6


Richardson, the company merged with troubled evan- gelical publisher Inter-Varsit Press (IVP) in 2015, made strides into the digital market, sold its Sheldon Press health imprint to Hodder and launched Christian fiction arm Marylebone House. But the era of SPCK running bookshops is over. “The trustees would punch me if I came back and suggested bookshops, although one should never say never,” he joked. “But I think we’re very much focused on the publishing. That’s where our strength is. There are other people who are doing a very good job with Christian bookshops in a prety tough environment.”


Switched on


Apps have been a particularly bright spot for SPCK. An audio Bible programme has been used 100,000 times, while “Thy Kingdom Come”, a prayer programme for the 10-day run-up to Pentecost, has been picked up around the world and was downloaded 5,000 times on its release day. A partnership with the Clergy Supporter Trust, to provide an app for anyone training to be ordained, has also had 1,500 users. Richardson said: “The percentage of digital is still increasing. The uptake of e-books in the Christian market was a lot slower than in the general market, so we are still seeing that tick up. The licensing income from digital sources is continuing to grow really strongly and apps are now a strong six-figure income line as well. We haven’t yet passed the point where half our income is digital but I think we’re heading in that direction, and direct sales through our own website is an increasingly important income line as well.” With a website for home groups [small gatherings of people who meet to study or pray] launching later this year, the digital focus fits into a strategy of helping grow the church in the UK—something SPCK also needs to survive. “Older Christians are very worried that Biblical literacy among younger Christians is weaker, but there are also some prety scary statistics in terms of the number of


1,698


Miles Sam Richardson ran to raise funds for SPCK, which was founded in 1698


5,000


Users downloaded prayer programme Thy Kingdom Come on its launch day


80%


Of IVP’s sales come from backlist titles


Fiction titles a year are published by SPCK through list Marylebone House


younger people who are atending church, full stop,” he said. “So we’re looking to do books which will help people to share their faith as well as strengthen their own faith, and we are looking to see what we can do to support the church in its own thinking.” Following January’s sale of Sheldon Press, Richardson said the company was now “in an acquisitive phase rather than in a selling phase”. He said: “We feel we have quite a broad coverage of a lot of the Christian market, but any businesses that came up with really good consumer data we would definitely be interested in. It wouldn’t neces- sarily be another publisher that we might be interested in working with next; it might be someone who can do more to accelerate our drive into the digital space.” With its long history, the backlist also provides a rich seam of revenue, contributing around 80%–85% of IVP’s sales and 60%–65% of SPCK’s. Here, too, digital innovation is paying dividends. A recent free online video course based on IVP title God’s Big Picture had the effect of doubling the title’s sales. Meanwhile, SPCK can also rely on big-name Christian authors such as Paul: A Biography writer Tom Wright, Richard Rohr and Rowan Williams.


SPCK Top Ten


Title 1 The Universal Christ


Glimmer of light Through Marylebone House, the publisher now also puts out six fiction titles a year, with a subtler approach than the Christian publishers in the US where, as Richardson put it, “lots of Amish people fall in love with each other in a very wholesome way”. New title The Light Keeper by Cole Moreton has been endorsed by writers including Mat Haig and Jeffrey Archer. The imprint is also a way of trying to get SPCK titles on to fiction shelves of bookshops, rather than being banished to the Christian section. There are still challenges ahead, with Richardson wanting to trim SPCK’s 120 titles a year down to 80 or 90. But three consecutive IPG awards for Specialist Consumer Publisher of the Year, and a nomination at the Nibbies in 2018, shows the company is competing outside the Christian market. Richardson said: “We don’t really see Christian publishers as our competition. We feel we have a shared goal with them. What we want to do is take Christian ideas into the general marketplace. So being recognised as doing that really well is helpful. Also, as a charit you can’t go around making stonking profits every year, so you have to think about how else you measure success.”


Author Richard Rohr 0281078622


2 Reconciliation... Lent Book 2019 Muthuraj Swamy 0281080083 3 The Art Of Lent 4 Falling Upward


6 Paul


7 Faith Confirmed 8 Being Disciples


10 Being Christian


W K LOWTHER CLARKE PUBLISHED A HISTORY OF THE SPCK IN 1959


TheBookseller.com


ISBN (+978) ASP Volume £6.97 £7.08


Sister Wendy Beckett 0281078554 £8.14 Richard Rohr 0281068913


5 My Little Christening Gift Books Sally Ann Wright 0281076970 Tom Wright 0281078752


9 Common Worship Lectionary... - 0281079100 Rowan Williams 0281071715


Date range 1st January 2019–2nd June 2019. ASP = Actual Selling Price. Data source Nielsen BookScan


19


£7.72 £7.48


£14.48


P Jackson & C Wright 0281064236 £8.55 Rowan Williams 0281076628


£7.43 £3.66 £6.19


6,413 2,979 1,966 1,528 1,456 1,109 961 883 839 751


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