Chains and independent bookstores offer mixed response over one-time favorite’s lesbian revelation

Response has been mixed from Christian retailers in the wake of singer-songwriter Jennifer Knapp’s recent revelation that she is a lesbian.

Singer-songwriter Jennifer Knapp—who rose to fame with a series of best-selling albums on Gotee Records in the 1990s and disappeared from the Christian music scene after her 2001 release—The Way I Am—announced in April that she has been in an eight-year relationship with a woman.

Letting Go, released in May through Sony Music-owned independent distributor RED but not marketed to the Christian retail channel, marked her fourth album and first release since The Way I Am—which received a GRAMMY nomination for Best Rock Gospel Album.

Chains and independent Christian bookstores contacted by Christian Retailing were divided on whether they would carry Knapp’s music.

LifeWay Christian Stores, which operates 156 stores in 26 states, said that it would not carry Knapp’s new release on its Web site and shelves.

“Jennifer Knapp has been out of the music scene for a long time, and we have not been carrying her product in our stores for several years,” LifeWay Director of Product Standards and Customer Relations Chris Rodgers said in a statement. “Stocking her music is not an issue since there is no demand for her product in our stores or on our Web site.”

Rodgers declined to comment on specific questions about Knapp’s music, citing a company policy on proprietary business decisions. Meanwhile, Parable Christian Stores and Christianbookstore.net—at press time—both carried Knapp’s music on their Web sites.

Parable declined to comment, as did Mardel Christian & Education—which does not carry Knapp’s music on its online store.

CBA Executive Director Curtis Riskey said the association had not been contacted by any stores about whether retailers should carry Knapp’s albums.

“We don’t make decisions for stores on what products they should or should not carry,” he said. “Consumers—both believers and non-believers—that purchase from Christian retail stores would make that determination through their votes with their dollars. Jesus is all about redemption and reconciliation. Jennifer Knapp needs to know that Jesus truly loves her and died for her.”

Kirk Blank—president of Munce Group, a retail marketing group that serves more than 560 bookstores in 49 states and Canada—said Knapp’s latest release “would not necessarily be picked up by Munce member stores” since it does not have strictly Christian content.

“It has been quite a while since Jennifer’s releases have been promoted,” he said. “In some cases, even availability is a hurdle for the stores to purchase. What we can do is continue to pray for our industry that we will all have discernment in the products we do produce, promote and carry.

“And we need to continue to pray for the artists and authors who are creating the products that we sell,” Blank added. “Romans 2:4 reminds us that God’s kindness leads us to repentance. Let us be a loving community that reflects the love and kindness that we’ve been shown.”

Rick Lewis, co-owner of Logos Bookstore in Dallas, said his store carries Knapp’s albums, including the latest one, because “her songs still minister to people.”

“I’m sure she’ll get bashed in the Christian media and from some pulpits,” he said. “I tend to think this is for her and God to work out. The image that comes to mind is Jesus and the woman caught in sin. Let the guy who has no sin cast the first stone.”

Steven Marsh, retail floor manager at Pee Dee Christian Book & Supply in Florence, S.C., said Knapp’s music was pulled after her disclosure.

“Currently, we only have her newest album in stock, which has been pulled from the shelf to be returned to the company,” he said. “We feel her products would be offensive to our customers by leading them to believe we support this lifestyle. … None of our customers have commented on Knapp’s decision, but several employees were disheartened to learn that she is gay, as they enjoyed her music.”

Bill Beyer, co-owner of Skia Christian store in Bentonville, Ark., said he would not carry Letting Go.

“We’ve had her albums in the store before, but they haven’t sold well,” he said. “We currently don’t have any in the store. I did ask several of our customers—ages 20-25—what they thought, and the general consensus is, “Thank God for grace.’ ”

Evangelical Christian Publishers Association’s summit looks at how e-books are impacting consumers

While e-books are currently only a tiny slice of the reading pie, the category’s rapid growth and its implications for business were a major focus for Christian publishing executives in Nashville, May 3-5.

Around 150 people representing more than 50 publishers heard how sales of digital books have exploded in the last year and impacted consumer habits, at the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association’s (ECPA) Executive Leadership Summit.

Speakers threw out Webkinz toys and showed clips from movies like Napoleon Dynamite and Juno to illustrate changes in cultural attitudes and the use of technology, during the three-day event. Hosted by B&H Publishing Group, the program went ahead unaffected by the flooding that devastated parts of the city.

Of 1 million books brought out last year, only 250,000 came from traditional publishers, said Kelly Gallagher, vice president of publisher services for R.R. Bowker, presenting details of research on e-book readers. Although e-books account for just under 3% of all book sales, they signal a 
“significant change” in moving to a consumer-driven model of business, he added.

Digital sales were not growing the book market but “simply cannibalizing print,” Gallagher said, adding that 45% of e-book readers said they were buying less hardcovers than they used to and 42% were buying fewer paperbacks. Additionally, e-book purchase prices averaged $6.25 less than print editions.

In his keynote address, “Gutenberg Church in a Google World,” Leonard Sweet, author and professor of evangelism at Drew University, said that Christian publishers needed to learn how to integrate visual communication into their content because of “the shift from word to image.”

