Ropin' in Readers

[Maryn]

I couldn't let this board wither for want of input. In my community, there's a substantial interest in pagan, Wicca, and similar belief systems, enough that just today the daily paper had a story on a ceremony preparing pregnant women for the upcoming change. (The pictures they inked on her huge belly were mendhi-like and quite nice!)

I'm surprised not enough writers here at Absolute Write are actively tapping into these ready-made markets to sustain this board. Who would the readers be? In my admittedly-limited exposure, the readers of pagan-and-related-theme writing are going to be mostly women, mostly liberal about social issues, often both artistic and nurturing types. They will be free-spirited in terms of dress and grooming and are unlikely to be employed in the corporate culture. Is that anyone else's take on it?

At least this one post will bring the board back to life.

[MacAllister]

heh--there's a huge niche forming in terms of pagan fiction, from what I'm seeing in recent market research. Pretty much across the genres. True, a lot of those markets tend to be little ezines...but nonetheless, it seems to be waxing, not waning.

And you almost can't do actual historical research on the web without encountering loads of neo-pagan takes on old topics.

[NicoleJLeBoeuf]

Yay! Jenna did it! There's a forum for meeeeeeee!

...I have nothing to post at this moment.

Should I repost my Wiccan Picture Book post from the big PA thread? It was in response to momwrites's LDS conversation, and the bulk of that got moved...

On a side-note, I expect we'll be seeing more subforums in the Religious And Spiritual Writing forum sometime soon? Jewish and Buddist come to mind, as actual publications and publishing nitches that I've seen.

[JenNipps]

I couldn't let this board wither for want of input. In my community, there's a substantial interest in pagan, Wicca, and similar belief systems, enough that just today the daily paper had a story on a ceremony preparing pregnant women for the upcoming change. (The pictures they inked on her huge belly were mendhi-like and quite nice!)

I'm surprised not enough writers here at Absolute Write are actively tapping into these ready-made markets to sustain this board. Who would the readers be? In my admittedly-limited exposure, the readers of pagan-and-related-theme writing are going to be mostly women, mostly liberal about social issues, often both artistic and nurturing types. They will be free-spirited in terms of dress and grooming and are unlikely to be employed in the corporate culture. Is that anyone else's take on it?

At least this one post will bring the board back to life.

Back to life? I thought it was a new board? lol. OK, moving on....

Who/what your readers would be will largely depend on where they live. For example, where I am, a large portion of those who are pagan are in the closet as far as the general population is concerned. Some may know, but by no means all.

While I agree with the artistic/nurturing, there are a lot of them who do still work in corporate environments. They may not like it, but they're there.

[veinglory]

My only regular writing gig is for a pagan newsletter, but i was surprised to see a whole forum on this topic...

[BlueTexas]

I
I'm surprised not enough writers here at Absolute Write are actively tapping into these ready-made markets to sustain this board. Who would the readers be? In my admittedly-limited exposure, the readers of pagan-and-related-theme writing are going to be mostly women, mostly liberal about social issues, often both artistic and nurturing types. They will be free-spirited in terms of dress and grooming and are unlikely to be employed in the corporate culture. Is that anyone else's take on it?

At least this one post will bring the board back to life.

I know three Wiccans. One works for the Baptist Foundation (the financial arm of the Southern Baptist Church), one works for a City Library in administration, and the other, well, she used to work at McDonalds and now she hitches rides with truck drivers. She doesn't consider this a downward spiral. (Wiccan-ness aside, she's a bit warped.)

So there's a market sampling from Texas :) The first is male, the other two are female.

[Andin]

It is great to see the Pagan forum here. I think that there is actually a huge market for it, but not widely noticed unless you know where to look for it (IMHO).
Some of us are incognito :hat: when asked what our religion is, especially when you live in a small town like I do. :Ssh:

[Fractured_Chaos]

"Walking With Shadows" is still in the infant stages, but what -has- been written, has quite a bit of Wiccan, Native American Spirituality, and Buddhist influences in the story. Of course, it deals with Angels and Demons, so the Christian influence is in there, as well. It's just not a major factor.

The thing is, the story isn't being written to showcase any religious philosophy, it's just a horror story, and the people involved have their beliefs, which will influence how they deal with the situation.

[alanna]

ooooooh! goody! pagan forum! i like pagan forums. :) of course, since i'm a pagan this is natural... i actually have a lot of pagan poetry right now, and i'm not to sure where to send it. i sent a couple to Circle, but I haven't been able to find too many other pagan magazines. that probably means i'm not looking in the right places. any ideas?

