Guest Author - Samantha Grayson

Christianity is one of the niche markets in children’s writing genre are books based on the Bible or Christian values. This market is stronger in countries such as the USA then in some other countries. You are unlikely to gain international recognition, however there is a decent living to be made from this market. At the moment it appears to be a growth market and so there are opportunities for new writers to get involved.

If you are writing a Christian novel or story, then it should involve the central character having a strong faith and contain a happy ending that is achieved because of their faith. At some point within the story the character will face a test of their faith and will be tempted to stray from their path. The most important part of a Christian story is that the faith is interwoven into the story.

Being Christian yourself does not make it a Christian story unless your faith is an integral part of the story. The power of prayer or of God must play a key factor in resolving the story.

The aim of Christian stories is to inspire and uplift its reader. To give hope to the reader in their own times of trouble. Children tend to shy away from stories that they cannot relate to or that are too preachy, make the story realistic. It is important that child characters take an active role in the story as oppose to the adult characters finding the answers to everything.

The language used should be wholesome and clean. There are subjects to steer clear of such as sex and the paranormal.

Make sure you approach a publisher who specialises in the Christian market. Many mainstream publishers will not be interested as they are looking to sell books to children of all religions. It may also be worth trying some educational publishers.

There are also opportunities to write for the free newspapers that are given out at some Sunday schools.

Another opportunity can be found writing for Christian websites and blogs. Try searching the internet for a site that matches your style.

Promote yourself to the Christian community both online and in the real world. Try to network wherever possible. Remember Christian stories will generally only attracted those people who are Christian. You are very unlikely to convert people to Christianity, as they simply will not pick up your book.