Crossing
Over
Lines Between
the Christian and Trade Markets Continue to Blur With
Growth on All Fronts
FROM PUBLISHING
TRENDS (MAY 2005)
As the entire world raptly
parses the papacy, smack in the middle of an overtly
faith based presidency, it should come as no surprise
that religious books have achieved double-digit growth
every month for the past few years. Evangelical viewpoints
in particular have surged into the mainstream. As Christian
based books, movies and other media have found their
way into the mass market, the once solid barrier dividing
Christian audiences and their mainstream counterparts
is eroding, allowing for a new generation of crossover
successes to take their place. After years of trying
to break into the CBA market, major trade publishing
houses are developing their own Christian divisions
(eg. Warner Faith), as well as signing authors
(e.g. Penguin, S&S, Warner Books,
HarperCollins). Similarly, religious books, once
relegated to CBA markets, have been steadily moving
into trade, and now comprise 11 percent of trade sales,
bringing in $1.9 billion dollars annually. And it isn’t
just a one-way street: Penguin recently signed a multi-million
dollar deal with Strang Communications for distribution
into CBA stores, thereby closing the distribution circle.
And author and editor Greg Tobin notes that the
CBA seems more open to Catholic titles - “an encouraging
economic ecumenism.”
Since 1992, the religious marketplace
has seen a compound growth rate of 14.5%, over double
that of adult net sales, exploding by 50% between 2002
and 2003 alone. For the general public, references to
Christian bestsellers usually evoke inspirational titles
(Rick Warren's The Purpose Driven Life),
apocalyptic adventures (Jerry Jenkins' and Tim
LaHaye's Left Behind series) or - if one
is a little more old school - historical romance novels
(Janette Oke's multiple variations on the sweet-farm-girl-meets-chaste-hunky-preacher
theme) but such cornerstones of the Christian literary
marketplace are only the tip of the evangelical iceberg
- well known figureheads at the crest of a wave that
is spilling out of the CBA and onto the banks of popular
culture both here, and - increasingly - abroad.
CBA
Stores Torn Asunder
"Five
years ago, the assortment of Christian titles that a
general market retailer carried would have been limited
to key bestsellers and a couple of Bibles," Jay Echternach
Senior Director of Sales at Multnomah Books,
said. "Due to demand for these products now, those same
retailers are carrying assortments that rival a small
Christian bookstore."
The mass-marketization
of the industry can be traced back to the mid-1990's
when Christian publishers began forging relationships
with big box stores like WalMart and Costco.
Today, these stores are invaluable resources for an
increasingly sophisticated market. So much so, that
a recent search for books on WalMart.com using
the keyword "Christianity" came up with 60,000+ hits.
Because of this increased distribution in big box and
mass-merch stores "we've seen hemorrhaging in the CBA,"
Rolf Zettersten, Publisher of Warner Faith,
said. "I've been in meetings with retailers who have
said, 'we're going after the CBA market' and I think
it's a deliberate and calculated business move."
As sales
at independent Christian stores decline, and business
disperses, they are compensating by providing more of
what big-box and mass-market chains don't - ancillary
products like key chains, bible covers, screen savers,
and a slew of other inspirational trinkets. According
to Christianity Today, books now account for
about 25% of sales in CBA stores, while ancillary products
account for upwards of 70%, with specialty gifts and
music leading the way. "The real tension," Andy Butcher,
editor of Christian Retailing explained, "is
between the Christian retailers and the Christian publishers.
You know it's 'Great news! Christian books are selling
at WalMart', and 'Bad news! Christian books are selling
at WalMart. Christian retailers want to see their category
sell as broadly as possible, but they don't want to
hurt their own sales either."
Still,
as with the ABA, Christian publishers insist that the
CBA plays an important role in sales. "CBA stores are
critical to our success, and to the health of our backlist,"
said Stephen Cobb, President and Publisher of
WaterBrook Press, a division of Random House.
"They will carry many more of our core titles than a
general market chain or big box store." Jenny Baumgartner,
fiction acquisitions editor at WestBow Press
(Thomas Nelson) says, "The Christian stores can
hand sell books, getting to know their customer's interests,
while also speaking to the Christianity in the books.
We sell about 50/50 - CBA to ABA/mass."
According
to Scott Bolinder, Executive VP and Publisher,
Zondervan's sales also showed a 50/50 split between
CBA and ABA/mass/on-line, while Thomas Nelson's 2004
annual report showed a slightly different breakdown
with a third of its $222 million income ($74 million)
coming from CBA stores, while combined ABA and mass
market sales came to $63 million.
Although
most agree that CBA stores will continue to lose business
to mass-market retailers, they agree that one of the
largest remaining avenues for growth for Christian independents
is the opportunity to actively pursue sales through
churches and individual pastors. Nancy Guthrie,
CBA Media Relations, said, "Stores are returning to
focus on church customers, finding innovative ways to
reach the average person who sits in a pew." Such an
angle may prove to become more lucrative as the congregations
of popular pastors become stadium rather than basement
sized. Many of the Christian best-selling authors, like
Rick Warren and Max Lucado, are pastors themselves,
and have an extensive reach into both their in-person
congregations (16,000 show up each week, with over 50,000
on the Saddleback Church roster for Warren, and
3,500 congregants appear each week at Lucado's Oak
Hills Church) as well as the hordes that log on
daily to their stylish websites.
"Prairie
Romances In Deepest Africa"
Another
burgeoning avenue for growth is international sales.
At the moment according to Butcher, "US based Christian
publishing tends to dominate," with mainly niche fiction
along with select Christian chick-lit titles selling
abroad, primarily in Europe. "Prairie romances in deepest
Africa don't go down particularly well," he added.
But as
the industry moves from the tame romances of Janette
Oke to the edgier contemporary fiction of Melodie
Carlson, international audiences seem to be responding.
Bolinder highlighted increased international and Hispanic
market sales as a consumer trend that will have an impact
on growth in Christian publishing over the next five
years.
Tyndale
Rights Director Dan Balow explained that there
are two parts to this growth: "First, the market for
Christian books in areas where we export them is growing
faster than in the US. There are a couple of factors
at work - increased interest in Christian books and
the weakness of the US dollar make our products more
competitive." He continued, "Second, in virtually all
continents, sales are growing faster than the US. Spanish,
Portuguese (Brazil), and simplified Chinese are seeing
very healthy growth. For exports, South Africa, Australia,
New Zealand, Canada, UK, and even Nigeria are growing
quite fast."
Bolinder
agreed, and added India to the list. Mirroring domestic
trends, Christian publishers are selling into both trade
and religious markets abroad. "We are seeing some secular
general market publishers taking some [religious] books
- it is happening in select countries - South Africa
and Australia are particularly big," Zettersten said,
"We just got a deal yesterday from Spain." Bolinder
noted that the different markets are usually dictated
by language, "For English titles, we sell through Christian
distributors and trade distributors depending on the
channel of distribution - much like we do in North America,"
he said. "When we sell foreign language rights, it is
most often to a Christian publisher."
One foreign
scout suggested that if Christian literature is growing
abroad, it is only due to the fact that people are reading
it for a behind-the-scenes-what-the-hell-are-those-Americans-thinking
look into our increasingly faith based activities. "People
think that Americans are so crazy, so fundamentalist,"
Elizabeth Gold, a Senior Editor at Guideposts,
added. "They want to find out what it's all about."
Haven't
had enough? E-mail us at: info@mpi-us.com
and say, "I want to know more about Crossing Over!"
©2005
Publishing Trends
