Devoted to Devotionals
Kimberly Winston -- 5/29/00
This popular category serves every demographic and niche
There is no denying it--religion-book consumers are devoted to devotionals, launching some onto bestseller lists and keeping the category one of the top three, according to the Christian Book Publishers Association. What is it about these books--usually paperbacks that cost less than $20 and are divided into daily doses of inspirational readings, some true stories, some concocted by authors--that has buoyed this category so well for so long?
The first devotionals were aimed at the general Christian. Now, what happened to Bibles has happened to devotionals--the niching out of virtually every corner of the market, with a devotional for everyone. This year's crop features daily wisdom for seemingly every segment of the market--mothers, fathers, grandparents, professionals, golfers--even fly-fishing fans and home-schooling parents. "Devotions are a very big part of the Christian lifestyle," says David Webb, senior editor at Regal Books, an evangelical, nondenominational publisher. "We are talking about a tradition that g s back to the mystics and the Celtic writers. It is an expression of the will to get to know God, to touch Him and be touched by Him, and that is aided immeasurably by these kinds of books."
Every Blessed Day
The most popular devotional format is the year-long version, with one reading for each of the 365 days. This format is extremely popular among evangelicals, for whom daily communication with God is stressed. At Tyndale House, the 365-day format represents 20% of annual new titles. The house's top-selling devotionals (and its top-selling series) is its One Year line, with 687,000 products sold. Tyndale hopes to add to that success with One Year with Jesus (Aug.), compiled by the Livingstone Foundation, and with the repackaging of its most successful devotional, The One Year Book of Family Devotions, Vol. 1 (Oct.), which in its original release in 1988 sold 160,000 copies.Tyndale has had similar success with year-long devotions in its children's line, best exemplified by Day by Day: The One Year Devotional for Young Children by Betty Free, illustrated by Eira Reeves, which has sold more than 150,000 copies since 1998.
At Broadman & Holman, the year-long devotional is also the most popular, as with its Every Day Light series by Selwyn Hughes. The first title, Every Day Light: Daily Inspirations (1998), with illustrations by Thomas Kinkade, sold "a couple hundred thousand volumes," says Leonard Goss, senior acquisitions editor, and successive year-long Hughes devotionals with Kinkade and illustrator Larry Dyke have done as well. B&H has lined up Kinkade and Dyke for two more Hughes devotionals; Dyke's will be released this fall and Kinkade's in fall 2001. Goss attributes the popularity of devotionals to a larger shift within the evangelical Christian world: "I see a shift away from thinking and reading toward feeling and experience. Devotionals fit right into this tenor in that they reflect a more intuitive approach to God."
Devotionals make up a stable 8.5% of Zondervan's annual output, with 10-12 released each year. Zondervan's most popular devotional is Streams in the Desert by L.B. Cowman, which has sold more than three million copies since its original publication in 1925. An updated version by Jim Reimann was released in 1997 and has since sold more than 270,000 copies. Sue Brower, marketing director for books and new media, believes a good devotional "offers hope and encouragement in the face of life's daily ups and downs. It should also challenge and cause the reader to think." One of the ways Zondervan has found to challenge readers is by combining devotionals with other formats to create something nontraditional. Its bestselling example is the Women's Devotional Bible, vols. 1 and 2, which have sold more than nine million copies combined. Other examples include Women of the Bible: A One-Year Devotional Study of Women in Scripture (1999) by Ann Spangler and Jean E. Syswerda, in which the reader spends a year examining the lives of biblical women, one per week. This fall, Zondervan will continue to blend the devotional format with other products with God Gave the Song (Oct.) by Gloria Gaither, which will include 31 inspirational stories and a CD of songs, and the Catholic Women's Devotional Bible (Sept.), edited by Ann Spangler. Thomas Nelson offers a very specifically niched devotional with A Special Gift: A Devotional for Mothers of Children with Unique Challenges (Apr.) by Carrie T. Gruman-Trinkner.
Other Formats, Too
Though daily readings spread over a year seem to be the most popular, monthly and weekly devotionals also find their audiences, especially among readers who want to explore themes throughout the year--for example, friendship and other relationships, personal growth and the like. Christian Publications' managing editor, David Fessenden, says people like the feeling of accomplishment completing a devotional gives them and are not always willing or able to finish a whole year's worth. Currently on CP's list is Touching God: 52 Guidelines for Personal Prayer (Mar.) by Harold J. Sala, a weekly focus on talking to God. Similarly, Westminister John Knox Press has Growing in Christian Faith: A Book of Daily Readings (Feb.) by William Barclay, which focuses on discipleship, and Kregel Publications has 31 Days to Contagious Living: A Daily Devotional Guide on Modeling Christ to Others (July) by R. Larry Moyer, intended to sharpen evangelism skills.
Another 1999 devotional taught CP a big lesson. CP's staff were unsure if All Mothers Are Working Mothers: A Devotional for Stay-at-Home Moms--and Those Who Would Like to Be by Laura Sabin Riley would find an audience and initially slated it for a first print run of between 3,500 and 5,000. But when the house's distributors got a whiff of it, they became very enthusiastic, and the release date was pushed up by three months and the print run boosted to 10,000. Now the house has niched its devotionals. New in this mold is Biz Break: Weekly Devotions for the Workplace (July) by Mark Slomka, which targets professionals.
Five of Regal Books' annual 33 new titles are devotionals, with most aimed at women. In fact, Webb estimates that 80%-90% of devotional readers are women, because "reading devotionals are a time of intimacy, and it is the generally accepted idea in our society that women are simply more familiar with and taken into intimate moments." Most recently, the house offered Good Night, Lord (Mar.) by Quin Sherrer, a women's devotional designed to be read at bedtime. "Most devotionals are written with the idea that they will be read in the morning, but this timing is very helpful for people with busy lifestyles," Webb notes. At Thomas More Publishing, which publishes primarily Catholic materials, God and Coffee--In That Order (Apr.) by Kristina Seymour is also for women's quiet time--at the other end of the day.
Not for Christians Only
Though most devotionals are published by Christian houses, some titles come from nonsectarian publishers. Mary Jane Ryan, copublisher at Conari Press, which focuses on general spirituality, tells PW she was initially cautious about tossing another devotional onto the pile. But when the house was preparing one of its very first titles, a collection of inspirational daily readings titled The Woman's Book of Courage (1991) by Sue Patton Th le, Ryan called bookstores all over the country and asked if they had "an overflow" of daily devotionals. "I got the answer over and over again: 'No, the people who read them can't get enough of them,'" she recalls. The format that has worked best for Conari is short and sweet. "We have found the more we publish things a page or two long, the more we sell." Another successful tactic has been producing the books six inches square, a format Ryan describes as "digestible bits of wisdom." The first devotional Conari did in this format, True Love (1991) by Daphne Rose Kingma, has sold 250,000 copies. But Conari is ready to tamper with its success with a new devotional,
The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have (May) by Mark Nepo. The book is in a "chopped D" format--five inches by nine and one-fourth. The change is an attempt to make it similar to The Tibetan Book of the Dead. "We wanted this book to look more serious, so we went a bit bigger," Ryan says.
Other nonsectarian publishers are weighing in with themes that seem au courant in the spirituality category. Inner Traditions releases A Sacred Sex Devotional: 365 Inspiring Thoughts to Enhance Intimacy this October. Berkley has Daily Word for Women: 365 Days of Love, Inspiration, and Guidance (Apr.) by Colleen Zuck, Janie Wright and Elaine Meyer. Under its Daybreak imprint, Rodale offers Daily Word for Healing: Bless Your Life with Messages of Hope and Renewal (Nov.) also by Zuck, Wright and Meyer.
The Catholic Approach
Catholic publishers like the 365-day format, too. St. Mary's has Wisdom: Daily Reflections for a New Era (Mar.) by Reynold Feldman, and Liguori has This Is the Day the Lord Has Made: 365 Daily Meditations (May) by Wilfrid Stinissen. At Our Sunday Visitor, however, the word "devotional" can take on a slightly different meaning. Catholics do, of course, read devotions, but they also perform them. To that end, in February OSV released The How-To Book of Catholic Devotions by Mike Aquilina and Regis J. Flaherty, a step-by-step guide to everything from how to pray the rosary to how to make confession. Greg Erlandson, OSV's editor-in-chief, believes that Catholics are looking to return to the very basics of their faith, and devotions and devotionals provide a way to do that: "The idea is to build a habit, a daily turning to the Lord. I think there is just such a craving to reduce all the noise and clutter in our lives--which is the very opposite of God--and to just sit with him." OSV is hoping the book will carry into secular chains and indies. To that end, the book was designed to resemble IDG's popular For Dummies series.
Servant Publications has learned that there is little difference between what makes a good devotional for the evangelical and the Catholic markets, which it serves under two different imprints (Vine for evangelicals and Charis for Catholics). Both audiences like their devotionals short and simple, with "the kind of story that will draw a person's heart to God," explains Bert Ghezzi, the house's editorial director. He adds that the only difference is that evangelicals are more attached to the 365-day format. Devotionals have done well for the company: Grieving the Loss of Someone You Love: Daily Meditations to Help You Through the Grieving Process (1993) by Raymond R. Mitsch and Lynn Brookside sells more than 12,000 copies a year.
Devotionals currently account for 16 of the house's 52 annual new titles, a figure that has grown over the past five years. Forthcoming from Servant's Charis imprint is Praying the Catechism (Nov.) by Louise Perrotta, which offers daily chunks of the Catholic catechism alongside an inspirational reading. Under its Vine imprint, Servant has found niching works well, offering Quiet Moments for Nurses (June) by Sharon Fish and Quiet Moments for Grandmothers (2001) by Kay Strom. Servant is also looking to target kids, with The Undevotional by Kathy Collard Miller, a book of games, puzzles and stories thatis slated for release in 2002.
Niching has definitely found a niche at Morehouse Publishing (an independent publisher with an Episcopal point of view), in its Daystar Devotions line, which includes titles for men, women, seniors and couples who have suffered a miscarriage. The latest in the series is The Sacred Garden: Soil for the Growing Soul (Mar.) by Patricia R. Barrett. The house has also had tremendous success with its Faithful Servant series. These small books are written for even more highly targeted audiences, including lay ministers, choir members and vestry persons in the Episcopal church. "They are selling off our shelves," marketing director Debra Farrington tells PW. "The more focused these books get, the more we find our market, because we speak directly to the needs of the reader." Another offering for Episcopalians is The Daily Book of Common Prayer (Eerdmans, Feb.), compiled and edited by Owen Collins from the Anglican prayer book.
Some Take a Pass
As much of a cash cow as devotionals are for many publishers, not every house is intent on getting into the act. At Bethany House, where Christian fiction is king, devotionals account for only three of its 150 new titles each year. Steve Laube, senior editor of nonfiction, explains that to do more devotionals would change the character of Bethany House's already successful publishing program. "We would just be duplicating what is already out there," he says. One devotional that Bethany House will publish is The Perfect Catch (Apr.) by H. Norman Wright, a devotional for fly-fishing enthusiasts.
Is the Market Glutted?
With devotionals out there seemingly for everyone from age three onward, where can the category go? Christian Publications' Fessenden believes a downturn may be on its way. "I think we are at a peak," he says. "We will glut the market, turn everybody off and then have to start all over again" with the publication of a few really good devotionals. Conari's Ryan warns against over-niching the market. "At some point, niching stops being useful," she notes. "You can't get the topic so narrow that no one will be interested in developing only that aspect of themselves." Morehouse's Farrington thinks there are more niches to carve before the onset of any boomerang effect. She tells PW, "Meditations for women is all well and good, but there is a difference between the needs of a 27-year-old woman and a 57-year-old woman."
One demographic segment of book buyers that may soon be wading into devotionals is Gen Xers. "Many young Americans have a desire to relate to God, but they don't go to church," says Ghezzi at Servant. "They do it through personal prayer. They may be a new market for devotionals, for something scriptural that gives them a starting point." Some publishers are also predicting a downturn for the 365-day format. Bethany House's Laube notes that consumers' lives are too crowded. "If people miss a day, they feel guilty. So I think more publishers are doing 30- or 60-day devotionals, where there is less of a feeling that the reader has to commit for a year."
The category shows no signs of slackening. "It is hot right now and will continue to be hot because our postmodern baby boom generation likes to approach their spiritual lives in sound bytes, and the devotional is one of the ways to do that," Laube explains. Regal's Webb, too, predicts that as people's lives continue to grow busier, the category will also grow: "People need hiding places where they can go and be alone with the Lord, and devotionals are the best and most widely used tool for that purpose."
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