The Baker Book House Company is celebrating its diamond anniversary of 75 years as a family-owned business. The company, which now encompasses the Baker Book House store and Baker Publishing Group, has seen significant expansion and growth since its founding by Herman Baker.

In August 1939, Baker opened a bookstore on Wealthy Street in Grand Rapids, Mich. One year later, he ventured into publishing and released More Than Conquerors by William Hendriksen. Today, Baker Book House is a thriving store and Baker Publishing Group is one of the top three Christian publishers in the country.

To commemorate the anniversary, Baker is hosting an open house at the store April 24, a reception at Book Expo America in New York City in May and a dinner during the International Christian Retail Show in Atlanta in June. The Baker Book House Story will be published in March.

The company’s passion remains the same, reflecting the words of Herman Baker: “We love to sell a good book. There is no better business to be in.”

“We have been blessed during every single year in this business, particularly in our relationships with the gifted people who serve the world through Christian books,” said Dwight Baker, current president and grandson of the company’s founder. “This profession attracts many dedicated companions who pursue a common mission.”

Health and Human Services mandate forces ‘a choice no American should have to make’

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed a federal lawsuit Dec. 10 against the Obama administration on behalf of James Dobson and his Family Talk radio show and ministry, a Christian nonprofit organization that is subject to Obamacare’s Health and Human Services (HHS) abortion pill mandate.

The lawsuit challenges the legality and constitutionality of the mandate, which requires religious employers to provide insurance coverage for abortifacients, sterilization and contraception to employees regardless of religious or moral objections. Dobson and Family Talk object to providing coverage for abortion drugs and devices.

“The government shouldn’t be able to punish Americans for exercising their fundamental freedoms,” said Senior Legal Counsel Matt Bowman. “Any government willing to force a family-run Christian ministry to participate in immoral acts under the threat of crippling fines is a government everyone should fear.”

“Our ministry believes in living out the religious convictions we hold to and talk about on the air,” added Dobson, Family Talk’s founder and president. “As Americans, we should all be free to live according to our faith and to honor God in our work. The Constitution protects that freedom so that the government cannot force anyone to act against his or her sincerely held religious beliefs. But the mandate ignores that and leaves us with a choice no American should have to make: comply and abandon your religious freedom, or resist and be fined for your faith.”

The lawsuit, Dobson v. Sebelius, filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, argues that the mandate violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act as well as the First and Fifth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

Christian retail veteran remembered as a ‘forward-thinking, customer-serving, Christ-honoring retailer’

Christian retailer and best-selling author and editor Jim Reimann died Dec. 18 following a recent diagnosis of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, a neurological condition. He was 63. 

Reimann founded and owned The Christian Armory in Atlanta, named by CBA the 1988-1989 Store of the Year, and was chairman of the CBA board for two years. He was also COO of Family Christian Stores and facilitated the six-year expansion from 148 to 362 stores in 39 states.

He was editor of the classic works My Utmost for His Highest, Streams in the Desert, Morning by Morning and Evening by Evening, and has more than 6 million books in print. An ordained minister, he led 26 Bible-teaching tours to Israel.

Reimann was born in Chattanooga, Tenn. He graduated from Georgia State University with a bachelor’s degree in finance. 

The family entered this post and an excerpt from his books Dec. 18 at JimReimann.com:

“At 4:44 a.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2013, Jim went to be with the Lord and to hear the words he has wanted to hear, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant!’ We know that God is completely sovereign and has a plan for all of us, indeed fulfilling His plan for Jim. He ‘ran the race’ and ‘fought the good fight.’ Our prayer over the past few weeks has consistently been for God’s will so that He may be glorified through all of this. Jim is with the Lord now, but isn’t it wonderful that he has already said what he would want to say to you today in his writings, Morning by Morning and Evening by Evening?” 

Former CBA President Bill Anderson applauded Reimann’s life and work.

“Jim Reimann not only built one of the most outstanding and successful Christian stores in the history of the CBA industry, he also was a servant to many and an inspiration to retailers across the U.S. and internationally,” Anderson said. “He distinguished himself as a forward-thinking, customer-serving, Christ-honoring retailer. Jim was committed to exercising biblical discernment in what he bought so he could be aggressive in selling widely. He understood and modeled that content matters, that what we sell must not run cross-grain with Scripture, that there’s increased ministry in increased sales when the products are biblically accurate and culturally relevant. Jim’s service on the CBA board was characterized by godly wisdom, business insight, spiritual sensitivity and devoted servanthood. I had the privilege of working with many stellar chairmen during my tenure, but none more outstanding than Jim. He was a true blessing and became a very special friend.”

Current CBA President Curtis Riskey also felt the loss.

“We are grieved to hear of Jim’s passing today, and our thoughts and prayers are with his family,” Riskey said on the day of Reimann’s death. “We are all extremely grateful for his contribution to our industry and for the outstanding legacy of godliness, excellence and compassion he leaves for us to follow.”

Similar reflections were expressed among Christian retailers and others in the industry. 

