Some Musings On "Jewish" Writing

TeddyG

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Well just joined this board and I came across the Jewish Forum for writers. Interesting to say the least. Especially when the words "d'var Torah" are mentioned. So needless to say despite the fact that I think this may never be read, I guess I will plunge in.

Name is Teddy, and I live in Jerusalem, Israel. That should be the first clue why such a board may interest me! I do have two children's books published, actually for the Jewish market, the first by the Jewish Agency in Israel, the second by United Synagogue. Have had articles published on Compartive Religion as well.

To all the Jewish writers out there. I dont mean Yiddish writers, but I mean to those who weave either in their novels or short stories "Jewish" themes. Be it from Kaballah to dvar Torah's! to stories along the lines of Jewish motifs - take heart. The market is not dead. The professional market certainly not dead.

I have had some experience in the market, especially since I live in Israel though I was born and raised in Manhattan. Israeli themes are not on the top of publishers agendas these days, (to say the least from long hard lessons learned), though good writers especially following the generation of IB Singer and Saul Bellow and Chaim Grade are being sought. It just takes time and patience to break into the market.

My agent, who when I signed with her, I had no idea was Jewish as well, preaches "patience". I am not sure if that is the case. I do know that well written pieces on "Jewish" topics are read by the population at large and not just the Jews in NYC and CA.

I have no clue if anyone will read this, but I am certainly more than willing to share experiences of writing, both fiction and non-fiction. Some good, some bad and some real bummers. Publishers, agents, manuscripts .. all of it.

I am by no means any expert. Just a writer who returned to the field after many years, and going through the normal frustrations of trying hard to get an ms. sold (even with an agent.)

So I really would love to hear from others out there.
Btw...if you need help with a d'var Torah in the future, just send a message my way.

And to all those who read tranliterated Hebrew,

Shana Tova, G'mar Hatimah Tovah

and for those who don't and for ALL those on the board

May you have a wonderful year, one filled with peace, prosperity, health and great success in all your endeavors (including all your writing)
and may God grant you all the wishes of your heart,
and my they be granted only for the good.

May we all merit to be inscribed in the Book of Life

Teddy
 

SAWeiner

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Teddy-

Hi. I think there is actually a substantial market for Jewish oriented books. Jews on average are better educated, wealthier, and read more than the general public. Indeed, I've seen a lot of such books in Barnes and Noble, Borders, and other general bookstores here in NYC.

I hope you've been inscribed for a great year.

TRENNER
 

TeddyG

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Oh you are 100% right Trenner. There is a substantial market. But, just because the Jewish population buys books does not mean they buy "jewish" oriented books.

One market that certainly has seen an incredible upswing of books, though most are really horribly written and just part of a specific "culture", are those books which target an ever-growing audience of newly "traditional" jews. This part of the population is growing in leaps and bounds, they are well educated, they read and they buy books.

However, Jewish "religious" publishers own this market, and in this area you must fit their "profile" for them to publish you.

One will not become a famous writer doing this, but one can make a fair amount of money in the process.

Interestingly enough, I have read here through the threads on POD and self publishers. Though this is a route I never considered, two of my friends own self-publishing ventures for the Jewish market. And I know some of their authors. They do the job of the publisher, from the Library of Congress down to legit. distribution, and they are making money, and all the authors that I know that published through them, sing their praises to the sky and claim it was worth it, and two claim (and I believe them) that they did make money on their books.

Obviously, lots of their list are on Holocaust or war stories, some religious topics, a few memoirs, and here and there a scholarly book or a biblical commentary. I just found it interesting that these jewish self-publishing operations, do not match the "bad" stories I have read at AW or heard elsewhere.

The problem today lies if you are write on anything with "jewish" themes, or on "israeli" themes, and try to go mainstream. That is a difficult niche and market to break into. Publishers are very very let me repeat that again, very wary of publishing anything about Israel, (either saying the market is flodded, or just dont want to be targets - yes I said targets). Before you jump and tell me I am paranoid, I can only say I heard this first-hand from the CEO of a MAJOR publishing house. Really the last book on Israel to come out was Michael Oren's book on the Six Day War which hovered around best-sellerdom.
Also there is Dore Gold, but he writes about Mid-East topics now, not about Israel.

