Digital publishing expands into Bibles, juvenile fiction and other categories

E-books are here to stay. As readers tuck smart phones in their pockets and iPads in their purses, many believe e-publishing is great news for retailers and publishers. Others see cause for concern. Will consumers even be reading hard-copy books 10 years from now? What does the exponential growth of the e-book mean for struggling brick-and-mortar stores?

Now that Christian products industry has had a few years to watch the market, publishers and retailers can rest assured the paper book’s doomsday is not on the immediate horizon. In fact, some industry professionals believe retailers can breathe a sigh of relief since e-books have the potential to generate even greater readership—if all concerned continue to embrace change rather than shun new technology. 

Even with e-books’ promising numbers, there are still issues to be addressed and questions to be asked. We discuss these concerns and developments with RICK CHRISTIAN, founder and president of Alive Communications and e-book publisher Bondfire Books; ALAN HUIZENGA, senior director of digital publishing, Tyndale House Publishers; MATT WEST, vice president of general market sales, B&H Publishing Group.

CHRISTIAN RETAILING: What are some of the differences you’re seeing between e-books in the Christian versus general markets?

RICK CHRISTIAN: Christian houses generally report the same ratios as their general market counterparts, with e-book sales accounting for about 22% of overall sales, plus or minus.

ALAN HUIZENGA: And overall, trends suggest that e-book sales are leveling off from the three-digit growth we have seen over the past several years. Our experience indicates that the digital mix of product is dependent upon the line of products a publisher carries.  Fiction continues to dominate e-book sales, and in those categories, our mix can be as high as 50%-60% on some lines. The growth in e-books we saw this year were in the Bible and juvenile fiction lines as we put more of those titles in the market. Another important trend we see is that tablets have now become the preferred reading device over e-ink devices.

CR: In the Christian market, how do sales of e-books compare with sales of print books?

MATT WEST: In the Christian marketplace, I do see that e-book sales compared to print sales are at a much lower percentage than with the general market retailers, but I haven’t quantified the split. At the author level, e-book sales are in line with those of authors for other categories, though newer titles and best-sellers are posting nearly 50/50 splits between print and digital sales. Some categories, like fiction, trend higher.

CHRISTIAN: A few years back, certain individuals bloviated that e-book sales would surpass print sales within a few years, and one still famously—or infamously—says print is doomed by 2015. But he’s like a lonely scarecrow in an open field because the exponential growth of e-book sales in years past plateaued in 2013. We expect the e-book market share to remain pretty level for the near future, with great prospects for more growth as younger readers grow up.

HUIZENGA:  I agree. Years ago, many “experts” were predicting that digital would overtake physical sales. Now, those same pundits are more reserved in their statements, suggesting that “e” and “p” will exist side by side for many years. I believe it comes down to the type of content. Picture books, reference works, children’s products, Bibles and more graphically intense works are still preferred in the physical format. Fiction and other straight narrative works are more popular in digital format, particular with those products whose content is quickly “consumable.” Certainly, the quick-to-market potential of e-products also lets digital products capitalize on timely and current events. We saw success with Joel Rosenberg as his e-only title did well for us and helped build interest and sales in his other titles. 

CR: Do you think there’s still room for growth in the e-book market or has it stabilized? 

HUIZENGA: The growth of e-books is slowing, which is a natural outcome since it cannot continue to grow at the rate it has been for the past several years.  

CHRISTIAN: Right. The audience size can’t grow by several hundred percent every year.

WEST: I’m not sure I would characterize it as stabilization though. The growth rate appeared to slow in the last half of 2012, to something like 30% over the previous year, compared to growth rates in the 150%-200% range for the two or three years previous. That sounds like a big fall-off, but 30% is still a huge growth rate in comparison to the traditional rate of growth for retail in general or for book retail. And some channels—library, education, international—aren’t anywhere near the same level of saturation as the U.S. domestic retail market, so the next waves of growth could come from either the next disruptive technology in hardware or from publishers expanding into new markets that we are just now developing the infrastructure to service.

HUIZENGA: There is always a new innovation just beyond the corner, but I believe that e-book technology has settled for a while. 

