Comments on: Publishing Wish #3: Work Together

By: janetgrant

janetgrant — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 19:22:12 +0000

Mark, thanks for giving us the inside scoop on attempts trade associations have made to work together. I just hope you all won’t give up on finding common ground and on ways to develop more synergy. As you know, we’re all in this together, and the more we can help each other, the more likely we’ll successfully get books into readers’ hands.

By: Mark Kuyper

Mark Kuyper — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 18:45:59 +0000

Janet,
It is always good to hear what you have to say, and there is merit in your suggestion. Of course what you and your readers may not know is that the idea of some form of collaboration was discussed early on in the development of a consumer awareness building solution. Other organizations, including CBA, GMA,and NRB were part of the early meetings. We strongly believe in partnering and will only do so if we know there is clear win for the other company.

I would never consider CBA a rival company as one of your readers suggested. We exist for different purposes, (CBA serves Christian retailers and we serve Christian publishers), but we have worked together on many initiatives including our recent joint awards event. We even dropped our own trade shows in part because we viewed them as competitive with CBA. And even as we promoted the Christian Book Expo (CBE), we encouraged store owners to attend ICRS. We have had several meetings over the last few years with the expressed purpose of finding areas where we can work together and support each other.

At the end of all of the meetings and discussions there were several reasons why we pursued CBE on our own. There are too many to get into here, but one example was related to location. Most book fairs are not profitable in the first two to three years and have to repeat in the same city to build an audience. CBA’s trade show changes venue each year, which is common for a business to business event, and because of their size they have to contract for years in the future.

I think we can, and will, keep looking for a solution to raise awareness of Christian authors and content that benefits the entire industry. We are both non-profit service organizations with a focus on serving our constituencies over our organizations. We will continue to diligently and creatively look for opportunities to act interdependently as the body of Christ.

Blessings,

Mark Kuyper
ECPA President and CEO

By: Carla

Carla — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 05:26:27 +0000

Janet, I’m passing this onto some like-minded folks who have taken this very suggestion to both CBA and ECPA. Maybe if enough of us rally for this idea, they might get the clue. Thanks!

By: janetgrant

janetgrant — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 20:16:58 +0000

Thanks for your support of the idea. While we can’t control what happens with trade associations, we can at least think about how to band together as writers and as readers.

By: Amy

Amy — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 15:23:36 +0000

Yes Janet – Brilliant idea! A simple and doable solution.

By: Ed Hird

Ed Hird — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 13:24:03 +0000

Brilliant insight, Janet. I hope that the movers and shakers are listening. In Canada, we have one major Christian Publishing/Book gathering called “Write! Canada” which just celebrated its 25th year. It is sponsored by The Word Guild, and meets in mid-June in Guelph Ontario. Because Canadian Christians pull together on this one, we are able to bring in high-quality communicators, such as Chip MacGregor who did our Professional Writers Track so effectively last June.

Ed Hird+
http://battleforthesoulofcanada.blogspot.com

By: KC Frantzen

KC Frantzen — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 12:09:08 +0000

YES!!
The Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, TN was a pleasure to attend last October, in spite of the inclement weather.
The line to meet Kate DiCamillo was staggering, and gave me hope!
It was my first jaunt to such an affair as an author. I met some outstanding people willing to share their kindness, expertise and time (you know who you are!). All in all, a very worthwhile endeavor.
It is a well-publicized event in TN, held on the grounds of the State Capitol. Attendees enjoyed several days of watching puppet shows, participating in parades, hearing authors speak, attending forums, buying BOOKS!
It was good for all aspects of our industry.
(And great fun for me personally!)

By: LeAnne Hardy

LeAnne Hardy — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 00:52:08 +0000

Wonderful idea, Janet. I love the Cape Town International Book Fair. It combines a publisher’s trade fair with sessions for readers and writers and gets LOTS of public participation.

By: Teri Dawn Smith

Teri Dawn Smith — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 20:43:51 +0000

I’m involved with a multi-city women’s ministry that is seeking to do this very thing with churches. Instead of each church competing, we seek to link the needs and resources of all the churches. So far, most pastors ask us, “Where have you been for so long?”

If this can be done between churches in various denominations in several nearby cities, why not in the publishing industry?

I attended the Dallas ECPA event. It was awesome, professional, and grand in a wide scale. The only problem (and it was the killer) was that so few attended. I almost wept wondering where the local Christians were.

But I agree. Work together, especially during these tough economic times.

By: Bonnie Grove

Bonnie Grove — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 20:00:40 +0000

It would be a welcome miracle to see this happen. Christians working together is the heartcry of many of us who work in church ministry as well.
My hubs, Pastor Steve, works full on with the concept of everyone in the Christian community working together – sharing resources, facilities, joining with projects that are already doing a good work, partnering, being flexible, and sharing the benefits as well as the work.

It’s a as good a time as any for Christian’s in the publishing industry to show the world the difference Christ brings – by demonstrating the counter-cultural, counter-intuitive principles of living inside a community of love.

I think Christian publishing has done this in a number of ways, but your thoughts about large events is timely and exciting.