breaking into devotional writing

I write for several UK devotional publishers so I know a thing or two about devotional writing.

One Christmas, I had a month’s devotional notes to do for one publisher, a week long one for another publisher and 2 month’s worth of weekly devotional for this website. I had 2 weeks to do all these and the dogged determination to finish it all by New Year’s Eve. Needless to say, I spent Christmas Eve, Christmas day and a whole lot of days over Christmas slouched over my laptop. My family looked at me with something akin to horror and disbelief but they’re used to my neuroses.

 

 “She’s a writer,” they say when people question my sanity quotient.

 

“Figures,” the people would reply and nod in understanding.

 

I wasn’t mad but I had set myself this seemingly impossible goal of finishing what I was contracted to do and was determined that nothing would get my way. On the whole, I think my family members were happy; one less person to fight with over the television control. Yippee! If you’re like me and you write devotional or Bible notes for different publishers or maybe you would like to do such a thing, you need to realise what you’re letting yourself in for.

 

Firstly, any ideas you have about writing devotionals and angels playing the harp in the background must be very firmly shoved out of the window. Writing is hard work and devotional writing is no different. It just sounds more ‘spiritual.’

 

Secondly, devotionals are written up to 2 years in advance. For example, a March 2006 devotional is usually commissioned to a writer about mid 2004 with a deadline of early 2005. It must be done this way because publishers work backwards from the publication date. It also means that unforeseen events that can hinder the publication date of the devotional are dealt with, pronto. There is a lesson here for devotional writers as well. List your writing commitments by (devotional) title, deadline and publication date and work backwards from there.

 

Good for you, I say. But who is it targeted at? Men, women, youth, couples, singles or ethnic minorities? The UK devotional market is a rather straight forward affair. It is targeted at whoever is interested in developing a closer relationship with God regardless of gender or culture. The American devotional market has a broader range. Whatever your targeted readership, make sure you do enough research in that devotional genre to make it foolproof. Your devotional proposal is more likely to find a publisher that way.

 

Will your devotional be daily, weekly, monthly or seasonal? Decide and work from there. I chose to do weekly devotionals for the Christian Writer because I knew I wouldn’t have the time to do dailies. The time factor is crucial. Don’t overestimate the amount of time it takes to write 1 (one) devotional note. I can spend anything up to three hours or even the whole day writing 1 devotional note. And if I haven’t done my Bible study or prayed about what I’m writing, let’s just say the process can take days. Which brings me to my next point; don’t forget to give your devotional notes a word count ceiling. Most hover around 200. A structured word count forces you to be clear, succinct and to the point. Rather like having your own personal editor.

 

There’s only one way to do this and that is through prayer. Once while writing the devotional for this website, I sensed the Holy Spirit urging me to do a chapter by chapter Bible study. That was the basis of March 2004’s devotional: Lessons from Job.

 

Easy. Walk into any Christian bookshop and head for the Christian living section. The publishers will be listed on the back of each book. Make a note of which publisher publishes what. Which ones do you think will be interested in your devotional idea?

 

A small note. The devotional market is not an easy one to break into. Most devotional titles have been around for 20, 30 or even 50 years. New titles cost money to launch and establish especially if the writer is unknown. It explains why publishers prefer to have ‘celebrities’ launch their own devotional titles on the back success of other books they’ve published. T D Jakes, Rick Warren and Bruce Wilkinson are prime examples of this.

 

But of course. Head off to your nearest Christian bookshop (again) or online store and make a dive for the devotionals section. Make a note (what?! More notes?!) of the publishers, their devotional titles (and remember, a publisher can have more than 1 devotional title), contact details (they always list their emails and website address on the back cover) go home and fire off a query email/letter requesting their writer guidelines for devotional writers. If you’ve never written a devotional note, the editor will most likely ask you for samples to gauge your writing ability. Don’t try to be super spiritual in your devotional writing. The editor will not be impressed. Commit your work to the Holy Spirit and write as you are led.

 

Alternatively, you could start as I did. I wrote online devotionals for 8 months before an editor spotted my work and recommended me to her colleague, the devotional editor. So you see, miracles can and do happen!