July 2009
Monthly Archive
July 27, 2009
Posted by Phil Groom under
People News | Tags:
Bookshop Job |
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Nick Lord writes:
Dear Phil,
I worked at SPCK London for 3 years alongside Mark Spearing. After leaving last year I took up the post of Branch Manager of BOOKS Plus Christian Bookshop in Gloucestershire Royal Hospital. I am now leaving this post.
I was wondering if it is possible, through the wonder of facebook, to let any people related to SPCK know that this job is now available. I am sure that there may well be a few ex-staff who might be looking for a job in a Christian Bookshop. I have very much enjoyed my time here and benefitted immensely from all that I learned during my time at SPCK.
If anyone would like any information they are welcome to email me: [email address removed as an anti-spam measure: see the BOOKS Plus website or contact Nick via facebook]
Best Wishes,
Nick Lord
July 23, 2009
They’re there in every church, in every community, amongst your customers. Not aliens: abused women; but all too often they’re treated like aliens if not like animals. Most are silent: they’ve been beaten into silence, some verbally, some physically; but whether verbal or physical, it’s still abuse; and all too often, instead of becoming a place of refuge and safety for them, churches have become silent partners in their abuse, havens for their abusers.
This book by Barbara Roberts breaks that silence and helps to break down some of the barriers that much Christian teaching and thinking has placed in the way of these women, trapping them in the prisons of their abusive marriages. In the author’s own words, from her post A Hot Potato:
Not Under Bondage differs from other Christian books on divorce in that it focuses primarily on divorce for domestic abuse. It explains the scriptural dilemmas of abuse victims, carefully examines the scriptures and scholarly research, and shows how the Bible sets victims of abuse free from bondage and guilt.
The book is now available to order from STL UK (albeit not actually in stock as I write) or can be ordered direct from the author herself, whose trade terms include an especially enlightened returns policy (pdf, 96kb). My experience at LST, however, suggests that you’re unlikely to need to make use of that policy: my stock has all sold through and I fully expect to be restocking for the autumn term. The book addresses an important topic that we cannot afford to ignore.
Previous Posts (most recent first)
More reviews and resources can be found on the Not Under Bondage website.
July 21, 2009
Today, July 21st, marks a significant milestone in the history of reporting on the former SPCK Bookshops: it’s exactly one year on to the day when, if J Mark Brewer had had his way, that reporting would have not only ceased but would have been wiped out completely.
Thanks to the encouragement, help and support of many friends who stood by me when Mr Brewer breathed his threats of legal action against Dave Walker, myself and others, that didn’t happen: the reporting and scrutiny not only continued, it intensified.
Interim Manager's Notice - "No entry to this building is permitted..."
We are now at a point where we see the tables comprehensively turned on Mr Brewer: he himself has been issued with an effective ‘Cease and Desist’ order by the Charity Commission, who have taken over the St Stephen the Great Trust and seized control of the shops, as per the notice shown here, which has been placed in former SPCK/SSG bookshop doorways up and down the country.
More info and further reflections here: Cease and Desist: One Year On
July 20, 2009
Posted by Phil Groom under
Christian Bookshops,
Christian Publishers | Tags:
Bookselling,
Christian,
Christian Book Trade,
Christianity,
facebook,
Publishing,
Religion and Spirituality,
Shopping,
Social Media,
Trade |
[23] Comments
Last Updated August 31, 2010
As more and more of us are connecting with our customers and one another via facebook, I figured it was about time to compile an index. If your company is on facebook but not listed here, shout out and I’ll update the list; and if you’re not there yet, why not? There are paid options available but a basic presence is free, easy to use and a great way to keep up with your customers and colleagues.
Some of us have set up groups, others have created pages, profiles and/or events: which way did you go and why? Which would you say has proved most effective in reaching your customers? If you’re about to start out on facebook and are not sure which way to go, check out the resources section below.
If you’ve got a tale to tell of how using facebook has helped — or hindered — your company, whether by connecting with your customers or suppliers or in some other way, please leave a comment. Anyone else too, for that matter: it’s an open book, waiting to be written, and we’re all in it together.
