When I reviewed the novel, Out Of The Blue by Janice Thompson, Wendy left the following comment:
Why is it that so many Christian titles these days center around the Amish? I have nothing against them, but, it’s like they feel that it’s “wrong” to use electricity and modern gadgets? Wouldn’t most people, both Christians and non-Christians, relate to “regular” people that resemble those they see everyday in public and in their work places?
My response? Well, I’m not sure. I don’t really know a lot about the Amish, but I do know this: When you place the Amish on the cover of a Christian novel, it seems to sell. Why? I don’t know. I know I’ve seen agents blog about Amish books selling well, and take a look at the following link of the top twenty best-selling novels via christianbooks.com. I counted five titles out of the twenty that have the Amish on the cover! That’s 25% of the titles!
If I had to speculate about this a bit, I’d say that people may find the simple life of the Amish to be appealing. Also, the Amish depict a clean, chaste, and faith-filled life that some people may crave? It would be interesting to see if any Amish authors out there can comment on this post and give some of their insight as to why the Amish books sell so well.
Also, there are a few websites/blogs that focus on Amish fiction. I just heard about these within the last week or so. They are:
Amish Reader
Amish Hearts
If you have specific questions about the Amish or Amish fiction, you might want to visit these sites and maybe ask the list owners some questions? Just a suggestion!
So, authors and blog readers, why do you think the Amish books sell so well within the Christian market?