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Minority Book Publisher

Now that that’s taken care of…

I recognize that the “industry” is not a faceless machine, but a conglomeration of people, pedaling as fast as they can. So I appreciate the people. What makes it hard for them, and for us authors, is the economic swamp we’re slogging through.

So I wish a stronger economic environment.

I wish the publishing version of iTunes would hurry up and get here (whoever, whatever it may be).

I wish renewed vision and passion for publishers and authors alike. We have a mission, and God, in his providence, opens and shuts doors in his own [exceedingly slow] time. While we wait, I wish for confidence in his perfect plan.

I wish biblical integrity and depth.
I wish a growing focus on the grace of God and not so much on the duties of us.
I wish fun, edge-of-your seat writing.
I wish for crossover books that draw millions of people who grope in darkness to the light of Jesus.
I wish I would quit rambling.

Cheryl

That was not too much of an exaggeration, and it struck me that our children are being shaped by a mere handful of people. There are maybe three-hundred people deciding what gets published for children in our country. If most of those editors and agents that are keeping the gates for children’s books hold to liberal or ungodly social/religious/political views, the books they put out are going to shape our children and our society in a way I don’t care for.

I read recently that publishing companies used to be run by millionaires’ sons. They didn’t care about making money. They wanted to publish books that were important. Books that they considered essential.

As the publishers have sold out to big corporations, bottom line has become the thing that dictates which books are important. Editors still want to acquire books that reflect their sensibilities, sure. Fortunately for them, in a depraved generation, the books that the more liberal editors like are also the books that sell well.

So my wish for publishing is that some rich men would once again start companies to publish good books without regard to saleability. Rich men build hospitals to save sick children from disease. Are diseased minds and souls any less important than diseased bodies? We Christians know that in light of eternity, our souls are far more important. So where are the rich Christian men willing to look at publishing as an important mission?

The Mormons have been having great success with their children’s books. They aren’t preachy and I’m not saying we should be preachy. I’m just saying it would be great if more publishers would publish from a Christian worldview without regard to sales and without having their hands tied by bookstores who won’t order unless the books are watered down so as to be acceptable to fundamentalist Christian consumers. ECPA houses have, so far, not been widely successful in this, and children who love to read are left reading books with anti-Christian thought, new age religious beliefs, and sexually sinful ideas presented as wholesome.

So that’s my wish and my prayer. Not that a quake would come and wipe out our liberal-minded brethren in the children’s publishing industry but that men with cash would catch the vision and enter the arena of public thought by publishing books that offer another point of view to our reading children. Let’s have all sides presented so our children can make informed decisions.

Hey, a girl can dream, can’t she?