IVP - Behind the Books - June 2008 Archives

Jesus Creed on IVP

Scot McKnight, prolific author and blogger, just posted several entries plugging recent IVP books. In a post on evangelizing postmoderns, he recommends two books. The first is True Story by James Choung:

Choung begins in a different place and it makes all the difference in the world for the gospel: instead of beginning with guilt, he begins with humans designed for good. So, he critiques the bridge strategy by making a better strategy. . . . The book is amply “storified” and is a huge, huge step forward in evangelism. Pastors and parents need this book; youth ministers and college ministers need this book.

The second book is I Once Was Lost by Don Everts and Doug Schaupp, which McKnight describes as "sound thinking. And they know that conversion is mysterious and organic. Good for these two authors; I applaud the effort of seeking to understand conversion as a process and that postmoderns have a story to tell, a postmodern story of conversion." (Christianity Today also recently reviewed this book here.)

And McKnight also gave kudos to IVP's dictionary series. He says:

The IVP dictionaries are one of the finest gifts to the church of this generation. Whenever a new one comes out, I like to spend the evening dipping into it here and there. The newest one is edited by Tremper Longman and Peter Enns, and it is called Dictionary of the OT: Wisdom, Poetry, Writings. Here’s why I think pastors and students need these dictionaries:

First, they access gobs and gobs of information, distill it and put it into a reasonably short article.

Second, the bibliographies are astounding.

Third, while these dictionaries are theologically alert, they are not bound to the traditional conservative viewpoint. In other words, you might be in for some surprises.

Now here’s my claim: these dictionaries represent the finest in evangelical scholarship and reveal a growing interaction with all dimensions of the scholarly world. Yes, it is true: I was a co-editor of the first one and we are soon to begin the process of revising that volume, but I still contend these dictionaries are playing a hand in the growing shifts in evangelicalism.

Enthusiastic Academic Blogger

Our very efficient and productive marketing department kindly keeps editors in the loop by routing copies of advertising and book reviews in large packs. The tag on the top lists the various members of our department who read through the stack of items one by one and then route them to a colleague. Such are the proportions of some of these stacks that routing becomes more like a game of hot potato, in which it's best to wait until a colleague has left his or her office before you zip into their office, deposit the pile in their in-basket and zip back to your own chair.

At any rate, I was reading through one of these stacks the other day, and I came across a review by blogger Chris Tilling for our Old Testament Theology set by John Goldingay. The review is in five parts in his April 2008 blog: It is rare to see academic books reviewed with such unabashed glee. Here is an excerpt:

I just can't put them down! I am literally giggling as I read it, lapping up the insight. Page after page has surprises for me. Again and again I find myself shaking my head with excitement and new realisations. In the future, if I recommend any books relating at all to the bible or theology, I will recommend these first.

Can I be any clearer? FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE GET THESE BOOKS!

. . . In the next few posts today, I will be citing passages, noting what others have said, and suggesting discussion points. . . . And a third and final volume is on the way! Flippin exciting!

Though I certainly can't claim any personal credit for this book, reading a review like this for an InterVarsity Press book is a great ending to any day.

I Imagine This Is How They Roll at Baker Books

A friend of mine (he's a cop!) sent me the following video, which corresponds nicely with my boss's trip to England and his boss's ongoing sabbatical. I'm not commenting on our work ethic at IVP, but it does stir the imagination . . .

How many new books are there? And why do we buy them?

The June 2 issue of Publishers Weekly reports that the number of new books has shot up to over 400,000 a year, but a quarter of these, well over 100,000 of them, are print-on-demand titles, most of which are self-published. The stats:

In 2002:
Traditionally published books: 215,138
Print-on-demand books: 32,639
Total: 247,777

2007 (projected):
Traditional: 276,649
POD: 134,773
Total: 411,422

And if you look at religion books in particular, it's grown from 12,253 new religion titles in 2002 to 18,956 in 2007. (Perhaps 6000 or so of these are from specifically evangelical Christian publishers.) No wonder none of us can keep up with all the new books out there.

The same issue of PW also reports the following on what influences people's book purchases:

60% are swayed by recommendations by friends or family
52% are swayed by cover art
49% are swayed by reviews
35% are swayed by a blurb/endorsement on the cover

Also, 43% of people go into bookstores looking for a specific book, and 77% make additional purchases while looking for a specific book.

This is interesting to me because I've been wondering how many people care about endorsements. I can only think of one instance when I've bought a book because of an endorsement on the back (a blurb by Anne Lamott on the book Expecting Adam by Martha Beck). But I've picked up countless books because I saw them mentioned on people's blogs (which could count as either friends' recommendations or reviews). What makes you buy a book? Do blurbs matter?

Meet Heather, Adrianna and Krista

After a little more than a year of blogging, Al, Dave and I thought you might want to hear from some new voices. And Al and Dave are busy with other blogging endeavors. As for me, I am busy acquiring too many books. (Yes, I receive praise from my boss when I manage to reduce my workload!) So please meet our friends from the publicity department.

Heather Mascarello (writer of the recent Sex and Publi-city entry)--is our print publicity manager. This means that she submits manuscripts to key periodicals, developing relationships with magazine editors of all kinds. The stacks of reviews she generates are impressive.

Adrianna Wright is our internet publicity manager. Her specialities here include promoting our books among key bloggers as well as academic publicity. (Being on Facebook is part of her job!)

Krista Carnet handles radio and television publicity. Her realm of work has to do with getting authors interviews on key media outlets. And Krista loves to book interviews. She keeps our authors busy.

So watch for their bylines to pop up as they blog about what's happening with our books as they release into the world.