As to Jewish works. Well there is Abe Foxman, but he is head of the Anti-Defemation League and a powerful political entity in the Jewish world.

Since Singer and Weisel etc. take a look. The Red Tent, the Kellermans in their mystery series .. but literary fiction? or real non-fiction? Either the market just does not want it anymore or the publishers have made a decision that the market is flooded. It will turn again. Good books, as many have said here, will get published. A genre will go down and come back up. A niche will lie dormant and then spring to life. All depends on quality of writing, timing, luck and more luck.

So those are my musings at the moment.

Teddy
 

Ralyks

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TeddyG said:
However, Jewish "religious" publishers own this market, and in this area you must fit their "profile" for them to publish you.

Well, it is interesting to see that the Jewish market suffers from the same limitations as the Christian market. This is why, I think, more and more religious writers are turning toward secular markets. I also think the secular markets are not quite as resistant to publishing religious themes today as they were 10 or 15 years ago. But those are still broad religious themes, not specific, cultural, denominational, etc. And this is probably more true of the secular market's openess to Christian themes than to Jewish themes. Money rules.

Interestingly enough, I have read here through the threads on POD and self publishers. Though this is a route I never considered, two of my friends own self-publishing ventures for the Jewish market. And I know some of their authors. They do the job of the publisher, from the Library of Congress down to legit. distribution, and they are making money, and all the authors that I know that published through them, sing their praises to the sky and claim it was worth it, and two claim (and I believe them) that they did make money on their books.

I went the POD route with my novel, and I did make a profit. Not a huge profit, but about as much as a low mid-lister might make. Then it was picked up by a small press, which also uses POD, but they are in charge of ownership/production, and I got an advance. Self-publishing and POD are both feasible, but success, even modest success, is very rare.

The Red Tent

Blah. Blah.

but real non-fiction? Either the market just does not want it anymore or the publishers have made a decision that the market is flooded.

I'd speculate that you will find some amount of non-fiction on Israel coming out of American conservative publishing houses in the near future, mainly because of current events and what I'm hearing on the radio coming from conservative political commentators (a general feeling that there is a worldwide explosion of anti-Semitism going on today.)

But, honestly, I can't think of any Jewish literary fiction I've read since Herman Wouk and Elie Wiesel.
 
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Scarlett_156

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Writer Harry Golden has been a huge influence on me. I had read everything he had written by the time I was in junior high.

I came across this thread when I first joined this site and couldn't remember his name; I could only remember the title of one of his books: "Ess, Ess, Mein Kinder". I finally remembered it today. My mom used to read him all the time and that's how I started with him. I was like nine or ten. His descriptions of New York City enthralled me and made me want to run away from home and live there.

I moved from that to Saul Bellow. I learned a lot about writing from reading his work, too. I dunno if this counts here... I didn't like these guys because they were Jewish writers, but because they were GOOD writers. But their was something unusual and stirring about they way they described certain things that may be ethnic-specific, now that I think about it.

(edit) I still use H. Golden's remedy for a sore throat on the very rare occasion that I have one. Do you know what it is? (not chicken soup!)
 

TeddyG

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skylarburris said:
I'd speculate that you will find some amount of non-fiction on Israel coming out of American conservative publishing houses in the near future, mainly because of current events and what I'm hearing on the radio coming from conservative political commentators (a general feeling that there is a worldwide explosion of anti-Semitism going on today.)

But, honestly, I can't think of any Jewish literary fiction I've read since Herman Wouk and Elie Wiesel.

You speculate correctly. Books have been released by Foxman of the ADL and others are planned from the major houses. On anti-semitism not on Judaism per say. This I pretty can tell you as fact from a literary agent I happen to know.

However, Literary Fiction, with a Jewish bent...yes, I think the generation is currently missing authors in this genre. I myself, know how hard it is to break into this field. Oh of course, my writing may suck, and I could just not know how to put a sentence together, and on and on and on. But honestly, there are few literary ficiton writers on Jewish themes out there which appeal to a mass-audience.

