Blogger: Rachelle Gardner
I frequently receive questions from writers about whether their novel is a better fit for the Christian market (CBA) or the general market (ABA). The nature of their story, the language, and some of the content might be objectionable to the Christian market. Yet it’s too “Christian” of a story for the mainstream market.
Welcome to the world of CBA publishing. This is the tightrope that many Christian writers walk, especially writers who want to veer outside the sanitized topics that people feel comfortable discussing in church. Anybody who wants to write about the world as it is is faced with these decisions.
I worked with a client on a terrific suspense novel. The Christian message was strong but the violence was disturbing and there were scenes taking place in the sex trade. The faith aspects were too overt for the general market, but the sex & violence made it difficult for the Christian market.
In this case, I have to ask the author a question: What’s more important to you? Keeping the gritty reality of your story, or keeping the undisguised Christian message? The author wanted to convey his Christian message amidst the messy reality of the world. He didn’t want to hide his Christian worldview. He decided to slightly tone down the messy parts, just enough so that it didn’t completely scare editors away, and pitch it in CBA.
A Light Touch
Since I’m the agent, not an in-house editor, I edited just enough so that the content wouldn’t be an immediate dealbreaker for an acquiring editor. When the book is sold, the publishing house edits to their specifications, which varies from house to house.
And in case you’re wondering, my correspondence with any editor interested in acquiring the book would reveal how much they’re anticipating the book needs to be edited. So the author would be able to make an informed decision as to whether to accept an offer from a publisher.
If you are writing a Christian book that contains difficult elements to sell in CBA, you can choose to tone it down, or you can choose to tone down the Christian elements and pitch it in the general market. Or you can leave your book the way you’ve written it and self publish. The one thing that’s pointless and unhelpful is to spend too much time railing about this injustice. It’s just the way it is, even though many of us in the business have tried to change it.
Stay flexible.
Be aware that some changes may be required for publication, and don’t be married to every single word you’ve written. Understand that the editor’s intent is not to strip your book of it’s uniqueness or its heart, and definitely not to remove your voice. The goal is to make it the best book possible for the specific audience targeted. While edits are often painful, I’ve rarely come across an author who regretted them in the end.
Have you struggled with a book that seems to fall in between ABA and CBA?
Photo by Johannes Plenio on Unsplash
This post really hits home, Rachelle. My book was stuck in the gray area between the CBA and ABA until I finally realized there really wasn’t any middle ground between the two. I had to come to terms with the fact that the two are separate and distinct entities for very good reasons. If I am going to be an author of inspirational fiction, I am going to have to play by the “rules” of the publishers who serve the readers I am trying to reach. (I’m not gonna lie… the struggle continued after I arrived at this conclusion!) I have had to (tearfully) remove edgy scenes, buff-out scratchy, gritty scenes, and rewrite quite a bit of my WIP, but I have not had to water-down the inspirational aspect of my novel; and, for that, I am thankful.
Great article, Rachelle.
* It’s tempting to think that going ABA with a veiled Christian message is somehow better, more in line with ‘reaching the lost’, but I think this overlooks the fact that faith is a living thing, whose vitality and health is variable in most Christians.
* Too, most ‘gritty realism’ isn’t, because the people who write about it likely haven’t seen it, and those who have seen it would do anything before writing about it. It becomes a kind of gratuitous seasoning for titillation. And really, most people don’t need gritty realism, because it’s very far outside their experiences (yes, major exceptions exist). It may be interesting, but hardly useful
* Writing for CBA is a holy and very decent calling; it’s the provision of food in times of famine, and medicine when the fever runs high. You never know when YOUR words will save the faith of another.
As an example of ‘gritty realism ain’t real’, I’ll offer the opening pages of Tom Clancy’s ‘Teeth Of The Tiger’. (I really admired Mr. Clancy’s early books, and admire him as as a man who left a wonderful philanthropic legacy.)
