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In 1924, a new book appeared on the scene that did not excite high initial sales expectations. Written by the late Scottish pastor Oswald Chambers, the 365-day devotional My Utmost [...]

What percentage of your company's sales comes from fiction? How does that compare to five years ago? Pape, Cook: 9% of our sales this year from new releases are fiction. [...]

To provide a detailed picture of the state of academic publishing in what has been a challenging year, PW assembled multiple voices at four 'round tables' for editors, marketing execs, [...]

A generation ago, church history was the trending topic in American religious history books, with Protestant titles dominating. Sidney Ahlstrom's 1972 doorstopper, A Religious History of the American People (Yale), [...]

Once the bread and butter of academic religion publishers, specialized backlist titles are facing tough times: a proliferation of used books, textbook piracy, and a shrinking library market. Here, 16 [...]

Catherine L. Albanese Purely American Metaphysics Losing both parents within two years is enough to knock the wind out of anyone's sails, especially in a close-knit, loving family. After Catherine [...]

Halloween HALLOWEEN: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night NICHOLAS ROGERS. Oxford, $23 (200p) ISBN 0-19-514691-3 * If America is a melting pot, then Halloween is the stew that simmers in [...]

What's Inside Not too many years ago, evangelical Christian fiction was greeted with suspicion by the owners and patrons of Christian bookstores, and ignored by critics and general trade publishers. [...]

Is your teen talking back? Is your toddler not yet talking? There's a book for that. A search for 'parenting books' on Amazon.com reveals more than 70,000 unique titles, giving [...]

In the past four years, tracking the sales of religion books has exploded in sophistication with the advent of tools like Nielsen BookScan (which tracks sales in various ABA channels) [...]

In 2014, sales of Christian fiction were down 15% over the previous year, and several houses have either cut back or eliminated their fiction acquisitions. So that's the bad news. [...]

Mary-Kathryne Steele has compelling reasons for her mission to fill the void in the market for multicultural children's religion books. Growing up in Southern California, she was surrounded by immigrants, [...]

In an interview that is supposed to be about her, Daisy Hutton opens by singing the praises of a colleague. Again and again she highlights the contributions of former mentors [...]

Mark Larrimore was still in high school when he had his first experience with the Book of Job: he had a bit part in Archibald MacLeish's play J.B., a dramatization [...]

PAUL L. MAIER. Kregel, $14.99 (96p) ISBN 0-8254-3330-4 This informative gift book is much better than its introduction might lead readers to suspect; Maier lays out a traditional Christian apologetic [...]

EDITED BY CHERYL KIRKING. Revell, $14.99 (224p) ISBN 0-8007-1790-2 This seasonal collection of short personal anecdotes is uneven in quality; alongside the humdrum and hackneyed are genuinely inspiring and honest [...]

STELLA Ross COLLINS. Kyle Cathie (Trafalgar Square, dist), $29.95 (168p) ISBN 1-85626-339-8 This oh-so-British book has everything for a jolly good holiday, including definitive information on English traditions such as [...]

COMPILED AND EDITED BY JOE WHEELER. Doubleday, $14.95 (128p) ISBN 0-385-49860-8 Drawn from the Christmas in My Heart stories, this second installment of Wheeler's Christmas in My Soul franchise delivers [...]

BILL AND GLORIA CAITHER. J. Countryman, $14.99 (98p) ISBN 0-8499-9566-3 Looking for a down-home country Christmas? Music stars Bill and Gloria Gaither use these pages to allow their friends from [...]

JOE WHEELER. River Oak (2448 E. 81st St., Ste. 4800, Tulsa, Okla. 74137), $19.99 (256p) ISBN 1-58919-991-X Fans of Wheeler's many Christmas in My Heart volumes know that he is [...]

JAN KARON. Viking, $10.95 (24p) ISBN 0-670-03019-8 Karon draws readers into a cozy Mitford short story centered around the town's familiar and beloved eccentrics. The plot is as fluffy as [...]

MAX LUCADO. 1. Countryman, $13.99 (116p) ISBN 0-8499-9529-9 Like Grace for the Moment, this Lucado gift book is comprised of excerpts from the Gold Medallion winner's previous bestsellers. Despite the [...]

KAREN KINGSBURY. Warner, $12.95 (148p) ISBN 0-446-52959-1 Bestselling CBA novelist Kingsbury combines her talents in fiction and journalism to recount these true stories of Christmas miracles, which she has reworked [...]

EDITED BY GAWDAT GABRA. American Univ. in Cairo (Columbia Univ., dist.), $39.50 (160p) ISBN 977-424-606-3 This unique coffee-table offering uses text, illustrations and photographs to chronicle the possible journey of [...]

COMPLIED AND EDITED BY JOE WHEELER. Tyndale, $12.99 (224p) ISBN 0-8423-5380-1 The Christmas in My Heart franchise has been going strong for a full decade now; this tenth-anniversary edition follows [...]

ELLYN BACHE. Banks Channel (John F. Blair, dist.), $14.95 (136p) ISBN 1-899199-09-5 * This heartwarming story is truly an interfaith tale, a profile of a family in which the mother [...]

KYRA BELAN. Parkstone (Books Int'l., dist.), Perhaps the most pervasive image of the Nativity is that of the Madonna cradling her child; since the second century, iconographers have depicted Mary, [...]

