Blogger: Janet Kobobel Grant
The publishing committee for the fledging publisher was small: four people. They sat not at a boardroom table but in a circle of chairs in the publishing executive’s office.
The marketing director shuffled through her sheaves of reports on how the first two books in a teen series were selling. The numbers weren’t encouraging.
Everyone was disappointed, for the series was groundbreaking–one of the first two teen fiction series in the entire Christian industry (the year was 1989). What had gone wrong? Considerable marketing and bookstore placement had provided what was hoped to be sufficient muscle to grind out enough sales to grow the series.
A sad silence descended on the group after each person–save the executive–voiced the inevitable conclusion that the series should end at two.
But the executive seemed to be weighing options. Not that any had been presented.
Then he said, “I think we should do two more books to see if that will give us the momentum we need. Teens need novels; let’s do it for the ministry.”
I can recount this scene in detail because I was the editor sitting in one of those chairs. Rolf Zettersten, who now is the senior vice president of FaithWords (a division of Hachette), was the executive who made the decision. The publisher was Focus on the Family, and the series was Robin Jones Gunn’s Christy Miller Series.
Rolf’s gutsy decision, based not on finances but on ministry, paid off on both fronts. The series grew to twelve books, all of which remain in print and are still selling at a brisk pace. So far they’ve sold close to 5 million copies. Yup, 5 million. And Robin regularly receives letters and emails from around the world from girls who have come to Christ because of Christy Miller and who have made other significant spiritual decisions based on the series’ characters’ example.
Good call, Rolf.
Fast forward to the year 2000. Dan Rich, publisher of WaterBrook Press, watches retailers enter a ballroom at the Christian Booksellers Convention for a book signing. Sitting behind four tables are three best-selling authors and a newbie author.
As Dan expected, the first retailers to come in head to the best-selling authors. The second wave of retailers, seeing the lines for the well-known writers, head over to the newbie to collect signed copies of her book. Just as Dan would have predicted.
But then something odd happened. With all the lines being of about equal length, when additional retailers joined the crowd, they looked at the posters of the books being signed and…headed over to the newbie’s line.
That’s when Dan made a gutsy decision: He chose to put major marketing muscle behind the book. Since WaterBrook was a relatively new publishing division of Random House, that was a dangerous decision. If it were wrong, he’d have Random House executives to answer to.
But Dan made the right call. Joanna Weaver’s Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World continues to sell at a strong pace fifteen years after its release, and last year it crossed the one-million-copies-sold mark. Lives transformed, hearts renewed.
I know this story to be true because Dan recounted it to me, as Joanna’s agent, a few years into Mary Heart’s happy life.
These two stories remind all of us what makes publishing so wonderful: Following one’s instincts can result in something special happening. But it takes guts. Risk. Going out on a ledge.
Looking for only authors with platform means missing out. Not only on the two books I’ve mentioned but also Sarah Young’s Jesus Calling and writers such as Bev Lewis, Dee Henderson and Karen Kingsbury.
Those in publishing who make decisions based purely on the numbers don’t know what they’re missing. But we can assure them they are missing out on some very important books. The kinds of books that create new trends, that infuse energy (and funds) into the entire industry.
Let’s all be gutsy! Not ridiculous, toss all cares to the wind gutsy. But let’s be people who are willing to take a risk–because that’s what our guts tell us.
What books or authors can you think of that publishing took a chance on–and won?
What would be a gutsy decision for you?
TWEETABLES
What publishing needs now are gutsy people. Click to tweet.
Writers: Follow your gut. It’s probably right. Click to tweet.
Guts? Luck? Or an ear better attuned to God?
Let us be people who are willing to take a risk–because God tells us to.
(note to self: stick to God-inspired risk; the other kind doesn’t work out as well)
A Godly risk is the only kind worth a hoot.
Andrew. I’m with you. Holy Spirit as welcomed writing partner definitely has given me great ideas and ways to say things I normally wouldn’t have.
I love this, Janet. Just love it! And I pray those in publishing read your very gutsy post today!
WELL SAID.
Thanks for your response, Cynthia.
Eleanor Friede gambled big-time on Jonathan Livingston Seagull, and look where THAT got her.
I guess a gutsy move for me is telling stories about Catholics. Catholic fiction is a tiny market, it seems, and the Roman church is anathema to CBA.
But I like them. I like the vast majority of clergy who give up to and beyond their emotional resources. I like the monastics like Thomas Merton, whose brother died in a life raft on the North Sea in 1943. I like the people.
