Most of us involved with the LDS market simply assume that there is a consumer need or desire that is being filled, and that the audience will always want Mormon materials. Less frequently, many assume that separate LDS stores and perhaps publishers will eventually be absorbed into the rest of the market for books, music, film and other cultural goods, because, they believe, there isn’t any reason that consumers need separate LDS stores.

Perhaps.

The current LDS market is best defined as a niche — a small portion of the overall market that consists of customers with specific interests or needs different from the rest of the market. A niche is usually small enough that it is overlooked or ignored by the rest of the market. It often also has some kind of impediment or ‘insulation’ from the rest of the market, something that keeps those in the  rest of the market from simply adding one additional product to serve the needs of the niche.

The answer to whether or not the LDS market will continue lies in this “insulation” form the rest of the market. Without some impediment, companies currently outside the market will eventually see the niche as attractive and absorb the market.

So what are the impediments? What, if anything, keeps Random House from publishing books for Mormons? or what keeps Barnes and Noble from becoming the preferred seller of LDS titles for most buyers?

I’m not sure that I have all the answers to these questions, but several possible impediments have occurred to me:

1. Unique Products — By and large the products in the LDS market are different from those outside of the market, and many of the products outside of the market won’t work inside the market. The language and terms and other cultural elements that we use in Mormon books, music and film make us comfortable and help us understand what the author means, and the doctrines and cultural beliefs that most Mormons share are reflected in these works. While we understand outside works just fine, in certain kinds of works (religious works, or fiction with Mormon settings) outside language or beliefs seem strange or out of place. Outside publishers and other companies would likely need to have LDS employees in order to get these things right in books for the LDS market, and it doesn’t seem likely that they will make the necessary expenditures anytime soon.
2. LDS Consumer Interest in “Safe” Products — Many Mormons, influenced by Church counsel to seek wholesome entertainment and avoid that which might fill the mind with impure thoughts, look for materials that are “safe.” They are cautious about purchasing books, music and film from non-LDS sources, because the works they purchase may not be as “safe” as they want. They then look for indications of what to expect — publisher/imprint names, authors, etc., that they know will fit what they believe to be “appropriate.” At least in part, they believe that books in LDS stores are “safe” and prefer to shop there for some kinds of materials. This doesn’t mean that they never purchase elsewhere, just that they have a preference in some cases where the risk seems greatest. This preference will, I think, continue at least as long as Church leaders continue to emphasize avoiding unwholesome materials.
3. LDS Publishers and Marketing Information Often Unavailable — While most LDS Publishers do make their books available to the rest of the market in the U.S., that doesn’t mean that their books find much of a market there. Other than basic availability, LDS books largely aren’t noticed and haven’t much of a presence in the market. LDS publishers in general don’t try to sell their books to stores outside of the LDS market–no sales calls are made to stores, no marketing materials sent to vendors and no advertising to the non-LDS consumer outside of areas where LDS members are a large portion of the population. The few vendors like Amazon.com that list LDS books, music and film are lucky to categorize books as LDS at all, let alone divide them into categories meaningful to consumers. Of course, this could change, but both LDS publishers and outside vendors would need to perceive this as worth their while.
4. The Christian/LDS Split — In a sense the most likely market to absorb the LDS market is the general Christian market. I believe that, if asked, most professionals in the national market would assume that these markets are already the same. But most LDS Church members and most evangelicals know that any combination of the two is impossible. The few LDS authors, musicians, publishers, labels or producers who have attempted to get their works into Christian bookstores have been roundly rejected, even when their works are not specifically Mormon. While in contrast LDS stores have been somewhat more open to Christian materials, they are often different from LDS materials in a way that makes it difficult for LDS consumers to relate.

There could be other impediments that keep the LDS market separate from the rest of the market (please let me know if you think of something). But even if these are the principal impediments, I think they are quite substantial. And I don’t see them changing much in the next few decades.

I won’t be surprised if someone believes that the Internet, or print-on-demand, or ebooks will somehow overcome all this. Personally, I don’t see that happening. While the Internet continues to have a substantial effect on the market, it most likely means that the division we see in the physical portion of the market will continue, as it has, transferred to the virtual portion of the market. LDS products will still be different from other products, LDS consumers will still want different products and want assurance that what they purchase is “safe.” Print-on-demand and ebooks are simply changes in form and production process. While important advances, they won’t overcome these impediments.

That isn’t to say that these impediments are permanent. It is possible to overcome them, or for preferences among consumers to change. But those changes are most likely to take decades, if they happen at all, because they involve long-standing cultural assumptions and needs, not technology. In the meantime, I think we can safely assume that there will be some kind of LDS market.

The story of the year in nationally published literature by Mormons was the memoir.  Two Mormon women, Elna Baker and Kathryn Lynard Soper produced honest and interesting life stories, to excellent reviews. While other Mormon authors sold more books, few other nationally published author made their Mormonism so central to their story.  Other big stories for the year include Stephanie Meyer’s continued dominance of the fiction landscape, Brandon Sanderson’s rise to the top of best seller’s lists, and the continuing flood of young adult speculative fiction.

Elna Baker’s comic memoir, The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance, can be seen as filling a niche that has long been open in the Mormon cultural world: our own My Big Fat Greek Wedding.  That is, a funny, honest, but not angry look at a Mormon life which non-Mormons can equally appreciate. Baker’s tale of her life in New York City is certainly not a typical Mormon one, but her Mormonism is one of the two forces that pull her in opposite directions throughout the work. Those rooting for Baker to take one side or another will be frustrated all the way to the end. Baker, still a very young woman, does not hold back in showing herself in moments (or even years) of shallowness and stupidity. But this Mormon reader appreciated her ability to show her faith in God acting as an anchor which kept her from making the worst mistakes.  Other readers might say it is the anchor which pulled her down, never letting her enjoy the possibilities life handed her.  Mormonism seems to have its strongest impact on Baker through the love and example of her family, and its theological teachings about the eternity. She has less use for Mormon society and practices, and often makes them the butt of her jokes. Most of the book is “cute-funny” rather than hilarious, although how can you be honest and make your whole life hilarious? Still, there are a couple of stand-out moments—the FAO Schwartz section and the failed Halloween costume, both of which she has used in her stand-up act.  Eric Jepson wrote a fantastic review of the work on A Motley Vision. Here is another review I like, from “Pajiba,” an on-line reviewer.  “What I appreciated most about TNYRMSHD is that it’s funny without being insulting. Baker pokes fun at a weird culture and weird beliefs while giving sincere reasons why she stays around. She’s walking a fine line between wanting to belong to the regular world, but also wanting to feel the peace she finds in religion. It’s hard to express why you believe in God without getting cheesy and overly sacrosanct, but Baker manages to do it. Probably because it’s sandwiched between moments of trying to lose her virginity and finding out she unknowingly used amphetamines to lose weight, but it works for me. My experience is that you find God in the weirdest of places, and it was nice to read that someone else finds that, too.”

