Mormonism has been good for the publishing industry. Or is it the other way around? Either way, it makes me wonder if Christians shouldn’t sit up and 
take note.
Before you head to the comment box to tell me Mormons ARE Christians, save it. That debate goes on elsewhere and this post is not about that. This post is about authors with a definite religious persuasion who are making inroads into mainstream publishing.
And why others aren’t.
The most recent Mormon publishing phenom is Kiersten White author of the NY Times bestseller Paranormalcy. Last year, in a post entitled Something in the Water, Kiersten said this about the unusual proliferation of Mormon authors into mainstream publishing:
This is such a phenomenon–and a growing one–that one editor considering PARANORMALCY heard I was Mormon and remarked, “That’s the magic ingredient!”
So basically I’m saying, if you want to get published you really ought to join my church.
KIDDING. So, so, so so so kidding. But clearly people have noticed and are trying to figure out why.
In the LDS church, family is the center of everything, and women are encouraged to try and be home as much as possible with their children to give them the best start in life. (This isn’t a requirement–everyone does the best they can, just like anyone else, Mormon or not.) We are also encouraged to get as much education as we can. AND we are encouraged to develop our talents and constantly seek to better ourselves.
So, here’s the equation: Very Well Educated Women + Lots of Hours at Home + Needing Something to Do that Makes Us Feel Human and Improves Our Lives = WRITERS.
So is there something intrinsic to the Mormon faith that may relate to the recent proliferation of its authors?
Several years back, when Stephanie Meyers (also a Mormon) hit it big with her Twilight series, one blogger compiled a list of Mormon Young Adult Fiction Before Twilight. They too speculated about how “Mormon culture” 
may fuel its authors’ success:
There is a culture that cultivates YA fiction among the Mormons. Part of it is a focus on family-friendly literature. Part of it comes from that history of periodicals that promoted Mormon youth to develop their writing talents. Part of it comes from Brigham Young University, connected intimately with most of those nationally publishing LDS writers (including Meyer). Many of the best Mormon writers for the YA market have taught or been taught at BYU (and BYU hosts other important writers such as Douglas Thayer who have not succeeded nationally, but who are writing high quality adolescent literature). Conferences for aspiring and professionalizing writers take place annually via BYU, such as the Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers Workshop, and there are student clubs that connect young writers with established writers. Courses in Mormon literature (and more specifically in YA literature) are held regularly at BYU, too.
Okay. So this has me thinking. As a Christian author, I wonder if our community is far too fractured and divided to have such a concentrated influence on aspiring authors. Or is Christianity just far less monolithic and “localized” than Mormonism, preventing such singularity? Either way, where is the “Christian” version of the BYU writers workshops?
Now, from what I understand, publishers of “Mormon fiction” are faced with the same uncomfortable decisions that publishers of Christian fiction are. Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but Meyer’s Twilight and White’s Paranormalcy are NOT carried by Mormon bookstores for the same reason that Grisham, Koontz, or Tolkein are not carried by Christian bookstores. Nevertheless, as I see it, these authors — and their faith — is celebrated in a way that mainstream Christian authors are not. Am I wrong?
Christian authors often bemoan our lack of crossover appeal. We (a generic we) feel shunned by the market. We can’t reference basic elements of our faith without getting the axe. Some even go so far as to call it conspiratorial. For many, Christian fiction exists because of this, as a reaction against the mainstream market’s persecution. Furthermore, mainstream Christian authors can sometimes be viewed as “spiritually inferior” to the author with explicit Christian themes. No one can doubt John Grisham’s success. But is his faith celebrated in the same way as Meyer’s or White’s? Does his faith play any less a role because his content isn’t overtly “spiritual”? Is “The Firm” spiritually inferior to “Redeeming Love”?
I’m just thinking out loud here.
So how do you answer the Mormon publishing phenomenon? Is there something intrinsic to the Mormon faith that may relate to the proliferation of its authors? Can the Christian writing community learn something from the success of these Mormon authors? Is the Christian writing community, as I suggest, far too fractured or spread out for such a concentrated push? Or am I just very wrong?
