Off the Shelf

Building an Award Winning Product

It was an incredible way to spend an evening. When Mark Kuyper of ECPA announced that Word of Promise was the Christian Book of the Year (I know what  you're thinking, it was the first Audio product to win the Book of the Year award) my heart raced, jumped and soared.

Later, I thought about the product itself and how it came together:

Creativity and Vision. When Carl Amari came to us with his idea for this product it was an exciting moment. Carl's vision never wavered and all of us on the team grabbed Carl's vision and rode along. He set the tone, we followed it and crafted a beautiful audio New Testament.

Talent. We were able to assemble some fine acting and directing talent to make this something other than just another audio. Thanks to a stellar, committed cast and JoBe Cerny, the project's director, we literally have theater of the mind with Foley effects and people acting, not just reading the script/text.

Teamwork. I am so proud of the team. All aspects of the Nelson team pulled together, burned the midnight oil and worked together to create something unique and different. Everyone involved did their share and more.

Persistence. Delivering this product wasn't easy. We had many challenges in our way. With the right vision, great talent and teamwork, however, we stayed the course. We held firm. We were all convinced that it would be one of those life-changing products and we were committed to get it to the marketplace and get it in the hands of shoppers.

We remain humbled, yet proud of our accomplishments.

What do you feel makes an award winning product?

 

Good News for Independent Booksellers

I was talking to our VP of ABA (general market) sales yesterday. He told me that since January independent bookstores in his market are outpacing the large chains like Barnes & Noble and Borders. This is good news for the independents and the communities they support. There are several reasons that come to mind for this shift in sales.

• People are not driving as much so the more localized store makes sense. Perhaps people don't want to spend the extra time and gas to drive to a location when an Independent is handier?
• The Borders Stores are not having a good year and some of their customers are migrating to the Independent/specialty book retailer.
• Local communities and their residents may be fed up with the drain on "community" cash by the big boxes who transfer money out of local banks to corporate headquarters. So, they shop elsewhere hoping to keep the money in their local city and have it spent in their local area.
• Book readers may like the better customer service or specific product selection offered by a local, Independent retailer.

Whatever the reason (and please add your own comments and thoughts) the facts are clear - teh general market, Independent/Specialty book stores are seeing an increase in sales.

Some weeks ago I spoke at the BEA convention and met several Independent Bookstore owners who are having banner years. After talking with them, I realized that they were solid retailers who had found a customer-driven niche to serve. They realized they were Specialty stores and offered products, promotions and service that matched or exceeded customer expectations for that type of store.

Technorati Tags: Books, Customer Service, Experience, Retail

Creativity Revealed - A Review

I just finished reading "Creativity Revealed: Discovering the Source of Inspiration" by Scott Jeffrey. I found the book to be a delightful journey through the creative process and an inspiration for me.

Scott divides the book into two sections. The first section gives us a tremendously helpful perspective on creativity. Scott draws from science, philosophy, psychology, and religion to give us not only a history lesson on creativity but also an opportunity to see how creativity in our culture has changed. He looks at both the Old World and New World of thought and creative process. I warn you, this may seem a bit daunting, but hang on as you read, it's worth it.

The second half of the book dives us into what Scott calls "Uncovering the Creative Impulse". In this section he clearly identifies the four creative archetypes (Student, Wanderer, Light, Scientist) and helps us realize that all four are necessary for creativity (he also helps us understand that it's certainly not a linear process). He also begins to help us with extremely practical thoughts to help us not only be more creative but also to guard the creative spirit in all of us. He also spends some time helping us understand that our ego can limit our creativity by keeping us locked into our own perspectives, thoughts and judgements.

Here are some quotes:

• "Smart businesses are now moving toward a highly flexible project team infrastructure where individual responsibilities rotate based on the needs of a particular project." [This] systems approach to business - where a team operates in an organic fashion with less rigidity and fragmentation - is a natural corporate evolution to help keep up with an increasingly complex, dynamic world."
• "By staying flexible in your perspective, you open yourself to discovering a vastly different world that's right under your nose."
• "Discovery often means simply the uncovering of something which has always been there but was hidden from the eye by the blinkers of habit."
• "Becoming aware of the mind's dualistic (my position or the opposite) proclivity, we begin to notice a continuum of possibilities instead of an either-or scenario."
• "Herein lies a notable challenge for today's Creative Professional: we lack the time and attention to thoroughly prepare ourselves for creative inspiration.
• "Left unchecked the ego locks us into the endless cycle of cravings, wants, and desires. It is the primary block to assessing creativity or channeling the creative impulse.
• "The ego is unnecessarily aligned in a counterproductive manner. The survival of self thrives on being busy.
• "Management-by-crisis, guided by the demands of the moment, is how most of us operate. By living in reaction to the conditions present in our environment, we live at the mercy of our environment.
• "With willingness to grow, we can flow with the events of life, always seeking Higher Ground. We can avoid rigidity and fragmented thinking because we know that when we are inflexible, our problems become insurmountable and our personal and professional growth is limited."

