Books for LDS Readers. Tips for LDS Writers.
The winners of the 24 Hours to Win Unclaimed Prizes!! contest are:
Revenge of the Cheerleaders by Janette Rallison — Stephanie Black
Dead on Arrival by Jeff Savage — Marcia Mickleson
To claim your prize, you must e-mail your mailing address to me by Friday, February 8, 2008.
Two of the winners from the December Comments Contest failed to claim their prizes. So they’re now up for grabs.
We have Revenge of the Cheerleaders by Janette Rallison and Dead on Arrival by Jeff Savage.
To win one of these books:
Which genres sell best in the LDS market?
1. Historical
2. Romance
3. Suspense
Although sometimes 1 and 2 switch positions.
The link to Chris Bigelow’s sales numbers for Zarahemla titles (found in Tuesday’s comment trail) doesn’t seem to be working. Try this.
Can you define an LDS horror novel?
No. But I’ll know it when I see it…
Seriously, LDS horror—as in demons, vampires, zombies, monsters, and such—is an oxymoron of sorts. Like LDS fantasy, horror presents some unique issues for LDS publishers. As a people, we don’t really believe in those things. That doesn’t mean we don’t read horror or fantasy, but many LDS readers become seriously uncomfortable when those fictional elements are combined in a story with LDS theology and practice. Personally, I’d have a problem with the Laurel class president spending her nights slaying vampires, or a priest becoming a werewolf on occasion, although I have no problem with those things happening in Buffy the Vampire Slayer or the Twilight series.
Another issue is that in many horror stories (and movies), evil wins. It can’t be stopped. It can’t be beaten. This is contrary to what the gospel teaches. I don’t like that message in non-LDS books and movies, I certainly wouldn’t tolerate it in an LDS setting.
Has it been done? Has someone successfully combined horror and LDS elements? Sort of. On a national level, Orson Scott Card wrote Lost Boys which is about ghosts and an LDS family. Also, Unseen Odds by Shirley Bahlmann has some spooky stuff from LDS history, but I’m not sure I’d call that horror. (Readers, help me out here. I’m not a huge reader of horror, so I might be missing something.)
Will there ever be an LDS Stephen King or Dean Koontz? Highly likely.
Will their books be published by LDS publishers? I don’t know. We’ll have to wait and see. I just know that I won’t be taking that risk anytime soon.
Attention:
A reminder to the prize winners of the December 2007 Comment Contest—you have until January 31st to send me your mailing address or you forfeit your prize.
Forfeited prizes will be given to another randomly selected winner.
Those who have already e-mailed their mailing address, thank you.
As if I don’t already have enough to do…
I am really excited about the newly announced Whitney Awards finalists. I have not personally read each of the finalists, but I’m planning to do so as fast as I can. I’m very interested to see if I agree with the Whitney committee on what makes a good book. I look forward to seeing the winners in March.
This effort is really inspirational, in fact, it inspired a new blog:
This is an interactive, reader-participation blog that allows you to comment and rate individual books.
Any book that is eligible for the 2008 Whitney Awards can receive a spotlight post on this new blog.
Please help me get started on the 2008 list by sending me book referrals as they are released.
I will continue to post the list of eligible books in the sidebar here as well.
Thought I’d address a few things that popped up in the comments.
From Vanity Press:
How would you classify iUniverse?
Same as the others, in general. If I decided to go that way, however, I’d probably use lulu.com, because they are upfront about being a print-on-demand service and don’t pretend to be a real publisher.
The point was made that there is a way to use these services correctly. Absolutely! But you have to know what you’re doing and have realistic expectations. These types of presses are great for, say, people who do lectures and seminars on a small interest topic or who have an online customer base or some other way to drive customers to the sites. For example, someone like Hope Clark, or someone who tours and does lectures on a specific health issue, or a private school who publishes their own curriculum…basically, someone whose information has a limited audience, but who can push people interested in that topic to their website.
just clearing Dr. Phil’s name on this one here…
Didn’t mean to imply that he put any stock in the $3 million dream. But he did refer to them as a “publisher”.
