Starting a Christian Book Publishing Company, by Morris Rosenthal

I don't see religious book publishing in general or Christian book publishing in particular as just another niche in the publishing world waiting to be exploited. I'm sure there are all manner of publishers out there looking to cash in on the Christian market by adding the word "Christian" to the front of their titles, then bragging to the trade publications about how smart they are. When I look through the Amazon catalog, I see all sorts of books in the religion categories that are promoting activities that are discouraged by any religion I'm familiar with, starting with self obsession. To be a true Christian publisher is to publish books that reflect what your market understands as Christian values. As blurry as that line can get, it certainly doesn't include "Build Your Own Christian PC" or "The Christian's Guide to Lawn Care." Those made-up titles would be obvious attempts to cash in on how people identify themselves, though perhaps a tribute to the size of the market.

Having the sort of captive market that comes from a self-identified group is a mixed blessing to publishers. On the one hand, it may guarantee a subsistence level of sales on niche titles with limited competition, but on the other hand, it largely limits your potential audience to your co-religionists. That's one of the reasons that Jewish publishing turns out to be a much smaller business than most people expect. While there are a small number of Jews who buy a large number of books, it limits a Jewish book publisher to becoming a big fish in a small pond. Christian publishers can build businesses on the scale of the largest trades, because the market for hits is an order of magnitude greater.