Among the listed reasons my first novel, Otherworld, was rejected for publication were "The whole UFO/alien thing is not popular right now" and "Supernatural thrillers are out of fashion."
This was the year all those Sixth Sense ripoffs appeared in the theaters.
This was the year before War of the Worlds became Tom Cruise's highest grossing movie.
This fall the networks are unleashing a whole host of supernatural-themed programs, a few of them alien related.
Now Sony Pictures is going to adapt Whitley Streiber's novel The Grays.
I don't argue with publishers. But are supernatural thrillers and alien-related stories ever out of fashion?
The book came very close to publication with a new imprint specializing in speculative fiction. "Speculative fiction" -- that's code for sci-fi, fantasy, and supernatural. The editor in charge really wanted to publish my book and was campaigning for it hard with the editorial board (ie. the ones who bankroll the operation). The board ultimately turned it down because "women are the ones who read Christian fiction and women don't like science fiction."
I was thinking a) if you read the book, you'd see it's not really science fiction, and b) if you want women readers, why are you launching a speculative fiction line in the first place?
Someday I'll get it. But today I don't.
- G.K. Chesterton
Trackback URL: http://thinklings.org/bloo.trackback.php/2381.
Didn't The 4400, a TV miniseries about alien abductees, come out within the last 24 months? Popular, I hear.
Jared,
Is a different publisher, perhaps even a secular publisher, out of the question?
Raindream, The 4400 is awesome and I know plenty of women who watch it.
Here's the thing - I am a woman and I don't generally like to read either sci-fi/fantasy or Christian fiction. However, I do like sci-fi movies/TV.
Having read your book, I have to say that while the first few chapters might lead people to believe it's sci-fi/fantasy, it really isn't that. Speculative fiction is how I'd label it.
Jared, I'd love to read a treatment of your novel. Spooky, this is. I've had a scifi/alien novel percolating for some time now. Since I'm a hybrid, I think I can give a unique point of view from the inside.
Jared -
You could always go with the paranoid angle, like when somebody rejects one of my scripts and tells me it was a "terrific read" but just not right for them. At which point, I debate whether they really meant it or were just trying to be nice. :)
Bill, I like that!
I read the chapter on Publication in Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird today, and it is awesome. She nails the paranoia perfectly, and I'm glad to know I share it with a several-times published author.
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Damon:
I've exhausted just about every suitable publisher on my first novel. It definitely wouldn't fit a secular press (unlike my current project, I think). My first book is pretty much a dead book, and I'm cool with that.
Maybe some day I can break it back out, re-tool it a bit and breathe new life into it. But that's far down on my list of priorities right now.
My current project hasn't even been shopped yet, so I'm not stressing about secular/CBA market right now. Either would be fine with me; I'm more concerned with finding a publisher who "gets" the book and is enthused about it than whether the publisher is CBA or not. But I'll start with the CBA because that is the best fit for me right now and because that is where my agent specializes.
An editor at HarperCollins has seen the first few chapters of my current project, and while he said it was too "literary" for his particular imprint, he did think it would be a better fit outside the CBA. He might be right, but I may not realize it until every CBA publisher has turned it down. ;-)
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This isn't supposed to be whiney publishing woes post. Does it sound like it is? 'Cause I really don't want to do another one of those. Should I take it down?
Waiting on someone to mention self-publishing . . . ;-)
just kidding
Joel, as I mentioned, Otherworld is a dead dog. You can still see my synopsis, if you want, but there's nothing left I can do to it or with it right now.
And that, De, is why you are De the Forsaken Thinkling instead of Bill the Thinkling Restored.
;-)
LOL...I was wondering why Bill had been crossed out. Read more, post less. Although he beat me to the self-publishing suggestion... :o)
I know I've heard this story before, but it's still a head-scracher. "We're launching a Christian SF line ... but we don't want to publish any SF-looking books, because our readers don't like Christian SF."