*Industry buzzwords. Does LDS Publisher wish to address them sometime?
Like what?
From Contemporary/Historical Label Researched:
The problem with trying too hard to make a story contemporary is that in just a few years, it falls into the “fuzzy” space.
The life span of your average novel is 2 to 3 years, so most of the time, a contemporary novel will go out of print before it goes out of date.
From Where to Get a Review:
Will Utah papers do an article/review if you aren’t a Utah resident?
Depends on the book and the publisher. Talk to your publisher about it.
For a local paper, do you contact the editor and ask for someone to do an article/interview or write one and submit it yourself?
Find out who writes the book review columns. Find out if the paper has guidelines for what to send. (Some do, on their website.) Send them a copy of the book and press release that has enough information that they could write the column directly from that. Some papers will use your release verbatim, with their byline. Others will cut and paste as they want. (If you really want them to love you, send them the info in both hard copy and on a CD in Word and as a text file.
The other day I knocked off work early, went home and watched a Dr. Phil re-run. The story was about a mother and daughter feuding over publishing rights to a book. The mother claimed that the daughter took her real-life story and was planning to publish it as if it were her own, and was refusing to share the expected $3 million royalty. The daughter said that her publisher was initially very excited about the book and thought it would be a best-seller, but had now declined to publish the book due to the conflict with the mother. The publisher had a rep in the audience and got to put in her two-cents worth—along the lines of, yes, we would have published it, but not with this battle going on concerning ownership of the rights.
This is all very sad, but not my point.
My point is: the “publisher” was Publish America.
And everyone, including Dr. Phil, was talking about them like they were a REAL PUBLISHER!
I was shocked!
Publish America is not a real publisher. They are a vanity press. They do very little editing, no marketing, they print on demand (which isn’t all bad, but…), their books are overpriced, bookstores won’t stock them, and if you ever, ever try to use them as a credential with a real publisher, they will laugh you out of their office!
Two other companies that frequently show up as credentials in queries I receive are Author House (at least they admit they’re a vanity press) and BookSurge (owned by Amazon).These are not real publishers either. Do not use them as credentials when approaching a real publisher unless you’ve sold over 2,000 copies of your book. 9And in that case, don’t mention that you “published” through these companies, just say that you self-published and your book sold X number of copies. This will tell the publisher that 1) you wrote well enough to sell to more than your circle of family and friends, and 2) that you know how to market yourself and your book.)
I know how hard it is to have a good novel and receive rejection after rejection. Companies like this play on that heartache, promise you the moon, but they do not deliver. Stay away from them. Like the plague. Like a very bad plague with a 99.9% mortality rate.
Once again, I want to remind everyone of a wonderful site, Preditors and Editors. If you’ve found a publisher via the Internet (rather than a legit Writer’s Guide), do your research before signing up with them.
Reading pitch critiques over at the BookEnds Agency blog, Jessica voiced concern about a story set in 1974. “It’s not a time period that’s considered historical and not one I’m sure would be of interest to [the YA] age group.”
My MS is also set in the recent past, because to me that’s just when the story takes place. Perhaps I’m just waxing nostalgic.
Does time period really matter? Does something have to be either contemporary or historical? Would it make sense to try and justify setting this story in 1989, or should I just give all of my characters cell phones and iPods and forget about it?
You’re writing for teens. They live in the NOW. They want to imagine themselves as the main character. Do you know any teens who want to imagine themselves as their parents??
The easy sale is going to be something that is clearly historical or clearly contemporary. When you’re writing within the past 50 years, the line between the two gets fuzzy. Fuzzy lines means it’s going to be hard to sell your story to an agent or publisher, and even harder to sell it to the reader. There are notable exceptions that deal with the recent past, such as The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton about teens in the 50s, first published in 1967, and Stephen King’s The Body/Stand by Me set in 1960, published in 1982.
