Company co-founder establishes new subsidy publisher Redemption Press

WinePress Publishing announced its closure in January amid numerous author complaints, hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, the death of its editorial director and accusations of cult activity. On the heels of the announcement, WinePress co-founder and former owner Athena Dean has launched a new subsidy-publishing venture, Redemption Press, with plans to move the new company as of April 1 into the Enumclaw, Wash., office space formerly occupied by WinePress.

“It is with great sadness that we announce the winding down of operations at WinePress Publishing,” the now-defunct company’s website states, giving its authors until Jan. 31 to request shipment of books from the WinePress warehouse and directing them first to Amazon’s CreateSpace to republish, then to Sisters, Ore.-based publisher Deep River Books for assistance. Dean told Christian Retailing she hopes Redemption Press also can become a home for former WinePress authors now left in limbo.

“I can’t believe it’s come full circle,” Dean said. “My former husband, Chuck, and I started WinePress from our home. Now I’m back in Washington working from a house in the self-publishing business again.”

The Deans helped pioneer self-publishing in the Christian industry when they opened WinePress in 1991, but in the last few years, the company ran into trouble when executives began pointing fingers at each other, raising accusations of fraud, theft and misappropriation of funds, and leaving authors wondering where their money went and if they would ever see their books in print.

“A number of WinePress authors started calling Deep River stating that no one was answering the WinePress phones and asking if we knew anything,” said CEO and Publisher Bill Carmichael of Deep River Books. “One of the authors was able to email [former WinePress Senior Project Manager] Mike Owens and let him know I wanted to help. He emailed me back and said there were roughly 250 authors in progress and that WinePress was releasing all of their authors from their contracts and giving them back their files.”

Carmichael said Owens indicated he had been laid off when the company closed, but was volunteering his time to make sure authors got their files and books from the warehouse. At press time, a link on the WinePress homepage directed authors to an evaluation form that Deep River is using to figure out the status of each book project.

“We are not in any way affiliated with WinePress,” Carmichael said. “I just feel terrible for those authors. We basically want to assess what they need and try to help them at our cost, so that we can get their books into print as inexpensively as we can.” 

Athena and Chuck Dean started WinePress to give authors an alternative to traditional, royalty-based publishing contracts. In 1998, the Deans published a controversial book by Timothy Williams titled Hating for Jesus and became close friends with Williams and his family, who relocated to Enumclaw and became pastor of a church called Sound Doctrine (SD). Many SD members lived together in Enumclaw homes and worked at WinePress.

In 2006, Christian Retailing reported that Athena Dean had sold WinePress to Williams, but the deal was then called off. Dean and SD members, including the Williams family, continued to work together, but trouble was brewing. In 2010, Dean sold the company to the church for $10. 

From there, the relationship between the Williams family, SD and Dean continued to deteriorate, with SD eventually launching a pair of websites (HardTruth.SDoctrine
.org, Enumclaw.com) to denounce Dean and other detractors. Dean responded with her own site (NotAfraidToTellMyStory.Wordpress.com), accusing SD of being a cult that cost her relationships with family members, destroyed her marriage and stole her business. Dean states she divorced Chuck and cut off contact with some of her own children at the church’s insistence.

In November 2012, the WinePress story took another turn when Malcolm Fraser, WinePress development officer and SD assistant pastor, was charged with the rape of a child. Timothy Williams, SD’s former senior pastor, has stated repeatedly that the whole case was a setup, and Fraser continues to declare his innocence. Convicted last May, Fraser is appealing his 20-year sentence. Sound Doctrine also operated the Salt Shaker Christian Bookstore, which closed after the verdict.

In January 2013, Carla Williams, WinePress editorial director and Timothy’s wife, was diagnosed with brain cancer, an illness she and her husband believed was directly caused by the stress of the trial and the alleged lies against the SD church. A familiar face at the WinePress booth at industry shows such as the International Christian Retail Show, Carla died last September.

“Doctors have made it perfectly clear that none of my past health issues contributed to this sudden, rapid brain tumor, but that stress has brought it on,” Carla Williams said in a February 2013 post at her website, TheSpiritualMom.com.

