The elevation of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger last week to Pope Benedict XVI also gave San Francisco's Ignatius Press an unprecendented business opportunity. Ignatius has long been the publisher of Ratzinger's extensive backlist—22 titles—and was preparing for a new release when word of Ratzinger's election as pope came.
Ignatius was founded by Fr. Joseph Fessio, who was a student of Cardinal Ratzinger's in Germany in the 1970s. Fessio was urged to open the company by Hans Urs von Balthasar, a Catholic theologian who founded the German house Johannes Verlag to publish the work of contemporary German Catholic theologians. Balthasar saw the creation of Ignatius as a way to get their works, including Ratzinger's, into the U.S.
"It's been wild here. Our printer is groaning and working around the clock," said Anthony Ryan, marketing director for Ignatius.
As soon as the new pope was announced, Ryan and his staff began trying to decide which Ratzinger books might draw the most interest from the public, and which to reprint. As of April 20, Ryan was ordering 15,000 copies each of God and the World; Milestones (the new pope's 1977 autobiography); God Is Near Us; and Truth and Tolerance, plus a 12,000-copy order for Salt of the Earth. Also, The Ratzinger Report, Introduction to Christianity and Called to Communion will each have 10,000-copy reprintings, and five other books will have runs from 5,000 to 8,000 copies. Ryan has also upped the print run for Ratzinger's new book, Pilgrim Fellowship of Faith, from 7,000 to 15,000. "And all of these numbers will probably go up," Ryan said. With no time to do new covers, Ignatius will affix each with a gold sticker reading simply: "Pope Benedict XVI."
With 40 employees and about 900 titles on its backlist, Ignatius—which usually publishes about 50 titles per year—is one of the largest distributors of Catholic books, films, music and magazines in the U.S. Midpoint Trade Books reps the company to the general trade, but about 70% of Ignatius's business—at least until now—has been in the Catholic market, to Catholic groups and organizations, religious bookstores, colleges and universities, schools and parishes. Its recent top sellers include The Da Vinci Hoax ("closing in on 100,000 sold," said Ryan), Salvation Is from the Jews,Praying to Our Lord Jesus Christ and Rome Sweet Rome ("our evergreen"). The press also stands out as a publisher of popular Catholic fiction with its Children of the Last Days series by Michael O'Brien. Father Elijah(1996) the first book in the series, has sold 75,000 copies; the sixth and final book, Sophia House, was released last month. "We'd like to do more Catholic fiction, but it's hard to find writers as good as Michael," Ryan said.
The demand for its Ratzinger backlist also has changed Ignatius's BEA plans. "We don't go every year and hadn't planned to this year, but we will take some space with Midpoint," Ryan said.
