Writing and reading Christian fiction

If you dream of being an award-winning novelist, some advice...

If you dream of writing Christian fiction, or if you simply read a lot of Christian fiction, you may have heard of the Christy Awards. If you dream of writing award-winning fiction, keep reading. (If you want to write Christian fiction the best place to start is by reading it!)

I had the opportunity to attend the Christy’s last night, because West Coast Christian Writers was one of the sponsors for the Evangelical Christian Publishing Association “Art of Writing” conference, and the awards dinner that follows. Since the event was held in the Chicago area and I’m the only Chicagoan on the WCCW board of directors, I stepped up to attend.

The Christy award ceremony is the Academy Awards of Christian fiction. The ECPA gives out the awards each year in a variety of categories from historical fiction to speculative fiction. Everyone dresses up, awardees get beautiful crystal trophies, give speeches, get teary. It’s a very fun evening, if you like hobnobbing with authors and other book folks, which I do. As I watched the authors accept their awards, I noticed something: these folks have been working hard at their craft for a long time.

The evening ceremony is preceded by an afternoon of writing workshops run by the ECPA and a sort of trade show where sponsors have display tables. I told authors about West Coast Christian Writers and invited them to sign up for our newsletter and answered their questions about the conference and our non-profit organization that supports writers.

At my display table with my new friend, speaker and author Dr. Katherine Hutchinson-Hayes

It was like old home week. I saw editors and agents and even radio producers I’ve known over the years in my 25 years in Christian publishing. I chatted with my Tyndale Publishing editor, Sarah, and publicist, Natalie, who both worked on my new book, Live Like a Guide Dog. I also met new friends and authors.

The best was reconnecting with Adrienne Ingrum, who was my editor at FaithWords/Hachette for my book GodSpace. Adrienne believed in my writing and always encouraged me, and I was delighted to see her again. She now works as a literary agent for Serendipity Literary Agency. We sat together at the Christy’s dinner and enjoyed catching up.

One thing that struck me, hanging out with fiction writers. The ones who are winning awards have not just written one book, for the most part. While one award is given for “best debut novel,” most of those honored have a body of work. One author mentioned that she wrote 20 novels before the one that earned her this particular honor.

Many novelists, whether traditionally published or self-published, group their books into a series. And they write more than one series. They won’t just write a trilogy; they write several trilogies over time. (One quite prolific past Christy winner is Susan May Warren, who has written 65 novels!)

My point is, many would-be writers want to write a book. One book. It’s their dream. They think that publishing their book is the finish line of the writing life. That is simply not how this business works, especially if you are a novelist. Many novelists crank out several books a year. They may release one literary fiction title per year but also do some shorter romance novels in that same year. Each writer figures out a different strategy to make sure they are giving their readers reasons to come back time after time.

This is also true for non-fiction authors. If readers enjoy your book, they’ll want to read more from you. Building a writing life means building a business, in which you produce products (books but also things like webinars and talks) on a regular basis.

Think about it as a reader: if you enjoy a book, don’t you head back to amazon or the library to see what else this author has written, so you can read more of their work? Aren’t you often a fan of an author, not just one book?

When an author writes a second and third book, those books drive sales of the first book. Each book provides readers the opportunity to discover you.

Here’s what is also true of award-winning writers: they show up at events like the one I attended yesterday, to learn about writing and publishing. They hone their craft, constantly learning and improving, getting feedback and paying attention to the editors and mentors who help them to be better writers.

Is one book ever enough?

I do have clients who only publish one book. Often, they are not trying to build a writing career. Rather, they are business leaders who want to write a book that will establish them as an authority, giving them credibility and gravitas that will allow them to build their business, secure consulting clients or speaking gigs. And that is perfectly fine, because their goal differs from that of a writer. They want to be a successful speaker or consultant or business person, and a book is just one tool for marketing their business. They focus most of their energy on their business, which is why they hire me to help them write and publish a book.

Some one-book writers are interested in memoir. They want to get their story down, and share it with readers (sometimes that is just family and friends). They don’t really want to keep writing, they want to have written their one story, and that’s it. And that’s okay, too.

But if you want to be an author, not just someone who has written a book, you’re going to build a body of work, one book at a time. You have to think of it as building a business. Literary success can be a long journey of learning and discovery. Every book you write, you get better. You learn from doing. Hopefully, you keep working on building a writing life, and who knows? Eventually, you may become an award-winning writer.

Leave a comment: who is your favorite Christian fiction author? (if you have one) If you haven’t read much in this genre, a great place to build a reading list is with the Christy award winners.