Retailing ReBoot offers ideas for how to reset business, debuts new inspirational products 

Church and independent Christian store representatives were urged to reposition themselves for more effective ministry, at Christian Retailing magazine’s annual training-and-trade event.

Speaking at Retailing ReBoot 2011, held April 26-28 in Orlando, Fla., mission bookstore leader David Almack suggested that retailers connect with local pastors who might promote the stores to their congregations. But to make that possible, he said, store personnel should see themselves not as retailers of a commodity, but as resourcers of valuable materials.

“That’s someone a pastor wants to talk to,” said Almack, president of CLC USA, with independent and church stores in the Philadelphia area. 

But that also meant becoming a researcher, someone who was familiar with the products they made available, he added, in a presentation challenging stores not to view books simply as a commodity because they were widely available in other channels. Christian books had the potential to change lives, he reminded attendees.

Around 80 store owners, managers and staff heard from more than a dozen suppliers and fellow store operators in educational sessions that offered ideas and examples of how they could “reset” their operations with changes in areas such as category management, merchandising and customer experience.

In a Bible focus, Chip Brown, senior vice president of Bibles for Zondervan, revealed some of the extensive research that had gone into the new-look packaging for the just-released New International Version.

The company had found that 78% of Bible buyers had been inside a Christian store in the previous 12 months and that 70% had also bought a Christian book in that same time period. “Bible buyers are your book buyers,” he said.

Brown also advised retailers not to be too quick to undercut prices on Bibles as they could unnecessarily be giving away margin. People looking to buy a Bible to help improve their lives “look at this like a car or a house” purchase, he said. “They will spend money. Many retailers talk about discounts too much,” he said.

With the theme “Engaging Without Limits,” the three-day program—which also included discussions, an author reception and a suppliers’ exhibition area—began with a message from Christian media consultant Phil Cooke, who shared some of the principles for coping with a world of rapid change outlined in his new book, Jolt! (Thomas Nelson).

With everyone becoming prone to Attention Deficit Disorder “to some extent” because of the many distractions of technology, one of the greatest gifts people could give to others—including customers—would be their undivided attention, he said.

Products tied to one of the most anticipated releases of the year and a hugely successful financial-planning program were among the new resources debuted to stores during ReBoot’s trade show times.

DaySpring introduced wall art featuring a plot device from Courageous, the Sept. 30 follow-up film from the makers of Fireproof—the box office hit and best-selling DVD.

The Resolution, a commitment-pledge to lead and serve their families signed by the lead characters in the forthcoming police drama, will be available in a frame, in a frame with photo spot and  printed prepacks for group distribution.

In addition, DaySpring will be bringing out a Courageous DayBrightener with movie quotes, inspirational sayings and scripture, and greeting cards. “We believe that the movie will be very impactful and that once people see it they will want a replica of The Resolution,” said Jim Shanahan, DaySpring’s national sales manager.

New Day Christian Distributors unveiled a line of more than 20 SKUs from financial planning expert Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace program, including games, books, DVDs and CDs. 

Previously available only at live events or through churches running the course, the products had drawn a lot of interest, said Joanna Price, director of marketing and promotions for New Day.  “A lot of churches offer Financial Peace as an outreach to their community, and these are great support products,” she said.

Educational resource supplier Rose Publishing, celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, marked the occasion with an unexpected award at ReBoot. The company’s sale representative, Robin Evans, was presented with Christian Retailing’s Supplier of the Year award for Rose’s “outstanding contributions in the development and service of Christian retail.”

The magazine’s three other awards went to Kaye Wright, CBA regional sales manager for FaithWords (Hachette Book Group), for Salesperson of the Year; Chuck and Joanne Broderick, managers of Sarasota Christian Bookstore in Sarasota, Fla., for Bookstore of the Year; and Dottie Poythress, manager of The Bookmark at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta, Ga., for Church Bookstore of the Year.

New American Bible Revised Edition, updated Roman Missal to ‘bring renewed focus’ to Catholics

Catholic publishers are anticipating a boon from the release of the New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE)—the officially approved translation of the Catholic church—and the update of the Roman Missal, the ritual text mandatorily used for mass by Catholics worldwide.

The revision waas approved by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, which licenses the NABRE to several publishers, including Saint Mary’s Press, Catholic Book Publishing Corp., Saint Mary’s Press, Our Sunday Visitor and Oxford University Press. 

Saint Mary’s Press will be releasing three Bibles using the revised edition text beginning January 2012, including The Catholic Youth Bible, a basic text edition and The Catholic Family Connections Bible, according to President and CEO John Vitek. 

The best-selling Bible for Catholic youth, with more than 2 million copies in print worldwide, The Catholic Youth Bible in the NABRE will be a good seller, Vitek told Christian Retailing. “We expect sales of this title to be around 150,000 copies. The New American Bible revised edition will add substantial footnotes for the reader who has interest in going deeper into the context of the Scripture text itself. ” 

Liturgical Press is releasing this month a New American Bible revised version of the Little Rock Catholic Study Bible in both hardcover and paperback, as well as the first five volumes of the “New Collegeville Bible Commentary Old Testament” series—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

“We have been waiting for the revision to complete the ‘New Collegeville Bible Commentary,’ as the New Testament volumes were completed in 2006,” Sales and Marketing Manager Brian Woods told Christian Retailing. “So our customers have been waiting patiently for the Old Testament volumes, and we expect very good sales. … We have quite a few pre-orders for the Little Rock Catholic Study Bible, and expect a large audience for this Bible.”

