Category Archives: Guest Posts

Christian Resources Together, or Apart? Michael Fenske asks the questions no one wants to hear

Posted on May 15, 2012 by | 10 Comments
Michael Fenske

Michael Fenske

MICHAEL FENSKE of Southend Christian Bookshop reflects on the current state  of play in the UK Christian book trade and asks the questions that no one wants to hear…

I’d like to share a few thoughts before the coming together of the trade at the Christian Resources Together Retailers and Suppliers Retreat in June.

I know that publishers and distributors are as much under threat as us retailers, and I do believe the writing is on the wall for all of us in the not too distant future (if you are a publisher in full bloom and doubt that I am right, just have a look at the European Commission’s plans to offer a Europe-wide ebook lending library, which will lead to the big brother having nice profiles of everyone’s reading habits, apart from destroying bookshops, libraries and all. But that is another issue…).

I find it disturbing to see how things develop in the world of our suppliers. What I see is that there seems to be more and more of the mentality of “Eat or get ate” (I know it’s bad English). If you are not quick enough, you might find yourself devoid of the publishers you distributed yesterday. Distributors who were top dogs yesterday are dogs’ dinners today. It doesn’t look much like WWJD, does it, rather like WWII? For example, what was formerly known as a very healthy Integrity-Provident looks now like Israel after Nebuchadnezzar has been to visit.

The relationship between publishers/distributors and retailers has a slightly different slant. It seems that publishers/distributors are somewhat unsure whether we retailers are useful to them or not. Like the mortally wounded husband who finds out that his wife is already looking for a new husband, just to make sure she won’t be lonely after his death, so we retailers are rather wondering how much love there is between us and them.

ThinkIVP - scroll down and you may find some Helpful Links...

ThinkIVP – scroll down the page and you may find some Helpful Links…

ThinkIVP is a case in point. My rejoicing yesterday that IVP are distributing the likes of EP, has turned sour at the thought that our customers are being wooed to the same beehive, discounts and all, with a little hint below the fold (scroll down: bottom left hand corner) that the mortally wounded husband still exists.

Then there is the full page advert of agreatread.co.uk in Christianity magazine which starts with “Has your Christian bookshop closed?” Christian readers can be confident in assuming that the husband is as good as dead. Christianity magazine itself goes down the same line with its subscription ads. The list goes on.

How are people meant to worship together at the upcoming CRT Retreat with this hanging over their heads? Are husband and wife going to smile at each other and do as if all is well, as usual? What will the husband say to his wife? Or the wife to her husband? Will there be a lot of cooing like “I really don’t mean to upset you, but I don’t want to catch your disease, darling”?

I am not sure whether I want to be there to find out. The cringe factor might be too distressing for words.

CRT2012: will you be there? And how will the conversations go?

  • Tues 12th – Weds 13th June 2012
  • Hayes Conference Centre, Swanwick
  • Facebook event page (Christian Authors, Booksellers and Publishers group)
Christian Resources Together Retailers and Suppliers Retreat

Christian Resources Together Retailers and Suppliers Retreat

→ 10 Comments

Posted in Christian Book Trade, Guest Posts

Tagged , , , , , ,

London Book Fair 2012: A Personal Perspective

Posted on April 27, 2012 by | 7 Comments

I attended the London Book Fair at Earls Court this month; the first time in several years. I was left with several over-riding impressions.

The Fair remains the premier International Book Fair. It was busy – very busy – with 25,000 delegates, half from overseas, attracted by the 1,500 exhibitors from 57 countries. The Bookseller suggested that the USA DoJ ruling on the Agency Model (eBook pricing) had dampened the mood considerably for rights sales.

I am very much against this ruling as it simply hands yet more power to an already menacing monopoly. I applaud those Publishers who have decided to fight this rather simplistic ruling. Amazon has already done considerable damage to our High Streets, and not just to Bookselling. It’s quite foolish to view Amazon as a consumer champion.

China – this year’s Market Focus - with their visually stunning Fair Pavilion (designed by Yang Liu). The Market Focus logo was in the shape of a hand-fan as used by the Royal Family in China 1500 years ago. LBF reported that China had sent 1,200 people (including 50 authors) representing 180 publishers – quite a commitment! So why China? Well, English and Mandarin are the two dominant world languages and China is a vast country with a 1.3billion population speaking over 50 dialects. It’s projected to overtake the USA as the world’s largest economy within the next 20 years or so, and yet paradoxically it’s still 90th on the GDP index despite its recent spectacular economic growth.

The sheer size of the country with its many regional imbalances and huge social challenges is overseen by the pro-business centralised Government. For the Western creative industries, protection of Intellectual Property and Copyright remains the pressing issue. Good quality translation skills remain scarce.

There is the inevitable controversy over issues of censorship when judged by the ideals of liberal democracy. Indeed, the Fair’s impressive China and Europe Publishing Forum attracted a goodly number of silent placard waving protesters; ‘Free speech is not a crime’, ‘Stop literary persecution’. The London Evening Standard ran an interview this week with the Chinese author of Wild Swans in which she stated that, in her opinion, ‘Censorship in China is worse than it was 10 years ago’.