Have a great weekend!
Interestingly I am currently reading another book by a Mormon author..MATCHED by Ally Condie.
I’ve noticed that many of these books are YA books which, as a huge YA fan, I have all enjoyed. Call me weird but I honestly couldn’t tell that they have anything to do with their faith in their books. In fact if I hadn’t been made aware of their faith, I would not have recognized it in the books. This is is different from Christian fiction where it’s usually pretty obvious even when not published by a Christian publisher. To me they were just good stories..
Hey Mike,
I’m a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. And while Mormons are Christians (I know you didn’t want that on here *grin* – but you know I had to throw that in : ) ) we are a large “branch”, if you will, of the whole Christian tree which has been fragmented by large lines.
Catholics are Christians – but they are another large off shoot of the same tree and have ethnicity in their corner (you know, if you’re Italian you’re most likely Catholic, that sort of thing).
And while this is all interesting (I do have a point), one thing the LDS church pushes is solidarity and unity. We believe in the SAME thing. We have the same doctrine being taught from handbooks from the main head quarters in Utah to the entire church worldwide. This gives me a “kinship” with the Mormon who lives 10,000 miles away and makes it so easy to support him/her in their endeavors.
I think it’s safe to say that a Lutheran church in Spokane, Wa is not affiliated with a Lutheran church in southern England. They most likely don’t keep up to date on each other’s happenings and don’t know any names.
This isn’t to say that Christians don’t back each other. We do – wholeheartedly, it just isn’t the same thing when you say I’m Lutheran (which I used to be) to someone who is as well versus when you meet a fellow Mormon. There’s a difference there.
So if you look at how one feels unified with fellow Mormons (whether they know them or not) and you throw out there a novel or a movie (Napoleon Dynamite anyone?) or something else that meets the standards without being too controversial – you have a great formula for success. The Church membership (As of 2008) reached 13.5 million. That’s a large number of people who one feels a kinship with.
Can you imagine if just a fraction of only LDS members supported someone’s work? That’s some serious backing.
Great post and thanks for being so diplomatic about the subject!
Thanks for commenting, Bonnie. You said, “…one thing the LDS church pushes is solidarity and unity.” I agree with you, which is why I suggested that Christians (and I’m using this in the sense of Protestant Christians) may be far too “fragmented” and “divided” — not just geographically, but culturally and ideologically — than Mormons. Appreciate your thoughts.
Exactly, Mike. I know all the Reformed authors and I love to read them and celebrate them and support them, just like the Mormons support their own. But the Baptist writers? It’s not that I don’t want to read them. It’s that their books never cross my radar. I do love Grisham—who is Baptist, I think—and I celebrate him. But the only reason I know about him is that he’s not writing in the CBA. And while I read a wide-range of CBA books (across houses, I mean) I find that authors who put into their fiction a strong free-will theme, are usually not authors I follow. It’s not that I’m mad at them or that I don’t think they are Christians. It’s just that their doctrine usually knocks me out of the story and makes the read less enjoyable.
However I can read and enjoy Mormon authors–two of the six favorite authors I have linked to in my sidebar are Mormon. I don’t agree with Mormon doctrine, I just happen to love the stories those two women write. I don’t feel their doctrine coming at me in their books and knocking me from the story. I don’t feel preached at when I read their stories.
Mormonism is founded on a great fantasy/space-opera-style story about a “god” (one of many gods) who dwells on a distant planet and fathers spirit-children on Earth (the same as good Mormons now will someday do with their own parallel, descendent worlds). Thus fantasy — the anti-Biblical, wrong-kind-of-escapist kind — is at the root of that religion.
E. Stephen Burnett,
Your comment is your belief and that’s cool. But when one directs negativity at a particular group it ONLY shores up their unity and feelings of solidarity.
Thus uninhibited negativity has only increased the Mormon culture’s need to “band together”.
