Renamed retailers’ gathering offers inspiration, training and business in Orlando, Fla., next month

Christian Retailing magazine’s annual event for church and independent Christian bookstore managers and staff is getting a new focus and a new name.

Formerly known as The Gathering, the three-day program of inspiration, training and business will become Retailing ReBoot, scheduled for April 26-29.

To be held in Orlando, Fla., the conference theme will be “Engaging Without Limits,” looking at how retailers can connect more closely with God, with their customers and suppliers.

Stores pursue discount opportunities,  urged to develop category systems

Bargain books remain a strong emphasis at Christian retail, with the category drawing attention at two recent industry events.

Though attendance was down at the Inspirational Value Book Show (IVBS) in Atlanta, held Jan. 11-13, business was good, according to organizer Jerry Bloom, president of Treasures Media.

Buyers’ pre-registration for the event—held in conjunction with Christian Trade Association International’s Marketsquare International for the first time—was down on last year’s show in Nashville, with the winter storm that hit the region keeping away a couple of discount exhibitors and some additional retailers.

Nominating the top books, Bibles, gifts, music and more

Christian retailers will soon be asked to help name the best new Christian products of the year.

They will be invited to help select the 2011 Christian Retailing Retailers Choice Awards, widely acknowledged for recognizing some of the most significant new life-changing products in the Christian retail industry.

I want to commend David Almack on his insightful Industry Forum article in the December issue of Christian Retailing. He is on the mark about the need for retailers to be readers. It is only through reading that retailers will develop what Terry Glaspey calls “a passion for books.”  Without this passion, they will not be successful booksellers. The owner or manager must have this passion and then infect their frontliners and customers with it.

     When someone is dealing with difficult circumstance, it is in books where they will find the help and answers they are looking for. I fear too many retailers have lost their way and almost abdicated their role of selling books. In some cases we have created a void that others have stepped in to fill.

George Thomsen
Chairman of the board
CBA

“A church bookstore ... is at the center of a legal battle being viewed as a major test case for religious freedom,” says the opening line of the lead story in the December 2010 issue. Really? 

Isn’t this really a question of when is a store a store, and should a business such as a store not pay the same taxes as any other business? Just because this store is located on church property does not make it any less a store, and therefore a business. Perhaps those involved should just “pay unto Caesar what is Caesar’s.” Making this an issue of religious freedom, seems to me, is overstating the case, and even bringing disrepute to the name of Jesus.

Femmie VanderBoom
Burlington, Ontario

Hearst family backing for ministry to smalltown community also encourages support for Israel

Few visitors are aware of the connection between a modest Christian bookstore in a small Western mountain town and one of the country’s best-known media empires.

But Praise Productions Christian Store in Ridgway, Colo.—the location for the famous John Wayne movie True Grit, with a population around 1,000—is operated by Victoria Hearst, granddaughter of William Randolph Hearst. He was the newspaper publisher who gave his name to the corporation that now includes major broadcast and print interests.

Christian publishers are doing better at creating book covers that appeal to their target audience, according to the leader of the annual program honoring the best designs.

“We are definitely seeing better entries each year,” said Rick Hamm as he announced the winners of the 2010 Book Cover awards sponsored by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) and Dickinson Press.

The nominated titles were “more focused,”  said Hamm, director of consumer research group Marshall Marketing and judging manager for the program in its fourth year.

Winner of the category for publishers releasing up to 100 titles a year was Domesticated Jesus by Harry L. Kraus Jr. (P&R Publishing). It was chosen for its atypical imagery and “edgy design” featuring a dog collar stamped with the book’s title.

Selected top from publishers of 101-250 titles a year was 52 Things Every Kid Needs From a Dad by Jay Payleitner (Harvest House Publishers),  chosen for highlighting “simple truths” and a sense of responsibility.

Chosen first from entries by publishers of 250-plus titles was the revised and updated edition of Searching for God Knows What by Donald Miller (Thomas Nelson), for “bold images” and designs.

Search engine giant’s electronic bookstore not ‘digital book solution’ for industry, CBA’s leader says

Industry leaders, publishers and retailers are enthusiastic about Google’s entry into digital book sales as another avenue to market Christian books. But the head of CBA does not see the online search engine giant as “the digital book solution” for Christian retailers and the association’s e-book efforts for the industry.

Launched in December, Google’s long-awaited Internet bookstore, called eBooks, draws upon a portion of the 15 million printed books that Google has scanned into its computers. About 4,000 publishers are also allowing Google to carry many of their recently released books in the new store.

Tony Campolo seen as ‘naïve,’ ‘ungrateful’ in his claims about the Religious Right’s control

Publishing and retailing leaders have dismissed a claim by veteran author Tony Campolo’s that the industry is controlled by a “tyranny” of the Religious Right.

The well-known speaker who has written almost 40 books for a range of leading Christian publishers made his assertion in a post-election commentary for the online newspaper, The Huffington Post.

Writing that the Religious Right would continue to dominate politics because of the way it was able to use the media to stir opposition to those with whom it did not agree—in some cases causing speaking engagements to be canceled—Campolo said that “this same kind of tyranny has taken over the Christian publishing business.”

A handful of complaints raised about some authors that Religious Right evangelicals considered “dangerous” would “have the books written by such authors sent back to the distribution houses of the publishers,” he added. “It doesn’t take these publishers long to recognize whose books they should put in print if they want Christian bookstores to put their books on the shelves.”

Fatherhood drama ‘Courageous’ to arrive in theaters Sept. 30

Courageous, the widely anticipated follow-up from the makers of the hit movie Fireproof, will release in theaters nationwide Sept. 30.

The Sherwood Pictures film will debut on around 800 screens on the same opening weekend as 2008’s Fireproof—whose DVD release and associated books were huge best-sellers—and its 2006 predecessor, Facing the Giants.

E-book update of best-selling translation made available three months ahead of print editions

The much-anticipated update of the New International Version (NIV) Bible has been made available for purchase in digital form, three months ahead of its arrival in stores.

With print editions to go on sale from next month, Zondervan launched its NIV eBook Bible on Dec. 21—believed to be the first time a new translation has been offered in digital format before print publication.