God and Publishing

Considering publishing a book? What about a book about religion?

If you’ve been thinking about publishing a religious book, then you are not alone. Religious publications have exploded in recent years. In fact, according to BookWire, the number of new titles published under the religious category increased 298% between 1993 and 2004 – more than twice the growth rate of all other categories.

In fact, according to the American Association of Publishers, sales of religious books increased 50% during 2003 alone.

Divine intervention? Not necessarily. According to a 2004 article in the Christian Science Monitor, some of this growth can be attributed to self-reported figures from some of the largest publishing houses that have begun combining religious books and self-help books into the same category.

Why would they do this? Because it helps them sell more books of course!

Many self-published authors recognize the potential of religious publishing. Ever since the explosive popularity of Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life with more than 20 million copies sold, many publishing companies have jumped on the religious publication bandwagon, and begun to actively seek religious books to add to their catalogs. In fact, some publishing industry analysts have found it necessary to pull the sales figures of Rick Warren’s books out of their data because they skew the entire sector!

Wow, that is successful. But, what does it mean to you?

Even if your book is not directly religious in the traditional sense. It may sell well within the religious community. Just as large publishing houses have begun re-branding the self-help category into the religious one, you can too.

After all, one of the keys to selling more books is to broaden the scope of the market you sell to; and religion is billions of people strong!