by Steve Laube
There could not be a better argument for the need for good Christian romantic fiction than the recent sales phenomenon of the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy. In case you aren’t aware, this trilogy has sold ten million copies in the last three months. Ten million copies. The content of these novels should be x-rated and yet sit atop every bestseller list in the country. The media labeled the novels “mommy-porn” which is an apt description considering the book’s advocacy for aberrant sexual behavior. It has sold over one million e-book copies for the Kindle suggesting that some buy it for their e-reader because they can hide what they are reading by not showing the cover.
Of course there has always been salacious fiction on the market, so this is nothing new. Many saucy and erotic novels are readily available with the click of a mouse. But none, with such unapologetic deviance, have achieved such extraordinary success in such a short time.
Christian novelists? You were born for such a time as this. The message of love and romance in the confines of a loving God-centered relationship is diametrically opposed to that found in these bestsellers. Write stories that show relationships with all their ethos, anguish, strife, redemption, honesty, and romance. Therefore, let this phenomenon be a clarion call for you to dig deep and improve your storytelling, hone your craft, and shout it from the mountaintops that there are great novels that can be read as an alternative to what the general market offers.
If you aren’t aware of what is available, go to Fiction Finder and search by genre. Our agency represents over 110 of those great novelists.
