Early indicators point to a Merry Christmas for religion publishers and booksellers, with strong sales in November helping improve the seasonal outlook. In mid-December, the National Retail Federation revised its holiday sales growth forecast upward to 3.3 percent. The federation cited a number of economic improvements giving consumers more spending power, in addition to strong sales numbers from the weekend after Thanksgiving.
Booksellers across the country reported a good start to PW . Christian stores reported impressive gains; Bible sales were up 53 %, and other book sales were up 42 % on “black Friday,” the day after Thanksgiving.
A list of Christian Booksellers Association bestselling books from the day looked a lot like the current Evangelical Christian Publishers Association list (in this issue of RBL), with one notable addition: Decision Points by George Bush (Crown, Nov.), the former president’s memoir, checked in at number 4 on the CBA list of top 50 products. Also selling strongly were Radical by David Platt (Multnomah, May) in nonfictionand Unlocked by Karen Kingsbury (Zondervan, Oct.) in fiction.
