Mark Kuyper

(New York, NY: May 26, 2015) The Book Industry Study Group (BISG) announced today that Mark Kuyper, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA), has been hired as the organization's new executive director. Mr. Kuyper will join the organization June 15.

The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) has announced the winners for the 2012 Christian Book Awards in seven categories, including first-time category for New Author. Presented annually to the finest in Christian publishing since 1978, the Christian Book Awards honor the highest quality titles in Bibles, Bible Reference, Non-Fiction, Fiction, Children, Inspiration, and New Author.

Christian publishers have reported increased sales for the month of March over the same month last year, according to the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA). These publishers also are showing an increase in net sales (sales-returns) for the first three months of this year. The month of March saw a gross-sales increase of just more than one percent, and a net sales increase of eight percent for March and two percent for the quarter. This is the first time the ECPA has seen a positive change in net sales in more than a year.

Maybe divine intervention will reverse the profit slide for religious book publishers. But industry experts believe it also would be prudent to consider scaling back on titles, reducing returns, making intelligent use of data, investing in digital opportunities and otherwise adapting business models for future success.