Christian Retailing News Editor Eric Tiansay talks with Douglas Gresham, C.S. Lewis' stepson and executive producer of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader—to be released Dec. 10 by Walden Media and 20th Century Fox.

Executer of the C.S. Lewis estate, Gresham—also co-producer of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe and Prince Caspian, the first two installments of “The Chronicles of Narnia” movie series—discusses the importance of box-office support for Dawn Treader from the faith-based community, including Christian retailers and churches. Listen below.

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Christian publishing may have been without a mega best-seller this year but one leader thinks that is a good thing that has made room for a more important development.

 David Almack, U.S. director and publisher with CLC International, observes that in the absence of a mega-seller promising the good life, titles like Radical, Jesus Calling, Crazy Love, The Love Dare and even the classic The Five Love Languages have appeared on the New York Times best-seller lists.

 “The basic message in many of these books is the incredible story of the God of the universe making the ultimate sacrifice of His only Son, which compels believers to lives of sacrifice and love for others out of gratitude, not duty,” he notes.

 “For a world sick and tired of phony promises, this is indeed good news about Christianity itself. Instead of looking inward for ways to improve ourselves and achieve the American dream by joining the right church or reading the right book, these new authors are pointing us in an entirely different direction for finding significance and purpose in life.”

 In his Nov. 21 posting at his blog, Almack welcomes “a new generation of readers (that) appears to be seeking a robust presentation of the love of Christ for a dying world,” and suggests it's time for “sober introspection” to “evaluate the serious consequences of promoting a gospel that requires so little while promising so much.

“Now is the time for us all to repent and return to publishing, distributing and selling books that present Jesus as the 'lamb that was slain' and who gave His all so that we might have life at all.”

You can find his entire address here:

Best-selling books may come and go, but the Bible remains a firm favorite.

God's Word came out top in a list of popular books for discussion groups in an online poll conducted by Reading Group Guides to mark its tenth anniversary.

The Bible came first in the list of Top 10 Strange Book Club Choices compiled from votes by more than 12,000 people. Next on the list was The Ethical Slut: A Practical Guide to Polyamory, Open Relationships and Other Adventures by Dossie Easton and Janet W. Hardy.

Heading the overall Top 10 Discussion Books was The Help by Kathryn Stocket. Fifth was Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth ilbert, while Anita Diamant's The Red Tent—a novel about the biblical character Dinah—was tenth.

Announcing in his latest blog that his new release, Immanuel's Veins (Thomas Nelson), has been "banned" in Holland for being too racy, he wonders if Christian publishing should "force our characters to wear turtle necks and long sleeves?"

Dekker defends Immanuel's Veins—vampires, seduction and sacrificial love in 18th century Russia—as "a passionate tale of God's love for his bride, perhaps the most Christian book I've ever written." Yes, it is sensual in parts, he admits, "but no more than the sensuality expressed by King Solomon, to whom I've dedicated the book."

In a blog posting with that title, he says how disappointed he has been to find so many peers who say they don't have the time to read the books they sell—or simply don't enjoy reading.

But, he says, in the current economic environment, "we must all become avid readers or we will die... No Christian retailer worth their salt can afford to ignore this aspect of their business. We all need to commit to put down our iPods and cell phones, turn off our televisions and take a Facebook fast.

"Making time every day and certainly every week to  immerse ourselves in books and authors that God has given us the privilege to represent has to be one of our biggest business priorities."

The U.S. Director of CLC International, overseeing a publishing house and eight stores, adds: "This may be a little harsh, but for those that say that they really do not enjoy reading, I would suggest that maybe they are in the wrong business or they need to reconsider their priorities.

"If a person is running a Christian retail store and really does not enjoy reading and still wants to stay in the business, they must at least have someone on their team who loves to read and can help instill this passion in the rest of the team... Reading is not optional for us as Christians and retailers, it is essential. Praise God that he has gifted so many people to put words together in such a way that they can actually change lives "

Almack is a member of Christian Retailing's editorial advisory board. Read his complete blog at http://faithlit.wordpress.com/

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."

Just as publisher-sponsored book blog review programs continue to grow, the Federal Trade Commission this week announced the introduction of fines for bloggers who don't disclose financial compensation, even if they only received a free copy of the book.

No one exemplifies the ministry heartbeat of Christian book selling more than the folks at CLC International--missionaries staffing bookstores around the world.

So the list of "ten reasons why I still love the local Christian bookstore" by David Almack, the U.S. Director of CLC International, makes for inspiring reading.

In his new FaithLit blog, the Philadelphia-based leader offers his encouragement because he's been "dismayed of late at the rampant media attention to the apparently imminent demise of the local Christian bookstore."

Among his reasons, Christian bookstores are:

- a place of Christian ministry in the midst of a secular retail landscape.
- a place of refuge in a hostile world.
- a connecting point for the Christian community.
- a house of prayer.
- a place of positive influence in the local community

With this last point in mind, Almack recalls his team and some customers gathering in the store's parking lot to pray on September 11, 2001. "(We) prayed for half an hour, many strangers breaking' the prayer circle as we prayed to make the circle even bigger. When I closed my eyes to pray, we had maybe twenty people in the circle. By the time I opened my eyes, we had over fifty."

Almack concludes: "I pray that even with the current economic struggles we are all facing, the importance and special place of the local Christian bookstore will not be overlooked."

Read his complete list here and then let us know what you think about his reasons, and add your own, in our online forum, here.

Always an insightful commentator on industry trends, book agent Chip MacGregor offers some more food for thought with his vision of the future.

Looking ahead five years, he speculates on the implications of the still-unfolding digital revolution.

Among his predictions, that the Web will replace trade shows and book catalogs. " The big book shows are dying--too expensive and not enough return to keep going," he says. "They'll be replaced with smarter, more cost-effective company events or Web-based specialty events. And publishers will soon buy into the green movement by doing away with printed book catalogs and going to web-based catalogs that are always accessible and easy to correct and update."

MacGregor also foresees a new role in publishing houses. "Creative content editors" will be needed to handle the "convergence of words and images" that he expects to come to the world of books--interactive features, downloadable extras, video clips and author interviews.

MacGregor's list also includes a wish-that the culture's fascination with short messages on Facebook and Twitter will mean a renewed interest in short stories. "Okay, this may not happen... but I can dream," he says. "Short stories are my favorite form of literature, and they are almost impossible to sell in book form these days. But perhaps the next generations' interest in all things short will mean a renewed interest in short stories. "

Find his 10-point vision of the future in the June 21 posting at http://chipmacgregor.typepad.com, and let us know what you think...