Poor communication and lack of clear administrative policies can lead to complaints, ‘diminish ministry’ of stores

A quiet conflict has been growing between Christian authors and church-based stores, one that has caused rifts  in relationships and cost stores more than pocket change through the years.

Many authors in the CBA marketplace undertake speaking engagements at churches in an effort to promote their message and increase their visibility. As with any author, one of the primary goals when going on a speaking circuit is to promote and sell their books. However, when the host church also has a store, the authors’ methods in achieving this goal can raise store staff’s hackles. The key point of contention is when authors bring their own copies of their books to sell, bypassing the on-site bookstore and sidelining existing ministries.

“This is a huge problem, and is one about which I have heard numerous complaints from church bookstore managers,” said George Thomsen, former CBA chairman of the board and director of The Harvest Store at Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, Calif.

Thomsen sees the problem as “unique to CBA,” he said. “When an author does a book signing in an ABA store, or even a non-church CBA store, they are not selling and signing author’s copies of the book.”

In what should be a mutually beneficial arrangement for author and bookstore alike, most stores end up getting little to no bump in sales when authors bring their own products to sell.

“The whole purpose of the signing event is to increase sales of the book for the store,” Thomsen said. “The authors still derive a financial benefit on the royalties they receive from the sale of every book.”

Though this problem seems to be largely focused on authors, music artists can end up in disputes with the host church’s bookstore as well.

“Artists and authors who perform or speak at church events have all travel-related expenses paid by the church, and they usually are paid an honorarium,” he said. “However, when it comes to churches, artists and authors often want exclusive rights to sales on the day they are at the church.”

This practice can result in bad blood between the store, whose staff often hand-sell the author’s books, and the author.

“The bookstore commits to stock an author’s titles year round,” Thomsen said. “The bookstore promotes the product and contributes to the author’s notoriety and success.

“When the church invites the author to come, provides an opportunity for exposure to a large audience and pays them well to speak or perform, it seems unfair that the author then tells the store they cannot sell their product when they are there,” he argued. “It does not show that the author cares about or is willing to support that store that supports them year round.”

When confronted with aggressive agents booking the events, “churches give in because they think they have to,” Thomsen said.

There are ways to avoid this issue, though, and most of them start with the host church’s administration.

“Church store managers should inform their business administrators that they don’t have to accept this practice,” Thomsen said. “They need to know that this is not usual practice for the ABA stores, nor is it for non-church CBA stores.”

“It is OK to tell the author or artist that the bookstore will be handling all sales for the day,” he continued. “This should be acceptable to them as they still make a royalty on every book sold.”

Part of the solution could lie with CBA publishers whose authors and artists make up the bulk of the church event circuit.

“Publishers can insert language into authors’ contracts that precludes them from selling authors’ copies of their books at churches where a bookstore is on site,” Thomsen offered, adding that he believed at least one large publisher has already taken this step.

At present, however, most of the responsibility ultimately lies with the churches and authors who write and sign the contracts for the events.

“The issue reflects many church-store managers’ concerns about the disconnection between church-store mission and church leadership policy and action,” said Curtis Riskey, president of CBA. “It is difficult to resolve the issue without internal clarity about individual goals, mutual understandings and common alignment that drives decision-making.”

Some churches are already working together with their store ministries to combat this practice. For example, Prestonwood Baptist Church in Dallas has adopted and maintained a policy that ensures that the products authors wish to sell at their event will be sold through the on-site store. They formalize this in the guest speaker contracts, thus making sure all parties are on the same page well before the event takes place. This also allows Prestonwood’s store to have sufficient stock of the author’s works on hand to meet increased demand during and after the event.

Riskey cautions that a one-size-fits-all approach may not work for every church and every store, though.

“There is no set way to overcome the issue because church leadership styles and personalities are different,” he said. “Our church-store educational classes at ICRS [International Christian Retail Show] provide guidance and interaction among church-store managers to help individuals understand what has worked for others to help resolve the issue.”

Many of the myriad options available to church stores have found success for church, store and author alike, reports Geni Hulsey, a church bookstore veteran who conducts those workshops at CBA’s summer show.

In one potential setup, following the model illustrated by Prestonwood, “the books are sold through the bookstore and run through the POS system of the store—even if a special location is created to expedite sales,” she said. “This is very important to the author/music group if the store is tied into any system that tallies the sales of the books/music.”

Some churches handle the situation on a case-by-case basis, making the author aware that there is a store in the church and providing a choice.

“It has been my experience that most published authors just don’t want to be bothered with it and are thrilled to find out someone will handle the details for them,” Hulsey said.

Others take a more traditional route, where the store simply invites the author in for a book signing and meet-and-greet, with the store handling all the sales.

Sometimes the authors themselves end up taking the higher road, standing as a testament to the reason they are speaking in the first place.

“There are some very high-profile authors who have come to our church, and have not insisted on selling their own product,” Thomsen said. “These authors’ primary focus in coming to the church is to minister. They want the bookstore to do well and know that when the bookstore benefits they benefit from increased exposure as well as in royalties, though that is not their primary motive.”

But when communication breaks down, the mission itself begins to erode.

“Many times there is no policy and guest speakers are invited, bringing their own books,” Hulsey said. “The store manager is not involved in any way.”

“The sad part about it being handled this way is that the store manager and workers feel less than a part of the ministry of the church,” she said. “It diminishes the ministry of the store.”

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