Suppliers launch two services ahead of proposed joint platform

E-book-selling options are coming to Christian stores this month—a year after the need for a digital sales platform for brick-and-mortar retailers was identified as a top priority for the industry.

Due to launch in mid-July, digital marketing services company Innovative is to make e-book downloads available for Christian stores via a partnership with audiobook supplier eChristian, recently rebranded from Christianaudio.

The e-book delivery system is to be added to Innovative’s Signature Websites currently used by around 300 stores, and will also be made available to retailers who do not use the Signature service, for a charge.

“Providing customers with a complete selection of Christian e-books and downloadable audiobooks is critical to the Christian products industry at this time,” said Larry Haege president of Innovative. “Now is the time we must come together to develop business models successfully embracing e-books and downloadable audiobooks for growth within our industry.”

Meanwhile, at the International Christian Retail Show (ICRS) in Atlanta, July 10-13, Integra Interactive is to unveil details of its e-books solution, which centers on stores introducing shoppers to the digital book world, selling e-readers and linking buyers to an online book club.

“Any introduction to the world of e-books without an e-reader is going to cause the person who enjoys e-books to go away from the CBA channel, not to it,” said Integra’s Chief Innovation Officer David Amster. “By virtue of the market forces, they will gravitate to the most popular readers, which are the Kindle and the Nook.”

Integra plans to be selling e-readers and e-books in-store from November, with online book club purchases starting from February 2012. The service can be run in association with Integra’s MyMedia Burn Bar system, currently in around 400 stores, or independently by stores that do not have the in-store burning system.

Both Innovative and Integra have won support for their programs from the leading 15-20 Christian publishers and anticipate having most of the 12,000-15,000 Christian e-books currently available, for purchase. 

The two businesses were part of the task force set up by CBA at last year’s ICRS to investigate how stores might secure a share of the growing digital book market, but have announced their independent efforts with no announcement yet forthcoming on the industry-wide effort.

CBA said that a task force announcement on whether the industry would support a cooperative e-book delivery system was due by the end of May, but one had not been made by press time.

The Innovative initiative follows the launch of eChristian.com, with the 
formerly audiobook-focused online retailer—with 250,000 registered users—looking to expand into e-books, music and video. The link with Innovative was an effort to help support Christian stores, which provide a valuable ministry, said eChristian Vice President Todd Hoyt.

“Christian stores have see the paradigm completely shift,” he said. “They saw what happened with music, and now their biggest category is going digital.” There needed to be an alternative to iTunes and Amazon for e-book sales, he added.

The eChristian move, in turn, follows last fall’s launch by Christian Book Distributors (CBD) of an e-book store through its Christianbook.com Web site. The Peabody, Mass.-based company also introduced a CBD Reader for computers, smartphones or Apple’s iPad.

Amster said that his company’s initiative will be focused not on “early adopter” e-book readers—most of whom already had preferred sources for buying digital titles and would be be unlikely to switch to a Christian store’s Web site catalog—but the large number of “swayable  adopters” and “curious onlookers” among existing brick-and-mortar customers.

The Integra plan includes an e-book introduction center  for stores where shoppers can learn about digital books and search for available titles and two branded e-readers for purchase—one Wireless-enabled—that will retail for $100-140. 

“Anyone who is willing to invest, bare-bones probably about $250, can be in the e-book-selling business,” said Amster. “There’s a one-time fee and there would be the need to take a computer and designate it as the one to use for e-book purchases.”

Through the Integra program—the name of which is to be unveiled at ICRS—its e-readers will be registered with the store where they are bought, with commission on all digital titles purchased there or through the online book club paid to the store.

ECPA’s Executive Leadership Summit looks at ‘re-engineering’ needed to keep up with market

Only a major overhaul of not just what they do, but also how they go about it will see Christian publishers through the massive shifts occurring in the book world, they have been told.

More than 150 leaders from 50-plus publishers, ministries and service providers at the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association’s 2011 Executive Leadership Summit heard about the rapid growth of e-book sales, how that has implications for their publishing programs and learned of new trends in social media and marketing to digital readers.

“We don’t have time right now, because of the pace of change, to tweak the current business model,” consultant Tami Heim told attendees at the May 2-4 event in Colorado Springs, Colo. “You have to do something radically different. Tweaks give you incremental change and you can’t afford them. There’s a tidal wave of change coming our way.”

A former Borders and Thomas Nelson executive who now advises on branding and marketing, Heim added: “Making incremental change is only going to prolong the death. We are really talking about re-engineering the way you see your business and the way you do business.”

Heim was one of 10 speakers who addressed digital publishing issues, presenting a slew of statistics. Among them:

• total trade books sales were down 24% in the first two months of the year
• total digital book sales grew 169% last year 
• one leading general market publisher’s e-book sales grew from 3% to 20% of total revenues in the last year
• religion titles are one e-bookseller’s fourth-highest sales category.

Almost one third (32%) of summit participants who responded to an instant texting poll at the event agreed with a projection referenced by several speakers that half of their book sales would be digital within three years’ time. That trend required thinking about books differently, they were told.

“People don’t just want to look at words on a page any more,” said Jen Howver, a former marketing manager with NavPress who now runs VOD Communications. “It’s really about creating an experience that is more,” she added. That meant “really figuring out what the story you are trying to tell and what is the best way to tell that story.”

