Christian Fiction Winners

Recently a customer asked why we had run the list of Christy Award winners in our store newsletter in previous years, but had not done so last November. I didn’t realize that our customers were tracking these things so closely. So I included it on Monday, and having typed it all up, thought we’d run it here as well.

Although several of the winners were from the broad Baker Book Group imprints, they weren’t titles we’ve carried. (She ordered one of each, so the award carries some weight in her mind.) What it reinforces to me is that critic awards are not the same as sales rankings. Not at all. And some great books get missed because as buyers, we tend to focus on the “A list” titles.

How many of these do you carry? If you’re going to expand your fiction section, better to start with titles which have at least won critical acclaim.

Book of the Year – The Secret Keepers of Old Depot Grocery – Amanda Cox – Revell

Amplify Award – In Search of a Prince – Toni Shiloh – Bethany House

Contemporary Romance – All That Really Matters – Nicole Deese – Bethany House

First Novel – All That Is Secret – Patricia Raybon – Tyndale

General Fiction – the winner in this category also won book of the year (above)

Historical – Drawn By the Current – Jocelyn Green – Bethany House

Historical Romance – Until Leaves Fall In Paris – Sarah Sundin – Revell 

Mystery/Suspense – Aftermath – Terri Blackstock – Thomas Nelson 

Short form – Under the Texas Mistletoe – Karen Witemeyer – Bethany House 

Speculative (science fiction) – Windward Shore – Shannon Hinck – Enclave Publishing

Young Adult – Shadow – Kara Swanson – Enclave Publishing

The awards are presented through the Evangelical Christian Publishing Association (ECPA) and the full list, including nominees, and including cover images, can be seen at this link.

Arrest Warrant Issued in Copyright Infringment

In what must be one of the most blatant acts of copyright violations involving key Christian publishers, the ECPA has organized an effort to sue for damages, while the High Court of London has issued an arrest warrant against a man who has gone missing.

It’s almost worthy of prime time television, yet it involves publishers we know including Tyndale, Zondervan, Baker, IVP and Nelson.   Here’s the May 19th story at Publisher’s Weekly:

A bench warrant has been issued for the arrest of Andrew Amue by the High Court in London after Amue failed to appear at a hearing to enforce a March 2008 order that he cease copyright infringement on hundreds of Christian books.

Acting on behalf of several of its members, the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) asked the High Court to hold Amue in contempt for refusing to comply with the court’s order that he stop displaying and charging for access to more than 130 works on his Web sites, www.evanglibrary.info and www.evanglibrary.com.

In 2004 ECPA discovered that Amue’s site at www.biblecentre.net featured the full texts of hundreds of copyrighted Christian theological works that had been posted without permission.

After first offering free access to the texts, Amue began to charge a subscription fee. To address the infringement ECPA organized a coalition of its members, including Thomas Nelson, Zondervan, Baker Publishing Group, Tyndale House, Moody Publishers, Logos Software, and InterVarsity Press U.K. to file charges against Amue.

ECPA president and CEO Mark Kuyper told PW this was the first time the association had encountered infringement on this scale, and with this persistence. “Our individual publishers issue take-down notices all the time, and usually sites comply right away. But Amue just doesn’t give up.” Added Kuyper, “We were very concerned looking at a future of digital publishing about how people like Amue might abuse their access. We wanted to make sure to set a precedent going forward.”

From 2004 to 2008, ECPA sent Amue a series of letters and e-mails asking him to either remove the works or obtain the necessary licenses. Amue either ignored the letters and e-mails or defended himself, “even getting indignant and belligerent that we would ask him to do that,” said Kuyper. Amue’s whereabouts are currently unknown, and he is believed to be operating under a false name. “He’s disappeared before, and we’ve always found him,” said Kuyper. “I expect we will again.”

For more background, check out this 2008 blog post by Justin Taylor at The Gospel Coalition as well as an earlier 2010 media release from ECPA’s own website (where you’ll also find today’s story)

ESV Study Bible is ECPA’s “Book” of the Year

…and there’s no arguing the impact that the ESV Study Bible had this year.   But last year’s winner was a Karen Kingsbury title; the first time the award went to a woman writer and to a work of fiction; and the year before the top prize went to an audio Bible.

Should we be concerned here.   What happened to good old “Christian Living” titles?    Here’s a link to the USAToday report on John Calvin’s influence 499 years later; which in turn links to the ECPA winners list.

I liked this comment at USAToday best:

The publisher of the ESV Study Bible maintains that the doctrinal content of the book is “balanced,” but there’s no denying that it is clearly biased towards the Reformed/Calvinist position in many places. That theological position very much dominates Christian publishing as well as Christian content on the internet. Its followers are prolific, given to much prose, many words, long debates. Sometimes their Calvinism seems to overshadow their Christianity and at other times their Calvinist agenda seems militant. Perhaps followers of Arminian doctrine, including large numbers Wesleyans, Pentecostals, and Charismatics are more about doing their faith than talking about it.

That said, given the ability to filter out biased commentary, the ESV Study Bible is still a great resource to have in your home. There is nothing else like it. But it is a curious thing that for three years now a “regular” Christian-living title has been unable to capture that top spot in the ECPA awards.

So if it were up to you, not including the ESV Study, what would be your pick for Christian book of the year?