March 5, 2011

News Roundup: 3 for 2 on Commentaries at Eden | Christian Focus enters the Blogosphere | Easter with IVP | Living Oasis: Where is the humanity? | St Andrew Press now with NBM

Posted by Phil Groom under Book Trade Ramblings, Christian Bookshops, News | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
[2] Comments 

GOT NEWS? If you have news you’d like to see included in the next News Roundup, please get in touch.

Eden.co.uk: 3 for 2 Bible Commentaries Offer

Eden Commentaries Offer

3 for 2 on Commentaries at Eden

AFTER REPORTING Wesley Owen’s 25% off all commentaries last time around, I feel almost morally obliged to give Eden’s latest offer a mention too: 3 for 2 on selected commentaries; but it’s a fantastic offer in and of its own right, and if you go there and make a purchase via this link, you’ll help raise funds to support this site as well.

If you’re an independent bookseller/retailer wondering how you can possibly compete with this sort of offer, my suggestion is get together with a few other independents and form a buyers’ group: you are stronger together, weaker apart; but the only way to turn that into a reality is by actively doing something about it. Discuss…

Christian Focus enters the Blogosphere

LAUNCHED LAST MONTH and aptly named Christian Focus BookNotes, the new blog from Christian Focus is all about their books. It’s a blog worth watching:

Never a company to settle for half-measures, you’ll also find Christian Focus on facebook, twitter and, of course, YouTube. Go on, hit that facebook Like button: you know you want to!

IVP Easter Sale 2011

IVP Easter Sale 2011 (pdf download)

Easter with IVP

IF THERE’S ONE THING you can always rely on in the UK Christian book trade, it’s outstanding seasonal offers from IVP, and their latest Easter offering doesn’t disappoint.

The offer runs from 1st March to 30th April 2011: take any mix of 20 or more titles from a selection of Easter bestsellers and benefit from special trade prices set to allow you to offer your customers reduced prices (ranging from £2 to £8 off) whilst still retaining a standard trade margin. Full details available from the trade section of their website: pdf download.

Living Oasis: Where is the humanity?

THIS COMMENT, left late on Thursday evening by Mrs Diane Hellyer, seems to epitomise everything that’s gone wrong with Living Oasis:

I have been associated with the Christian book trade for over fifteen years and have worked as a volunteer in five different shops in that time, most recently in Sutton Living Oasis. From what I understand of the situation, it is totally shocking how this closure has been handled by the Chairman and the Trustees. That no HR support was offered and no face to face meeting arranged, but that staff were informed of the impending closure by telephone is surely a lack of care and an undervaluing of the staff, the company’s greatest resource. It may not have been commercially viable to maintain a Christian witness in the high street, but under any circumstances the manner of the closure could, and should, have given a clear Christian witness as to the value placed upon the individual.

For the record, I have already raised similar concerns directly with both Andy Twilley and Simon Hole, Nationwide Christian Trust’s Resource Manager, and have now forwarded this comment personally to Ray George himself. As yet I have received no reply…

Newcastle Cathedral Gift Shop Closure

Also on a sad note, the demise of Newcastle Cathedral’s gift shop. I’m told that the shop had just begun to extend its range of books but alas, financial constraints win out yet again. The closure does seem, however, to have been much better handled than the recent Living Oasis closures, with public tribute paid to the shop staff and volunteers. From the Dean’s February newsletter:

There is on the other hand a great deal of sadness over the closure of the Gift Shop. I would want to pay tribute to the staff and volunteers who over the years have shown enormous commitment to this enterprise, played an important part in welcoming visitors to the Cathedral and done their level best to make it work. However the sad fact is that the Shop has been losing money for many years and Chapter felt such a situation was no longer sustainable. The move to Mosley Street certainly did nothing to revive the Shop’s fortunes but was not the cause of its demise. Chapter is not ruling out re-opening a shop in the future. The issue is what, when and where? We will keep the situation under review and assess the feasibility of any new enterprise in the light of the success of the wider development programme. In the meanwhile there will be sale of stock and any shop furnishings that can’t be used will be “mothballed” . Some souvenirs and small items will continue to be sold in the cafe. Meanwhile there will be a party to celebrate the hard work of our shop volunteers and all that the shop has done on February 18th.

St Andrew Press now with Norwich Books & Music

LAST BUT NOT LEAST: if you’ve been used to ordering St Andrew Press (Church of Scotland) titles from Marston, those days are over. St Andrew Press is now part of the Hymns Ancient & Modern stable of church publishing houses and stock needs to be ordered from Norwich Books & Music.

 

August 31, 2010

Salvation at Hand for St Andrew Press? Kirk Proposes Deal with Hymns Ancient and Modern

Posted by Phil Groom under Christian Publishers, News | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |
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SALVATION may be at hand for St Andrew Press, the Church of Scotland’s publishing division, in the shape of Hymns Ancient and Modern (HM&A), which took on publishing responsibilities for the Church of England only last year.

St Andrew Press was faced with the threat of closure earlier this year as part of a controversial cost-cutting exercise by the Kirk which led to John Brown, brother of former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, stepping down in protest from his position as a lay member of the Kirk’s Publishing Committee when redundancies left the Press with just one member of staff to oversee operations.

According to the official Kirk announcement, three bids were considered for St Andrew Press and the Mission and Discipleship Council, which is responsible for the Press, felt that the bid from HM&A was “the best option” with a final decision due to be made by the Council of Assembly. The Revd Mark Johnstone, Convener of the Mission and Discipleship Council, described it as “a win win situation for the Church as we get to retain our valuable St Andrew Press brand, increase our market reach and raise money for the Church, all at no cost to us.”

Perhaps he is right, if that’s what winning is about. The press release makes no mention of what a handover of operations to HM&A might cost the sole surviving member of staff or what the implications might be for booksellers in terms of trade representation: at present St Andrew Press is represented by the SPCK-led Christian Publishers Representatives (CPR) team.

If — as seems likely — the deal with HM&A goes through then St Andrew Press would seem set to become part of the growing Norwich Books & Music distribution portfolio alongside Church House Publishing and Darton Longmann & Todd, amongst others. Whilst it will remain possible to place orders via the PubEasy network, it will no longer be possible to pay invoices or process returns via batch.co.uk as NB&M have yet to sign up to batch.

If you, beloved reader, are a batch.co.uk user, perhaps now would be a good time to contact NB&M and gently encourage them to join.

Reports Elsewhere (most recent first)

 

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