Thirty-year veteran Paul Santhouse promoted to key position

Paul Santhouse, a 30-year veteran in the publishing industry, was promoted in May to the position of vice president of publishing at Chicago-based Moody Publishers.

“Paul has been uniquely gifted and prepared by God to lead Moody Publishers at this time,” said Greg Thornton, senior vice president of media, who oversees Moody Publishers and Moody Radio. “With great respect for the legacy and ministry of this publishing program, Paul has a compelling vision for the future and the staff to make it happen.”

During his time at Moody, Santhouse has served on the marketing team, as an acquisition editor and director of acquisitions. In 2012, he began serving as publisher.

"I have always appreciated Moody’s commitment to the Word and to the work of the church around the world," Santhouse said. “Moody Publishers has enjoyed an enduring season of growth and innovation under Greg Thornton’s wise leadership, and I look forward to supporting the ongoing work of our team as we help readers around the world know, love and serve Jesus Christ.” —Johnson

Publisher names new editorial director and associate publisher

David C Cook has appointed industry veteran Ingrid Beck as the editorial director of trade books and hired longtime publishing professional Tim Peterson as associate publisher of trade books.

Beck started with David C Cook as an assistant editor before moving into the position of developmental editor, working primarily with the Honor Books line. Her role later expanded to managing editor and author relations manager for the trade books team. Prior to her appointment as editorial director, Beck held the position of senior managing editor. Her new position also broadens her role into the acquisition and development of new titles.

“Ingrid has long brought a creative and consistent leadership presence to our team,” said Alex Field, publisher of trade books & media for David C Cook. “Her reputation among her peers and within the industry is widely recognized, and this promotion is well-deserved.”

Before joining David C Cook, Ingrid worked with River Oak Publishing—which was later purchased by David C Cook—and then with Bordon Books as managing editor.

“It is a great joy and privilege to collaborate with our authors and the Cook team to birth great books that transform lives,” Beck said about her promotion.
Peterson comes to David C Cook from Baker Publishing Group where he worked for the Bethany House imprint as an acquisition editor. Prior to that, Peterson was a marketing director for Baker Publishing Group for nine years, and he also spent several years as a sales manager with Zondervan.

“David C Cook has a long legacy of inspiring and instructing the body of Christ,” Peterson said about the move. “I’m pleased to join this team which has faithfully reinvented that legacy during one of the most challenging and exciting eras in publishing history.”

Field sees Peterson as “a fantastic addition to the growing David C Cook trade books team,” he said. “We’re excited for the future, especially with Tim helping us to strategically build a forward-looking publishing program.” —Burns

Executive held role at Inspirio and Family Christian Stores

Lighthouse Christian Products Co. announced the hire of Val Buick as executive vice president and CEO.

“We are very excited that Val decided to join our team,” said George Nizynski, president and co-owner of the company with his wife, Pat. “We cannot think of anyone more highly regarded in the Christian gift industry. We have known Val for approximately 18 years. She was our first gift buyer at Family Christian Stores. Val will focus on helping Lighthouse expand its product offering into new and additional categories.”

Buick said she was “thrilled” to be a part of the company.

“I look forward to working closely with the wonderful and talented people to grow Lighthouse into the future,” she added.

Buick comes to Lighthouse from RBC Ministries where she was director of marketing. Prior to RBC, she was senior vice president at Inspirio, the gift group at Zondervan. —Johnson

Children's author-educator finds pluses and minuses in kids’ products in the last 20 years of Christian publishing

 Twenty years ago, CBA-released trade books had a “Sunday school look.” Today, most of our products are visually competitive with general market releases.

 As inventory in brick-and-mortar stores shifted to include more gifts, retailers relocated their children’s department so it was not adjacent to breakables. As a result, the children’s department is often buried at the back of the store.

 When adult authors down-aged into the children’s space, picture books became even more text heavy. In recent years, there has been a significant improvement, as word counts continue to drop.

 Publishers have become excellent trend-spotters. Twenty years ago, a theme would appear in Christian retail at least two years after launching in the general market. Today, products in Christian stores reflect what’s trending in every aspect of publishing and production.

  This fall, VeggieTales in the House (DreamWorks Animation) is slated to become the latest chapter in the Big Idea success story. In previous years, some retailers credited their survival to Veggie releases. However, some children’s video series have missed an opportunity to grow due to the increasing dominance of licensed Veggie products.

 New Day Christian Distributors has pursued aggressively prime general-market toy companies Melissa & Doug, Playmobil and Fisher-Price. As a result, CBA retailers can offer products, some of which have generic Christian content, from these quality brands. In addition, the bar for toy excellence in our channel has been raised in the past four years.
 The homeschool section in Christian stores has paralleled the growth of this educational market.

 Because Christian market publishers typically have smaller print runs, our publishers continue to limit the number of novelty elements in books because of high production costs.

 Two product categories—children’s Bibles and Bible storybooks—have been criticized as being over-published. However, retailers say this is a growing sales category. As our publishers offer such incredible variety, customers can find products to meet their needs.

 Kerusso did retailers a great service with the introduction of their small footprint children’s T-shirt merchandiser. Many of the “holy hardware” companies have followed their example with display units that attractively (and neatly!) display product in a small space.

