The Fellowship Cafe

So, is that something I should be targeting, or keep going the route of finding an agent? Maybe that's just the classification my novel falls into if I get published?

Just popping in to say hello! Haven't been on the board lately, haven't even had much writing time lately.

And hey, to any veterans who may be on be online, thank you!

CBA is a term that (for me) has outlived its usefulness. There are many, many Christian publishers that don't belong to the association, and to call the C-fic market "CBA" now seems disingenuous to me. As though they were all a vast amorphous bunch, with little or no variation in the types of stories they'll accept.

Therefore I gave up using the term as a synonym for C-fic. Thank heaven there are houses that will take stories a little out of the box, or I never would've sold a thing. I still may never sell to an actual CBA house. Who can say?

Okay, I hear the call!

Most major C-fic houses currently accept submissions only (1) from agents; or (2) after a face-to-face pitch session at a conference. I know of two large houses that accepted unagented, and one of them is Harlequin's Love Inspired lines. The other (Barbour) I believe just recently went agented-only. Besides, these are both exclusively romance houses, which limits things still more.

Smaller presses do accept unagented queries. Some of the ones that come to mind are: OakTara, Desert Breeze, Sheaf House, WhiteFire Press, Port Yonder Press, DeWard, Whitaker House, Treble Heart Books (at certain times of the year--check their website), possibly Kregel and Marcher Lord, plus some of the denominational niche presses may.

Of course they all have preferences. I know OakTara accepts romance, while Port Yonder prefers it as a minor subplot. THB is known to be very slow at both communication and the contract-to-release timeframe. Desert Breeze is an e-press who's branching out into print for some of the better-selling writers. This house also loves Christian spec fic and gets very little of it submitted -- they're looking for more subs.

About the others, other folks with experience will have to weigh in, as I know very little.

That. Yes. I believe if I understand Jeff correctly, he's willing to look at spec fic with a romantic subplot, but the spec fic aspect would have to be the strongest element in the book.

Sorry for leaving that vital fact out.

In news from Casa Chaos, the unwilling rewrite is going very, very well indeed. PEACEWEAVER in its new incarnation is now only 50 pages from "the end." So I'm not unhappy with my productivity today! Even the yard work was a pleasure 'cause I could think about what to tweak next, while raking leaves.

How goes everyone else's writing life?

Currently working my way through the synopsis, then I'll take my beta comments and do a final rewrite. After that, it's time to see if agents are interested.

Of course, work completely took over my life this week, so everything got put off by a week or more. This novel will sell millions the first print, and I'll be able to quit my job and write professionally, right?

Shattered Innocence Shards of Glass is finally ready for betas. I put a post up in the beta forum but no takers there so far. Thankfully I already have one beta. (Thanks, Dave!) While waiting for his critique, I will be working on my query. And it will probably get shredded in QLH.

I'm working with my agent on final edits for Pitfall before she starts sending it out.

Now that I'm finally putting the CBA in my rearview mirror and heading into the general market, I can't say I'm not a bit nervous; exploring new territory will do that to a person.

But truth? I think this is gonna be fun!

Greetings all. This is my first time on this thread. I have yet to wade through all 24 pages but what I have has been educational.
Miss Lily I hope I missed something when I checked out their web site.

callalily61 said:

The only thing I can add is that Marcher Lord focuses on spec fic.

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According to it they have quit taking submissions or are at least 12 to 18 months out. It would be fantastic to find out this is not generally true. My book(s) is C-spec fiction and it may be right up their ally. But to be honest, it may be too edgy by that I mean it probably should carry at least a PG-17 rating. Graphic violence, strong sexual over tones most of the time combined. Bad guys are very bad. Good guys aren’t always saints. God also shows up, not in overt ways yet, but the story would not work without Him. I am afraid I have written a story that no one will touch.

writingismypassion said:

Shattered Innocence Shards of Glass is finally ready for betas. I put a post up in the beta forum but no takers there so far. Thankfully I already have one beta. (Thanks, Dave!) While waiting for his critique, I will be working on my query. And it will probably get shredded in QLH.

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You're welcome, Charity!

Hey, if Charity agrees to beta something of yours at some point, take her up on it. She gave me great comments. I'm just hoping I can be as helpful to her on her ms.

And, Charity, let me know when the query hits QLH. I'd like to give that a read also.

Welcome DMac! From what little I've learned, and that's very little, I don't think the Christian market will take strong sex and violence, but again I'm very unexperienced when it comes to this. I may be wrong, but it sounds like you'll have to go with the mainstream market for that.

Dave, I will definitely let you know. Thanks!

@DMac, hello. Hopefully you'll find a home for your story, but if not you may have to tone it down. Hoping for the best for ya.

Hi Everyone!

I'm a Christian romance novelist and I write historical and romantic suspense. Great topics on this thread. I look forward to celebrating everyone's success!

Hi, Victoria.

Victoria, welcome! Tell a little about what you're working on, why not -- we all seem to be dumping on sharing with each other.

As far as Marcher Lord -- I don't know specifically what Jeff will take in terms of graphic violence, but in the bigger C-fic market, there's a higher tolerance for violence than sex. Read almost anything by Kristin Heitzman -- I bailed on her when she showed a teenager being murdered "on screen." I'm told Brandilynn Collins writes suspense with lots of violence in it, though I've never read anything of hers (not my thing). But have your characters (even married ones) get too close to the boudoir, and you're crossing a line.

Why is it that we have so huge a tolerance for violence and so persnickety a view of God-created male-female interaction?

Thanks for the welcome!

Instead of doing NaNoWriMo, I'm doing my own version of NaNoEdMo on a historical for a submission. I've been working steady and have 29k left to revise/edit.

I've just submitted my draft of Serial Games, my first book to be published by Desert Breeze, to the editors and am waiting on their edits.

Next month, I'll revise a romsuspense and will sub that one out.

I've been trolling this forum for a bit but just signed up to actually post comments.

Welcome Miss Victoria.

Deb Kinnard said:

I don't know specifically what Jeff will take in terms of graphic violence, but in the bigger C-fic market, there's a higher tolerance for violence than sex. But have your characters (even married ones) get too close to the boudoir, and you're crossing a line.

Why is it that we have so huge a tolerance for violence and so persnickety a view of God-created male-female interaction?

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My book is a post apocalyps - pre rapture spec fiction. Think Christian Road Warrier. Or more like The Postman. Bedrooms are a luxery. No, all sexual content is committed by bad guys and girls as acts of violence. Once I get past the 50 post issue I will put up sections and if you folks arnt too busy then you could take a look and see if I have have a chance or should I just continue to write these for myself. Which is why I started writting them in the first place.

Hi DMac!

I don't think I can create a post yet, but I was wondering if anyone has had any dealings with Whitaker House. I just submitted some material that was requested at a writer's conference and wanted to get an idea on wait times and just personal experiences.

Thank you!

I did and other than them being listed as a publisher, I didn't see any threads for them. I'll check again tomorrow. Thank you.