Kathryn Lynard Soper already had an impact on Mormon literature through her editing of the print and online magazine Segullah. Her 2009 memoir The Year My Son and I Were Born: A Story of Down Syndrome, Motherhood, and Self-Discovery is a more serious work than Baker’s, but also honestly portrays lessons learned in an unsparing and unflattering light.  It is as much about Soper’s postpartum depression as it is about her experience with Down Syndrome. Steve Peck wrote, “Kathryn has to rewrite much of the script she had penned for her life. This readjustment is hard work and she faces it with confusion, dismay and depression. That’s why this book is so important. She (according to our expectations set by Ensignesque stories) should be facing it with courage, determination, and faith that all is according to God’s plan. But that is not how it plays out in the book. She takes us to the trenches of how it feels to face this sort of life’s rewriting without suggesting that it all turns out OK in the end or that she has figured it all out.”

While remarkable, both of these works are relatively straightforward memoirs.  BYU professor Patrick Madden, on the other hand, has been producing a series of postmodern, fragmentary nonfiction tales, several of which have been nationally honoured. His first collection of his writings, Quotidiana, will be published by the University of Nebraska Press in early 2010.  An example of Madden’s writing can be found in The Best of Mormonism, 2009, a collection of short stories, poems, essays, and book chapters published from 2007-2009. The collection, which includes selection originally published in both Mormon and national forums, is based on Houghton Mifflin’s Best American series. Brittney Carman is another rising creative nonfiction author whose work appears in The Best of Mormonism. Carman is working on a memoir about her mission in Venezuela and her reconciliation with her estranged father. Finally, another notable memoir is Shattered Silence by Melissa Moore and M. Bridget Cook, published by Cedar Fort.  Moore tells her story of growing up the daughter of a serial murderer, and her eventual decision to face up to her memories and history. Moore received some attention from appearing on the Dr. Phil and Oprah Winfery shows, and her book was Cedar Fort’s best seller for 2009.

In terms of sales, Stephanie Meyer continued to dominate the fiction market in 2009, despite the fact that she released no new titles. According to USA Today she sold 22 million books in 2009, down from 29 million in 2008. To put that in perspective, Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol, the biggest-selling new book of 2009, has sold 4 million copies in the four months since its publication.  USA Today also declared Twilight, the first volume of her vampire series, to be the bestselling book of the decade, with New Moon at 4^th and Eclipse at 9^th.  Meyer’s success, following the smaller scale success of Orson Scott Card a generation earlier, has inspired and influenced a raft of LDS authors. The overwhelming majority of nationally published LDS authors are producing speculative fiction.

Two LDS authors reached #1 on the New York Times Hardcover Fiction list, Brandon Sanderson and Christine Feehan. Brandon Sanderson, whose adult and young adult fantasy novels had received strong critical acclaim and moderately good sales, became a central figure in the fantasy world when he was hired to complete A Memory of Light, the final volume of the late Robert Jordan’s monumental 12-part Wheel of Time series in December 2007.  Tying up the loose ends of the huge series turned out to be a longer job than Sanderson and his publisher originally thought, so by March 2009 they announced that they were splitting the book into three instalments. Jordan produced 50,000 words for the book before his death, and Sanderson expects the trilogy will end up being over 800,000 words long.  The first volume, The Gathering Storm, was released in November, and has been well received by Jordan’s fans and the fantasy community in general.  Many reviewers commented that they enjoyed Sanderson’s volume more than most of the Jordan’s later volumes. Zack Handlen in the Onion AV Club wrote: “Sanderson’s prose lacks some of the descriptive punch of Jordan’s, his dialogue doesn’t always stick the landing between melodramatic and florid, and the one-note gender politics remain largely intact. Fortunately, Storm compensates with a terrific sense of urgency and a blessed willingness to tie up loose ends.”

Paranormal-romance author Christine Feehan accomplished the remarkable trick of reaching the #1 position of a New York Times Bestseller list 4 times in one year. That’s right, she produced four different books, each of which reached a #1 position.  Murder Game, Burning Wild, and Hidden Currents each reached #1 on the Mass-market Paperback Fiction list, while Dark Slayer achieved #1 on the Hardback Fiction list.  Furthermore, her novel Street Game, released in the last week of 2009, reached #1 on the Mass-market Paperback Fiction list in the first week of 2010.  I wonder how many times in history an author has had a run like that?  Romance authors Lynn Kurland, Amanda Ashley, and Brenda Novak also had books that appeared on bestseller lists.

As I mentioned above, the flood of LDS authors publishing speculative fiction for the national market continues to rise. The majority of these authors are writing young adult fantasy.  Shadow Mountain, Deseret Book’s national imprint, is playing a significant part in this rise, publishing young adult fantasy novels by seven LDS authors in 2009.  There were just as many publishing outside of Shadow Mountain.  One trend, certainly tied to Stephanie Meyer’s success, is the genre of “girl-meets-boy-who-may-or-may-not-be-dangerous-and-supernatural” novels.  The debut novels by Becca Fitzpatrick, Aprilynne Pike, and Lisa Mangum are in that genre. The closest in tone to Meyer is Becca Fitzpatrick’s thriller, Hush, Hush, about a teenage girl who falls for a boy who turns out to be a fallen angel, and the subsequent battle between good and bad angels.  The striking cover itself should win over a large segment of the Twilight crowd. Kirkus review wrote, “A fast-paced, exhilarating read . . . Twilight readers will either squeal over the forbidden romance between Nora and Patch and the steamy scenes they generate or sigh over another helpless young woman torn between sexuality and fear and threatened and manipulated by males who play with her vulnerability.” Hush, Hush reached #5 on the New York Times Children’s Chapter Books Bestseller list, and was named one of Barnes & Nobles’ “Best 20 Teen Books of 2009”.

Even more successful book in terms of sales is Aprilynne Pike’s Wings, the story of an seemingly ordinary girl who discovers she is a faerie, and is thrust into an ancient battle between faeries and trolls. The novel reached #1 on the New York Times Children’s Chapter Books Bestseller list, and has been optioned to Disney for a movie deal.  Reviewers have praised Pike for an inventive take on a generally tired genre (in her version the faeries are a kind of plant, and the biological explanations are quite inventive), and her silky prose, although she has also taken some hits for the characters’ lack of depth and overly idealized physical descriptions.  Lisa Mangum, an editor at Deseret Book, produced The Hourglass Door, the story of a (you guessed it) high school girl who meets an Italian foreign exchange student, only to find out that he is from the 16^th century.  The reviewer at School Library Journal wrote, “This novel has an exciting premise and moves along at a brisk pace. Unfortunately, the supporting characters are all caricatures of high school students, Abby and Dante have very little real chemistry, and the dialogue is stilted and frequently either clichéd or superfluous.”

