At November's Publishing University and in an interview with PW, Mark Kuyper talked about some of the challenges and opportunities facing the religion publishing market. This summer, Kuyper took over as president of the 66-member Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA), following the retirement of Doug Ross after 17 years.

ECPA's first-ever Publishing University was held November 7—9 in Bloomingdale, Ill. More than 360 Christian publishing professionals attended the conference, which offered a total of 36 classes covering six tracks: advanced management/strategic planning; marketing/advertising/promotion/publicity; editorial; sales; financial management/administration; and rights and contract management.

Among the exhibitors at the meeting were Bowker/ Pubnet, Lightning Source and R.R. Donnelley, and Patricia Russo of Borders Group spoke on the "Future of Religion in ABA General Trade."Robert Baensch, director of the Center for Publishing at NYU, gave the keynote address and oversaw the advanced management/strategic planning track, for upper-level managers.

Industry professionals from the general trade were included to help train attendees for the realities of today's multichannel marketplace, Kuyper told PW. "If ECPA is to be an association that helps our members increase the distribution of Christ-honoring books, we need to gather accurate information and understand it thoroughly so we can come up with innovative solutions," he said.

Some of the initiatives Kuyper outlined in his address included sharing data with national bestseller lists to more accurately reflect the Christian market; opening ECPA's regional trade shows to general market retailers and public librarians; and releasing STATS PLUS, an enhanced version of the Sales Tracking Analysis Trends Summary (STATS). Tyndale international director of rights and licensing Dan Balow noted, "Mark is very savvy, and his commitment to technology-based initiatives will help the organization continue its growth across channels into the larger marketplace."

Kuyper reported that he has already met with AAP president Pat Schroeder about joint efforts to protect intellectual property rights. He plans to meet with ABA representatives to discuss the overall growth of religion as a category.

ECPA is actively seeking partnerships to improve reporting on sales, Kuyper said. "We hope to convince lists like the New York Times to include Christian market sales so as to properly reflect the popularity of our products, and we've not ruled out working with BookScan," he said. He also advocated closer collaboration between ECPA and CBA on bestseller lists, returns issues and industry standards.

Kuyper also said ECPA is negotiating with the Frankfurt Book Fair to move the group's members out of the isolated religion section in Hall 3 to a pavilion in the English-speaking hall. "With space at a premium there, unless we can move as a group, we may not make the move," he explained.

ECPA's own regional trade shows, held throughout January, have experienced a steady decline in attendance over the past three years. Business was so slow at the Orlando, Fla., show that it has been discontinued altogether, dropping the number of sites to five. However, Kuyper said he plans to move forward with the shows, since registrations this year are at record levels, suggesting continued interest from retailers, especially mom-and-pop stores unable to attend larger industry trade shows.

Largely as a result of the leadership transition, ECPA has experienced some funding problems. Earlier in 2004, members received a letter asking them to donate over and above their usual dues, to be used in part to underwrite a severance package for the retiring Ross. "The ECPA board authorized a special fund-raising drive before I arrived, with the intent of making up for the extra costs of the leadership transition, and it was successful in doing that," Kuyper said.