 The tween section is still looking for a home at bricks and mortar. Too often, books for 8-to 12-year-olds are still shelved dangerously near books for younger children.

 After church-based stores were accepted and acknowledged as legitimate, children’s products got a boost from this new sales channel, thanks to the consistent presence of children and family ministry at the congregational level.

 In a nod to the experienced-based shopping experience demanded by today’s consumers, most stores now offer at least a table/chairs, TV and play space for children.

See p. 22 to learn more about attending Mary Manz Simon’s children’s product workshop, celebrating 20 years at the International Christian Retail Show this year.

Baker Publishing Group refocuses on original works as partnership ends

Baker Publishing Group has been the North American distributor for Cambridge University Press’ Bible publishing since July 1990. Twenty-four years after starting the partnership, Baker and Cambridge Bibles have agreed to move sales and distribution back to Cambridge.

Dwight Baker, president of Baker Publishing Group, said the move signals a refocus for his company.

“We plan to focus exclusively on our mission, which is to publish original works,” Baker said.

Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing David Lewis added: “It has been a privilege and an honor to be able to sell Cambridge Bibles to the North American market for the past several years. We are confident that Cambridge will do an excellent job of supplying these wonderful Bibles to the market going forward.  We wish them every success.”

Cambridge University Press, which is part of the University of Cambridge, started accepting orders in early June. —Johnson

Hachette Nashville author tops list that includes Seth Godin, Jack Welch

Mainstream business publication Inc. named author John C. Maxwell the No. 1 leadership and management expert ahead of Seth Godin, Jack Welch and similar well-known names. The list was born out of an extensive study measuring influence across nine metrics, including number of Twitter followers, blog reputation and Google search ratios.

“Even truly groundbreaking business thinkers use the ideas, the perspectives and the advice of others as the basis for their own thoughts and actions,” Jeff Haden wrote in the “Top 50 Leadership and Management Experts” Inc. story. “The purpose of our work was to find out which people are globally the most popular management and leadership writers, in the English language.”

Hachette Nashville is publishing three titles with Maxwell in 2014: How Successful People Grow: 15 Ways to Get Ahead in Life (Center Street, April); Good Leaders Ask Great Questions: Your Foundation for Successful Leadership (Center Street, Oct. 7); and Learning From the Giants: Life and Leadership Lessons From the Bible (FaithWords, Nov. 11).

"This number-one ranking by Inc. is a great affirmation of John Maxwell's tremendous work in leadership training," said Rolf Zettersten, publisher. "Millions of people have benefited from the insights he has shared in his best-selling books and speaking engagements.  We extend our congratulations to him!"

Hachette Nashville also announced in March that the company had sold more than 3 million books by Maxwell, whose career sales top 21 million. The milestone was celebrated at a special event with Hachette employees.

“Three million copies is just one way to measure the profound impact that John Maxwell has had on a generation of leaders,” Zettersten said. “His books are such a rich resource for leaders at every level who aspire to grow and develop.”

Hachette Nashville first partnered with Maxwell in 2002 for the best-selling book Running With the Giants. His Hachette titles now include How Successful People Lead, How Successful People Think, The 5 Levels of Leadership and The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth.

Maxwell, founder of The John Maxwell Co. and EQUIP, has career sales of more than 21 million books. —Burns

Authors to benefit from acquisition of former Thomas Nelson publicist’s company

BelieversPress acquired the publishing and PR divisions of Glass Road Media as of June 1. The publisher—a part of 1Source, a collaborative effort with the Jerry B. Jenkins Christian Writers Guild, SuzyQ Author Coaching, Bethany Press and Anchor Distributors—continues to build a comprehensive platform of author services with the acquisition.

With the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding, BelieversPress and Glass Road Media expected the full execution of contracts by July 1.

Founded by former Thomas Nelson fiction publicist Rebeca Seitz, Glass Road was launched in 2005 as a public relations company specializing in the promotion of story-driven projects. Publishing and agency divisions were added in 2010. The firm has secured coverage for its authors in a wide variety of outlets—from USA Today and NPR to The 700 Club and Christian Post—and worked with the majority of major CBA houses. Seitz said it is also home to the oldest blogger database in the industry.

“I am humbled and honored with the partnership that has developed with BelieversPress,” she said. “After nine years of building this firm, even through the economic downturn, I am grateful for the privilege of growing it into a part of something that can achieve even greater impact. Our expansions have always been pursued in answer to the needs and desires of authors. I think coming under BelieversPress yields an enormous addition of resources we can bring to the author table.”

Seitz will remain on board as president of the Glass Road division of BelieversPress. LeAnn Hamby, who has served with Glass Road for more than four years, will remain director of publicity. All publishing and public relations assets will transfer to BelieversPress.

Additionally, the nonprofit SON: Spirit Of Naples, which Seitz helped found, is acquiring Glass Road’s agency division.

“BelieversPress has a passion to serve authors, whether they are successfully published—see Jerry B. Jenkins Select Line—or first-timers,” said Dave Sheets, president of BelieversPress. “Glass Road Media gives us a similarly passionate team with experience in publicity that we didn’t have before. Our authors asked for strong PR, and we’re excited that now we can deliver it.” —Burns