Brilliance Takes On Christian Market
by Shannon Maughan -- Publishers Weekly, 5/27/2002
Brilliance Audio, headquartered in Grand Haven, Mich., will launch an as-yet-unnamed Christian audio imprint in late fall with four to six titles on the debut list. The imprint will be headed by Ron Smith of Nashville-based Smith Management and Consulting with assistance from Paul Shepherd, v-p of Smith Management. Smith is an artist manager and he has experience developing product for the Christian market through the T.D. Jakes Ministry. Shepherd has worked at Thomas Nelson and Riverside and most recently was sales director for the Christian division of Warner Books. Smith and Shepherd will work from Nashville; production on the new audio titles will take place at Brilliance's headquarters.
According to Brilliance v-p and associate publisher Eileen Hutton, "There has been a general growing interest in both Christian fiction and nonfiction for a while now," but relatively few audios have been produced. "We'd like to bring some of those big authors to a bigger audience," Hutton said. Brilliance plans to publish 20 to 30 titles in the imprint's first full year.
