Fewer Religion Houses at BEA, But Most Say They Will Be Back

From Publishers Weekly

Religion publishers arguably have more trade show options than any other category, with specialized book exhibits for evangelical Christian, Catholic/Episcopal, Jewish, New Age, and academic houses. That’s one reason there were far fewer religion publishers exhibiting at BookExpo this year—21 vs. the more than 50 of a decade ago (“BEA Now a Low (or No) Priority for Many Religion Houses,” PW, May 9).


But those who were at BEA last week were upbeat, and while bemoaning the rapidly increasing costs of exhibiting at the show, they expressed a continued commitment to being there. “It’s still the best place for us to see everyone at one time instead of flying all over the country for meetings,” said David Lewis, executive v-p of sales and marketing for Baker Publishing Group.

The dominant topic in the category these days is clearly the afterlife (see Books Briefly in this issue of RBL). Baker’s Revell imprint has seen its 90 Minutes in Heaven camped on the bestseller lists for nearly four years, and it was joined six months ago by Thomas Nelson’s Heaven Is for Real. But the book drawing the most media attention is HarperOne’s Love Wins. Author Rob Bell has been criticized by fellow Christians for his inclusiveness when it comes to who will go to heaven. He drew more than 100 people to his BEA signing, and while in New York taped a prime-time special for Nightline that will air later this month. Next comes hell—just before the show David C. Cook announced a new book from Francis Chan (Crazy Love) that will deal with the darker side. Erasing Hell: What God Said about Eternity and the Things We Make Up is set to release in July.

More here-

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