From The National Catholic Register
Depending on one’s point of view, the Catholic publishing world — specifically books and periodicals — is:
a. in big trouble
b. experiencing massive growing pains as it deals with change.
c. facing exciting challenges and opportunities as it embraces the digital revolution. Or,
d. all of the above.
The Catholic publishing world has certainly had its share of losses, and recent years have been difficult on several publishers.
Print periodicals have been battling a steady decline in renewals, combined with skyrocketing publishing costs for several years. The economic downturn that began in 2008 has caused some consumers to view religious books and magazines as luxuries. On the other hand, there is a growing demand for digital information from the under-45 demographic.
Amazon.com, the online book seller, recently announced that sales of e-books now outpace sales of printed books. Sales of mobile devices such as Apple’s iPad, Amazon’s Kindle and Barnes and Noble’s Nook are growing exponentially, and along with this, a demand for mobile applications that contain all types of information and entertainment formerly purchased in hard copy.
Author and commentator Russell Shaw believes that demand for hardcopy books will decline sharply.
“I’ve thought for a long time that the amount of books published will be greatly reduced, and that’s true for both secular and religious books,” Shaw said. “Books will still be purchased by an elite audience, while the majority will be tweeting and twittering and watching their screens.”
Shaw, a former spokesman for the U.S. bishops’ conference, believes that time is running out for any publisher that has not taken digitized books seriously, even while the need to “retain some capacity for old-fashioned books will always be worthwhile for a niche market of those who still want them.”
Tim Walter, executive director of the Catholic Press Association, sees a difficult challenge for Catholic periodicals as younger readers demand free content on publishers’ websites: “Everyone knows that the print product is still the financial foundation of those other media forms. Without the revenue that comes from subscriptions and advertising, what will support those digital platforms? Writers want to be paid for their work, whether it appears in print copy or on the Internet. We’ve been conditioned to expect free Web content so long as we pay our $40 per month for Internet access. That’s like paying so much a month to a grocery store for the privilege of entering, but then just taking all the food you want. No money would get to the food vendor with that model.”
Most Catholic publishers are learning to ride the digital wave. Some are just testing the waters. Others have already dived in. Yet questions remain: How much, how soon, and where is it all leading? Will printed books disappear within 10 years, as some have predicted? Or will there still be a market for them in the foreseeable future? Catholic publishers must try to answer these questions with one eye on a mission to spread the truth and the other on their bottom line.
The Register, for example, which has had four owners in its 84-year history, almost ceased publication at the end of 2010. In spite of several cost-saving measures over the past two years, including reducing the frequency of its print edition to biweekly while significantly upgrading its Web presence, it had not been able to meet rising production costs with subscription and advertising revenue — and even with donations. The newspaper’s publisher since 1995, the Legionaries of Christ, found itself caught in a perfect storm of a bad economy, rising costs and a scandal involving the order’s founder, Father Marcial Maciel.
An acquisition by EWTN in January saved the publication from near-certain death. Under the leadership of Michael Warsaw and EWTN, all parties believe that the prospects for the Register are positive.
“We are excited about the Register and are looking at some creative ways to get out of the trap of traditional publishing models,” Warsaw noted. “We expect the Register to thrive in the coming years with the help of those who understand that we are about telling the truth and serving the mission of the Church.”
The Register’s former sister publication, Faith & Family magazine, a full-color quarterly for Catholic families, also was struggling. In February, it found a new home with Bayard Publications, an international communications group owned by the Assumptionist order.
The privately owned company would not release any transaction details, but it did release this statement: “Bayard Inc. is a global publishing apostolate owned by the Augustinians of the Assumption. Bayard’s principle mission is evangelization through media and education. The continued presence of Faith & Family magazine as it ministers to young families committed to Catholic teaching and traditions resonates with Bayard’s global mission.”
Another recent change in relationship involved Sophia Institute Press, a longtime publisher of both vintage Catholic classics and works of modern authors. Sophia hit a financial roadblock and was also put up for sale late in 2010. Although many of its titles were in high demand, accumulated debt had prevented them from being reprinted. A recent partnership agreement between Sophia and Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in Merrimack, N.H., is intended to save the nonprofit publishing house. Thomas More’s president, William Fahey, launched a fundraising campaign in late March to cover Sophia’s most pressing debts to enable reprinting back-ordered titles and to begin publishing some new titles. According to Fahey, half of that goal was met during the first week of the campaign.
One company that left hard copy behind several years ago and never looked back is the Morley Publishing Group, Inc., publisher of the former Crisis Magazine and now of the popular news and commentary website Inside Catholic. Editor Brian Saint-Paul says that the 2007 decision to cease printing Crisisand move to an online format was “controversial, even among our supporters, but in the last three years, we’ve demonstrated that this was the right move to make.” Saint-Paul noted that skyrocketing postage and printing costs, plus falling renewal and new subscriber numbers, were the writing on the wall. Today, Inside Catholic has as many as 150,000 unique visitors (as opposed to hits) each month. Although subscription income has vanished, so have the expenses of printing, mailing and maintaining office space: The editorial staff all work from home. For now, fundraising is covering all but the tiny percentage of expenses offset by banner ad revenue.
The next frontier for Inside Catholic is a mobile-device application. Saint-Paul noted, “People simply do not want to read anything longer than 800 or 1,000 words from a computer screen — it’s just not comfortable. So we had to leave behind one of the main features of Crisis — lengthy, analytical pieces related to our mission of integrating the Church’s social teachings with democratic capitalism. A mobile device provides a more comfortable reading experience. You can sit on the couch sipping tea, or read in the bathroom or on a train. Longer articles will be a reality once more. So, in a way, the app will enable us to return to our Crisis roots. It will be a true magazine again.”