COMPILED AND EDITED BY JUDY BAUER. Liguori, $9.95 paper (100p) ISBN 0-7648-0749-8 Bishop Sheen's 28 brief Advent meditations reflect on the Incarnation, birth and earthly ministry of Christ. Because most [...]

JEAN MARKALE. Inner Traditions, $14.95 paper (176p) ISBN 0-89281-900-6 Markale, a French specialist in Celtic traditions, traces the history of Halloween from its origins as a Samhain festival, discussing its [...]

MADELEINE L'ENGLE. WaterBrook/Shaw, $13.99 (208p) ISBN 0-87788-079-4 * 'That was a strange thought: God, who is all power, gave away power!' Thus L'Engle encapsulates what she calls the 'mystery' of [...]

LESLEY PRATT BANNATYNE. Pelican, $17.95 paper (272p) ISBN 1-56554-774-8 In this entertaining romp, Bannatyne discusses Halloween trends past and present, dissecting such fun topics as costumes, recipes, movies, parties, myths [...]

Plough, $15 (200p) ISBN 0-87486-917-X * It's hard to go wrong with 40 essays and poems from theological writers such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Dorothy Day, Madeleine L'Engle, Martin Luther, Kathleen [...]

PW: Your new book, Mad Mary: A Bad Girl from Magdala Transformed at His Appearing, is a bit of a departure from Bad Girls of the Bible and Really Bad [...]

THE ECONOMY MAY HAVE COOLED, but it was hard to tell that either by the weather or the mood of retailers at the 52nd annual Christian Booksellers Association international convention, [...]

H. NORMAN WRIGHT. Cook, $12.99 paper (212p) ISBN 0-78143-688-5 Those Christian parents who would spare the metaphorical rod should first consult this draconian but thought-provoking book, which challenges them to [...]

MARIANNE NEIFERT. Zondervan, $12.99 paper (224p) ISBN 0-310-22876-X Pediatrician Neifert (otherwise known as 'Dr. Mom') shares sensible advice for parents (especially mothers) of preschoolage children. She encourages parents to set [...]

MIKE MASON. WaterBrook, $12.95 paper (256p) ISBN 1-57856-422-0 * This is not a book about how to parent; it is a book about how the experience of being a parent [...]

SUSAN ALEXANDER YATES. Baker, $12.99 paper (208p) ISBN 0-8010-6366-3 Yates, author of And Then I Had Kids, tackles the trials of parenting adolescents in this down-to-earth Christian manual. She encourages [...]

F. DEAN LUEKING WITH FOREWORD BY MARTIN MARTY. Eerdmans, $10 paper (80p) ISBN 0-8028-4904-0 Designed to be read by engaged couples, this sensible marriage preparation handbook tackles all of the [...]

FRANZ METCALF WITH BJ GALLAGHER HATELEY. Berrett-Koehler/Ulysses, $16.95 (192p) ISBN 1-56975-300-8 Metcalf, the author of What Would Buddha Do?, joins with business consultant Hateley to dispense spiritual advice from the [...]

TERRANCE KEENAN. Tuttle, $24.95 (216p) ISBN 1-58290-049-3 'To be lonely is to be among people who do not know what you mean,' quotes Keenan, a librarian, poet and Zen Buddhist [...]

Major trade houses continue to invade Christian publishers' terrain THURSDAY AND FRIDAY WERE AN exhibitor's marathon for the many religion publishers who had to divide staff between the Religious Booksellers [...]

CHAD S. HAWKINS. Eagle Gate/Deseret, $39.95 (384p) ISBN 1-57345-921-6 In 1998, Gordon B. Hinckley, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, announced plans to have 100 temples [...]

EDITED BY BAHA'I PUBLISHING TRUST. Baha'i Publishing Trust, $9.95 paper ISBN 0-87743-215-5 In Baha'i teaching, the union of two people in marriage reflects an even greater religious truth: the unity [...]

EDITED BY LAVINA FIELDING ANDERSON. Signature, $44.95 (968p) ISBN 1-56085-137-6 Once published as The History of Joseph Smith by His Mother, this 19th-century account is, as Anderson's subtitle suggests, a [...]

JEROME WALTERS. Sourcebooks, $19.95 (160p) ISBN 1-57071-740-0 Walters, a Lutheran pastor serving in Roundup, Mont., was first 'welcomed' to his congregation by a local Christian Identity member who wrote to [...]

NORI J. MUSTER. Univ. of Illinois, $19.95 paper (256p) ISBN 0-252-06566-2 This autobiography by an ex-Krishna This autobiography by an ex-Krishna Consciousness member offers troubling revelations about life in the [...]

KAREL DOBBELAERE. Signature, $12.95 paper (104p) ISBN 1-56085-153-8 This volume in Signature's Studies in Contemporary Religion series follows earlier books on Scientology and the Unification Church. Like its predecessors, it [...]

Believers in one of today's fastest growing faiths seek more resources ON MARCH 26, 1830, A SMALL-TOWN printer in Palmyra, N.Y., published the first edition of the Book of Mormon. [...]

DAVID V. BARRETT. Cassell, $29.95 (560p) ISBN 0-304-35592-5 Barrett is to be commended for updating and significantly expanding his 1996 manual, Sects, 'Cults' & Alternative Religions, to create this valuable [...]