But now a more pressing ‘guts’ issue is facing a scary night, and a physically bleak tomorrow. One step, one keystroke at a time, yes, but I am learning that there are limits to resolve, and boundaries to attitude…beyond which lie rather frightening monsters who are unimpressed by courage. I hope this personal excursion is acceptable. I hope it may help someone, because that, now, is why I write.
And if anyone’s interested, my current blog post, finished before I came here this evening, is on ‘guts’. Serendipity, or maybe God, giving a nudge.
Praying for you, Andrew!
Andrew, you connect the words “fear” and “serendipity” like no one else. Your comment here and your post there give me much to think about: the boundaries to my attitude beyond which lie frightening monsters I cannot control. I fear pain, and thus far in life I have experienced little pain. When it comes, I will remember things you have written and they will help. Thank you, Andrew, for sharing the depths of your wisdom and pain with us.
Andrew, you connect the words “fear” and “serendipity” like no one else. Your comment here and your post there give me much to think about: the boundaries to my attitude beyond which lie frightening monsters I cannot control. I fear pain, and thus far in life I have experienced little pain. When it comes, I will remember things you have written and they will help. Thank you, Andrew, for sharing the depths of your pain and wisdom with us.
Andrew, I believe that by your transparency in allowing others to see God sustain you through difficulty is an incalculable ministry to hearts.
Your courage and constant “looking up” helps me and I know many others. We love you as the faithful brother in Christ that you are to us.
BTW, Andrew, God recently put two people into my life. One is an internationally known speaker who regularly speaks to the “lostness” of all Catholics. The other is a young Catholic man of solid faith and ministry. He is a worship leader and follower of Christ.
I am thankful the God gave me that dichotomy from which to learn how broad and deep is the love and redemption of Christ.
Andrew, your writing inspires. It gives an honest look at life, with hope woven in it. I’m continuing to pray for you.
God is using you, Andrew. Keep on.
I’m always amazed when I hear details of your publishing experience, Janet. You have an amazing and blessed resume. And with all that experience, you remain so humble. I hope you know how encouraging you are. “Looking for only authors with platform means missing out” … that means much to me. I certainly don’t have a large platform. But you always spread that much needed hope.
Shelli, I wrote this post to encourage all of us who are weary of the word “platform,” as though it’s a magic panacea for what ails publishing. The answers to what makes a book successful have never been easy to find, but that doesn’t mean publishing personnel have up on the concept there are easy answers.
Inspiring words and sharing to begin the week! Thank you, Janet!
The Christy Miller and Sienna Jensen books were regularly checked out of my Christian school library. I once had a student who was only marginally engaged with her faith. She told me that after reading Sierra Jensen books she felt closer to God than ever before. Years later, she and I still “facebook” and she is living her Christian faith boldly in the Middle East where that can be a scary prospect.
For me a gutsy decision was to write at all. I am not one of those people who can’t help themselves and must write. One blogger said “until there is a cure, I will write.”
That’s cute, but for me, God just put me in this spot and gave me a basic competency. To query an agent, however is gutsy. Basic competency is not the path to publication, and I don’t ever really worry too much about publication, except that I think that is what God is asking of me. I would actually prefer to be working as director of something or another. I see my gifts as understanding how organizations work. I regularly can walk into a place, a ministry, a school and quickly spot the weak spots, devise plans for corrective measures and have a slipshod or weak organization on its feet and functioning.
So if God has me writing 3-6th grade magazine fiction and MG novels, he must know something I don’t know. (as if He doesn’t know everything, and I know nothing!)
Sheila, Robin Gunn actually wrote the Sierra Jensen Series with the intent of discipling girls through the messages in each book. It’s encouraging to hear of yet another life changed through Robin’s teen novels.
Thank you for your faithfulness to just write. God’s plans are mysterious; it’s our to obey.
What a most excellent post, Janet! I am fascinated by your experience in publishing and particularly appreciate this encouraging post first thing on a Monday morning. It was a gutsy decision for me a few years ago when I decided to follow the prompting to take my writing seriously again. Gutsy to go to my first conference. Gutsy to comment here for the first time. But as I risk more, the more courage I find. Remember that children’s song? “I need courage every day. I need courage along life’s way…. C-O-U-R-A-G-E. Yes, courage.”
Meghan, thank you for walking, one step at a time, with the allotment of courage you have. That’s all God asks of us.
