Since the doors to the African-American Christian fiction market burst open with the founding of Denise Stinson's Walk Worthy Press in 1997, the genre has taken on a life of its own, with various independent and mainstream publishers releasing titles at various times. To find out about the trends, the market and the outlook, PW spoke with some of those involved in dedicated fiction publishing programs run by African-Americans themselves: Walk Worthy Press, now in its seventh year; BET's New Spirit imprint, in its third; and the emerging independent press Literally Speaking Publishing House. (At BEA 2004, Literally Speaking was the first African-American sponsor of the eighth annual African-American Booksellers Conference.)
"The three fastest-growing categories in African-American books are Christian fiction, hip hop/urban novels and erotica," points out James Guitard, senior v-p of operations—as well as an author—at Literally Speaking. "So we as African-American readers are all over the place, and we [who publish Christian fiction] are coming at an important time." LSPH published its first two titles in 2003, and two in 2004, all hardcovers; it plans to publish seven fiction titles in 2005 and 13 in 2006. The house's two fiction titles to date are Blessed Assurance, a six-story anthology by authors including Victoria Christopher Murray, Jacquelin Thomas and Patricia Haley, and Guitard's Mocha Love. Both titles have made the Essence bestseller list.
As associate publisher of Black Issues Book Review, Adrienne Ingrum says she is seeing more fiction written by openly Christian authors, in which the characters' Christian faith plays a part in the story. But what she finds truly compelling is that these novels are "drawing a mainstream reader into a book that will make them think about the Christian faith." And at New Spirit, senior editor Glenda Howard says that her authors tell her that many readers, not necessarily looking for inspirational titles, pick up New Spirit titles during their visits to the African-American fiction sections of bookstores. New Spirit publishes six to nine titles annually.
The authors of these books—who often publish with more than one house—are cranking out a steady stream of product to satisfy what everyone agrees is a hungry market. Among the now-household names are Victoria Christopher Murray (Joy and Truth Be Told), Jacquelin Thomas (The Prodigal Husband and Soul Journey), Sharon Ewell Foster (whose novel Passing by Samaria won a Christy Award), Stephanie Perry Moore (A Lova' Like No Otha') and Michele Andrea Bowen (Church Folk and Second Sunday). T.D. Jakes has scored big with his debut novel, Cover Girls, and Woman Thou Art Loosed: The Novel, a novelization of his popular nonfiction title.
Beyond the CBA Market
Both publishers and booksellers agree that it is the content that draws the readers to these books. But because nonreligious readers are as responsive to these books as religious readers are, the conservative, evangelical or CBA market—publishers, booksellers and readers who align themselves with the Christian Booksellers Association—is not, as might be expected, the sole market for these titles. A few of these titles fit within the CBA; but for the rest of the marketplace, the sky's the limit.
One marketing professional explains, "Christian retailers have guidelines for what's in the books: no bad language, nothing that might offend anybody. Recently, one of the publishers said it was okay [for a character] to drink a glass of wine, which had been unheard of before! Yet, there are a lot of people out there who want wholesome values but are not core CBA buyers. Plus, there are authors who want to break beyond the 'Christian bubble,' and secular retailers who see a demand for wholesome books. Christian retailers are missing out on those good books."
Carol Johnson, vice-president of editorial at Bethany House, publishes Sharon Ewell Foster, so far the house's only African-American novelist. Ain't No Mountain, the first novel in Foster's three-book contract with Bethany, has sold 35,000 copies to date. In Johnson's view, "CBA guidelines are maybe a bit of a myth. Some intuitive things we know won't fly for a CBA store. It's kind of like movie ratings: above PG-13 won't go. No profanity, taking God's name in vain, undue violence or complete description of sexual situations. There are nuances, of course. It's not even written down, but it is up to the editorial sensibility."
Dudley Delffs is the fiction editor at Waterbrook Press (which also publishes Busara, a line of African-American nonfiction). So far, there are no African-American authors on his fiction list. "From talking to authors and reading it, I see that even some African-American fiction that's aimed at the Christian market gets away with more than CBA readers are comfortable with. So to break through to the CBA market, a title must include a multicultural cast or the author must think beyond the African-American readership. CBA's been a huge market, but it may have to become more inclusive instead of appealing just to a WASP-y type of person."
While there's room for all of it, Ingrum explains, this new genre "is reaching black people who go to church but may not have put biblical principles in their lives. CBA readers are already devoted; they are in church, they are tithing. This new breed of Christian fiction is for the person who loves to read, who wants a good story and enjoys reading about how the faith of the characters helps them solve their problems."
Guitard concurs. "CBA is a different market of books. They're often historical books, white, for an evangelical Christian audience. Our books are purposely targeted toward the 'sick.' People who might read Zane—we make it so they can read ours, too. We are trying to go after that reader. So the storylines and characters have to deal with situations that would capture that audience. You won't find that in the bulk of CBA books."
But things may be in transition with CBA writers, suggests Joan Marlow Golan, executive editor at Steeple Hill Books, citing a moment at a recent American Christian romance panel. "An author brought the house down by asking, 'Don't they have any hormones?' There are writers who are taking on the CBA. Some find it too constricting, and others are not aware of the constrictions. But why cut yourself off from a large number of readers for something so small? After all, you can't have redemption without sin."
