Nothing grabs a business’
interest like money, and according to a report from Knight Ridder
Newspapers this month, religion-themed books have the publishing
world’s full attention.
For publishers it’s more
about profits than prophets, but that doesn’t explain why people buy
the books. And buy them they do: Pastor Rick Warren’s “The
Purpose-Driven Life” was the top selling non-fiction book of 2003
and continues to fly off store shelves. The ninth installment of
the 12-volume “Left Behind” series, a novelized account of Jesus’
second coming, was the number one selling novel worldwide in 2001;
in total, the series has sold over 40 million copies.
According to the
Association of American Publishers, “religious books” racked up
sales of $337.9 million in 2003, an increase of almost 37 percent
over 2002. That includes everything from Bibles to hymnals, but
fiction titles are leading the growth.
The Knight Ridder story includes books like “The Da
Vinci Code” and “The Five People You Meet in Heaven” in this group,
which dilutes the impact somewhat. The former is a pretentious, yet
nearly incoherent, attack on Christianity. The latter is as
theologically grounded as a fairy tale, but both have spiritual
themes of sorts. Writers of Christian fiction like Jerry B. Jenkins
and Tim LaHaye of the “Left Behind” series and the gifted Frank
Peretti and Robert Whitlow have also benefited from the trend.
Just as interesting as the fact that we’re buying more
of these books is where we are buying them. Zondervan, a leading
Christian publisher, reports that sales to Christian bookstores
accounted for three-fourths of its revenues 12 years ago but now
amounts to only 45 percent. Wal-Martization has hit Christian
publishing, with Wal-Mart, Barnes & Noble, and other mass retailers
devoting more space to religious titles. But why, besides the
obvious fact that the big stores sell what people buy?
The Knight Ridder piece notes that unnamed “industry
experts” cite the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, the stock
answer for every social shift in the last three years. There’s no
question that the dust was blown off more than a few family Bibles
after September 11, and anecdotal evidence suggests that church
attendance spiked in the months that followed. This dropped off
quickly though, and churches are again scrambling to fill seats.
The same industry experts point to baby boomers, who are
allegedly seeking peace before they die. A boomer myself, it is my
observation that most of us don’t think we will die, or won’t admit
it anyway. I’ll concede it is at least a factor, though; there’s
nothing like the march of time to puncture one’s notions of
immortality. Still, “Publishers Weekly” reports that the buyers of
these books are about 38 years old on average, well under boomer
territory and long before most folks start dwelling on the
inevitable.
One thing industry experts apparently didn’t consider
was the publishing industry itself and the broader entertainment
business of which it is a part. Whether it’s television, movies,
video games, or good old-fashioned books, much of what is put forth
in the name of popular culture is, in a word, trash. I don’t doubt
for a minute that money drives a lot of that, but the industry’s
claims that it only mirrors society is bunk.
In fact a lot of people long for entertainment that
doesn’t make them feel dirty, and perhaps makes them think a
little. It is why PG and PG 13 rated movies draw bigger audiences
than R rated films, and a large part of the appeal of Christian
fiction.
If someone makes a buck in the process, so be it. There
are worse ways to make a living – which can be easily proven by
spending 15 minutes in front of a television. |