Category Archives: Distribution Services

Introducing “The Story” as Zondervan partners with IVP for UK Distribution

Posted on April 17, 2012 by | 2 Comments
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Update 18/4/2012: TMD have today issued a follow-on press release,
Trust Media Distribution continues as a Distributor for Zondervan: 
Download pdf (3.5MB) | TMD Blog

IN A PRESS RELEASE issued today, Zondervan have announced a new trade partnership with IVP for UK distribution. Under the new arrangement, IVP will take on exclusive distribution rights for Zondervan’s range of church, curriculum, academic and reference resources, with product shipping via IVP as from July 1st. TMD (Trust Media Distribution) will continue to distribute other Zondervan publications including Bibles, fiction and Zonderkidz.

The IVP distribution agreement also introduces The Story, a joint Hodder & Stoughton-Zondervan project, to the UK marketplace. Described in the press release as a “Bible engagement campaign”, The Story, already well established in the USA, presents the Bible as “One Continuing Story of God and His People” in which “Carefully selected verses from the Bible are organized chronologically from Genesis to Revelation, providing a deeper understanding of how God’s story intersects with everyday life.”

Press Release, 17/4/2012: Zondervan Expands UK Distribution

Press Release, 17/4/2012: Zondervan Expands UK Distribution (pdf, 115kb)

From today’s press release:

Zondervan Expands UK Distribution

Grand Rapids, Mich., April 17, 2012 — Zondervan has named Inter-Varsity Press (IVP) the exclusive distributor for the complete line of Zondervan church, curriculum, academic, and reference resources including The Story in the UK market. Product will begin shipping from the IVP warehouse on July 1, 2012. This addition expands Zondervan’s presence in the UK market beyond their existing partnership with Trust Media, who will continue to distribute all other Zondervan products in the UK including books, Bibles, Fiction and Zonderkidz.

“Part of our mission involves meeting the needs of people with resources that glorify Jesus Christ and promote Biblical principles. In addition, one of our core commitments is to listen to the church to better understand the needs of our audience.  We believe that IVP is uniquely qualified to help us carry out our mission in the UK,” said Verne Kenney, Executive Vice President.

Zondervan and IVP are also pleased to announce the launch of The Story to the UK market.  Combining product from Hodder & Stoughton and Zondervan, IVP will be bringing this Bible engagement campaign to the churches in the UK.  The Story is helping people in over 7500 churches world-wide experience Scripture like never before. Carefully selected verses from the Bible are organized chronologically from Genesis to Revelation, providing a deeper understanding of how God’s story intersects with everyday life. Affordable, flexible, and easy-to-use, churches are using The Story not only as a powerful church-wide experience, but also in individual ministries, such as small groups, Sunday School and youth ministry.

“Trust Media is a valuable distribution partner and we look forward to continuing to work with them to grow the product lines they will continue to carry,” said Kenney.

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CLC Wholesale now live on PubEasy, and improved trade terms for retailers

Posted on March 10, 2012 by | 1 Comment
CLC Wholesale: PubEasy Login Page

CLC Wholesale: PubEasy Login Page

CONGRATULATIONS to CLC Wholesale, now live at PubEasy.com. The anticipated news (officially announced March 1st) broke yesterday on facebook, with an initial post in the Christian Authors, Booksellers and Publishers, group, followed by a post from CLC Wholesale themselves on the UKCBD facebook page.

Registered PubEasy users can now check wholesale availability of and place orders for titles from more than 400 Christian publishers and imprints stocked by CLC, including Authentic Media, BRF, Christian Focus, Church House, CLC Publications (of course), Crossway, CWR, DLT, HarperCollins, Lion Hudson — the list goes on, and on — Sovereign World, SPCK,  Zondervan…

CLC Wholesale: Contact Info

CLC Wholesale: Contact Info

The PubEasy system, however, is ISBN based: CDs and DVDs are therefore not currently listed, but the (much improved) CLC online shop — clcbookshops.com— is now running from the wholesale warehouse; listings for CDs, DVDs and some other non-ISBN product can be checked there. Orders for these — as well as for all items in the PubEasy catalogue — may be placed in the time-honoured ways by phone or email: in the words of Chris Magee, Head of CLC Wholesale UK, “We are still of course available to be phoned, as we love to talk to our customers.”

