The New Demographic: Christians Who Don't Like Christian Fiction
My website traffic has tripled in one year. Barring personal or worldwide Armageddon, this month alone, 10,000 Unique Visitors will view deCOMPOSE, all the while inching my way toward a quarter million visitors since Oct. 2005. Humbling, scary, and a bit mystifying.
Apparently, this experiment is working.
But what is working? Some may attribute this growth to tenure, "You've just stuck with it." Others will attribute it to having a great agent or having a book out. Still others will suggest a bump from social networking. And I admit, all those things are probably in the mix.
However, I'd like to think I'm mining a "new demographic." Okay, maybe they're not new. They've just gone unrecognized for so long.
"Faith" and "Composition" are two of my favorite subjects to blog about, especially when they're conjoined. Which is why I ramble on about Christian fiction and related subject matter. It's lost me some readers. But I wonder if it hasn't gained me a few as well. As much as some dislike my critique of the industry, there appears to be legitimate interest in wrestling with issues that relate to Christian fiction. This is the "new demographic" I'm referring to.
There seems to be a lot more readers who like stories with "faith" elements than CBA (Christian Booksellers Association) publishers are currently reaching.
Many Christian readers just don't seem to like most Christian fiction — at least, what is currently being published as "Christian fiction." I talk to them all the time. This doesn't mean they don't like faith-driven stories and desire a Christian worldview therein, they just don't like the type of faith that drives most Christian fiction stories. Or the types of stories marketed as "faith-driven." Or the quality of writing, the limitation of subject matter, the genre tilt, the… whatever. Either way, the CBA seems to target a small demographic of Christian readers.
Perhaps this is simply a lesson about finding your audience. I don't know. But not a few of those readers appear to frequent this site. I'm just wondering when Christian publishers will recognize this new demographic?