There were four middle-grade novels, directed towards girls, which call to mind the “revisionist fairy tale” mode of Gail Carson Levine’s Ella Enchanted. Julie Berry’s debut novel, the fairy-tale The Amaranth Enchantment, was published to a starred review in Publisher’s Weekly, and this from Kirkus Reviews: “A lively, quick, stylish, engaging first novel with some lovely, familiar fairy-tale elements . . . will enthral young readers—who probably won’t care that some of the magic is a little wobbly.” Mette Ivy Harrison’s The Princess and the Bear, a sequel, tells the story of a King turned into a bear, and a princess turned into a hound. Kirkus, in a starred review, wrote, “The relationships between animal and human, and the magic in being both, are exquisitely delineated, and the love story between the two strong protagonists is all the more powerful for being intensely restrained. There’s a fair amount of bloodshed and violence, but that, too, is understated. Not for every reader, but an absorbing tale for the right one.”  Jessica Day George’s Princess of the Midnight Ball is a take on the Grimm Brothers story “The Twelve Dancing Princesses,” set in 19^th century Europe. The review at Kirkus called it “a rich and engaging novel . . . near the end the story spirals up in intensity, touching on witchcraft and evil clerics along the way before a satisfyingly exciting conclusion.” (George also produced Dragonspear, the third in her dragon series).  Finally, the finest LDS author in the genre, Shannon Hale, offered Forest Born, the fourth novel in her Bayern series, moving forward with the enchanting characters first introduced in The Goose Girl. The Horn Book wrote, “All is told in Hale’s assured voice, drawing the details of her invented countries with precision and depth. Strong characters define the series: commanding Isi, passionate Enna, wily Razo, and now shadowed Rin . . . fans will need no excuse to dive back into Hale’s fantasy world.”

Next is a trio of male authors writing young adult speculative fiction. Brandon Sanderson produced Alcatraz versus the Knights of Crystallia, the third in his comically arch Alcatraz series. The books all feature a strongly intrusive narrative voice, which plays up fantasy tropes for humorous effect.  School Library Journal wrote, “Alcatraz frequently ‘breaks page’ to address readers with side comments, instructions, and, occasionally, complaints and insults . . . The rather complicated plot can be challenging to follow, but beneath the wild humor there are surprisingly subtle messages about responsibility and courage.” James Owen also mixes humor and complex time travelling in The Shadow Dragons, the fourth in his Imaginarium Geographica series. Finally, James Dashner created a dark, dystopian science fiction novel, The Maze Runner, the first in a Delacorete series, in which young boys are placed into a giant maze, and forced to fight for their lives, a concept very similar to Suzanne Collins’ popular The Hunger Games. Kirkus named The Maze Runner as one of the best young adult books of 2009, and Barnes and Noble declared it one of the “Best 20 Teen books of 2009”.  Dashner also released The Hunt for Dark Infinity, the second in his lighter, younger 13^thReality series for Shadow Mountain.  A Kirkus review stated, “Readers will be as puzzled as the characters, who tumble from one complex and outrageous situation to the next, rescued from each at the last minute–sometimes with no explanation. But it all holds together remarkably well, encouraging suspension of disbelief to make way for glorious flights of imagination.”

As mentioned above, Shadow Mountain published young adult fantasy novels by seven LDS authors in 2009.  Besides Magnum and Dashner, there was Brandon Mull (the bestseller of the group, his Fablehaven series reached #6 on the New York Times Children’s Series list), Mark Forman (although Shadow Mountain decided not to publish his next novel), M’Lin Rowley (the 16-year old author produced two short children’s novels), J. Scott Savage (reviews of the second novel in his Farworld series, nearly all positive, invariably include the words “complex” and “fast-paced”), and Obert Skye (with the fifth and final volume of his popular Leven Thumps series).

So, 15 authors writing fantasy, is there any room for anything else for young people?  A little.  Three LDS women produced serious young adult novels with contemporary settings.  Ann Dee Ellis and Carol Lynch Williams (who are friends and co-bloggers) both created emotionally devastating accounts of young women in terribly dysfunctional families. Ann Dee Ellis’ Everything is Fine, like her previous novel, is told in an elliptical, impressionistic way (often in free verse), from the perspective of a young person who only gradually informs the reader of the tragedy which dominates her life. The teenage protagonist is trying to keep her life together while her severely depressed mother falls into catatonia, and her father absents himself. Carol Lynch Williams, one of the veterans of the field, received a tsunami of praise for her latest novel, The Chosen One, about Kyra, a 13-year old girl living in a particularly repressive and isolated polygamous sect.  Just as Kyra begins to get a sense of the outside world through the books she surreptitiously borrows from a bookmobile driver, the Prophet announces that the she must become the seventh wife her cruel uncle.  Jessica Bruder in the New York Times wrote, “Williams’s . . . spare, evocative writing and an honest sense of character helps bridge the rift between Kyra’s world and ours.” Publisher’s Weekly, in a starred review, wrote, “Although the ending verges on the sensational, Williams takes such care in crafting Kyra’s internal struggles—and her hellacious story—that the ensuing drama rings true. Williams’s highlighting all aspects of cult membership (fear of leaving, desire to belong, guilt about sinning), rather than relying on one-sided generalizations (cults are bad), makes this a prudent and powerful read.”  The novels of Ellis and Williams have stuck with me long after I have forgotten most fantasy novels.  Despite the hell they put me through, Ellis and Williams are my favourite authors of LDS young adult fiction (outside of Shannon Hale).

The third contemporary young adult novel of the year was newcomer Angela Morrison’s romance Taken by Storm, which tells the story of a Mormon girl, the summer before going to BYU, falling in love with a non-Mormon boy. It mines (without the humor) some of the same topics that Elna Baker pursued in her memoir—how much passion can one allow in a relationship before marriage and what problems will arise in a relationship outside of one’s religion? Although the author has stated that she hopes that the book can serve as a kind of fictional Standards Night, it is steamier than would be allowed in the Mormon publishing world. Publishers Weekly wrote, “By contrasting Leesie and Michael’s often opposing backgrounds and points of view, she handles the topics of religion and premarital sex gracefully without passing judgment. The message has less to do with religion than learning to respect and cherish others while staying true to one’s own beliefs.”

Here are some humorous novels before we leave the young adult world. Janette Rallison produced two novels for girls in 2009, My Fair Godmother for middle readers, and Just One Wish for older teens. The first features a bumbling teen fairy godmother who accidently sends a high school girl back in time into the stories of Snow White and Cinderella.  The second is about a girl tries to help her seriously ill younger brother by brining a teen TV star to visit. Both have been highly rated for their comic moments, although the second is anchored at its core by the believable and heartrending relationship between the sister and brother. Dene Low (a pseudonym for Lara Card) wrote Petronella Saves Nearly Everyone: The Entomological Tales of Augustus T. Percival, a short, frothy first novel for middle readers. Set in Edwardian London, Petronella’s coming-out party is ruined by insects and a kidnapping.  The review at School Library Journal commented, “What follows is part farce, part mystery, part political thriller, all told in Petronella’s upper-crust voice, laced with sly humor, many bodice-ripping observations of James’s virile charms, and a painless dose of history. Archetypical characters are skillfully drawn, time and place are clearly evoked, and excitement and intrigue abound amid the hilarity.”  Booklist added, “This wonderful little gem is a wacky mix of Jane Austen, Sherlock Holmes and Jack Gantos at his bizarre best… I adored this book from its enticing start to the end that dangles the promise of more adventures. (Please!) First novelist Low has created a memorable set of characters in her witty and wonderfully weird first novel.”