IMPROVED TRADE TERMS: CLC Wholesale’s base discount on most items has been increased from 35% to 38%. Trade customers who were already on 38% should now be receiving 40%. This does not apply to Bible packs and other low discount items. The minimum order for carriage paid delivery remains at £50 trade.

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Posted in Christian Suppliers, Distribution Services, News, Wholesale Services

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Launching a new trade distribution partnership: Convivium Press and Alban Books; and you’re invited to the party

Posted on March 9, 2012 by | 1 Comment
Convivium Press and Alban Books Trade Distribution Partnership: Launch Invitation

Convivium Press and Alban Books Trade Distribution Partnership: Launch Invitation (pdf, 184kb)

CONGRATULATIONS to Convivium Press and Alban Books on their new trade distribution partnership, to be officially launched on Wednesday 28th March 2012 at St Paul’s by Westminster Cathedral bookshop — and you, gentle reader, are invited to a drinks reception from 6pm to 7.30pm to mark that launch.

RSVP is not essential but would be appreciated: full contact details may be found on the Launch Invitation flyer (pdf, 184kb).

Describing themselves on their About Us page, Convivium Press write:

Convivium Press, an editorial endeavor inspired by Judeo-Christian humanistic values, strives to promote diversity of thought and affirms perspectives and proposals that can enrich community togetherness and encourage reconciliation among all peoples.

Convivium Press chooses books that reflect and are consistent with the intended meanings of the Latin expressions convivialis and convivium, that is, that human beings and cultures can only attain their full capacity within an episteme framework of human relations, coexistence, togetherness, reconciliation, fraternity, and recognition.

Convivium Press intends to build bridges and create bonds between different cultures by providing a space in which there can be an exchange of perspectives and knowledge tools through the publication of English and Spanish books in the fields of theology, Biblical and Semite studies, philosophy, literature, and Christian spirituality.

Convivium Press become Alban Books’ seventh distributed publisher alongside:

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Failed Hopes and Broken Promises: TMD give retailers 3 days notice on dues cancellations from seven major UK Christian publishers

Posted on November 30, 2011 by | 2 Comments
Update, 30/11/2011, 5.30pm:
TMD’s Pete Barnsley has kindly responded with some points of clarification explaining how this situation came about:
Some Points of Clarification

LAST MONTH, Trust Media Distribution made a special point of reassuring retailers that their UK supplier review would involve no significant changes in the vital trading period before Christmas:

WEDNESDAY, 26 OCTOBER 2011

UK Wholesale Review – Christmas supply unaffected

Please note following yesterday’s announcement regarding our UK wholesale review, that there will be no significant changes to supply until the New Year and so Christmas supply will remain largely unaffected. We are committed to making changes to supply in the New Year ensuring minimal disruption and a high level of service during this period.

This week, that promise collapsed with an innocuously entitled post, UK supplier update | Order deadline extended | Stock Update, which gave retailers only three days notice that dues from seven major UK Christian publishers would be cancelled and no further orders would be accepted as from tomorrow, 1st December 2011:

At the start of the review it was our intention to continue with the supply of UK publishers through to the end of 2011, however, from 1st December 2011 we will no longer be supplying the following publishers to the trade: Scripture Union, CWR (including dated materials), Kevin Mayhew, IVP, Church House Publishing, St Andrew Press and SCM Canterbury Press. Pendings for these suppliers will be cancelled and orders placed after 1st December will not be fulfilled.

Whether the fault for this failure lies with TMD or the specific publishers concerned is a moot point: the disruption to trade that this inevitably causes could hardly have come at a worse time. Retailers, be aware, check your backorders, and order elsewhere.

Some Points of Clarification: Pete Barnsley Responds

Reason for the review
Over the past 18 months/two years there has been a significant paradigm shift in the UK Christian trade in terms of supply and sales of UK Wholesale. For Trust Media this has been a difficult area within the business and everything has changed: lower demand – part due to the recession and more significantly due to retailers going direct to the publisher (as you would expect), margins are tighter and therefore there’s a significant impact on gross profit. In many cases terms have altered and even reduced to a pro-forma basis. We wouldn’t expect a retailer to buy cash-up-front from us, and we have endeavoured to continue with supply as best we can on this basis, but we are no longer able to do so. Therefore we have undertaken this review, which is necessary to ensure continued improvement in our service to customers long-term.

