Fiction: the Hottest Story in Religion
Lynn Garrett with reporting by Phyllis Tickle and Jana Riess -- 6/19/00
Books to nourish the faith of young adults
are also an emphasis for many publishers
For many religion/spirituality publishers, BEA was the second trade show experience of a crowded week. With a new overlap because of BEA's earlier opening, on Thursday and Friday some publishers had to divide staff between McCormick Place and the Religious Booksellers Trade Exhibit, which met for the ninth year about an hour west of the city (News, June 12). RBTE, which primarily serves Catholic and Episcopal bookstores, was also a busy show, with a number of established and emerging trends in evidence.
Reflecting the concern among denominationally oriented publishers for nurturing coming generations of believers, both Orbis and Sheed &Ward are launching new programs to reach young adults. This fall, Sheed & Ward releases Believing Women: The Witness of Women in the Church by Jane Redmont, the third in its Come and See series targeted to young adults. And Orbis executive director Michael Leach has signed Sheed & Ward acquisitions editor Jeremy Langford to write God Moments: The Spiritual Odyssey of a Young Adult, which will be published in fall 2001. Another youthful author signed by Leach is Therese Borchard; her 101 Meditations for Young Adults is due out next spring. Leach and Borchard are also collaborating on I Like Being Catholic (Doubleday, Sept.). Among Leach's prognostications on the reading interests of Roman Catholics: the spirituality of Sabbath-keeping and the work of the Holy Spirit (the latter until recently mainly a concern of evangelicals). Sophia Institute Press marketing director Robert Spencer is betting on a renewed interest in the thought of Thomas Aquinas, with four titles on the current list, including The Aquinas Prescription by Gerald Vann and The Aquinas Catechism.
 | Bethany's Byrdsong; Tyndatle's LaHaye &Jenkins;
Brazos's staffers Heyb r &Clapp. |
At Plough--the publishing arm of the Bruderhof Community that achieved bestseller status last year with She Said Yes, about Columbine victim Cassie Bernall--marketing director Clare Stober told PW about the "guerrilla marketing tactics" Plough is using to promote Endangered: Your Child in a Hostile World, the seventh title by Bruderhof leader Johann Christoph Arnold. Plough is partnering with daycare equipment company Community Playthings (also owned by the Bruderhof) to distribute the book to 18,000 daycare center directors around the country, who will in turn distribute promotional materials to more than 400,000 parents. Review copies will also be sent to pediatricians and family practice doctors.
Liturgical Press marketing director Peter Dwyer (with Bob Byrns, founder and manager of RBTE) noted high interest in titles on the priesthood, especially the controversial The Changing Face of the Priesthood: A Reflection on the Priest's Crisis of the Soul by Donald Cozzens. A chapter on gay men in the priesthood drew wide media attention when the book was released in February, bumping its sales up to 1000 copies per week in April and May, Dwyer said. Our Sunday Visitor staff were celebrating their selection as the exclusive distributor of the second edition of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. "We were one of several companies who submitted bids," noted marketing director Jill Kurtz. "They wanted to consolidate it with one company to avoid confusion, and we had the right infrastructure." OSV is also thinking about the new generation of the faithful, with a line of teen products in the Prove It series that debuts this fall. The first title is Prove It! God by Amy Welborn (Sept.). In August, OSV teams up with Tyndale House to release My First Picture Bible Stories for kids age 2-5.
Fiction Gains
Meanwhile, back at McCormick, the USA Today "Top 150 Best Sellers" special section distributed at the convention mirrored the latest market share figures announced that Friday by BISG (News, this issue), with 20 of the top titles (15%) dealing with religion or spirituality. Confirming the industry trend of healthy growth for religious fiction, nine of these were novels, including two by Viking's Jan Karon and five from Tyndale House's white-hot Left Behind series. Tyndale released the seventh book in the series, The Indwelling, the week before the show; it had pre-sales of 1.3 million.