 Liturgical Press is also releasing eight new materials related to the Roman Missal, which was last revised by the Vatican in 2002. Required to be implemented by U.S. Catholic churches this fall, the  missal calls for all hymn and service books as well as pamphlets, pew cards, family and catechist guides tied to the mass to be updated.  

“With the Roman Missal, NABRE and other new initiatives, we are looking for a 10% increase next year,” Woods said. 

Meanwhile, Catholic Book Publishing (CBP) is releasing nearly 80 SKUs tied to the NABRE, ranging from personal size to family Bibles, according to Senior Editor Maria Maggi. 

CBP’s Student Edition was its first NABRE released in March at the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress.

“We were kept apprised of the approval process (of the NABRE),” Maggi said. “We expect that the St. Joseph editions, which have long been a hallmark of Catholic Book, will continue their strong sales with the New American Bible revised version.”

Along with Liturgical Press and five other publishers that are releasing ritual editions tied to the  missal update, CBP is publishing numerous materials. 

“Because use of the revised Roman Missal is mandatory, there is a ready-made market with the country’s roughly 18,000 parishes, hospitals and retreat houses,” Maggi said. “Some of the country’s nearly 39,000 priests also might wish to have personal copies.”

Oxford University Press has released compact versions and large-print editions in the NABRE, with study Bible versions coming out in August, according to Senior Marketing Manager Brian Hughes. 

“We have always had success with the New American Bible,” he said. “We think this translation will do very well. I think there will be renewed interest in the scriptures and an emphasis in biblical literacy.”

At Our Sunday Visitor (OSV), the company has released three NABRE editions, including The New Catholic Answer Bible, Prove It! The Catholic Teen Bible and My Daily Catholic Bible, said Marketing Director of Books Jill Adamson. OSV is also releasing new materials such as pamphlets, pew cards, books, family and catechist guides related to the Roman Missal update.

“The best news is these changes are already and will continue to bring a renewed focus to Scripture and mass,” Adamson told Christian Retailing. “This widespread renewal can only be a good thing as Catholics break out of their routines to look at Scripture and mass with new excitement, new interest and new optimism.”

Multi-artist Christian music tour hosted by veterans NewSong ranked No. 1 in the world year-to-date

Winter Jam 2011 Tour Spectacular—the record-breaking, multi-artist Christian music tour—will head West for the first time, later this year.

Plans were being made for a dozen or so dates on the West Coast in November. “That’s our goal right now, to get out there and play some cities that we think would be open to it,” said Eddie Carswell, of the tour’s founders and host NewSong.

Many of the artists who appeared on the bill for the 46-city tour that ended in Peoria, Ill., April 3—ranking No. 1 in the world year-to-date, according to Pollstar—will take part again. “A couple of them probably can’t do it because they already have commitments, but hopefully a lot of the people will be coming back,” Carswell said.

The lineup for the 16th annual tour, which broke its attendance record for the fourth year in a row, included Chris Sligh, Francesca Battistelli, KJ-52, Kutless, Red, the David Crowder Band and Newsboys. With a pay-at-the-door ticket price of $10, the tour saw a total attendance of 524,230—more than turned out for the likes of Bon Jovi, U2, Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber, according to Pollstar’s 2011 Worldwide “Top 100 Tours” chart for January-March.

Produced by Premier Productions and presented by Holt International, the tour saw nearly 100,000 receive Christ since its January kickoff in Chattanooga, Tenn., organizers said. Additionally, it facilitated more than 13,000 sponsorship commitments to adoption and the child welfare organization Holt International.  

“We are grateful and humbled by the response to Winter Jam that only God Himself could have orchestrated,” Carswell said.

Carswell said that he and the other organizers had wanted to take the event West for some time. The farthest West previous tours got to was Colorado Springs, Colo.

Worthy books’ unique cross-category partnership

A Christian publishing veteran is marking his return to the industry with what is believed to be an unprecedented cross-category partnership.

Byron Williamson’s new Worthy Publishing titles are to be distributed by EMI Christian Music Group (EMI CMG) when they are released in September. The Sky is Not Falling by Charles Colson and a faith study of teen pop star Justin Bieber lead the nine releases that will mark the debut of the new imprint.

EMI CMG will handle fulfillment to all physical retail channels and market the books to independent Christian retail stores, while sales to national, international and digital accounts will be handled by Worthy.

Formerly president of Word Publishing and the Thomas Nelson/Word Publishing Group and who later founded Integrity Publishers, Williamson said that he was “thrilled” to be back in publishing after a few years away due to contractual issues.