On to adult novels.  Shannon Hale, whose young adult and graphic novels have been rapturously received, has had a harder time winning an audience for her two novels for adults.  In her most recent, The Actor and the Housewife, Hale for the first time creates a Mormon character and includes Mormonism as a key aspect of the novel.  The novel centers on the far-fetched premise of a famous British actor could become a warm platonic friend with a Mormon housewife.  The reviewer in Kirkus writes, “They engage in the kind of witty repartee that hasn’t been heard since Carole Lombard graced the screen, and become bosom buddies . . . The odd, safe fantasy Hale has created is then jangled by a more sober realism. Husband Mike (spoiler deletion), and the domestic bliss Becky has enjoyed comes to a crushing end. Becky’s devotion to her husband, her depression, her inability to see a romantic future for herself-all these elements ring true and tragic. Unfortunately, the novel hinges on Felix and Becky’s relationship, and aside from a mutual love of quick-witted banter, their friendship is largely unbelievable. Hale’s prose is friendly and funny, but she doesn’t bring her premise to life.” This appears to be a real love it or hate it book, reader reviews on both sides have been quite fierce. A favourite complaint is that the character of the husband is poorly drawn, and Hale does not do enough to show why Becky is so devoted to him.

Jamie Ford’s debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, is a mix of historical fiction and Nicholas Sparks-like romantic sentimentality. It tells the story of a Chinese-American in Seattle, alternating between his childhood in the early 1940s and his recent widowed state in 1984.  It has received strong reviews for its heartfelt portrayal of racism towards and between Asian-Americans, particularly the fate of a close Japanese-American girl friend, whose family is interned by the American government after Pearl Harbor. Booklist wrote, “Although Ford does not have anything especially novel to say about a familiar subject (the interplay between race and family), he writes earnestly and cares for his characters, who consistently defy stereotype.” The novel reached #16 on the New York Times Hardcover Fiction list, and #13 on the Trade Paperback list later in the year.

Other bestselling books in 2009 were Anne Perry’s William Monk novel Execution Dock, and two Christmas books: Richard Paul Evans’ The Christmas List and Jason F. Wright’s Christmas Jars Reunion. Glenn Beck’s The Christmas Sweater (which was co-written with Jason F. Wright), from 2008 appeared on bestseller lists for the second Christmas season in a row, and a children’s illustrated version of the story also sold well.

I will end this section with adult speculative fiction. Orson Scott Card’s Hidden Empire continues my least favourite Card series ever (but still a pretty good read). Steven L. Kent and David Farland have added new volumes to their extended Clone and Runelords series. Brandon Sanderson (yes, this is the third novel of his I have mentioned) produced the fine stand-alone work Warbreaker. Sanderson’s friend Dan Wells has received rave reviews for the comic horror novel I Am Not a Serial Killer, but it has so far only been released in the United Kingdom.  John Brown, who has had a few short stories published over the last decade, received strong praise for his first fantasy novel, Servant of a Dark God. Like Sanderson and Farland, Brown creates a high fantasy with a complex magic system that is robust, bounded and physical.  The review in Library Journal states, “Brown creates an elaborate new world with a rich and deep spiritual and political background . . . this well-wrought tale of families in conflict against both politics and religion represents a welcome addition to large-scale fantasy.” Mormon reviewer Jennie Hansen, normally not a fan of fantasy, wrote, “Servant of a Dark God is a compelling, complicated novel written in a misleadingly simple style. As in the highest quality literary writing, there are lines and references that bring other great works to mind without actually quoting them.”

That’s actually not why I owe her an apology. I wouldn’t presume to suggest that I should say something about everything even slightly Mormon related that hits the public eye. Rather, it’s that I did post a few comments here and there expressing major discontent with the novel. Those criticism are valid (in brief, they are that she pulls the punches when it comes to the unique Mormon content (I think she could have pushed things about 15-25% more without losing the national audience), she totally martyrs the husband (who is not The Actor, by the way) and doesn’t make him as interesting as he should/could be (and actually shows hints of being), and she totally muddles up the ending.

Or for my more raw reactions, here’s my GoodReads review (I gave the book 2 out of 5 stars):

I knew this going in, but…

So Very Much Not My Thing.

And, sadly, the Mormon elements, which I thought could be interesting, were quite mild and not very interesting.

And a comment I posted on MoJo’s blog:

Just finished this earlier in the evening. Here’s the thing: if you could take some of the angst and down-note ending of this novel and graft it on to Austenland, you’d have a pretty good, interesting, subversive novel. The problem with Austenland is that the heroine in the end gets Darcy and succumbs to his weak sauce pleas (and in a chase to the airport scene). If we’d taken elements to the Felix/Becky ending and used it there instead, then Austenland would have been a devastating take down of Romance Mormon Style or rather that whole thing so many Mormon women seem to have with Jane Austen. Instead, we get the happy ending where the heroine never really has to give up her hope of The Perfect Man. Not really.

On the other hand, as you’ve documented, The Actor and the Housewife is rife with problems (one of the major ones being that the Actor gets all the best lines and the husband gets non-explicit, vaguely asserted sex — if there was ever the time for a bit more explicitness, it’s with this novel where you could balance the Hawt Husband vs. the Witty Brit) and so the ending is just about as weird and anticlimactic as you can get and anticlimactic would have been good if the had been more depth to the characters.

Also: wow is the Mormonism glossed over.

I stand by all that. But as I’ve thought about it lately, I think that I perhaps have been looking beyond the mark. Yes, the novel has major problems. And I still don’t think that from a national market perspective it’s that great of a book. But even with all the deus ex machina and dancing around of things and non-explicitness, from a Mormon perspective, it does have the audacity to deal with opposite gender friendships and takes that idea fairly seriously within a gospel context. Even if I’m not satisfied with the way it’s handled, I have to give Hale credit for tackling the subject. And I do think that the novel is worthy of some critical attention. I’m not claiming that I’ll be the one giving it — in fact, I don’t feel very well-equipped to. But I really shouldn’t have waited so long to point out that, much like Meyer’s Twilight series, Hale’s The Actor and the Housewife very well may say some interesting things about Mormonism and, in particular, about Mormonism in relation to the larger culture. It also may have some interesting things to say about Mormon housewives and celebrity (*cough*HaleandMeyer*cough*).

