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Quick to Listen

The Christian Bookstore Chain Is Dead. What Comes Next?

Quick to Listen

Christianity Today

Religion, Christianity, Religion & Spirituality

4.3622 Ratings

🗓️ 27 March 2019

⏱️ 56 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In 2013, Christian book retailer, Cokesbury Bookstores, closed all 38 retail stores. In 2017, Family Christian Resources shut down all 240 locations in the midst of mounting debt and bankruptcy. Then, this year, LifeWay Christian Resources, the largest Christian retail chain in America, announced that it would be closing all of its 170 stores this year. While Christian book publishers have sold their products on Amazon for years, these closures still affect their business, says Mark Taylor, the president and CEO of Tyndale House Publishers. “In some ways, Amazon has been a boon to publishers of all types because they are now our largest trading partner and have been for a number of years,” said Taylor. “The key issue that we talk about at Tyndale House is what we call ‘discoverability.’ How will a consumer the new books or the old books that we are publishing?” Taylor recounted a recent trip to Barnes and Noble, where, after browsing through the offerings, he found a book by a longtime Tyndale author Jerry B. Jenkins. “I ‘discovered’ it by seeing it in Barnes and Noble,” said Taylor. “We’ve all had the experience that Amazon is a great place to shop for anything … and their customer service is outstanding. But how do you discover new books?” Taylor joined digital media producer Morgan Lee and editor in chief Mark Galli to discuss the golden years of Christian publishing, how publishers have adjusted their selling strategies as brick-and-mortar stores have vanished, and just how significant the Amazon effect is. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

This episode is brought to you in part by The Apologetics Guy Show, the podcast that helps you find clear answers to tough questions about Christianity.

0:11.1

Learn to explain your faith with courage and compassion. Join Moody Bible Institute professor Dr. Mikhail del Rosario at apologeticsky.com.

0:22.1

Today's episode of Quick to Listen is brought to you in part by Bloodline.

0:25.8

Bloodline, the new book by Skip Heitzig, takes you on a journey to discover an up-close

0:29.9

view of the cross, revealing God's ultimate mission to save you from sin's destruction.

0:34.8

Bloodline is available wherever books are sold.

0:40.3

It is Wednesday, March 27th,

0:45.1

and this is quick to listen, where we set aside hashtags and hot takes discuss a major cultural event. On today's show, we will be talking about the state of Christian books and Christian

0:51.2

bookstores. Mark Taylor from Tyndale will be discussing that with us today.

1:08.9

Thanks for joining us this week. I'm Morgan Lee, digital media producer here at Christianity

1:11.6

today, and I'm here with our editor-in-chief, my co-host, Mark Allen.

1:16.7

Hey, welcome back. Thank you. Good to be back.

1:19.8

How many times do I have to say welcome back? Quite a bit.

1:22.7

This is where I got to do two of my favorite things. I was on a writing retreat,

1:26.4

which is euphemism for a fishing

1:28.3

retreat as well. But I got a lot of writing done for the company, so that's good.

1:34.6

That is exciting. And you got to be outside in a spring, which is good. In the middle of Arkansas,

1:39.6

which is a little warmer than here right now. So that was nice. All right. So why are we being joined by a second

1:45.7

Mark today? Ah, we are joined by Mark Taylor, who has held various posts at Tyndale Publishing House since

1:52.6

1984, certainly. He's been, he is chairman and CEO currently. He's been involved in publishing most of his

1:57.9

life since his parents started the company when he was 11. He's served

2:02.6

as chief stylist and director of the Bible Translation Committee for the New Living Translation. And I'm

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