Using different media forms to do that would mean taking a more collaborative approach and developing partnerships with others, said Heim in her presentation. She cited several Christian publishers she said have made successful changes in response to changing consumer attitudes and behaviors.

They included NavPress, she said, who in recent years had refocused on its core commitment to discipleship, including creating a successful online community, and Thomas Nelson, whom she applauded for bringing “positive brand recognition and discipline” to a message, seeing Max Lucado’s sales grow from a total of 32 million in 2005 to 100 million last year.

“Whoever controls the community controls the sales,” she said, urging publishers to put time and effort into connecting with consumers through social and online media. She also cautioned that while digital sales grew last year, that increase accounted for only $141 million, while the lost print sales totaled around $500 million.

Heim’s co-presenter, Maurilio Amorim, president at The A Group where Heim is a partner, said that publishing was “in turmoil.” Margins were being squeezed, while readership was dropping—80% of Americans having not read a book in the previous year—and 70% of advances was never being recouped.

Presenters warned publishers against getting too fixed on any one platform for e-books, noting how technology was still changing and developing. Mark Nelson, strategic partner manager for Google, said that smartphone use was growing much faster than desktop Internet use and would outnumber personal 
computers in two to three years. “Targeting specific devices is limited,” he said. “That’s why we use the cloud.”

Some publishers get too fancy when it comes to developing applications, said Michel Kripalani, president of leading app company Oceanhouse Media, whose titles include those related to books by Dr. Seuss and Zondervan’s “Berenstain Bears” titles.

Children’s works often lend themselves better to development as apps rather than e-books, for their interactivity, he said. But moving into this sphere would require embracing a new pricing model, as apps were typically cheaper than e-books.

Michael Tamblyn—executive vice president of content, sales and merchandising for e-book retailer Kobo, the third-largest and sole digital-only e-books retailer—said that transition was happening “way faster than we thought.” The company referred to data only 90 days past because anything older was irrelevant due to “things changing so quickly,” he said. 

Tamblyn told how his company saw most sales between 10 p.m. and midnight—when people were reading at night, finishing a book and wanting perhaps to buy the next one in the series or another by the author. This showed the unique opportunities for e-books, he said.

In another session, Christian book marketing consultant Rob Eagar detailed how QR (quick reference) codes—enhanced bar codes—can be used to help promote books. Putting the codes on books or in-store displays that could take smartphone users to Web-based content was “an opportunity to have a conversation with consumers at their point of decision,” he said.

The digital revolution is not only changing the format of books, but also could redefine their very nature, ECPA President Mark Kuyper observed in his closing comments at the end of the 
summit.

Technological developments will require the “right-sizing” of books, whose physical format has traditionally dictated they be a certain length to make printing and selling them viable, he suggested. But with many people now looking for content in bite-sized chunks available on smartphones as well as e-book e-readers, “we could actually consider content as short as a sentence or two to be something we could deliver and possibly monetize at some level,” he said.

Even after all that attendees heard—including how editorial processes and pricing will need to change to fit new digital publishing opportunities—they were warned by Kuyper: “We are at the very early stages of this revolution.” Companies would “have to think differently.”

 Pioneering designer honored for ‘continuing legacy’

Before looking to the future in presentations and discussions focused on digital formats, publishers at the ECPA conference paused to recognize a past contribution by the designer credited with changing the face of Christian books and as a result opening up new markets for them.

David Koechel (to the right of ECPA President Mark Kuyper) received the 2011 Jordon Lifetime Achievement Award—named after the later Charles “Kip” Jordon, former publisher of Word Publishing and a respected industry leader—at an eve-of-summit dinner. It was the first time in the award’s 28-year history that it was given to someone from the art and design field.

Attendees heard how Koechel was preparing for a life in the ministry when he was asked to help with some design work while in seminary. His first commissioned book cover was for David Wilkerson’s I Am Not Mad at God, published by Bethany House Publishers in 1967.

Since then, he has designed covers, magazines, logos and ads for every leading Christian publisher and many ministries. A copy of his first book cover along with others from his career—including titles such as The Kingdom of the Cults by Walter Martin; The Inspirational Bible, Max Lucado, general editor; and The Christmas Cross, also by Lucado—were on display at the ceremony.

The award noted Koechel’s “exceptional contribution to Christian publishing and his ... continuing legacy to impact lives for Christ through his marvelous creative gift of graphic design.”

 Response: Publishers debate rate of change 

Publishers at the conference were agreed that significant change is coming to their business, but less certain about its speed and  consequences.

For Tyndale House Publishers President and CEO Mark Taylor, the digital focus was “very helpful,” but “like drinking from a fire hydrant.” It reinforced his senses that electronic publishing will continue to grow in size and importance, “and we need to adapt our strategies to ride the wave and not be swamped by it.”

Taylor said he was not among the  attendees who predicted e-book sales would account for half of all sales within years, “but neither did I think our e-book sales this past year would be as high as 7%, which they were,” growing from 1.5% the previous year.

As part of its digital shift, Tyndale was “working fast to put backlist titles into e-book formats,” Taylor said, and had just accepted several titles for publication in e-book format only.