I’m not quite sure how much the LDS market is like this, but I suspect its in a similar range. Most small LDS publishers already use print-on-demand to produce their books, and it could be that the majority of new LDS titles are already produced by print-on-demand (to my knowledge, no comprehensive database of LDS titles exists to provide this information). If this is not yet true, it is surely because of the dominance of Deseret Book in the LDS market (since Deseret Book does not yet use print-on-demand, as far as I can tell).

Of course, the biggest effect of print-on-demand is that it lowers barriers to entry into the market — it makes it possible for virtually anyone to publish a book. Like in the U.S. national market, the LDS market has seen an explosion in small publishers and in self-published books in the past decade.

But this growth also has its share of problems. Most of the new publishers and almost all of the self-publishers have little or no idea how to market their books either to the LDS market or nationally. And the LDS market has been resistant, at least, to these new publishers and titles.

Now, with a majority of all titles published in the U.S. produced by print-on-demand, doesn’t it seem likely that the need for channels that allow these titles to reach the LDS market will lead to some kind of development?

Number of On-demand Titles Topped Traditional Books in 2008

By Jim Milliot — Publishers Weekly, 5/19/2009

Andrew Hall’s Mormon Literature Year in Review — Part 1b: National market books continued

In the wake of Harry Potter, Deseret Book’s Shadow Mountain imprint has made a big push into the national young adult fantasy genre.  They had four authors producing five novels in 2008. The most successful is Brandon Mull, whose Fablehaven: Grip of the Shadow Plague was the third in his series. The series reached #3 on the NYT Children’s Chapter Series bestseller list.  Obert Skye released two novels, Leven Thumps and the Wrath of Ezra, the fourth in a series, and Pillage, a stand-alone humorous novel. Shadow Mountain also brought in two authors who have previously published in the Mormon market. James Dashner published a successful fantasy series for the Mormon publisher Cedar Fort. Shadow Mountain contracted with him to write a national middle reader fantasy series, The 13^th Reality. It tells the story of a contemporary 13-year-old who is presented with a series of letters and clues drawing him into a adventure. A reviewer at Kirkus wrote, “Though there are chunks of text that are overwritten, the telling is generally laced with a strong sense of humor and a sure hand at plot; the author is plainly in tune with today’s fan base.”  A reviewer at School Library Journal wrote, “This book had great potential. The beginning of the adventure starts with a bang, but by the middle of the story things begin to drag. The immediacy gets lost in the daily struggle to figure out the riddles and the unending descriptions of Tick’s life as he awaits the next one.”  J. Scott Savage has written several mysteries in the Mormon market. Through Shadow Mountain he published the fantasy Water Keep: Farworld. Meridian Magazine reviewer Jeannie Hansen wrote, “There’s enough magic and strange creatures populating the book to please the most avid fantasy reader, but there’s an added dimension of mystery and philosophy that marks this fantasy as a cut above many fantasies currently being marketed to young adults.”

Outside of Shadow Mountain, Mormon authors have been able to publish a considerable amount of young adult and middle reader speculative fiction with national publishers. Jessica Day George has made a strong mark in the last two years.  Her novel Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow was a retelling of a classic Norwegian fairy tale. The review site “Curled up with a good kid’s book” wrote, “The characters are simply delightful. From sweet to stony and warm to ice-clad evil, the idiosyncratic array of creatures is never dull . . . George’s beautiful description and ridiculously engaging storytelling kept me captivated – so much so that this reader curled up and read the entire book in a sitting, not realizing that hunger and tiredness were both calling very loudly. Lost in an icy world full of wonderfully exotic words and names, I didn’t look up until I’d closed the book.” George also produced Dragon Flight, a sequel to Dragon Slippers, which won a Whitney Award in 2007 for Best Novel by a New Author.  A reviewer at VOYA wrote, “George creates a very satisfying sequel that adds just the right touches to complete the story . . . The clear conflict that leads to loads of tension in the book’s last half makes a wonderful action-packed page-turner. Ultimately the conclusion with plenty of romance makes everything complete. Even though the pacing in the first half of the book is quite slow and the extended setting could have been more defined, this novel is excellent.” A reviewer at Children’s Literature wrote, “It is great fun with enough twists and turns to keep readers glued to their copies until the very end. George also avoids being too derivative of other popular dragon novels . . . While the story’s conclusion is as idyllic as a fairy tale (the Disney kind, not the Grimm versions), Creel gets her prince because of her intelligence and integrity, not her beauty. George has deftly managed to stay true to the archetypes of fantasy literature but she has a unique perspective to share and this novel, while intended for young audiences, will entertain older readers as well.”

Shannon Hale has been a leader in the young adult fantasy market over the last decade, and has been one of my favourite authors. In 2008 she tried something new, a graphic novel, Rapunzel’s Revenge, co-written by her husband Dean Hale, and illustrated by Nathan Hale (no relation). The Hales set the Rapunzel tale in a wild west milieu.  A reviewer at School Library Journal wrote, “The Hales have a good sense of character and personality here. Rapunzel’s spirit is pretty evident, both visually and through her verve and words right from the get go. Heck, the first time you see her she’s hanging off a branch in the garden and falling into a small pond . . . The cowboy feel and characters in this book are a bit odd, but they work within the context of the tale. It’s certainly a more American take on the Rapunzel story than you’ll usually find in a library. All spurs and lassos and riding bucks . . . Nathan Hale was an interesting choice of illustrator for this particular outing. It took me a while to get attuned to his more cartoonish style, I admit . . . For this book, Hale scales back the complexity (at least until he needs to use it) producing a simpler product. Once you get into it, it kinda works. I liked Hale’s ability to render the multiple uses of extremely long hair during the Rapunzel-grows-up montages. I liked that he was as comfortable presenting a grey desolate wasteland as we was a beautiful ball gown . . . And I liked that he ends the book with a very sexy kiss. Very sexy. Or maybe I just like boys in white shirtsleeves.”

Other young adult fantasy authors were R. D. Henham (AKA Rebecca Shelley), whose debut novel, Red Dragon Codex is the first of a series, and James A. Owen, who produced the second and third volumes of his Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica series, in which a series of real and fictional literary characters are summoned to help a group of adventures. Owen’s second volume, The Search for the Red Dragon, received generally poor reviews.  A reviewer at Children’s Literature wrote, “While a charitable reading of the story would see this hyper-abundance of endlessly derivative borrowings as homage to the deep and powerful themes that run through all myth and fantasy, the overall effect is of an extremely long, smug, and tedious exercise in ‘See if you can guess all these literary allusions.’”  A reviewer at School Library Journal wrote, “There are moments that transcend the mixed genres, especially toward the end of the book, and one can see the brilliance of the concept. However, most of the novel is rather stilted with cardboard characters and overly elaborate dialogue. Young readers will not recognize the literary allusions, making this more of a choice for lovers of children’s literature and less of a book for children and teens.”

