Everyone in publishing knows that sales of religion books have boomed over the past decade. Even government pundits confirmed this last year when the NEA released the much-ballyhooed Reading at Risk report, which announced that almost no one is reading poetry or fiction, but plenty of people are still reading religion.
And yet... in the Christian market, it seems that some folks are doing more reading, or at least more buying, than others. According to the Gallup Organization, evangelicals make up about 21% of the U.S. population and Catholics about 25%, but a look at the bestseller lists of PW,the New York Times and other general-market sources confirms that many more evangelical Christian books are being sold than those published for Catholics, Episcopalians, Lutherans and other liturgy-oriented Christians.
John P. Koize, associate director of marketing and sales at St. Anthony Messenger Press, says that though "there have not been systematic studies" of the disparities between evangelical and Catholic book-purchasing habits, "anecdotally it is safe to say that all Catholic publishers" believe that Catholics purchase fewer religion books than their evangelical cousins. Who can recall the last time a Catholic book stayed on the general bestseller lists for weeks numbering in the triple digits? "Part of the success behind The Purpose-Driven Life is that evangelical churches were very strongly supportive of the book—they did workshops and so forth," Koize says. "We don't have anything comparable in the Catholic market, where the institutional church has gotten behind one particular book and one particular author and offered that kind of support."
Why? The answer is in part historical and theological. Evangelicals have emphasized preaching, Bible study, the Word. Sometimes a Protestant church, with parishioners faithfully scribbling down sermon notes in their pew Bibles, can look as much like a lecture hall as a house of worship. The theological emphasis on word and study, on reading and understanding Scripture for one's self, has blossomed into an evangelical proclivity for religion-related reading. Mickey Maudlin, executive editor of Harper San Francisco, explains, "Protestantism has been much more of a word-based spirituality, and reading has always been a central component of Protestant spirituality. Catholic spirituality has been more centered on practice—going to church, going to confession, saying your prayers. Protestants developed a huge program of book publishing and distribution and sales, whereas Catholic churches did not make book publishing a priority." Brazos Books editor and co-founder Rodney Clapp notes that evangelicals may buy more religion books because "reading is an individual activity and evangelicalism is a more individualistic religion."
It's also worth noting that evangelicals have always been known for their entrepreneurialism. Evangelicals' emphasis on evangelism has created a religious culture in which people are often trying to promote—even sell—their faith, and to accomplish this, have developed a sophisticated machinery of book publishing and distribution that far outstrips the Catholic publishing world. And unlike their evangelical counterparts, Catholic bookstores have yet to band together in any purposeful way. CBA was formed in 1953, but it was only a few years ago that a Catholic booksellers association began to be formed, and it is still a nascent organization.
Catholic priests also have had a greater role—as mediators, interpreters, spiritual guides, confessors—than most Protestant clergy. The Catholic respect for authority and tradition may discourage the independent seeking and searching that goes hand—in-hand with religious reading. But today, that deferential clericalism is being challenged in American Catholic churches. Especially after the pedophilia scandals, many commentators see greater lay involvement in American Catholic parishes. And, as Andrew Yankech, director of marketing at Catholic publisher ACTA Publications, says, "With that greater lay involvement will come a greater desire for Catholic laity to read about the Bible and spirituality,"—that is, to figure out their spiritual lives for themselves. ACTA has launched a series, The American Catholic Experience, that taps into a greater interest in the lives of Catholic laypeople. The series offers spiritual memoirs of people in the pew, including The Spiritual Apprenticeship of a Curious Catholic by trial lawyer Jerry Hurtubise and Finding My Way in a Grace-Filled World by William L. Droel.
Koize adds that Protestant ministers are more comfortable hawking books than their Catholic counterparts. "Leadership in the evangelical market tends to be a little more direct in promoting authors and books. It is not unusual in Protestant churches for a minister to hold up a book during a sermon and say: 'You should all read this book.' " Jeremy Langford, editorial director of Sheed & Ward, echoes the point: "In evangelical churches, pastors are not afraid to recommend books to the congregation, and you rarely hear a Catholic priest recommend a book from the pulpit."
