Genre Spotlight | Christian Fiction: A Born-Again Genre

With its focus on biblical values and traditionally low emphasis on profanity, sex, or violence, Christian fiction (CF) has long been popular with a certain readership, mostly white, female, and coming from an evangelical Protestant background. “I’m not sure I’d describe all of our readers as white women of child-bearing years or [suffering from] empty-nest syndrome,” says Harvest House publicist Aaron Dillon. “But our core demographic does seem to be middle-aged mothers, primarily white. We also have a large contingent of readers who homeschool their children.”

However, Christina Boys, editor for Hachette Book Group’s FaithWords and Center Street imprints, believes the CF audience to be much more diverse than the conservative stereotype held by the secular mainstream. “The core readers are said to be women in their 40s who like novels set in the United States. But there are CF readers who do not fit into this demographic, and there are women in their 40s who like to read about a variety of characters and circumstances different from their own.”
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