Bob Fryling, publisher at InterVarsity Press (IVP), was “stimulated, but at times overwhelmed, by the challenge of how to effectively publish significant Christian books in an increasingly digital world.” Different types of books, like fiction, lend themselves to digital publishing more than others, “like the kind of thoughtful nonfiction books published by IVP.

“Many of our books are best read slowly and carefully, which does not always fit the e-book experience.” Having said that, e-book sales for the company had doubled in the last year, he added, and IVP had established a distinct digital publishing group for the format.

“I was challenged to sort out how our books and e-books are being most effective in really helping people be conformed to the image of Christ and in serving His kingdom in the world,” Fryling added of the summit. “Technology can both help and hinder such goals, and I wrestled throughout the conference with how to use technology without being used by technology.”

David C. Cook’s Senior Vice President and Publisher Dan Rich thought the conference “timely for everyone in Christian publishing.” He also saw a slower growth in the Christian market. The 50% projection may be accurate for trade hardcover and paperback fiction, driven by the demand from fiction readers, he said. 

“However, I believe a larger percent of Christian book buyers are more interested in owning books, for their library, for reference, for personal and group study and to pass on to others,” Rich added. “Thus, I believe we will lag behind the general market a bit with 15% to 25% of our book sales coming from digital editions in three to four years.”

At Cook, e-book sales had grown from nothing three years ago to “a quantifiable amount today, depending on the title and type of book,” totaling just under 5% of all revenues. The digital transition was a high priority, Rich said, with new processes and procedures from contracts to production and pricing.

 Dennis Hillman, publisher at Kregel Publications, found the focus of the event “not only timely but crucial for the future of our industry” and was reminded that “planning has to have a very short window, and it has to be adaptive and nimble.”

Hillman was not sure if e-book sales would reach 50% in the Christian market, he told Christian Retailing, “although there has been some research that indicates older readers are more likely to use dedicate e-readers than younger people, who are more likely to use mobile devices. 

“The demographic should play well for Christian fiction publishers,” he said. Kregel had launched its own digital site this year and from mid-year, on all releases will be in print and digital formats. Digital publishing affected all areas of business, requiring “a new learning curve from authors, editors and marketers,” he said.

The conference offered a helpful benchmark for measuring progress, said Dwight Baker, president of Baker Publishing Group. 

The company’s e-book sales had grown to 8.5% last year and doubled in the first six months of this year, he said, though print sales had increased as well. Baker’s future e-book emphasis was going to driven by consumer behavior, which “informs everything for us,” he said.

 Response: Retailers see opportunities in shift

Retail representatives at the conference left optimistic, despite the emphasis on how e-books are threatening traditional print sales.

“I go away quite encouraged,” said Steve Potratz, president of the Parable Group and a longtime independent retailer. He cited the comment by consultant Tami Heim that “whoever controls the community controls sales.”

“That’s what a retailer does,” said Potratz. “That’s who a retailer is. At Parable, this especially has been our strategy in working with our stores, to help them know their customers. This is right where we live and so I am very excited about the opportunity that we retailers have going forward.”

The publishing landscape was changing, Potratz added, “but there are opportunities in all change.”

Glenn Bailey, president of STL Distribution North America, was also cautiously upbeat, despite hearing “about more and more ways that publishers are learning to get written content to their markets without the assistance of the traditional Christian supply chain.”

“There will always be an opportunity to move physical products, but the prediction that half of all content will be distributed electronically by 2016 is really important to those of us who have based our ministry and made our living in the physical supply chain for Christian content,” Bailey told Christian Retailing. “Rather than burying our heads in the sand, we have to adapt to projected trends and find ways to provide value to consumers that can’t be provided by the electronic channel.

“I think there are a number of ways retailers and wholesalers can work together to do that,” he added. “No computer program knows our customers like we do. There are some products that will always be nondigital that retailers will always provide. At STL, our number-one-selling product is communion cups. Nothing I have heard here will replace the current supply chain for gifts, church supplies and other non-book products.”

CBA Executive Director Curtis Riskey was concerned that the electronic and digital focus of the event did not have “a little more balance,” taking into account other channels. Publishers who did not do that and allowed “this information to drive future directions could be making a big mistake.”

Riskey said that there were lessons to be learned from how the music industry had fared with the advent of digital. “I realize that there are differences, but there are also a lot of similarities. What we as an industry need to think about is how do we protect outlets in this transition? When the music industry lost outlets, their business model collapsed.”

CBA Business Development Manager Eric Grimm, said that a recent report had found that while digital music sales had increased 940% in the last four years, total music sales had shrunk by 35%. “The reason is that the specialist retailers closed because of how they handled the business model.”

The conference underscored that retailers “need to do what they do well,” said Riskey. “They need to be the place where community happens.

 They need to build relationships both with their customers and the churches they serve. If they do things well, they will be successful even in a technological shift.”

Spring Arbor Director of Sales Chris Smith said that while e-books were reducing traditional print runs, “print and digital are complementary formats and will co-exist for a long time to come, so we are not discouraged at all.” Parent company Ingram Content Group’s new print-on-demand and digital distribution services were “in response to anticipating these market shifts.”

