POD House Steps into Acquisitions

by Amy Tracy, Religion BookLine -- Publishers Weekly, 10/31/2007

By the end of November, Xulon Press, an evangelical Christian POD publisher, is expanding their services to include a new division focused on acquisitions. Founded in 2000 by Tom and Nancy Frieling and purchased by Salem Communications in May of 2006, the publisher will primarily reach out to pastors. This is Xulon's first foray into traditional publishing.

"We decided to establish this new division in order to fill a growing need for pastors of larger churches to create quality books in a timely manner for their congregations and communities," said Paul Allen, a pastor and former editor of Rev. Magazine (a bi-monthly publication for pastors) who is Xulon's choice to lead the division. "Contrary to the confines of the current industry, pastors [will] now have the opportunity to publish their books on their own terms. I believe 'there's a book in every pastor' and my passion is to provide the tools to allow them to see their publishing dreams become reality."

Xulon is not ruling out contractual agreements that are a hybrid between POD and traditional acquisitions. "We'll have a foot in each world," said Jim Kochenburger, director of operations. "Some [clients] may pay for certain services up front. Every case will be unique; every deal could be slightly different depending on the profile of the pastor, size of the ministry, number of books, editing package, etc. We'll share the burden with the pastor and bring their book to fruition."

Xulon is hoping this expansion will bring together the best of both publishing worlds: acquired, quality manuscripts combined with the freedom, higher royalties, and full copyright retention that print-on-demand allows. The publisher would also benefit from anticipated book sales as pastors often have a built-in audience.

Kochenburger estimates that the new division will constitute about one-tenth of their publishing business by the end the first year, with more aggressive projections for subsequent years. Xulon is currently in the process of speaking to prospective authors.

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