If you want to take us down, why not approach us with a happy-to-know you attitude and make us feel like one of the “Christian Crowd”.
I hope it’s clear that when you embrace the differences between religions and beliefs, you only display that great characteristic the Saviour pushed – lo0ve one another as I have loved you.
Mike – thanks again. I have the Resurrection in my queue and cannot wait to review it.
Hugs and prayers!
Funny you should say that. Several years back my husband and I happened to rent a few movies that were funded and created within the Mormon community. They were actually…good. Not only that they were funny! They poked fun at themselves while managing to shed a positive light on the Mormon community. I was left thinking…Mormons may have some very important things wrong, but they are also obviously getting some very important things right. I can see why people are drawn to the community.
It also left my husband and I wondering…where are the comparable Christian movies. Yes, there are some really good ones out there but those tend to be all or partially funded by Hollywood. The ones that are funded and produced strictly by the Christian community tend to be…well in my experience…I’ve seen a few that were beyond bad…I mean, made my stomach sick bad. My husband and I speculated maybe it’s because the Mormons have such a tight community and can easily pool their money and focus their talents. The Christian community however is so large and diverse. We tend to have our eggs in so many baskets, and also to be fractured…singular churches working autonomously rather than pooling resources.
It’s a good question. I’ve noticed it. I don’t have an answer.
I think it’s much more basic than this.
Stephanie Meyer doesn’t put her Morman faith into any of the Twilight books – at least not overtly. I’m sure you could break it down and find things, but the characters don’t have any sort of spiritual journey related to Mormanism.
So her books are mainstream. Much like many Christians out there who write fiction for the ABA. CBA books aren’t just books written by Christians, they are books written by Christians with a strong spiritual thread woven throughout the book. Right? Or maybe I’m the one who’s wrong.
Katie, it would interesting to know how much Meyers thinks her Mormonism is a part of her books. Perhaps more than we think. As to CBA fiction being defined as having “a strong spiritual thread,”I concur. My question is whether Mormons and Christians approach the mainstream markets differently, whether something in the Mormon culture has contributed to their authors success, and whether the ABA market is less antagonistic to Mormons. Thanks for your comments!
Several years ago Shadow Mountain, which is an imprint of Deseret Books began putting out children’s fantasy series all fast and furious. They had taken a poll of their kids and discovered they all like Harry Potter. And they jumped right in. The thing I thought was interesting at the time was that those books were not shelved in a Mormon section of the bookstores. I’ve never even seen a Mormon section. I’ve never seen a Jewish section or a Muslim section either. There is a small selection of nonfiction religious books shelved in the religious section of the bookstores. But as far as I know, most fiction books are shelved in the fiction section unless it’s published by a Christian publishing house.
There are many great Christian books out now that are not preachy and that general market readers could read without any problem at all. But they won’t be seen by those readers in bookstores because those browsers don’t go into the Christian aisle.
Now with more books selling on the Internet than in bookstores…that all might change.
This comment is johnny-come-lately, but for Mormon theology in Meyer, see John Granger’s Spotlight. Fascinating discussion of how Meyer interweaves her doctrine and her story. There’s certainly lessons to be learned there, on multiple levels.
I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am also a LDS published author. I think Kiersten White and Bonnie Paulson hit the nail on the head with their comments.
White’s formula is spot on. Developing our talents is of utmost importance to us, and many of us also have time at home.
I think what Paulson said is also a huge factor. If I am traveling and attend a Mormon ward in New Jersey, the exact same principals and doctrine will be taught and delivered in the same way they are at home. This gives us a huge worldwide unity. As authors, we support each other–just as many Christian authors do–but perhaps even with an added measure since we feel so alike in our beliefs.
As far as LDS authors breaking into the national market, I think a huge draw is simply their books usually adhere to the Church’s standards on media: they’re clean.
Many readers–Mormon or not–want to read a book or watch a movie free of cursing and immoral scenes, and I think that is a huge key to their success.
Thank you for this post.
