Willingham to Guideposts; unChristian Makes a Stir; Christian Media Event in India; Cook Author Exposed in NYC
-- Publishers Weekly, 10/17/2007
Jennifer Willingham has come on board as v-p of marketing for the Guideposts Books Trade Division. Willingham was formerly v-p of marketing for the Thomas Nelson imprint Nelson Books. She left the company in 2005 to launch her own firm, Willingham Communications. At Guideposts, she will report to Jonathan Merkh, v-p of book publishing for Guideposts. Merkh was previously publisher for Nelson Books. Willingham will be based in Nashville.
unChristian: What a New Generation Thinks about Christianity and Why It Matters (Baker) authors David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons spoke at the Catalyst conference in Atlanta (Oct. 3-5), attended by 11,000 "next generation" Christian leaders. More than 4,000 copies of the book were sold at the conference. unChristian (starred review in PW, Aug. 13), is based on a Barna Group study of people ages 16-29 who do not identify as Christians, 38% of whom said they had a "bad impression" of the faith as anti-gay, overly political and hypocritical, among other negative things. A recent Time.com piece on the book, "Christianity's Image Problem" has been widely cited in the blogosphere, including on Richard Dawkins's Web site. This past Monday (Oct. 15) on The View, Elisabeth Hasselbeck said she was reading the book, which is "about how people who are sometimes the loudest…talking about Christianity are… [giving] anything but grace off."
STL OM Books India—a division of the U.K.-based Christian publisher and distributor IBS-STL Global—hosted an inaugural Christian Media Convention in Hyderabad on Sept. 6-8. The event brought together wholesale and retail booksellers, authors, and book and music publishers from across the subcontinent for networking, promotion and training. Attendees heard addresses by K. J. Johny, managing director of STL OM Books India; Keith Danby, CEO of IBS-STL Global; Verne Kenny, executive v-p of sales for Zondervan in the U.S.; and Michael Gore of Koorong, Australia's largest Christian bookstore network. STL OM Books India operates a book and music publishing division (Authentic Media) and OM Books Retail, with 25 stores in the country. It also has a 20,000-sq. ft. distribution facility in Hyderabad. India is seen as a growing market for Christian products.
Anita Renfroe, Christian humorist and author of Songs in the Key of Solomon (David C. Cook, Oct.) took New York City by storm earlier this month when the airing of Renfroe's Total Momsense version of the William Tell Overture on ABC's Good Morning America (Sept. 27) led to more major media exposure. On Oct. 3 Renfroe was interviewed on GMA, CBS's The Early Show, The Gayle King Show on XM Satellite Radio, and the CBS Evening News. The Total Momsense DVD releases Nov. 6.
