ECPA University Gets Encouragement from Friedman
by Lynn Garrett & Cindy Crosby -- Publishers Weekly, 11/8/2007 7:34:00 AM
Publishing professionals from CEOs to newly minted junior publicists gathered at the Westin Lombard Yorktown Center west of Chicago for the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association’s annual Publishing University, which wrapped up November 6.
In the keynote address on Sunday, November 3, Jane Friedman, president and CEO of HarperCollins Worldwide, reminded Christian publishers that “one constant in publishing is change.” Friedman pointed specifically to the Internet and the flexibility, choice and control it offers consumers. “If we embrace these changes, we will thrive,” she said.
Friedman cited statistics that bode well for religion content: 64% of wired Americans use the Internet for spiritual or religious purposes; 10 million Americans use Christian Web sites at least one hour per week; and 83% of American pastors visit Web sites. Sounding a ubiquitous theme these days, Friedman urged religion publishers to develop the infrastructure to maintain control of digital files and intellectual properties, and to carry out the arduous task of converting backlist to digital formats. She noted that Google Book Search is both a “great friend and great foe” and cautioned publishers against making full book content available free online.
Global markets are a top focus for Christian publishers these days, and Friedman pointed to China, calling it “a movable feast... on the brink of explosion” and India, where she noted that outsourcing has created a larger middle class with disposable income for books. Opportunities are especially ripe for reciprocal publishing in China, she said: “Indian writers have been discovered; Chinese writers have not.”
Educational sessions at Pub U were grouped in eight tracks and concurrent with the sessions was the CEO Symposium, open to ECPA members who are heads of house; most of the top companies were represented.
ECPA president Mark Kuyper said 340 attended Pub U, which will be held in the same location for the next two years. “We’ve had an overwhelmingly positive response to all of the programming,” he said.
