Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Important NavPress fiction news

There's been some confusion of late about the direction of NavPress fiction.

It's been reported that they were discontinuing their general fiction line and would only be publishing novels in their Th1ink line, as well as "missional" fiction.

This is not true.

Editorial Director Dan Benson clarified for us exactly what's happening at NavPress:

"NavPress has decided to pull back from the quota approach (say,12-15 general fiction titles per year) to considering fiction on a more highly selective basis, publishing perhaps 4-6 titles per year. Our door is always open to an outstanding general-fiction concept. Meanwhile, our Th1nk and Deliberate lines will pursue good fiction as always.

Last week NavPress did undergo a board-mandated reduction of several staff, including Rod Morris, whom I consider a top editor as well as a good friend."

In a letter sent out to NavPress authors and agents, Dan further clarifies:

“We love each of our authors and we’re committed to the ministry partnerships we have with them. As all publishers do, NavPress will adjust its future editorial emphases over time, but all commitments to our authors remain solid. Every book presently under contract will still receive our full editorial, promotional, and sales attention.”

2 comments:

Richard L. Mabry, MD said...

Thanks for posting this information. However NavPress chooses to phrase it, whether cancelling, downsizing, or commiting to four to six titles a year, this is hardly encouraging for authors not already under contract to them. And, despite their assurances, I'm not sure I'd be thrilled if any of my titles were on their backlist.

Mirtika said...

Sounds to me like "closing fiction lines" is still the correct terminology. Unless they keep a line that they fill with slots, then they're closing the line.

Highly selective. That means they might publish NOTHING in a year.

So, well, semantics. They are essentially backing away from a commitment to fiction. Period.

Mir