Updates in the Publishing Industry brought to you by Diana

Recently some good news is circulating through the online sites that report on the CBA market. I thought I would share some of the recently posted info that I found interesting and encouraging.


The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA), www.ecpa.org, is an international non-profit trade organization, comprised of over 150 member companies worldwide, representing a combined revenue of nearly $2 billion. Founded in 1974, ECPA is dedicated to serving the Christian publishing industry through equipping its members through cutting-edge technology, meaningful data, dynamic educational opportunity and unprecedented access to markets.

They recently announced some great news for Christian Publishing as well as a list of the Retailers Choice Awards winners for 2010 in their newsletter Rush to Press.

Phoenix, Arizona—Christian publishers have reported increased sales for the month of March over the same month last year and are also showing an increase in net sales (Sales-Returns) for the first three months of 2010. The month of March saw a gross sales increase of just over 1% and a net sales increase of 8% for March and 2% for the quarter. This is the first time the group has seen a positive change in net sales in over a year.

The 2010 winners were:

BOOKS/BIBLES

• Audio: The Love Dare, Stephen Kendrick and Alex Kendrick (Brilliance Audio)
• Auto/Biography: Paul Harvey’s America, Stephen Mansfield and David A. Holland (Tyndale House Publishers)
• Bible Reference/Study: The Names of God, Ann Spangler (Zondervan)
• Bible (Devotional & Study): Couples’ Devotional Bible, NIV (Zondervan)
  
• Bible (General): Bloom Collection (Zondervan)
• Catholic/Liturgical: The Liturgical Year, Joan Chittister (Thomas Nelson)
• Children’s Fiction: The Berenstain Bears Give Thanks, Jan & Mike Berenstain (Zonderkidz)
• Children’s Nonfiction: The VeggieTales Bible, NIV (Zonderkidz)
• Christian Education: Christian History Made Easy, Timothy Paul Jones, Ph.D. (Rose Publishing)
• Christian Living (For this category only, we have two winners):

  Living With Confidence in a Chaotic World, Dr. David Jeremiah (Thomas Nelson)

  Forgotten God, Francis Chan with Danae Yankoski (David C. Cook)

• Church & Culture: 2012, the Bible and the End of the World, Mark Hitchcock (Harvest House Publishers)
• Evangelism: Evidence for the Resurrection, Josh and Sean McDowell (Regal Books)
  
• Fiction (General): The Missing, Beverly Lewis (Baker Publishing Group)
  
• Fiction (Mystery & Suspense): Green, Ted Dekker (Thomas Nelson)
  
• Fiction (Women’s): A Lineage of Grace, Francine Rivers (Tyndale House Publishers)
• Health and Fitness: Eat This and Live!, Don Colbert, MD (Strang Book Group)
• Personal Growth/Prayer: Uncommon, Tony Dungy with Nathan Whitaker (Tyndale House Publishers)
• Relationships: The Love Dare Day by Day, Stephen Kendrick and Alex Kendrick (B&H Publishing Group)
• Social Issues: Inside the Revolution, Joel C. Rosenberg (Tyndale House Publishers)
• Women’s Nonfiction: His Princess Bride, Sheri Rose Shepherd (Baker Publishing Group)
• Youth/Teen: A Young Woman’s Guide to Making Right Choices, Elizabeth George (Harvest House Publishers)
  

GIFTS

• General Gift Product: Willow Tree: Close to Me, Susan Lordi (Demdaco)
• Gift Book: Jesus Lives, Sarah Young (Thomas Nelson)
• Wall Décor: Moments of Faith Sculpture Plaque Eagle #11700 (Lighthouse Christian Products)
  

OTHER

• Backlist: Love & Respect, Dr. Emerson Eggerichs (Thomas Nelson)
• Children’s Media: Saint Nicholas—A Story of Joyful Giving DVD, VeggieTales (Big Idea)
• DVD/Video: Book/Bible Study: Crazy Love, Francis Chan (David C. Cook)
• DVD/Video: Movie: Fireproof (Provident Films)
• Marketing/Promotion Campaign: Share the Good News of Christmas (Crossway)
• Music: Come Alive, Mark Schultz (Word Entertainment)
• Spanish: Santa Biblia de studio arquelogica, NVI (Zondervan)
• Vacation Bible School: High Seas Expedition (Group Publishing)
  

Publishing Trends wrote:

Annette Tonti, CEO of mobile publisher MoFuse, predicted that 2% of the U.S. population will own Kindles by 2013, with 7.5 million active Kindles and $813 million in annual Kindle e-book revenues. But iPhone apps are the subject of most of the excitement and innovation in the mobile app world, even though the number of book-related apps is currently dwarfed by those of e-books on single-use reading devices.

The number of Book apps available in the iTunes Store (27,235) eclipsed that of other kinds of apps for the first time last month, reported app research company Mobclix. But according to a recent report by Dutch research firm Distimo, books still make up less than 5% of the apps actually downloaded.

Odds and Ends of Information:

A February 2009 Compete.com study found that Twitter is the third largest social-networking site, after Facebook and MySpace. Many people and companies have ventured their ways on in the past year; it was ranked #22 in 2008. It has nearly six million users and 55 million monthly visits. Meanwhile, people are spending less time on MySpace and visiting it less often, as Twitter use surges.

In a February Abrams Research Social Media Survey of “over 200 social media leaders” from the U.S. and Canada,” 40% of respondents chose Twitter as the #1 social media service for businesses, with LinkedIn at a distant second. One survey respondent described Twitter as “the quickest way I’ve seen to spread information virally to a wide scope of people attached in a lot of random ways,” while another said it’s the “best way to bridge the personal-professional gap.

Personal Note:

I recently set up a Twitter account but have only tweeted a few times. I am wanting to make sure that I have something worth Tweeting about.After reading a few articles last evening, I need to just dive in and get started. Come join me there. We will give each other Grace as we learn together the best ways to use this network tool.

Have a nice day. I pray you all are enjoying Spring in your part of the world.
From my heart to yours,
Diana