People who live by worldly standards have success by worldly standards. Mormons are a conundrum, aren’t they? They’ve found a niche in between. They have their own culture, and they are bringing that to the table, often w/o mentioning their faith overtly in their work. Their unique vision appeals to the broader, secular world because of the lack of preaching (admittedly, there might be plenty of Mormon books that are preachy, but I haven’t read them), and appeals to the larger Christian world because of the purity. Bonnet romances are popular for the same reason–a different culture/purity. But not everybody wants bonnet romances. Those of you who are JA fans probably recall the modern Mormon P&P film that came out several years ago. How else could a filmmaker create a modern bonnet-free story such as that w/o using a culture like that of the Mormons?
There are other issues I could go into–such as testing the spirits. Stephanie Meyers’ story sprang from a dream she had. Where did that dream come from? God? Satan? Her subconscious? Look at the content of the books and decide for yourself. You may come to the conclusion that her success is not the kind you desire.
Pretty simple: The Mormon church itself isn’t fractured like the Christian church, or more specifically, the Protestant side of the Christian church. (Incidentally, and I have to add this, even though you’d rather we not, Mike, but originally the Mormon church did NOT consider themselves Christians. Far from it: They considered the Christian church corrupt and having abandoned the true message of Christ, the very reason for the founding of the Mormon faith. In my experience this belief existed and was vigorously taught as late as the early 1960’s. In college I knew a brother and sister who were openly Mormon and became infuriated if anyone even hinted that they and their faith were Christian in any way.) The Protestants are fractured into hundreds, if not thousands of denominations, sects, cults and splinter groups. While most of these profess solidarity of belief and practice – within limits – the very fact that these factions exist means that there is division and is usually welcomed and encouraged as being a vital part of Christianity. “Work out your own salvation in fear and trembling,” is often cited as being the basis for this acceptance of the many factions. Yes, there are factions in the Mormon church but not that many and not officially recognized by the Elders as legitimate. In the largest sense the Mormons are monolithic and supportive of each other and it shows in such areas as is being discussed here and as you have alluded to.
Oops. Hit the submit button before finishing. Heh.
What I wanted to conclude with is that the Mormon church has been very successful these last 30-some years, which is when I believe it started in earnest, in changing its image and in marketing. Mormons are mainstream now, even if it has meant making some compromises in doctrine. I won’t comment on what those changes might be, but I am pretty much assured in my own mind that a wholesale acceptance of the paranormal – vampires, werewolves and the like – was not once something the Mormon church would allow. This also, I think, shows that many Mormons feel comfortable doing things outside doctrinal teaching…just like so many Christians. So in that sense, the Mormons may be more like Christians – or vice versa – just like is proclaimed.
I think part of the issue is going to be what the books are about; not the fact that they are from Mormon authors. I remember when Harry Potter came out and Christians were so against it; I was too, for a bit. When the books were made into moves, I began to watch them. In all honesty, there is nothing wrong with the books or the movies. Yes, they do have magic in them, but what Disney movie doesn’t? Cartoons from my childhood had magic in them and no one was raising cain about that. This is something that I have actually discussed with my Aunt, who happens to be a Preacher’s wife.
In my opinion, you can turn anything into what you want it. With Harry Potter, Twilight, and I’m sure this book you have mentioned, people are going to continue to turn them demonic. Harry Potter is nothing more than books about good versus evil, friendship, and family. However, many people have delved into these books saying they were full of occult material.
I think the biggest issue is most Christian authors weave Scripture into their books; whereas Stephenie Meyer didn’t. Even though her books speak of abstinence, they don’t push a Christian them.
I’ve never really thought about where the authors come from or what their background is; that is, unless it’s there in the back of the book or it’s a biography. I’ve always just thought of fictions as either Christian fiction or not. I wouldn’t have even know this without your blog.
I think part of it comes back to something you blogged about a couple of weeks back, Mike. Good Christians, at least in my circles, don’t read fiction. Anyone who reads spends all their time reading non-fiction by the theologians they pretty much already agree with. There’s nothing wrong with those books, and I can understand why people read them. But there is very little emphasis on writing good fiction. Heck, very few people care about fiction period. And so there are very few writers creating any fiction worth reading for any market.