In a presentation on digital piracy, Brian F. O’Leary, founder and principal of consultants Magellan Media, reported on a study that had found a spike in sales from some titles after its unauthorized files were made available online, though he said that further research was needed to understand the link between the two.

The strongest warning on the impact of the digital revolution came from Michael Drew, founder of publicity firm Promote A Book, who said in his presentation: “If publishers don’t change the way they do business, they will not exist in five years.” He predicted that within five years, 80% of all books would be sold electronically.

In one of three case-study presentations on innovation by ECPA member companies, Aaron Linne, executive producer of digital marketing of B&H Publishing Group, told how the company had made its Holman Christian Standard Bible available to Xbox gamers through its Bible Navigator X.

Summit sessions also looked at digital rights management and the impact of Google’s efforts to put all available books online.

The digital publishing emphasis was welcomed by attendees. “Things are changing and we need to understand this as a group because no single company has all the answers,” said Baker Publishing Group President Dwight Baker. Though digital sales were small, “it’s a rapidly changing and highly confusing area so we need wisdom and people coming in to explain some” of the issues, he added.

In his welcoming address, ECPA President Mark Kuyper said that extreme shifts were coming, but publishers’ focus needed to remain on good content. “As much as we get excited about new technology, we are far more excited about the impact the words can have on someone’s life,” he said.

Awareness campaign to drive traffic, encouragement for Christian retailers

A nationwide effort to drive traffic to Christian retail stores will take place Oct. 23 when retailers and suppliers unite for Christian Store Day.

The initiative was announced by CBA Executive Director Curtis Riskey who visited the ECPA summit to meet with publishers. The October effort is intended “to raise awareness and drive traffic to Christian retail,” Riskey said, replicating the success of Record Store Days that have seen “great success” in drawing consumers to music retailers.

More details of the event—to feature special promotions and in-store happenings, as part of a week-long campaign—will be announced at the International Christian Retail Show in St. Louis.

During his summit session interview with ECPA President and CEO Mark Kuyper, Riskey said that Christian Store Day aimed to build on the successful Christian retail channel exclusives that CBA had developed with suppliers, which had averaged sales of more than 100,000 units of products special to Christian stores.

Urging greater cooperation between retailers and publishers, Riskey said: “We are not the only channel. We realize that you have many choices to make in terms of distribution. However, we have customers that are unique that do look to us for certain kinds of things. We have to figure out—how are we going to leverage that?”

Discussing changes and challenges in the industry with Kuyper, Riskey said that Christian stores needed to do a better job of connecting with local churches and to become centers of their local community. He estimated that there were between 2,500 and 2,800 viable Christian stores―including independents, chains and church-based operations. While some stores had closed in recent times, others were seeing double-digit increases, Riskey added.

Later in the summit, two Christian publishing leaders offered words of encouragement to Christian retailers in the face of the challenges the specialty stores have been presented by digital publishing and diverse sales channels.

Thomas Nelson CEO Michael Hyatt said that he saw “renewed opportunity” for stores that focused more on becoming a central place for their local community. “If it’s about trying to deliver the good to the consumer, there are more efficient models of doing it,” he said in an open conversation with David C. Cook President and CEO Cris Doornbos.

But “we could see the renewal of local retail,” Hyatt said, observing that some young adults were rejecting large, chain businesses, preferring to go to local retailers instead. “There’s lot of opportunity,” Hyatt said. “Retail is not dead, unless it wants to be dead.”

Hyatt’s comments came as he discussed industry issues with Doornbos in a session that saw him pass the chairmanship of the ECPA—which he has held for four years—to the Cook leader.

Doornbos said that while he believed that the future would be tough for chains, “retail has a really good future.” Independents could be leaders in their local community, but sometimes got “swallowed up” by the administrative and business side of their stores, he observed.

“It also seems to me that those retailers who have been successful over the years have really good relationships with their local churches,” Doornbos added. “I think there’s lots of opportunities for local retail to do well, to stay healthy. It’s still difficult, but if you can draw them back, people will come.”

Retail promotions for Book of the Year winners

A concerted retailer push has been coordinated to help promote sales of the winners of the ECPA’s 2010 Christian Book Awards, announced on the eve of the Nashville summit.

Berean Christian Stores, LifeWay Christian Stores and Family Christian Stores were to feature the six winners in seven categories at their Web sites, while Munce Group was to highlight them in its More To Life online magazine. The top titles are also to be promoted on independents’ Web sites operated by Innovative and there will be some in-store promotions.

Borders, Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com planned to reference the winners, too.

Christian Book of the Year was Richard Stearns’ The Hole in Our Gospel (Thomas Nelson), which also took the Christian Life category.

Other winners: Bible Reference and Study: The New Moody Atlas of the Bible by Barry J. Beitzel (Moody Publishers); Fiction: Watch Over Me by Christa Parrish (Bethany House/Baker Publishing Group); Children and Youth: B4UD8-Before You Date by Hayley and Michael DiMarco (Revell/Baker Publishing Group); and Inspiration and Gift: Grace Notes by Philip Yancey (Zondervan).

