These Christian publishing industry facts might surprise you, but will also help you understand why you might be getting rejection after rejection. Take a look at the following facts to learn why it is harder than ever to get a publishing contract with a Christian book publisher:

• Unless you are a celebrity or are in ministry with a large following, the possibility of getting a contract with a traditional publisher is incredibly small.
• Most traditional publishers receive between 500 and 5,000 unsolicited manuscripts per month and only publish between 10 - 120 books per year, mostly from well known authors or those they have asked to write for them.
  
• Books now make up only 20-25% of sales in a typical Christian bookstore. T-shirts, CDs, videos, gifts, greeting cards, music and knickknacks take up to 2/3 of the shelf space, leaving little room for the display of books that are not bestsellers.
• Most large Christian publishers spend their marketing dollars on big name authors, so even if you do get a contract you are oftentimes just "filler" for their catalog.
  

A leading trade publication for Christian book publishers and bookstore buyers reported the following in 2003:

Thomas Nelson Publishers has cut its list by about half. Other publishers report about 10-20% fewer titles.

Most publishers are focusing more on books that have the potential to sell big. Michael Schatz from Multnomah Books says: "We desire not to publish books that sell just 10 or 20,000 units, it takes almost as much effort to sell 10,000 as 200,000."
Book Trends 2003, CBA Marketplace, March 2003

In the past, a book that sold 5 or 10,000 copies was thought to be a decent seller, but not anymore as you can see from the quote above.

Thankfully, the quality and reputation of self-publishing has grown over the last several years - largely due to the efforts of custom publishers like The WinePress Group and independent success stories like The Shack. Now, even well-known agents are teaching classes entitled, "Why Not Just Self-Publish?"

If you are an "unknown" author, you need to investigate alternative methods of getting into print.