In addition, Spring Arbor was responding to retailers’ requests for “more items that don’t have a digital counterpart as they look for a hedge against the expected growth of e-books,” Smith said. “In response, we’ve more than doubled the number of gift and game items we stock and we’ll continue to add more items.”

YouVersion teams up with makers of digital Bible, ‘Glo,’ to help ‘people learn and grow’

Online Bible portal YouVersion has teamed up with the makers of Glo—voted best in the Bible category in the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association’s annual Christian Book Awards last year—to encourage Bible use through technology via mobile, desktop and tablet devices.

Created by Immersion Digital in 2009 and distributed by Zondervan, Glo comes with an interactive database of historic and contemporary information, images, animation, video, maps and 360-degree virtual tours. 

Launched at the Q Gathering in Portland, Ore., in April, the YouVersion-Immersion Digital partnership will promote Bible engagement. “By merging the timeless wisdom of God’s Word with devices people use every day, we’ve seen firsthand how technology can boost scripture engagement,” said Bobby Gruenewald, pastor and innovation leader at LifeChurch.tv—creator of YouVersion. “Bringing YouVersion into the Glo environment offers individuals powerful tools to interact with the Bible, and we’re excited to see how they help people learn and grow.”

The Bible app by YouVersion is the most downloaded Bible application on mobile devices, while Glo focuses on desktops and tablet devices that best showcase zoom capabilities and high-resolution media.

Through the partnership, YouVersion features will be made available for the first time inside a desktop application on Macintosh and personal computers. The collaboration will enable Glo users to access YouVersion notes, add public and private notes, view community notes and synchronize bookmarks for Macintosh and personal computers, as well as iPads.

Both YouVersion and Glo are available as free downloads. Glo can be downloaded for the iPad from the app store, and for 
Macintosh and computer users. YouVersion is available on its own Web site, and iTunes, Android and Blackberry app stores. 

After a long battle with brain cancer, longtime Christian retailer Paul Holsopple died May 20. Holsopple—who had owned and operated the Anchor Room Christian bookstore in Fort Wayne, Ind., with his wife, Pauline,
since 1979—was 68. Holsopple was diagnosed in February 2009 with an advanced brain tumor. The Holsopples started their business in 1969 in their basement. Slumping sales led the store to close after 40 years, becoming an exclusively online business.   ?

David C. Cook will release gift books next spring by Man vs. Wild star and British adventurer Edward “Bear” Grylls and his wife, Shara. To My Sons: Lessons for the Wild Adventure Called Life by Bear Grylls is scheduled for release before Father’s Day 2012 and Never Stop Holding Hands and Other Marriage Survival Tips by Shara Grylls will hit stores in time for Valentine’s Day 2012. Bear is best known for his hit Discovery Channel show, Man vs. Wild, and has served as a spokesman for the Alpha course, a Christian discipleship program developed at Holy Trinity Brompton church in London.   

?Filming has started on Ordinary People, a follow-up to Faith Like Potatoes, the story of African evangelist Angus Buchan. Not a sequel to Faith Like Potatoes, Ordinary People will tell the stories of men whose lives were changed after they attended one of Buchan’s Mighty Men conferences. The film will be in theaters by Easter 2012.   ?

Industry veteran Bob Steele has joined Integra Interactive as director of technology. Steele has 35 years of experience in Christian retail, including managing a bookstore and serving as vice president of retail systems at Spring Arbor Distributors and founder of the Christian retail channel’s first full-service online store. Steele has served clients through Trinity & Associates, the consulting company he founded in 1986. 

Books from Thomas Nelson and Howard Books to provide ‘a Christian voice’ to the marketplace

Christian publishers are rolling out several 9/11-themed titles in time for the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. They say the new books—focusing on the historic tragedy—will provide “a Christian voice” in a time of national remembrance. 

To be released in August by Thomas Nelson, Thunder Dog by Michael Hingson will “offer readers a fresh and meaningful way to look back at the events of 9/11 and reflect on the power of trust and courage,” said Brian Hampton, Nelson’s senior vice president and publisher.

 The book tells the story of how Hingson—a blind man who worked in one of the twin towers—and Rozelle, his guide dog, made it down 78 floors before the tower collapsed and led others to safety. 

“The importance of any books tied to 9/11 is less tied to projected sales than it is to the need to have a Christian voice represented in the marketplace,” Matt Baugher, vice president and publisher at Nelson, told Christian Retailing. “The world needs to hear from those who offer real hope and perspective.”

Meanwhile, also in August, Howard Books is releasing Angel in the Rubble by Genelle Guzman-McMillan, the last survivor to be found at Ground Zero—27 hours after the twin towers collapse.

Though she was not a believer, while trapped she remembered a relative in Trinidad who had prayed for healing and seen an answer, so she prayed, too. A man who said his name was Paul held  Guzman-McMillan’s hand through a gap in the rubble. 

“When she was eventually pulled free by the rescue workers, she asked for Paul, and they told her that there was no one there (by that name),” said Jonathan Merkh, Howard Books vice president and publisher. “She is convinced it was an angel that saved her. As a result, she came to realize that God had saved her for a reason.” 

Escaping with only minor injuries, Guzman-McMillan then committed herself to Christ, became a member of Brooklyn Tabernacle in Brooklyn, N.Y., and married her longtime boyfriend.