The Chinese Government oversees all media output through GAPP and it is this body which issues the requisite ISBN’s. Since 1949, China has published around 34,000 titles of British books within China. Apparently, ¼ of all books imported into China are from the UK! Through its 600+ Publishing Houses and with a workforce of nearly 57 thousand employees’, China has the largest publishing output in the world by volume (300,000 titles in 2009). It’s a mature and self-confident market set to generate revenues of $9.5billion in 2012. China is poised to take over from the USA in levels of scientific journal publishing.

There are 167,000 bookshops across China, with some state-of-the-art seven-story bookshops in the largest cities. The number of bricks and mortar shops is growing by almost 5% per year! The state-run chain, Xinhua (new China) has 6,483 outlets.

Why is this of any interest to us Brits? Because there are more people learning English in China than anywhere else in the world and more English speakers in China than in the rest of the English speaking world. Language learning is paramount. For publishers, this obviously represents a huge market and a pressing opportunity. There is a very attractive market for educational and English language publishers!

I was very struck by Pearson’s almost evangelical mantra, ‘Not just touching people, but transforming lives through learning’.

Islam – I was forcibly struck by the number of large and impressive Islamic publishing stands at LBF. These were in stark contrast to the mainly small booths of the Christian publishers, aside from the usual welcome presence of Lion Hudson PLC. Islam clearly has plenty of financial backing, is investing heavily in literature and is clearly committed to book distribution in a way that some Christians seem to have forgotten.

Print still dominates, at around 80-85% of the UK market and much smaller elsewhere in the world. We should keep the eBook ‘hype’ in perspective. The digital presence at the Fair was actually quite small, tucked away in one smallish zone. Interestingly, KOBO eReaders have said that 10% of their eBook sales are now for self-published authors. In China, authors are uploading self-published works in instalments, books which are then picked up by publishers and eventually making their way into bookshops; the reverse of our model in the West!

UK Publishers do increasingly view their role as ‘Content Providers’ delivered via various platforms but print currently continues to dominate their activity.

LBF 2012. Quite an event, and yet again, another reminder of just how quickly our world is changing. The tide of globalisation and digitalisation continues to alter the way we all do business yet the basic desire to read remains.

In his summing up, Lord Powell of Bayswater said, ‘The English language is the highway to bring the world to China’. I suspect that China is actually finding her way to the rest of the world!

View more LBF photos here.

Cross posted by Eddie Olliffe.

→ 7 Comments

Posted in Guest Posts

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,

From Bricks to Clicks: Former Wesley Owen/Living Oasis Liverpool Manager Anna Bunn takes on a new role as Eden’s Online Store Manager

Posted on April 25, 2012 by | 17 Comments

MY THANKS to Gareth Mulholland, MD of Eden Interactive, for providing this interview with Anna Bunn, one of Eden’s newest team members; and, of course, congratulations and best wishes to Anna in her new role.

Gareth writes:

EDEN.CO.UK was launched in July 2004 when a number of our team began figuring out out how to use our design & software know-how to provide access to Christian books and other resources online.

Last week, we celebrated a milestone in our short history as five new friends joined the team taking the total number of people working in the business to over 30. They’ve filled key positions in our digital marketing team and bring experience from businesses including Bing and Waitrose which is already starting to positively impact how we compete with our biggest competitor, Amazon.

Anna Bunn in the Eden Office

Anna in the Eden Office

I’m delighted that one of these roles has been taken on by Anna Bunn, former Branch Manager at Wesley Owen in Liverpool. As she makes the leap from ‘bricks to clicks’ we thought it might be good to share her story and some observations after her first week at Eden. So, over to Anna…

Introductions

Well before anyone asks yes, I am Steve Bunn’s daughter and no, you aren’t the first person to make that connection. Having grown up in the Christian trade from a young age – beginning my working career in the STL warehouse picking and packing books after school – I am aware that my surname normally precedes me!

But I also have my own experience of the trade. My story begins with a move to Liverpool to start my degree in 2004 in English Language and Literature. Ever since then I have grown more and more attached to Liverpool, its people and subsequently the Church. So when I returned from my world trip I moved back to Liverpool in 2008 to start working at my local Christian bookshop Wesley Owen. I got to experience the highs of connecting Christians with quality resources. Not only was the purpose of the store to sell product but also to be there to speak to people and engage with them. This came with its own challenges but more often than not real encouragement to see God working in the Church of Liverpool. Throughout this time I was gaining a broad knowledge of product and trying to find ways in which to promote it in store. In the summer of 2009 I was appointed Branch Manager and from there took the helm and tried to find ways to really connect with the customers and give them a personal experience they couldn’t get anywhere else.