* The book opens with the knife-killing of a spy in a Roman lav, and if it had been left kind of bare-bones like that it would have been fine. But the description went on and on, and it got a LOT of details very wrong. The problem was that in an effort to make it convincing, Mr. Clancy turned it sick-making and slightly ridiculous. And even though I had the flu and needed a brick of a book for distraction, I didn’t go a lot further before I was done. It started as it meant to go on; too bad.
* I realize that there’s something weird about saying, “Hey, he didn’t get the knifing right!” And yes, most readers wouldn’t know the difference. But the focus became on the gothic gratuitousness, and informed the tone of the book to a level of falsity.
Thanks for these comments, Andrew! As someone who works within the CBA, I find it gratifying to see its purposes affirmed.
Too, most ‘gritty realism’ isn’t, because the people who write about it likely haven’t seen it, and those who have seen it would do anything before writing about it… This is an excellent and true point. Glad you said it.
In my first baseball novel, I have a Mafia sex worker for priority clients, who is about to leave the trade because of how the protagonist has positively influenced her, give herself a date-rape drug so she won’t consciously be aware of her last assignment. In the morning, she wakes up to discover she is “naked from the waist up”, and thus knows that nothing happened. A B&S agent told me that wouldn’t work for CBA, which I can understand. I wound up self-publishing it.
Really appreciate this post, Rachelle. Provides much needed clarity for understanding the market and how/what we need to tone down or amp up according to the specific requirements of each. Thank you!
My work would never get an ABA publisher because one major plotline in every novel is the conversion of an unbeliever into a follower of Jesus. But I’m not sure a CBA publisher would want them. My stories are embedded in the realities of life in the Roman Empire, when slaves were legally classified as “things,” people were routinely killed for entertainment, brutal campaigns for conquest were glorified, and what Christians would consider wrong was generally considered right.
*Even when conditions and situations would lend themselves to “gritty realism,” it’s possible to write the times accurately staying mostly PG and never going past PG-13. But if I tried to write it soft and sentimental, it wouldn’t be true to the period. I don’t know if my writing would please CBA publishers, but I’m confident the messages of forgiveness, agape love, and redemption please God. That’s what I really care about, so I’m indie.
Having read a lot of Carol’s work, I can say that she gets ‘gritty realism’ just right. I doubt she has ever killed anyone with a sword, but she has a spare and telling way of describing the process that is neither excissive nor coy. For anyone wanting to learn how to strike that balance, I would recommend her books with no hesitation.
Francine Rivers has a series set in ancient Rome that doesn’t shy away from reality. However, it was published years ago. And she’s Francine Rivers. ?
She may be Francine Rivers, but she’s no Carol Ashby.
And that’s a good thing, Andrew.
*Kim, I just introduced my 23-year-old daughter to Francine Rivers through her 2009 A Lineage of Grace. My daughter loved her so much that she asked her husband for Redeeming Love for her birthday. That one is constantly on the best seller lists at Amazon, but it certainly doesn’t hide from the gritty side of life. Would such a story of redemption from the pit be picked up by a CBA publisher today if it wasn’t Francine Rivers writing it? I kinda doubt it, and what spiritually transforming treasures are not getting to market to reach hurting souls because of that filter?
Carol, right. I fell on love with Francine Rivers in high school when I read Mark of the Lion. I feel like CBA books were grittier in the 90s.
Your work sounds fascinating!!
This post gives me a lot to think about but it has been great to read because this has been on my mind. Since my debut novel has elements related to spy/espionage, I have seen very little in the CBA with that content. In fact, I have seen these elements relegated to suspense/mystery which is not exactly where I fit. But it has occurred to me that I may have multiple subgenres so I can pitch to agents that would sort that out with a publisher. But of course, I’m thinking out loud here. Thanks for the post!
*This is something I’ve thought about a lot over the last year or so. It’s important to me to not tone down the Christian worldview in my writing, but at the same time I’m pretty sure some of the themes and elements I include aren’t toned down enough for CBA.
