I always find it instructive to look back at the prior year. So many things are the same in the industry, and yet changes are still constant. The world, reveling in darkness and debauchery, continues to try to throw its shade over the glory of God, thinking they can somehow smother, suppress, or smash it into oblivion. We know different.

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

The Industry
Just when you think things are settled, the sands shift. The growing presence of A.I. is here, like it or not. Resist it or not. One wise businessman said to me, in essence, “A.I. will not replace humans. It will replace those who do not know how to use A.I. the right way.” Thus, we are all struggling to figure out what that “right way” looks like.

I still maintain that in our writing profession, A.I. cannot replace the sheer creativity and God-given talent of a human being. We are made in the image of God. We reflect that creativity. A.I. is created in the image of man, and it merely responds to the questions of its user.

The biggest news of the year was the $1.5 billion settlement in a lawsuit against Anthropic (an A.I. company). They had misused the copyrighted material of hundreds of thousands of books pirated by other online entities. They used the content to train their A.I. engine. It is an ongoing case since the presiding judge retired at the end of 2025, and the entire process is highly complicated. It may be another year before all is said and done and the violated authors are compensated.

Meanwhile, consumer buying habits are a moving target, making the selling of books incredibly difficult for publishers and indie authors. Last year’s big trend isn’t big anymore. When “hockey romance” becomes a brief buzz, one has to wonder what’s next. (Bocce Ball mysteries? After all, there is a “kiss” in the rules of this game.) Getting a reader’s attention and getting them to spend money on your idea is always a challenge.

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

Innovation and adaptation are key to marketing. What may have worked last year may not work today. (Vertical video shorts or horizontal video? Substack or not? Lead magnets or street teams?) It is infuriating, invigorating, and distracting all at once.

Our Agency
We have the privilege of working with nearly 300 authors. Last year, we secured almost 100 new contracts for books to be released over the next few years. Over a half-dozen were from first-time authors! 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:

• We had five finalists for the Christy Awards: Amanda Cox, Lynette Eason, Nancy Mehl, Joanna Davidson Politano, and Michelle Shocklee. Amanda Cox won for best general fiction. Michelle Shocklee won for best historical. And Michelle Shocklee won the Book of the Year.
• We had five finalists for the Carol Awards: Lynne Blackburn (twice), Nadine Brandes, Lynette Eason, and Dana Lynn. Lynne Blackburn won for best novella, and Lynette Eason won for best romantic suspense.
• The ECPA Bronze Book Award for more than 100,000 copies sold was given for multiple books to Dallas Jenkins and Amanda Jenkins.

The Christian Writers Market Guide
I continue to oversee the creation, curation, and publication of the market guide. The new 2026 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 tenth 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 of Enclave Publishing, a traditional publishing company owned by Oasis Family Media, devoted to publishing speculative fiction by authors with a Christian worldview.

We released 16 new titles in 2025. It was great to have many of our books win numerous awards. For the seventh consecutive year, Enclave won a Christy award (this time, two winners). In addition, for the seventh consecutive year, Enclave won a Carol award. Plus, in the Realm Awards we had four winners and won the Book of the Year for the fifth time in the last seven years. We are blessed to have so many fantastic authors to work with.

The team I get to work with is the absolute best. I am very proud of the group!

The Future
In a book I wrote, which will be released in May (stay tuned in a couple of months for more information on that), I wrote, “The blank page is not truly empty; it is filled with possibility.”

I truly believe that.

Our calling is to fill those pages with words that make a mark when they strike a reader’s heart.

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.

 

Soli Deo Gloria