(An excerpt)

The fact is, publishers receive far more manuscripts than they can use--many of them very, very good. ...To succeed, writers need to find their best niches or, within the specific area of religious fiction, a sub-niche. They need to discover what they write best within the category. ...Religious writer Kimn Gollnick, whose work is anthologized in books for the Christian market such as Chicken Soup for the Christian Woman's Soul and God's Abundance for Women, and has been published in Pockets and R-A-D-A-R, speaks of her love of God and Jesus Christ: "I spend time studying issues in light of the Bible. It's natural that I write religious fiction," she says.

...In religious writing, storytelling may have an extra burden. ...There should be no lectures, and the message at the core of the story should be clear. "In a children's story, the theme is based on a biblical principle like forgiveness, being kind, honoring parents, personal sacrifice, and so on, and many times includes a Bible scripture," says Gollnick. "The challenge is to do all this without sounding preachy, but to weave this message through your story as naturally as possible."

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Read the rest of this insightful article by Sharelle Byars Moranville in the 2004 Children's Book Market (ISBN 1-889715-15-8) published by the Institute of Children's Literature.