Photo courtesy of Suat Eman

I recently received the following question:

I am an African American woman and I feel, like I’m sure that you do, that I have a gift for writing. I have currently completed a work of African American Christian fiction and I don’t know what to do next. Can you give me pointers as to how I can get my work published? There is so much information on the internet that it is difficult to decipher it all.
Thank you,
Rochelle

First things first…where do you see your book on a bookstore shelf? Who do you envision publishing your novel? Have you researched publishers, looked up submission guidelines, etc.?

I realize there is much information on the internet, but there is a quick way to decipher a lot of it if you read a lot of books. Since you’re a writer, and have recently finished a novel, then I’m assuming you read a lot of novels, too?

I’ve always been a fan of romance novels, so I knew I wanted to write one. When I saw the genre of Christian fiction taking off, and then I noticed a few publishers started Christian romance lines, I knew that’s what I wanted to target. I looked up the guidelines for those publishers to see how I could properly submit my manuscript to them. Also, it helps to be around like-minded individuals. As I’ve said in previous blog posts, you’ll need to join a professional writers organization if you’re seeking commercial publication. You’ll find more information about this subject here. Also, if you can find a local group of writers who share your focus, then that could help you, too. I’ve had mixed experiences with local groups, though. Sometimes, you might have a group of Christian writers, but their experiences and goals may vary. I used to be in a local group and I was the only one who was trying to commercially publish my novel. The others were doing poetry, articles, devotionals, and one member was writing a novel, but she gave up pursuing commercial publication after receiving only two rejections. I didn’t glean much help in this group because they didn’t know much about the fiction market – however, I enjoyed socializing with them.

Also, if most people in the group want to self-publish their work, and you want to commercially publish, then you might not find the group very helpful. That’s one reason why I gleaned most of my help from RWA and ACFW – both groups focus on commercial publication and I knew that was the route I wanted to take with my writing.

I hope I gave you some pointers that you’ve found helpful. Look for a community of others either online or locally and see what you find from there. It might take you awhile to find the right group though…

~Cecelia Dowdy~