For the second time in three years that a non-print Bible won an award, Glo by Immersion Digital, distributed by Zondervan, was voted best in the Bible category. In 2008, Thomas Nelson’s The Word of Promise New Testament Audio Bible was declared Book of the Year.

‘Revolutionary’ agreement swaps companies’ information on channel sell-in and returns

Several leading Christian publishers are opening their business books to each other to get a better handle on trends and opportunities.

Half a dozen companies are participating in the service that was due to be launched in June by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA), which allows them to track information about distribution of others ’ titles.

The program gives participants access to data about sell-in to and returns from six channels—Christian retail; mass market; Internet, book clubs and college; international export; direct to consumer; and other.

Taking part are Crossway, David C. Cook, NavPress, Thomas Nelson, Tyndale House Publishers and Zondervan, who have been involved in discussions and testing for almost two years. Other publishers who use PubTrack Christian, the sales data service ECPA offers in conjunction with R.R. Bowker, will also be invited to join in.

“I would call this revolutionary,” ECPA President and CEO Mark Kuyper said of the arrangement. “It will be the most comprehensive, richest data available in publishing today and is only available because the publishers have chosen to share information with each other.

The association’s information and technology director, Michael Covington, said that gaining access to channel-level data on titles would help publishers “make better decisions and invest their dollars in better ways so that eventually more books are sold, and that is to everybody’s good.”

Participants were willing to share information because “there’s a certain level of protection, and they feel like the potential reward for access to this data is far greater than any risk of putting it out there.”

Crossway Executive Vice President for Sales, Marketing and Media Geoff Dennis said: “Viewing the data from other publishers, which is only available if we participate, makes us more effective in our ability to determine the relative effectiveness of our publishing program.”

He added that “this industry is markedly different than the secular market in that we are partners with other Christian publishers in the dissemination of content that will edify the church body—there is a missional component to the work that we do as Christian publishers, and therefore, we are comparatively more open to sharing info that will facilitate this mission. In many ways we are ‘partners in the gospel.’ ”

Tyndale House Publishers Vice President and Chief Information Officer Teresa Clarke told Christian Retailing that accurate data “is critical for effective decision making.”

The program was prompted by a lack of visible data about how Christian books were being sold and what their total market was, said C. Ryan Dunham, senior vice president of sales and marketing for David C. Cook.

Positive outlook could end ‘very difficult economic climate’ for publishing

In an encouraging sign that the business environment is turning around for the Christian book market, Christian publishers reported increased sales for March over the same month last year—and also showed an increase in net sales for the first three months of 2010.

The latest sales findings were good news for Christian publishers, considering religious books saw a 9% drop in sales in 2009 compared to the previous 12 months, according to the Association of American Publishers (AAP).

Publishers saw a gross sales increase of more than 1% in March, a net sales increase of 8% for the month and 2% for the quarter. It was the first time the association had seen a positive change in net sales in more than year, reported the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA).

“This news is a welcome sign that we may be seeing the end of a very difficult economic climate that has had a major impact on Christian publishing,” ECPA President Mark Kuyper said. “While publishers will need to continue to work toward changes necessary in a new-media world, an upward trend in traditional book sales shows the continuing demand from consumers for Christian content.”

Fifteen ECPA member publishers reported sales in January. Each month’s aggregate sales and returns totals are forwarded for inclusion in the monthly AAP report and tracked under the religious books category.

“By collecting and then forwarding our members’ data in partnership with the AAP, we are able to get a more accurate read on the sales trends of publishers engaged in selling Christian books exclusively,” said ECPA Information and Education Director Michael Covington.

Meanwhile, religious books saw a near double-digit drop in sales in 2009. Despite the slump to $659 million in total revenues, religious books “secured steady growth” with a compound growth of 2.4% over the same time period, noted the report, which provides annual total book sales. Religious books had seen a 7.6% drop in sales in 2008.

The AAP estimates for 2009 were drawn from data from the Bureau of the Census as well as sales information from 86 publishers “inclusive of all major book publishing media market holders,” the association said.

The religion sales drop was topped by audiobooks, which fell 12.9% to $192 million. Overall, AAP estimated that publishers had net sales of $23.9 billion in 2009, down from $24.3 billion in 2008—representing a 1.8% decrease.

Sales of religious books had its largest increase in more than a year in March, according to AAP. The month’s sales for religious books rose 7% to $49.5 million, but were down by 3.5% for the year. Other than a small increase in December, the religious books category had been on a steady decline since January 2009.

Directed by Wes Llewellyn, the film stars David A.R. White, Kevin Downes and Brad Heller. In the sequel to The Moment After, former FBI agent Adam Riley makes a dramatic escape from death row and is reunited with his friend and mentor, Jacob, leader of The Way, and his small band of Christians.

After taking a sabbatical in 2006, FFH frontman Jeromy Deibler and his wife, Jennifer, also part of the group, moved to South Africa where they spent six months training musicians and mentoring worship leaders at a small church south of Cape Town. It was during that time Deibler began to experience severe pain and unsettling symptoms throughout his body. Months after returning to the U.S. in the spring of 2007, he was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS).