With publishers singing the bottom-line blues, some are turning to green... green books, that is. Although they have long popped up on general trade publisher lists, environment-friendly titles are growing very visibly at religion and spirituality publishing houses. Is green theology their new buzzword?
Aplentiful crop of new books may mean “yes,” as authors write books on what God—or spirituality—and green all have to do with each other. Judging by first printing numbers, however, publishers remain cautious about how large the potential readership might be. To engage a reading audience with environmental ethics, various themes are employed. Most frequent is the creation-care book, which calls on readers of faith to see care for the planet as a moral and spiritual imperative.
One of Westminster John Knox Press's lead titles for the fall season is 50 Ways to Help Save the Earth: How You and Your Church Can Make a Difference by Rebecca Barnes-Davies (June; 5,000 first printing). Each of the seven chapters looks at key issues related to global climate change, including agriculture, energy, transportation and water. An unusual aspect of the book is its paperless production cycle, says publicist Emily Kiefer. All changes were done electronically, with “none of the multiple printing and photocopying that a typical book receives,” she says. DeChant-Hughes will handle publicity, and Barnes-Davis will be featured on WJK's new podcast radio show.
Catholics are taking a renewed interest in creation care, led by Pope Benedict XVI, dubbed “the green pope” by Newsweek. “Church teaching has always mandated the wise stewardship of creation and the just sharing of resources,” Ave Maria Press publicist Amanda Williams says. Ten Commandments for the Environment by Woodeene Koenig-Bricker (May; 10,000 first printing) offers an overview of Catholic environmentalism and includes all of Pope Benedict's statements on creation and justice. Williams says the $10,000 marketing budget will be used in part for national print advertising, including National Catholic Reporter and Christian Century. The book will also be promoted on the Ave Maria Press Facebook site through friends and groups.
For those interested in studying creation care as a themed retreat or in an adult education class, Ave Maria Press will publish Catholics Going Green (May; 7,500 first printing) a new small group booklet formatted for use in parishes, edited by Walter Grazer. Six sessions examine issues from the holiness of creation to health versus wealth. “We anticipate it will find a warm reception with individual parish leaders and our religious trade partners,” Williams says.
Given the state of the Earth, a little prayer might be in order, and Earth Gospel: A Guide to Prayer for God's Creation by Sam Hamilton-Poore (Feb.; 6,000 first printing) from Upper Room Books guides readers through four weeks of daily prayer with scripture and readings for morning, midday and evening. “In a time when people everywhere are asking, 'What can we do about the environment?' the Upper Room wants to answer, 'Pray for the Earth,' ” says trade marketing manager Jill Ridenour.
Upper Room chose to embark on a strong nonprint campaign, Ridenour says, which includes e-blasts to publishing house customers who have purchased similar prayer products, e-blasts to two environmental prayer-focused e-mail lists and a targeted e-mail promotion to key Whole Foods chain buyers. The $8,000 advertising and promotion budget will also fund search engine ad campaigns keying on such words as eco-friendly, Earth Day, prayer, prayer and/for the Earth and environmental prayer. Upper Room purchased a one-month NPR Radio sponsor spot and placed ads primarily in its internal magazines (The Upper Room; Alive Now; Weavings). Other magazine ads include ForeWord magazine, CBA Retailing, The Lutheran, Pray! and the Christian Century, with carryover to Internet ads. Hamilton-Poore will speak at the National Eco-Justice Conference July 7—11 in Montreat, N.C.
At InterVarsity Press, Andy Le Peau, associate publisher for editorial, says Green Revolution by Ben Lowe, with a first printing of 5,000, is almost to reprint status after releasing in March. Green Revolution focuses on Christians and their responsibility to care for the planet by working together with their colleges, churches and communities. IVP has set up a Green Revolution Facebook group with links to media coverage and a speaking schedule for Lowe, who will tour through July, speaking at conferences and college campuses. Lowe also discusses his book on YouTube. Print advertising includes Creation Care; Neue; Prism; Sojourners; Christian Retailing and the Wheaton College Record, as well as Web advertising at Sojo:Online and possibly Grist.