The case is much more difficult, cause here I will speculate and say the same thing is true for Christian writers.

I run a few blogs and one is called The View From Jerusalem.

In it a few days ago I posted an article called Man Plans & Thinks And God laughs

The post was brought on by a couple of editorials I read, especially this one. In the Diaspora: In-your-face atheism

That editorial actually would apply to Literary Fiction from a Christinan side as well. I strongly suggest you read the article and of course I would love for you to read and be a visitor to my The View From Jerusalem blog (and my other blogs like Cobwebs Of The Mind and Help! I Have A Fire In My Kitchen as well!) :D

I would be really interested in what you think about the editorial!
 

smiley10000

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Great editorial and blog Teddy. This is one of those things that seems to happen to us these days. "I'm openminded, as long as you're not to the right of me."

Unfortunately, I don't think G-d is laughing right now. It strikes me much more as a time for G-d to cry.

I had not heard about this book the article referenced. (the #3 on Amazon) What is it?

:cry:10000
 

TeddyG

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Thank you smiley. Spread the word if you like The View From Jerusalem - or even if you don't! :D

I do not know the books in that article...so cannot help you there. But the trend is fascinating.
 

Ralyks

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TeddyG said:
But honestly, there are few literary ficiton writers on Jewish themes out there which appeal to a mass-audience.

Well, there are few literary fiction writers period who appeal to a mass-audience. That's why it's called literary fiction and not popular fiction. (But I get your point.) I will definitely check out the editorial.
 

Ralyks

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While I thought the editorial "In the Diaspora" was thoughtful and interesting, I did have to grimace at one part. It is becoming absolutely obligatory for people, every single time they mention fanatical Islamic jihadists, to, in the next breath, mention fundamentalist Christians—as though there were some kind of moral equivalency between people who annoy you and people who slaughter you. This article does not escape that politically correct pitfall-- It speaks of jihadists murdering and blowing people up and then—oh, yeah, and in the U.S., the dread "religious right" uses "religious language" in public policy debates. Oh, no! Run for the hills! Tomorrow we'll all be living in The Handmaid's Tale. This constant comparison--in print, on news shows, in the mouths of celebrities and authors and politicians--this almost mandatory coupling of Christian "fundamentalists" who quote scripture with jihadists who fly airplanes into buildings…I am beginning to find it more than a bit irritating.

On Dawkins--he's written a lot of "evangelical athiest" (for lack of better words) books. I wonder if this one is doing particularly better than the last, or if it is pretty much just a flash in the pan--sells well for awhile and then fades.
 
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Sean D. Schaffer

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skylarburris said:
While I thought the editorial "In the Diaspora" was thoughtful and interesting, I did have to grimace at one part. It is becoming absolutely obligatory for people, every single time they mention fanatical Islamic jihadists, to, in the next breath, mention fundamentalist Christians—as though there were some kind of moral equivalency between people who annoy you and people who slaughter you. This article does not escape that politically correct pitfall-- It speaks of jihadists murdering and blowing people up and then—oh, yeah, and in the U.S., the dread "religious right" uses "religious language" in public policy debates. Oh, no! Run for the hills! Tomorrow we'll all be living in The Handmaid's Tale. This constant comparison--in print, on news shows, in the mouths of celebrities and authors and politicians--this almost mandatory coupling of Christian "fundamentalists" who quote scripture with jihadists who fly airplanes into buildings…I am beginning to find it more than a bit irritating.


Bolding Mine.

I know how you feel, Skylar. On the other hand, I also know about how crazy some Fundamentalist Christians can get because of religious language.

I think the problem that a lot of people have with Fundamentalist Christians using religious language in political debates, is that religious language is part of the reason Islamic fanatics fly planes into buildings in the first place. They are told, by clerics, in religious language, that their eternal souls will be rewarded greatly by their god if they die in his service. To some religions, killing infidels (people who do not hold to their same religion) is considered service to their god.

