Beware of Purported “Trends” in Christian Publishing

Every time I read an article from Publisher’s Weekly about trends in Christian publishing, especially fiction, I find myself stifling a sarcastic laugh.

First of all, I don’t have that many articles to choose from, because PW appears to publish just one article on Christian fiction trends per year, in May. (My comments concern last year’s article; this year, in May, they had an article about a “Fiction Readers Summit” held by Baker Book House, rather than a review of the market.) This once-a-year market review seems a bit odd to me, considering that Christian books make up about a third of the total book  industry. (Disclaimer here: that statistic may be a bit old, but if you change that from “Christian” to “religious” books, I’m sure it’s still valid.)

But the infrequency of the market review is not what gets me chuckling; it’s some of the “trends” that PW reported last year, such as “Amish [romance] fiction remains popular.” Really? In my contacts with acquisition editors, there doesn’t seem to be interest in more titles in this genre, though well-known, established authors of Amish fiction still seem to be cranking out new titles. The conventional wisdom is that the Amish craze peaked a long time ago, and acquisition editors generally follow conventional wisdom, because it’s usually right.

PW also made a big deal about Christian romance fiction in general, yet my reading of the market indicates that, while still a viable subcategory, romance no longer dominates Christian fiction in the way it did years ago—but you sure wouldn’t know it from this article. There was some discussion of the popularity of other genres, suh as Christian suspense and adventure, including political thrillers, but I was surprised that there was little mention of speculative fiction, a genre that appeared to be growing last year (though it may now be on the wane now, for all I know).

Of course, I’m probably being a little too hard on Publishers Weekly, considering that their article on trends was looking at what had been published by May of 2017. The trends they were identifying appeared to be based on looking back at 2016. Still, their comments seemed more dated than that. Oddly enough, at the end of the story they announced some titles that were scheduled to come out in the spring of 2018. Why did they not look for genre trends in those upcoming titles?

It only highlights the problem a Christian author has when looking at trends—it’s something you don’t want to take too seriously. Not only is the information almost always dated (a published book may have been acquired up to two years previously), but it is pretty much irrelevant. In the publishing world, acquisition editors have the unenviable task of having to guess as to what topics and genres are going to be “hot” two years from now. Since they can’t read the future, they can only speculate—rolling the dice, you might say.

It’s a waste of time, therefore, for a Christian author to try to catch the wave of a new publishing trend; by the time you write the book, prepare a proposal, sell it to a publisher, and it gets out there in the market, the “trend” is going to be long gone. Even if you decide to write the book extremely quickly and self-publish, it’s bound to take six months or so — even more, if you you take into account the months it can take to publicize, promote and market the book. If you time it right, you just might catch the tail end of such a trend, if at all.

Do I dare to suggest that you ignore elusive “trends” and ask God what he would have you write about? Get your advice on trends from the only person who actually does know the future! It’s really the only sure way to stay ahead of the ever-changing Christian publishing market.

David E. Fessenden

Literary Agent, WordWise Media Services

Publisher and Proprietor, Honeycomb House Publishing LLC

Dave has degrees in journalism and theology, and over 30 years of experience in writing and editing. He has served in editorial management positions for Christian book publishers and was regional editor for the largest Protestant weekly newspaper in the country.

Dave has published seven books, written hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles, and edited numerous books. He is a frequent speaker at writers’ conferences. Two of his books, Writing the Christian Nonfiction Book: Concept to Contract and  A Christian Writer’s Guide to the Book Proposal, are based on his experience in Christian publishing. The Case of the Exploding Speakeasy, Dave’s first novel, reflects his love for history and for the Sherlock Holmes stories of Arthur Conan-Doyle.

Dave and his wife, Jacque, live in south-central Pennsylvania and have two adult sons.

Websites/Blogs:
www.fromconcepttocontract.com
www.davefessenden.com
www.thebookstore.info