Well-known literary agent Chip MacGregor got pulled into the WinePress fray when he posted a Facebook comment about Athena Dean’s website, and the SD attorney responded with a cease-and-desist letter threatening prosecution. On Jan. 28, MacGregor posted at ChipMacGregor.com: “I’ve seen some crazy stuff in my years in Christian publishing, but never anything like The Winepress Follies.”

While WinePress’ closing statement points to “lies and deceit” as the reasons for the company’s demise, debt also contributed. Mike Reynolds, Enumclaw city attorney and former landlord for WinePress, told Christian Retailing that the publisher owes him $280,000. He obtained a judgment against WinePress and took back the office space the company occupied. 

On MacGregor’s site and a number of author sites and blogs, WinePress authors are expressing their frustration and concern about signing contracts and paying Winepress for services they will not receive. The Better Business Bureau also lists several complaints by authors stating they could not get in contact with anyone from the company.

Christian Retailing made several attempts to reach Timothy Williams about the closing and received a voicemail reply that stated: “If you’re interested in talking about Athena Dean, her hate crime and her lies and go from there, I’m very interested. However, if it’s merely just to give her a platform to reiterate more lies, it wouldn’t do me any good to answer at that point because it’s not going to benefit anybody.”

When asked about the WinePress closing’s effect on the Christian retail landscape, veteran retailer Chuck Wallington, owner of Christian Supply in Spartanburg, S.C., said that there are now so many custom houses that authors will still have plenty of opportunities to self-publish.

“With the landscape of self-publishing changing so rapidly, while it’s sad to see a major player exit, there are still a lot of very viable options available to authors,” Wallington said. 

Dean hopes Redemption Press will be one of those options and has put together a publishing team that includes public relations veteran Michele Tennesen and former WinePress employees Karla Cochran and Kevin Cochran. 

“Self-publishing packages often include a bunch of services that you pay for whether you need all these things or not,” Dean said. “Basically almost everyone does it because we know Christians will pay money to get their message out. I have a hard time with that and don’t think its right. Redemption Press (Redemption-Press.com) will sell everything a la carte, and I hope we can help WinePress authors at cost. I just had one author tell me it was going to cost her $2,500 to finish her book, when I know we can do it for $391. We want to help authors get and keep their books in print.”

LifeWay Christian Stores sees pastor as ‘unique communicator’ who is ‘perfect for our vision and mission’

Kyle Idleman remembers frequent visits to the bookstore at Ozark Christian College in Joplin, Mo., where his dad was president. While he admits to mostly purchasing candy and gum, Idleman will never forget walking those aisles filled with books and Bibles.

Now Idleman’s own books are on the shelves of Christian retail stores around the country, and he’s come to understand the important link between the stores, customers and his message.

“It’s opened my eyes to the many Christian bookstore owners and managers who see their work as a ministry,” Idleman said. “The bookstore isn’t just a job for them, but a calling to get the right resources into the hands of people who need them.”

Idleman is teaching pastor at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Ky., and author of the March release AHA: The God Moment That Changes Everything (David C Cook). Idleman is also author of the Zondervan best-sellers Not a Fan and Gods at War.

“AHA came from about 15 years of listening to people’s stories of spiritual transformation,” he said. “The book is a journey through the story of the Prodigal Son, with stories I’ve been privileged to hear and those from my own life.”

AHA gets its name from the three steps needed in any true spiritual awakening, Idleman said. First is the “awakening” moment, when someone sees something they hadn’t seen before; second comes “honesty,” when that person speaks truth to themselves; third is “action,” when a person begins to take steps toward change and transformation.

But Idleman’s work goes far beyond a book. He partners with City on a Hill Productions to produce curriculum products that include DVDs, journals, small group study guides and pastor’s kits. City on a Hill Studio markets and distributes those products via its website and through Christian retail stores.

City on a Hill released the DVD series for Idleman’s Not a Fan about seven months before the book came out. His Gods at War study materials came out four months before the book did. Sales were good for Not a Fan: nearly 25,000 study guides, 170,000 journals and 19,000 DVDs sold via Christian stores from 2011 to 2013. 