Merkh said that he expected strong media interest in the story, which has so far been little told. Angel in the Rubble will have an initial print run between 75,000 and 100,000 copies.

“There was almost 9/11 fatigue after the first books about the events came out,” he said. “It was a tragedy, and I think that a lot of people were tired of hearing about the sad stuff and wanted to move on, but this is a beautiful story in itself and the backdrop just happens to be the setting of 9/11. We think it’s an incredible story of faith and are launching it at a time that makes sense. People are fascinated by accounts of the angelic world.”

The original title of the account, The Last Survivor, was changed to extend the life of the book after the 9/11 anniversary, Merkh added. 

In September, Howard is also publishing Letters from War—a novel by Mark Schultz with Travis Thrasher—based on the singer-songwriter’s hit song, which became part of the U.S. military’s Bring Them Home campaign and promotion after 9/11.

 Zondervan is re-releasing One Tuesday Morning and Beyond Tuesday Morning—the first two titles in Karen Kingsbury’s best-selling “September 11” trilogy series—as one book.

To be released in August, One Tuesday Morning/Beyond Tuesday Morning Compilation Limited Edition will have a redesigned cover featuring the twin towers and a firefighter “to honor those who lost their lives,” Don Gates, vice president of marketing for trade books at Zondervan, told Christian Retailing. 

The third book in the series, Every Now and Then—which reached the New York Times Paperback Trade Fiction list in 2008—will also be re-released in August with the new title Remember Tuesday Morning. 

The series’ centers on policeman Alex Brady, who is still struggling with losing his father from the terrorist attack on the twin towers in New York City, fighting crime during wildfires in the Los Angeles suburbs.

“The 9/11 series sold very well with nearly a million books in print,” Gates said. “We expect Karen’s fans to embrace the new editions as a way to pay tribute to those who have fallen and share this incredible story with their friends and family.

“It’s very important to help people as they continue to process the events of 9/11,” Gates added. “We serve a God who cares and wants to comfort in times of need.”

Meanwhile, Charisma House is releasing the e-book version of The Harbinger on Sept. 11, with the paperback edition to follow Jan. 3, 2012. The book was written by Jonathan Cahn, president of Hope of the World ministries and senior pastor and Messianic rabbi of the Jerusalem Center/Beth Israel in Wayne, N.J. Set in New York City, the book links an Old Testament passage to the 9/11 attacks.

“It’s a prophetic message, an alarm, a wake-up call concerning America, the world and the future,” said Woodley Auguste, director of marketing and publicity for Charisma House. “An ancient mystery—two and a half thousand years old bearing a series of prophetic signs, harbingers, once given to an ancient nation on the verge of destruction—now reappears in modern times.”

This is the first time a CBA publisher has released a title in a digital format first, then as a traditional book, he added. “Also, in light of the recent death of Osama Bin Laden, we felt a sense of urgency to release The Harbinger to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.”

Elsewhere, Tyndale House Publishers does not plan to release new products or backlist books tied to the 9/11 anniversary. Released in 2002, Let’s Roll! by Lisa Beamer with Ken Abraham is “a strong backlist title,” with more than a million copies in print, according to Mavis Sanders, corporate publicist for Tyndale. Another 9/11-themed title, 2004’s Refined by Fire by Brian and Mel Birdwell, has more than 50,000 copies in print.

“We hope there will be ongoing and/or renewed interest in each of these historical accounts,” Sanders told Christian Retailing. 

Nelson also has no plans to publish new editions of previously released 9/11-focused titles, including Attack on America by John Hagee and First Strike: TWA Flight 800 and the Attack on America by Jack Cashill and James Sanders.

 “The tragedy of 9/11 has found its way into countless books over the last 10 years,” Baugher said. “If an increase (in sales) is experienced, I believe it will be modest, and will be tied to the spiritual analysis that all of us go through when contemplating such a tragedy.”

Francis Chan among authors with books challenging Rob Bell’s view of heaven

Christian publishers are releasing several books in response to Rob Bell’s controversial Love Wins (HarperOne), which critics say promotes universalism—the belief that all humans end up in heaven, and hell is not a physical place.

Most prominent is David C. Cook, rushing out former pastor and best-selling author Francis Chan’s third book. Scheduled for release July 5, Erasing Hell: What God Said About Eternity and the Things We Make Up  “promises to be both controversial and confessional, directly addressing a variety of views on hell, the Bible and God,” Cook said.

Co-written with Bible college professor Preston Sprinkle, the book aims to offer a comprehensive and thorough study on God’s character, Chan said. Erasing Hell “is not a book that tells you ‘here’s what you ought to believe,’ ” Chan said in a video trailer. “It’s a book that helps you think through all the evidence out there—all of what Scripture teaches—and come to your own conclusions. … We can’t afford to be wrong about this issue.” 

Don Pape, publisher of trade books and study resources for Cook, told Christian Retailing that Chan approached the publishing house about the project in April. Chan “has an important message and is concerned, as always, with the truth,” he said. “This topic could easily be maligned or misinterpreted.”

Retailing for $14.99, Erasing Hell will be simultaneously released by Oasis Audio on audiobook, with the four-CD set retailing for $19.99. Chan’s first book, Crazy Love, has sold more than a million copies since it was released by Cook in May 2008. Chan’s second book with Cook—Forgotten God—has been a fixture on the Christian market best-seller charts since it was published in 2009. 