Trade Groups
Bookshops/Retailers | Facebook Search: Christian Bookshop
What happened to Wesley Owen? Since last year’s demise of their parent company, IBS-STL UK, most branches of Wesley Owen have reopened under the Living Oasis banner: listed above.
Looking for Christian bookshops in the USA? Search for Christian Bookstore.
Publishers/Suppliers
Others
Finally, a word to the wise: if you haven’t set up your own facebook group or page yet, the very least you should do is run a facebook search for your company name to find out what others are saying about you…
Resources
Where Next?
July 19, 2009
But not necessarily in that order: after all, this is the Christian book trade — sorry, Christian retail — and today is Sunday, a day of rest … and frivolity. Because we were not made for the Sabbath, the Sabbath was made for us, and anyone who wants to argue the toss on that can take it up with the man upstairs.
Eyes on Jesus first then. Andrew Lacey writes:
Keep your eyes on Jesus
While we are on the subject of the ‘crass commercialisation of Christianity’ I thought you might appreciate these images – if Phil can get them posted somewhere in the same area! Thanks to Jackie for being the ‘hand model’ for these wonderful/dreadful pens loudly declaring ‘Keep your eyes on Jesus’- and when appropriately squeezed the eyes POP OUT OF THE HEAD! Yoh! Now that is really crass! If you contact me after hours, I can quietly whisper to you the name of the company they came in from……Hang on – they’re actually IN my shop! Who ordered them? Who authorised them? Who has been having fun without my permission?!
Seriously, there are major issues here, and, for what it’s worth, I actually had an article half written not long after I started in ‘The Trade’ expressing my concern about some of these aspects of the trade. I never completed it because I sensed my own ‘complicity’ in the whole process. After all, I AM the guy who buys the sweets, who sells the poppy-out-eyes pens and groans at the proliferation of Bibles – but still populates the shelf with them. (By the way – is anyone else having serious problems getting black bonded leather Bibles – of most translations? – we are really struggling!!)
In fairness to ourselves, there is a path to tread between the ‘crass commercialisation’ and the genuine urge to be creative – and have a bit of fun! And it is difficult to get it right. In the same way that very few (in a previous conversation here) who had a desire to censor out ‘The Shack’, there are probably very few managers out there who would be supportive of a ‘Product Police’. Ultimately, it is the customer who will do that- and they are often more discerning than we realise.
That said, I do agree with your concern about many of these aspects, and really do take these buying issues pretty seriously. Now, I must go & find out who ordered the poppy-eyed pens……!
Feet on the ball. We’ve had one more twitter response:
"gimmick idea but lovely graphic design"
And finally, for now, tongue firmly in cheek but laughter unrestrained, from our USA correspondent:
Scripture Candy - Reaching the world one piece at a time
It’s the shirt I love: must get one. The dentists must be doing a roaring trade, methinks…
… and if you’re wondering where next, check out Geez magazine: Confessions of a Christian-ish retailer
July 17, 2009
Neil Batty, purveyor of Scripture Candy and other fine Christian novelties, requested an opinion on another product he hopes to start bouncing around here in the UK: the Mission Ball.
Being a complete ignoramus when it comes to anything football related (tennis, however, I understand perfectly) I thought what better way to garner feedback than via twitter and facebook? I duly tweeted:
Here's an idea to kick around...
Replies came in thick and fast from deiknuo, krismorris and iRev on twitter…
The Mission Ball - twitter replies
… and a couple of longer replies came in on facebook:
Facebook responses to the Mission Ball
My thanks to all who replied. Hardly a comprehensive or scientific survey, of course, but I think the response could safely be summarised as less than enthusiastic.
Any more for any more?
July 16, 2009
And so we move from the ridiculous to the sublime: a special edition Pink Ribbon Bible for breast cancer sufferers, courtesy of those canny marketeers at HarperCollins.
I’ve blogged this topic before. No, not breast cancer: Bibles. Blue Bibles, pink Bibles, rainbow hued Bibles, Bibles for banana lovers, Bibles for cat lovers and mouse haters and Bibles printed on recycled paper for those who value the environment more than high quality print. No doubt there are even Bibles especially designed for balancing on your nose at fancy dress parties so that when the bouncers ask what you’ve come as you can say, “God knows.” Don’t worry, it’s late at night and my mind is running wild…
Seriously, do we need this? When does use of the Bible become abuse of the Bible as publishers set out to exploit every human weakness simply to sell another Bible? Or is this a genuine attempt by HarperCollins to meet a sector of the community where they are? Not a commercial decision, then, but one born out an honest desire to reach people with the words of eternal life? Except I look at the cover of that Bible and see those immortal words, Limited Edition: no, this isn’t about making the Bible available, it’s about making the most from a sales pitch targeted towards a particularly vulnerable group of people.
