Religion publishers were upbeat about sales and networking at the annual Society of Biblical Literature meeting Nov. 20-23 in Atlanta. More than 4,500 scholars cruised a hall filled by 72 exhibitors, almost all of them publishers selling biblical studies books and software. Publishers also scouted new authors and projects and maintained ties with existing ones. For a number of religion publishers, the academic meeting and the book exhibit, sponsored by eight publishers --Edwin Mellen Press; Baker Academic and Brazos Press; NIV (published by Zondervan); Eisenbrauns; Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; Kregel Academic & Professional; Wipf and Stock; and Fortress Press--is a significant part of their business, particularly given the softness of the religion trade market. “We’re having a great conference,” said Bobbi Jo Heyboer, senior marketing director at Baker Publishing Group. Some books sold out, particularly if they were the subjects of conference panels. Oxford University Press’s The Seven Pillars of Creation: The Bible, Science and the Ecology of Wonder by William P. Brown sold out before noon the first day as scholars lined up when the exhibit hall opened at 8:30 a.m.

New SBL executive director John Kutsko, who was associate publisher at Abingdon Press until taking the reins of the scholarly society earlier this year, said that, with the exception of a meeting in the academic mecca of Boston in 2008, attendance was greater at this year’s conference than at any other time since SBL and its religious studies counterpart the American Academy of Religion agreed in 2005 to split their formerly concurrent conferences. Kutsko saw the meeting’s size as one sign of economic improvement. The divorce of the two meetings has been a financial and logistical headache for publishers, who have had to ship product and send staff to two separate exhibits only weeks apart. (AAR met Oct. 30-Nov. 1, also in Atlanta.) “This is such an expensive way to do publishing,” said Bob Fryling, InterVarsity Press publisher.

But the two groups have kissed and made up and will again meet concurrently starting next year in San Francisco; they have signed a letter of intent for concurrent meetings through 2019. Publishers uniformly expressed greater expectations for 2011; some have already reserved larger space to exhibit, since travel and shipping costs will go down, as will the travel-related carbon dioxide produced by all concerned. “We have reduced global warming,” executive director Kutsko said.