[WhisperingBard]

but I haven't been able to find too many other pagan magazines. that probably means i'm not looking in the right places. any ideas?
Have you tried Sage Woman (http://www.sagewoman.com/)? Or one of their other sister magazines (links can be found on the Sage Woman site).

[veinglory]

There is a new one in the non-paying markets called persephone's moon (Goddess oriented)

[copperbeech]

the market for pagan art and literature is growing quickly. there are many journals and mewsletters out there if you look. i think part of the confusion for many is that what has been considered 'new age' and holistic has merged with pagan quite a lot in the last few years, as more people are stepping away from traditional lifestyles. also, i think there's an art to finding bridges for pagan writers in to other forums, such as, i write a regular column for a well-known astrologer. while her audience isn't pagan, they are very spiritual and open-minded.

when i was seeking a publisher and agent for my book i really wanted to find presses and personalities who were pagan, or at least pagan-friendly. there are more presses along that line now than there were three years ago when i began that process. as far as agents, i'm still not finding them. many say they are seeking representation for spiritual material, but when it came down to it most of them that i talked with were as stuck in the trad mode as any others. that's fine; just not what i wanted. i was very pleased to ubish with Spilled Candy because they are a pagan only press. my book is Gift of the Dreamtime: Awakening to the Divinity of Trauma.

so. support pagan literary outlets, and more will come. they already are =)

[alanna]

thanks all! i will most definitely check out those pubs. :)

[Celeste]

...mostly women, mostly liberal about social issues, often both artistic and nurturing types. They will be free-spirited in terms of dress and grooming and are unlikely to be employed in the corporate culture. Is that anyone else's take on it?



I'm so excited to have this forum started and that there are others like minded! This is going to be awesome!

celeste

[jojabees]

the market for pagan art and literature is growing quickly. there are many journals and mewsletters out there if you look.

mewsletters? are those for the familiars? :ROFL:

:flag: I'm sorry I just couldn't resist.

[alanna]

mewsletters? are those for the familiars? :ROFL:

:flag: I'm sorry I just couldn't resist.

umm...

[jojabees]

umm...

What? You don't get e-mails addressed to your familiar?

Mine even has his own website.

[alanna]

What? You don't get e-mails addressed to your familiar?

Mine even has his own website.

lol, that's awesome! have you ever seen the website with the ferret-familiar rules? (Thou shalt help thine human by putting out the dangerous firey sticks of wax they foolishly light while in circle...that sort of thing)

[jojabees]

No, where can I find that?

[alanna]

alright, so my paraphrasing was terrible...sorry. it's been six months since I looked at the thing! it is, however, still on my favorites. so, happy ferreting!


http://www.geocities.com/ladysshadows/witchsfamiliar.html

also check out "spells to fix your computer." if i remember correctly, it's pretty funny.

[Celeste]

Originally posted by alanna

ooooooh! goody! pagan forum! i like pagan forums. :) of course, since i'm a pagan this is natural... i actually have a lot of pagan poetry right now, and i'm not to sure where to send it. i sent a couple to Circle, but I haven't been able to find too many other pagan magazines. that probably means i'm not looking in the right places. any ideas?

There's a site called 'Pagan Poet'. You might want to check it and maybe talk with others there to find out if there's any other markets for it.

Here's the link: http://www.paganpoet.com/

celeste

[jojabees]

Hehe! ROLF

I see now where my cat was taking lessons and picked up the habit of eating Cherios.

Whenever I use that computer repair ritual, my husband has another ritual, involving new parts and much swearing.

[alanna]

lol

[alanna]

thanks celeste- it looks like an interesting site!

[PattiTheWicked]

Wow! How long has this forum been here at AW? I just found it tonight, completely by accident.

I have to say, I appreciate that it's here. A lot of time when people think of "religious and spiritual writing", somehow the pagans get left out of the mix :)

[copperbeech]

Wow! How long has this forum been here at AW? I just found it tonight, completely by accident.

I have to say, I appreciate that it's here. A lot of time when people think of "religious and spiritual writing", somehow the pagans get left out of the mix :)

they really do. when i was submitting my manuscript, i went through a ton of publishers who were "open" to spiritual/religious themed texts, but when it came down to it they had real specific concepts of what that theme was. i'm not naive of the bias out there, but i honestly came away from that process feeling it was more a lack of education in perspectives than it was sheer denial or pushing morality, particularly in terms of shamanism, which is my book's basis. that was almost 3 years ago, though, and even in that time frame a ton more spirituality and pagan books have come out, and perspectives have changed. it's happening.