But as many of you will know later in the year Wesley Owen went into administration. Our store closed at the end of 2009 and reopened as Living Oasis in March 2010. The plans were big and the vision was huge. But after many months of planning, the store never reopened.

After a few months of other jobs – from selling £500 watches to opening a new charity shop, I am excited to join the team at Eden.co.uk to begin this new chapter.

What is your role at Eden.co.uk?

My official job title is Online Store Manager – this effectively means ‘Branch Manager’ of the site. I’ve joined the marketing team run by Jo Pountney, and I can’t wait to get my teeth into this new role. I’ll be spending time managing the stock, meeting with suppliers, focusing on product and making sure Eden has the best deals, promotions and information to give customers a unique online experience.

It’s great to get up to speed on new products, up and coming authors/bands and to learn the ways in which having a much larger customer base allows the opportunity to promote product in ways I was never able to do before.

Don’t get me wrong, I have a lot to learn but I’m looking forward to taking my stock knowledge and understanding customer needs to apply to a new skill set as part of Eden. It’s great to get up to speed on new products, up and coming authors/bands and to learn the ways in which having a much larger customer base allows the opportunity to promote product in ways I was never able to do before.

Rather than being given the promotions or having little input into stock choice the chance to plan and prepare promotions is going to be a challenge but with the team support and stock knowledge I’m looking forward seeing it through from start to finish.

How will Eden be a better place?

I bring to the table my experience of selling Christian resources, identifying customer needs and working with suppliers. The need and want for Christian product is thriving, to be involved with fulfilling this need to give the customer exactly what they want, in the way that they want to buy it, is one of the main reasons I wanted to be a part of this team.

Having worked with different reps for a diverse range of suppliers, choosing new product and hearing about their offers and promotions was always a highlight. Now I look forward to developing relationships on a wider and larger scale to promote and get people excited by Christian resources from all areas of the Church.

Week One nearly over – how have you found it, what are your highlights?

I have loved being in an office environment – completely different to what I have done before but it is so refreshing to be working in a team with so many skilled and friendly people.

So far I’ve enjoyed getting my head around the product range combined with learning the different ways in which product and information can be used to give the customer what they want. It’s exciting to be part of such an innovative and supportive team of people who really know their stuff!

What impresses me most about Eden is their desire to help the customer to find the exact product that they are looking for…

What impresses me most about Eden is their desire to help the customer to find the exact product that they are looking for – which is something I thought would be a struggle for an online store. But I was wrong; Eden is about giving the customer what they want with a unique and personal service. It’s a real team effort from the technical to the content to the delivery, each works together to make sure the site is one people want to return to. This is not just about a click and go experience – Eden is so much more.

A box of fresh fruit delivered into the office each Monday morning and the lunchtime game of Uno has been a welcoming atmosphere to join – and I’ve even managed to win a game!

So tell us, what’s your favourite Bible translation?

For personal reading I prefer the NLT but if I were doing more in-depth study I would use the ESV.

Do you have a favourite Bible?

My small and trusty NIV pocket Bible has been round the world with me, most used when I had the most amazing experience teaching in a school in Thailand – on my own, facing complete sensory overload, I was down on my knees seeking wisdom and help for what was to become one of most memorable times of my life. From being read on Thai beaches to opening the Word up in an Australian church, this Bible is a lasting memory of God’s journey with me around the world – one I will never forget.

Least favourite worship song?

It has to be ‘Shine Jesus Shine’ – no question; some things should have been left in the 80s!

Musical tastes?

My mood normally dictates my choice so sometimes it’s just about turning it up really loud to lose yourself in the music.

My music taste is pretty eclectic, acoustic to hip hop, Brooke Fraser to Mumford and Sons, Damien Rice to Lauren Hill – my mood normally dictates my choice so sometimes it’s just about turning it up really loud to lose yourself in the music.

Favourite biscuit?

Definitely milk chocolate caramel digestives – have to be straight out the fridge with a cup of tea, solves many a problem – that coupled with love of staged reality TV – yes I am unashamed to admit I ♥ Made in Chelsea!

Disclosure Notice
The links to eden.co.uk in this post are affiliate links: any purchases made via these links will generate a commission that supports the development and maintenance of UKCBD, the UK Christian Bookshops Directory.

→ 17 Comments

Posted in Guest Posts, News, People News

Tagged , , , ,

Visions of Glory: Reintroducing Caritas Music

Posted on March 21, 2012 by | Leave a comment

REGULAR READERS will need no reminder about one of the best trade sources for Christian music, Caritas Music: an impressive and growing catalogue of labels available, backed up by Katherine Douglas’ personal expertise and carriage-free delivery on all orders with no minimum order requirement. But for those who have not yet had the pleasure of doing business with Katherine, I invited her back for an update.

Katherine writes:

Thanks very much, Phil, for the invite to contribute a guest post, that was very kind of you and a welcome opportunity to write about what my small business Caritas Music Publishing tries to do. First of all for those of you who don’t know me, I am Katharine Douglas and I began my small business Caritas Music Publishing in 1998, originally in Edinburgh, but I relocated in 2006 to NW Scotland. With couriers, Royal Mail and the wonders of email / social media etc, Caritas is still here, I am very proud to say.