Stories told from a Native American, or “ethnic”, or a blended ethnicity, POV are rare to find in the CBA.
Other than Lori Benton, Laura Frantz and a few other authors who have not had the success of Lori and Laura.
I grew up in a multi-ethnic home. And not just any ethnic background, Arab. Palestinian, to be exact. In the 70’s and 80’s, Palestinians were LOATHED.
Yes, we heard every name in the book, and some new ones. And sometimes from church friends, though I always knew who said things within my adopted Father’s hearing. Because he gracefully let them go their own way, and freed them up from encumbering his.
Our urban church had a very active group of dear hearts who worked under the radar with political refugees and local and national police forces. I am no stranger to late night phone calls and the beloved sounds of my dad calming someone down.
If I need to mine my memory for hurt, grief and regret, I don’t have to dig far.
BUT…Was I reading about Christians of colour? Hahaha. Yeah, umm, NO.
This is why my MCs will always be believers of colour.
Is that gutsy?
Uh huh.
And “yes”, to the question of “Do you truly understand what you’re taking on?”
Don’t worry, I live on the corner of Gutsy and Stubborn.
Feel free to pray for my sweet agent.
Love your words here. Jennifer. And how your father has so influenced who you are. And I love the corner you live on. Maybe I need to visit there more often. 🙂
I love it. You are fulfilling an important part of the body in writing these stories.
Oh, what a bright and sunny post for this (here, gray) Monday morning! I always enjoy this kind of peek behind the curtain. I adore a good underdog story. And most of all: I love hearing that–in an industry that survives by being so careful and concerned about its numbers–there remains a fierce love of books and this respect for inklings and gut instincts!
Becky, it’s the love of books that keeps many in publishing pressing forward each day, even when the tasks can feel like pushing boulders up hills.
Love it. Gutsy post from a gutsy agent. And many, many thanks for taking a chance on me so many years ago! Bless you!
Oh, how I love your Ireland books. Grew up on them and adore them. Thank you
BJ, taking you on didn’t feel risky. But one never knows what’s around the next corner, right?
great post, Janet. I’m not a gutsy person by nature, but I’m working on that. 🙂
Gutsy for me looked like my husband and I adopting two amazing boys. More recently, it looks like me taking up writing after decades of believing I could never do it. Gutsy is working on a manuscript to query it. And the next gutsy move for this relatively un-gutsy girl will be to send it out. 🙂
I love Robin Jones Gunn’s story about her Christy Miller series. And how many lives these stories have impacted. 🙂
Jeanne, you’re not a gutsy person?
Ohhh, “by nature”. Uh huh.
Chicks with nerves of steel don’t need as much guts. Just sayin’.
Gutsy looked like adoption? Absolutely,
My hubby had a personality evaluation that said he avoided risk. I get that he always fastens his seatbelt, but volunteering to be two boys’ fourth and forever home doesn’t count?
Write on, gutsy mama.
Shirlee … “two boys’ fourth and forever home” … that’s beautiful.
Submitting your work takes major guts. Hooray for your setting that as your goal.
Gutsy. Wow. I absolutely love this post! I love seeing the behind the scenes, but it also inspires me. As authors, we have to be gutsy to put ourselves out there too. Not rely on the publishers for everything, or our agents. Be wise, be tactful, be professional, but be willing to take risks. Stretch ourselves. I like to rock climb, so this reminds me a lot of that one move where you have a two-finger hold and you have to thrust upward to grab it and stick. It takes determination, but the in the end, when you do stick that hold and ascend, it’s an unbelievable feeling of success.
Uh, I’d rather take a risk on a client than climb a rock any day.
What a refreshing call to dig in and take risks. Thanks.
A Wrinkle in Time comes to mind immediately. Rejected many times until a publisher took a chance on it. Was on the Banned Book List for a while. Still selling to each generation.
At this moment, a gutsy decision for me would be to develop a middle grade novel series for the indie ebook market.
A Wrinkle in Time is a perfect example of an under-appreciated work that has gone on to become a classic.
There is something gutsy about so many of my favorite writers. I don’t know their personal stories, but I wonder if that something that makes their books unique, also made them difficult to sell? Cressida Cowell’s “How to Train Your Dragon” and Cornelia Funke’s “InkHeart” of course we know that Harry Potter was a hard sell, but what about Eoin Colfer’s “Artemis Fowl?” I don’t know, but I love these books. For me…I’ve been attending a writer’s conference every year since 2004 and have seen the difficulty in selling YA and know that romance is the way to go, but when NaNoWriMo came around and I decided that I would do it this year, I wrote a middle grade, for my boys, who all love to read. I huge risk. I don’t know if it will sell. But when I read it to them and they were leaping around the room bouncing on the furniture and shouting by the time the climax rolled around, it was worth it. I made 3 little boys very happy and I would say that this is why we must risk.
