Serving Writers Since 1993
Begun in 1993 by Steve Board, who was the CEO of Harold Shaw Publishers of Wheaton, Illinois, the Writer’s Edge manuscript screening service for religious publishers issues monthly or bi-monthly email reports of screened manuscripts and book proposals to over 75 publishers in the North American religious market.
The publishers receiving our reports are all standard royalty publishers (we have no “vanity” or “self” publishers although some full-service publishers on the list also have partner publishing programs substantially different from the self publishing industry). We consider both the publishers and the writers our friends and hope to serve all equally well.
We try to serve writers, rather than exploit them and we try to serve publishers, not pressure them.
For over 20 years
Only a few people work on the Writer’s Edge program (between five and ten all part-time), all of whom are present or former employees of CBA or ECPA publishers (North American religious publishing associations). Among the companies represented in the job history of our reviewers are Thomas Nelson, Tyndale, IVP, Crossway, Harold Shaw, Harvest House, Howard, Multnomah and Moody. Because of the reviewers need for anonymity and privacy, we’ve only used their initials or numbers for identification in our correspondence and evaluations.
The current co-owners, Bill and Nancie Carmichael have been in publishing and writing for over 35 years, owned both magazine and book publishing companies and have written books for Tyndale, Howard, Harvest House, Moody, Baker, Thomas Nelson, Crossway, and Deep River Books, along with countless magazine columns and articles. Through their ongoing mentoring efforts, hundreds of new authors have been published. Bill has also served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA).
We Help You Make the Cut
Because most Traditional Christian Publishing Companies no longer accept unsolicited manuscripts and no longer sift through what used to be called the “slush” pile, new or relatively unknown writers have little chance to be seen by a traditional publisher unless they have a credible literary agent.
Writer’s Edge Publishing Service, in full cooperation with over 75 traditional royalty-based Christian publishers, gives writers another option. The acquisition editors of these companies have agreed to view relevant manuscripts that “make the cut” at Writer’s Edge because they know they have been carefully screened and evaluated before being passed to them for consideration. Hundreds of authors have been successfully published because of Writer’s Edge Service.
Writer’s Edge Service is not a literary agency, nor does it retain an equity position in any book offered to the publishers in its reports. It is entirely a medium of communication between writers and publishers.
The Writer's Edge Difference
The Writer’s Edge Service is not connected to other web entities called “Writers Edge” and should not be linked to subsidy publishers or ebook web sites which may turn up in your searches for our site with the term “Writers Edge” in the name. We’re pleased that our site has become first or second in Google searches, indicating the excellent traffic that has built up to The Writer’s Edge Service. (This service began in 1993 and asserts common law trademark priority to the name Writer’s Edge and related variations.)
In full disclosure, the owners of Writer’s Edge also own other publishing entities. These include: Carmichael Publishing, a traditional small publisher; Honest Editing, a more in-depth editorial service; and Deep River Books, a partner publishing arm of Carmichael Publishing. Writer’s Edge fits nicely into the “new author mentoring” mission that Bill and Nancie Carmichael have had for over 35 years.