Caritas Music: Visions of Glory

Caritas Music: Visions of Glory

When I began Caritas I was — and still am — totally inspired by my father, Composer James Douglas (who wrote the music for 2 of David Adam’s books: Visions of Glory (words from The Edge of Glory, SPCK / Triangle) and Cry of the Deer (meditations from The Cry of the Deer, SPCK / Triangle). I initially wanted to promote, distribute and publish more of his music to Christian bookshops, music stores and also in mainstream shops too. Since then, so many people have told or contacted me to say how his music has inspired them and how it takes them on a journey or gives them wonderful images or visions. Caritas has now produced 16 recordings in total of the music of James Douglas and all of these sell well online, in stores and have even recently been taken to accompany a Trade Cruise Fair in Miami, USA, as well as being chosen to represent the area of Wester Ross in Visitor Centres.

I wanted to grow the business and by talking to customers, they were telling me that they were also looking for additional Classical and Sacred Music to sell in their shops. Gradually over the years, I have added a wealth of Classical, Sacred Music, Classical crossover and many other labels to the Caritas list and these are still growing daily, all be it 13 years later!

My ethos for Caritas is simple, but important, I feel and I hope: I want to take music to shops, to customers, to audiences and to make more people aware of just how much wonderful music there is available and hope that I can help people appreciate that. Each day, I get requests from booksellers to find particular CDs, even individual tracks of music, or perhaps something the customer has heard or read about in the press or somewhere online perhaps. No challenge is unanswered and it is very fulfilling for me, to get a recommendation, that if someone can find a piece of music, then Katharine at Caritas can. What a challenge, but one I relish every day.

Not only do I want to take Classical and Sacred Music to shops, I want to let them come to me, so my website www.caritas-music.co.uk is vital, as well as the newly updated Caritas facebook page, www.facebook.com/caritasmusicpublishing. These have been vital in communication, for example, new releases or perhaps details where Caritas will be with stalls of CDs or where our products are now also on sale. However, I fully understand that some bookshops may not have actually heard of Caritas Music Publishing and I thank Phil and UKCBD for giving me the opportunity to tell you what you, as a shop, can get from Caritas.

Currently, shops can open a Trade Account with Caritas: this allows you access to the full catalogue from all of the following labels and artists, gives 30 days credit (from invoice date), NO minimum order requirement and NO carriage charge on any orders. I want to give shops the chance to try some CDs and also to offer a chance for customer orders, in the hope that this will encourage the shops to try more and ultimately sell more CDs in the future.

Labels offered include:

  • UCJ (including Andrea Bocelli, Katherine Jenkins, Military Wives and Voices from Avignon)
  • Naxos
  • Collegium (John Rutter)
  • Taize
  • Chandos
  • EMI (including Libera and King’s College Choir Cambridge)
  • Sony Music (including The Priests & Susan Boyle)
  • Caritas (James Douglas)
  • BBC Audiobooks
  • Coro (The Sixteen and Sacred Music TV Series)
  • Hyperion / Helios.

Thank you for reading this guest post.

Katharine Douglas
Caritas Music Publishing, Achmore, Moss Road, Ullapool, IV26 2TF
Tel: 01854 612236
Email: caritas AT caritas-music.co.uk
Web: www.caritas-music.co.uk
Blog: caritasmusicpublishing.blogspot.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/caritasmusicpublishing

In Concert…

James Douglas, Katherine Douglas and soloist Richard Mein in concert, 2009, Macphail Theatre, NW Scotland

James Douglas, Katherine Douglas and soloist Richard Mein in concert, 2009, Macphail Theatre, NW Scotland (click to zoom)

Looking Back…

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Christian Music, Christian Suppliers, Guest Posts

Tagged , ,

A Novel to Fight Over: Introducing Luke Wordley and The Fight

Posted on February 25, 2012 by | Leave a comment
The Fight: The battle over a man's past. The fight for a boy's future.

The Fight: The battle over a man's past. The fight for a boy's future.

IF YOU LIKE BOXING, you’re gonna love The Fight, the debut novel from Luke Wordley; and I daresay even if you loathe boxing, you’ll love that this story pulls no punches in its gritty realism where human life and faith collide. Because this is a story whose author is unafraid to tell it like it is, where there’s no pretence that following Jesus makes your problems disappear.

A single parent family where the mother has lost her way in drink; a teenager torn apart by his anger at life’s injustice; and a man whose faith both sustains and challenges him as a boxing coach: they’re three of the thoroughly down to earth scenarios/characters you’ll meet, amongst others. I’m not sure what a “typical” Christian novel is, but The Fight breaks any stereotypes you might expect: not so much about finding faith as fighting for it in a world where God seems a million miles away. Kudos to CLC Wholesale for getting behind it and drawing it to my attention: full bibliographic details below.

