Christian Retailing

BEA: Christian publishers see strong interest Print Email
Sunday, 21 May 2006 08:00 PM America/New_York

Christian publishers were highlighted in sessions, but hidden on the convention floor, at this year's BookExpo America (BEA), which wrapped yesterday in Washington, D.C. While the Book Industry Study Group's (BISG) Book Industry Trends 2006 presentation told how the religious book market is one of the major growth areas in publishing, booths for Christian publishers were located in a corner of the much-smaller of two exhibition halls used at BEA.

A few Christian market publishers were located in the larger main exhibition hall-mostly publishers with a general-market owner such as Warner Faith (Hachette Book Group) or Zondervan (HarperCollins), or Christian publishers with a general-market imprint, such as Thomas Nelson Publishers' Naked Ink and Rutledge Hill Press and Moody Publishers' Northfield.

Traffic and interest for Moody was “pretty strong, since we are sandwiched between the big guys,” said John Hinkley, director of marketing for Moody.

Tyndale House Publishers Special Sales Manager Charlie Swaney said he would have liked “to be in with other publishers, instead of set apart as 'religious publishers.' ” However, he said: “We're a point of destination that is important. People know we're here, and they come to find us.” At the show Tyndale held signings featuring authors Jerry B. Jenkins, Joel C. Rosenberg, Mary Manz Simon and Dandi Daley Mackall.

As part of the National Book Network last year, FaithWorks, recently acquired publisher services division of Send the Light (STL), was located in the larger hall in 2005. This year, “we've actually gotten a lot more traffic and interest since we're in the Religious section,” said Larry Carpenter, senior vice president of marketing for STL and general manager of FaithWorks.

FaithWorks debuted The 100-Minute Bible, a crossover product from the United Kingdom that was a general-market best-seller there. A condensed and paraphrased version of the Bible created by a clergyman at Canterbury Cathedral, the product became a “grassroots” movement, selling more than 100,000 copies, Carpenter said, and “was No. 1 in the U.K. for the whole year.”