Mark, that may be true in your circle, but I can tell you, it isn’t the case throughout Christianity. A lot of “good Christians” read fiction. I volunteer in my church library, and hands down, the books people check out most are fiction. And yes, my church is a Bible-believing group!
Becky
Hmm…interesting thoughts. Some of you up there are disobeying, though. Tisk, tisk…
I have been pondering this issue for a while now–since I went to the OSC writer’s boot camp, actually. Card is Mormon and has caught flack for it over the years, but he is one of several very prolific and best-selling authors in sci-fi/fantasy who are Mormon. I’ve worked a lot with several Mormon writer’s in groups over the years and have found two similar threads. 1. Focus. 2. They believe strongly in passing the gift on–there’s a very strong thread of teaching. Card gives much of his time to helping other writers (point: all writers).
The thing is this: Mormons don’t confuse their religion with their talents. They see the idea of writing as a challenge unto itself and want to do it to the best of their abilities. Their main goal isn’t to send a message in their work, but to be excellent.
Christians (or Protestants, if you will) tend to do the exact opposite. The message is paramount to the craft. Always, there must be a message (Not all, of course, but a vast majority).
I’m not saying one is better than the other, it’s just something I’ve observed over the years.
As to the whole John Grisham sort of thing, and even Koontz, I think maybe the thing there is that those men don’t make their beliefs a part of the equation. It’s not that they hide it, they just don’t advertise it.
Well, you have to take into account that these are YA novels aimed primarily toward girls (who seem more likely to pick up a novel than your average teen boy). And that dark fantasy is a big market right now. And that these books don’t really have a thing to do with the author’s faith (I didn’t know the author of Paranormalcy was mormon, for example). And that — if there is a message — the primary reason for the book is for entertainment rather than telling a message. And that the majority of Americans don’t know what the heck Mormons actually believe (that includes me). Taking all that into account, I think the reason for the author’s success is pretty clear. Or at least, the reason they haven’t been limited.
On the other hand, CBA novels tend to be targeting a conservative Christian audience (most of whom are very, very picky concerning content), as opposed to MILLIONS of teen girls. And are message focused rather than story focused. And are badly written/cheesy more often than not. And Christianity is looked down upon by most mainstream folks thanks to people like Fred Phelps. . . well, again, clear to see why Christian authors have fewer sales.
The most troublesome part, I think, is our small market. If you write for CBA you’re likely writing for a Protestant-Christian audience. But Protestants don’t really agree on much of anything. So you’re likely to find few who actually agree with you enough to read your book, while a larger portion thinks you’re a crank (note the overwhelmingly harsh reaction to Tom Pawlik’s fairly well-told “Vanish”)(Also note the constant debate as to whether Christians should write swear words. . .or horror. . .or anything not bonnet-related). This makes an already narrow market, even more narrow. Unless you go the ABA route, and write very well. It works for Dean Koontz, who writes some pretty explicitly Christian books (The Taking) as well as former CBA, now ABA rising star Ted Dekker.
Conclusion: Don’t expect millions to read your books when you’re only writing for thousands (hundreds of which don’t like you). Which isn’t a bad thing. . .but worth realizing.
Tony, you said note the overwhelmingly harsh reaction to Tom Pawlik’s fairly well-told “Vanish”. I’m wondering if you’re aware that Vanish won the Christy Award (Visionary category), the top award for Christian fiction. Furthermore the CSFF Blog Tour featured the book, and it was overwhelmingly praised. You can see for yourself if you’d like — you’ll find a list of bloggers and links to their post here.
