Get the Goat this Christmas!
Christmas 2006

As in previous years, rather than add to the chaos on the roads and in Royal Mail's sorting offices by sending out dozens of individual Christmas cards, the UK Christian Bookshops Directory has again made use of the World Vision Gift Catalogue to buy a goat for a family in a developing community as a token of appreciation to the site's supporters over the past year: thank you.

2006 has been an encouraging year for the project, with three new sponsors signing up — CPO, The Good Book Company and Integrity Europe — and several existing sponsors renewing their support: to one and all my personal thanks for your support and encouragement.

The Reviews Section has continued to grow, with new reviews added almost every week thanks to an enthusiastic team of reviewers: it's been particularly good to welcome David Fitzgerald, Kelly Schauermann and Caroline Wenger to the team this year. A number of improvements have been made to the reviews database: all new reviews now include thumbnail bookcover images on the main index pages; the Author and Title indexes have been rebuilt in a more user-friendly format; and, new for 2007, sponsoring publishers can now have a customised introduction added to their reviews index pages. Details about this will be sent out to all publishers listed early in 2007.

Google AdSense advertising and a number of affiliate schemes, including a new Reviews Section Shop powered by Amazon's aStore initiative, have continued to ensure a small but steady income stream sufficient to cover essential costs. Thank you to everyone who has responded to advertising or made purchases through any of these links.

With best wishes for a very happy Christmas and peace and joy in the year ahead,

Phil Groom,
Webmaster and Reviews Editor.

CBC Awards 2007: Shortlist Announced
Wednesday, November 22, 2006

The Christian Booksellers Convention (CBC) Awards Shortlist for 2007 has now been announced with four titles in each category as shown below. The awards are scheduled to be announced at the CBC Awards Dinner due to be held on Monday 26th Feb 2007 at the International Centre, Telford.

All shortlisted titles should be available from any Christian Bookshop or, if you prefer to buy online, most may be purchased via the UKCBD CBC 2007 Awards aStore (select the title to see further details where available).

Book of the Year
God's Politics	Jim Wallis	0745952240	Lion Hudson
Irresistible Revolution	Shane Claiborne	0310266300	Zondervan
Jesus: Safe, Tender, Extreme	Adrian Plass	0310268990	Zondervan
Prayer	Philip Yancey	0340909080	Hodder & Stoughton
Reference Book of the Year
African Bible Commentary	T Adeyemo (Ed)	0310264731	Zondervan
Lion Atlas of Bible History	Paul Lawrence	074595152X	Lion Hudson
NRSV Spiritual Formation Bible		0340909013	Hodder & Stoughton
Preach the Word	Greg Haslam (Ed)	1852404434	Sovereign World
Children's Book of the Year
Candle Bible for Toddlers	Juliet David	1859856020	Candle Books
Lion First Bible and Prayer Book	Pat Alexander	0745960049	Lion Hudson
Massive Prayer Adventure	Sarah Mayers	1844272117	Scripture Union
VeggieTales Bible Storybook	Kenny & Poth	0310710081	Zondervan
Album of the Year: Praise and Worship
Mighty to Save	Hillsong	HMACD198	Hillsong
O Church Arise: Mandate 2005	Stuart Townend	KMCD2669	Kingsway
One God	Spring Harvest	ICC944D	ICC
United We Stand	Hillsong United	HMACD193	Hillsong
Album of the Year: Contemporary
Good Monsters	Jars of Clay	083061082024	Beach Street Records
Hero	Kirk Franklin	8767414927	Zomba Gospel
See the Morning	Chris Tomlin	SURCD5084	Kingsway
Treasure	Lou Fellingham	KMCD2642	Kingsway

Alpha Retailers Scheme Disbanded
October 2006

After twelve years the Alpha Retailers Scheme, operated Wesley Owen owners STL, has been disbanded to make way for a new partnership, Crown Books.

Whereas the Alpha Retailers Scheme focused entirely on instore promotions and catalogues, Crown Books will concentrate more on web services, providing independent Christian retailers with an opportunity to enter the online marketplace. Members will be required to pay a £250 setup fee plus £15 per month, in return for which a commission will be paid on web sales. A printed catalogue will also be provided to support instore promotion of the scheme: full terms and conditions are available from STL.

Other alternatives, which do not charge setup or monthly fees, include Amazon's aStore scheme, a fully customisable web service for Amazon affiliates, and the Eden.co.uk Partners Programme, which offers the possibility co-branded web services. Examples of both are shown below:

Examples
Amazon aStore: CBC Awards 2007
Eden.co.uk Partners Programme: christianbookshops.org

News from Alban Books:
New Publishers Join | New Sales Representative Needed
Monday, September 18, 2006

Jane Grounsell, Alban Books, writes:
From 1 January 2007, Alban Books adds two new publishers to its UK/Europe sales, marketing and distribution operations in addition to Abingdon Press, Augsburg Fortress, Ave Maria Press, Crossroad, Eerdmans, Hendrickson, and Orbis Books.

The Templeton Foundation Press, founded in 1997, publishes for the Templeton Foundation, a non-profit organisation established by the philanthropist Sir John Templeton. The Templeton Foundation sponsors the Templeton Prize for Progress toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities, presented in London annually in May, since 1972. Its publishing focuses science and religion, spirituality and healing in medicine, and character, development and freedom. Half of its list is aimed at Christian lay readers, and half at academics and scholars.

