Is Christian Publishing Bad For the Church?

Part 1 | The Platform Problem in Christian Publishing

This is Part 1 of a series on the history and challenges of the Christian publishing industry. This series is based on significant research and my own experience working in Christian publishing in a variety of capacities, primarily marketing. The opinions expressed here are my own and do not reflect the position or specific practices of my current or any former employers. All the information cited is a matter of public record; nothing is proprietary. Make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss the rest of the series!

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The year is 1980. IVP has taken a chance on an unknown author, the pastor of a small church in Maryland. His first book is a pastoral journey through the Psalms, birthed out of his experience discipling his own congregation. It will eventually go on to sell over 300,000 copies and its title will become synonymous with the ordinary faithfulness required by the Christian life.

But his publisher doesn’t know that yet.

His editor simply sees a faithful pastor and gifted writer with a message that would edify the church, and decides to take a chance. It is a near impossibility that in this year of our Lord 2026 that pastor would have ever been traditionally published.

Where are his 10,000 email subscribers? a “Big 5” faith imprint might have asked. Will he be willing to take a break from his pastoral duties for a full interview schedule? a publicist may have wanted to know. He doesn’t seem to have any social media presence, a marketing manager might notice with concern. This proposal doesn’t really speak to a felt need, a sales rep at an independent Christian publisher might point out. How will we pitch it to buyers?

In 2008, the stock market plummeted to its lowest point in decades, leaving businesses in every sector scrambling. Coinciding with the decline of Christian bookstores and the rise of Amazon as the online marketplace for everything from books to basketballs, publishers of Christian books faced budget cuts, layoffs, and a myriad of other difficult decisions. At the same time, Facebook became available to all users, not just college students. In a time of crisis, marketing professionals at publishers had to get creative.¹ What if authors could use this new thing called “social media” to do some of their marketing themselves? It would be completely free, they thought. It can’t hurt until the economy stabilizes and we get back on our feet.

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Their creativity paid off. Marketing on Facebook more than worked. It crushed.

Until it didn’t. Until it did hurt. Because no one realized that the Christian publishing industry was deepening a sinkhole that had opened up a hundred years before. Facebook wasn’t a turning point as much as it was the next port in a tumultuous sea.

The Birth of “Platform”

Once Christian publishers hitched their wagons to Facebook and Amazon, they were stuck. Wherever Facebook went, they had to go, too. So, as algorithms developed and existing social media platforms changed and new social media platforms emerged, publishers and authors were tossed about by the shifting winds. As Amazon devoured more and more of the online shopping market, publishers had to consider how new titles would be discovered there. Publishing’s marketing and sales strategies were compelled to change, of course, but over time acquisitions and editorial strategies also had to adapt as they considered what topics and credentials would grab consumers’ attention in an increasingly crowded marketplace. Now, a global pandemic and the rise of individualizing media like the algorithm-driven, vertical short-form video made ubiquitous by TikTok has degraded our attention spans and our ability to even read an entire book. Now, publishers are even being forced to shift their thinking about production and product design.

Traditional Christian publishing has always had gatekeepers. Literary agents and acquisitions editors and publishing boards and booksellers have always played the role of determining who gets the great privilege and responsibility of writing books for Christians to read. Just 50 years ago this evaluation would have been based on one’s professional, academic, or ministry credentials, or some combination thereof, as well as on one’s relationships, the relevance of one’s topic, and one’s skill as a writer. The problem today is that modern Christian publishing has outsourced those gatekeeping roles to Meta’s algorithm and Amazon’s search functionality in the desperate hopes of reaching readers they no longer have direct connections with. Now, an agent or acquisitions editor is far more likely to base their evaluation of a writer on their potential “reach”, via social media, podcasting, email newsletter, and more, as well as the potential of the book’s topic based on trend forecasting and keyword search data.

