Cook Partners

Discerning the Times

This is the last entry of the Cook Partners blog, as we announced some time ago:

Among those who joined King David’s army at Hebron, there was one group “from the tribe of Issachar … 200 leaders of the tribe with their relatives. All these men understood the signs of the times and knew the best course for Israel to take” (1 Chron. 12:32, NLT).

In Romans, Paul admonishes the Church to go about the business of everyday living and loving “understanding the present time” (Rom. 13:11).

And Ecclesiastes reminds us, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.” (Eccl. 3:1).

At David C Cook, the time has come for change.

Our mission is "to equip the Church with Christ-centered resources for making and teaching disciples who obediently transform today's generations."

As we engage in ministry on a global scale, partnering with organizations in China, Cuba, India, Vietnam, and other countries, we have increasingly sought to discern the times and to make the best use of our resources to accomplish His purposes. For example, Cook is currently raising funds to provide Sunday school curriculum and pastors’s libraries to over a third of the churches in China.

Now, this same desire to serve Him effectively, and well, leads us to announce that we are reallocating our limited funds. The May/June issue of Cook Partners magazine will be the last issue and the blog will be updated until May 29, 2009...

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven” (Eccl. 3:1). This is the time for Cook to move in new directions.

And if you would like to learn more, and to pray for David C. Cook, please contact us.

Recession is Sowing Time

Chris Anderson, editor of Wired, has this to say about print publishing in a recession:
 

The print [publications] that add value to the Internet are going to be fine in this economy. But some kinds of print don’t make sense right now. I’d argue that books don’t add value to the Internet...

Book publishers are likely to differ, stating that it is the Internet that should add value to books, and not the other way around! Nevertheless, Anderson adds:

The companies that are using this time right now are the tiny ones that are starting up. That’s what downturns are for, I think—sprinkling the seeds.

Publishers, are you sowing? Because the Bible says, "Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let not your hands be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well." (Ecclesiastes 11:6). More than that, God's Word encourages those who sow in the downturns: "He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him." (Psalm 126:6)

May the seeds you sow yield amazing returns.

Philippines: WWJD For Religion Publishers Today

ABS/CBN News reports,

Although faith comes in endless supply, the demand for spiritual and theological books are reportedly slowing in the economic crisis, such that some religious publishing houses are asking: What would Jesus do?

Fr. Benedict Dilag, executive director of the Claretian Communications Foundation, Inc. (CCFI), said that their small publishing house-cum-book retail business has been feeling the crunch.

Read more here.

Zambia: Books Bring Empowerment in Recession

At the fair organized by the Book Publishers of Zambia, education minister Geoffrey Lungwangwa hailed books as tools to mitigate the impact of the current economic crisis, reports The Lusaka Times:

Professor Lungwangwa said there is [a] need to promote ...  books [as] sources of knowledge that can enhance economic empowerment of citizens if properly utilized.

He noted that as the nation continues to experience high levels of illiteracy, [efforts should be made to adopt a] culture of reading [via] a national reading strategy.

An In-Depth Look at Canada's Publishing Industry

The National Post has a series of articles "examining the ecology of books, the complex interrelationships that, taken together, form Canada’s publishing industry — from small-press proprietors to the country’s biggest houses, from booksellers to book bloggers to book reviewers." Here are links to the series' articles so far:

• License to Deal (on literary agents)
• Literary Journals: The Writers' Sandbox
• Mark of an Editor
• A New Breed of Penguin (on new imprints in Canada)
• The Jacket Racket (on designers)
• Book Publicists: A Tale to Sell

India: Market Could Surpass Canada Within 10 Years

From India's Business Standard:

The National Readership survey 2005 revealed that the time that people in India spend on reading has gone up significantly — from 30 minutes per day to an average of 39 minutes per day over the previous three years. The increase was sharper in urban India (from 32 to 42 minutes per day). This increased reading habit augurs well for the future of the book market.

Though the proportion of Indians who speak and read English-language books is very small, given India’s billion-plus population, this stills adds up to pretty substantial numbers in terms of the potential readers that can be targeted by publishers. A potential market of 65 million persons is second only to the 215-million English-language speaking population in the US, and more than the 60 million of the UK and 20 million of Australia. Which is why Penguin’s David Davidar says India is the fastest-growing English-language market in the world today. In the coming decade, India’s book market could be bigger than that in Canada.