CHRISTIAN: More people will adopt the format as they learn they can access e-books on devices they already own. I expect people will become more agnostic about these choices over time, shifting between digital reading and analog reading without much thought. 

CR: What are the responses you’re hearing from retailers about e-books?

WEST: There is an understanding that digital sales are a critical part of the industry’s future, and I sense a genuine spirit of partnership between the publishers and retailers.  We’re beginning to hear success stories, either through coordination of e-book and print merchandising efforts, or targeted merchandising to reach niche audiences within the Christian community, like the pastoral market. More retailers are also at least in talks with, if not already signed up for, services like Ingram’s CoreSource or in talks with Kobo about using their platform, which we see as healthy progress for e-book growth in the Christian retail space. 

HUIZENGA: We are ministering in greater numbers to people’s spiritual needs, giving voice to more authors through our digital-only endeavors, and spurring on the sales of our physical products in retail stores across the country. It’s been difficult for individual retailers to participate because of the burden of infrastructure investment. Also, once a reader is committed to a particular platform, it is difficult to entice them to a new platform (although tablets might be a possibility to break this barrier). There are a number of companies that provide retailers e-book support, like Matt mentioned: Ingram, ACM Digital, Kobo, Overdrive, etc., but pressures on downward pricing make things difficult. Anecdotally, the retailers for which we have seen good results have positioned themselves as curators of Christian content in a safe Internet environment.

CHRISTIAN: Some retailers we talk with are yet pretty chirpy about getting into the e-reader game. It’s fun and different, and it makes everybody feel like start-up entrepreneurs with a new gizmo. But that’s how it was at B&N a few years ago when they began pitching Nooks with evangelistic fervor. 

CR: How important is pricing in this ever-changing market? 

HUIZENGA: This is a real issue that the entire industry must face. We have seen e-book revenue grow, but the number of units sold has grown as well. This reflects the fact that many products are sold in the 99 cents to $2.99 range. We all need to work together to make sure that our content is not devalued. We will promote our products to gain exposure, but we do not radically discount e-content because digital is only another “edition” of the product.

CHRISTIAN: Pricing is huge. If e-books are roughly a quarter of the market and poised to grow at even a modest rate, then we must ensure the price is right for everyone involved—authors, readers, publishers, retailers and libraries. 

WEST: Pricing is certainly important, but maybe not as all-consuming a factor as we might have historically believed.  Does pricing need to be competitive? Yes, absolutely.  But what we’re seeing is less price-sensitivity in some niche markets—Bibles and Bible reference, academic and on pastoral ministry titles—as well as less need for permanent deep discounts on e-book prices, and instead more opportunities with flexible pricing or short-term price promotions. Discoverability is still a far greater issue to continue wrestling to the ground than price.

CR: What’s the biggest misconception about e-books?

HUIZENGA: That e-book content should be cheaper because there are no costs of goods. While there are no costs of goods associated with e-books, that is the least amount of expense in bringing a product to market. Publishers must still pay large advances, edit the content, design interiors and covers, and market and promote their products. There is also a very particular development and conversion process that publishers must acquire to produce these products and upload them into the channels.  

WEST: People think that the infrastructure is too costly or too complicated to be implemented effectively by retailers. But the tools and platforms available from some of the larger players—Kobo and Ingram, for instance—are improving constantly and show a true aptitude for simplicity and ease of implementation. In addition, there is a great opportunity for some smaller tech retailers that have been dabbling in Christian e-book sales to partner with other retailers.

CR: Is the future of e-books bright? 

CHRISTIAN: We’re already living in the bright future of e-books, and it will get brighter still. E-books lower the overall cost of goods, which is scary for some publishers, but very good for readers and the long-term health of the marketplace. E-books allow for faster-paced publishing, which is good for authors and readers and can lend new titles a timeliness that is often missed by the slow pace of traditional publishing. 

WEST: Yes, the future of e-books is positively bright. From a missional standpoint, there has never been a more incredible opportunity for spreading the gospel, both here in the United States and around the globe. The ease with which the message God gives an author can be spread and distributed around the globe is a marvel.

HUIZENGA: No one is an expert in terms of predicting what is going to happen, but I believe that e-books will continue to be a viable option for those readers who desire that type of content. I also believe that physical books will continue to be a large and important part of the business as well. 

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