In its first full year of operation, Integrity Publishers, the book publishing division of Integrity Media, posted sales of $8.2 million, double the $4.1 million generated in 2002 when the company's first list debuted in the fall. Publishing division president Byron Williamson said he was pleased with the progress the company made in 2003 and was expecting another good year in 2004. In addition to solid sales through Christian bookstores, Williamson said general bookstores and mass merchandisers "have been very open to our product."
Sales in 2003 were led by Pat Robertson's The Ten Offenses, which now has 400,000 copies in print, and The Yada Yada Prayer Group by Neta Jackson, with 100,000 copies in print. The first product in Integrity's family line, Memory Bible, also did well last year, selling 65,000 copies; Memory Bible was fully illustrated and came packaged with two CDs. More book and media packages are planned for this year, Williamson said.
Integrity had a strong first quarter, Williamson said, driven by the March publication of It's Not About Me, Integrity's first book by bestselling author Max Lucado. Released in March, the book has 430,000 copies in print. His Passion, a devotional, has 175,000 copies in print, while What to Do When You Don't Know What to Do has 75,000 copies in print. Williamson is expecting a good response to The Supremes, a book by Robertson about the Supreme Court set for release in August. A tentative first printing of 200,000 copies has been set. Williamson told PW he expects total sales for 2004 to be "well north" of $10 million.
