For a slight change of pace I want to briefly comment on one of the new books published by Warner Press this year. Our publishing house releases several books every year, usually in conjunction with the North American Convention. Increasingly they are securing titles that can be marketed outside of our movement, and to the church at large.While I do not have time to read or review every new Warner Press book, the one that caught my attention this year is Faith in the Future: Christianity's Interface with Globalization by Church of God missionary Patrick Nachtigall. I decided to purchase this because it covers a compelling topic that I don't hear discussed much in our circles.
Nachtigall's purpose in the book is to "look at some of the new things that are currently happening in our world so that Christians can be better informed and more prepared to engage the world with the gospel" (p. 2). As someone who has first-hand experience of living in different countries and cultures, Nachtigall brings his own personal experience and insight to the topic. He addresses a wide range of issues, including peace, poverty, sexual slavery and the environment. Some he sees as opportunities, others as challenges.
The value of this book will be in its application as a discussion starter, especially for mission-minded individuals and church groups. While I can't say that I learned much that I hadn't heard before, his drawing together of these issues provides for a great introduction, especially for the many Americans who seem to be somewhat insulated from the global trends happening around them.
Again, this book shines as an introduction and thought-starter. I was somewhat disappointed in that, for me, Nachtigall doesn't engage these issues enough with the gospel message and the implications for the church. He certainly touches on these components, but I expected more. Some may also be somewhat surprised and skeptical at his apparent over-optimism for some of the global trends that he writes about.
This is one of those books that is being marketed outside of the Church of God, and it is impressive to see the sharp design and layout of the book. This makes the book more attractive to those who tend to "judge a book by its cover". But, hopefully it will give Warner Press a bigger position within Christian bookstores, with the prospect that our voice will be heard more and wider in the future.
3 comments:
Warner Press has shown neither attitude nor aptitude toward marketing outside the Church of God, but I did take a second look at Patrick's book for several of the reasons you mention. Thanks for your thoughtful evaluation and hope it helps sell a few. Our engagement leaves a lot to be desired. Wayne
Wayne, you've shared with me on several occasions your deep distrust of Warner Press, so I don't expect this message to change your mind. On the other hand, it wouldn't be responsible of me to let this kind of public comment go unanswered. So let me just briefly point out some evidence of what we're doing to market our books outside the Church of God:
1) Have you tried searching for Patrick's book at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, or Borders.com? (You'll find it available at all of those sites -- and lots of others.) That's marketing outside the Church of God. Our books don't just happen to appear there; we must place them there, and in some cases our sales representative has to visit their buyer face-to-face in order to get our books there. (B&N and Borders, for example.)
2) Have you tried a Google search for one of our books or authors? It's interesting to see where it takes you. For example, I just Googled "Dale Oldham," since we published new large-print editions of 3 of his books last fall. The first page of the Google search takes me to BarnesandNoble.com, BooksChristian.com, and ChristianBook.com (that's Christian Book Distributors' site). I see Google has 2,780 entries for Dr. Dale right now. We certainly can't take credit for all of them, but we're on 2 of the e-tailer sites that I just listed (Barnes & Noble and Christian Book Distributors) because one of our sales reps, Chris Robinette, personally visited their buyers in New York and Wenham MA, and persuaded them to carry Dr. Dale's books.
Besides the public evidence of our marketing, such as these, we're doing a lot of things that you would see only if you were a bookstore owner. We advertise our books in the catalogs of major book distributors, including Spring Arbor and Baker & Taylor. We exhibit our books at major retail shows, such as the International Christian Retail Show in Orlando FL last month. We list all of our books in Bowker's "Books in Print," which is the central database that stores and libraries use to purchase books. And we mail our catalogs directly to local Christian bookstores and gift shops. Again, you wouldn't see these activities because they're directed to the "middlemen" of the distribution process -- wholesalers and retailers. But we have to do all of that in order for the public to get access to our books.
Try this: Pick a book out of our 2008 Church of God Resource Catalog. Call or visit a local bookstore (either Christian or secular, it shouldn't matter), and ask them to order the book for you. See if they can find it in their database. If they CAN, it's because we paid to put it there. If they can't, it shows there is a lot more we need to do!
And yes, there is a lot more we need to do; we know that. Our $$$ resources are limited. Our knowledge and expertise are limited. But a few simple inquiries on the Internet or at your local library or bookstore will prove that we're not using all of our resources to sell our materials to Church of God folks.
Thanks Joe, for that lengthy explanation. I did not mean it to sound quite as negative as you took it. I do think that kind of info needs wider dissemination. My "deep distrust" comes from several sources, one of which is a source I prefer not to reveal. It comes partly from a strong commitment to publications and my great disillusionment over the loss of VC and related events. I do not blame WP entirely; I blame the church at large also, as well as the GA. I am sympathetic to the overall cause and would not have your job for love or money ..... thanks...your word is encouraging, Wayne
Post a Comment