Timing
There is never a good time to make changes, but these are necessary. Of the seven suppliers mentioned, five of these have not been available through Trust Media for many months, even longer in some cases. Both CWR and SU have recently taken the decision to alter supply from December 1st; unfortunately we have not been able to extend supply to January 1st, as originally anticipated.Our preference would be to make an announcement at the end of the review, as we’re still part way through, but we took the decision to give this update in order to give the retailer as much time as possible to make alternative arrangements so as to have as little negative impact on Christmas trading as possible.

Supply
We are continuing to supply where we have stock of the seven listed publishers but would recommend the retailer checks first and orders direct when necessary.

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CLC Wholesale to join PubEasy

Posted on November 29, 2011 by | 2 Comments
CLC Wholesale

CLC Wholesale

CLC WHOLESALE have now advised the way forward for their much-anticipated online trade ordering service: via PubEasy.com, bringing them into the same network as Bookpoint, HarperCollins, Marston Book Services, Norwich Books & Music and Wiley-Blackwell, to name just a few of the other trade distributors and publishers using the service.

The actual launch date has yet to be announced as the technicalities of the service are still being worked through by systems programmers, but Chris Magee, Head of CLC Wholesale, has confirmed that “the project is going ahead.”

In the meantime, however, keep an eye on the CLC Wholesale facebook page for their latest news, stock updates and other announcements.

IMPROVED TERMS: Apart from Church Packs and Gospels, where CLC Wholesale themselves receive a lower margin, all Hodder titles are now available to retailers at a 40% trade discount.

FEEDBACK WELCOME: Chris also says,

My heart is to support the trade and am open to any help and advice, even constructive criticism that will help us.

so if you have any feedback, please don’t hesitate to contact him.

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Posted in Christian Book Trade, Christian Suppliers, Distribution Services, News

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CWR: Improved terms for retailers, and hello CLC Wholesale, goodbye TMD

Posted on November 18, 2011 by | 3 Comments
CWR Trade Announcement 18/11/2011

CWR Trade Announcement 18/11/2011

IN A MESSAGE TO RETAILERS issued today, CWR have announced improved terms for retailers and bid farewell to TMD (Trust Media Distribution), with a move to CLC Wholesale coming into effect as of  1st December 2011.

Retailers ordering direct from CWR who were previously on discounts between 35%-39% will automatically be raised to 40% as standard, with other discounts remaining unchanged. In the message, CWR say:

We hope this will go some way to help you in your valuable High Street ministry and enable you to continue to order and sell CWR products.

In practical terms the move to CLC Wholesale means that TMD will no longer be able to supply CWR products such as the much-loved and popular Every Day With Jesus Bible reading notes. The decision to switch follows on from TMD’s own recently announced review of their UK wholesaling policy:

TMD’s recent decision to cease UK trade wholesaling and to reduce the number of titles they hold has led us to review our trading arrangements with them. We have enjoyed a close relationship with STL/TMD over many years and we wish them well in their excellent work in the distribution of Christian resources. Therefore from the end of this month, CWR resources will be available either direct from us and from the CLC Warehouse.

In conclusion, CWR reiterate their ongoing commitment to the UK high street retail trade:

We wish to thank you for all your support and loyalty in helping to make CWR products available to churches and individuals across the country. We want to reiterate our desire to continue working with you, now and in the future, to ensure the stability and growth of your bookshop and its ministry.

CLC Wholesale have themselves recently announced plans for a trade ordering website: in their words, “Watch this space!” At present, stock announcements are being made via their facebook page but orders must still be placed by email, fax or phone.

Twitter Connects…

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PubEasy Service knocked out by Storm in NE USA

Posted on October 31, 2011 by | 4 Comments

Update, 3pm, 02/11/2010: Service has now been resumed (h/t Andy Rigby & John Duncan). Brief report at Publishers Weekly: Bowker Back Online After Nor’easter Causes Outage

Update, 01/11/2010: As noted in the comments by Luke Hughes-Bunger, the issue is with the PubEasy server, not the suppliers themselves. Orders placed by other channels (email, fax, telephone or suppliers’ own websites, for example) should still be processed as normal.

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PUBEASY.COM, the online trade ordering service and a vital link in the supply chain between many booksellers, publishers and distributors, has been knocked out of action by a storm in the North East USA, according to an email sent out to service users over the weekend:

To all PubEasy Retailers:

Due to storm in the Northeast U.S., the PubEasy site is currently unavailable to all users. We estimate that the system may be down for several days. We will send updates to our PubEasy user community as soon as they are available.

