Who’s Buying What We’re Selling?

I don’t know if you remembered a post back in November — November 1, 2010, to be exact — titled, I know… I know… I KNOW!!!

In that post, I told you about a very kind nun who contacted a Catholic publisher on our behalf, and asked their Head of Acquisitions to review our material. 

I told you how extremely excited we were about this, because we were on our way to being published… but then Katherine — with her level-headedness — brought up a good point. 

Katherine was afraid that if we were picked up by a Christian publisher, we would limit our appeal to a greater audience.  Our overarching goal with Silhouette of a Friendship…From the Inside Out — and all our books — is to reach a general audience that includes people of all kinds, regardless of religious affiliation (or lack thereof).  We had to acknowledge that a Catholic publisher’s niche may restrict our reach and work against our personal mission, which is to reach as many people as possible.

So, I’ve been trying to stay away from clearly Christian publishers.

As you are well aware by now, I do not like this phase of the job — finding and contacting publishers — but it is a job that must be done.  I’ve been avoiding it like the plague, but now I have to get back to it.

Last week, I found a publisher that we haven’t contacted yet, but one who would accept unsolicited manuscripts.  Eureka!!

This combination was all I needed to shoot off a letter and proposal to Oxford, England.

This afternoon, Katherine tells me that that publisher emailed her asking for sample chapters. 

This was the first publisher who actually contacted us and asked to see more — and within a week’s time!!! All the way from England!!!

And, wouldn’t you know it?!  This publisher is the largest independent publisher of books inspired by the Christian faith and its values in the UK.

So, we’re back to where we were in November.  Christian publishers are interested in our materials, but the secular publishers are not — even though character building issues are universal and shouldn’t only be taken up by religious-based groups.

Katherine is disheartened that Christian publishers are biting on this topic and secular publishers aren't.

So, the question begs to be asked.  Why aren’t they?

Why aren’t good character, values, ethics, and integrity seen as worthy subjects to secular publishers?  Why isn’t promoting values worth their time and attention?

The only answer I can come up with is that promoting good character doesn’t promote the publishers’ bottom line.  Values, ethics, relationship building, and integrity do not sell as many books…


Remember when we first started this journey?  We were informed that, in these hard economic times, publishers are not picking up new authors because they want assurance that their efforts will produce profits for them.  As first-time authors, we have no wide media access, no history, no literary following, no marketable credentials, and no funds.  We are no-bodies to the world of publishing.

Add to all of that, we are writing books that support and focus on good character, relationships, values, ethics, and integrity — stuff that secular publishers may think do not sell to the general public — and we’re really do have HUGE hurdles before us…

But, the way we see it, they are only hurdles and not unscalable walls.

We’re betting that these publishers are wrong.  We’re betting that you do value relationships, good character, ethics, and integrity as much as we do.




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