Had it been about making the Bible more accessible, about highlighting its relevance to their needs then yes, in this case, I think that I could actually see it. I’ve lost friends and family to cancer. I have friends who’ve had mastectomies and live with the constant fear of their cancer recurring. Would or could a special — special, not limited — edition Bible have brought or bring them some comfort?
But in the meantime as we seek to serve more and more niche markets with niche products, millions of people remain without the Bible in their own language, and if but a fraction of the investment made by publishers such as HarperCollins in these fancy dress accessory styled Bibles were to be made in Wycliffe’s Bible translation projects then, perhaps, some real light would begin to shine in humanity’s darkness.
Now, if you haven’t already done so, go read Alicia Cohn’s Breast Cancer and the Bible for even more questions; and as for beating breast cancer — and other forms of cancer — there are surely better ways than branding (or brandishing!) the Bible: run10k.org for one amongst many.
July 15, 2009
Tomas
James Palumbo
ISBN 9780704371583 (0704371588)
Quartet Books, 2009
£10
Category: Fiction
Subcategory: General
Reviewed by: Phil Groom
On Monday I read the opening pages of this book. I read them whilst visiting Foyles, St Pancras Station, after seeing my wife off on a train.
It’s a peculiar book and, judging by the foreword, the author has delusions of grandeur, delusions no doubt fed by the advertising on London Underground — possibly elsewhere too, but the tube is where I saw it and why I picked it up. Of this, then, we can be sure: advertising attracts attention; it triggered this review; but in my case, at least, it did not generate a sale.
It failed at this crucial point precisely because Foyles gave me the opportunity to get my hands on a copy, flick through it, and decide that this was not something I wanted to spend my hard-earned cash on.
The opening scenes — more like movie outtakes than chapters — introduce us to Tomas, a sociopathic young man who, in the first scene, gratuitously shoots up a nightclub with a submachine gun; then, in the next, intentionally hires a pretentious, outsize sunbed, buys champagne and performs a naked ‘dance’ besides a swimming pool. A tad bizarre, to say the least.
I do not know where Tomas goes or what he does after that. Whilst his antics are strangely compelling, I found that I did not wish to delve any further into the workings of either the author’s or Tomas’ mind: there are more than enough people blogging humanity’s dysfunctions and dysphorias to satisfy any cravings I might have to explore such areas; and their writing is in many cases on a par with Palumbo’s if not better.
So from me, it’s farewell to Tomas. I hope that neither you nor I ever have the misfortune to meet him — a point that his author will no doubt take as high praise; to him I say, “You’re welcome.”
The book is not badly written: I am not saying do not buy it; but where Rory Bremner describes it as “either mad or genius or both” I would say that the madness prevails — I did not detect any hidden genius lurking behind the pages I read.
What I did rediscover, however, is the importance of bricks and mortar bookshops like Foyles that give us the chance to peruse a book before making our buying decisions.
If, heaven forbid, we ever reach the point where competition from online sellers such as Amazon or Eden does put the rest of us out of business, the world of bookselling — I dare say the world itself — will be a much poorer place as we are placed at the mercy of the spin doctors to inform those buying decisions… and yes, irony of ironies, those are Amazon and Eden affiliate links included in this review: if, after all I’ve said, you do still wish to buy this book, and wish to do so online, please use them. Thank you.
Phil Groom, July 2009
Phil Groom is this site’s Webmaster and Reviews Editor. He’s a regular contributor to Christian Marketplace magazine and is the manager of London School of Theology Books & Resources. Any opinions expressed here are personal and should not be taken as representing the views of London School of Theology or of any other group or organisation.