This time, however, City on a Hill and book publisher David C Cook are releasing the book and study materials at the same time.

“Now that we’ve learned a little more, we’re launching the products at the same time,” said Tim Byron, general manager of City on a Hill Studio. “We’re hoping to get momentum behind the series, leveraging the marketing from the publisher and our marketing, cross-promoting the products and getting them in Christian bookstores.”

Mike Salisbury, marketing director for trade books at David C Cook, is delighted with early response from bookstores and readers.

“We see the way people are reacting,” Salisbury said. “We see the consumer getting excited, so we are very happy with early promotions.”

The publisher is planning a book launch March 5 at Southeast Christian, an event that will be broadcast live through the Hub Network, and is working with CBA to give retailers an opportunity to also broadcast the event live. David C Cook is offering bookstores a sampler booklet of Idleman’s work, is making him available to stores via Skype during scheduled events, and is offering signed bookplates for the books. Additionally, Idleman may offer a short devotional via Skype for store employees.

“These are the people he knows are supporting him,” Salisbury said. “Kyle’s heart is in the CBA. We’re trying to be good stewards of his time, trying to group opportunities together, but we’re looking for opportunities to put him in front of people.”

City on a Hill is just as eager for these opportunities. They want to reach retail customers who might see the book first, then make the jump into the curriculum for either their churches or their families.

“We want to tell retailers that our product is unique, but they really have to see it,” Byron said. “This is a whole suite of products that works together, though they can also stand alone. One thing we know is that when people buy one City on a Hill product, they come back. We’ve built a reputation on quality products that make an impact.”

City on a Hill’s AHA products will include the DVD —20 minutes of drama and about 10 minutes of teaching for each segment—to be used in small group or individual settings. There also will be a leader’s guide, journal for individual participants and a pastor’s kit for those who would like to preach through the series.

“This creates a church-wide experience around the product,” Byron said. “We help create an integrated campaign for churches.” 

Idleman, too, sees the benefit of Christian retailers understanding that these products have possibility for both small group and family use. 

“I would love for Christian bookstores to know that we had both kinds of users in mind when we created the AHA products,” he said. “There is such a strong story element to this material, which engages many different kinds of users.”

Nashville-based LifeWay Christian Resources, which owns and operates 186 LifeWay Christian Stores across the country, recognized Idleman’s appeal when his book Not a Fan took off with customers. LifeWay stores plans to stock all of the AHA products, including curriculum. 

“Kyle is a unique communicator, speaker and teacher,” said Donnie Baldwin, LifeWay’s buyer for curriculum and programs. “He really became popular with the 18-35 age group, but the older age groups like him as well. Not a Fan did extremely well, and so did Gods at War. We think AHA is going to do even better.”

LifeWay stores will stock all AHA products from City on a Hill, along with the book, calling the products “permanent fixtures in our stores—books, curriculum, DVDs, pastor’s kits, journals and study guides,” Baldwin said.

“Kyle is perfect for our vision and mission. He’s everything that we would like to see, and every bit of what we’d like to see our customers reading, studying and thinking about,” he said.

The stores will devote prime promotional space for the book and curriculum, positioning them together whenever possible. 

“Not a Fan went way beyond our projections, and we feel AHA is on that same level. We’re excited about the potential,” Baldwin said.

Byron of City on a Hill feels the same way. 

“Christian retailers are a huge piece of what we want to do because they are closest to the customer,” he said. “We’re so excited about our products. It’s all about connecting the product to the customers.”

Idleman is quick to thank Christian retailers for their work. 

“I hear stories about how a book got into the hands of a person who needed it, and often a retailer is the one who made that happen,” he said. “I so appreciate the ministry partnership that takes place between the church and bookstores.”

Help select the top releases of the year nominated in variety of categories

Christian Retailing has opened the voting period in the 2014 Christian Retailing’s Best awards. Voting will take place from March 1, 2014 to March 31, 2014.

Authors and vendors have entered what they deem to be their best releases with more than 60 initial categories to choose from—books, Bibles, gifts, music, DVDs and more. For 2014, products were nominated in the super-categories of Bibles, Books, Gifts and Other, with categories including Devotional/Study in Bibles; Fiction: Amish and Nonfiction: Men’s in Books; Wall Décor in Gifts; and Curriculum: Vacation Bible School and DVD/Video: Movie in Other.

