What is happening at #FaithPitch ?

litdawg

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I'm about 60k into an SF mss with a time-travel and genetics plot that intersects with the life of Jesus, so I thought I'd check out the FaithPitch contest on Twitter to see what is shaking in the world of Christian fiction publishing. Now I need a shower. Uggh!! Much of the "agent" and "publisher" action is coming from indie houses formed in the past year with no proven distribution beyond Amazon OR C.Y.L.E. ponzi scheme operators. I can see why so many writers have abandoned the CBA to write for mainstream audiences. There are a handful of interesting queries in the adult fiction/fantasy/scifi genres, but I tremble for the authors getting a "like" from a start-up publishing house that will basically just take a percentage of their Amazon royalties. When did Christian fiction become assisted self-publishing?

One ray of hope: I saw an editor from a Penguin imprint signal her involvement. That's a legit publisher, though I am puzzled as to why an editor with a Big 5 imprint would be circumventing the agent process to like mss pitches on Twitter.

Related observation: An agent from Steve Laube Agency is now active on Faith Pitch. SLA does seem like a real literary agency despite its unfortunate relationship with Enclave Books.
 

Calla Lily

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Back when I thought I was writing C-fic, Steve Laube was one of the big hitters. And Enclave (then Marcher Lord) was one of the first pubs to actively seek out Christian SF and Fantasy. I've been out of C-fic circles for several years--what happened to Enclave?
 

Carrie in PA

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Steve Laube is still a big legit agent, but I crossed him off my query list. If you go to the website and take a look at the ridiculous hoops he wants for a simple query, (including a full proposal with market research), I decided that my time was better spent going mainstream. Also after the last conference I was at, I felt the same - I needed a shower afterwards. Many of the "agents" were transitioning to a sort of glorified vanity press assistance model, and it just .... eew. I may eventually self-publish my C-fic, although many interactions with the target market also left me needing a shower. I'll stop there. LOL
 

litdawg

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My take is that Steve Laube has read the writing on the wall with the big CBA publishers: their fiction constraints leave out too much good writing, and they aren't taking risks on anything not written by a proven commodity. Enclave publishing, however, isn't going to play in the same world of print distribution and author advances. Their idea of advertising is author bootstrapping and posting reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. Moreover, it's closely tied to the heavily monetized Christian Writers Institute, as is Steve's agency. On one hand, they provide a needed farm league for aspiring C-fic writers, but on the other hand that farm league starts smelling more like a cesspool when it becomes clear that there's no real way out of it.

So far as I can see, Steve is a total anomaly in the Christian publishing world, and he can bridge the agent/publisher role without hypocrisy or conflict of interest. That's only due to his unique background as a publisher long before he became an agent. But he doesn't have the resources, nor, it seems, does Gilead Publishing, to advertise, gain shelf space with CBA-connected distributors, or in any way foster a readership for their books that would justify offering authors advances.

Carrie--"vanity press assistance model" is a great way to put it. Too few aspiring writers have their eyes wide open enough to recognize that those schemes are symbiotic at best but most frequently are parasitic. I looked at Realm too and believe it is primarily a clearinghouse of indie press distributors that are Amazon affiliates with no reach beyond the platforms created by their signed authors.

Some of this discussion probably belongs over on the Beware boards. I'm heading over there now to make sure that Authors 4 Authors is flagged as questionable. I just wanted to vent here because it's specific to the C-Fic world.
 
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litdawg

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And it's happening again today. . . An LDS publisher is the most active participant so far for today's pitch contest, Immortal Works. I think FaithPitch is being ignored by agents except for those looking for inspy romance.
 
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