I’m privileged to get to chat with A.S. Mackey. She’s just recently been published with Lifeway, a major Christian publisher, and has a lot of great things to say about writing. And her book looks so cool!
(Real quick. I want to tell you that I receive a small compensation if you buy anything through the Amazon links provided. Thanks for supporting me and the author!)
When and how did you get into writing?
I’ve been a voracious reader my whole life, and I’ve been a writer since I was about 8 years old. I wrote mostly poetry as a child, then a really (terrible) sci-fi novel when I was 15. I majored in English at UGA, and took several creative writing classes, and grew up dreaming about being a writer. I had a family and life got in the way, but I decided in 2011 to really pursue novel writing with NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month.) Here’s their website if you’re not familiar with it: https://www.nanowrimo.org/
What inspired you to write your novel Edge of Everywhen?
In 2014 I read a random Facebook post. It referenced Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, in which there is a “Room of Requirement,” a magic room that only appears when you have need of it. The FB post said something like, “Wouldn’t it be great if there was a ‘book of requirement,’ a magic book that shows up just exactly when you need it.” I took that concept and created my kid-lit Christian fantasy novel about a magic book that changes with each reader, and the “magic” points to God. I set out to write a novel that filled a void in the shelf that exists between Harry Potter and Laura Ingalls with a book that bridges the gap between fantasy and Christian kid-lit.
When did you decide you wanted to publish a book–and how did you go about doing that?
I have self-published in the past, and it’s really easy and free, etc. But the marketing onus is 100% on the author. Also, in today’s marketplace, so much self-published work is written very poorly in a way that it’s not considered legitimate, and few authors get their self-published books into major chains or public libraries. I wanted to go old school, with a literary agent, so I had a chance of getting my novel into schools and libraries. I wrote the first draft in 2015, I rewrote the novel multiple times after multiple edits. Then I got a copy of the 2016 Writers Market and made a detailed list (a.k.a. spreadsheet) of every agent accepting new manuscripts in my genre. After 43 query letters, I received 12 rejections and 31 no-responses.
Then I set about becoming a better writer by taking a Masterclass course and reading several books about the craft of writing. I rewrote the novel completely and also rewrote my query letter at least a dozen times. Then in August of 2017 I sent 31 more query letters with the new version, and after 14 more rejections, I landed an agent in October of that year. I didn’t find any Christian agents willing to look at my book, and the agent that ultimately accepted the novel is not a Christian to my knowledge. She worked with me a ton with editing the book even more, and after a year of submissions and rejections from all of the “secular” publishers, Lifeway offered me a publishing contract in late December 2018. The novel release date is May 12, 2020, and pre-orders are available here.
What was it like pitching a book with Christian themes to secular publishers?
Thankfully my agent did all the pitching for me! Also, folks may not know that some “Christian” publishers are owned by “secular” companies anyway, so the lines are really blurred there. HarperCollins owns both Thomas Nelson and Zondervan, so to separate them into secular vs. Christian is like splitting hairs. One very large “Christian” publisher (that I’d rather not name here) considered my novel for 6 months, and wanted me to remove most of the overtly Christian language so that it was more “universal,” and after many edits and rewrites, they still rejected it. So I put Jesus back in the novel, and my agent resubmitted that version to publishers that were more specifically looking for Christian fiction. Tyndale expressed interest just after Lifeway made their offer, but I went with Lifeway.
What advice do you have for Christian writers who want to be published?
- Learn patience; LOTS of patience! From the day I finished the first draft to the release date, it will have been 4 years, 5 months, and 12 days (but who’s counting?!).
- Make sure that your book is THE BEST that it can be. Study the craft of writing, be teachable, read every book you can get on the craft and art of writing so that you, as a Christian, put work out there that is equal to or better than the writing of non-believers.
- Pray over your work, regularly! Ask the Holy Spirit to guide your writing; ask God to bless every agent and publisher and editor that handles your submission; and ask Him to go before you with favor. This is what can help with tip #1.
What’s next for you? Any books in the works?
Always! I am always working on a novel; my list of ideas for novels grows almost daily. I have written the sequel to my upcoming novel, and it needs work for sure. I also do NaNoWriMo every November, and I have an outline started for another Christian fantasy novel that’s a medieval allegory. While I await the official release date for my middle-grade novel, I’m traveling around the South speaking to kids from kindergarten through 8th grade about the craft of writing and about my journey to publication, which has been a LOT of fun!
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Thanks for sharing all that great advice. I personally learned a lot. I love the idea of using fantasy to point people to Jesus!
