George Ortloff
asked
Michael Norton:
Michael, Thank you for the answer. I must have missed the Goodreads alert. You were blessed, to be sure. I have just pitched Ignatius for my novel "The Orphanage." A Viet Nam vet, it's my first novel to be completed. Any advice or reminiscences about dealing with Ignatius? As a Catholic writer, I have been welcomed by "Christian" writers but my book seems "too Catholic" for "Christian" publishers.
Michael Norton
You're most welcome, George!
I wish you many blessings in your approach to Ignatius. Like you, I've looked with a certain envy at the huge market that exists for non-Catholic Christian fiction, but those publishers don't seem to have much use for us papists. Ignatius Press is one of the few Catholic publishers interested in fiction -- mainly thanks to talented writers like Michael O'Brien -- and I encourage you to work with them. Since they're very selective, it's a good idea to approach them with the very best manuscript you can produce. I found it useful to consult their author guidelines https://ignatius.com/manuscript-submi... before contacting them. They didn't seem eager to hear a pitch from me, so I just sent them the whole enchilada.
My only other suggestion is to be patient. Really patient. I didn't hear from them for at least six months, and publication took even longer. (In the end, of course, it was worth the wait.)
Good luck, George! Oh, and by the way, my dad was a detective with the Grand Rapids Police Department when I was growing up back in the Sixties. Strange coincidence, eh?
Mike Norton
I wish you many blessings in your approach to Ignatius. Like you, I've looked with a certain envy at the huge market that exists for non-Catholic Christian fiction, but those publishers don't seem to have much use for us papists. Ignatius Press is one of the few Catholic publishers interested in fiction -- mainly thanks to talented writers like Michael O'Brien -- and I encourage you to work with them. Since they're very selective, it's a good idea to approach them with the very best manuscript you can produce. I found it useful to consult their author guidelines https://ignatius.com/manuscript-submi... before contacting them. They didn't seem eager to hear a pitch from me, so I just sent them the whole enchilada.
My only other suggestion is to be patient. Really patient. I didn't hear from them for at least six months, and publication took even longer. (In the end, of course, it was worth the wait.)
Good luck, George! Oh, and by the way, my dad was a detective with the Grand Rapids Police Department when I was growing up back in the Sixties. Strange coincidence, eh?
Mike Norton
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