Now, anyone involved in the business of Christian products is invited to let their voice be heard through their vote. Owners and managers of Christian retail stores should note that voting is open to all of their team members, including volunteers. Christian retailers, authors, editors, literary agents, distributors, gift designers and others in the industry are eligible to cast their vote for the products released in 2013 they think are the best. Other products compete in the Backlist category, which includes all types of products and allows companies to enter older releases. 

To vote, visit christianretailingsbest.com and click on the link for the online ballot. Voters will be asked to judge nominations on the impact they have had on staff and customers, including their ability to:

• ?speak to people’s hearts and evoke emotion 
• ?open people’s minds to new ways of thinking 
• ?encourage and affirm Christ-like living 

Introduced in 2001, Christian Retailing’s awards have been acknowledged as an important way of recognizing some of the most significant, life-changing products in the industry.

Results will be verified by an independent firm of certified public accountants.

The 2014 Christian Retailing’s Best Awards winners are expected to be announced in June at the International Christian Retail Show in Atlanta. Watch for details in Christian Retailing magazine and in Christian Retailing Update e-newsletter. 

Visit ChristianRetailingsBest.com for more information or email the editor at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 

Oxford University Press’ God’s Forever Family, Wheaton College professor Larry Eskridge’s history of the Jesus People movement, won Christianity Today’s Book of the Year award for 2014. The book also received the History/Biography award. 

Christianity Today (CT) also announced significant changes to the 25th edition of the Annual Book Awards, which started in 1989 as selected by a reader’s choice poll. The biggest addition is the first-ever CT Book of the Year, based on the book the judges agree upon the most. 

The program also introduced a Her.meneutics award, named after CT’s women’s site. The winner was Amy Simpson’s Troubled Minds: Mental Illness and the Church’s Mission (IVP Books), which recounts the author’s experience growing up with a schizophrenic parent and discusses how the church can best address mental illness.

The awards also now have a 2014 Christianity Today Book Award Winner seal, which will be given to publishers to place on their award-winning book for future pressings.

Matt Reynolds, books editor for the magazine, is running the awards for his third year.

“I have learned that every year, there are going to be a number of worthwhile books, any number of which that would be fine candidates to bestow awards upon,” said Reynolds. “Year after year I am amazed at the number of quality books. It increases your appreciation for the amount of good book writing being done.”

CT also has lifted the veil of anonymity from the judges’ comments on the winning books. The editorial team decided it wanted to recognize its judges—who include best-selling authors, experts in their fields and simply thoughtful people—for their hours spent reading and evaluating thousands of pages. 

Reynolds said that despite the change, the mission for the awards has stayed the same: “It’s still all about recognizing the books that most shape evangelical life, thought and culture.”

Program to be more accessible for smaller churches

Pioneer Clubs has revealed its first-ever Vacation Bible School (VBS) offering for 2014, The Wacky World of Water. Billed as being simple, collaborative, Bible-based, mission-focused, flexible and fun, the new VBS program targets smaller churches without huge volunteer forces as well as larger churches wanting to get back to basics.

“Many of us at Pioneer Clubs volunteer for VBS at our churches, and through discussions of how complex VBS has become, we realized most of us felt this way,” said Terry Logan, sales and marketing manager for Pioneer Clubs. “We love the kids, love the concept of VBS and the community outreach it has. However, preparing for VBS has almost become a year-round project.”

After surveying its church networks and finding a consensus, Pioneer Clubs found evidence of the negative effects of the complexity.

“The ‘icing on the cake’ in the research was from a Barna research that reflected small churches were not conducting VBS,” Logan said. This was “mainly due to cost and lack of volunteers—hence needing many volunteers to help with the complexity.”

Pioneer’s first entry into the VBS market seeks to strip away the complexity to make VBS a more feasible reality for small churches as well as large ones.

“Pioneer Clubs’ midweek programs has a strong connection with small churches, so Barna’s research resonated with us,” Logan said. “We are getting interest from large and small churches all desiring to take the complexity out of the weeklong program and bring back the strong adult-to-child relationship aspect. 