As I prepare this post, I’ve just finished the book: superbly written, it could just be this year’s most exciting find for the Christian trade, and though it’s early days to make a claim like that, I’m going to risk sticking my neck out and say it anyway. One moment you’ll be laughing at the absurdity of the situations the characters find themselves in, the next you’ll be weeping at the atrocity. I was hooked within the first few pages, couldn’t wait to continue whenever I was interrupted, and have only one complaint: it ends too soon — sequel, please, Luke! I’m tempted to tell you more, but that would be unfair on Luke after grilling him about the book, so without further ado…

Luke, what inspired you to write The Fight?

Luke Wordley

Luke Wordley

Ever since I became a Christian at nineteen years of age I have been frustrated that there is not more Christian fiction available for men. While I think Francine Rivers and Karen Kingsbury are brilliant, their books are just not something my Christian male friends (and non-Christian friends) would consider reading.

So I set out to write a different type of book — one that would appeal to Christian men and men on the fringes of church as well as women.

OK, give us a quick snapshot of the story without giving the game away…

Set in East London during the early 1990s, ‘The Fight’ centres around Sam, a disturbed teenager driven by anger following a family tragedy. One day a street fight leads him to a boxing club, and to Jerry, an ex-boxer and Christian who has dedicated his life to helping boys from tough backgrounds. But as Jerry reaches out to Sam, an extraordinary talent emerges – a talent that re-opens the wounds of Jerry’s own life. A desperate struggle ensues to save Sam from his rage, before Jerry’s reawakened ambition tears them both apart.

Is it biographical in any way?

No it isn’t. Sam, my main character, was brought up on a farm in Essex as I was myself. But apart from that, it is not biographical. Sam has a pretty tough time in the story – certainly I wouldn’t want to go through what he does.

Elements of the journey of the other main character, Jerry (who reaches out to help Sam) are familiar to me, but are probably common to many of us as Christians — reconciling personal ambition and material gain with our faith. I guess I have tried to develop real characters to whom a lot of us can relate. For me, when fictional characters are too heroic and steadfast in their faith they lose their realism and appeal; and most importantly, their ability to inspire.

You’re selling the book on a “Buy One, Give One Free” basis. What’s that about?

Last year I sent a draft of ‘The Fight’ to a friend of mine at The Message Trust – a fantastic mission organisation working with young people in Manchester and the North-West. He loved the book and thought it would really speak to some of the young people they are trying to reach through their prison and youth ministry. So the idea was born that sales of the book could fund more copies going to prison and youth ministry around the UK. The book was only launched last month and already over 100 books have gone to prisons in the North-West through The Message and to Feltham Young Offenders Institute in London. I hope many more can be sent in the coming months. By visiting the website, purchasers can see where their ‘free’ book has been given.

So what are your hopes for ‘The Fight’?

First and foremost, I hope it inspires men and teenagers in their walk with God. Although it has a strong Christian message running through it, it is very accessible and non-threatening to men on the fringes of church. I’m hoping they will buy it, or their wives and mothers will buy it for them! That’s not to say it isn’t a book for women to enjoy too. Despite some masculine themes I have had fantastic feedback from female readers.

So I’m hoping this is going to be a versatile book for Christian booksellers and one which they can recommend to all their customers. The first Christian Bookshop to stock it (Cornerstone in Taunton) found it sold to a whole range of people and it went on to be their best-selling book last month.

Finally, if the Christian book trade gets behind this book initiative, I believe we can practically support prison ministry throughout the UK. God is doing some amazing things in UK prisons, with many coming to faith. I’m delighted to be working with great organisations like The Message Trust, Caring for Ex-Offenders, Prison Alpha and Prison Fellowship to get this book into the hands of young men exploring the Christian faith.

The Fight

The Fight

Bibliographic Details

The Fight:
The battle over a man’s past. The fight for a boy’s future.

Luke Wordley
ISBN 9780956924506
Downton Press, 2011 (320pp)
£8.99

Trade distribution by CLC Wholesale:
download the trade info sheet (pdf, 328kb)

CLC Wholesale

CLC Wholesale

Discover More…

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Author Interviews, Book News, Guest Posts

Tagged , , , , , ,

Planet BB: The Boys’ Brigade Around the World – Volume 2 due this year

Posted on February 13, 2012 by | Leave a comment

David Chant writes:

Planet BB

Planet BB

Following on from the success of Planet BB: The Boys’ Brigade Around the world, a second volume will be published this year. All of the 950 copies of volume one were sold out within a year, making £500+ for Global Fellowship, and over £4,000 for the Christian Children’s Centre, Nansana, Uganda. The orphanage has used this money to pay rent, put on 2 Christmas parties, set up a poultry project and buy food.

Volume 2 will feature many countries not included in the first book, including Malta, Jamaica, China, The Philippines, Bermuda, Macau, South Africa, and many more.