Reimann is survived by his wife, Pam Reimann; children Jeremy Reimann, Aaron Reimann and Bethany Belt; and eight grandchildren.

Funeral services were held at Mount Vernon Baptist Church in Sandy Springs, Ga.

Marketing tool usage nearly doubles over previous year as Christian retailers employ ‘affordable and workable’ solution

The Parable Group announced Jan. 3 that nearly 14.1 million consumer emails were sent in 2013 by independent Christian retailers through SnapRetail—a 79% increase in emails sent over the same time period in 2012. Launched in March 2012, the Parable-SnapRetail partnership is an email and social-marketing solution for the industry with more than 115,000 Christian product images from more than 80 Christian publishers, music companies and gift companies.

“It’s exciting to see store owners realizing the potential they have for traffic growth and increased sales using SnapRetail,” said Steve Potratz, president of Parable. “It’s an easy and effective marketing solution that provides stores an affordable and workable way to engage customers through email marketing and various social media channels.”

Participating stores select ready-to-use email templates, including newsletters, special events, new arrivals, sales and holiday emails. Ready-to-send vendor emails are also available. Stores customize, schedule, send and simultaneously post emails to Facebook and Twitter. Email images can also be set for customers to pin to Pinterest. 

During the last seven months, ready-to-send email usage increased 37.4% versus the prior year, Parable reported.

“In December, nearly 50% of all SnapRetail emails sent by Christian retailers were ready-to-send emails, much to the excitement of our vendor partners whose products were featured in them,” Potratz added. 

Parable launched an email reimbursement package for ready-to-send emails within SnapRetail in October 2013. For vendors, this provides an opportunity to incentivize retailers to send their product and promotional ready-to-send emails, build brand equity and ramp up sales at the local level. For retailers, the reimbursement program rewards them for sending select ready-to-send vendor emails, which can help offset their monthly SnapRetail program fee. 

“MarketingSherpa recently found that 64% of companies planned to increase their 2013 investment in email marketing this year because email is effective in generating high-quality leads,” said Erik Ernstrom, Parable’s manager of business intelligence. “Now is the time for Christian Retailers to take advantage of SnapRetail’s easy-to-use email platform, build a strategy to connect to customers and grow their customer list size in time for Easter.”

Inaugural event held in conjunction with Atlanta gift show off to a quiet start with healthy vendor participation but few stores

Christian retailers convened Wednesday, Jan. 8, for the first CPE at AmericasMart held in conjunction with the Atlanta International Gift & Home Furnishings Market. The one-day event hosted by Munce Group, the Florida-based retail marketing group, helped to make navigating the gift show easier for Christian retailers and brought in non-gift vendors as well to make time away from the store more productive.

Kirk Blank, president of Munce Group, said that vendor spaces were sold out with 28 of them setting up shop. Exhibitors attending CPE included Abingdon Press, Anchor Distributors/Whitaker House, Art & Soul Works/Gifts That Give Back, Barbour Publishing, Bob Siemon Designs, Bookstore Manager, Bridgestone Multimedia Group, Charisma Media, Christian Art Gifts, Crossway, DaySpring, FaithWords, HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Kerusso, New Day Christian Distributors, New Leaf Publishing Group, Rose Publishing, Send The Light Distribution, Swanson Christian Products and WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.

Retail participation, however, was weak at the inaugural one-day CPE show.

“We were encouraged by our vendors and encouraged by retailers to put something together so that there would be a common place to meet, a common place for publishers and non-gift vendors to be a part of, and to have it at one place that wouldn’t interfere with the regular flow of the mart,” Blank said. “We worked with the mart to determine that Wednesday would be the best day for that, so we’re still in the process of figuring, is that the right decision, is that the right timing? As soon as we’re done with the show and get feedback, we’re going to figure that out. We are already set for July. We’re going to be here as the mart kicks off, again another Wednesday event, before the show, so we’re looking forward to it.”

Munce Group has scheduled the second CPE at AmericasMart for July 9-10 in conjunction with the next major Atlanta gift market.

Blank pointed out that there is no preregistration at the market, which made it difficult to know how many retailers would show up at CPE. Some wondered if the Atlanta CPE would affect the upcoming CPE in Hershey, Pa., but Munce said that is not a concern.

“Our preregistration numbers are higher this year for Hershey, so we don’t see that as a problem,” Blank said.

At CPE’s breakfast, retailers learned how to navigate the vast space that is AmericasMart from Albert Maslia, managing director-retail services for the mart. With 2,000 permanent showrooms and 4,000 temporaries, Maslia said it would take a full year to go through it all if buyers spent an average of 15 minutes per showroom.

He also advised buyers to know if they were dealing with a company or a rep group when placing orders and to get the order number, ship date and cancellation date specifically noted on each order placed at the show.

Maslia gave other tips on customer service and store layout. He pointed out that the top category in card and gift shops is women’s’ accessories. 