No one suspects that Catholics and other liturgical Christians buy fewer books per se, just that they buy fewer religion titles. As Paraclete Press acquisitions editor Lil Copan explains, "Though CBA readers have had a long tradition of buying mainly in CBA stores, the liturgical reader has always been just as likely to walk into an independent or a Barnes & Noble. Once they are in that bookstore, liturgical Christians may not be focused only on the religion/spirituality aisles. I have not one single fact, percentage point or overheard comment to back this up, but have observed that liturgical readers will be more likely to pick up a literary novel, a book of historical note or a book on faith formation, with no sense of pressure that they need to read something religious or even something that is considered 'church-approved' and orthodox." Copan adds that your typical CBA reader is more likely to stick within "a more narrow canon of approved Christian books."
What's the solution?
The problem may not be only with how publishers of Catholic books are promoting and selling their titles, but also with what is being published. Crossroad Publishing Company senior editor Roy Carlisle notes that although his market research shows that about 80% of books are bought by women, in the Catholic world almost all of the books have been written by men. In response, Carlisle is developing a line of books by Catholic women for Catholic women, called the When... series. When Women Pray: Our Ordinary Stories of Extraordinary Graceby Lyn Doucet and Robin Hebert was warmly received when it was published in December. "Early sales are strong and it looks like about 10,000 for the year if this keeps up." In the fall, Crossroad will release When People Grieveby Paula D'Arcy. Under contract are When God Walks Away by Kay McKee and When Women Build the Kingdom by Leslie Williams; more ideas are in the works.
ACTA Publications focuses on niche markets and on books that are more self-help—oriented—a category that has been strong for evangelical publishers but not mined in as determined a way by Catholic houses. ACTA's grief and bereavement line features two new titles this month: Overcoming Grief: Joining and Participating in Bereavement Support Groups by attorney John Munday, whose stepdaughter was murdered, and Holy Vulnerability: A Spiritual Path for Those with Cancerby Rev. Donna Schaper, a UCC minister who is a breast cancer survivor.
Joe Durepos, senior acquisitions editor at Loyola Press, is developing lines in two different directions. He is looking for younger, new writers like Matthew Lickona (Swimming with Scapulars) who can "unleash the Catholic faith and offer a new perspective." At the same time, Durepos senses that Catholic readers want more practical take-away. People are busy, he says, and approach a book wondering, "How is this going to change my life? How am I going to be a better parent?" Durepos has done well with supplemental study-guides, and he is considering developing products that are shorter, smaller, less expensive. "People might want to read pamphlets. We've got to think beyond just books."
There are other responses as well. For example, the Catholic Book Publishers Association launched Catholics Read (www.catholicsread.org) a year and a half ago. Modeled loosely on the One Book, One City program, Catholics Read is designed to help readers navigate the sea of new books by recommending a few titles from each participating CBPA house. In its original conception, Catholics Read would choose three books of the Bible each year, and invite publishers to recommend titles that related to the selected biblical books. The hope, says ACTA's Yankech, is twofold: that Catholics will be encouraged to read the Bible, and that Catholics Read will be able to offer resources to help in Bible study. There is, says Yankech, "a service aspect, but of course we also hope to increase sales of books that will help people study the Bible."
At the Religious Booksellers Trade Exhibit—the convention for Catholic and other liturgical booksellers held each spring just before BEA—Catholic publishers will meet this year to discuss a revamped Catholics Read program. In its new incarnation, Catholics Read will not only promote books related to strictly biblical topics, but will also give publishers a chance to recommend general titles and, possibly, children's titles. Currently the information is conveyed to consumers principally through the Catholics Read Web site. "It is hard to measure the exact impact" of the program, says Yankech, "but when CBPA goes to conferences, there has been quite a bit of evidence that parishes and families are finding the program useful. As more families are connected to the Internet, we will see the Web play a larger and larger part in marketing Catholic books," he says.
The way the books are sold will also have to figure into the equation. Trace Murphy, editorial director of Doubleday, which has a strong Catholic emphasis in its list, has observed that most of his liturgical books are sold through independent religious bookstores and direct sales via dioceses. Still, he notes, online sales of Doubleday's liturgical titles have "remained steady," and he predicts that "the chains are getting better and better. As Borders gives more focus to its religion section, you'll see the chains taking a bigger role."
HSF's Mickey Maudlin also finds hope in the changing landscape of book sales. He points out that more and more shoppers are buying books at chains, online, even at Sam's Club—everywhere but traditional Christian stores. "If you buy religious books in these new venues, what's 'Catholic' and what's 'Protestant' becomes less important, because chain bookstores don't make that distinction. A Year with John Paul II [Jan.] will be sold right next to A Year with C.S. Lewis."