The setting is determined by the story. Ask yourself why you’ve picked this particular time period. Would/could your story be just as strong if it was happening today? If the answer is yes, hand out the cell phones and make it an easier sale.
This is a learning blog. It’s important to remember that. What that means is that at some point, I might use YOUR mistake as a teaching tool for others, including yourself. Such is the following.
I am posting the query verbatim because rarely do I get such a shining example of so many things done wrong. Unfortunately, however, I frequently get queries that contain one or more of the mistakes found in this one.
[E-mail query sent simultaneously to 24 different publishers]
Subject: Scipt submission?
To Whom it May Concern:
I am the author of a script for a children’s book I am interested in publishing. I would like to know if your respective companies handle this type of work. I will send the script when I am satisfied of a good fit between my book and the publisher.
Never, ever, EVER send an e-mail blast to multiple publishers. If you want to query several publishers at the same time, send them each their own individual e-mail, addressed only to them.
Do your research! Of the 24 “publishers” this e-mail was sent to: 3 are not publishers, 9 do not publish children’s books, 2 were for people at the same company, 1 is out of business, 1 does not accept unsolicited manuscripts, 1 does not accept e-mail queries, 5 I’ve never heard of/websites are “parked”. Only 4 out of the 24 would be appropriate places for this author to query.
Subject: Scipt submission? Be very careful before you click send. Proof and reproof. If, by some chance, a mistake like this happens to you, do not bother resending the same e-mail with the word corrected. (The author did.)
To Whom It May Concern. This is part of your research. Find out who the editor is and send an individual e-mail to an individual person.
I am the author of a script for a children’s book… A book is called a manuscript. A script is a play or screenplay. What did you write? A book or a play? I am not being picky here; I really don’t know. I would guess it’s a book mislabeled as a script, but I’ve guessed that before with queries using similar phraseology and been wrong.
I am interested in publishing. Does this mean you want to us to publish your book or you want us to help you self-publish your book? If the latter, are you querying us for printing services or asking if we would distribute your book after you’ve printed it? Again, I’m not nit-picking; I really am not sure. I’ve guessed both ways in various queries and been wrong multiple times.
If you want us to publish your book, say so. If you want us to distribute your book, say so. If you want to self-publish, you should contact a vanity press or a printer, not a publisher.
I would like to know if your respective companies handle this type of work. What type of work? Children’s books? Or self-published works? The answer to your question should be covered in your research. You should already know if we handle the type of work you’re talking about, whatever it is.
I will send the script when I am satisfied of a good fit between my book and the publisher. No. This is not how it works. Your research should have already satisfied you that we would be a good fit for you and your book—that we accept children’s books, that your topic is something we are interested in, that your writing style/technique/theme is something we would consider. You discover this by visiting our website to 1) read our guidelines, and 2) see what we’ve published previously. Most of the publishers this e-mail was sent to would not be a good fit for this book.
After you are satisfied that the publisher is someone YOU would want to work with, then you send the query and/or manuscript according to the guidelines listed on the publisher’s website. The publisher then decides if THEY think you are a good fit for them.
My guess is this e-mail was ignored and immediately deleted upon receipt by most, if not all, of the recipients. If the author was lucky, they may have received back a polite, formulaic rejection but I seriously doubt anyone would take the time to explain why they were rejected.
Bottom line: No serious publisher would respond in a positive manner to this e-mail because they would immediately know that this author had not done enough research to understand even the basics of how the business side of publishing works. It would require way too much work on the part of the publisher to bring the author up to speed. Also, the attitude of the last sentence would throw up lots of red flags—this author is going to be difficult to work with and will probably fight me every step of the way. Not worth the trouble.
There were 27 entries to our Christmas story contest. 27! That is just amazing and I’m very happy that so many of you decided to participate.
However, it does create a bit of a scheduling dilemma for me. Since it will take quite some time for me to give each of these entries a serious read and to prepare my comments on each one, I will not be answering any questions here until after the contest is over and I’ve commented on each post.