Major new and recent titles include:
Passionaries: Turning Compassion into Action by Barbara Metzler
Kindness and Joy: Expressing the Gentle Love by Harold D Koenig
G K Chesterton: Thinking Backward, Looking Forward
Why The Science and Religion Dialogue Matters edited by Fraser Watts and Kevin Dutton
When Sickness Heals: The Place of Religious Belief in Healthcare

Baylor University Press
Baylor University is the largest Baptist University in the world, and its dynamic and rapidly growing Press produces a wide range of works by distinguished authors that integrate faith and understanding in Religious Studies including Religion in Public Life, Literature, Philosophy and Higher Education. Its audience is students and scholars, as well as interested lay readers.

Major new and recent titles include:
Shakespeare’s Christianity by Beatrice Batson
Ancient Letters and the New Testament by Hans-Josef Klauck
The Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls by James H Charlesworth (who is contributing to a forthcoming BBC documentary on this subject).

We look forward to bringing news of these publishers’ new titles to you in 2007.

New Sales Representative Needed

We are currently recruiting for a new Sales Representative, and need an enthusiastic, self motivated, confident and personable individual to be responsible for sales of our publisher’s trade and academic titles to booksellers and other academic/core customers throughout the UK. If you are interested, or know someone who might be, please contact us before 9 October 2006. A PDF of the advert currently running in the Christian Press may be downloaded here.

200th Review Posted
Monday, July 10, 2006

ChristianBookReviews.info, UKCBD's sister site dedicated to — yes, you've guessed it — Christian Book Reviews, is delighted to announce the completion of its 200th review: Tim Stafford's Surprised by Jesus.

In Surprised by Jesus Tim Stafford follows in the footsteps of Steve Chalke's Lost Message of Jesus and Brian McLaren's Secret Message of Jesus, offering a radical rediscovery of Jesus as a first century Jew proclaiming the Kingdom of God, not as some distant future expectation but as here and now, in our midst. If you're one of those people who has always thought that Christianity is all about the sweet hereafter and has little to do with real life in today's world, be prepared for a rude awakening!

The Reviews Section is continuing to grow, with new reviews added at least monthly, often more frequently. The section is indexed by Author, Category, Publisher, Reviewer and Title.

New reviews are always welcome: please see the Review Guidelines if you would like to send in a review.

Future Secured for SPCK Newcastle?
Saturday, June 24, 2006

Following months of speculation about the future of SPCK's bookshops, the future of one branch at least appears to have been secured as the Newcastle upon Tyne branches have merged their business.

The Bible House in Pilgrim Street — established in 1864 as the Newcastle Bible and Tract Depot — closed its doors for the last time at 5pm on Friday 23rd June as plans got underway for the transfer of stock to Ridley Place.

In a letter to customers, Heather Place, manager of the Ridley Place branch, offered assurance that the Ridley Place shop would be kept open whilst the transfer took place:

We will combine the stock from both shops during the week beginning 26th June. We will then need to put the entire book stock onto the SPCK stock control and computer system, this will commence the week beginning 3rd July. We ask for your understanding over this period, we are doing all we can to ensure as little disruption as possible will effect the high standard of service we offer to you.

• SPCK Newcastle
• A Brief History of the Bible House: pdf, 120k (from Google Cache 5th May 2006; original page no longer available).

SPCK/SSG News Index

Save the SPCK!
Saturday, May 6, 2006

Most visitors to this site probably already know that SPCK bookshops appear to be facing the threat of closure. It may or may not be too late to avert that threat — but it's not too late to pay your nearest branch a visit, buy a book and encourage the staff. Go SPCK today!

And join Dave Walker's blog to show you care: Save the SPCK!

SPCK/SSG News Index

No Shop Nearby? No Problem
Thursday, May 4, 2006

The UKCBD Christian Bookshop relaunched this month in association with Eden.co.uk at www.christianbookshops.org. Open 24/7 online the shop offers secure online shopping for thousands of Christian products including books, music and software — almost all the resources you need for yourself or your church.

Orders are handled and fulfilled by eden.co.uk which pays a commission to this site on each sale, helping to fund advertising, development and maintenance. If you buy Christian products online, please bookmark www.christianbookshops.org today and use it for your next purchase.

Thank you for your support!

Faith4Life Ceases Publication
Friday, January 20, 2006

Faith4Life Magazine was described by its CEO and Editor, Adam Harbison, as seeking

to be a voice for the voiceless by speaking out for the poor, the oppressed and the powerless in highlighting issues of exploitation, persecution and other social injustices by promoting the aims of G8: Aid, Trade and Debt Cancellation.

Sadly that voice has been silenced as, in an email sent to supporters on Thursday, January 19, 2006, Adam announced "with a profound sense of disappointment" that Faith4Life was ceasing operations with immediate effect.

Apologies were offered to advertisers for any inconvenience caused by the situation, but this came alongside an announcement of "advanced discussions with a Belfast based organisation" regarding a possible future partnership.

In a closing paragraph, Adam expressed his personal gratitude to supporters and said, "I would appreciate your prayers for God's wisdom and direction in 2006 and beyond."

At the time of posting this news, the Faith4Life website was still online but no further updates to the site are now expected.