At a Thursday afternoon educational seminar on "Selling Religious Fiction," Tyndale marketing director Dan Balow attributed the house's success to more focused marketing strategies, including the use of street dates--until now an almost unknown practice in Christian publishing--as well as a generous print advertising budget, widespread handselling, a promotional Web site and extensive use of e-mail "bursts" to a list of almost a quarter-million names. Carol Johnson, editorial v-p at Bethany House, which publishes bestselling novelist Janette Oke (19 million books currently in print), noted that 50% of Bethany's sales are now through non-Christian book outlets. Johnson also announced the establishment of the Christy Awards, named for Catherine Marshall's classic mid-century series. Designed to recognize quality Christian fiction, the Christys will be awarded for the first time at the opening of this summer's CBA International Convention on New Orleans (July 10-16). Commenting on the reasons for Christian fiction's growing popularity, Dave Lambert, senior acquisitions editor at Zondervan, noted that until recently, for these novels' traditional readers, "message was more important than plot or characters, and they wanted their worldview affirmed, not challenged." However, he said, with the emergence of writers like Karon, novels with Christian themes and characters have transcended the genres and broken out to general audiences.
Kudos and Crossovers
Though fiction was the highest-profile story in religion at the show, other titles and categories also drew well-deserved attention. In the wake of bestseller status for John Maxwell's spring book, Failing Forward: Turning Mistakes into Stepping Stones for Success, Thomas Nelson staffers proudly displayed their full line of leadership books by Maxwell. There was a special display at the Nelson booth for art/gift books by popular painter Thomas Kinkade. Out of Egypt,the September devotional title from diet guru Gwen Shamblin, also got prominent play, Dave Shepherd, executive director for ABA national accounts, told PW, "There were returns for Rise Above [released in January], though less than we expected. We have high hopes for Out of Egypt." Added Pamela Clements, director of advertising, "There's been a real need for this kind of companion book from Gwen." There was also excitement at Nelson unit Word Publishing for a just-signed nonfiction book from novelist Frank Peretti. The Wounded Spirit, set for October release, tells the story of Peretti's persecution at the hands of schoolmates because of a speech impediment, and seeks to encourage kindness in youth in the wake of Columbine.
 | Hole-in-One for B&H (above); major
play for Health Communications Inc |
Over in the Religious/Spiritual/Inspirational section, Broadman & Holman drew attention with its new exhibit, topped by what resembled a church bell tower. The B&H booth featured a putting green, where show-g rs could sink a putt to win a free copy of Payne Stewart: The Authorized Biography, by his widow, Tracy (with Ken Abraham). USA Today did a June 1 story on the book on the front page of the sports section, and Stewart was interviewed on the Today Show June 1 and 2; a third segment was taped for a June 15 air date. B&H marketing director Greg Webster was also excited about the forthcoming release of the Holman Christian Standard Version of the Bible, which he said combines the readability of the popular New International Version with the accuracy of a word-by-word translation. The New Testament will be published in early 2001, and the complete Bible will be available by 2003. Just across the aisle, Dale Anderson, v-p at Bible publisher AMG, was eagerly awaiting the August release of the Tim LaHaye Prophecy Study Bible, a King James Version with notes and commentary by the co-author of the Left Behind series.
At the Jewish Publication Society booth, the focus was on the big, beautiful The Illustrated Torah, a handsome volume containing Sidrot and Haftarot paintings by Michal Meron; it's due out in September. Veteran JPS sales rep Dolores Verbit was also happy about the media attention received by The Survivors' Haggadah, which was featured in a New York Times story in February and in several other newspapers and magazines.
In the NBN section, staff for Thorsons were busily promoting a $1.3-million global rebranding campaign for the venerable U.K. body/ mind/spirit house, now a unit of HarperCollins U.K. Marketing director Karen Kreiger and new editorial director Belinda Budge were on hand to unveil the new fire-and-water logo, with the tag line "Directions for Life.'' The first book it adorned was Transforming the Mind: Teachings on Generating Compassion by His Holiness the Dalai Lama (May).
Two publishers were celebrating fresh honors for their books: Self-Realization Fellowship won the Latino Literary Hall of Fame Award for the Best Religious Book of 1999 for En El Santuario del Alma (The Sanctuary of the Soul) by Paramahansa Yogananda, released in Spanish in November. SRF also won the Benjamin Franklin Award for the New Age (Metaphysics/ Spirituality) category for Yogananda's Inner Peace. And new Crossroad marketing and sales coordinator Althea Watson was pleased with the Independent Publisher Book Award for Kathy Coffey's Dancing in the Margins: Meditations for People Who Struggle with Their Churches, released last summer.
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