By Marcia Z. Nelson | Jan 18, 2013
Publishers Weekly
Call them “nones”; call them “unaffiliated.” The “young and the
secular” fits well, too. The terminology is perhaps imprecise, but the reality
is measurable, big, and growing. This group has been in the public and media
eye recently, following the release in October of a report by the Pew Research
Center, which put the number of people in the U.S. population with no religious
affiliation at 20%. The unaffiliated include a smaller group that describes
itself as atheist or agnostic, and a larger portion that describes itself as
“nothing in particular.” When the unaffiliated are broken into age groups,
their numbers rise sharply among the young. A third of adults under 30 say they
have no religious affiliation, whereas only one in10 people 65 and older fit
into that category.
But a lack of religious affiliation does not necessarily
indicate the absence of religious behavior or practices. When researchers asked
about beliefs and practices, they found that more than two-thirds of the
unaffiliated believe in God or a universal spirit, and more than 40% of them
pray. In addition, more than half either described themselves as “religious” or
“spiritual but not religious.” This phenomenon is, of course, especially
significant for religion and spirituality publishers. Does the growth of the
unaffiliated shrink their markets? Are they worried? A number of publishers
weighed in on this question, with thoughts about how they see the nones, how
they see their publishing programs in relation to the religiously unaffiliated,
and whether it keeps them up at night wondering about their futures.
Among the Evangelicals
It would seem this trend might be especially worrisome for
evangelical Christian publishers like Howard Books (located in Nashville,
Tenn., but owned by Simon & Schuster). But no worries—publisher Jonathan
Merkh and editor-in-chief Becky Nesbitt understand the nones to be people who
object to institutional religion and hierarchy. “People feel like religions are
too caught up with money or power,” says Merkh, who says he is Anglican and is
comfortable with a describing himself as spiritual but not religious, a term
that came into common usage back in the ’90s. Howard has published titles that
resonate with this group. “We are hearing from them in response to books like
Kisses from Katie” by Katie Davis, Nesbitt says. That kind of book shows
“people making a difference but not being overtly Christian or beating you over
the head” with proselytizing, Merkh adds. The elements of “making a difference”
and having an authentic voice and commitment are particularly appealing to
unaffiliated readers, who are also an educated audience. “Their tastes can be
very broad and not constrained,” Merkh says. “I think the nones are just as
likely to read Fifty Shades of Grey as [they are to read] Karen Kingsbury. They
don’t have a voice in their head telling them it’s wrong.” Hitting that market
is a challenge, but offers Howard the promise of new audiences. “We’re not
publishing away from the evangelical market,” says Merkh. “We’re just casting a
broader net.”
Chad Allen, editorial director at Baker Books, an evangelical
house in Grand Rapids, Mich., is intrigued by just how much faith he sees apart
from organized religion. Baker published You
Lost Me by David Kinnaman in 2011; the book analyzes why young evangelical
Christians are losing the faith they were raised in. For Allen, the problem is
that many see the Christian church as irrelevant. “The old approaches won’t do,
at least not in their traditional forms,” he says. Last year, Baker sent a
survey to 15,000 of its readers; 13% of respondents selected the category
“other” when asked to describe their faith tradition. Allen is struck by how
nontraditional that choice is in the evangelical subculture, as is the
spiritual-but-not-religious choice of 3%. This convinces Allen that religious
forms are changing, “not the substance necessarily,” he says. So he wants to
publish books that will help the Christian church see what it needs to look
like, sometimes literally—Emergence
Christianity by Phyllis Tickle (2012) includes a photo essay of new
congregations and religious objects—in order to help people live faithfully.
“What we’re very interested in pursuing is, how do we live as faithfully
orthodox Christians in these intensely, deeply changing times?” Allen says.
“It’s not just about adding a coffee shop to your church.”
Changing times lead to changing publishing programs. Jericho
Books is a new Nashville-based imprint from Hachette, whose 11-year-old
FaithWords imprint has an evangelical audience. Launched in fall 2102 and led
by publisher Wendy Grisham, Jericho is gathering an audience that defies and
resists religious labels. “You’ve got everything from
nondispensational-premillennial-Anglican-follower-of-Jesus to
it-takes-you-two-lines-to-tell-what-your-faith-is,” Grisham says. “A lot of
people have rejected ‘Christian.’ ” Jericho’s launch list includes Brian
McLaren, known for his work on emergent Christianity (a kind of postmodern
version of Christianity that has come into vogue over the past several years),
and Justin Lee, a gay author who wouldn’t be welcome in the most conservative
Christian churches, or with most evangelical publishers. “One of the things I
hope for when people look at the Jericho Books list is authenticity,” Grisham
says. “Some of the 20- and 30-year-olds are just sick of going to church.
