You all are invited to participate in my attempt to create a list of Mormon fiction recommendations for LDS book groups.

And I’ve read Kindred Spirits–email me with your “element” and we can chat. And maybe we can even cc Chris in on it. What do you think, Chris??

Kindred Spirits would make a great book club book, imo, because there’s so much to talk about. I know when I finished it, I was dying to have a fellow reader to yell at about it. There was a minor element in the book I had a really strong opinion about–and I can’t talk about it without giving it away, so I need about 10,000 people to read Kindred Spirits so I can run across the other 0.03% who react the way I do.

Any pretentious chick lit from Zarahemla?

No, and I’m still kicking myself for not getting Angela’s BOUND ON EARTH.

Could you tell us about your audience and writers?

I have seen Zarahemla’s audience as overlapping with that of the Association for Mormon Letters, Sunstone and Dialogue, people who enjoyed The Sugar Beet Mormon satire site I was involved in (15,000+ unique monthly visitors), and anybody open to word of mouth and newspaper reviews about something fairly new and different. My writers have all been people I have known or who have been referred to me by someone trusted–I haven’t yet published something that just came to me blind.

Could you describe the kind of person your press might
appeal to?

Readers who really want to get under the skin of Mormonism more through literary explorations of it, whether realistic or speculative. People who want to see some of the most interesting, provocative aspects of worldly literature adapted to Mormon stories. Bottom line is that I guess my press appeals mostly to me, and I hope others are like-minded enough to enjoy it too.

And lastly, has the gender of your writers/readers
affected the way you market your books?

Probably not. But as a male, I’m biased toward stories that males might prefer, so that in effect becomes my marketing plan. My very favorite authors are all men, bu=ut I love Jane Austen and Margaret Atwood and can handle about one Anne Tyler book every 5-10 years or so, so I’d like to think I could learn to make choices better suited to women, who buy most fiction. Or better yet, I’d like to interest a female editor in helping me acquire and market something that’s likely to be a bigger hit with women than men.

Thanks for the great conversation so far!