Depending on one’s point of view, the Catholic publishing world — specifically books and periodicals — is:
a. in big trouble
b. experiencing massive growing pains as it deals with change.
c. facing exciting challenges and opportunities as it embraces the digital revolution. Or,
d. all of the above.
The Catholic publishing world has certainly had its share of losses, and recent years have been difficult on several publishers.
Print periodicals have been battling a steady decline in renewals, combined with skyrocketing publishing costs for several years. The economic downturn that began in 2008 has caused some consumers to view religious books and magazines as luxuries. On the other hand, there is a growing demand for digital information from the under-45 demographic.
Amazon.com, the online book seller, recently announced that sales of e-books now outpace sales of printed books. Sales of mobile devices such as Apple’s iPad, Amazon’s Kindle and Barnes and Noble’s Nook are growing exponentially, and along with this, a demand for mobile applications that contain all types of information and entertainment formerly purchased in hard copy.
Author and commentator Russell Shaw believes that demand for hardcopy books will decline sharply.
“I’ve thought for a long time that the amount of books published will be greatly reduced, and that’s true for both secular and religious books,” Shaw said. “Books will still be purchased by an elite audience, while the majority will be tweeting and twittering and watching their screens.”
Shaw, a former spokesman for the U.S. bishops’ conference, believes that time is running out for any publisher that has not taken digitized books seriously, even while the need to “retain some capacity for old-fashioned books will always be worthwhile for a niche market of those who still want them.”
Tim Walter, executive director of the Catholic Press Association, sees a difficult challenge for Catholic periodicals as younger readers demand free content on publishers’ websites: “Everyone knows that the print product is still the financial foundation of those other media forms. Without the revenue that comes from subscriptions and advertising, what will support those digital platforms? Writers want to be paid for their work, whether it appears in print copy or on the Internet. We’ve been conditioned to expect free Web content so long as we pay our $40 per month for Internet access. That’s like paying so much a month to a grocery store for the privilege of entering, but then just taking all the food you want. No money would get to the food vendor with that model.”
Most Catholic publishers are learning to ride the digital wave. Some are just testing the waters. Others have already dived in. Yet questions remain: How much, how soon, and where is it all leading? Will printed books disappear within 10 years, as some have predicted? Or will there still be a market for them in the foreseeable future? Catholic publishers must try to answer these questions with one eye on a mission to spread the truth and the other on their bottom line.
The Register, for example, which has had four owners in its 84-year history, almost ceased publication at the end of 2010. In spite of several cost-saving measures over the past two years, including reducing the frequency of its print edition to biweekly while significantly upgrading its Web presence, it had not been able to meet rising production costs with subscription and advertising revenue — and even with donations. The newspaper’s publisher since 1995, the Legionaries of Christ, found itself caught in a perfect storm of a bad economy, rising costs and a scandal involving the order’s founder, Father Marcial Maciel.
An acquisition by EWTN in January saved the publication from near-certain death. Under the leadership of Michael Warsaw and EWTN, all parties believe that the prospects for the Register are positive.
“We are excited about the Register and are looking at some creative ways to get out of the trap of traditional publishing models,” Warsaw noted. “We expect the Register to thrive in the coming years with the help of those who understand that we are about telling the truth and serving the mission of the Church.”
The Register’s former sister publication, Faith & Family magazine, a full-color quarterly for Catholic families, also was struggling. In February, it found a new home with Bayard Publications, an international communications group owned by the Assumptionist order.
The privately owned company would not release any transaction details, but it did release this statement: “Bayard Inc. is a global publishing apostolate owned by the Augustinians of the Assumption. Bayard’s principle mission is evangelization through media and education. The continued presence of Faith & Family magazine as it ministers to young families committed to Catholic teaching and traditions resonates with Bayard’s global mission.”
Another recent change in relationship involved Sophia Institute Press, a longtime publisher of both vintage Catholic classics and works of modern authors. Sophia hit a financial roadblock and was also put up for sale late in 2010. Although many of its titles were in high demand, accumulated debt had prevented them from being reprinted. A recent partnership agreement between Sophia and Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in Merrimack, N.H., is intended to save the nonprofit publishing house. Thomas More’s president, William Fahey, launched a fundraising campaign in late March to cover Sophia’s most pressing debts to enable reprinting back-ordered titles and to begin publishing some new titles. According to Fahey, half of that goal was met during the first week of the campaign.
One company that left hard copy behind several years ago and never looked back is the Morley Publishing Group, Inc., publisher of the former Crisis Magazine and now of the popular news and commentary website Inside Catholic. Editor Brian Saint-Paul says that the 2007 decision to cease printing Crisisand move to an online format was “controversial, even among our supporters, but in the last three years, we’ve demonstrated that this was the right move to make.” Saint-Paul noted that skyrocketing postage and printing costs, plus falling renewal and new subscriber numbers, were the writing on the wall. Today, Inside Catholic has as many as 150,000 unique visitors (as opposed to hits) each month. Although subscription income has vanished, so have the expenses of printing, mailing and maintaining office space: The editorial staff all work from home. For now, fundraising is covering all but the tiny percentage of expenses offset by banner ad revenue.
The next frontier for Inside Catholic is a mobile-device application. Saint-Paul noted, “People simply do not want to read anything longer than 800 or 1,000 words from a computer screen — it’s just not comfortable. So we had to leave behind one of the main features of Crisis — lengthy, analytical pieces related to our mission of integrating the Church’s social teachings with democratic capitalism. A mobile device provides a more comfortable reading experience. You can sit on the couch sipping tea, or read in the bathroom or on a train. Longer articles will be a reality once more. So, in a way, the app will enable us to return to our Crisis roots. It will be a true magazine again.”
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