Last month, Multnomah Books published the e-book Hell, Rob Bell and What Happens When People Die by Bobby Conway, lead pastor of Life Fellowship Church in Charlotte, N.C., and the founder and host of the online program One Minute Apologist. In the e-book, Conway offers “a succinct, biblical and orthodox evangelical response to Love Wins.”

Meanwhile, scheduled for release this month by Tyndale House Publishers during the International Christian Retail Show in Atlanta, God Wins: Heaven, Hell, and Why the Good News Is Better Than Love Wins by Christianity Today Senior Managing Editor Mark Galli is “a response to the provocative questions raised” by Love Wins.

“There is so much confusion swirling around the book,” said Jon Farrar, acquisitions director at Tyndale House. “It will be refreshing to have a clear and reasonable analysis of Love Wins.”

Galli added: “The main problem with Love Wins is that the good news is even better—deeper, richer, more complex—than it lets on. I champion the historic Christian view on these matters, and Bell offers a decidedly minority view. That means that the burden of proof rests on his shoulders. The fact that so many resonate with Bell’s concerns about these themes means we need to wrestle with them afresh.”

David C. Cook is also releasing on Aug. 1 Hell Is Real (But I Hate to Admit It)  by Brian Jones, senior pastor at Christ’s Church of the Valley in a Philadelphia suburb. The book will “confront, frustrate and ultimately change the mindset of Christians who have grown content not sharing the saving message of Christ with their spiritually lost friends.” 

Ginia Hairston Croker, senior director of marketing, trade books and multimedia for David C. Cook, told Christian Retailing that Hell Is Real was acquired last summer “before we even knew about Love Wins.”

“Even though this book was not written as a response to Love Wins, the timing of the release is ideal because this topic has become the ‘issue of the day,’ ” she said. 

In April, Edenridge Press published Christ Alone: An Evangelical Response to Rob Bell’s Love Wins by seminary professor Michael E. Wittmer. 

David Wilkerson ‘changed lives all over the world’ through his books, publishing associates say

Christian publishers and publishing leaders have paid tribute to David Wilkerson—pastor and author of the ground-breaking1963 best-seller The Cross and the Switchblade (Chosen Books)—who died in a car crash in East Texas on April 27. 

Wilkerson, 79, was founder and senior pastor of Times Square Church in New York City. He authored more than 30 books—including I’m Not Mad at God (Bethany House), Have You Felt Like Giving Up Lately?, Victory Over Sin and Self and The Vision (all Revell), and Knowing God by Name and Hungry for More of Jesus (both Chosen).

Wilkerson is best remembered for The Cross and the Switchblade, which helped launch the charismatic-publishing market. Since its original publication, the book has sold more than 15 million copies in 30 languages, introduced readers to the struggles of inner-city youth recruited by gangs and chronicled the origins of the Teen Challenge ministry. 

Released by Chosen in a 45th anniversary edition in 2008, The Cross and the Switchblade was adapted into a 1970 movie starring Pat Boone as Wilkerson and Erik Estrada as gang member Nicky Cruz. Christianity Today ranked the book as No. 32 on its 2006 list of “Top 50 Books That Have Shaped Evangelicals.”

Jane Campbell, longtime editorial director of Chosen Books, said that Wilkerson’s “ministry and books changed lives all over the world.” The Cross and the Switchblade “broke ground in at least three ways,” she told Christian Retailing. “First, as a beautifully crafted first-person narrative, it opened the way for thematic memoir in the Christian book market. Second, it demonstrated the necessity of the power of the Holy Spirit in any ministry or personal work. And third, the book reached beyond the church to a large general market readership. 

“It was a true Christian classic,” Campbell added. “Wilkerson’s ongoing emphasis on the holiness of God and the need for repentance from sin remains a benchmark for the entire industry.”

Brett Benson, publicity director for Bethany House/Chosen Books, said that Baker Publishing Group had seen “a little bump in sales” on Wilkerson’s books following his death. Revell plans to re-release Have You Felt Like Giving Up Lately? in February 2012.

Whitaker House published four of Wilkerson’s prophetic books—Set the Trumpet to Thy Mouth, America’s Last Call, God’s Plan to Protect His People in the Coming Depression and The New Covenant Unveiled—all of which are out of print.

Wilkerson’s impact on the publishing world “would be profound if we only considered The Cross and The Switchblade,” Whitaker House Vice President Bob Whitaker Jr. told Christian Retailing. “With this one book, he reached countless souls for Christ and spawned a publishing genre that continues to this day. … He whetted public appetite for stories of redemption, paving the way for new books, music and films that would focus on the stories of real people.”

Steve Strang, founder of Charisma Media, publisher of Charisma and Christian Retailing magazines, said that Wilkerson was “one of the great Christian leaders of our generation, and his passing is a loss to the global church.” He was “the model of integrity, and he finished strong,” he added. “His influence was tremendous.”

Founders of Chosen Books, John and Elizabeth Sherrill co-authored the 1963 The Cross and the Switchblade. Elizabeth Sherrill—who, with her husband, is now in her 80s and still writing—told Christian Retailing that Wilkerson was “a very gentle and generous man.”

