AND THE SPEAkER SAID . . .

“I came to you in weakness and fear and . . . my message and my preaching were not wise and persuasive . . ..” (I Corinthians 2:3-4).

NY TIMES CHRISTIAN BEST SELLERS

• THE FIVE LOVE LANGUAGES by Gary Chapman (Northfield/Moody) is #1 in Relationships; #2 in Advice, How-To & Misc.
• THE WAIT by DeVon Franklin and Meagan Good with Tim Vandehey (Howard Books) is #4 in Religion, Spirituality & Faith; #5 in Relationships.
• THE POWER OF I AM by Joel Osteen (FaithWords) is #5 in Religion, Spirituality & Faith.
• BOUNDARIES by Henry Cloud and John Townsend (Zondervan) is #7 in Religion, Spirituality & Faith.

 

LES STOBBE HONORED

Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers' Lifetime Achievement Presented to Les Stobbe

In honor of 60 years of service to Christian publishing, the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Institute presented literary agent and former publisher Les Stobbe with their Lifetime Achievement Award on May 23. Fifteen presenters described his impact on their life as a writer, agent, publisher via video, audio, and written messages. Duo MCs were Austin Boyd, a client of Stobbe for 11 years, and Sally Apokedak, who joined him as agent three years ago.

RELIGIOUS WRITING

Religious writing. This is a genre wide open to freelance submissions—whether for articles, short stories, books, poetry or fillers. The publishers primarily are Christian, Catholic, or Jewish. If you want to write for any of them, you need to be affiliated with that religion and have a clear understanding of their beliefs and interests. The Christian publishers fall into two categories denominational (associated with a specific denomination, such as Southern Baptist or Congregational), and nondenominational (no denominational affiliation). Those publishers also fall into evangelical publishers, such as Southern Baptist, Nazarene, and Assemblies of God; and mainline church denominations, such as Lutheran, Episcopalian, and Presbyterian. Some of these publishers will accept an implicit Christian message where others insist on an explicit Christian message.

This genre includes publications for young children through senior adults. The market includes needs for religious adult publications, children's publications from nursery school through junior high, teens, pastors and leaders, missions, women, and devotional publications. There are about 500 religious publications. Generally speaking, most of these publications have small circulations and go from no payment, up to competitive payments from the larger publications.

There are also book publishers that publish books exclusively for the religious market. They cover many topics, but all must have a religious slant. Religious publishers believe they have a mandate to publish only religious books. Although there are denominational and nondenominational publishers, most of the denominational ones now publish books for an audience wider than only their denomination. They all make their books available in religious bookstores. You will find a list of Christian and Catholic publications and book publishers in the Christian Writers' Market Guide, http://www.stuartmarket.com. For a listing of Jewish publishers, go to: http://www.avotaynu.com/ajbp.html.

QUOTING COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL

The question that always arises with quotes, is how much can you quote without needing permission to include it. Unfortunately the copyright law does not give a definitive answer to that question. It basically comes down to how much is considered fair use. For example, if you are quoting a sentence or two that supports something you say in your piece, then you probably only need to give credit to the author and source. However, if you are writing on marriage and find a book on the ten steps to a happy marriage—and pull out those ten steps to list in your book—you are in essence pulling out the heart of the book and could only use them with permission. In other words, how important is the quote you are using in relation to the other book as a whole? Use your common sense and ask yourself if you would want to be asked for permission if you had written the quoted material.

If you need to ask permission, send a letter or email to the publisher of that author, and ask if they can forward your request to their author. They aren't likely to give out the author's contact information, but will be willing to forward your correspondence. In some cases, the publisher will control those rights and they are the ones who will have to grant permission. Your letter needs to indicate the exact passage quoted, listing page number, line number, starting with this phrase and ending with this one. If for a book, ask for permission to use it in this edition and any future editions (you don't want to have to go back for permission for every new edition.) The original author will want to know exactly what you are writing and how you will be using the quote, so be specific and show the quote in context. For more details on this issue, go to: http://www.psupress.org/author/author_copyright.html.

TOP 15 CHRISTIAN PUBLISHERS

        ShareFaith Magazine has compiled a list of the top 15 Christian publishers, based on the publisher's reach, history, and mission.

1. Baker Publishing Group
2. B & H Publishing (Lifeway)
3. Abingdon Press
4. Intervarsity Press
5. Crossway
6. Wipf and Stock
7. Moody Publishers
8. Tyndale House
9. Waterbrook Multnomah
10. Zondervan (incl. Thomas Nelson)
11. Baylor University Press
12. Harvest House Publishers
13. Concordia Publishing House
14. Ignatius Press
15. Paraclete Press

NY TIMES CHRISTIAN BEST SELLERS

THE FIVE LOVE LANGUAGES by Gary Chapman (Northfield/Moody) is #1 in Relationships; #2 in Advice, How-To & Misc.

THE WAIT by DeVon Franklin and Meagan Good with Tim Vandehey (Howard Books) is #4 in Religion, Spirituality & Faith; #5 in Relationships.

THE POWER OF I AM by Joel Osteen (FaithWords) is #5 in Religion, Spirituality & Faith.

BOUNDARIES by Henry Cloud and John Townsend (Zondervan) is #7 in Religion, Spirituality & Faith.