we really need a separate and distinct “Christian” industry?  Is it a good thing that the believers in this business often live in a walled society apart from everyone else? Does it truly honor God? After all, we’ve been given the Great Commission to preach the Good News to all creation; how can we ever hope to achieve this mission (or even pretend to believe in it), if we only mingle among the converted? We profess to follow a Messiah who touched the unclean, forgave the worst sinners, dined with heretics, and dared to strike up a conversation with a foreign woman.
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...And yet, many of us truly believe that it makes us more pure and faithful followers if we don't follow his example. We strategically avoid the unclean and the sinner and the tax collector, opting instead to hang with the pious posse at church. Does this mean that we're better than Jesus? A missionary without a mission, should get honest with himself and dispense with the pretense. A ship in a harbor is safe, but that’s not what ships are for.
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Early in my career when I signed my first publishing contract, I found it odd that the deal required me to agree to the publisher's "Statement of Faith." Upon closer examination, the "Statement" was so broad and general as to be almost meaningless. But I've since learned that the practice is far more common than I ever imagined (both among publishers and agencies), even for novelists with non-religious books.
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But does this practice truly honor God? I don't know. When you attach an economic benefit to a test of orthodoxy, you can never be sure. You're only asking to be lied to, by a desperate author who wants a deal at all costs. In fourth-century Rome, when the emperor embraced the Christian faith for the first time, church attendance surged. Baptisms multiplied. Membership rolls bloated with unrepentant unbelievers who recognized the social and business advantages of being in with the "in" crowd. Periodic persecutions had a way of flushing them out.
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It seems to this observer that if I sent you a theological treatise, then the content of the book should tell you where I stand. If you think it's a pile of heretical hooey, then you can send me the standard "no thank you" without explaining why (which is your normal practice anyway). But if you're reviewing a non-religious mystery novel (which you do by the thousands), does it really matter what I believe about tongues, or tithing, or the Trinity? My reader (your buyer) certainly won't care; she only wants to find out whodunit.
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Just last week, I received a case of books in the mail. It was a new release from one of my clients, a romance that we sold to a Christian publisher. It was beautiful, from the cover art to the interior layout to the back-cover blurb and endorsements. Everything went as planned, and I was so proud to have had a part in the process. I donated a copy to our local public library, where I serve on the Board of Trustees.
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…And on my way home from the Board meeting last night, I passed by our local bookstore and a thought haunted me: If our precious newborn was stocked in this store, where would they put it? I dropped in to ask. There is no simple single answer to this question, because the variables are many. But as often as not, it would be consigned to the “Inspirational fiction” section where 80% of all book buyers will never tread. It won't necessarily matter that the book is NOT religious, nor preachy, nor judgmental. But then again, it bears the imprint of a “religious” publisher; so it goes to a dark corner of the store next to the Bibles, where it will never get the exposure it deserves. Sad, really.
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Sometimes when I attend general-market conferences, my reputation precedes me. The assembled authors have already pegged me as the "Christian" agent, even though such books represent only a small portion of the the titles in my (publicly known!) portfolio. They look at me sideways, as if I was some strange mutant that can't possibly handle their mystery or romance or history book. Strange.
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Talk to your average American book editor or movie producer, and he will tell you that he and his colleagues continually strive for realism and authenticity in their stories. Which (generally) means sex, violence, and foul language. Fine. It's a free country. But when I approach a general-market publisher, they reject out of hand any book that contains the smallest amount of spiritual content. "Go find a religious publisher," they tell me. But why should I? About 95% of Americans profess belief in God, and among that number most will tell you that they attend church or pray or read a religious text in the course of an average week. Why can't they recognize these themes as realistic and authentic as well?
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In the course of my lifetime, I have known hundreds of people who I refer to as "Cloistered Christians." That is, they worship with a Christian congregation, they send their children to a Christian school, and listen only to Christian music. If they watch television at all, it's the weekly broadcast of the famous Pastor Handsome Pants. They socialize only within a narrowly-defined circle of like-minded believers with a tested orthodoxy. They would never think of joining a monastery, yet live their entire lives within a sheltered bubble that has no room for, well, sinners and tax collectors. But what good is that? Where's your ministry? Could it be that your church (or your company) is little more than a religious social club?
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Don’t get me wrong: I love my job, and I’m not going to give it up anytime soon. But sometimes It seems as if the “Christian” industry gets in its own way with a self-defeating business model that stifles evangelism and marginalizes its own.

I hope you'll give this some thought.

Respectfully,


Steve 

3 comments:

  1. Steve, I am on the illustration end of publishing and have seen this also. I am very conflicted when going into Christian bookstores, labeling things Christian, etc....part of lights great effect is that it needs to be placed in the darkness. We must engage, not isolate...may God give us Grace and courage to do so.. Thanks for the post!

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  2. I agree with you on so many levels that I couldn't begin to know where to start. Thank you for this post, Steve! It's a dilemma I currently face as I begin the submission process. My proposed novel and series are certainly Judeo-Christian in content, but too edgy for the CBD market. Yet I fear the general market would consider it too religious. So it's a real quandary.

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  3. Sixty years ago there was no need for "Christian Publishers" because most people in America were, at least superficially, Christians. (I doubt that there were many more real Christians than there are now.) When times get tough more people turn to religion, but now that includes all sorts of religions.

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