It is a healthy exercise to reflect on the previous year’s events. The culture around us is ever-changing and ever-sliding into darkness and debauchery. But the goodness of God remains unchanged despite attempts to proclaim otherwise.

The following is an attempt to review some things in the industry, our agency, and a few other areas.

The Industry
The longer I’ve been in this industry, the less surprised I am by events. Figuring out consumer buying habits is a moving target. Last year’s big trend isn’t big anymore. Getting a reader’s attention and getting them to spend money is always the challenge.

A writer’s built-in audience is still a major factor in publishing decisions. At the same time, the brilliance of an idea and the quality of the writing can create its own audience.

Innovation and adaptation are key to marketing. What may have worked three years ago may not work today.

Our Agency
We have the privilege of working with over 250 authors. Last year, we secured almost 100 new contracts for books to be released over the next few years. Over a dozen were from first-time authors! We negotiated several audio, large-print, film-option (Netflix in South Africa to be filmed in Afrikaans), and foreign-rights licensing deals. We also had various titles hit the ECPA bestseller charts in fiction, nonfiction, and children.

I am thrilled to have Tamela, Bob, Dan, and Lynette as great agents who pour themselves into their clients’ work. We are a great team. We all continue to find new opportunities, give guidance, and troubleshoot a wide variety of issues.

Some of our clients were honored with various awards:

• Aaron Renn’s book Life in a Negative World: Confronting Challenges in an Anti-Christian Culture was named the nonfiction book of the year by WORLD magazine.
• We had six finalists for the Christy Awards (Lisa Bergren, Crystal Caudill, Amanda Cox, Sara Ella, Michelle Shocklee, and Kimberley Woodhouse). Crystal Caudill won for best short form. Sharon Hinck was inducted into the Christy Hall of Fame at the Gala event.
• We had eight finalists for the Carol Awards (Sami Abrams, Gillian Bronte Adams, Lynne Blackburn, Amanda Cox, Lynette Eason, Betsy St. Amant, Carrie Turansky, Kimberley Woodhouse). Sami Abrams won for best novella, Gillian Bronte Adams won for best speculative novel, Lynne Blackburn won for best romantic suspense, Betsy St. Amant won for best short novel, and Carrie Turansky won for best historical romance. In addition, Deborah Raney (a six-time winner of the Carol Award) was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the ACFW Gala event.
• For the Realm Awards, we had two finalists (Gillian Bronte Adams and Sara Ella).
• The ECPA Bronze Book Award for more than 100,000 copies sold was given to Dallas Jenkins, Amanda Jenkins, and Steve Laube (me) for our project The Chosen Presents a Blended Harmony of the Gospels published by Broadstreet.

Selling the Christian Writers Institute and the Write to Publish conference
This Fall I sold The Christian Writers Institute (CWI) and the Write to Publish conference to Becky Antkowiak. Since I started CWI in 2016 as a “side ministry,” the annual growth has been quite amazing. With my other responsibilities, I felt the need to ensure that CWI would effectively serve the writing community for decades to come. To do so, it was time to put the reins in someone else’s hand.

God has gifted Becky with the ability to make both CWI and the writers conference a beacon of light that will enable, encourage, and educate writers to use their words to change the world.

My role is now is that of President Emeritus. Which means you can’t get rid of me that easily.

The 2025 Write to Publish conference promises to be another amazing event. To be held June 10-13 in Wheaton, IL, it will continue to be under the amazing direction of Dan Balow and Becky. Last year we had over 300 in attendance.

The Christian Writers Market Guide
I will continue to oversee the creation, curation, and publication of the market guide. The new 2025 edition of The Christian Writers Market Guide is available right now in print, ebook, and online. (The link takes you to shoptheword.com, where the physical book is 32% off.) This is the ninth consecutive year we have brought out a new edition. It is still the only curated collection of resources for Christian writers available anywhere.

Enclave Publishing
I continue to serve as the publisher for Enclave Publishing, a traditional publishing company owned by Oasis Family Media, devoted to the publication of speculative fiction written by authors who have a Christian worldview.

We released 20 new titles in 2024. It was great to have many of our books win numerous awards. For the sixth consecutive year, Enclave won a Christy award. In addition, for the sixth consecutive year, Enclave won a Carol award (this year there were two winners). We are blessed to have so many fantastic authors to work with.

We debuted an online store, which can be found at enclavepublishingstore.com. This was a huge undertaking and is working smoothly!

The team I get to work with is beyond description. We went through some real production challenges this year and came through them. I am very proud of the group!

The Future
In a speech I gave last summer, I said, “Writing is not for publication. Writing is obedience. Obedience to the call of God to use the gifts he has given you. For his glory.”

The world needs your nonfiction insights to counter the ills of a society careening toward self-destruction.

The world needs your great stories to fill the fiction market and offer an alternative to the soulless stories being told by the world.

The culture around us staggers from crisis headline to crisis headline, but Jesus is our unshakable foundation. The Church and all believers must steadily pursue Christ and His Kingdom. Books are a key help in this pursuit.

I pray that you obey your call to write.

Soli Deo Gloria