So you want to write your novel and have it published in the USA CBA market. That may not be easy to do, but it is straightforward. You only have to remember that they outnumber us 15 to 1 to see that they have possibilities we don’t. It also means they have well worked out procedures which you need to follow.

The answer is very simple. Get your self a copy of The Christian Writers’ Market Guide by Sally E. Stuart. That comes from Harold Shaw Publishers, Wheaton Illinois. It seems to be readily available in Australian Christian bookshops. She told me this week that she’s just putting together the 2002 edition. ISSN 1080-3955 You can sometimes pick up an older version very cheaply, but things do change a lot in this area today.

Sally has other publications to help you in this endeavour. To get the most up to date list you should check out http://www.stuartmarket.com

The second most useful source is The Complete Guide to Writing & Selling the Christian Novel by Penelope J. Stokes, PhD. That comes from Writers’ Digest Books, 1998. You might even get a copy through the Australian Writers’ Digest Book Club (if it is still operating). ISBN 0 89879 810 8

If you want an overview of how this scene got to be what is it today, try Protestant Evangelical Literary Culture and Contemporary Society by Jan Blodgett. That comes from Greenwood Press, 1997. ISBN 0 313 30395 9

It should be available through interlibrary loan in NSW. It is an historical overview, starting from 1639. However, most of it is twentieth century. There is a good overview of the genres, a chronology and a book list. Overall, a more useful source than the name might suggest. You learn, for example, how Janet Oke got her start having her books sold by the party plan, just like Tupperware.

Currently there is a fair bit of discussion about this issue in the religious and book trade press in the USA. I’ll just give three recent examples.

Christian Fiction Gets Real http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2000/005/8.106.html

Novel Ideas http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/7ta/7ta006.html

The Good News on Fiction http://www.publishersweekly.com/index_articles/19991108_82485.asp

(Usual disclaimers about the existence or otherwise of those URLs)

If you write for the US CBA market, it will influence what and how you write. But that’s the subject for another day.

I want to bring my investigation of the writing and publishing of “christian” fiction to a conclusion. Then I’ll get on with my own writing, in spite of what I’ve learned.

If anything we are in a worse state now than we I started a couple of years ago. We’ve seen the closure of Albatross Books and the withdrawal of Openbook from many areas of publishing. Openbook is now embarking on the brave experiment of becoming an online bookshop, which means closing their physical branches outside Adelaide.

I was surprised to find that the term “christian fiction” is so thoroughly captured by the US CBA market. They seem to be a raging success, for example the Left Behind series. This, of course, spills over to the rest of the world. I’ve seen a fair bit of it and it has lead me to the conclusion that I’m writing something else. What’s in a name?

We are not going to reproduce that scene here, which is probably to the good. So the options are:

* get published by general publishers * get published by the US CBA publishers * get published by yourself

I don’t like the term “self publishing” because it is the work which gets published, not the self. There is no a lot of difference between most kinds of publishing, just that different people carry out similar tasks. It is just small publishing.

I’m not going to say anything to the general publisher option. There’s plenty of information on that already. You only have to go to your local Writers Centre to find that out.

I will post some brief pointers to being published in the US.

I will post some information about becoming a publisher and distributor for your own work.

I will post some thoughts on writing as an Australian and whether that has any meaning.

That should wrap it all up. This is an ongoing process and there is now a place where we can continue the discussion. An email list called Oz Christian Writers can be found at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ozchristwriters

Or you can subscribe directly via email by sending a message to

That’s where I’ll be continuing the discussions. You should think about joining us.

Ken Rolph Blacktown NSW Australia