There are so many Mormons writing fantasy young adult novels, it is easy to forget the few who write other kinds of young adult novels. Kimberly Heuston wrote The Book of Jude, about an intelligent Mormon girl’s fight against a debilitating psychological illness, set against the historical events of the 1989 Velvet Revolution in Prague. Elizabeth Ward at The Washington Post wrote, “[Jude's] a canny and poetic observer, but because we’re limited to her viewpoint, the fog is pretty thick before it dawns on us that this is no portrait of a spoiled, “stupid American teenager,” but a remarkable inside account of a mental illness unfolding . . . Heuston’s interweaving of these big themes is moving and often funny, and she rarely jabs you to think this or feel that. You could give The Book of Jude to any adult, young or otherwise.”  Lynn Rashid at the School Library Journal wrote, “The story starts off slowly as the teen leaves New York and the political and social details of Czechoslovakia are presented. While some less-savvy readers may be alienated by the historical context and setting, others will be drawn in as it becomes apparent that Jude is struggling with more than the usual teen angst. Other novels do a better job of illuminating the realities of teen mental illness; what makes this novel unique is the context in which it takes place.” A reviewer at Kirkus wrote, “Diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, Jude is placed on medication and returned to her family in Prague where, far from cured, she continues her self-destructive behaviour. Only when her father brings a Mormon bishop to bless her does Jude return to functional health. Although Jude’s illness is powerfully and convincingly portrayed, the deus-ex-machina resolution fails to satisfy. Readers who don’t know or share the Mormon faith may be perplexed or unconvinced by Jude’s beatific religious experience. The message that severe mental illness can be cured, or at least controlled, by faith is at best debatable.”  It sounds interesting to me.

Emily Wing Smith is one of a number of recent LDS authors to receive a Masters in Fine Arts from Vermont College, where LDS author Martine Levitt teaches.  Flux, a new young adult imprint from Llewellyn Publications, published Smith’s first novel, The Way He Lived. A starred review from Publisher’s Weekly said, “Besides living in the same Mormon community in Utah, six young people have something else in common: each had a special connection to Joel, who died of dehydration after giving away his water during a badly planned Boy Scout expedition. In vignettes showing the six teens’ differing points of view, first-time author Smith probes into the psychologies of the survivors to demonstrate Joel’s effect on their lives and their attempts to make sense of his death. . . . The author preserves each narrator’s complexity, investigating their defences and revealing their core selves while dropping clues about the enigmatic Joel. It’s a testament to Smith’s skills that although her central character speaks only through other people’s recollections, his identity emerges distinctly by the end of the novel, giving the audience enough information to judge his actions for themselves.” Several reviewers have praised Smith for her subtle and convincing portrayal of the role of religion in the lives of the characters, and the tensions around Joel’s possible homosexuality.

A. E. (Ann) Cannon produced The Loser’s Guide to Life and Love, a contemporary take on A Midsummer’s Night Dream. Mormon blogger Gamlia writes, “This was an extremely fun read. The author has such a fun and hilarious voice. The characters are unique and funny, and this is a really funny romantic teen comedy. I laughed out loud lots of times. It was refreshing to read a really great teen book that was humorous. The book has several Mormon elements, as Scout’s brother is on a mission in Brazil, which is one of the ways Ed finds out so much info about the country, so he can act like he’s from Brazil.” A reviewer at Kirkus Reviews, however, wrote, “The alternating voices that convey the narrative in a variety of forms are uneven instead of engaging: Though Ed and Scout are convincing enough in their roles as totally-regular guy and gal, Ellie and Quark never rise beyond their stereotypes of lonely, brilliant beauty and geek. Mediocrity of storytelling aside, the romantic tension is palpable, there is a Shakespearean climax replete with costumes and kissing, and thus-inclined readers will find here at least a few hours of satisfying, if fleeting, romance.”

Kristen Landon’s debut novel, Life in the Pit, is the story of a girl in a school orchestra. Richelle Roth at School Library Journal wrote, “The story line bounces between a dull romance and a predictable and linear mystery. Brittany is a flimsy character, one moment smart, confident, and strong, the next unnecessarily self-conscious, jealous, and irrational. Interactions with side characters do nothing to flesh out her true self, and her upgrade from orchestra nerd to popularity queen is far too easy. Kyle’s unabashed expressions of love are unrealistic for a high school boy. Unbelievably, Amanda seems surprised and hurt by the notion that guys only want to date her for one reason, and the sober cover art fails to portray the flighty mood of the book.” Another 2008 novel was Carol Lynch Williams’ Pretty Like Us, about a shy middle school girl who meets a girl with a disease that prematurely ages her.

In the latest issue of Irreantum I discovered a nationally respected literary author was also an active Mormon.  The journal published two poems by Hart Wegner, a distinguished UNLV professor, and author of two highly regarded short story collections, both of which featured stories about character who, like Wegner, lived in Germany before and during World War II, and moved to Nevada after the war.  Wegner has won the Pushcraft Prize and many other awards.

Note from Wm: We have a writing rookie on tap for Thurs. and Short Story Friday on Fri. so we’ll finish up Andrew’s Year in Review with two or three more posts next week. Trust me: it’ll be worth the wait.

Andrew Hall’s Mormon Literature Year in Review — Part 1a: National market books

The publishing story of 2008 was a Mormon author, Stephenie Meyer.  Meyer was one of three Mormon authors who reached the top of the New York Times Hardcover Fiction Bestseller list, the first Mormon authors to reach that position since 1995. In fact, there were more Mormon-authored novels on the best seller lists in 2008 than ever before.  None of these best sellers contained openly Mormon characters or concepts, however. Vampires, romance, heart-warming tales of Christmas, and speculative fiction was what brought the Mormon authors to the top.

The world in 2008 was Stephenie Meyer’s. She is the biggest publishing phenomenon since J. K. Rowling.  Little, Brown released her adult science fiction novel The Host in May, and it went to the top of the Times’ Hardcover list.  By the end of the year it was still at #5 on that list. August saw the release of the fourth and final volume of her Twilight series, Breaking Dawn. The series has dominated the Times’ Children’s Series list for the last two years (the Times created the Children’s bestseller list in 2000 to clear all of the Harry Potter books off of the main hardcover and paperback lists, and the Children’s Series list in 2004 to consolidate each series into a single entry).  At the end of the year the USA Today list, which is a single list for all fiction, hardcover and paperback, had the four Twilight books occupying 1^st, 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th places, with The Host down at 22^nd. Without a doubt Meyer was the best selling fiction author of 2008.  Bookscan estimates her total at almost 15 million units sold in 2008.  Also, the movie version of the first volume in the Twilight series was released in the fall, and was a box office success.