Science / speculative fiction is one of those tried-and-true genres that swings back and forth in popularity every few years. This year, TV wise (thanks in large part to "Lost"), it's on an up-swing. Give it a year or two and it'll be out of fashion again. But how long does it take to find, greenlight, and publish a novel? Seems to me that if a publisher EVER wants to hit the up-swing in genre popularity, they need to have a little forsight and be willing to take a risk.
So much head scratching, I think I've pierced my skull.
Okay, here I go:
The fantasy genre is a HUGE seller among women. McCaffrey, Lackey, Le Guin, Bradley--those women authors have made a fortune selling millions of books to women reading fantasy. The largest segment of fantasy readership is--by far--the fairer sex.
Many of the women reading those books are Christians, my wife included. They are reading them because almost no one is writing them on the Christian side (Lawhead is one of the few that standout.) As for sci-fi, my wife recently finished an excellent trilogy by Christian author Kathy Tyers (who has written Star Wars series books--also well read by women), and while sci-fi for women is a dicier prospect, books written with deep characterizations--particularly of strong women--will sell.
The novel I will be bring to the ACFW conference in a couple weeks is 100% speculative, blending sci-fi, fantasy, thrillers, horror, and even romance. It is written with the understanding that women will probably be the primary readers (since women comprise 80% of readers among Christians), although men will certainly like it. The three other male authors in my critique group have enjoyed it, particularly the one who loves speculative fiction.
As for "unpublishable focus," it features the blossoming of a timid young woman who becomes a true warrior for the Lord. On the surface, it's a book with aliens--but only on the surface. Adroit readers will catch my mad plan, while the less studious will still enjoy a ripping yarn. In many ways it is true space opera and will please fans of that type of sci-fi. On the other hand, it has numerous "X-Files" elements. Into that I weave mystery; I explain two great unsolved mysteries in the course of the story. And last but certainly not least, the novel addresses several Christian doctrines and resembles apocalyptic lit in all its themes.
In other words, it has all the elements of quest fantasy mated to romance, quantum physics, and naive-young-woman coming-of-age stories. Plus, for the men, lots of stuff gets blown up! ;-) (I'm liking this so much, I might use it as my pitch!)
Doomed? Who knows? I've got a lot of fans from the folks who have read it so far, so we'll see. What I do know is that I'm going to pitch this hard and with a bulldog's tenacity.
Now if I could just find a buying mag for my 16,250 word Christian/romance/nanotech/horror novelette....
Another thing that mystifies me is that "The X-Files" has an enrmous fan base that Harper Collins appears to have forgotten about. In the mid-1990s there were a few original novels put out (mostly by Kevin J. Anderson), but the series has been mothballed after about three or four books.
Why? Did fan-fic kill it? I would have thought it would have been as big as the Star Wars and Star Trek series books, but not a peep for almost ten years.
What I most appreciate about "The X-Files" is that it was quite open to solid Christian themes. In fact, the series ended with the idea that our only hope for the future can be found in Christ. Does it get any more Christian than that?
Oh well. I'd love to write for it some day (with the understanding that Harper Collins only wants established authors penning the books, a la Lucas Arts and the Star Wars series.)
What I most appreciate about "The X-Files" is that it was quite open to solid Christian themes. In fact, the series ended with the idea that our only hope for the future can be found in Christ.
Really? I do not remember that at all. I'll have to rent the final season DVDs and rewatch them.
On the self-publishing front the newish service Lulu (http://www.lulu.com) is an interesting print on demand idea. I would buy a copy and advertise it on my blog. ;)
Argghhhh!!!!!!
;-)
Okay. I'll set it up for print on demand. But I need to let all the "real" publishers reject it first. :-p
I'm a Christian woman and I would prefer sci-fi and fantasy novels. I love imagination. I don't buy much Christian fiction currently because I don't care for much of what they are selling. Some publisher needs to start taking some risks and discover that there are a whole bunch of us waiting for some variety.