Also, there’s my “day job” and that whole Christmas thing which seems to be taking up a bit of my time…
But please, keep coming back to read the comments of others. And just because you’ve cast your vote, that doesn’t mean you can’t comment on the other stories. Tell us what worked for you, what didn’t work, what you might have done differently. (But be nice.) Remember, each comment gives you an entry into the December book contest.
You do not need a blog to submit a story for the contest, nor to vote for a story, nor to comment on any post. You don’t even need a Google ID, as this blog accepts anonymous comments.
Also, someone already voted. Voting does not start until December 16th. Please wait until all stories have been posted. Please read all of them. Then cast your vote.
So far we have 9 stories. I will be posting two a day until they’re all up. There is still time for YOU to send me that story you’ve been working on…
Also, the December Comment Contest has begun, so start chatting.
Where do you go if you have a project and you need someone to “write for you”! I have looked everywhere and I can not find anywhere to find a good LDS author to help me out. any suggestions?
The technical term for what you’re asking for is ghost writer. Good ghost writers are hard to find because good writers are usually busy writing their own stories. You’re also looking at a substantial investment. Most ghost writers charge by the page. Experienced ghost writers charge between $50 to $100 per page, or more. Some ghost writers are willing to work for the lion’s share of the advance and/or royalty. It really is not feasible to hire a ghost writer unless you’re a celebrity or politician, someone who’s guaranteed book sales because of their personality.
Generally, when a ghost writer is required, it’s the publisher who sets up the relationship. They find a writer they know and trust and have them work with the “author”. In the LDS market, the only time I know of this being done is when General Authorities need help with a book.
Now, if you’re talking about writing your memoirs or family history and need someone to help with that, consider finding a college student with reasonably good skills who might be willing to work for a lot less.
Anyone else have an idea on this?
I’m looking ahead to the day that I will have a published novel. I know that you recommend having a website. My name as I plan on using when I publish is already taken as a website. I’ve thought of using my middle name, something that doesn’t have my name in it, etc. What is your thought on what is best for naming a website? I would think using your name would be the best, but if it’s not available, what are some other ideas to think of?
Wait until your book has been accepted and then talk to your agent/publisher about it. That may sound like a lame answer, but really, it’s the best one. When you’re ready to publish, your publisher and/or agent will do some checking on your name. If it’s the same as someone else who writes in your genre, they will suggest other options—using a middle name, maiden name, initials, pen name. If you do need to use a pen name, they can help you choose one that will give you some marketability or exposure.
Also, website ownerships come and go all the time. Even if it’s taken now, it may be available in a year or two. In the meantime, I suggest doing something free, simple and professional, like a blog. If you don’t want to post to a blog, you can adapt that format to make a more “static” site that you don’t have to post to. You can also join a free social networking site and create a profile that looks very nice. There are lots of options out there other than a traditional website.
Just wanted to say thank you to all who have already responded to my request for sponsors. I’ll be putting a calendar together soon and getting that out to all of you.
I still have plenty of room for more sponsors, so if you haven’t responded yet but you want to, go right ahead and do it!
I’ve been doing this blog since April 2006. I’ve done 483 posts. In celebration of that fact, I’m going to list 483 things about me. (Laughs maniacally.)
Just kidding. (Sorry, I could not resist.)
Seriously, during that year and a half, I’ve held several contests, the prizes of which have been funded by me. But since I am cheap …uhm… tired of funding this all by myself …uhm… need to use that money for chocolate we’ve been talking about promotion, I thought it would be a good idea to let you do a little self-promotion via sponsorship of this blog.
To be a sponsor, you need to be willing and able to provide a prize during the term of your sponsorship in the form of a copy of YOUR book, plus the cost of shipping it to the prize winner.
There are two forms of sponsorship—sponsoring a contest or sponsoring the blog for a month.