“Many people over the age of 45 can still remember their childhood VBS teachers’ names, mainly due to the relationships they built,” Logan added. “In the end Christ’s Kingdom has always been built through relationships.”

For a full list of VBS offerings, see our 2014 Vacation Bible School Product Guide at www.christianretailing.com.

Debut release won two Accolade Competition awards

Believe (Capitol Christian Distribution), the first DVD in the new children’s series, “Iesodo” (pronounced YAY-Sa-Doe), topped the sales lists for Christian retailers at the end of 2013. 

“We are enthusiastic about ‘Iesodo’s strong performance right out of the gate with our first DVD release, Believe,” said Eric Rollman, producer and CEO of Rollman Entertainment. “ ‘Iesodo’ is the No. 1 new kids animated property at Christian book stores in the fourth quarter, and our December performance exceeded expectations with the most number of units sold per week since its release in October. We’re seeing 100%-plus growth week over week, which positions us very well for our second release, Love, in January.”

“This series is taking off with kids of all ages because of the high production quality, fun adventures, memorable songs and lovable characters in each episode,” said Executive Producer Jared Hankins. “Our goal is to reach as many children as possible with the stories of Jesus, and we are excited that families are enjoying the series together.”

In addition to its success in stores, “Iesodo” has also received the Award of Excellence in Animation and the Award of Merit for an Original Song from the Accolade Competition.

The series features a cast of birds who share the teachings of Jesus through stories with the principles of loving one another, conquering fear and sharing. The birds live in a cypress tree on the shores of the lake (Galilee), where they follow the biblical teachings of a wise white dove named Iesodo.

“Many of Jesus’ teachings are told in stories or parables. ‘Iesodo’ has been inspired by great creative minds like C.S. Lewis who chose an allegorical world to demonstrate spiritual truths,” said Rob Loos, producer and writer for the series.

Zaya Toonz, the animation studio behind the series, released the next DVD, Love, on Jan. 21. A total of three DVDs are slated for release in 2014.

Bible software company’s CEO: ‘We have great employees and want to keep them happy’

Logos Bible Software has been honored as one of the Best Medium-Sized Companies to Work For in 2014. The Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Award is based on the voluntary input of current and former employees who provide feedback on their jobs, work environments and leadership via Glassdoor’s anonymous online survey.

What began as an after-hours project to sharpen the programming skills of a couple of Microsoft employees became Logos Bible Software in 1992. This small start-up project to make Bibles searchable would eventually lead an industry with innovations in multilingual electronic publishing, linguistics, semantic search, digital asset management and software development and design across every major consumer platform. Logos has grown to more than 360 employees with one campus near Seattle and another in Phoenix.

In 2011, Pritchett reduced the Logos employee manual to a four-word summary: Honor God. Love others. 

“We have great employees and want to keep them happy,” said Bob Pritchett, Logos Bible Software president and CEO. “Long policy documents don’t make people happy; trusting people and giving them autonomy makes them happy.”

The lack of policy papers tends to create transparency—best illustrated by “The $40,000 Mistake,” when an employee’s technical error cost Logos money, but also provided an opportunity to spotlight Logos’ cultural values and customer focus.

Logos employees also enjoy complete discretion regarding their own sick and vacation time and numerous other perks, including an unlimited supply of free beverages; an in-house bike-repair shop; supplies for kayaking, canoeing and disc golf; and an employee lounge, including free movie-, video- and book-lending.

“Logos attracts great employees because of the freedom and power they get to serve our customers, build great tools and get things done,” said Pritchett. “We love what we are creating for our customers, but we also love why we do it.”

New situation offers longtime book publisher flexibility, ‘collaborative office environment’

Kregel Publications has moved its publishing and warehouse operations from its home of 31 years on Wealthy Street in southeast Grand Rapids, Mich., to a new facility at 2450 Oak Industrial Drive NE in Grand Rapids.

Beginning as a used book business in Grand Rapids in 1909, Kregel Publications entered the field of publishing with its first release in 1949: a reprint of a one-volume Bible commentary. Now in its third generation of family ownership, the publishing house has more than 900 titles in print under various Kregel imprints, as well as 500 titles published by Editorial Portavoz, its Spanish-language division.