Although music and book company partnerships had occurred previously, he was not aware of any of the scale and scope of the Worthy-EMI CMG agreement, he said. EMI CMG had “a wonderful reputation” for excellence in shipping and customer service, he added.

Bill Hearn, president and CEO of EMI CMG, said that adding books to the company’s distribution service was “a natural extension” of its founding as “a platform to support and develop communicators of the gospel.”

Williamson said that the arrangement with EMI CMG could lead to further joint initiatives such as live events featuring authors and artists. “There are a number of things that could eventually come from this alliance.”

Joining Cathleen Falsani’s Belieber! Fame, Faith and the Heart of Justin Bieber in the first Worthy list are Stephen Arterburn’s Walking Into Walls, John Townsend’s How to Be a Best Friend Forever and Bill and Gloria Gaither’s A Homecoming Family Christmas. 

Though the first list does not feature any fiction, the category will be included in future releases, with about 30 titles scheduled for next year.

Williamson said that he was not troubled about launching a new publishing venture at a time when the industry was being rocked by the impact of e-books. “I think it’s a great time,” he said. “The only way is up.” Recent indicators pointed to growth “so the industry is actually pretty healthy right now. It’s an exciting time.”

Christian retail was central to Worthy’s success, he said. “We don’t consider ourselves a crossover publisher, we consider ourselves a Christian publisher that will distribute some of our titles, some more than others, in some mainstream outlets, but many of our books will sell far more in Christian retail stores.”

Greg Bays, senior vice president, sales and marketing for EMI CMG, said that the Worthy partnership was another way that the distributor was broadening its service to help independent Christian stores in the wake of softening physical music sales. 

Since EMI CMG had started offering DVD distribution four years ago, that part of the overall business had grown from 3% to around 25%. “We are always on the lookout for what might be available,” Bays said. “We have been in the video game business. We have looked at apparel.”

Providing books to stores, too, could help streamline supply-chain demands for many independent owners who increasingly were having to handle buying duties in addition to other responsibilities. “They need suppliers who really know the store and understand their business to come with streamline solutions, to help with a lot of different product categories.”

CBA annual report finds a higher percentage of stores hosting pastor’s events

Christian retailers are adding marketing strategies and events in an effort to sharpen their focus in connecting with local churches, according to CBA’s annual State of the Industry survey.

The 2011 anonymous survey—based on 167 responses—found that more than 7% stores said they plan to host a pastor’s event this year. Additionally, the number of retailers who hosted a pastor’s event in 2010 increased about 4% compared to 2009. A higher percentage of retailers (33.7%) also had a church-relations strategy last year, CBA said.

“In the church relationship, it must be about understanding a pastor’s needs and coming alongside in mission for the people you both serve,” CBA Executive Director Curtis Riskey said. “A good question to dialog with pastors is, ‘How can we win this city for Jesus? How can we collectively leverage what we have been entrusted with to change this community?’ Just being a product supplier doesn’t work anymore.”

As it was in last year’s survey, 82% of respondents expect sales in 2011 to be the same or better than 2010, the trade association said. Meanwhile, 8.4% of respondents plan to expand this year, and 10.8% expect to increase store hours. 

Released in April, the report indicated that the rate of store closures increased last year with a net loss of 63 stores compared to 32 stores closing in 2009 and 37 stores shuttering in 2008. There were 14 new stores opening in 2010, and the average length of time in business for stores decreased slightly to approximately 20 years.

Just like last year’s survey, average sales dropped just over 3% in 2010, though more than 30% of stores reported sales growth. Community and church-relations events such as Christian Store Day as well as strategies involving social media and bargain discounting contributed to positive store growth, the association said.

Sales and marketing veteran Chris Robinette is to head up Covenant Media Resources, a new sales and distribution service for the Christian book world founded as a division of Midpoint Trade Books.

Serving more than 250 independent publishers mostly in general market independent and mass market channels, Midpoint currently handles titles by WND Books and Kerygma Publishing. Authors include Ray Comfort, Greg Laurie and Josh McDowell.

Covenant Media will look to tap into the growing area of self-publishing, as well as making available to Christian stores some of the general market titles Midpoint handles that could be of interest, Robinette said.

Midpoint President Eric Kampmann said that he had wanted to expand into the Christian book marketplace for many years, but had not found the right person to fill the position. “My 40 years in book sales and distribution and my 16 years running Midpoint have taught me several valuable lessons, but one of the most important is finding the right person who brings to the table a combination of entrepreneurial passion and managerial skill,” he said. Robinette “will build a credible and effective operation that will serve the Christian book publishing and book-selling communities extremely well.”

A 29-year veteran of the industry, Robinette has been president of his own Inspirational Marketing Resources for the past four years, providing contract sales representation for ministries and small and mid-sized Christian publishers. Prior to that, he was part of the Inspirational Publishers Group, a subsidiary of Gospel Light’s GL Services. Before that, Robinette was director of sales for David C. Cook. 

He said that Midpoint’s services “will be appealing to many independent Christian publishers. In addition to reaching the traditional CBA marketplace through my own background and experience, we will be able to offer first-rate exposure through a wide range of secular bookstores and wholesalers who successfully sell Christian titles.”