Market Focus: Saving Religious Books
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. “One of the biggest things impacting at least our segment is our perspective of the business that we’re in,” says Michael Linder, who at the time of this interview was senior vice president of strategy and new business development at Zondervan of Grand Rapids, Mich. “There are some religious publishers who are going to see themselves in the business of evangelism, and … they’re running their business more as a ministry, relying on God’s grace to drive their business—as opposed to, perhaps, God’s grace and good publishing business practices.”