Into the Fire

If you could change five things (or less) in CBA publishing, what would they (it) be? (Unabridged and unedited.)

From Author, Publicist, Reviewer, Dee Stewart:

I would take the State out of CBA:

There is a reason Separation of Church and State exists. For those who are not familiar with the History of Protestantism in America or American Colonial History this country frowned upon religosity running government and government running our religious institutions. However, particularly in CBA, we have forgotten that.

Negating Christians who don't share the same political views is a bad move for CBA. It's divisive. Not all Christians are very conservative Republicans. CBA has lost value with Progressive Christians(a large book buying readership btw) who want to buy Christian products, but don't want to debate politics in order to do it.

Moreover, there is little to none titles written to satisfy this group of readers. They do exist.

2. I would define why CBA is better than ABA.

Although I write for an ABA publisher and provide marketing support to ABA publishers and music labels, I still believe that CBA is the best industry. It is the only industry where people who share the same faith run this industry from the executive level to the sales clerk. However, CBA does a horrid job defining why they are different and better than ABA sellers. They also need to do a better job distributing their brand's messages. They need to do a better job at crisis management, customer relations management, and brand messaging distribution. They also need to live their brand message…They need to operate Christ-like, which brings me to #3.

3. I would do a better job at multicultural diversity in CBA. They need to reconsider their current sales model of catering only to one ethnic enclave in this country. It makes no fiscal sense to not shelve African-American authored titles in cities with a heavy African American Christian readership like Atlanta, GA, Houston, TX, Charlotte, NC, and Washington, DC. Also not including African American authors in current sales literature at chains like LifeWay, Parable and Family is a poor reflection on the state of race in Christianity. This fact imbrues CBA with shame, which works hard against the brand message and thus, CBAs bottom line.

I would contract with more ethnically diverse editors, agents, public relations consultants on how to effectively market to that readership.

I would editors regardless of their race. It's hard for me to believe that not one publishing house has an editor of color on staff by now.

4. CBA stores need to change their design

Currently these stores are designed as book showcase rooms. They do not invite a reader to read, to fellowship with other readers. It's too crowded to move, hang around long enough to buy more. CBA stores run this risk of being display tables for readers, who will ultimately return home and buy the book at discount at Walmart, Sams or online. This fact has already destroyed many mom & pop bookstores.

5. I would change pricing and distribution terms.

CBA needs to work out better terms with their distributors or change distributors. To remain competitive the pricing of these books need to come down.

More CBA publishers need to consider another pricing model for ebooks or they will price themselves out of the market within the next 5 years. If I were CBA, I would design an e-reader devoted to Christian readers with advanced ebook apps that add biblical reference to Christian fiction titles, which would bring a richer CE value to those titles. I would contract with an ebook publisher that can distribute the book in various formats not just DRM.

From Author (Anonymous):

My personal pet peeves as an author:

Publishers, if you want to put out ABC types of fiction, why not stop posting on your web sites that you want XYZ sorts of submissions? Almost every time I've subbed to one of the big publishers, it's been a "no-thanks" because, "Oh, we want historical fiction, just not THIS kind." Or they don't want that country. Or this era. Or this sub-sub-subplot. Please. If you want something specific, tell us the truth. Let's not waste each other's time.

Publishers, also please do NOT expect us to become marketing experts. Hire competent marketing/publicity staff. Let us write the books. We'll come alongside if we're told what's expected of us, but do NOT expect us to reinvent ourselves into something we're not. You don't expect book submissions from the publicity team, do you?

One more suggestion — let's ALL stop using "CBA" as a nickname for the whole Christian fiction reading/writing world. It isn't anymore, if indeed it ever was.

To be continued . . .