I highly recommend Scott's book. It has helped me and inspired me to seek more opportunities to be creative.

Technorati Tags: Change, Creativity, Customer Service, Experience, Leadership, Management, Marketing

The Voice Translation - Recapturing the Bible's Oral Tradition

This past week it was my privilege to speak at the East Coast Worship Conference in Pennsylvania. The conference asked me to do a keynote address on leadership and I also led a Workshop on our new Bible translation, The Voice.

I'll post my leadership keynote at another time.

What I want to share was the fantastic experience of the workshop. Before jumping into it, let me give you some context.

The BIble, before King James, before Gutenberg,and other pioneers of the printed page, survived mainly by the tradition of reading Scripture aloud. There are several references, for example, of Jesus reading Scripture in the Temple. Yes, it was captured on a scroll, but the main way people experienced the Bible was through hearing it, not reading it. Even after the printing press began churning out the Bible, the oral tradition of Scripture continued for centuries as books were expensive and the common family just could not afford one and the liturgy of most churches set aside time for reading Scripture aloud to the whole assembly.

In today's world we have a proliferation of printed Bible products in every size, shape and price. And we have a significant change in the liturgy of many churches that excludes that appointed time allotted for the specific reading aloud of the Sacred Text (sometimes in concert with a Lexionary and sometimes just as a focus where the whole congregation stands for the reading of the Word). Both of these changes have been made at the sacrifice of the oral experience of the Bible.

The Bible is a powerful book and there's no experience like hearing it read. "The Word of Promise: New Testament Audio Bible" (Thomas Nelson) is an example of how the audio presentation can knock your socks off.

The Nelson team created The Voice translation with this perspective in mind. Specifically, the screen-play format, the linguistic and historical information included in italics, and the contextualization that is present in the commentary makes The Voice ideal for public reading and understanding.

So, in our Workshop this week we created an impromptu reading of Scripture using The Voice. We gave some attendees selected parts as they entered the workshop and we read four separate passages from Scritpure. It was amazing as we together experienced the Word by hearing it. We heard so many positive comments and every reader realized the ease of doing this and the positive effect it had.

So I encourage you to think about using The Voice in this way. Reading it out loud is unique and will impact your congregation or small group. Plus, because of how it's formatted readers will not feel intimidated or confused. It all comes together nicely.

Technorati Tags: Books, Experience, The Voice

Myth of Soccer Mom a Real Hit!

Below is a portion of a review I wrote for the Evangelical Christian Publisher's Association's E-newsletter on "The Soccer Mom Myth" (Michele Miller, Holly Buchanan). Bottom line, the book is extraordinary and I highly recommend it.

It’s incredible to think that for all the investment we make in marketing seventy percent of all women say marketing doesn’t speak to them. We spend a lot of money trying to communicate to our customers but unfortunately it’s falling on deaf ears.

According to Michele Miller and Holly Buchanan in their new book, The Soccer Mom Myth, we’ve not understood how to communicate with women and we’ve wasted “billions of dollars of advertising” aimed at them.

In the book, which I highly recommend for anyone in marketing and publishing, Miller and Buchanan help us break down typical stereotypes and help us understand “personas” and the different segments of the female audience. They help us understand that women are not a niche but a powerful customer base that are the majority of purchasers, even in male dominated categories. For example, did you know that “women are responsible for more than 50% of all do-it-yourself purchases, 51% of consumer electronics, 89% of bank accounts and 80% of healthcare decisions?” Not to mention our own Thomas Nelson research that shows that 75% of all Bible purchasers are women. Bottom line, 51% of the population controls 80% of all purchasing decisions.

What the book helps us all to do is go beyond the stereotypes we created for the woman customer and finding ways to truly understand who they are and what they want. Through insightful examples and excellent research, the authors help us to break through the old molds and understand the power of marketing to women as individuals.

Enjoy reading this book. It will most likely change the way you market to probably your most important customer.

Technorati Tags: Customer Service, Product Development, Marketing, Retail

Why Do We Need Another Bible Translation?

For the last three years Ecclesia Bible Society and our folks at Thomas Nelson been working hard together as a team on a new Bible translation called The Voice. The team has done a tremendous job, worked hard, and approached the project with an incredible amount of creativity and enthusiasm. The Voice is a significant product line for us.

Chris Seay from Ecclesia Church and now Ecclesia Bible Society, both in Houston, is the driving force behind The Voice project. Chris brought to us a tremendous vision for a unique translation of the Holy Scriptures, and his continued involvement is s shaping The Voice to meet the needs of the modern church.

However, many could ask, “Why do we need another Bible translation? Aren’t there enough on the market already?”

