Anyone who has read about the explosion in digital publishing and who despairs that the printed word is in imminent danger of disappearing might take heart from two blogs from Thomas Nelson.

In his "Sanity Check for Publishers," vice president for editorial and acquisitions, non-fiction books Joel Miller dismisses the doom-and-gloom predictions as "nonsense."

He maintains that "readers want books—sustained discussions and stories that immerse their hearts and minds in ways that only books can. Fragmented texts with splotches of audiovisual enhancement may make headway in the marketplace, but they will never replace books..."

He also challenges the notion that publishers should look at themselves as being in the "content," not book, business. "I recognize that statements like this come from the need to make sense of the tremendous change happening around us, but this language is unhelpful in the extreme," he writes. "It generalizes our efforts.

Content is generic. Books are specific. Content is meaningless. Books have meaning. Content is data. Books are prose and poetry."

Miller's CEO, Michael Hyatt, echoes similar concerns and others in his "In Defense of Books."

"Despite what many pundits are saying today, reading is not dead, nor are books," he contends. "Certainly, big changes are underway, especially in the way books are delivered to readers. But reading itself is alive if not altogether well. It is not going away. At least, not any time soon."

By books, he says, he is talking about "long-form, text-based content, regardless of how it is delivered." These have more transformative power in them than most magazines, blogs, movies and TV shows, he goes on.

"Most serious readers I know see other (multimedia) elements as distractions or fluff, primarily designed to seduce non-readers into doing something they would otherwise not do-read a book. While I am all for expanding the market and bringing more non-readers into the fold, I don't believe we do that by adding multimedia elements to most books."

Writing about encounters with people whose lives have been touched by his best-selling novel, The Shack, William P. Young tells of a grieving couple's real-life "shack" experience.

Read more at http://windrumors.com/2010/04/day-5-fl-to-oh/#more-353

Marketing consultant and long-time friend of Christian stores Steve Miller has offered a good talking point for retailers thinking through how they can differentiate themselves from other channels.

A presenter at the International Christian Retail Show who has also worked with CBA on the look of its summer show passed along a lesson he learned from a recent experience with his bank, in a video blog post at his Two Hats Marketing Web site.

Missionary bookselling leader David Almack offers some great food for thought in what he calls a manifesto for Christian retail "thrival."

The U.S. Director of CLC International, who oversees eight Christian bookstores in the country run by CLC missionaries, presents ten suggestions to help retailers "not only survive but to thrive in he new world that we live in," in his latest blog at http://faithlit.wordpress.com/2009/11/29/a-manifesto-for-christian-retail-thrival/

Among the highlights:

Focus on market niches. Though there is plenty of competition in the Bible marketplace, there is less competition for Bible accessories and Bible covers. Some other areas for niche thinking include kids, tweens and teens products, church supplies, gifts.

Embrace new media marketing. Migrating our marketing efforts to e-blasts, Facebook fan pages and blog posts is an essential. People want to receive their information in the ways that they are most familiar with and that is rapidly becoming online for most of us.

Be community focused. Our stores did not really begin to grow in any significant way until we began to understand our community and its specific needs.

Here are some questions to ask: What really matters to my customers? How can I make heart connections with the people I serve? What is going on in my community that I need to get involved in as an advocate? How can I make "local" a strength for my ministry, not a weakness?

Do events that matter. They are the proven method for driving traffic and bringing people back to your stores again and again (But) customers today are very busy people who do not have time to attend just "any kind" of event anymore. These events must be meaningful and targeted.

Consider some of the following: Kids' reading times for weary moms; Bible reference workshops for people not sure how to study the Bible; Sunday school and VBS workshops with new ideas for teachers to consider.

Read the rest of David's ideas and then let us know what you think—and offer your own suggestions—at our community forum.

The news that the U.K.'s leading Christian retail chain is up for sale has prompted one pastor there to suggest it's time for a new look at the strategic role such stores can play.

The threat that hangs over the future of the 40-odd Wesley Owen stores currently run by IBS-STL UK—which is seeking a buyer for them, along with its publishing and distribution divisions—is "an opportunity for fresh mission thinking and creative partnership between churches and the high (main) street," suggests Simon Jones.

" After all, our neighbors are regularly on the high street and rarely in our buildings," he observes at his blog. "The high street offers something they want.

"Analysts argue that shopping is a leisure activity and a source of 'spiritual' fulfillment in the absence of traditional organized religion. Missional thinkers have been rightly identifying consumerism as a rival god over recent years which makes the high street the place where we should be—as Paul was in amongst the idols of Athens—living and modeling a different form of spirituality to our neighbors.

"And where better to do this than in a retail space that offers coffee, conversation, Internet access, books for browsing and buying, people to pray, space for groups to gather on a regular basis. The Christian bookshop could become a vital missional space with a bit of imagination on the part of church leaders and Christian retailers.

"So are we up for this or will we all be lamenting the passing of the Christian presence on the high street the next time we gather at a conference to talk about how to do mission?"

Larry Downs, vice president and publisher at Thomas Nelson's Spanish division, Grupo Nelson, has dared to venture where many fear to tread—the sometimes disputed territory between Christian bookstores and church-based stores.

He has encouraged retailers annoyed by the "unfair" competition from church stores to turn the situation around and use it for good.

Downs writes about addressing the issue at a recent conference in Argentina, where several bookstore representatives were unhappy with a church bookstore that was there because they were "convinced that the (church) was taking away customers from their stores and had hugely unfaur advantages such as rent, salaries and utilities that were all covered by the church."

Asked for his verdict, Downs advised them to "stop blaming others." In his Oct. 5 posting at http://www.larrydowns.typepad.com/english, he recounts observing that "first we blamed the Internet... then the general market for carrying 'our' books... then the mass market... what's wrong with this picture-who will we blame tomorrow?"

Downs advised the stores to "look at yourself first," and examine their business from a consumer's point of view. "Do you even want to go into your own store? Why would anyone want to buy their books anywhere else than from you?"

Rather than just be mad, Downs recommended the retailers "look to form alliances," by perhaps offering to become a branch boosktore in a local church or exchanging exclusive recommendations with an existing church store. "Instead of trying to find an external reason for why your customers are growing thinner, think of ways that you can be creative to proactively go to where the people are."