Not that long ago a poster on one of my blogs called me on supposedly saying that CBA actually sold Spring Arbor to Ingram claiming that this broad statement was inaccurate. Fair enough. I do my homework. So here's the skinny pulled from a VERY interesting article I found on PW. Well, it's interesting if you understand anything about the "Christian" market:
. . .(his father, Tom [Pigott], sold Spring Arbor to Ingram in 1997).
Sorry. I know nothing else about why this transaction happened or why CBA ever thought Ingram wouldn't approve books that didn't come through a CBA affiliated publisher (or rather a publisher who doesn't pay CBA a fee so they can actually show up inside a larger Christian Bookstore and who is bound to write for a particular and specific audience of Christians and not the broader audience.)
I do know that Spring Arbor approval means nothing in the entire scheme of things. Larger Christian bookstores still only allow affiliated publishers into their bookstores both on-line and Brick and Mortar with the only non-affiliated Christian authors getting in if they sell a lot of books on their own and the theme is close enough to consider acceptable. You know, like The Shack.
I also know that Spring Arbor can't MAKE larger Christian bookstores carry books approved by Spring Arbor so what's the point of seeking Spring Arbor approval?
Also, on an interesting note, today I called Spring Arbor to ask if there were any marketing programs they offered approved authors and was told that no, they weren't aware of any but they'd check and call me back.
The next thing I get is an e-mail from Lightning Source [my POD publisher] that tells me LSI is aware I called a buyer at Spring Arbor [incaccurate. I called a marketing representative] to discuss having a book approved for the CBA market [inaccurate. I'm not stupid enough to ask for something that can't be done.] LSI then told me to contact them with further questions regarding matters such as this?
I'm pretty sure I won't be calling LSI with questions about Spring Arbor! LOL
The above story of today's experience is merely indicative of how much of a hold one fee-based, denominationally restricted affiliation has on an entire market.
To quote a line from a famous movie:
"There is no Dana. Only Zuul." Ghostbusters
or rather
"There is no Spring Arbor. Only CBA."
The only thing that baffles me is why anyone cares anymore about CBA stores. They're has-beens. Dying. Old hat. Where I live, they don't even claim to be bookstores anymore. Literally. They REMOVED signs that had the word "bookstore" in the name and replaced them with the more generic "store" signs. They're nothing but glorified Hallmarks. And Hallmark isn't doing that hot in this economy either. But even the ones that have a book section left don't really impress me, nor do they impress most Christian fiction readers who like anything other than historical or Romance. Yes, there may be some progress (Realms comes to mind) but I still say it's too little, too late. The ship is sinking. Smart rats will jump into the bigger sea of opportunity. I don't celebrate their sinking, but I'm not going to mourn too much either. And I'm certainly not going to look back (remember what happened to Lot's wife).
ReplyDeleteThanks for this post, Sue. Interesting stuff.
ReplyDeleteAre you the gate keeper?????? Ah nothing like old school ghostbusters. Nothing.
@ Caprice. I certainly don't care about getting into CBA Christian Bookstores (all larger Christian bookstores)as they are only around to provide fiction for their very targeted, and denominationally discriminative core market readers.
ReplyDeleteWhat I'm interested in is Spring Arbor stepping up to the plate to offer the other Christian publishers/authors whom they've approved, and who don't PAY to belong to CBA and don't write for any one specific audience, a service that would make it worthwhile to seek being approved for the Christian market.
As far as I can tell they offer nothing to these publishers/authors. So far as I can tell these authors don't even exist. They seem to be allowing CBA to bully them the same way CBA appears to be bullying every other Christian author that doesn't pay to belong to their affiliation. Another movie quip--"The song as been sung. The time is upon us." ~ At World's End
Ohhh man....I do believe you may have called out the BEST line in the movie ;)
ReplyDeleteHave a good weekend, lady. Keep the posts coming.