Your comment, I think, illustrates one reason Christian fiction gets a bad name — people state opinions as facts. I can name ten or twelve authors off the top of my head who are not writing (1) bonnet fiction or (2) poorly crafted fiction. And yet even in the comments to this post we have people (some who admittedly don’t read much Christian fiction) stating as fact that Christian fiction is of poor or mediocre quality. Perhaps we can at least qualify those comments: the Christian fiction I read ten years ago … or some such thing,
Becky
Mike, this is an excellent discussion. While I won’t comment as well about Mormons are like Christians (this is more suited for a debate forum), I will say that you are spot on about the unity issue and support issue that is sorely lacking in the Christian community. Then again, do we really need to be this surprised considering we are in the last days?
I think the outstanding success of Orson Scott Card (2 Hugo awards in a row) has helped other LDS writers.
The problem with (evangelical) Christian writers is often they write as if for members of their own denomination/non-denomination. A Catholic or Lutheran may not get what they are trying to say, let alone a non-Christian. The popular LDS writers tend not to assume all readers know about LDS jargon and church traditions, and may not include explicit Mormonism at all in their work.
And the secular marketplace may like the LDS author so they can continue to bash those hateful Christians while pointing out ‘see, one of our authors is Mormon, so we’re not prejudiced after all…’
And this may be a little off-topic but it does bother me when the word ‘Christian’ is used in a way that means ‘evangelical Protestant Christian’. LDS Christians are Christian (though their theology on many points may not be), Catholics like me are Christian, Moravians are Christian, Lutherans are Christian…. In a spirit of Christian unity I of course forgive those who do it, but I don’t think it’s a helpful practice.
Boy Mike, even though you prefaced your comments with a “let’s don’t debate whether LDS folks are Christians” seems it was hard for some to avoid defending Mormonism.
I have long been a fan of Orson Scott Card and have read just about everything he wrote until Empire (which I thought was really bad). Ender’s Game and the series that followed is still a classic for many reasons. But no one should be deluded that his worldview and theology do not permeate a number of his series because they do. They may not seem overt to many Christians but that would be only because they aren’t well versed in LDS doctrine.
So maybe the question should be is this; why is Card unafraid of what it might do to his career or size of his audience if the masses catch on to the fact much what he writes in fiction is not fiction to him? In a follow-up why are non- Mormon authors who are Christian so obsessed with not wanting their world view to show through in their writing? Card is very open about his beliefs and never apologies for appearing to overt in his writing.
Here’s an interesting article having to do with whether Card’s openly stated views on homosexuality should hurt his career. After he won an award there was some disagreement about whether someone with his views should be winning awards.
I’m not sure that a Biblical worldview will not hurt a Christian author in the ABA. In the end God is able to overrule all that if he wants. We have to speak the truth. We should be doing it in love, and we don’t necessarily have to blast it across the Internet for all to see. But we do have love God more than Mammon, so when I’m tempted to not speak, I usually think I’m probably supposed to speak. In love, of course, and gently.
Good discussion — and good post as usual, Mike!
I’m gonna take a different stand though. I’m not sure these are the “right” questions to be asking. I think perhaps the “better” question would be: “Why are Christians trying to copy outsiders?”
Why aren’t we at the EDGE of fiction, forging something new that will draw OUTsiders back IN? I’m not gonna clog up your blog with my reasoning, but if anyone is interested, check out the post at my blog, POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAYS here: http://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2011/03/possibly-irritating-essay-why-are-we.html
Guy, you said Why aren’t we at the EDGE of fiction, forging something new that will draw OUTsiders back IN? Great question! (and I’ll be over to read your post as soon as I finish with this comment).
I’ll also add this — I think we’re focusing too much on unity or support from the Christian writer community. I personally think that’s a very supportive bunch. What we’re lacking that Mike mentioned is One Central Source Of Support. There is no BYU, but a multitude of Christian universities, not a central writing organization or one predominant workshop, but a growing multitude of Christian associations and conferences.
In addition, Christian churches often (rightly so, in my opinion) separate “business” from church. Consequently, no one is telling an entire denomination about a particular writer and his book. Consequently, readers, who I believe should be the people we want to support quality authors, aren’t finding out about the best books.
The question, as I see it, is, how can we change this?