Kristen, deciding to move in a direction that the market isn’t moving in is a gutsy call, but you’re doing it with your eyes wide open. And I’d say that’s the important part–daring to do rather than seeing all the reasons to decide “don’t.”
Gutsy, for me as a writer? To write about having a child in prison for a crime and a betrayal so enormous that, after writing for publication for nearly 20 years, I withdrew into myself and despaired of finding my way out again. The losses, the experiences, the providential relationships, lessons learned (again), ministry emerging…….the risk to privacy, the risk of not risking…. You hit the nail on the head with this one!
For you, I’d say add “vulnerable” to gutsy.
True, Janet. And you know what? While it’s true that if God has taught us things we need to share them somewhere, not everything needs to be a book. Sometimes we share in letters to one reader. Sometimes face-to-face. I came out with my story while speaking at a retreat last year. It can take just as much guts to let go of the idea of writing a book. A book may not be the direction.
I appreciate all the posts on this blog, though I hardly ever comment. This one really got me.
I so agree. Not every calamity or mishap in our lives needs to become a book. The stories God writes on our hearts through events and relationships are our responsibility to steward well. Sometimes that means sharing those stories one-to-one, sometimes at a speaking event, sometimes through articles and sometimes in a book. But it can be a gutsy call to bypass the book avenue.
Thank you, Janet, for this encouraging post. It’s wonderful to discover that, at least for some decision-makers in the publishing industry, numbers aren’t always all that matters.
Christine, amen.
What a refreshing, hope-filled view — not only for publishers, but for writers who follow God’s leading to write with ministry at the forefront.
This post was exactly the encouragement I needed today. Thank you so much for recounting memories of gutsy choices that paid off!
You’re welcome, Traci. It encouraged me as I wrote the post, too. Sometimes I forget that amazing books have been published without pre-promises to be best-sellers.
A beautiful post and so encouraging Janet! I’ve loved reading the comments today too and resonate with many of them.
Gutsy for me was remarrying after my first marriage failed, pursuing relationships with two stepchildren who didn’t want a stepmother and co-parenting with my husband’s ex-wife. Twenty years later, gutsy is doing stepfamily ministry in the church where stepfamilies are often misunderstood. Gutsy is sharing personal stories that connect with readers when I’m a private person. Gutsy is attending Mount Hermon and pitching a book proposal although I’d rather stay in the comfort of my home and write articles. Gutsy is the place God seems to use me most, although not the path I can take without His strength and courage!
Kudos, Gayla, for all of those gutsy moves, both personal and professional.
What may be gutsy for some isn’t for others. God made me an extrovert who relishes conversations about Jesus and my faith with people who aren’t yet believers. I get that adrenaline surge in the conversation, and it takes no guts on my part at all. However, I have many Christian sisters who would love to share their faith but find it very uncomfortable to have such conversations even with close friends. God put it on my heart and, perhaps more accurately, put it into my head to write romance novels in which a person who doesn’t know Jesus and might even be extremely hostile to the Christian faith falls in love with a devout believer. The unbeliever must wrestle with finding faith before the believer they love will marry them. My goal – to provide intensely satisfying love stories that someone could give to an unbelieving friend to share the gospel through strong emotional engagement with a character struggling with and ultimately finding faith. I’ve completed three and am halfway through the fourth set in the Roman Empire between AD114 and 122. I’ve been told by the only agent I’ve queried so far that the market for historical romances is weak, but that historical period was the perfect time for stories about high-stakes decisions to follow Jesus. As I prepare to create my web platform that seems to be required even before a query letter can be expected to get the first manuscript request from an agent, I must admit that I find the whole process of gaining entry to the publishing world a bit overwhelming. My prayer partners and I are praying that the vision God gave me fits into someone’s vision of what should be published. Only time will tell. Meanwhile, I keep getting inspired with new storylines, and they are tremendously fun to write. When God calls, God enthralls. Following His leading in this has taken no guts at all.
Great encouragement, thank you!
For me, the first to come to mind is The Notebook. Fished out of a slush pile; we know the rest of that story.
Amazing.