Kregel also distributes more than 700 titles for Lion Hudson, a U.K. publisher based in Oxford, England.

“We are extremely excited to take advantage of the efficiencies that this new facility will provide-one-level warehousing, more economical order fulfillment and a collaborative office environment are major assets added by this move,” said Jerry Kregel, executive vice president of publishing and CFO. “We will also continue to provide support services for Kregel Parable Christian Stores and Kregel Ministry Resources from this location. This move is a significant commitment to the future of our company.”

“Having a large, open warehouse and expandable office area is a definite plus,” added Kregel Publisher Dennis Hillman. “We’ve remodeled the existing offices and warehouse with flexibility in mind. As the industry continues to change in the future, we will be well-positioned to shape our building to meet those needs and opportunities.”

Expansion aims to provide authors with ‘even more opportunities to be acquired by traditional publishers’

HarperCollins Christian Publishing announced plans Jan. 6 to expand WestBow Press. The strategic self-publishing alliance between HarperCollins Christian and Author Solutions will begin to service the Zondervan publishing group as it currently does Thomas Nelson.

In 2009, Author Solutions and Thomas Nelson formed an alliance to offer a publishing alternative to new authors. Under the WestBow imprint, the companies were able to provide a self-publishing services division and use it to discover emerging Christian authors.

Manuscripts published through WestBow Press are presented to publishing teams at Thomas Nelson for possible editorial acquisition. Authors such as Marcia Moston, William Sirls, Tony Townsley and Mark St. Germain earned contracts with Thomas Nelson, and in 2012, Annie Downs was selected by Zondervan.

With the success experienced by these authors, HarperCollins Christian Publishing sought to capitalize on WestBow Press’ talent discovery.

“By expanding WestBow Press to support Zondervan in addition to Thomas Nelson, we are able to provide the WestBow authors with even more opportunities to be acquired by traditional publishers,” said Pete Nikolai, director of publishing services and manager of WestBow Press. “We regularly suggest top WestBow Press titles to the acquisition teams at Thomas Nelson and will now do the same for the teams at Zondervan.”

WestBow Press will begin working with both publishing houses immediately and will present manuscripts to all HarperCollins Christian Publishing teams.

Digital Book World, an educational and networking resources platform for digital publishing professionals and their partners, recognized three InterVarsity Press (IVP) e-books for achieving its Quality, Excellence, Design (QED) certification.

Additionally, Digital Book World announced its finalists for the 2014 Digital Book Awards, including The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict by Dale Hanson Bourke in the “E-book Flowable—Adult Non-Fiction” category. The award program celebrates innovation in apps and e-book publishing.

“We are all excited to see The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict named a finalist,” said Sally Craft, director of digital publishing at IVP. “This very timely and helpful book deserves a wide readership.”

The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Andy Crouch’s Playing God and One Bible, Many Versions by Dave Brunn were all recognized for the QED certification in their respective e-book formats, passing a rigorous 13-point quality assurance program. Some of the criteria evaluated include font treatment and consistency, information organization and functional hyperlinks both to outside sources and referencing within. The QED certification recognizes and supports each reader’s ability to access their e-books, which means that each nominated e-book is tested on mobile, e-Ink and tablet screens.

“Our staff worked hard during the past year to create increasingly high-quality e-books—in book design and layout, in editorial, in I.T. and in our digital conversion team,” said Craft. “I’m thrilled that their efforts have been affirmed as our three nominated titles all received QED certification.”

IVP’s digital program has seen a significant rise in e-book sales in the last six months, much of which is due to an increased effort to create e-books in a variety of formats for vendors.

“IVP has been unusually active in making e-books and getting them into the hands of our readers,” said Jon Boyd, digital communications manager. “Almost on a monthly basis, we break our own record for number and value of e-books sold at IVPress.com. But it’s across the board: we’re simply selling more and more e-books everywhere readers can find them. That’s why the team is putting so much care into designing our e-books well. It’s gratifying to see that quality recognized by Digital Book World!”