Before considering the literary merits of the books, consider their economic impact.  The country is going into a difficult economic time, and the book industry is among those bearing the brunt. News of layoffs in the industry are widespread, and the venerable Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, perhaps the most prestigious literary publisher, shocked the industry by announcing in November that it would temporarily not acquire any new books.  The Hachette Book Group, the owner of Meyer’s publisher Little, Brown, on the other hand, has announced no layoffs, and instead gave one week bonuses to every employee in the company, in addition to the regular bonuses for which staff members are eligible (NY Times, Nov. 25).  Meyer was not the only successful author at Little, Brown in 2008, but she certainly was the leader.

The Host told the tell of Invasion of the Body Snatchers-type alien invaders who have taken control of earth, and the battle between a woman and the alien soul who tries to take control of her mind. It had a darker, edgier feel than the Twilight books, and while no one called it a literary masterpiece, many reviewers noted a move forward in Meyer’s literary skills, even though the change in tone and style probably made the book less appealing to teenage girls. Publisher’s Weekly called it a “tantalizing SF thriller . . . [which] shines with romantic intrigue.” The official Amazon.com review wrote, “Those wary of sci-fi or teen angst will be pleasantly surprised by this mature and imaginative thriller, propelled by equal parts action and emotion . . . It’s unabashedly romantic, and the characters (human and alien) genuinely endearing.”

Meyer’s books have usually received at least tepidly good critical response, but that collapsed with the publication of Breaking Dawn. Critical readers have emphasized how the protagonists achieved nearly everything they wanted in the end, with little sacrifice. Publisher’s Weekly wrote, “Everyone gets everything they want, even if their desires necessitate an about-face in characterization or the messy introduction of some back story. Nobody has to renounce anything or suffer more than temporarily.”  A reviewer at the Cleveland Plain Dealer wrote, “The problem here is the story, or the lack of it. For the most part, rather than serving as a climatic fourth chapter to the best-selling series, this book is a long, dragged-out epilogue filled with an author’s indulgences for her characters.” A reviewer at the Globe wrote, “There are moments of reading pleasure, as Bella discovers and revels in her new powers, and Jacob’s transformation heralds an important (and unintentionally creepy) plot point – but their metamorphoses irrevocably sever real from ideal, and sap the story of what little tension it possessed. Human foibles vanish and the characters are relieved, even ecstatic to see them go. There’s no sense of loss, of any sacrifice made, so the ecstasy feels fevered-but-flat, just like everything else. And by the time the big showdown comes . . . it doesn’t seem to matter.”

The second Mormon author to reach the top of the New York Times Hardcover Fiction was an author of-guess what-vampire romance (and other paranormal) fiction. Christine Feehan does not make her Church membership an issue in her publicity, unlike Meyer.  Her stories contain much more graphically sexual material than the generally tame Meyer.  Dark Curse is the 16^th in a series of novels about sexy Romanian vampires.  It was her first novel to reach the top of the Hardcover list. She also published two paperback-only novels in 2008, Predatory Game and Turbulent Sea, both the sixth volumes in series about people with paranormal abilities. Both reached #2 on the New York Times Mass-market Paperback list.

The third Mormon author to achieve NYT best selling status was the conservative talk show host Glenn Beck, with his debut novel, The Christmas Sweater. Beck claims the tear-jerking story is based on his own childhood experience with his emotionally fragile mother. Of all the Mormon-authored works on the best seller lists, this is by far the most religious, with an emphasis on the importance of Christ’s atonement in the healing of wounded souls. Beck has gone on a nationwide tour selling out theatres performing a dramatic retelling of the story. Publishers Weekly commented, “For all his focus on traditional family virtues like respect, love and forgiveness, Beck’s lightweight parable cruises on predictability, repetition and sentimentality.”  Beck has two co-authors (not mentioned on the front cover), one of which, Jason F. Wright, is also a Mormon author, and will be discussed below.

As the three top-selling Mormon authors represent two genres-vampire romance and tear-jerker/heart-warmer-it should not be surprising that there are several other Mormon authors working in theoe same fields. Other Mormon authors finding success in romance and women’s paperbacks are Lynn Kurland, Brenda Novak, and Amanda Ashley (aka Madeline Baker).  All three are known for romance books in which the erotic content is relatively tame and even chaste.

Kurland specializes in fantasy settings, including time travel, magic, and ancient Britian.  Her novel With Every Breath reached #13 on the NYT Mass-market Paperback list.  Library Journal wrote of another 2008 Kurland novel, The Mage’s Daughter, “Powerful magic, ancient spells, old enmities, and dangerous secrets underpin the intricate plot of this engrossing, lyrically descriptive tale that contrasts hideous evil with tender, heart-wrenching love, tempers it with gentle humor, and serves it up with an adventurous flair . . . It is the depth of [the protagonists] love-the romantic scenes are magical-that is the highlight of this exceptionally well-done novel.”

Brenda Novak has been a published romance author since 1999.  In 2008 she produced a trilogy of thrillers, two of which reached the NYT Mass-Market Paperback list (#20 and #25). Each of the three novels focuses on different members of an organization which helps survivors of crime and teaches them self-defence. Of course the group members get the opportunity to use their new skills.

The romance author Madeline Baker publishes vampire romances under the name Amanda Ashley. She is known for her devout Christian heroines and couples who stay chaste until marriage.

As for tear-jerker/heart-warmer, there is Richard Paul Evans, the founder of the modern incarnation of the genre, and Jason F. Wright. Before 2008, Evans was the last Mormon to reach the top of the NYT Hardcover Fiction list, with his debut novel The Christmas Box. Since then he has written a series of successful tales. This year he returned to the lucrative setting of Christmas, with his novel Grace. It tells the story of a poor Salt Lake City family in the early 1960s, and the abused girl they encounter. Publishers Weekly observed, “Evans portrays Grace’s heartbreaking predicament with sensitivity and also touches on how the political situation affected the era’s youth (”The possibility of a nuclear holocaust was just something we always carried around in the back of our minds, like an overdue library book”). Evans knows how to pull on the heartstrings, and the conclusion to this one will have readers reaching for a hankie.”  The novel reached #35 on the NYT Hardcover Fiction list.

Jason F. Wright came to national attention with his 2007 novel The Wednesday Letters, published by Shadow Mountain, Deseret Book’s imprint for national market books. It reached #6 on the NYT Hardcover list in 2007, and the paperback version reached #16 on the Trade Paperback list in 2008. Glenn Beck has had Wright on his program several times, and Wright was a co-author of Beck’s The Christmas Sweater. Wright’s new novel, Recovering Charles, told the story of a man looking for his estranged father in post-Katrina New Orleans.  Several critical readers have said that it is Wright’s best written book, but that he still relies more on emotional heart-tugging than on plot.

