WhereTheMapEnds: It certainly does. Now what have you seen that discourages or frustrates you about Christian speculative fiction writing and/or publishing?

Wayne Thomas Batson: I am thoroughly frustrated by product placement in both CBA and ABA stores. [Editor's note: "ABA" stands for the American Booksellers' Association and is a shorthand way of referring to the secular publishing and book retailing industry.]

I know there are a lot of hands involved in determining where a book goes: marketers, distributors, branch managers—and even a local clerk can trump them all by putting a book wherever. LOL

In CBA stores, fiction often gets lumped together with nursery rhymes and Beginner's Bibles. Come on, dude…if you’re a teenager looking for a book, are you even going to consider something next to A Very Veggie Christmas?

In ABA stores, you often see great Christian SpecFic titles tossed into teeny tiny “Religious Fiction” sections. Yes, the place where no one sees it. That’s another reason why I don’t like delineating my work as Christian fiction—if I do, it’s just that much easier to get thrown in with New Age fiction or Taoist fiction.

If I do have Christ’s message to share, the books need to be where people can see them. You don’t see Phillip Pullman’s books being pulled from mainstream fiction for a special “Atheistic Fiction” section. Tolkien and Lewis can be found in both sections—religious and mainstream. Maybe dual designation is what we should be looking for. Hmmm…

WhereTheMapEnds: I understand your point and have felt your pain. My own name for the religious fiction in secular bookstores is Death Row. However, I don't see this changing in the foreseeable future. Sales reps from Christian publishing companies meet with the religion buyers at secular bookstores. What they buy for their shelves goes on their shelves.

There are other reasons, too, including the fact that most Christian publishers do not have enough titles at once that could be put on the regular Fantasy/SF shelf, for instance. Bookstore chains look to group books together to better feature them in their promotional pieces and catalogs. If a Christian publisher wants to be on that shelf but can't produce 6 such titles to be grouped together for a catalog ad, it's not going to happen.

As for atheistic fiction, I see your point there, too, but there is no full-fledged atheistic publishing industry as there is with a Christian publishing industry. When they get as big as the CBA maybe they will be segregated.

And I'm afraid the C.S. Lewis/J.R.R. Tolkien argument is moot. Thier books are now considered classics and therefore in the public domain in terms of where they can be shelved.

Still, I know it's a terrible frustration when you're writing for a crossover market, hoping to get non-Christians to read your work, and yet you are not allowed access to that target readership. Yeah, that's no fun at all.

A benefit of marketing on the Internet is that it is, by definintion, cross-marketing, cross-platform, and crossover. All kinds of people can see and buy your book online.

Okay, off my soapbox! What do you think Christian speculative fiction writing and/or publishing will look like in three years? Five years? Ten years?

Wayne Thomas Batson: I think that depends a lot on local bookstore owners. I’d like to see Christian bookstores become bookstores again. Devote more floorspace to books. Advertise your books. Price your books competitively. Have contests, signings, readings, youth parties—whatever, but let people know, “Hey, we have good books here!”

WhereTheMapEnds: And how about cutting down on the knicknacks and scented candles and everything else that tells men and teenagers to stay away? [innocent grin] So, Wayne, what advice would you give to someone who aspires to write and publish Christian speculative fiction?

Wayne Thomas Batson: First, you can do it. If I can, anyone can. God has gifted you uniquely with creativity and passion for stories. And people always have and always will love stories.

Second, write. Stop making excuses. Stop whining. Stop comparing. And write. If your craft isn’t there yet, take some classes. Read in the genre you love. And then tell the story you’ve been dying to tell. [Editor's note: And read and heed all the awesome advice at the Fiction Writing Tip of the Week column.]

[Editor's note: Stop making so many editor's notes, Jeff.]

[Okay, sorry.]

[Editor's note: We apologize again for all the editor's notes. Those responsible for sacking the people who have just been sacked have been sacked.]

Third, t hink carefully about your intent in writing “Christian fiction.” Do you want to encourage the faithful? Do you want to convert the masses? What is the reason you want to do this? Whatever your answer, don’t let the story suffer. You cannot write a salvation tract, dress it up with elves, and call it a story. You’ve got to write a compelling story or the message will suffer.