Also, I am heartened to read no platform does not necessarily mean no contract. A platform that makes an agent smile is not an easy thing to create. I spend most of my free time (what’s that) writing.
Thanks for the uplifting!
The Notebook is another fine example of a publisher being gutsy.
Oh, I love this! The idea of being gutsy can be carried far beyond just the realm of publishing too, because there are so many areas of life in which we need to take chances and step out in faith, particularly when it comes to building relationships with others.
This was an excellent reminder that “God did not create in us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”
Right now for me, gutsy looks like carving out the time to write while being a stay at home mom to a toddler and a baby. It looks like putting in the necessary time and energy to create a balance that will serve both my sweet family and the talent God has given me. It means sometimes leaving the crumbs on the floor to pursue my passion and sometimes putting the laptop away to get down at that same crumb covered floor to play with my kids.
Laura, thanks for reminding us to think bigger than publishing and that God is looking for those willing to live powerfully, lovingly, and rationally.
I’m so encouraged by your story, Janet. I believe my WIP about a woman who has the ability to heal with her hands who meets people who are on a mission to inspire humanity was something I had to write. In part, because sections of it felt like they were being channeled (as crazy as that may sound), and in part because it gave me the confidence to step fully into my own “ministry” as a trauma healer who uses hands on work. I expect I have an uphill battle if I go the traditional route, because it’s not always popular to have a positive, inspiring message (that’s why I love this blog, because I do appreciate positive and inspiring!). May I meet exactly the right people, who will be willing to be gutsy with me. Blessings to you.
I wish you the best, as you present your project in hopes of connecting with a publishing house that says yes to your vision for a book.
My gutsy moves this week? A memoir being presented to editors, and applying for a flying scholarship to return to being a pilot after 19 years.
When I discovered the need for a book on family life from the point of view of a woman who came to faith or returned to faith after marriage, I was a very reluctant author. ‘I can’t do this Lord’ I argued. ‘We both believe and have done since our teens. I don’t know what the problems are.’ But God wouldn’t let the subject rest and I grudgingly approached the most obvious publisher with the idea. ” No we wouldn’t publish a book like this” they replied. ” Women in this position are few and far between [hollow laughter from me and the thousands of women who worship alone} amd it is a sensitive subject. A book lying around in the house could be a problem-provoker not a problem solver.” I heaved a relieved sigh but God … So I approached another small publisher and they said “Write it and we’ll see.” So I did and they did and that book changed my life. It took me into non-fiction, to Bulgaria,Russia, Kenya and many other places because no-one else had written or was speaking on this topic. It stayed in print for 12 years and sold 75,000 copies in the US plus 25,000 plus in the UK. I then wrote another longer and more comprehensive book on the subject which has only just gone out of print.It wasn’t a book I wanted to write. It wasn’t a book that I was competent to write, although I learned. But when God say ‘Get out of the boat’ you’d better obey and He will do the rest.
Marion, thanks for your inspiring story and for your faithful, gutsy response to God’s call.
Great post, Janet. How do you think those types of executive issues would be resolved today, with e-publishing, social media, online fan-fic, etc.?
In the Robin Gunn example, I think today it would be a lot gutsier for an executive to make the decision to move forward with a series when the numbers didn’t support that decision. The sales team would toss their arms in the air and ask why they were being assigned the impossible. Focus on the Family was a very small publishing entity; so in one sense the risk was easier to take (no sales team at the publishing committee meeting) but also more difficult (could risk the entire publishing venture). Rolf today might make the same decision; he seemed to be going with his gut because nothing else pointed to his decision making sense.
Dan Rich’s choice I can see being made today. He put marketing money in a book he saw book buyer’s responding to for the book’s sake. Not that it wasn’t a gutsy choice; it’s always gutsy to back the new writer.
Both of these titles were already part of a traditional publisher’s list. I sold Having a Mary Heart right away; so Joanna and I had no reason to look to alternate publishing options, if they had existed in any viable way.
Robin, on the other hand, had been turned down by a lot of publishers. She might have tried self-pubbing, but I doubt she would have made much of a splash. She hadn’t built a mailing list or any other ways to connect with readers. Her publisher had to do that work for her.
Gutsy would mean an agent taking a chance on a literary memoir in essay form (showing how to write) by a ragamuffin Christian woman! (A friend I know…) xo
Beth, when you say “in essay form,” do you mean an agent would agree to represent a literary memoir based on an essay to show the writer’s ability to write?