So You Want to Navigate the Christian Publishing Market
The Christian Writers Market Guide is a yearly reference book that catalogs submission markets for Christian fiction, nonfiction, and media. It lists publishers, magazines, literary agents, and contest opportunities with contact details, submission guidelines, and payment rates. If you are a Christian writer trying to figure out where your manuscript belongs, it is one of the more comprehensive starting points available. I have been using it for over a decade, and I still pull it off the shelf when I need to verify a publisher's current policies or find a market I do not already have on file. Each annual edition organizes markets by category. You will find sections for novelists, short story writers, essayists, speakers, and children's authors. Within each section, entries are broken down by publisher type and typically include things like what genres they publish, word count ranges, whether they accept unagented submissions, their preferred format, how long response time takes, and if they offer advances or just royalties. There are also industry resources at the back — chapter on querying, copyright information, and a directory of Christian writing organizations. One thing beginners consistently miss is that the guide does not tell you whether a market is currently open. Submission windows change. Publishers pause accepting proposals after a certain number of books are queued. The guide prints what was true at the time of publication, which means a 2025 edition might still list a publisher that stopped taking outside submissions in early 2024. Always cross-reference with the publisher's own website before you send anything.
How I Actually Use It in Practice
I do not read it cover to cover. That is a waste of time. When I have a finished manuscript or a proposal, I look up the specific category it falls under, scan the relevant entries for markets matching my genre and length, then verify each one against the publisher's current guidelines online. From there I build a targeted list of maybe six to ten markets that seem like realistic fits, order them by likelihood, and start submitting. Here is a specific problem I ran into recently. I had a middle-grade Christian fiction manuscript, roughly 55,000 words, and I found a publisher listed in the guide that published similar titles at similar word counts. Their listing showed an open submission period and gave an email address for queries. I spent about two weeks preparing my materials and sent the query. Four months later, I got an automated rejection that mentioned they had actually moved to a closed-door policy for middle-grade fiction six months prior and had updated their website. The guide had not caught that yet because it had already gone to print. I learned two things from that. First, always confirm the submission status directly with the publisher before investing time in preparation. Second, the guide's online companion or app sometimes gets minor updates between print runs, so checking that version first can save you a few of those dead-end detours.
Pitfalls That Most Writers Ignore
The biggest issue people have with this guide is that they treat it like a directory of where to send work right now, when it is really a directory of where work has historically been accepted. The difference matters. I have seen writers spend more time flipping through entries than actually revising their manuscripts. That is backward. Use the guide to narrow down possibilities, then go work on the writing. Another thing worth noting is the payment information. The rates listed are often from previous contracts and may not reflect what the publisher is currently offering. Some small Christian publishers have shifted to reading free submissions exclusively, while others have dropped their per-word rates or moved to a flat fee. If payment matters to you, assume the listed rate is a baseline from the last known contract, not a promise. There is also the question of whether the guide is still the best tool for the job. For someone submitting exclusively within the Christian market, it remains useful. But if your book could cross over into mainstream markets, the guide's scope is narrow. You would need supplemental resources like the Writer's Market or Poets & Writers directory to cast a wider net. Using both gives you a much clearer picture of where your work might fit.
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Getting a Copy
The Christian Writers Market Guide is published annually by Kregel Publications. You can order it directly from their website, pick it up through most major book retailers, or find it at writing conferences where Christian publishers typically set up booths. The digital version is available through their platform if you prefer searching electronically rather than flipping through a printed book. Either format works, but I find the printed version faster for quick lookups since there is no loading time or search algorithm to wade through. If you are new to this, start with the most recent edition. The older ones contain useful historical data, but the contact information and submission policies shift enough each year that relying on a three-year-old copy will cost you more time than it saves. I still keep a 2018 edition on my shelf for reference purposes, but I would never use it as my primary guide for current submissions.
