Zondervan Publishes Ebooks for the Christian Market

Posted on November 24, 2000

Zondervan Publishing House has released two new ebooks for the Christian Market, including one available exclusively in electronic format. The Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Christian product marketer has released Philip Yancey's Reaching for the Invisible God in ebook format. The book, released in August, has sold more than 100,000 copies in Christian and general market bookstores internationally. Zondervan also announced the release of a new book by best-selling author Leonard Sweet, The Dawn Mistaken for Dusk: If God So Loved the World, Why Can't We?, which is available exclusively as an ebook.

Both Zondervan ebooks are currently available in MS Reader format at Amazon.com. Other formats and additional general and CBA market retail outlets are planned in the coming weeks. The Yancey and Sweet books are the first two in a series of ebooks that Zondervan expects to release as part of its drive to lead the industry in new media distribution.

``Our commitment is to be the leader in both the inspiring content we publish and in the form in which we publish it,'' said Bruce Ryskamp, president and CEO of Zondervan. ``These first ebooks are evidence of this drive. We look forward to building on this platform to offer a new medium for our authors, an innovative purchasing option for consumers, and an exciting sales opportunity for retailers.''

Zondervan's move to ebook publishing comes after more than a decade in its successful New Media program. Zondervan has been publishing books and Bibles in electronic format since 1989, among the first in the industry to do so.

``Our ebook initiative has been in the works for months, and we're pleased to be not only the first Christian publisher to release an electronic book on the Web, but to do it with two award-winning authors like Philip Yancey and Leonard Sweet,'' said Scott Bolinder, executive vice president and publisher of Zondervan's Book Group. ``We expect this launch to be the first of many books that Zondervan makes available in electronic book format as consumers and retailers increasingly adopt the technology and authors view it as a critical distribution channel.''

Founded in 1931, Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Zondervan Publishing House, a division of HarperCollins Publishers, is a leading international Christian communications company, producing bestselling Bibles, books, new media products, gift products and children's products. Zondervan holds exclusive publishing rights to the New International Version of the Bible and has distributed more than 150 million copies worldwide. It is also a top Christian publisher, selling its books through Christian retailers, general market bookstores, mass merchandisers, specialty retailers and the Internet.