Barbara Scott, Sr. Acquisitions Editor for Fiction at Abingdon Press in Nashville, TN, has more than 30 years experience in newspaper, magazine, and book publishing, including adult, youth, and children's fiction. She also coauthored with Carrie Younce two bestselling novels for Thomas Nelson--SEDONA STORM and SECRETS OF THE GATHERING DARKNESS--as well as writing numerous gift books and ghostwritten pieces. In Fall 2009 Barbara was responsible for acquiring and launching a new fiction line at Abingdon, which has garnered numerous accolades for literary excellence. Three of the first seven titles received starred reviews in either Publishers Weekly or Library Journal.

Abingdon Press is well established in the religious publishing world as an imprint of The United Methodist Publishing House, in operation since 1789. In the early 1920s, Abingdon began publishing a wide array of high-caliber academic, professional, inspirational, and life-affirming religious literature to enrich church communities across the globe.

In fall 2009, we launched our first Christian fiction line, publishing seven novels in a variety of genres, including women’s contemporary, contemporary romance, historical romance, historical, and romantic suspense. The reception from our readers, peers, and reviewers has been overwhelming—much more than we ever expected. Three of those seven books received starred reviews in either Publisher’s Weekly or Library Journal, and all have received numerous accolades.

Gone to Green, book one in The Green Series from debut fiction novelist Judy Christie, was selected as a Crossings Book Club selection and received a starred review in Publishers Weekly. Veteran author Kay Marshall Strom’s Call of Zulina, book one in the Grace in Africa series, received a starred review in Library Journal. The Prayers of Agnes Sparrow from debut novelist Joyce Magnin received a starred review in Library Journal, as well as a Seal of Approval and being named a Bonus Selection from Pulpwood Queens, one of the largest “meeting and discussing” book clubs in the world. Both Joyce and Judy have been invited as guest authors to the group’s major book club conference next year.

Linda S. Clare’s The Fence My Father Built is a Buyer’s Choice in LifeWay Christian Stores fall fiction catalog. Ariel Allison’s eye of the god is the first book selection for the new fiction book club of Proverbs 31 Ministries, a nondenominational, nonprofit Christian ministry that seeks to lead women into a personal relationship with Christ. Myra Johnson’s One Imperfect Christmas has been selected as a featured title at Cokesbury Christian bookstores, and Myra also is featured in a Library Journal article about new authors. Rita Gerlach’s Surrender the Wind has received several rave reviews from veteran authors such as Julie Lessman, Golden Keyes

Parsons, and Sharlene MacLauren, and she will be featured in a major Maryland cultural magazine soon.

Our plan is to publish at least eighteen to twenty new novels every year, and we’ve already acquired books for our lists through spring 2011. It’s an exciting time for me as the Senior Acquisitions Editor for this new fiction line. When I walk into a bookstore and see one of our novels displayed prominently, I feel as proud as if they were my own children.

Our mission at Abingdon Press is to serve the wider Christian community and all seekers by providing quality services and resources that help them know God through Jesus Christ, love God, and choose to serve God and neighbor.

We promise that Abingdon Press stories will inspire you to do no harm, to seek good, and to love God.

We have acquired manuscripts that have:

Well-developed and original plots subtly layered with spiritual themes and ethical virtues.

Complex and diverse characters who experience faith, doubt, joy, loss, freedom, addiction, and more.

Plots, conversations, and scenes that focus on the emotional aspects of relationships but do not include physical descriptions of sexual activity, voyeuristic or excessive descriptions of violence, or “shock language” that profanes the worth of human beings or other living creatures.

Our goal is for Abingdon stories to contain scenes that might inspire you enough to read the novel aloud in a group setting, perhaps in a church reading group, and to recommend our fiction to others. We strive for authenticity, relevance, and excellence in all the novels we publish: fiction to touch the hearts and minds of readers.