RBTE Gets Passing Grade in Difficult Market
By Marcia Z. Nelson -- Publishers Weekly, 6/8/2009 2:19:00 PM
With religion publishing in a slump, it came as no surprise that the 18th annual Religious Booksellers Trade Exhibit (RBTE) was smaller and shorter than last year. Geared for those publishing for Catholic, Episcopal, and other liturgical traditions, the show, held late last month at the Pheasant Run Resort and Convention Center in St. Charles, Ill., had 121 exhibitors, down 22% from 2008. Publishers were disappointed but not overly so. “We wrote some very good orders,” said Sheryl Fullerton, executive editor at Jossey-Bass. “This is a good way to reach booksellers you couldn’t reach otherwise.” Steven J. Alderman, director of sales at William B. Eerdmans Publishing, said they wrote half as many orders, but his sales total was 56% greater than last year’s. “Orders were down, but business was up,” he said. A number of publishers also said business was good for their children’s titles.
One major player missing in RBTE action was Loyola Press, which attended but didn’t exhibit. Their absence isn’t permanent, said Tom McGrath, v-p of product development, noting that 80% of Loyola’s business is curriculum for religious education. “We’re not thrilled with trade sales, but considering the economy is a difficult one, our trade sales are strong,” McGrath said. Loyola just added Jeff Kraft as v-p, sales and marketing, a new position. Kraft, who worked in strategy at Motorola and has publishing experience at Pearson, said he expected to help define markets and work on e-products and other new publishing delivery mechanisms.
One new exhibitor was Faith Words, which has attended the show in previous years to scout it out. “We thought it was a good idea to have a presence here,” said Norm Kraus Jr., CBA regional sales manager. “This is where we’re trying to grow some business.” Kraus said he opened some new accounts and fielded questions from interested attendees.
Even while order-writing could have been better, publishers were uniform in citing some key benefits from RBTE that makes it an important show for them: meeting retail customers, showing new products, networking. “It’s an old-fashioned trade show,” said Mickey Maudlin, v-p and editorial director at HarperOne. “Much more high touch.”