Further, Christian fanatics have been guilty of terrorism throughout history in the name of Jesus, almost as much as Islamic fanatics are in the name of their god. Christians have forced people to convert, by threatening them with death if they did not convert to Christianity, and Christians have slaughtered people who they thought might be guilty of certain sins, throughout much of the last two milennia.

So to imply that people comparing Fundamentalist Christians with fanatical Islamic terrorists, is somehow not a legitimate comparison, is unfounded when people look at the facts of human history.

Any religion I have ever seen that tells its people to go throughout the world and make everyone else believe that their god is the only god and their path is the only right path in life, has always had its share of fanatics and people willing to kill to get others to convert. I think this is a very real possibility, judging from what Muslims and Christians have done in the past, in the name of their gods.


I speak this as a former Fundamentalist Christian, (who knows first-hand some of the tactics that churches use just here in the States to get people to believe that Jesus is the only right way and has practiced some of them myself) for whomever might be wondering. I do not speak this out of ignorance, because Fundamentalist Christianity is the faith I was raised in.
 

Ralyks

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Ian D. Mecantie said:
Further, Christian fanatics have been guilty of terrorism throughout history in the name of Jesus, almost as much as Islamic fanatics. So to imply that people comparing Fundamentalist Christians with fanatical Islamic terrorists, is somehow not a legitimate comparison, is unfounded when people look at the facts of human history.

The comparison which is being made almost daily is being made between jihadists and modern, American fundamentalist Christians, so let's see if it is accurate. I'm not talking about what happened hundreds or thousands of years ago--I'm talking about the comparison being made today. Is it true that modern, American fundamentalist Christians are akin to jihadists?

Can you give me some specific examples of American Christian fanatics perpetrating acts of terrorism in the name of Jesus in the last three decades? When was the last time an American Christian fanatic blew up a school bus in the name of Jesus? Flew an airplane into a building in the name of Jesus? Walked into a Jewish center in Seattle and shot several people in the name of Jesus? Drove an SUV through a campus and killed several people in the name of Jesus? Lay in the trunk of his car with a rifle and randomly shot people in front of stores and gas stations in the name of Jesus? Blew up a discothèque in the name of Jesus? I am racking my brain to think of an incident when someone last shouted "Praise Jesus!" and opened fire. And if that were to happen, I suspect the American government wouldn't give the guy a house as a reward. And please don't mention Timothy McVeigh, who was a professed agnostic and a believer in "science." And please don't mention Hitler, who said he wanted to "destroy Christianity root and branch." Give me some real examples of modern Christian terrorism, perpetrated in the name of Christ, out of purely religious motivations.

I am not a fundamentalist Christian, but I know plenty of them, and this comparison grows tedious, and---well, honestly, this mindset, this inability to distinguish between the actions and attitudes of modern American fundamentalist Christians and jihadists--it frightens me. The jihadist/American fundamentalist Christian comparison effectively belittles true slaughter, murder, and bloodshed. Of course, this is the sort of comparison Israel has to deal with on a daily basis—the assertion that the actions of Israel are no different from the actions of the terrorists who seek to destroy it. This is moral relativism at its finest, and it will be the death of all of us.
When people cry wolf long enough, the real wolves don't look that scary, and they are too long ignored. This knee-jerk rhetoric of comparison, which does not look seriously at current events, which is incapable of making the most basic and obvious distinctions, will prove deadly in the end.

But this is probably not the place to discuss this, and I definitely got us off topic from the original thread, so I will desist and say no more at this point. It was just something that jumped out at me from the recommended article. So back to the original topic of Jewish writing--anyone got anymore good reading recommendations?
 
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TeddyG

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Sky you are correct IMHO

Christian fundamentalists can in no way sense or form be compared to radical Islam. There is no comparison.

There are many who are scared of the term "fundamental", and thus they tend to just put em all together in one big pot. Which is wrong.
 

Sean D. Schaffer

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skylarburris said:
Snipped...


Can you give me some specific examples of American Christian fanatics perpetrating acts of terrorism in the name of Jesus in the last three decades? ...Snipped.


I can but I won't, because you have already convinced yourself it's not possible. Judging from your entire post, there is no way that, even given facts, you would be willing to believe them.