Thank you for joining us for our fourth and final installment in our conversation with author and publisher, Elizabeth Petty Bentley. If you missed parts one, two, or three, click here.
Beth, when we left off yesterday, we were discussing some of the novels you’ve produced through Parables Publishing. What inspired you to become a publisher?
I can still hardly believe I am. I had to chuckle at the press release Arianne wrote calling Parables an East Coast publisher. Yeah, we’re on the east coast, but she made that sound important.
What started it all was that GPC didn’t want to put “The Genealogist’s Address Book” out in paperback for the libraries that weren’t set up for reference books on CD. Even the Family History Library, which has more than a dozen paperback copies of my 4th edition scattered all over, had my 5th edition CD under lock and key in a special room where you have to turn over your driver’s license in order to use it. I was appalled. But GPC wasn’t convinced there was enough of a market for a traditional print run of about fifteen hundred copies. I was pretty sure, though, that there was enough to cover the set-up costs for print-on-demand (POD).
By publishing the paperback edition of the fifth edition of the “Address Book,” I discovered how easy and risk-free POD publishing could be. But more importantly, I wanted to provide an outlet for the kind of realistic stories that many people I knew said they wanted to read or else said they were writing. I knew, of course, that the “serious” LDS fiction market is only a small subset of the LDS fiction market, which is only a fraction of the total market for LDS books, which is a really miniscule slice of the overall mainstream book market. But I wasn’t looking to make money.
What I really want to do, though, is find an LDS book that’ll break into the national arena. I think a lot of us—both writers and publishers—have the grand dream of helping bring the Church out of obscurity by telling stories with LDS characters who aren’t just stereotypes. I’ve seen too much of the goody-two-shoes and the holier-than-thou types. I’d like to see stories about complex characters whose conflicts flow naturally from their unique Mormon values and culture. I thought “Brigham City” came close. But I haven’t really seen it a lot in books. And, yes, it’s difficult to set up a story in an authentic background that’s foreign to most readers. It takes a lot of explaining, which is hard to do without turning the first chapter into a travel guidebook. Maybe that’s why so many of us write sf. It’s easier to get readers to accept warp drive or that Ben Franklin was elected president of the U.S., than to get readers to accept the premise of visions and gold plates and marriage forever. But it shouldn’t be impossible. I’m not expecting a Mormon Chiam Potok or Gabriel García Márquez anytime soon, but a Mormon Jan Karon or Tony Hillerman would be a good first step.
I noticed on your website that you’re accepting submissions. What are you looking for, and how should potential authors contact you?
I’d gladly postpone publishing my own novel this year if I found something I loved. Foremost, I’m looking for Truth. I know it’s not “nice” to talk about Mormons doing bad things. We sometimes feel our characters should be better examples than we are capable of ourselves, but stories about good people who go around being excellent role models don’t usually have enough sustained conflict to support a novel. I’m not necessarily looking for “edgy”; that’s Zarahemla. But I am look for “wrenching.” I think that seeing how life turns out for people who choose the wrong (at least at first) can be every bit as inspiring and uplifting as a sermon. And I think stories have far greater and more long-lasting impact. Hence the name: Parables. Think prodigal son.
Just send me an email with a short synopsis—one sentence is good—and an outline of the plot (including the ending; this isn’t a teaser jacket blurb) and a couple of chapters, all in the body of the message. If you have a complete manuscript, you can attach it. If I like the sentence, I’ll read the synopsis. If I like the synopsis, I’ll read the chapters. If I like the chapters, I’ll open the manuscript. It should be at least 80,000 words. I’ll let you know the next day whether I’m reading the manuscript, and I’ll let you know within a month whether I can offer a contract.
What can we expect to see from you in the future? Are you writing more books?
I spend about three-quarters of the month working on the “Address Book.” That’s my bread and butter. Last month I did a back-of-the-book index for the New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston, but most months I have a solid week or more to write whatever I want. I write haiku when I have down-time. They’re short enough that I can hold them in my head until I can find a piece of paper. I have three unpublished LDS novel manuscripts, so recently I’ve been working on an sf novel. Prior to writing my first LDS novel I was selling sf pretty steadily. The last story I wrote was in Analog in November 1995. I’ve also been trying my hand at children’s stories again. I had two picture books published some years ago, but they’re both out of print. In no way am I giving up on the LDS marketplace, and I’m certainly not taking a hiatus from church activity. I just had to get these particular characters out of my head. Meanwhile I have a boatload of notes. I jot down something almost every time I go to church. Is that Sabbath breaking? Oh my.
I don’t doubt I’ll write another LDS novel.
Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us, Beth. Best of luck in all you do.
Be sure to visit Beth’s site to learn more about her.
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