Becky
It seems somewhat obvious to me, but some 83% of the people in the United States consider themselves to be Christian. Within that 83% people have little slap fights about how much more Christian they are than everybody else. There is no real way, then for “Christian” authors to celebrate each others’ work.
Protestants celebrate other Protestants’ work, to an extent. Catholics celebrate other Catholics’ work. And, it seems, Mormons celebrate other Mormons’ work. All the while each group insists that the other groups aren’t really Christians.
“Christian authors often bemoan our lack of crossover appeal. We (a generic we) feel shunned by the market.”
Classic Christian persecution complex. Once more, 83% of the country considers themselves Christian. However, only a fraction of that 83% are Christian in the exact way that you (generic you) are and will enjoy a heavy handed lecture on your faith.
The work doesn’t lack appeal, because it is Christian. It lacks appeal, because it’s bad.
Dustin, are you suggesting that the Christian community is too divided, too divisive, to push its books into the mainstream? Within its niche, religious fiction continues to be one of the hottest sellers. So I’m not sure how relevant your “slap fight” theory really is.
Sorry Dustin, but that’s like saying General Market fiction doesn’t have appeal because it’s bad. The truth is that well over 85% of all novels published never earn back even the author’s advance plus costs. I have received just as many patently bad review copies from General market authors as Christian. What differs is that the pool to choose from in the General market is 20 times larger than the CBA.
I just celebrate really good stories wherever they come from.
I’m not sure I agree with this point from Rachel.
“The thing is this: Mormons don’t confuse their religion with their talents. They see the idea of writing as a challenge unto itself and want to do it to the best of their abilities. Their main goal isn’t to send a message in their work, but to be excellent. ”
It’s true that many Mormon authors who are nationally successful, like Meyers or Card, follow the above advice. They’re the ones making roads into the mainstream.
However, I see many other, lesser known LDS authors whose books carry a latent conversion message in them. Those books and writers, IMO, have a harder time making it into the mainstream.
I guess my basic point is that the Mormon authors who’ve made it big have one thing in common–they’re not writing about their church.
My own book, “Who’s at the Door?” tries to be neutral in sharing the experience of what it’s like to meet LDS missionaries, but the second the word “Mormon” comes up, many people dismiss anything else I have to say, even though I’m not even Mormon myself.
You could be right, Dan. I haven’t read a gambit of Mormon-written books. I’m only speaking of the Mormons I know who write. I think being preachy in fiction is always a turn off, no matter who’s doing the preaching. 🙂
Don’t forget Brandon Sanderson and Orson Scott Card. Probably two of the most popular sci fi/ fantasy writers.
I’m late to this particular party, with most of what I would have added having been already covered by other commenters.
But one thing I didn’t see addressed clearly was that the Mormon church has been very conscientiously marketing itself for the last fifty years. Tithing is required for all Mormons whom wish to remain in good standing with their temple. That vast income is strategically invested and maximized. The money then gets funneled into various channels, but the largest pieces of pie, after Temple maintenance, is missions. And that category–missions–includes politics and popular culture investments. (1)
With such vast financial influence in addition to an outreach-minded culture, it is no surprise to see that Mormons are becoming so successful in the publishing industry.
They know what people want to hear and they’ve got the money to say it as loudly as possible.
The other point I feel I must make, for my own sanity, is that people need to stop lumping all non-Catholic Christians under the “Protestant” label. As a Mennonite I’m very keenly aware of the differences between Anabaptists and the Protestants who persecuted them more violently even than the Catholics.
____
(1) http://www.lds-mormon.com/time.shtml
Sorry there aren’t more footnotes. I thought there would be, but then I changed my mind.
That reference looks like a 1997 article. Is that true? Where is the church 14 years later?
Google Is Your Friend
Hey, young Mormon writer who stumbled across this! And actually, you’re incorrect. LDS book stores do carry LDS YA and even non-LDS ones. (If you find the right store, they probably even have Tolkien.) So long as it’s a wholesome book with good morals, you could find it, if they have it in stock.