If You Got A Niche, Scratch It

Two book-related updates:

Salvation, my debut novel, was chosen by The Epoch Times as a recommended book earlier this month. I’m not a regular reader of that website, but the recognition is nice, and it has sold a number of books, which is also nice.

Secondly, one thing I’ve noticed as I do promotions for the book is the difficulty in finding a niche for it. It has a faith-based element to it, which can turn off a certain segment of the population. However, there’s some f-bombs in it, and the bad people talk like bad people. Now, do I use that kind of language? No, I don’t. However, I do acknowledge that other people do, and that they are all around us using those words as they see fit.

This becomes a problem for some of my fellow Christians. I was literally kicked off a podcast in mid-record because I mentioned that no, my book is not “clean.” Why would it be? If I were a painter, would I not use burnt umber because it might offend someone? I were a musician, should I avoid minor chords because they’re depressing? Then why should I, as a writer, avoid using some of the tools at my disposal? Reality is pretty awful, and trying to sugar-coat it by having my bad guys says “freaking” instead of “fucking” compromises the art, and compromised art is one of the biggest problems in the creative world right now.

Rather, I think my book appeals to what I like to call a Johnny Cash Christian. I grew up absolutely adoring Cash and everything he wrote (yes, even “A Boy Named Sue”). He never held his Christian faith under a bushel, but by the same token, he was not a wilting hothouse flower. His faith may have been nurtured in a church, but it was lived out on the streets. He championed Christ’s sacrifice because he knew how it had changed his life, but at the same time, he was rough man who smoked and cursed and was not afraid to go against the grain when needed.