1. Contest sponsorship. Writing contests have two prizes so each contest will have two sponsors. The sponsors of the contest will get a brief bio on the contest introduction page AND the cover of their book with link to website or blog on the sidebar. At the end of the contest, I will announce the winners. Winners will send me their mailing address which I will forward to the sponsor of their prize. Sponsor needs to ship the prize within a week of receiving the winner’s address.
2. Blog sponsorship. At the beginning of each month, I will select a new sponsor(s). Sponsor will get a brief bio on the post for the first business day of the month AND the cover of their book with link to website or blog on the sidebar. At the end of the month, I will put the names of everyone who has commented on the blog that month into a hat and draw out a winner. As with the contest sponsorship, I announce the winners and the sponsor ships the prizes. Depending on the level of response, there may be up to three blog sponsors each month.
Why you want to be a sponsor: This gets your book cover and link to your website or blog in front of a targeted audience. (Writers are generally avid readers and BUY books.) My average unique visitor count per day is around 70; some days it goes over 100.
More stupid requirements details for being a sponsor:
To win a Contest Prize: Participate in a contest, follow the rules, and win.
To win a Monthly Prize: Leave thoughtful comments. Comments like “That’s cool” or “Way to go” do not count. You need to show by the content of you comment that you have read the post and given the topic at least 3.5 seconds of sincere thought.
If you guys like this idea and volunteer to be sponsors, we’ll start the Monthly Sponsors in December and the Contest Sponsors with the upcoming Christmas Story Contest. (Look for details on Monday.) If no one volunteers, then we won’t.
What are the criteria publishers use in determining which books will be recorded as audiobooks? Who chooses the voice talent, and is there any chance of a first timer having their audiobook “read by the author?” Thanks for your helpful blog.
You’re welcome.
It varies depending on the publisher. Covenant records a lot of their books on audio. Other publishers, not as much. A lot of the time it’s based on sales. If a book sells really, really, really well, most publishers will consider an audio version.
The publisher chooses the voice talent. If you have done voice recordings before, there’s a possibility they will let you do your own but it’s unlikely.
Kristen Nelson, over on Pub Rants (bookmark that blog if you haven’t already), talked about a query she got last month that stated if she didn’t get the writer a book deal, it would be her fault if the writer died. I really wanted to laugh but I can relate too closely to that situation. Only I get threatened with eternal damnation. (Not kidding.)
I think the one that takes the cake for me is where the writer submitted a book and it was really, really horrendous. There were no less than 40 errors (mostly spelling and grammar, some misuse of words) in the first page. In his/her query, the writer stated that they had prayed about this book, that God had told them to write it, and that my company was the publisher God wanted to publish it.
I was very nice when I rejected it. Even included a personal note. She was devastated. I got a scathing reply which included insinuations about my level of spirituality and my commitment to the gospel. The writer warned me that if I didn’t repent and live righteously enough that the Spirit could speak to me that I would suffer the punishment of e.d.
About two years later, the writer resubmitted. The errors were down to about 25 on the first page. I rejected again. She cursed me again.
Just recently I heard from the writer. They wanted to inform me that another publisher had snapped up their book and very much appreciated its spiritual quality and said publisher was non-LDS so what was my problem?
If any of you feel the same way about your books, you could try this writer’s publisher.
P.S. I’m all out of questions. Please send more.
Yesterday, LDSPublisher hit a milestone. We topped 100 unique visitors in one day. We’ve gotten close to that a few times–97 was the highest. But yesterday this site had 119 unique visitors, 77 of whom were returning visitors.
I just wanted to take a moment and say thank you for the support you’ve all given to me and this endeavor (even Jeff Savage and David Woolley who keep trying to weasel my true identity out of me). I appreciate your comments and the way you’ve jumped in to help each other, answering questions, and pointing out to me when I’m way off base.
When I started this blog back in April 2006, it was on a whim. I thought I’d do it for a few months and readers would get bored and that would be the end of it. It has surprised me that questions keep coming and participation has continued to increase. I have taken that as a sign that my intent to be helpful has become a reality. I hope I can continue to help you on your journey to publication. As long as you continue to send questions, comments and queries for critique (yes, I’m still willing to do that), I will continue to respond.