There will also be other features including a fascinating account of a Queen’s Man who did his Gold D of E award in Ecuador, the BB Band music website, Firm Foundations, and more.

This edition will also feature a Subscribers page, listing the name & Company of everyone who subscribes to the book before publication.

By pre-ordering volume 2 (and having your name listed), you will help to ensure the book’s publication, which in turn will help to fund other BB projects around the world.

There is no need to pay now. You will be contacted when the date of publication and the price are announced.

If you would like to participate in this latest venture, please see the Planet BB facebook page for contact details and get in touch.

Yours in fellowship

David Chant
2nd Sutton Coldfield

Previous Posts (most recent first)

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Guest Posts

Tagged , ,

Shaped by the Story: Hot off the press from BRF, Antony Billington introduces Whole Life, Whole Bible

Posted on January 21, 2012 by | Leave a comment

THIS AFTERNOON — much later in the day than I’d intended — it gives me great pleasure to introduce Antony Billington, an old friend of LBC/LST vintage, now Head of Theology at LICC; and Antony himself introduces his book Whole Life, Whole Bible, hot off the press from BRF, co-written with Margaret Killingray and Helen Parry.

It’s a book that fills a gap many church leaders have longed to see filled, not only giving an overview of the biblical story but designed to show how that story continues into and through our own lives today, ideal for church members who want to dig a little deeper into that epic narrative and experience more of it for themselves and their neighbours.

Antony writes:

Whole Life, Whole Bible

Whole Life, Whole Bible

‘Tell me a story’ and ‘Once upon a time’ – a four-word request and a four-word opening. Both phrases capture something of the universal human desire for stories. Indeed, our own lives are submerged in several interconnecting ‘stories’ – of living through or in the aftermath of the Second World War, of being married with grown-up children, of working in finance, of having a passion for collecting stamps, of serving on the PCC, of holidaying in Cornwall – and all these ‘stories’ shape our lives in different ways.

For Christians, of course, the most crucial story for shaping the way we think and live is the biblical story. From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible can be seen as an epic narrative: a story which begins with God as Creator, which focuses on Israel as the people who will bring God’s blessing to the nations, which the New Testament declares has come to its promised fulfilment in the redemption brought about through Christ, in whom God’s purposes for the universe will be consummated.

Whole Life, Whole Bible is designed to walk through the unfolding story of the Bible in 50 readings and reflections. More than a Bible overview, however, the book has been written with the conviction that God’s word sets the agenda for our lives as followers of Jesus today. And it does so for the whole of life – on Monday to Saturday as well as Sunday, in public and in private, in culture as well as in church, in work as much as in worship. Moreover, this ‘whole-life’ perspective is not limited to a few biblical passages here and there, but is woven through the story as a whole – from creation to new creation.

Those who enjoy daily reading notes will benefit from an opportunity to see how the big story of the Bible provides a way of understanding how individual passages relate to each other in the larger picture. Beyond that is the reminder that we are a part of this ongoing drama which embraces the entirety of our lives – individually and together – for the sake of the world in which we are called to live.

Whole Life, Whole Bible aims to show how the big story of the Bible forms our minds, fuels our imaginations, and fashions our daily existence – as we live in God’s world in the light of God’s word, taking the Lord of life into the whole of life.

Whole Life, Whole Bible
Whole Life, Whole Bible
50 readings on living in the light of Scripture
Antony Billington, Margaret Killingray and Helen Parry
BRF, January 2012
9780857460172
£6.99

Live in or near London? Attend the official launch celebration – tickets £8, including refreshments and a copy of the book:
Where: LICC, St Peter’s, Vere Street, London W1G 0DQ
When: Monday 23rd January 2012, 6.45-8.30pm

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Book News, Guest Posts

Tagged , , ,

Reflections from Roger Pearse: Christian bookshops – the key part of the local church?

Posted on January 17, 2012 by | 15 Comments

MY THANKS to Roger Pearse for kind permission to reproduce this thought provoking and challenging post from his blog, all the more challenging given the number of bookshop closures we’ve seen over the last year or so. Roger’s observations echo many of the conversations we’ve had here over the years, going right back to my Christian Bookshops — who needs them? (2008) and The Future Shape of Christian Bookselling (2009) amongst others; but it’s a conversation that is far from over and, if we’re to find a way through the present crisis, it needs to continue — with even more urgency than we’ve pursued it before.

All comments and feedback welcome here, as always, but don’t miss the discussion emerging over on Roger’s original post…

Christian bookshops – the key part of the local church?

I did something unusual today. I didn’t buy a book from Amazon.

Not that I buy a book every day from Amazon: I mean that I decided to buy a book, but to order it in from my local Christian bookshop.

Almost certainly it will cost more. But the Christian bookshop is a funny thing. That’s because it isn’t really just a bookshop.