The result is a Christian publishing industry that, by and large, rewards hustle and self-promotion in writers over quiet faithfulness, breadth over depth, virality over virtue, celebrity over character, and the vapor of performative “ministry” over an embodied presence in the local church.² It has always been the case that writers had to build their careers and credibility over time. But this used to happen primarily through in-person work and ministry, through pastorates, professorships, etc. When one set out to write a book from one of these positions, it was seen by both publishers and the writers themselves as a catalyst, not a capstone. Now, however, an aspiring writer has to climb much further up the proverbial ladder before an agent or publisher will consider them at all.

Can We Go Back?

Writers like Karen Swallow Prior have contributed to this conversation by insisting that we return to this earlier era when publishers understood that “the work is the platform.” Unfortunately, the current combination of individualizing media and a global online marketplace means that contemporary Christian publishers are compelled to require authors to include platform building and marketing as a significant portion of their work. Writers who refuse to play the platform game are rarely seen as principled, but rather as prissy and privileged, not willing to do what it takes for their book to succeed, nostalgic for some golden age of publishing when they could make a living wage for writing and not have to develop an Instagram Reels or Substack newsletter strategy.

All of this is devastating for the church, because it means that quiet, faithful, and beautiful writing that springs from real ministry in local congregations and embodied community is less likely to be published. It means that the saints who are least comfortable with self-promotion are also the least likely to see their words edify and convict the church. It means that Christians without the finances and time to invest in the work of platform building (often women, caretakers, and disciples of color) may never be recognized for the beauty they have to offer the church. It means that even those who do manage to build a platform large enough to secure a book deal now carry the heavy burden of maintaining and growing that platform if they want to continue publishing, which takes time and energy away from their most important work of writing and embodied ministry.

Nearly 50 years ago, a small town pastor signed his first book contract. His first book idea was written with his local congregation in mind. He approached every subsequent project the same way, even when his paraphrase of the Bible went on to sell 20 million copies.

That pastor was Eugene Peterson.

Covers of Eugene Peterson’s first book over the years.

How many other faithful saints who wielded pens or typewriters in the last 100 years might never have gotten their start if they were wielding laptops and smartphones today? How many words that would bless the church are trapped in cloud files and digital drives right now because their authors feel neither called nor compelled to offer hot takes on Instagram or learn how to start a podcast?

I think it’s far too many, I think the church is worse off without their words, and I think it’s time for us to reimagine a Christian publishing industry that actually serves the church.

Next week we’ll dive into the history of media, the birth of evangelical media specifically, and discuss the ways that evangelical theology has always been shaped by market forces. This will begin to reveal that Christian publishers are not the villains in this story, but are actually caught between a rock and a hard place, just like individual Christian writers.

Here’s what we have coming up. Make sure you’re subscribed so you don’t miss it!

• Part 2: The Separation of Church & State, Capitalism, and Christian Publishing

• Part 3: Christian Publishing Needs Gatekeepers. We’ve Outsourced Ours.

• Part 4: The Impossible Task of Christian Publishers

• Part 5: The Impossible Task of Christian Writers

• Part 6: I Market Christian Books for a Living. Christian Publishers Didn’t Believe I Could Market My Own.

Let’s keep the conversation going in the comments. If you have read Eugene Peterson’s A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, do you think he would be able to secure a book contract today? Who are other successful Christian writers from the past 100 years who might not be able to break into the Christian publishing landscape today?

In pursuit of Beauty,

1. It is worth noting that these factors affected all publishers, not just Christian ones.

2. I realize this is a broad statement. I know there are exceptions to this and very good companies out there. I happen to work for one! Over the next few weeks we’ll dive deeper into history and I’ll demonstrate that Christian publishers, as much as individual Christian writers, are caught between a rock and a hard place, often due to factors outside their control. It’s also important to note here that I am primarily writing about nonfiction Christian publishing. Some of this discussion may also be applicable to Christian fiction, but my knowledge is much more limited in that area.