Thanks again for visiting.
LDSP
I do a lot of reading in the LDS market and have found that nearly all of the books being published are more formula fiction, whereas the books being published nationally are more literary. Do you think that there’s a place in the LDS market for literary books, and, why aren’t we seeing them on the LDS market? Beulah
LDS literary novels don’t come across my desk very often. I’ve seen a few attempts, but nothing of publishable quality. I’m sure the big publishers see more than I do, but they, too, must feel they’re not up to par because they aren’t publishing many.
There are a few that come close–I liked The Kaleidoscope Season by Sharon Downing Jarvis. There might be others, but nothing that really zooms into my mind as an outstanding LDS literary book. (But then, I’m tired right now and my brain is a little foggy. Perhaps I’m overlooking the obvious. Readers, help me out. Post titles in the comments section of books you think might qualify as LDS literary fiction-and why.)
A few years ago I saw a handful of published books that billed themselves as LDS literary fiction, but in my opinion, they weren’t very good and they didn’t sell well.
Is there a place for LDS literary fiction? I hope so but often “literary” is synonymous with “realistic” and there are lots of LDS readers who don’t like the realism, who are uncomfortable with the soul-searching and life-questioning themes of the literary novel.
Why aren’t we seeing them? In addition to the lack of good manuscripts, again, money is the bottom line. We know genre fiction sells; literary fiction is a risk. But I’d like to think that if I got a really good mss, it would be a risk I could convince the bean counters around here to take.
I have an event this weekend and need four guest blogs–Thursday, Friday, Monday and Tuesday.
Do you recall all the times I’ve blogged about how important marketing yourself is? This is your opportunity to amaze your fellow writers, to practice marketing and to have your work seen by millions (well, okay. Subtract a couple of zeroes.)
Blog about anything connected to writing and/or publishing. You’re welcome to “recycle” a post from your own blog, if you like. You may shamelessly plug your own book/blog at the end of your post.
I’ll pick the four I like best for this week, but eventually I will post all that are well-written, informative, and/or entertaining.
In one of your blogs [this one], you stated that your company isn’t marketing YA fiction for boys. A company I submitted to told me the same thing. Does this mean I should just forget the LDS market for my “next Harry Potter novel”? (the Harry Potter comment is a joke, but the question is serious) Thanks!
It’s not that no one is writing/publishing YA for LDS boys, it’s that smaller publishers need to invest in books that they know will give them a return on their money. The chances are better with adult fiction than for YA. So you need to match your manuscript with a publisher that is big enough to take the risk (there are a few), or a smaller company with an owner who is personally committed to expanding that market and willing to swing by their toenails. (I personally don’t know of any, but if a reader does, speak up.)
Also, we don’t usually market directly to the young man because he doesn’t usually go to the LDS bookstore to buy his fiction, his mother or grandmother does. But that is starting to change just a tad–with Leven Thumps, Fablehaven, and others…
So short answer, write your book for the audience you think it fits best. By the time you’re ready to shop it to publishers, the market might be ready for it.
I’ve been told that for YA literature, most editors want it told in 1st person POV. The rationale is that 1st person is more intimate, and young readers can identify better with the main, or POV character.
I’m not sure I totally agree with that. I’ve been writing a YA novel in 3rd person, and I think it is very intimate, getting into the thoughts, feelings, emotions, etc. of 4 different characters, all having their own stories (sub-plots) that tie into the main character’s story. I was told recently that I should re-write it in 1st person as most editors won’t accept one written in 3rd person. If I were to re-write it, I think it would lose a lot, as I would have to cut out all the sub-plots that give the main story so much richness.
Is there any truth to that rumor?
Two words: Harry Potter.
Added to original post:
Perhaps I need to give more than a two word answer. Harry Potter, the biggest selling children’s/YA series in the history of the world, is written in third person.
First person works very well for YA books for the reasons you list but it’s not the only way to write. Do what works best for your story.