“He never took on the kind of persona business that so many Christian leaders do,” she said. “He was a humble person and remained that all his life. “

Wilkerson was the founder of Teen Challenge, a Christian recovery program that teaches biblical principles to help people struggling with addictions. The nonprofit has 233 locations in the United States and 1,181 centers worldwide, helping as many as 25,000 people.

Jackie Johnson—who along with her mother opened Sonshine House Christian Bookstore in Newark, Del., in 1986 and sold the store to Family Christian Stores in 1999—said that The Cross and the Switchblade and Wilkerson’s ministry “helped shape the course of my life.”

In the late 1970s after reading the book, Johnson was compelled to attend Wilkerson’s World Challenge Institute of Christian Training (now called World Challenge Ministries)—a school that trained people to work with young men and women with drug and alcohol addictions.

“I can honestly say as I look back over the last 30 years that my love for youth and Christian books was shaped by God and the amazing book He led me to read,” said Johnson, who owned and worked in a Christian bookstore for 17 years, and now volunteers for her church’s youth ministry and church bookstore.

Publishers seek to become ‘shepherds’ for surprise million-plus sellers

The unexpected success of Todd Burpo’s runaway hit, Heaven is for Real (Thomas Nelson), has turned the spotlight on the power of word-of-mouth support in driving sales.

With almost 3.4 million copies in print since its release last November, the Nebraska pastor’s account of his young son Colton’s near-death experience of heaven is to be made into a movie and a children’s book.

And as the family’s story continues to draw widespread mainstream media attention, Christian publishers have reflected on the responsibility that comes with a surprise winner like Heaven is for Real—believed to be one of the fastest modest-release titles to reach a million sales.

”You don’t take credit for sales of a book like this,” one executive told Christian Retailing in a roundtable discussion on the phenomenon of surprise big sellers. “The best thing I can do is just help shepherd it along the way and try to hang on.” 

Among those who have seen the impact of Heaven is for Real  is Lisa Wilcox, owner of New Life Christian Bookstore in rural McCook, Neb., who has sold almost 3,000 copies—with some customers buying case lots to give away to people.

“What has been so fabulous is to see people coming in to say someone gave them this book because they were going through a struggle and it helped them,” she said.

The first major Christian publishing hit in recent times, the book has mirrored something of the trajectory of The Shack, for which sales started to pick up through personal recommendations after its modest release in 2007.

With an initial print run of 40,000 copies, Heaven is for Real has gone back to press 31 times in six months, and is Nelson’s current fastest-selling paperback to a million copies. In April, it received a Platinum award from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association for 1 million sales. Among other titles recognized at the same time for reaching that milestone was one dating back to 1978.

Thomas Nelson Nonfiction Marketing Director Emily Sweeney said that the book’s success has been fueled by word of mouth. “This book strikes a chord on many different levels—people who have dealt with loss or miscarriages and also those looking for hope,” she said. “Once people have made a connection with the book, they know of others that can use it too.”

Sales have been as strong in general market chains like Barnes & Noble as in Christian bookstores, said Matt Baugher, vice president and publisher of Nelson. There have also been 400,000 e-book downloads. Translated into 27 languages, Heaven is for Real has spent 24 weeks on the New York Times Paperback Nonfiction best-seller list, including 17 consecutive weeks ranked at No. 1.

Joel Kneedler, a literary agent at Alive Communications, said that the agency negotiated the book’s film rights with Sony Pictures and producer Joe Roth in May. “A number of film production companies were vying for this project, but Joe and his team won the day,” said Kneedler, noting that a screenwriter and cast have not been chosen, and no date has yet been set for the movie’s release. 

The movie will be co-produced by T.D. Jakes—pastor at The Potter’s House in Dallas, best-selling author and co-producer of the new movie Jumping the Broom. Vice president of production for Columbia Pictures, a division of Sony, DeVon Franklin—author of Produced by Faith: Enjoy Real Success Without Losing Your True Self (Howard Books)—will work with Jakes on Heaven is for Real. 

 Meanwhile, Nelson is releasing Heaven is for Real For Kids on Nov. 8. Retailing for $14.99, the illustrated children’s version of the surprise best-seller will include a Q&A for children and a prayer page. The edition will be unique “in that the story is told from a child to a child,” said Laura Minchew, Thomas Nelson’s children’s book publisher. “Colton’s unique perspective into what questions, fears and interests children have make this book one kids will truly relate to.”  

The book has been a boost to Wilcox’s Nebraska store in her first year running the business, having taken it over from the previous owners. She hosted the Burpos for a book signing—the first for both retailer and author—in October, just ahead of the release, and invited them back in March to help celebrate her first anniversary at the store.

Wilcox rented the town’s theater, where around 700 people turned out. “We wanted somewhere that people who may not go to church would feel comfortable,” she said. “Sixteen or 18 people gave their lives to Christ, and we had a lot of prayer.”

Jim Powell to leave international group he helped establish

A major change in leadership in the global Christian products market will take place at the International Christian Retail Show (ICRS) this month, when Jim Powell steps down as president of Christian Trade Association International (CTAI).

Taking the helm of the group linking suppliers and retailers around the world is Kim Pettit, currently chief operating officer, who has been with the organization since 2009.