British mystery author Anne Perry has produced a string of reliably well-written and engaging works over the last twenty years. Buckingham Palace Gardens, the latest in her Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series, reached #15 on the NYT Hardcover list.  A Times reviewer wrote, “Unlike so many detective series gliding on cruise control, this mature work provides a fine introduction to Perry’s alluring world of Victorian crime and intrigue. Ever the master of her milieu, she delivers sumptuous descriptions of life among the gentry when England still basked in its imperial glory. . . . To make her point that the most insignificant life matters, even in the most class-bound society, Perry employs an irresistibly appealing “Upstairs, Downstairs” perspective.”  The book was named one of the Times’ Notable Crime Fiction of 2008.  Perry also released her 6^th Christmas novel, A Christmas Grace, which featured Charlotte Pitt. It reached #31 on the NYT Hardcover list.

Speculative fiction author Orson Scott Card has been another staple on the best-selling lists for decades. In 2008 he released Ender in Exile, another chapter in his flagship Ender series. Publishers Weekly wrote, “This philosophical novel covers familiar events, but puts new emphasis on their ethical ramifications . . . [Ender's] agonized musings aren’t always sophisticated but possess a certain gravitas. Fans will find this offering illuminating, and it’s also accessible to thoughtful readers new to the series.”  I enjoyed the book, but was ultimately put off by Ender’s nearly divine ability to solve any situation. Ender’s experiences with tragedy were part of what made Ender’s Game and Speaker for the Dead great novels. Here there is no tragedy, because 15-year old Ender solves every problem before it gets out of hand. The novel reached #16 on the NYT Hardcover list.

Tor, Card’s publisher, also produced a collection of Card’s shorter fiction, entitled Keeper of Dreams. It covers stories published since his last major collection, 1990’s Maps in a Mirror.  In a starred review, Publishers Weekly wrote, “Card offers short, revealing commentaries on these 22 compelling short stories, novelettes, and novellas . . . [The stories] provide significant examples of his perennial themes: morality, salvation, and redemption.” Several of the stories were written specifically for a Mormon audience.  Card also produced Stonefather, a novella intended to whet appetites for a new fantasy series, and Zanna’s Gift, a short Christmas novel.

There seems to be a strong tradition among Mormon speculative fiction authors to include difficult moral issues in their work. It started with Card, and has continued through David Farland to Brandon Sanderson. In 2008 Sanderson released the third in his well regarded Mistborn series. It reached #21 on the NYT Hardcover list. Publishers Weekly wrote, “a dramatic and surprising climax . . . Sanderson’s saga of consequences offers complex characters and a compelling plot, asking hard questions about loyalty, faith and responsibility.” I think Sanderson is a fantastic author, I hope to catch up with the Mistborn series soon.

Sanderson also produced the second volume of his fantasy series for young readers, Alcatraz vrs. The Scriviner’s Bones. A blogger named Fyrefly wrote, “Too funny! . . . It manages to maintain the high levels of energy and snarky humor that characterized the first book. Of course, a little bit of the first-novel charm of having a new world to explore and new characters to meet has worn off by this point, but what this instalment lacks in shiny new-book-itude, it makes up for with creative new plot twists, and with an increase in the maturity of the underlying message. Alcatraz has been thrust into the role of leader, and watching him struggle with it, at the same time he’s coping with his own history, family, and powers, is interesting to watch.”

David Farland (AKA Dave Wolverton) wrote The Wyrmling Horde, the seventh in the Runelords series. Publishers Weekly wrote, “Oscillating between lurid depictions of blood-soaked vistas and heroic tales of noble adolescent saviors, Farland attempts to leaven the violence with enchanting parallel-world landscapes and charming minor characters, but the atmosphere overall is unrelentingly gloomy. Nonetheless, this series promises to continue as long as stalwart-stomached readers can keep turning its grisly pages.”

Note: This ends the first part of the national market wrap up — I’ll post the second part tomorrow and then we will move on the Mormon market, and poetry and short fiction.

Even more unusual, the book seemed to me like something that should be aimed at a national audience, something that Deseret Book has no strength in whatsoever.

I have no idea what will happen to the book I saw announced. I can’t imagine that Deseret Book will publish it — it doesn’t seem to me like it fits Deseret Book’s publishing program. I also don’t expect that any national publisher is likely to pick it up, so I guess it will either not be published at all, or appear on the list of one of the print-on-demand service companies that I’ve warned authors about.

More and more incidents like this one convince me that many LDS authors don’t really know what it means to be an LDS author, and how that might be different from being some other kind of author. And, most importantly, these LDS authors don’t know what they need to know.

Now I don’t mean to suggest that being an author who is LDS somehow means you have to write for the LDS market, or that you can’t write some kinds of works. But I do think that a author’s religion has to have an effect on their writing. I’m sure someone will comment in response to this post saying that there shouldn’t be any difference at all. If so, then what good is a religion that can’t manage to influence the kind of material that an author writes or how the author is perceived? I tried to answer that question recently in the post What’s the Difference?

I also don’t mean to suggest that there exists some special body of esoteric knowledge that only LDS authors will understand. I think what LDS authors need to know is easy to understand, but at times difficult to put into practice. Largely, what LDS authors need to know is the same as what other authors need to know, except for two broad areas that are exceptions.

First, and most importantly, LDS authors need to know how their religious beliefs, culture and experience impact both their writing and the process of getting the works they produce published. Of course just like other authors, LDS authors need to know how to approach a publisher, how to format a query and how to negotiate a contract. But I’m not talking about that knowledge. There are dozens of author guides and other resources that give that information. I’m talking about the direct effects of the author’s beliefs and culture on writing and on negotiations with publishers–how including LDS elements or themes in a book can affect whether or not a publisher looks at the manuscript, or how NOT including expected material, again because of the author’s LDS beliefs or culture, might trip up getting it published.

It is, of course, simplistic to say that an author’s LDS values, regardless of what they are or how they might surface in a book, will automatically prevent it from being published because of the “liberal bias of publishers,” just as it is simplistic to believe that the LDS experience is unique or common or fascinating to others, leading publishers searching for LDS works. The details of a work determine its success. How a work is written, how it is presented and to whom it is presented matter far more than the publisher’s biases (if any) or the public’s inherent interest, or lack thereof, in Mormonism.

Second, LDS authors need to know about the LDS market. Again, I will not be surprised when someone says that they will never ever publish in the LDS market. I think they still need to know some basics about the LDS market. Not only is it foolish to ignore a place where the author’s work might be sold (I don’t know ANY author who can say what every future work they write will be about, and therefore be certain that those works will never find their best fit in the LDS market), it is also shortsighted to believe that nothing can be learned, positive or negative, from the market. If nothing else, the LDS market might become more valuable by the participation of more authors.

Both of these areas encompass a wealth of questions and judgments that LDS authors must face and navigate. I’m not sure that I know them all, and I certainly don’t have experience with most of them. So I’m interested in what you, dear reader, can add to these questions. What do LDS authors need to know? What problems have you run into that would have been smoothed if you knew more ahead of time? Am I right about these two general areas of needed knowledge? What don’t you know that you would like to know?