People are not necessarily leaving their faith, but their religion.” Grisham
has given a lot of thought to the important question of how to reach an
audience that doesn’t hang out in churches. “So much of this community is
online,” she said. Author Shane Hipps, for example, did a Google Hangout that
included giveaways and attracted more than 200 people. Grisham says Jericho has
invested in its Web site and social media and is working with a company to
maximize online outreach and opportunities.
Another new imprint is gestating at Random House’s evangelical
unit, WaterBrook/Multnomah, in Colorado Springs, Colo. Convergent Books will
debut in fall 2013, publishing to a more progressive Christian audience. Steve
Cobb, president and publisher, says the new imprint might appeal to some of the
nones, though that’s not part of the publishing strategy and house identity,
which he describes as unapologetically Christian. “We will still be Christian
in our foundations within Convergent,” Cobb says. “We can extend our audience
further into Christendom, and likely we’re going to touch people in this new
imprint who may not be affiliated in a conventional sense.” Cobb says the new
imprint will emphasize social justice and faith in action, and he hopes it will
appeal to those under 30, where lack of affiliation is highest. “Publishing to
that younger demographic, whether we would admit it or not, has been more
challenging,” he says.
Spiritual and Wellness Imprints
For other kinds of publishers, creating books for the
religiously unaffiliated is nothing new. White Cloud Press’s eclectic line of
spirituality and wellness books comprises titles on Islam, including its
attention-getting I Speak for Myself series of essay collections by young
American Muslims, as well as poetry and nature books. Sales are up for the
Ashland, Ore.–based house. “I come from this region that has been at the
forefront of saying that institutional religion is not something that attracts
people,” says publisher Steve Scholl. For Scholl, both publishing and personal
history suggest that organized religion is playing itself out, and the rise of
the nones is part of a trajectory of gradual change. “It will be a long-term
process of people abandoning religion but not the spiritual quest,” Scholl
says. “We’re meaning-seeking creatures.” Scholl is especially emphatic that
spirituality is not an evasion of the discipline that proponents of organized
religion say is lacking among the spiritual-but-not-religious cohort. “I see
unaffiliated people every day who are very serious about their spiritual
lives,” he says.
It’s also life as usual at Shambhala Publications, which
specializes in books about Buddhism and other Eastern wisdom traditions that
have taken hold in America over the past half-century. “We have always been
publishing to people who are seeking,” says publisher Julie Saidenberg. “I
think in general our books are not about affiliation; they’re about a practice
you do on your own.” Shambhala knows the turf, but faces the challenge of
renewing an older audience, since interest in Western Buddhism is primarily a
baby boomer phenomenon. The Buddha Walks
into a Bar by Lodro Rinzler (2012) has worked well for the publisher to
reach a younger generation that shies away from religious belonging. The book’s
message doesn’t urge the reader to sign up for anything; “You don’t have to
say, ‘OK, I’m a Buddhist,’ ” Saidenberg notes. Another challenge for Shambhala
has been finding the watering holes where seekers and the unaffiliated gather.
The house sells books direct and does a lot of direct mail outreach to
customers. “We haven’t been so great at finding out where the Buddhists are
hanging out online,” Saidenberg says. “It’s frustrating.”
The 30-year-old Beyond Words imprint is happy to see the rest of
the culture catch up with its readers. The house, which began as a small indie
but is now in partnership with Atria Books, made its mark with The Secret by Rhonda Byrne (2006), which
has sold more than 21 million copies. “The nones have, in essence, always been
around, but now this group has been given a name with certain distinct
characteristics,” says Cynthia Black, president and editor-in-chief. Those
characteristics include a willingness to see connections among science,
spirituality, religion, and health. “We have found that the readers in this
movement look for tools and practices to follow their own personal spiritual
quest, whether affiliated with a religious group or not,” Black says.
Call
it secularization, personalized faith, meaning seeking, or “none” of the above.
Publishers of religion and spirituality books probably need not worry—if fewer
people look to institutional religions for guidance and inspiration, might not
more of them seek it in books?