A friend gave me the name of the manager of my local one at Christmas, and I’ve popped in and introduced myself. Suddenly I find myself connected to a network of people who know people, or know of someone. Today I wanted to learn of someone connected to me who was working in the church in a town in the south of England, in order to help someone. The lady knew of someone. For the managers of these places effectively function as an information exchange.

The pastoral role of the Christian bookshop is invisible unless you know that it is there. Yet this too is critical — you can go in, and find people to talk to. The churches themselves — I mean real churches — are lamentably bad at working together in a single small town, and the common need of their members for books means that the bookshop acts as a centre, a place where notices are displayed and people congregate.

Some bookshops take it a step further and add on a coffee shop. St Aldates bookshop in Oxford ca. 1980 did just that. It was very cramped, but then students don’t mind that at all. I often went there as a convenient place to meet.

Christian bookshops came into being in the 60′s and 70′s because bookshops and news agents would not stock popular Christian paperback books or publications. You could order them, but this involved a long wait, no chance of browsing and often was frankly a faff.

Consequently the publishers started to set up retail outlets where their wares could be displayed. Since Christians always wanted the books of Michael Green or David Watson, they naturally became information exchanges.

The convenience of internet shopping means that it will usually be quicker and cheaper to buy a book at Amazon. That was not the case back in the day, since the Net Book Agreement standardised book prices anyway.

So the problem is that the modern Christian bookshop has no real economic basis. The publishers are finding them unviable. They can now sell their books through Amazon.

Yet the bookshop is needed. Indeed if you want some advice on books to buy — as I did today — what use is Amazon?

I don’t know what the answer is, I admit. Let us pray that God finds a way around this. Change is inevitable; but not at the price of wiping out the bookshop.

→ 15 Comments

Posted in Christian Bookshops, Guest Posts

Tagged , , , ,

Post-Digital Armageddon: Jonny Gallant reflects on the future of the book trade

Posted on November 12, 2011 by | 12 Comments

EBOOKS. Or should that be e-books? Or even ibooks if it’s Apple as the vendor. The fact that the book industry can’t even agree on its basic terminology is perhaps telling in and of itself, but however we spell the word, the ebook challenge isn’t going away anytime soon — but physical books, according to some, might be. Whatever your views on the matter, you need to move fast if you’d like to see those views taken into account in Christian Retailing magazine’s latest Vital Signs survey: the deadline for entries is this weekend, no later than November 13th.

And now my thanks once again to Alban Books’ Jonny Gallant as he follows up on his earlier contribution. Are we ready? I think not: welcome to the Post-Digital Armageddon…

Jonny Gallant, MD, Alban Books

Jonny Gallant, MD, Alban Books

AFTER MY LAST UKCBD GUEST POST, I was literally swamped by 2-and-a-half suggestions that I explore the promised Digital Armageddon further. Just for you I have looked into my foggy crystal ball and examined the entrails of 3 chickens (that’s publishing lunches for you) to come up with a few highly speculative visions of the future.I have long had a publishing mantra: “The author is not the enemy; the customer is not the enemy”. It’s something worth remembering every now and then. We’re all in this together, so why does it feel like we have competing interests?

With that in mind, I have had a go at being an author (writing under a pseudonym, I may be on your shelves… though probably not) and, last Christmas, I thought I would have a go at being a bookseller: I spent a fascinating day on the shop floor of Waterstone’s West End, Edinburgh. I hope it was just a seasonal anomaly, but 80% of queries were for the latest Katie Price or the bestseller from that irritating meerkat. I was also the victim of a bookselling cliché: someone came in and said ‘I can’t remember the title or the author, but it had a blue cover’. On reflection, that may have been a set-up. What I spectacularly lacked though, was the ability to recommend suitable titles.

This leads me to my first point: More than anyone else, the Christian Bookseller has a great responsibility to suggest ‘the right book’. No matter how sophisticated the algorithm, Amazon will never be able to offer the depth of knowledge, understanding and empathy that a good bookseller can provide. It’s an oldie, but a goodie.

Those of you who have seen my book, whatever you think of its contents, will probably agree it is a beautiful object. And if the physical book, as we’ve come to call it, is to resist the challenge of the ebook, it has to look like something worth buying, worth keeping.

— Julian Barnes, acceptance speech for the Man-Booker Prize 2011.

Secondly, after years of driving down production costs and creating more and more thin-papered, flimsy paperbacks, trends suggest that e-readers will e-radicate (excuse the pun – I promise it’s the only one) these grotty-glued excuses for books. There will no-longer be the ‘disposable’ printed book. Publishers are now starting to think about making a physical book something special again. The consumer will have no idea quite how special that book is unless they can actually see it and hold it before parting with their cash. Amazon can’t offer that either.

Thirdly: The way I see it, Alban is a sales and marketing operation. Inventory management is a necessary by-product of what we do. Those of you who have ever rung us up in urgent need of 25 copies of Esler’s Conflict and Identity in Romans only to be told you will have to wait 6 weeks will know that inventory management is an imperfect science. Digital or even POD books are able to negate this frustrating problem. Sadly, this is often going to knock the B&M bookseller out of the equation.