Before you say, “Yes,” let me help you understand the uniqueness of The Voice:

• Translation Methodology – One of the primary distinctives of The Voice is how it was created. Rather than being driven from scholars, The Voice was driven by artists, and then vetted by a world-class team of scholars. The Voice gives us a different reading experience and stays completely accurate to the original manuscripts. The artists (writers, singers, and poets like Brian McLaren, Chris Seay, Leonard Sweet, Lauren Winner) help us discover the true voice of the human author of that particular section of Scripture.

• Interior Design – A second unique feature of The Voice is how each book is laid out or formatted. Rather than simply another paragraph-style Bible, The Voice is designed to read like a script. This accomplishes two things: First, it makes a rather intimidating book much more reader friendly; and, second, it makes The Voice perfect for reading aloud in church services with single or multiple readers.

• Readability – Customers have told us in five separate research projects that the Bible is intimidating, hard to understand, and sometimes confusing. These people are not scholars, ministers, or teachers. They are people looking for help in reading the Bible. The Voice accomplishes this as it contains extra-biblical material (comments) that easily help the reader understand and, by gaining quick understanding, they want to read more. The comments simplify the Bible reading process.

• Readability (part 2) – We released several books from The Voice either containing selected portions of Scripture or of individual New Testament books. Once again, to help the Bible reader, we put one book at a time in their hands. We have a pastor advisory committee and to a mind they agree that their congregants need smaller portions of Scripture to digest. The single book approach makes The Voice extremely approachable.

Consequently, The Voice speaks loudly to a large segment of the Bible-buying market. We are tremendously excited about The Voice and how it is changing the way people approach Bible reading. We believe it will have tremendous benefit for anyone seeking to read the Holy Scriptures in a new, fresh way. This is why it's needed.

Technorati Tags: Bible, Books, The Voice

Learning on my Summer Vacation

I just got back from a tremendous vacation in Huntington Beach, CA (AKA, Surf City USA). While on vacation we enjoyed being in our home state, walking nearly 6 miles a day along the coast, visiting family and, of course, the 80 degree days with lots of sun and surf.

While on vacation I also took the time to read four books that served to stimulate a lot of creativity, relaxation and pure fun. Here they are and I give each one a "five star" recommendation.

"The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich" (Timothy Ferriss)

I re-read this book and continue to learn tips on personal productivity and how to move from idea to action. This time I spent a lot of time in his section about product creation and idea testing and I will try out some of the ideas soon.

"The Caddie Who Knew Ben Hogan" (John Coyne)

This book was a fun. The author did a tremendous job weaving historical information about the golfing legend with golf tips and a surprising story.

The Shack This is a compelling, gripping story of one man's journey into deep understanding of his faith and life. This is one of those books that once you start, you won't be able to put down. This story will challenge you and answer many faith questions.

"The Spirit of the Border" (Zane Grey)

Zane Gray was a gifted writer of fiction. In this book he chronicles the lives of Moravian missionaries who tried to settle and serve in the Ohio Valley circa 1790. It's a compelling story about the nation's western border and personal sacrifice.

I don't know about you, but reading great books like these inspire me.

Technorati Tags: Books

Books that Changed My Life

Recently USAToday featured an article that listed 25 books that left a legacy on our society. The article got me to thinking about my own experience with books and so I decided to list a few of the books that have radically changed my life.

1. The Bible In 1979 I began reading and studying the Bible. No book has ever had the life-changing impact as this one continues to have on me. It is truly the living word of God as I read and re-read passages seeing different meanings, life challenges and experience tremendous personal growth.

2. Gone with the Wind I was never a "reader" as a child. It wasn't until my Sophomore year in High School that a tremendous teacher, Mr. Taylor, introduced me to books and encouraged me to read from a wide variety of authors. Seeing my interest peak, our next-door neighbor gave me a copy of GWTW and inscribed, "May this be the first book in your expanding library." Since that time I have built three personal libraries. This copy of GWTW is still with me, reminding me of how important books are to me.

3. Wild at Heart This book moved me deeply as it showed me my real passion and challenged me to be the man God created me to be. It's incredible reading for men and women who want to understand the men in their lives.

4. In Search of Excellence Now out of print, In Search of Excellence began to outline for me the importance of creating balanced business culture, customer focus and developing a leadership style that encouraged employee involvement and creativity. While the message remains timeless it continues to grow and mature and be found in books like Jim Collins' Good to Great

5. What Wives Wish Their Husbands Knew About Women James Dobson's early work showed me how to become a husband and father. It helped me better understand my wife and what she needed from me. His practical wisdom and insight helped me (and my wife) to enjoy thirty-six years of marriage.

There are many, many more books and authors I could list here. From Ken Blanchard to Louie L'Amour, with authors from Marcus Buckingham to James Michener in between. The bottom line is books have helped me dream, grow and relax.

What are five books that changed your life?

Technorati Tags: Bible, Books, Eldredge