*If the content is more gratuitous (detailed violence, profanity, or somesuch), I could see it being easier to eliminate or adjust in editing, but what if content involves subjects that are real and messy to begin with (abuse, human trafficking, ptsd, to name a few)? Are they less accepted in CBA due to their inherent nature?
That really boils it down, which are you most attached to, the message or the grit. Good way to look at it.
I’d say it differently: It boils down to if you want to speak to Christians or non-Christians!
One of the first things I did after deciding to write novels is develop my own philosophy of writing, including what I would put in, what I would not, and how I would deal with evil and the profane.That helped a lot when writing about topics such as human trafficking. But stil, as Rachelle said, we find ourselves crossing over the lines set by some CBA publishers. However, carefully structuring our stories so that the objectionable things are only threatened but will never occur before our heroine saves the day, can save us a lot of edited words. Sometimes editing words to follow a publishers guidelines greatly weakens our story. But, if we’ve already structured the story so we don’t have to show objectionable content, we save everyone a lot of pain and strain.
Back in the “good old days” there was no CBA needed. Most people in America were, at least nominally, Christians so it was natural to have characters pray, attend church, etc. Of course I’m not sure there were more real, committed Christians then there are now. Lots of people just went to church because everybody went to church.With all the turmoil in our culture I think more people will be interested in becoming Christians if only we can find ways of communicating our faith subtly and avoiding the stereotype of what they think Christians are like.
I was just thinking today about how I’d love to open a digital publishing house and take all the great books that straddled the two. If a book took off, I could do a POD arrangement too.
Yes, I’ve addressed this issue in two novels. And, Rachelle, the fact that you are willing to deal with “messy” with editors and authors is encouraging. Three cheers for you!
Great post Rachelle. I appreciated the questions you asked your client. And also your point, there is no use railing against the injustice. It is what it is.
Great post Rachelle. I appreciated the questions you asked your client. And also your point, there is no use railing against the injustice. It is what it is.
KfromFLAon March 14 I suspect the issue moves to how many were in the car and where JW was sitting. If his claims hold water, this is over. If they don”t, now you have the odd player conduct requirements in CBA where if he is found to have lied on that, Goodell can *legally* determine he probably lied about the Uber driver contact. That is, no longer a legal issue and moreso a tell-the-truth to NFL issuewhich by the way, he can stand by his claim as being true or come clean. Once this is NOT in the courts, it”s all CBA and that”s where Goodell gets his power. Lawyers advise at that point/determine if Goodell is in his legal bounds to levy punishment. As we”ve seen, he can pretty much do what he wants. Hopefully Jameis is not lying about number of folks in the car.
My platform/brand/whatever is that we can always find joy in the Lord, no matter where we are or what we’ve suffered. We don’t live in a perfect world. Christians can be victims and I’ve heard that we can even sin, too. 😉
**My work-in-progress, written for a CBA audience, is about a woman dealing with the aftermath of an assault. I write about her reaction, not the attack so that anyone who’s hurting can identify with either my heroine’s emotional scars or my hero’s physical ones. It’s my prayer as I write that my readers will find some measure of healing and joy through my story.
**Great post, Rachelle!
I have a question. Is there a place in Christian Publishing for a children’s book on Genesis 1–using Science to explain what is happening?
e,g, God said, “Let there be light…and the big bang occurred, and light exploded into the darkness.
Or is it something that must be self-published?
I, for one, would love that book. I don’t know if it could get published, but I’d certainly take a look at what you’ve got. Send it to our submissions email address, tagged to me.
Thank you! I’m taking a PB/early reader class and this will be the coursework. 🙂 I would then run it through my critiquers before submission, but I am grateful for the opportunity to send you a copy.
This older blog is really good and as a traditionally published fiction author with 3 different companies now. It puts into words the struggle to find the balance. I always worked faith into my books but never wanted them to sound preachy, and hoped that maybe those that would never read a Christian Only Book might be pulled just a bit.
It is not easy to find that line and I still struggle somewhat with it.
Thank you for putting it into words that make sense.