How can we persuade people that the 20% VAT we pay on a digital book pretty much negates all the savings on print and freight?

Finally, my greatest fear for the industry is the devaluing of the book. Discounting books to consumers has led, inevitably, to readers believing that £8.99 is an unreasonable price for a paperback. It is even worse with digital product – how can we persuade people that the 20% VAT we pay on a digital book pretty much negates all the savings on print and freight? None of us in this business is working to much (if any) profit margin, but the readers seem to find this hard to believe. The way that Amazon have sold books at a loss and vilified those publishers wishing to sell their digital product at a price they choose makes me furious. Sadly, I can offer no solution to this massive problem. My concern is that it will inevitably lead to an increasingly amateur and hobbyist publishing industry.

To conclude, things have got to change and they may well get worse before they get better. In the long term, I think that there remains a market-viable argument for the high street bookseller – especially the niche and specialist bookseller. I think that the product (and the service) will gradually become more high-end. I don’t know if publishers will still be shipping books over from the US in five years time. I don’t know if, in five years time, we will purchase an unedited, poorly-marketed, terribly-designed, ill-thought out ebook and think “what have we lost?!”

Discover more…

→ 12 Comments

Posted in Guest Posts

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Making the Leap: Abidemi Sanusi reflects on what it means to be a ‘Christian’ writer

Posted on October 22, 2011 by | Leave a comment
Abidemi Sanusi

Abidemi Sanusi

IT’S A GREAT PLEASURE AND A PRIVILEGE TODAY to welcome Abidemi Sanusi for this weekend’s guest post and latest contribution to the growing Meet the Author series. Abidemi is a writer and former human rights worker who first came to prominence in the Christian book trade with her book ‘Kemi’s Journal of Life, Love & Everything’ (Scripture Union, 2005). Her last book, ‘Eyo’, was shortlisted for the 2010 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and she is now working on her next book. You can catch up with her on facebook or twitter:

Abidemi writes:

THE VERY FIRST CHRISTIAN NOVEL given to me was by a non-Christian. I have no idea how she got hold of the book, but I have her to thank for opening up my eyes to this genre of publishing that I wasn’t even aware existed. All I knew was that I wanted to write fiction that was inspired by biblical themes. The book she gave me reassured me that it could be done.

Kemi's Journal

Kemi's Journal

My first book, Kemi’s Journal of Life, Love & Everything, was published by Scripture Union and nicknamed the ‘Christian Bridget Jones’ by the Independent on Sunday newspaper. Two more books and more than a few contributions to devotional publications later, I was firmly put in that creative box known as a ‘Christian writer’.

At first, the label did not bother me, after all, I was a Christian, and I did write for the Christian market. But then, after a while, it began to grate — round about the time I started thinking about doing something new, something that wouldn’t necessarily fit the guiding principles of Christian publishing. Yes, dear readers, I wanted to leap — straight into the arms of an adoring secular reading audience. I also started thinking about my label as a ‘Christian writer’ and found that I didn’t like it – at all.

Christian writer, or a Christian who writes? Who cares anyway?

For one thing, creatively, I found it too restrictive. Yes, I was a Christian, and yes, I was a writer, and yes, there was a time when I did write specifically for the Christian market, but now, with the kind of books I wanted to write, ones, I might add again, that did not fit the mould of Christian publishing, how representative was the label in terms of where I was creatively and professionally, as a writer? My answer to that was ‘Not all representative’.

I came to the conclusion that I was a Christian who wrote. We don’t call someone a ‘Christian plumber’ or a ‘Christian stockbroker’, but it seems that when it comes to writing, the same rules do not apply. I understand that it works for marketing purposes, but at that time, I found it too restricting.

Eyo

Eyo

I started working on my literary ‘masterpiece’, and when I finished, my agent duly sent it round all the publishing houses (Christian and secular, I might add) – and they all came back with a resounding ‘No.’ Finally, it ended up with an African publisher keen to start a new line of fiction by up-and-coming African writers. Unbeknownst to me, they also entered the book for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize.

And so it was that I found myself competing with an Orange Prize winner for a literary prize. I didn’t win (and neither did the Orange Prize winner), but I did get a fascinating insight into the world of general publishing.

So, where does that leave me today? I always thought I had to make the choice between writing for the Christian or the general market, and now, I know I don’t. I like writing for both, and there is no reason why I can’t or shouldn’t do both. I’m a writer, and writers write — and that is all there is to it.

Update, 30/11/2011: If you’re a Christian writer — or a writer who is a Christian — don’t miss the parallel discussion in the ACW facebook group. Clare C M Weiner asks,

‎”Christian Writer” or “Writer who is a Christian” – is there a difference? If so, what is it? And how would you identify yourself? (Eg do all Christian writers publish with Christian publishers, and the others not??? Do the others keep their faith in the background, or even, a secret?)

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Author Profile, Guest Posts

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,