Read the rest of the article here.

Russia: Concern For Bible Society, Other Christian Publishing Activity

Forum 18's newest article on Russia begins this way:

The powers of the Russian Justice Ministry's Expert Council for Conducting State Religious-Studies Analysis were considerably widened in February 2009, allowing it to investigate the activity, doctrines, leadership decisions, literature and worship of any registered religious organisation and recommend action to the Ministry. The subsequent appointment of renowned "anti-cultists" and controversial scholars of Islam to the Council – and the choice of prominent "anti-cultist" Aleksandr Dvorkin as its chair - have led a wide range of religious representatives to liken the Council to a new "inquisition", Forum 18 News Service notes. If the Council is given free rein, it is likely to recommend harsh measures against certain religious organisations. At the Council's first meeting, Dvorkin named the Russian Bible Society as a possible target for investigation, but its acting director told Forum 18 no action has followed. Forum 18 asked the Justice Ministry how many commissions it is likely to give the Council each year, whether the Ministry will automatically accept its conclusions and, if not, who will decide. However, the Ministry has so far failed to respond.

Even if a a new "inquisition" does not become a reality, however, prayer for Christian publishers in Russia is still advisable, as Time Magazine and Yahoo News report that the country's economy is expected to suffer the effects of the recession for a long time to come:

Although [Russian President Dmitry] Medvedev did not give a new estimate for the GDP decline in 2009, he said this year's budget deficit will be at least 7% of GDP - "and that's an optimistic forecast." On Friday, government figures for the first quarter showed the economy shrank at an annual rate of 9.5%, a radical revision after officials forecast in February that Russia's GDP would decline by only 2.2% this year. The International Monetary Fund has predicted that Russia's GDP could drop as much as 6% this year. "In 2009, unfortunately, we expect a sharper fall in the GDP than we had thought," Medvedev said.

Inflation in Russia is expected to be around 13% this year.

Nigeria: Publisher Denouces "Cankerworm" of Piracy

The Sun News Online interviewed Sir John Odike, the managing director of Africana First Publishers, an educational publisher in Onitsha, Anambra State, Nigeria:

Book piracy is a monster that must be crushed. It is a hydra-headed evil that should be eliminated. You see, pirates produce inferior quality books, sell at cheap prices to undo us. This is the most potent threat to the publishing industries today. Which ever way you look at it, piracy threatens our existence if it is allowed to continue unchecked.

I now use this medium to call on Nigeria Copyright Commission to re-strategize so that this cankerworm does not cripple genuine publishing business.

USA: Christian Magazine Publishers in Midst of "Perfect Publishing Storm"

Christianity Today International (CTI) announced it is shutting down four more of its magazines:

To be shut down over the coming months are Today’s Christian Woman magazine, the Campus Life College Guide, the Christian history bulletin insert Glimpses, and the Church Office Today bimonthly newsletter....

 

These latest cutbacks follow similar moves made in January, when a total of three periodicals—Ignite Your Faith (formerly Campus Life), Marriage Partnership, and Today’s Christian magazines either ceased publication or, in the case of TC, was sold.

 

“We find ourselves—as does our industry—in the midst of a perfect publishing storm,” says [Harold] Smith, [CTI President and Publisher].

Other well-known Christian magazines that recently stopped printing are NavPress' Discipleship Journal and Pray!, and  Strang Communications' New Man and SpiritLed Women.

Last week also marked the final issue of David C. Cook's Cook Partners magazine. This blog, also, will end May 29. 

Philippines: Book Blockade Over

The Far Eastern Economic Review features an article from Robin Hensley, who first broke the story regarding book import troubles in the Philippines:  

One should never underestimate the collective fury of book lovers when their book supply is threatened....

Once the story jumped the tracks from the Internet to the mainstream, it started gathering an incredible amount of force that even a bureaucrat couldn’t withstand....

As I write this, I’ve just heard from a friend that President Arroyo has lifted the book blockade, that effective immediately, there will be no taxes on imported books. Together, Filipino book lovers have performed what I consider a miracle in less than a month’s time.