Christian Writers' Market Guide: The Essential Reference Tool for the Christian Writer

The Christian publishing industry continues to change. As I worked on this year’s guide, I began to see the book and periodical markets like a large sphere.

In the center are the larger publishers and better-paying markets. Those are shrinking down to become a solid core that is often difficult to penetrate. The core of book publishers is made up of houses that require you to have an agent. The core of periodicals is made up of publications that tend to make assignments and pay higher rates. That doesn’t need to be discouraging for the freelance writer—it is simply an indication that the industry is becoming more market savvy and professional. If you polish your craft and become the best writer you can be, it’s still possible to penetrate that core.
Around that center core is a ring of paying markets that are open to both new and experienced freelance writers who are willing to work hard at their craft, study the needs of the market, and produce what the publisher wants. It is those publishers and publications you will most often be targeting with your freelance submissions because they are open to what you have to offer.
However, this sphere has one more outer ring: subsidy publishers and periodicals that don’t pay. Initially, it is more important to get published than to get paid. Working for nonpaying markets gives you the opportunity to develop a reputation as someone who can write in certain topic areas. A subsidy or print-on-demand company might also be a good option for you if you have a book with a limited market, or if you cannot get the attention of a royalty publisher. As you perfect your writing, you can move from the outer ring into the core of the Christian writing sphere.
It is also more apparent to me every year that e-mail and Web sites have taken over communication. More and more publishers are dropping their fax number, phone number, and even addresses from their listings because they prefer e-mail contact and submissions. A few more publishers have blogs, but that doesn’t seem to be catching on too quickly.
The topical listings for book publishers this year have a new addition: publishers that require an agent are now marked with an (a). That will help you eliminate those publishers from your list if you don’t have an agent. (Since you now have the guide on CD, you can print out only the publishers that do not require an agent.)
This edition has 416 book publishers (including 33 new), and 654 periodicals (including 52 new). As usual, a few new topics appear in the book and periodical lists. This year I have also added listings of African American and Hispanic publishers—two markets that are growing rapidly.
I’m sure I will be adding more to these lists in the future. More listings indicate what formats the book publishers produce—such as hard cover, trade paperbacks, mass market paperbacks, and coffee table books—and more of them indicate that they are open to photographs or art work.
The Resources for Writers section, which is now exclusively on the CD-ROM, includes over 100 new entries and two new subsections: Writing Helps and Writing Communities. I encourage you to spend some time in that section, identifying those listings that will help you do your job better and more easily.
This year I want to remind you again not to rely entirely on the topical listings for potential markets. Many good markets never fill out their list of topics, so you are likely to miss opportunities if you look only at that list.
Since a number of periodical publishers are now making assignments only, it is even more important that you establish a reputation in your areas of interest and expertise. Once you have acquired a number of credits in a given field, write to some of those assignment-only editors, giving your credits, and ask for an assignment. In general, you will be better off striving to get some of those assignments rather than hoping to fill one of the few slots left for unsolicited material.
Although agents always come and go, this year the list has dropped to fewer than 100 again—which is a reflection of tightening up my qualifications for appropriate agents. It is still crucial that you carefully check out agents before signing a contract or committing to work with them. See the introduction to the agent section for some tips on how to do that. Because contacting agents has become more important in a writer’s quest for publication, I indicate which conferences have agents, as well as editors, on staff. Attending conferences is becoming one of the best way to make contact with agents as well as publishers.
If you are new to the guide or only want to find specific markets for your work, you’ll want to discover the supplementary lists throughout the book. Read through the glossary and spend a few minutes learning terms you are not familiar with. Review the lists of writers’ groups and conferences and mark those you might be interested in pursuing. The denominational listing and corporate-family listing will help you start connecting periodicals and book publishers with their different denominations or publishing groups. With so many publishers being bought out or merging, this will help keep you up to date with the new members of these growing families.
Also be sure to study the How to Use This Book section. It will save you time in trying to understand the meaning of the notations in the primary listings and it’s full of helpful hints. Remember to send for a catalog and guidelines for any of the publishers or periodicals you are not familiar with. Study those carefully before submitting anything to that publisher or periodical.
Also remember that publishers who make their guidelines available on their Web site often include a great deal more information online than you get in the usual guidelines sheet. One of the biggest complaints I’ve gotten from publishers over the years is that the material they receive is often not appropriate for their needs. Editors tell me repeatedly that they are looking for writers who understand their periodical or publishing house and their unique approach to the marketplace. With a little time and effort, you can meet an editor’s expectations, distinguish
yourself as a professional, and sell what you write.
I also want to let you know that I have started a marketing blog (see below) where you can find all kinds of information about the industry and keep your market guide up to date during the year. I make entries almost every day.
Finally, my special thanks for to Donna Schlachter for producing the Resources for Writers section this year—always a daunting project. I also want to thank her husband, Patrick, for developing and overseeing the database I use to produce the guide each year. I couldn’t do it without his professional help.
As always, I wish you well as you travel this exciting road to publication, whether for the first time or as a longtime veteran. And as I remind you every year, each of you has been given a specific mission in the field of writing. You and I often feel inadequate to the task, but I learned a long time ago that the writing assignments God has given me cannot be written quite as well by anyone else.
Sally E. Stuart
1647 S.W. Pheasant Dr.
Aloha, OR 97006
(503)642-9844 (Please call after 9 a.m. Pacific time.)
Fax (503)848-3658
E-mail: stuartcwmg@aol.com
Website: www.stuartmarket.com
Blog: www.stuartmarket.blogspot.com
Please contact me for information on how to receive the market guide automatically every year and freeze the price at $34.99, plus postage, for future editions, or for information on getting the guide at a discounted group rate or getting books on consignment for your next seminar or conference.