For mission-driven publishers of faith, creation-care books are often a natural fit. SkyLight Paths and its sister imprint, Jewish Lights, are both strongly mission driven, with a mandate to show the relevance of faith to everyday life, says publisher Stuart Matlins. “Faith traditions must address the ecological crisis facing all of us,” he maintains. This mission makes Claiming Earth as Common Ground: The Ecological Crisis Through the Lens of Faith by Andrea Cohen-Kiener (July; 5,000 first printing, $10,000 marketing budget) a good fit for SkyLight Paths. “This book focuses on the 'why' and the 'how' to address the ecological crisis,” he says. Matlins adds that Jewish Lights has a good green-themed backlist, including Ecology & the Jewish Spirit (2000), Torah of the Earth (2000) and The Way into Judaism and the Environment (2008).
Media: Green and Growing
In a time when many media venues are drying up, and shrinking ad lines have diminished book coverage, environment-friendly books are finding a warm reception. “One of the cool things about publicizing green books is that there is so much new media to take advantage of—stuff that's really popped up in just the last year or so,” says Tolly Moseley, senior publicist for Phenix & Phenix Literary Publicists. Moseley is handling promotions for WaterBrook Press's Gardening Eden: How Creation Care Will Change Your Faith, Your Life, and Our World by Michael Abbaté (Mar.). “In a time when many media outlets are struggling, green writers and outlets are bright spots for us publicists. It really demonstrates what an important issue green living is right now to the reading public,” Moseley says.
Moseley is pitching Gardening Eden to what he calls a relatively new pool of green or eco-living beat writers at news dailies, especially at California, Washington State and Oregon newspapers. “These green writers don't get to hear from Christian sources that often, so I hope I'm offering them a novelty in Gardening Eden.” Moseley is also promoting the book to both Christian and green living radio stations, as well as creation care blogs and Web sites, like www.creationcareforpastors.com. Abbaté will also be interviewed at www.ecolibris.blogspot.com.
A New Age of Green
For Hay House, which has published mind-body-spirit books for more than two decades, a book like Earth Magic: Ancient Shamanic Wisdom for Healing Yourself, Others, and the Planet (Feb.) was a no-brainer. “We're committed to publishing products that have a positive message and are conducive to helping and healing ourselves and our planet,” says publicist Lindsay Condict. The book's author, Steven Farmer, began a multicity tour to New Age bookstores in February and will lead 25 workshops or lectures in California, Florida, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, New Hampshire and Vermont.
Promotion for Earth Magic (10,000 first printing) includes print coverage in mind-body-spirit publications and trade magazines such as New Age Retailer and online coverage at Web sites such as Beliefnet.com and DailyOM.com, as well as mind-body-spirit blogs.
Publishing house Llewellyn recently released Elemental Shaman: One Man's Journey into the Heart of Humanity, Spirituality & Ecology (Apr.) by Omar W. Rosales, a former captain in the Marine Corps, and Voices of the Earth: The Path of Green Spirituality by Clea Danaan (Mar.). Elemental Shaman is the story of a former Marine's global quest for insight and his meetings with various spiritual masters including a holy lama and a Mayan high priestess. Voices of the Earth includes journaling exercises, meditation and ideas for strengthening ties to the Earth—from gardening to conservation—while deepening spiritual practices and communicating with nature via psychic powers. Publicity manager Steven Pomije says both titles will be promoted at the International New Age Trade Show in Denver, June 27—29.
Green Is Novel
Although it might seem like a natural fit, environment-themed young adult religion fiction is still a bit... well... novel. In It's a Green Thing: Diary of a Teenage Girl (Maya, Book 2) (Multnomah, Feb.), Melody Carlson pens the story of Maya Stark, a teen committed to living green, part of a decade-long Diary series featuring different characters. Carlson, who's written 50-plus books for teens and 200-plus books with more than three million copies sold, lives in Oregon, where she says green has been a way of life since she was a teen. “I wanted to educate and encourage teen readers to begin thinking about our environment by suggesting some small and big ways they can help to conserve and protect the Earth,” Carlson says. “I think fiction is a brilliant way to teach.”
