The Christian Bookstore Rejects
A few messy thoughts on being a devout Christian author who writes books geared for Christians and yet almost never stocked in the Christian bookstore
Hi friends,
I had another post planned for this week but well, that old blogging feeling of just wanting to write, not overthink, about something struck me and here we are.
I’ve been away for a few days on a writing retreat. I’ve got a new book project due very soon (more on that… eventually??). I’m caught between the panicky “oh, my goodness, will this project ever be finished?” and “gracious, I love this and I love what I do and I love God and I love everyone!” and “Actually, I think this book may be an abomination unto the Lord.” It has been a very productive few days and I am heading home satisfied, typing away here at the departure gate.
Of course, one can only sit in a suburban hotel room or a coffee shop synthesizing experience, research, and thousands of prayers into something coherent for so many hours a day and so, to mix things up, I would go for a long walk outside every day and to the local bookstores and thrift stores for my breaks.
I went to a couple of local bookstores where my own books were in stock - always a thrill. It never gets old to see a book you wrote on an actual bookstore shelf, whether it’s a big box store like Indigo or a small indie bookstore or a library, all of which happened here. I have gotten a lot of quiet support from bookstores over the years, particularly from my fave Canadian bookstore McNally Robinson out in Winnipeg when my last book was released, and I never, ever take that for granted.1 Bookstores are havens for so many of us.
While out and about, I happened to drive by a Christian bookstore several times and one day, on a whim, I pulled into the parking lot to go inside. It has been literal years since I went to a Christian bookstore and I was suddenly curious. After saying hello to the staff, I wandered through the aisles, taking my time, seeing what was on the offer here. And sure enough, I ended up a bit sad and angry.
Why?
Well, personally I’m always a bit sad about Christian bookstores in general because I am a devout Christian author who writes books geared for Christians and yet I am almost never stocked in the Christian bookstore.
Sometimes I’ve been surprised in these sorts of shops: there are definitely a few welcoming, progressive, or even just simply generous religious bookstore owners in Canada and around the world who like to include folks like me but on the whole, the Christian bookstore industry is more like to stock devotionals from duck hunters and “biblically based” diet plans than A Rhythm of Prayer. You’ll find a faith-based camo ball cap encouraging you to “PUT ON THE ARMOR OF GOD” before you’ll see Field Notes for the Wilderness, let alone Jesus Feminist on the shelves.
Listen, occasional bestsellers aside, I’m hardly someone with a lot of household recognition so it’s not like I have an expectation or entitlement to shelf space in a shop. I’m not alone in that claim, of course.
But when you begin to clock the fact that the majority of Christian bookstores refuse to stock a single bestselling and/or popular book from a Christian writer who isn’t in line with their American2-white-evangelical-Christian-nationalist-conservative-patriarchal-don’t-rock-the-boat machine it becomes truly alarming.