In this brief, seven-minute video, I interview Allen Arnold, Senior Vice President and Publisher of Thomas Nelson’s fiction division. I have known Allen for almost 20 years. When I first met him, he was in marketing at Word, Inc., a company that Thomas Nelson eventually acquired.
Allen is one of the most creative people I know. He is truly a great publisher. He has that rare combination of being unwavering in his core values along with the ability to spot projects that have commercial potential. In his eight-year tenure as Nelson’s fiction publisher, he has built one of the company’s fastest-growing divisions and become an industry thought-leader at the same time.
In this video, Allen talks about:
- Why fiction is so important and the role stories have played in his life
- How he came to be the publisher of Thomas Nelson’s fiction division (the untold story)
- What makes fiction “Christian” and the role of the storyteller
- How an unpublished novelist can get published
- Why agents are so important in the publishing process (and how to find one)
- How much of your novel must be finished before you begin shopping
- What you should do if your proposal or manuscript is initially rejected
- Why he has now started blogging and what he plans to write about
I loved talking to Allen, but I’m afraid I only scratched the surface. There is much more to explore.
