NavPress cedes many publishing roles to new partner in order to focus on acquisition and development

NavPress and Tyndale House Publishers jointly announced Sept. 11 a new publishing alliance to grow the influence and impact of the NavPress brand. Plans are underway to increase the global distribution of the NavPress backlist and expand opportunities for new NavPress books and Bibles.

NavPress will continue to operate as the publishing arm of The Navigators ministry based in Colorado Springs, Colo. , but Tyndale is coming alongside NavPress to bring efficiencies of scale to the publishing process, including manufacturing, warehousing, selling, marketing and fulfillment. Tyndale has had a similar relationship with Focus on the Family for many years.

NavPress planned to eliminate the jobs of at least 22 of its 29 employees, according to The Gazette (Colorado Springs). The company will retain a small acquisition team, while Tyndale will soon assume most of the publisher’s other roles.

“I am excited about the alliance with Tyndale,” said Charlie Dokmo, chief of staff for The Navigators and interim CEO of NavPress. “This new publishing arrangement will allow the NavPress team to focus on what we do best, which is acquiring and developing new content—the heart and the future of every publisher.

“At the same time, this alliance will increase the opportunity for our authors to maximize their impact in the marketplace considering Tyndale’s well-regarded marketing prowess, sales talent and operating platform,” Dokmo added. “Most importantly, The Navigators is delighted to be engaging in God’s work with Tyndale and its rich heritage of ‘ministering to the spiritual needs of people.’ ”

Doug Knox, senior vice president and group publisher for Tyndale, said: “Tyndale and NavPress share a common mission, with product lines that are more complementary than competitive. Working together we can leverage each other’s strengths to accomplish better stewardship of our individual resources.”

NavPress will receive and process orders until further notice. Tyndale will begin pre-selling the NavPress 2014 summer list to the trade this month.