We apologize for the inconvenience and will send more details as they become available.

Best regards,
PubEasy Support

Christian distributors and publishers which use the PubEasy service include, amongst others, Alban Books, Lion Hudson and SPCK, via Marston Book Services; Cambridge University Press; Church House Publishing, Darton Longman & Todd and SCM-Canterbury Press along with others serviced by Norwich Books & Music; Continuum, via Orca; HarperCollins; Hodder, via Bookpoint; and John Wiley & Sons — in short, most of the major players in Christian and wider religious publishing.

My thanks to Andy Rigby of Christian Bits for forwarding this email.

From the Archives: PubEasy Reviews (most recent first)

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18 UK Jobs Lost as Kingsway/David C Cook Restructure for Global Marketplace

Posted on October 29, 2011 by | 1 Comment
David C Cook/Kingsway Key Stakeholder Letter 21 Oct 2011 (pdf, 111kb)

David C Cook/Kingsway Key Stakeholder Letter 21 Oct 2011 (pdf, 111kb)

EIGHTEEN UK WORKERS HAVE PAID THE PRICE in job losses as the long-term globalisation strategy behind Kingsway’s merger with David C Cook has been “accelerated” following the group’s more recent acquisition of Integrity Music.

Emphasising the level of expertise and investment involved alongside the strength and stability of the group’s new distribution system, Cris Doornbos, President and CEO of David C Cook, explains the thinking behind the changes in a Letter to Our Key Stakeholders dated October 21st:

As a key stakeholder of David C Cook and Kingsway, we want you to be among the first to hear news of some changes we have recently made to our UK operation, Kingsway Music and Distribution.

In way of background, we developed a five-year strategic plan earlier this year which laid out specific strategies required to increase our ministry impact and best advance our mission: “To equip the Church with Christ centered resources for making and teaching disciples who obediently transform today’s generations.”

The plan included, among other things, establishing one global worship ministry unit as we see worship music as one of the greatest tools we have to equip the global church. We have long had a vision to utilize music as a key tool for creating disciples around the world, especially as over half of the world’s population entered the new millennium unable to read. Our recent acquisition of Integrity Music has made it possible for us to accelerate our goal and take another important step forward.

The five-year plan also included the strategy of leveraging the expertise in our Canadian distribution business to support growth. Over the past several years, we have made significant investments in both our Canadian distribution operation and our United Kingdom distribution operation. We now have a new warehouse management system in place in both locations coupled with a new ERP system that has proven to be highly efficient and world class. Together with our experienced and knowledgeable team, we are in the advantageous position of having processes and systems that are highly effective, and allow us to offer our current and potential publishing and music partners a strong and stable distribution service in both Canada and the United Kingdom.

The letter goes on to spell out a number of specific changes being made as the plan is implemented, concluding, sadly, with job losses in the UK:

  • Kingsway Music and Kingsway Distribution separated;
  • Kingsway Music and Integrity Music combined to create “one music ministry unit with two labels” headed up globally by Ryan Dunham with Jonathan Brown taking over from John Paculabo at Kingsway Music UK;
  • Creation of a single global distribution service operating from bases in the USA, Canada and the UK, headed by Greg Tombs, Managing Director of Global Distribution;
  • John Paculabo becomes Managing Director of Global Song Development, with specific responsibility “for seeing that our songs are being sung in local churches around the world, while working to nurture and develop indigenous writers and artists in other nations”;
  • 18 jobs in the UK “eliminated due to new operational efficiencies and redundancies in roles”, an outcome described as “necessary, but heartbreaking.”

My thanks to John Paculabo for providing the information upon which this report is based. John himself explains further:

We intend to remain focused and dedicated to the development of worship songs and worship writers on both sides of the Atlantic, a point which I would strongly emphasize.

The net result of [these realignments], plus the poor economic trading conditions that we are all experiencing, has brought about the redundancies of last week. These decisions are painful and difficult as Kingsway like so many other Christian ministries fosters a family atmosphere, and so it is true to say that friends and family have all been affected by these job losses.

Please keep those who have lost their current livelihood in your prayers.

Pray too that Kingsway/David C Cook’s globalised service strategy and systems prove more resilient and robust than Biblica/IBS-STL’s similar exercise back in 2008/2009.

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