At lunch, which was sponsored by Whitaker House and Anchor Distributors, Lorraine Valk, owner of Parable Christian Store of St. Joseph in St. Joseph, Mich., spoke on the importance of Just In Time inventory and of maintaining inventory turns at three on most products. Valk, who joked about being married to a CPA, gave retailers specific numbers to look for and encouraged the practice of daily ordering. She said she orders every morning and it’s the “best 15 minutes of my day.”

Lee Yeckel, sales director for Whitaker House and Anchor Distributors, also spoke at lunch, noting that Whitaker is taking on new authors and new genres with a line of business books and African-American fiction titles. Yeckel said the company is also changing the way bargain book promotions are handled. 

He pointed out key authors that have sold well for Whitaker. Myles Munroe, whose new title, The Power of Character in Leadership, released last month, has sold 1.5 million copies for the company, and Guillermo Maldonado ‘s books have sold more than 400,000 copies of his three titles.

The company is also inviting retailers to register to win a vacation in the Bahamas. Retailers could register at AmericasMart or at CharacterInLeadership.com. Four people will win a five-day, four-night stay at a luxury resort.

A number of the exhibitors spoke to Christian Retailing about encouraging Munce Group in this new effort.

“We’re basically here to support the Munce Group and to talk to the stores that have showed up at the gift mart,” said Diane Rogers, sales territory manager who handles international and Spanish sales for Whitaker House and Anchor Distributors. “We’ve already made some new contacts.”

Nola Haney, sales manager at Barbour Publishing, said: “We think it’s a good idea and hopefully with more publicity, more advertising and getting the word out, it’ll grow and be a better show. We look forward to July.”

Daniel Bush, key accounts sales manager for Crossway, was promoting gift editions of the company’s English Standard Version Bible among other books and Bibles.

“We’re excited to reach the market in creative ways and are grateful for Munce for providing this channel to connect with retailers, international retailers or gift stores, so we’re working hard to get our products into the market whatever way we can.”

Steven Ammons, head of sales at Bookstore Manager, was looking to fill a specific need at CPE.

“We’re actually adding more gift vendors to our database, so it’s a way for us to connect with the stores and get an idea of what gift vendors they’re carrying so that we can expand our database to help our retailers,” Ammons said.

Spring Page, senior sales consultant with Charisma Media, said: “I believe that our continuing relationship that we’ve had with Munce the last four-plus years gives us the continuing exposure to the bookstores, and so testing this show was the ability for us to expand into broader territories.”

Rose Publishing also was looking for “new exposure,” said Janene Guy, sales consultant—“maybe new customers who are coming to the gift show that we haven’t contacted at the other CPE shows. And also we wanted to support Munce. We believe in what Munce is doing and wanted to be here and support [them]. It’s a test.”

Margaret Morallo, marketing coordinator at Bob Siemon Designs, thought the show “seemed like a great opportunity to work together with the Munce Group and also introduce new product that we have here at AmericasMart.”

Buyers saw some technological advances this year at AmericasMart. They could take advantage of free Wi-Fi—although there were some challenges with it—and a mobile app available in the Apple App Store and Google Play. The app also has an augmented reality scanner, which allowed buyers to connect with exhibitor information, pinpoint their location and add exhibitors and events from printed materials and signage to their schedule.

Industry veteran brings ‘proven track record’ in book acquisitions and development

Don Pape joined NavPress as publisher Jan. 6. In his new role, Pape leads the publishing team acquiring and developing new NavPress resources that will be brought to market by the company’s alliance partner, Tyndale House Publishers. Pape has served as vice president of trade books and multimedia at David C Cook for the past seven years.

“We are celebrating the addition of Don Pape to the Navigator family,” said Doug Nuenke, U.S. director of The Navigators. “We are excited for this next season with NavPress and increasing its important role in fulfilling our calling here in the U.S. and around the world.”

Pape’s vision is to maximize the mission of NavPress “to create experiences that challenge people to thrive in their journey with Jesus Christ.”

Pape sees great potential for NavPress to provide much needed resources for discipling the next generation.

“There is no greater time than now to make Christ known on campuses, on military bases, in homes and communities and around the globe,” said Pape.

Success with editorial acquisition and a commitment to the author and agent community have characterized Pape’s role in the publishing industry.

“Don’s success over the past three decades in this challenging and constantly changing industry is quite impressive,” said longtime NavPress author Jerry Bridges. “His proven track record in working with top-tier authors will strengthen the NavPress team to have a greater impact on the body of Christ.”

Pape has published five New York Times best-sellers, including Francis Chan’s Crazy Love. Pape is also publisher of Julie Cantrell’s Into the Free, which was the 2013 Christy Book of the Year. He led a team that won 20 ADDY Awards between 2008 and 2010 for David C Cook titles recognized for best cover or book design.

Born in Brazil, Pape graduated with a bachelor of arts in political science from Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada, speaks fluent French and Portuguese, and is married with three sons. His multicultural publishing career in sales, marketing and graphic design has led him to a variety of roles, including executive, literary agent and consultant.

Pape says he is “looking forward to partnering with The Navigators field staff and Tyndale to create raving fans of NavPress and the stellar authors writing on discipleship, leadership and the Christian life.”

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!”