Official Website: tomas-book.com
Quartet Books | Order from www.christianbookshops.org
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July 9, 2009
New from Testamints
When products like this appear I am embarrassed to be Christian retailer. I could, I suppose, walk by on the other side or look the other way and claim that as a specialist in academic theology this has nothing to do with me — but in truth it is that very theology that cries out against the crassness.
Let me put this very simply: it takes more than sticking a Bible verse on something to make it a Christian product; and tacking Bible verses onto packets of chewing gum does not make them ‘fit for purpose’ — except, perhaps, to be spat out in disgust, as Christ is depicted by St John of the Apocalypse, spitting out the luke-warm water of shallow commitment. But please don’t spit it out onto the pavement: the last thing I want is this stuff stuck to my sole to then be trampled into someone else’s carpet (that’s what’s known as a spit infinitive, by the way).
And stuff like this does stick: it sticks to our souls, tarnishes our spirits, contaminates and undermines this entire once-glorious enterprise for which Christ died. The man of sorrows weeps once more as the Good News, the message of a love stronger than death, of lives transformed, is reduced to Bible verses on packets of bubble gum.
What makes it worse is the source: STL. Send the Light. True, it’s STL USA, but is not STL now one single, global corporation combined with IBS, busily rebranding itself as Biblica?
What next, I wonder? Christian-branded toilet paper with a Bible verse on every sheet and the strapline, “Now you don’t need to wash your hands afterwards.”
Something deep in the heart of this particular Christian just died.
New from Testamints
Testamints Sugar-free Gum is now available in a completely redesigned package in two best-selling flavors: peppermint and spearmint.
Testamints has been providing encouragement to Christians from all walks of life since 1998, and the sugar-free gum packs have been proven best-sellers at the checkout counter since their initial introduction.
Each package contains 12 pieces of delicious US-Made sugar-free chewing gum, and a carefully chosen Scripture verse is also printed on the back of every package. With a commitment to helping Christian’s [sic] share their faith with a product that people use every day, Testamints Sugar Free Gum is an easy way to introduce the gospel to a friend, relative or colleague.
What makes Testamints gum so unique? It’s the name that everyone instantly appreciates. And Testamints supports Christian ministries worldwide. As soon as someone mentions the name “Testamints” the connection is made with a quality product that bears a scripture verse to help “Pass The Word.”
Ensure you are always well stocked with Testamints Gum at your checkout counter. It’s the most recognized best-seller in the USA and Canada.
July 2, 2009
Church House Publishing - agreement signed
On Wednesday July 1st, the Church of England officially announced that the Archbishops Council had finalised its agreement (see previous reports) to hand over its publishing division, Church House Publishing, to Hymns Ancient and Modern:
The Archbishops’ Council has signed an agreement with Anglican charity Hymns Ancient & Modern to publish liturgy, key reference titles and other resources for the Church.
Under the agreement, the Council will continue to publish a range of titles to support the ministry and mission of the Church under its Church House Publishing imprint, with Hymns Ancient & Modern (HA&M) acting as its production and marketing arm.
Philip Fletcher, who chairs the Archbishops’ Council’s Publishing Group, said: “Hymns Ancient & Modern have a long and distinguished track record in publishing. This agreement with them will ensure that a full range of vital Church resources, including Common Worship, Crockford’s, the Church of England Year Book and other key titles will continue to be published to high standards in an economic way. We shall also be working with Hymns Ancient and Modern on maintaining and developing the Council’s electronic output, including Visual Liturgy Live and Crockford’s online.”
Whilst this announcement answers some of the questions previously raised — particularly those raised by the Revd David Green concerning the future of the Church of England’s e-publishing — a number of other questions have not been addressed, most importantly about what this handover means for Church House Publishing staff.
Private correspondence offers me some reassurance in this regard but even so I find it very sad and deeply disconcerting that the Church — the one organisation which above all others ought to be committed to putting people first — seems by this announcement to regard the transfer as nothing more than a business transaction, making no mention whatsoever of the people concerned. Publicly, it seems, no regrets, no recognition for achievements and no good wishes for the future.
For those people it is, without a doubt, the end of an era. For publishing in the Church of England it may well be a new beginning. Be that as it may, however, as I recently said of Zondervan publishing, this is not the Archbishops’ Council’s finest hour.
David Green offers further thoughts on the matter here: End of an era for CHP.
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