Focusing on Faith

The large New York publishing firms might have been forgiven, in early 2000, for taking little or no notice of a slim volume of Bible commentary put out by Multnomah Publishers, a small religious publishing house based in Colorado Springs. The book, which analyzed an obscure Old Testament passage as a sort of self-help guide to releasing “God’s favor, power and protection” through prayer, was bought up by large evangelical churches and began to be talked about online and in so-called “small group ministry” sessions around the country.

One year and 4 million copies later, everyone in the publishing world had heard of “The Prayer of Jabez: Breaking Through to the Blessed Life.” The book, which reached the top of The New York Times and USA Today best-seller lists in 2001, has since gone on to sell more than 9 million copies.

“The thing just took off,” recalls Joel Kneedler, publicity manager at Waterbrook Press, the religious publishing arm of Random House Inc. founded in 1996. “One woman bought 500 copies to give out at her wedding. This was pre-Rick Warren, but the ‘Left Behind’ series was already going.”

Over the past decade, the impact of such blockbusters, including Warren’s “The Purpose Driven Life” and the “Left Behind” series—which over the course of its 12 volumes enjoyed a reign at the top of best-seller lists rivaled only by the exploits of boy wizard “Harry Potter”—has caused a seismic shift in the religious publishing world. The biggest players, both on the publishing and retail ends, are now, without a doubt, fully awake to the revenue power and potential of religious titles.

“I believe the two events that did the most to change the perception … were releases of ‘The Passion of the Christ’ [movie] and ‘The Purpose Driven Life,’” says Carol Johnson, vice president of editorial at Bethany House, an imprint of Baker Publishing Group. “Both got the attention of decision-makers about a very large, mostly quiet and underserved audience in the film world and the book world.”