Into the Fire

              http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/au_contraire

Over the years here you've read my commentary and disagreements with some of the ritualistic conduct of Christian publishing. Professional writing/publishing blogs have presented their guidelines for prospective writers/authors, citing key phrases such as "We're always looking for fresh voices" while continuing to publish exactly the same type of literature previously presented for several years.

More and more I'm hearing dissension in the opinions of authors who've gone the traditional route in publishing but are now resorting to self/custom/e-publishing because they're not getting satisfaction from their customary publishers. Good authors are being dropped. Marketing has become a do-it-yourself requirement for authors. So the question becomes: Why not do it all myself and skip the middleman (i.e. the publisher)? If they can take their audience with them into their private publishing efforts, they tend to make a lot more money if they can maintain sales.

The decision by many Christian fiction publishers to pull back from taking risks, since the economy has truly tanked for the last five years, has minimized and narrowed their demographic of readers, further alienating some who were looking for a Christian worldview in their meaningful and less rigid fiction choices.

The "acceptable" selections in some bookstores have reduced the volume of customers, many preferring to shop the broader menu from Amazon. CBA (Christian Booksellers Association) and secular bookstores have closed their doors in the last few years because whatever their business practices were could not support the overhead of staying open.

With that in mind one might consider a revolution of sorts should be taking place for bookstores, but, instead the "traditional" Christian market seemed to withdraw attempts to maximize their market share by taking few chances and relying on their predictable and staid demographic for support. The only fiction offered which seemed to show some adventurous and exciting progress has been from the thriller/mystery genres where the restrictions seem far less severe or extreme compared to the romance genre which remains "clean and chaste" with formulaic and predictable characters and outcomes.

So my third blog post using the "au contraire" title keeps my "on the contrary" opinion going regarding Christian fiction while maintaining my French theme for the week.

Father, you are my counsel. You are my director. You are my correction and my deliverer. Help me to always have ears to hear and the heart to obey. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.