I had an interesting phone call with my book publisher this morning. I am currently publishing through Ingram Spark and I recently submitted to them my new book, “Reconnecting with God”. Normally, by now, the book would be published and available worldwide, but in this case the book is still flagged on their website as “Title in Setup”. When I phoned the Australian head office of Ingram Spark in Melbourne this morning and asked what the problem was, I was told that the book had been flagged for ‘manual review’ by their review team, to ensure that it didn’t breach their new ethics and values code. I couldn’t pin them down on any further specifics, but I got the strong sense that they are now screening any new religious books to ensure that they don’t offend the LGBTQI movement. In my case, I have nothing to worry about, because my new book doesn’t address that issue. I suspect, however, that because it deals, at one point, with the general issue of sin, repentance and forgiveness through Christ, the publisher wants to make sure that I haven’t singled out homosexuality for particular attention.
Big brother is watching.
I have simultaneously independently published this new book through Amazon, and it passed their rigorous scrutiny. Currently the book is available through Amazon as an ebook worldwide and in paperback in the UK, Canada and the USA. Unfortunately, Australian readers will have to wait for Ingram Spark to approve and publish it if they want a paperback copy. Even I can’t get a paperback copy yet, and I’m the author!
I’ll keep you posted. Hopefully the Ingram Spark review team finds nothing offensive to homosexual community.
But here is a thought: Are book publishers scrutinising books to ensure that there is nothing offensive to Christians? Of course not! A constant stream of books are being published which ridicule faith and promote atheism, and no one in the publishing world even blinks.
It’s another example of the extraordinary power that is now wielded by the LGBTQI movement that is out of all proportion to the relatively small size of their movement. The tail is definitely wagging the dog.