The former international director for CBA who was a driving force in establishing CTAI when the U.S.-based retailers association shed its overseas chapters in 2005, Powell plans to serve as a mission-station guest house manager in New Guinea with his wife, Peggy.

“It’s time,” he said of his departure. “I am 67 and sense a strong desire to serve the kingdom in a new way.” In addition, Pettit was well-positioned with “new initiatives and energy” to help CTAI develop and support the growing international market for Christian resources, Powell told Christian Retailing.

Having previously served as president of the International Bible Society, Powell joined CBA as international director in 1994. With the founding of CTAI, he hosted an annual international celebration lunch and the International Marketsquare section at the exhibit floor of CBA’s summer show, providing a meeting point for those doing international business. 

In 2008, CTAI debuted Marketsquare International, an annual January show providing a one-stop North American buying opportunity for overseas visitors in the absence of CBA’s canceled winter show.

CTAI currently has 18 member nations and produces an international business directory that lists hundreds of suppliers and retailers in around 50 countries.

“I’m excited about the challenge in the sense that I have a real passion for seeing God’s Word touch lives,” said Pettit, 47, who was editor of David C. Cook’s Interlit magazine for Christian publishers for 10 years before joining CTAI. “I know that, for me, books were very significant in my life; they were how I was discipled in lots of ways.”

Having lived and traveled overseas while growing up with a banker father, Pettit said that the addition of some 1,500 bookstores in Brazil to the much-expanded next CTAI directory reflected the continued growth of the global market despite economic challenges.

CTAI would continue to focus on concerns of the international market, she said, such as distribution and relevant content. “So much of the focus we have here in the U.S. and the West has been on the change with e-books because of technology, but that is not so much the issue in other countries,” she said.

Pettit paid tribute to Powell’s role in establishing CTAI. “He is the person who has made it happen,” she said. “His vision and his passion is responsible for making sure that industry shows that we can learn from one another, and that together we can work and grow more effectively.”

Intending to continue to be involved with CTAI’s World Ministries nonprofit arm, Powell said that he believed that CTAI was “at the heart of what God is doing worldwide ... raising up capable, committed passionate people who are catching the vision of a world turning to Him.”

The overseas market was not one, but many, he added, with each country having unique features. There were “excellent opportunities” and most suppliers had realized that the commercial market was “the critical way to see distribution sustain and grow.” However, some Third World areas would still need free distribution for some years to come.

“Unfortunately, for the sake of the commercial markets in the Global South, many still treat them as dumping grounds for used or inappropriate product, and spoil the market for nationals and others who better understand more appropriate product,” he said.

Crowded calendar blamed for attendance shortfall; revised NIV makes its national debut

While attendance has dropped, respect has grown for the International Christian Resources Exhibition (ICRE), with first-time and established exhibitors saying they will be back.

Held at Sandown Park in Surrey, the May 10-13 event had 400 exhibitors, but drew just over 10,000 visitors—short of the organizers’ 13,000 target.

They believed the current economic downturn is a contributing factor. “We have to be aware of the change in the church and change in finances,” said Steve Briars, event and program director. “We probably have to think a little bit outside the box.”

People were waiting longer to book for these show, which had also been hindered by a late Easter, and several public holidays in rapid succession, Briars told Christian Retailing. “There’s no other place where you can meet such a wide and diverse cross-section of church decision-makers,” he said.

 That was echoed by some exhibitors. “People come here with a certain mission,” said Lucy Mhondera, marketing manager of Kingsway, an event sponsor. “We’ve had some great conversations with people. People are just looking for great resources for their church.” She noted a general consensus that visitors felt this year’s event was “a little bit quieter.”

ICRE’s Word & Worship sessions—where popular worship leaders teamed up with best-selling authors—meant Kingsway saw fresh interest in existing resources such as Roy Godwin’s story of spiritual renewal, The Grace Outpouring, published in 2008.

Steve and Bekah Legg launched women’s magazine Liberti, gaining 100 subscribers as a result. Editor of the men’s magazine Sorted, Steve Legg described ICRE as “the ultimate place for launching” the publication. Fellow exhibitors told him that this year’s event was quieter, but his experience was different. “For us, it’s been better than last year,and we’re certainly booking in for next year—with a bigger stand,” Legg said.

Newcomer Harvest India UK was also delighted. “It’s been great to make contact with people which we wouldn’t have been able to do from our own base,” said trustee Tracey Ansell. The organization’s aim was to tell church leaders about its humanitarian and evangelistic work in India. The stand at CRE produced more than 50 contacts. “We’ve found the quality of people coming here to be very good,” Ansell added.

 Leading publisher Hodder Faith also had a positive show. The company launched the revised and updated New International Version, copies of which had arrived at its London offices the week before.

 “We’ve had a lot of interest,” Director of Publishing Ian Metcalfe said of the Bibles. Hodder also launched touch-screen, iPad-friendly Scripture software Glo Premium. “No one has seen anything like it before,” said Metcalfe. 

Hundreds flocked to hear authors like Philip Yancey and Jeff Lucas in the seminar program. Also creating a buzz at the event was More Than Gold, a campaign set up to help churches prepare for the 2012 London Olympics. The initiative’s president, Lord Brian Mahwhinney, officially opened CRE.