I’ve written a series of novels for young teenagers about a synchronized skating team that keeps getting involved with mysteries.
I tried to get it published through the traditional route, but no luck at all. Finally at one of the writers’ conferences that I attended, I talked to an editor who told me that my novels are “niche” and will only appeal to a very small portion of the population (figure skaters, specifically synchronized skaters, their parents, and skating fans). He told me that it is highly unlikely that any publisher would ever be interested in my novels.
So I took them to iuniverse, a print-on-demand company that’s affiliated loosely with Barnes and Noble. The first two novels have been out for a few years, and I am trying to get my third novel in the series out. (I have to get permission from United States Figure Skating for a certain synchro team to be featured on the cover of the novel, and that takes time because we have to submit signed documents from the team itself. This is necessary so that the skaters don’t compromise their amateur status.)
I have been very happy with my experience through iuniverse. They produce a pretty product and offer it at a reasonable price, and they do exactly what they tell me they will do. Skaters and other interested readers can purchase my novels through iuniverse, through
amazon.com, or even as an ebook (a nice option for skaters who don’t live in the United States).
I recommend this route to those of you who have “niche” novels. It’s not terribly expensive, and since it’s Print On Demand, you don’t have thousands of copies of your novel molding down in your basement.
I’m lucky that an editor with another publishing company is a synchro mom, and she has actually edited my second and third novels, and promoted them in articles in various skating magazines. It’s too bad her publishing company isn’t interested in my novels, but the company deals exclusively with stories about adoption. (Good place, perhaps, for CAF writers to submit?!)
I also have a website promoting my novels, but I admit that I don’t keep it up like I should. I highly recommend a website for writers.
I consider myself a competent writer who shows occasional bursts of style. These synchro novels are helping me to practice and improve my skills. I believe that my third novel will be quite successful, as it is a Holocaust story that I actually wrote years ago when I was much younger. I hauled out the basic story and adapted it for my fictional skating team, and frankly, I think it’s suspenseful and thought-provoking. It’s also loaded with skating, especially synchronized skating. The skating is part of the plot, not tacked on to the plot. I know that skaters, their families, and fans, will like it.
I don’t sell thousands of books, I sell hundreds. I get a little royalty check every few months, and that’s fun. But my main pleasure is writing stories for synchronized skaters who currently have no other stories in print about their sport. I’ve gotten letters from skaters who take my novels to their school teachers and tell them, “THIS is what I do! You can read all about it!”
My novels have a decidedly “Catholic” feeling. I started writing them at the same time that we started studying Catholicism. I will admit that I actually “tried out” being Catholic through the main characters (specifically the female character) in the novels, and it felt “right” to be Catholic. So my novels were actually part of the process that brought me home to the Catholic Church.
The second novel is actually a mystery involving the Rosary and a real cathedral in Raleigh, North Carolina.
I have also written several other novels, including an adult version of the synchro novel series (the same story told from the point of view of the adults, mainly the parents and coaches, instead of the skaters)–that was a fun exercise and I recommend it to those who are practicing their skills. Try writing your story/novel from the point of view of all the different characters.
Last year I wrote nineteen chapters of a delightful Rosary mystery/romance, but then the plot went awry and I abandoned the novel. I continue to work on this plot, because I think it’s good and I think that Catholic publishers ought to really look into publishing more fiction and I would like to submit this novel to them in all its glory someday. It really bums me that Dan Brown sold so many copies of Da Vinci Code. I want MY novel to be a better story and a whole lot more accurate in its portrayal of the Church!
If you go into a Protestant bookstore, the BULK of the shelves are filled with fiction, mainly thrillers and romance, and much of it is very poorly written, IMHO. Take a look. Browse through some novels by Christian authors. Many of them would receive Cs from a high school English teacher.
I don’t understand why Catholic publishers are balking at publishing fiction for adults, especially women. Many Catholic women that I know buy those PROTESTANT romance novels because–no big surprise–women LIKE romance novels! And the Protestant romances offer “clean” romance compared to the secular romance novels which, IMO, are very titillating and can definitely be an occasion for sin. (Yes, women masturbate, too.)
Also, the Christian mystery/thrillers are purchased by both men and women. Have you ever actually read the Left Behind series? My husband started reading the first novel in the series, and gave up after he discovered TWO glaring errors about computers in the first 30 pages! He said that if LaHaye and Jenkins had talked to any high school computer student, they could have avoided these two errors without compromising their plot or lowering the “suspense” factor of their story. So why didn’t LaHaye and Jenkins bother to do a little research? My feeling is that they assume that we are all too ignorant to know the difference. And I think that’s terrible! I think writers should respect their readers more!
I do a lot of research on my teen novels. My husband even travelled back to Raleigh, North Carolina (where we lived for ten years and where I set my novels) and brought home a stack of photos. I’ve called people all over the world to ask questions and get facts that I can use in my novels. I visited a local Muslim cleric to obtain a beautiful Muslim name for one of the teenaged skaters in my third novel! (That was fun.) I talked to a woman who keeps a “Museum of Death” in order to obtain facts for the fourth novel in my series. I hired (for $30!) our high school French teacher to edit the French in my first novel. And I asked my German friend at work to edit my German in the 3rd novel (and I named one of the villains after her!).
I think there’s no excuse for making it up when you can make it real.
And nowadays, it’s just stupid to put out made-up “facts” when people can prove that you’re wrong in two minutes by Googling your “fact.”
I think it’s fun to make it real. A coach in Chicago asked me if my kids skated at the rink that I describe in my novels. I told her, “That rink is entirely fictional. It doesn’t exist.” She was quite surprised. I think she was hoping to bring her synchro teams to a competition there someday!
I just keep writing. My mom once told me that she thinks I’ll make it someday (whatever that means). Last year, I wrote two screenplays and I’ve entered them in a few contests. I would like to do more of that, as screenplays are fairly quick to write and have a huge profit margin if they ever get picked up. (I don’t think I have the intestinal fortitude to pitch and sell “options” and “treatments” and make a living on screenplays that never actually get made into movies, but I certainly admire this method of writing and making money! It would be a good screenplay!)
I keep a moleskine with me at all times, and write down ideas for stories, characters, even names of bars. I saw a bar up in Wisconsin called “Bobbleheads”–in my opinion, the coolest name for a bar ever, other than the BadaBing." In one of my novels (yes, the teen novels), there is a sleazy bar called “The Silverfish Saloon.” Would YOU go into a bar with that name? (Yecch!)
I really recommend this moleskine idea to you. It helps you not forget your million dollar ideas.
Once a friend asked me why I write, and after I thought about it, I told her that I love telling stories. Sure, I would like to make money at it and be famous, but only if the story that earns me the money and fame is worth telling.
Enough stuff from me. So how does everyone else feel about the dearth of Catholic popular fiction? (I’m not talking about Catholic literary fiction, but popular fiction, the stuff that people actually take to the beach with them or read in bed.)
Does anyone know for really, truly, why Catholic publishing houses don’t seem interested in fiction unless it comes from a Catholic “celebrity?” (e.g., Marcus Grodi and his
How Firm A Foundation) Do they really think that there will be no market for Catholic popular fiction?