Keeping It Relevant
The key ingredient in African-American Christian fiction is authenticity and relevance. Cindy Crosby, who has been a Christy judge since the inception of the awards in 1999, enjoys African-American novels "because it gives me the flavor of the African-American Christian experience that as a white person I would not get. Often they address problems with church politics that I find fascinating—you don't see much of that in the CBA world! They have a feel that's different from what you'd get in your basic white CBA novel."
Ruby Davis Wheeler's Globe Bible Bookstore in Detroit, Mich., has been in operation for 21 years. She is selling more fiction now, because in years past, she says, the available novels had little relevance to the African-American Christian. The current titles "deal with the subjects we deal with on a day-to-day basis: relationships with our family, relationships with men and women, even relationships within the church. What I really like about a lot of the novels is that the decisions that the characters make end up being morally right, not decisions that will have a negative impact on their life. As Christians, that's what we look for."
Indeed, it was need that inspired publisher Stinson to launch her pioneering company, Walk Worthy Press. "When I created Walk Worthy Press, I created it for myself: an African-American Christian woman who wanted to read a particular kind of book—about real African-American women and men who had a passion for living their lives in a way that glorified God, but at the same time they have to live in this world, with all the stuff going on in it. These books are published for me and my friends. They want to curl up with a book besides the Bible. I get e-mails all week long saying 'I'm a Christian woman, and I'm so glad you are publishing these books.' " Part of the relevance, BET Books v-p and publisher Linda Gill notes, is that the church plays a large part in the lives of African-American readers. That has even recently been the subject of a nationwide survey by the Barna Research Group, an independent firm that researches cultural trends related to values, beliefs, attitudes and behavior. The Barna survey, of more than 2,600 adults, examined eight elements of religious behavior and discovered that the African-American population is the segment with the most traditional Christian beliefs and practices. Blacks were at the high end of religious activity for half of those behaviors (reading the Bible, praying to God, giving money to churches and watching Christian television). Blacks were also notably less likely than others to be unchurched.
"For a large percentage of us, especially single mothers," Gill adds, "the church plays a large part as a support system. A lot of churches have day care, single-parent ministries, volunteering, charter schools, parenting skills classes, after-school programs, etc. If you are a single parent with a strong relationship with the church, it's a village that helps you raise your child. That's not always reflected in our stories, and that's what we do in New Spirit."
What Readers Crave
As editor of Bookspan's Black Expressions Book Club, Carol Mackey acquires the titles offered to members. "Black Expressions members like 'edgier' Christian fiction that includes life before conversion to Christ, or stories about issues that affect Christians—issues that sometimes make it hard to stay on the 'straight and narrow.' " She explains that these include stories of believers whose lives were "sinful" and then were changed by God, or new Christians who are facing some kind of temptation, such as premarital or extramarital sex, drugs, etc. "Black Expressions members love drama, even in Christian fiction. For example, stories of pastors or preachers in trouble score big with our members."
Teaching through the stories, much as Jesus does in the Bible, is the hallmark of what African-American Christian fiction is supposed to do, Guitard says. "What African-American Christian fiction offers is Bible-based solutions to worldly problems. The stories obviously have to have Jesus Christ in them, but they should not necessarily preach, but teach. So you will have the dramas that are in regular life. You should have worldly circumstances, but faith-based solutions."
Stinson, now also an ordained minister, says that she doesn't look at trends; rather, she looks for a good story, the same as she did when she was an agent, before starting Walk Worthy. She asks three questions: "Will it bring people closer to God? Further from God? Or leave them where they are? There's only one answer. If I looked at what was hot, I'd be trying to publish as much erotica and urban books as I could! I don't publish by trend, I publish by convictions."
Evelyn Curtiss is chairman of the board of the Christian African-American Booksellers Association (CAABA). She is also a bookseller: her Word of Life Christian Bookstore has been operating in Los Angeles for 41 years. In the young women's Bible study at her church, Curtiss has discovered that novels, such as A Lova' Like No Otha' and Flame, make great teaching tools. "I love to see the young women get excited. We use it with the Scriptures so they catch the principles." As a result, she recommends this method to her customers, whom she says might otherwise bypass such fiction. She would also like to see more fiction aimed at men and couples, especially if it would encourage them to read in groups.
For spring 2005, releases in the genre include Saved in the City by Jacquelin Thomas; Kendra Norman-Bellamy's Because of Grace; Linda Hudson-Smith's Sacred Sons (all from New Spirit) and Sharon Ewell Foster's Ain't No Valley (Bethany House). Steeple Hill is publishing How Sweet the Sound, an anthology of romantic novellas by Jacquelin Thomas, Francis Ray and Felicia Mason. Literally Speaking's fiction titles include another anthology, Speak to My Heart, as well as Forbidden Fruit by Rebecca Simms, Preacher's Row by James Guitard and Don't Mess with Me by Angela Russell. Walk Worthy is publishing Plenty Good Room by Cheri Paris Edwards and Heaven Sent by Montré Bible, as well as starting a mass market line. And Warner Faith is releasing the paperback reprint of T.D. Jakes's Cover Girls.
If the current climate is any indication, African-American Christian fiction is here to stay—and to cross over. As Guitard says, "We want our books right next to books that are worldly, where others want theirs set apart. People tell us, 'I read your book because it was next to another fiction book, and I didn't know what it was until it had me on my knees praying!' "