Jeane Wynn, president of Wynn-Wynn Media, which is handling publicity, says she is booking teen-specific green blogs in the general and Christian market that will hit over the week of Earth Day, April 22, and focusing heavily on broadcast and Internet interviews the week before and after. On Facebook, Wynn-Wynn launched “It's a Green Thing” the week of April 1, with a featured daily green tip from the novel.
Green First, Spirituality Second
Unlike many of the publishers in this article whose books on environment fit into a spiritually based mission, for Sierra Club Books (published in association with Counterpoint Press), spirituality is part of a larger environmental mission. Holy Ground: A Gathering of Voices on Caring for Creation (2008) features essays by writers who hold nature sacred or by leaders of various faith traditions. Edited by Lyndsay Moseley, who directs Sierra Club's faith partnerships initiative, the book has a first print run of 5,000.
Publicity manager Abbye Simkowitz says the $3,000 marketing budget is directed toward environmental and religious print and online outlets (especially Christian and Buddhist). Holy Ground has been reviewed in Orion, Sojourners and on Treehugger.com. Moseley has been interviewed on Sierra Club Radio, and Holy Ground is advertised in Sierra magazine. The book is also being promoted through conferences on religion and the environment and groups such as the National Religious Partnership for the Environment, Forum on Religion and Ecology and the Evangelical Environment Network.
Green Holy Writ
It is particularly fitting that the Bible go green, especially since it begins with a creation story. Paradoxically, Bibles themselves are often the antithesis of eco-friendly. “We know of some Bibles being produced on paper where the fiber originates from the most bio-diverse forests on Earth and also from areas where there are conflicts with indigenous communities,” says Tyson Miller, founder and director of the Green Press Initiative, which works with publishers to craft more environment-friendly publishing practices. “I don't quite understand the logic that goes into a decision like that, even if it saves a bit of money.”
At least two publishers have upped the ante. HarperOne published its Green Bible in October 2008 and now has 40,000 copies in print. Senior v-p and publisher Mark Tauber said the Green Bible has sold more quickly and steadily than HarperOne projected. “Bibles—especially specialty Bibles for general readers and users—tend to sell over a long period, but don't necessarily sell briskly early. We are thrilled about this,” he says. HarperOne is still in the midst of a marketing and publicity campaign that involves partners, including the Sierra Club and the Humane Society of the U.S. “We also did a lot of advance work with press and marketing kits, direct outreach to leaders inside and outside church and parachurch groups,” Tauber says.
Although Thomas Nelson Publishers won't release sales figures for The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Daily Bible (2007), touted as “the first Forest Stewardship Council—certified Bible,” Nelson v-p and group associate publisher Jeremy Johnson says the Bible has been a “consistent seasonal bestseller with high demand.” He notes that Nelson is the first Bible publisher to completely transition to environmentally conscious Bible bindings and practices. “We are still in the beginning stages of discontinuing the use of synthetic covers on our Bible products and are continuing to seek out alternative materials that are in keeping with these environmentally conscious efforts,” Johnson says.
Green Bibles, green spirituality books, green living, greening houses of worship—will eco-friendly books put some green in the bank for faith publishers who need it? Or will publishers still sing those bottom-line blues? Either way, combining green with spiritual themes in a dicey economy promises growth—if not just in dollars, then in the way readers and publishers think about, and care for, the planet.
Author Information |
Cindy Crosby is a contributor to Creation Care (Thomas Nelson, Mar.) and the author of five books, including the forthcoming Ancient Christian Devotional: A Year of Weekly Readings: Lectionary Cycle C with Thomas Oden (IVP, May). |
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