Publishers swoon over the category, but some retailers are cautious about embracing it

Buoyed by strong sales and growing critical acceptance, publishers are stepping up their efforts to court readers of Christian romance. While anticipating a slight peak in sales for Valentine’s Day, publishers are hoping to see heightened demand for inspirational love stories to become an all-year affair by adding new lines and upping output.

With Beth Wiseman’s An Amish Love release targeting Feb. 14, Thomas Nelson has signed four leading romance writers to collaborate on a collection of novellas that will come out ahead of Valentine’s Day 2012 with a major promotional push.

Smitten—by Kristin Billerbeck, Colleen Coble, Diann Hunt and Denise Hunter—is part of the company’s romance expansion in direct response to readers’ desire, said Senior Vice President and Fiction Publisher Allen Arnold.

“One of many keys to our exponential growth year over year has been our purposeful increase in romance titles,” he told Christian Retailing. “We’re publishing twice as many romance titles, across several, as we were four years ago.”

Harlequin’s inspirational division, Steeple Hill, which debuted in 1997, doubled the monthly output in its “Love Inspired Historical” series from last month, bringing its total annual new title count—including the “Love Inspired” and “Love Inspired Suspense” lines—to 168. The move “reflects the tremendous growth of inspirational fiction in the United States,” said Steeple Hill Senior Editor Tina James.

Category newcomer Summerside Press—with a million units sold since its 2009 debut—has earmarked fall for the launch of its “American Tapestries” series, joining the “Love Finds You” and “When I Fall In Love” lines.

Although publishers are cutting back on titles in other categories, the growth of romance is providing opportunities for new writers and new and mid-sized publishers like Summerside, noted Cynthia Ruchti, president of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW).

In addition, companies that once published only nonfiction like Abingdon Press, New Hope Publishers and DeWard Publishing Co. have developed lines “that are making a mark and producing quality novels,” with more than 60 Christian publishers producing fiction. 

“Publishers are acquiring new authors, venturing into new categories, and producing new lines because of reader interest in Christian fiction and its impact,” she said.

Ruchti’s assessment of the strength of new arrivals on the fiction scene was backed by the inclusion of two Abingdon titles—Debbie Viguie’s I Shall Not Want and Kay Marshall Strom’s The Voyage of Promise—in the 2010 Top 10 Inspirational Fiction list from the librarians’ magazine Booklist.

Abingdon Marketing and Publicity Manager Meagan Roper said:  “It’s an honor that editors within the library market are seeing such promise in our fiction line.”

Having majored on introducing new writers since its 2009 launch, Abingdon’s fiction line will be adding “some very well known authors” from the fall, said Roper, including Melody Carlson. “We’ll be planning heavy promotion and publicity around her upcoming three-part series.”

The Booklist top 10—books that “handle their religious themes with great skill while also offering engrossing plots”— was dominated by Baker Publishing Group (BPG) and Tyndale House Publishers. Along with third-highest-grossing Nelson, the two accounted for more than half Christian fiction sales in the third quarter of 2010, according to sales data from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association.

Baker had four titles spotlighted by Booklist, from its Bethany House Publishers and Revell imprints. Tyndale secured two mentions, including Francine Rivers’ Her Mother’s Hope—the sequel to which, Her Daughter’s Dream, was the novel with the highest ECPA third-quarter revenues last year.

Both Steeple Hill and Abingdon noted stronger sales in the general market. “It seems there’s a general reluctance in the CBA (market) to carry any mass-market titles—perhaps because it would mean making changes in merchandising, perhaps because the lower price point would mean the volume of sales would have to be greater than for the trade paperbacks,” said James.

But “Love Inspired” readers were “repeat buyers, very loyal to our brand,’ she said, offering the potential for returning customers.  Many readers buy or read four or more copies per month, she said. 

In January, Steeple Hill introduced www.tryloveinspired.com, a Web site where visitors can download a free introductory book. “We would welcome a greater flexibility about selling mass-market titles” in the Christian market, James said.

“Clearly there is a demand, and we would love to build relationships with Christian retailers that would lead to a broader availability of our books in Christian stores. Those who do carry them comment on customer enthusiasm.”

Abingdon’s Roper said that its books “perform better in the trade market,” primarily because of “the overall theme and message our books tend to carry” that “touch on some of the gray areas of life that you may not find in typical inspirational fiction.”

David Lewis, executive vice president of sales and marketing for BPG, said that many best-selling authors sold better outside of Christian stores, but for many “average, mid-list” fiction writers, the Christian market was stronger.

New authors regularly sold better in other channels, perhaps because “the other markets are willing to gamble more on a new author if they like the cover or genre. A typical CBA store can be more focused and comfortable with proven authors.”

Allen reported strong Christian market support for Nelson fiction, encouraging stores to have staff members pick specific titles and familiarize themselves with the stories. “Christian retail is a specialty retailer and not only should their offerings go deeper in terms of backlist, but their staff should be more well-versed in the series and the specific themes of the novels,” he said.

Summerside Vice President Carlton Garborg said that in-store signage was especially important with series, a cornerstone of the romance category. “They need to group the series together rather than have them shelved by author, which would have the books scattered about, making them harder to find.” 

Lewis said that stores should make sure well-performing series did not have missing titles. “The trend has been in many stores, during this recession, to let some steady selling backlist titles drop off the shelves.”

Since its launch in 2009, ACFW’s database of Christian fiction, www.fictionfinder.com, which profiles authors and genres, has been increasingly embraced as a resource for stores, readers, authors, book clubs and publishing industry professionals, Ruchti said.