InterVarsity Press

Interview: Robert A. Fryling, Publisher, InterVarsity Press: Part Two

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Robert Fryling IVPYesterday, I posted the first part of a conversation I had recently with the publisher of InterVarsity Press. As the interview went on we discussed changes in the publishing world and reading habits, and some of the most significant publishing milestones of Bob Fryling’s tenure. Here’s the second part of our interview:

During the time you have been publisher at InterVarsity Press, how have you seen reading habits change, your target audiences, how have you adjusted to some of the changes you are seeing in the market?

That’s a question we are always trying to answer because things are always changing. A good example of this you would be familiar with is Jim Sire’s The Universe Next Door. That used to be a general book that was sold in Christian bookstores and lay people and students would read that. Now it is primarily an academic text, a secondary text, and most Christian bookstores do not carry it.

You can see the effect of people not reading serious non-fiction at the same level they would have twenty years ago. It’s not so much a “dumbing down” as people not having the time or attention span to focus on thoughtful non-fiction. There has been a lot of increase in fictional reading in the general Christian market and inspirational reading.

It takes work to think through well-honed arguments and issues and so our market has changed from more general readers to pastors and people in ministry and parachurch ministries and Christian colleges and seminaries. So now about fifty percent of our books are academic books [IVP has a sub-imprint IVP Academic] or reference books whereas twenty years ago it would have been about twenty percent. There is a very intentional group who read, and read your blogs, but it is a shrinking group of people and it does tend to be more those in ministry or the academy rather than general lay people.

Could we talk a bit about the role of InterVarsity Press as part of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA and how you’ve seen the role of supporting student and faculty mission continue to develop and change during the years of your tenure?

I think there are two major areas in which IVP is particularly appreciated by staff. One is for the public relations value. Often staff find that pastors and donors know about InterVarsity Press and not InterVarsity and so it can be a nice bridge because the name is the same. In fact, in the publishing world we are often just referred to as InterVarsity. Jim Lundgren [Interim President of InterVarsity/USA] was saying sometimes he has been with donors and they thought he was representing IVP because that was the “brand” that was known. Staff use books a lot with donors and pastors. We are glad we can do that and provide a sense of culture, of who InterVarsity is as a thoughtful engaged ministry.

The other area obviously is in its teaching. We publish books that support the core values of InterVarsity — life of the mind, evangelism, discipleship, world missions, vocational stewardship –all the aspects that are part of InterVarsity’s identity. IVP supports and sometimes leads InterVarsity as staff read some of these books, and then teach and lead students in some of these issues. One of the big differences that you would probably appreciate was that at one time staff would have booktables and buy lots of books and sell them to students. Now staff will get the books and teach them to students. We are getting less sales to students. Many staff are also using IVP books as part of their own education and training.

Looking over the nineteen years of your tenure at InterVarsity Press what are some of the publishing projects that you take the most pride in, that you’ve had a chance to oversee to publication?

Without a doubt, the most significant one was the publication of The Ancient Christian Commentaries on Scripture as a twenty-nine volume enterprise that was started before I came here but was published after I started at IVP. I was involved in choosing the cover design and the latter aspects of that and working with Tom Oden who was the general editor with whom I worked for fifteen years as that project was coming about.

The second thing was the development of the Formatio sub-imprint, focusing on spiritual formation. At the time we started that, spiritual formation wasn’t even used as a term among most evangelicals. Now that obviously is very widespread and I think we’ve had a hand in promoting spiritual formation issues in general evangelicalism, whereas before it was limited to mostly Catholic audiences or mainline audiences. I think that has been a tremendously successful project that I’m very grateful for. We’ve not so much cornered the market, but authors come to us because they realize that for evangelicals looking for spiritual formation books, IVP is the place to go.

The third thing I would say is we have developed a lot of partnerships, for instance with the Apprentice Institute with James Bryan Smith. We’ve done some things with Veritas Forum and Veritas Riff and with Ruth Haley Barton and the Transforming Center. We probably have about twelve or thirteen different partnerships with different organizations. CAPS [Christian Association for Psychological Studies] with psychology is a significant area of partnership. We are grateful for these partnerships as they help us connect with their audiences.

The other thing I might add which is very different is that we have been very intentional in trying to recruit minority authors and women authors and so we’ve had a series of consultations where we pay the full freight for unpublished authors to attend. We had one for African-American authors, for Asian-American authors. This year we are having one for Hispanic leaders. We do one for women in the academy. We bring people together for a few days and tell them about publishing, the editorial process, the marketing process, and really try to encourage them to write for us as their voices need to be heard within evangelicalism. We have published roughly 160 books over the last fifteen years by minority authors.

In wrapping up, I wondered what you could share about your plans after retirement?

Actually, I don’t have any right now. It feels like a time to wait on the Lord. I plan my life, I am a planner and I’ve been doing that for all of my life. It just seems that this is a time that I’m not to be anxious about that but to see what might come about. I have about another eight months or so before I retire. I’m not trying to find another job or do things but just see what might come about. I feel very open-handed about that right now.

Any writing plans that you might have?

That would be a category of things I might pursue. Right now I am so busy with our business as such that I haven’t had much time to think about that but after Urbana [InterVarsity’s triennial conference on world mission at which InterVarsity Press has a significant presence] I will probably start thinking about those things. I might indeed write something after retirement but at this time have no specific plans to do so.

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Postscript: I would like to take this opportunity to thank Bob Fryling, not only for the time he took for this interview, but also for all those books that have been part of my own “education and training.”

Interview: Robert A Fryling, Publisher, InterVarsity Press: Part One

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Robert Fryling IVP

Robert A. Fryling, Publisher, InterVarsity Press

Recently, Robert (Bob) Fryling announced he will be retiring as publisher of InterVarsity Press (IVP) in June 2016. Bob Fryling also serves as a Vice President of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA. Out of his leadership experiences, he published The Leadership Ellipse in 2009. Recently we sat down via Skype for an interview in which we discussed his career, his tenure at InterVarsity Press, how IVP relates to its parent organization, changes he has seen in publishing, and what publishing accomplishments he thought most significant during his time at InterVarsity Press.

This interview has a bit of a flavor of an “inside conversation” due to the fact that Bob Fryling and I are both employed with InterVarsity/USA and have had a long association, Bob Fryling in the publishing division and I in Collegiate Ministries. I have inserted clarifications in a few places where a reference might be particularly unclear to an outsider. Otherwise, this is a very lightly edited transcript of the conversation. I should also mention that Bob on Books is a private endeavor, and not an official social media outlet of InterVarsity Press or InterVarsity/USA. With that, here is the first part of the interview:

You’ve had a pretty interesting career before you came to the publishing world. Could you recap for us your career before you came to InterVarsity Press?

I started off as a Campus Staff Worker in New England responsible for thirteen campuses in New Hampshire and Maine. I spent a lot of time driving on the turnpike. That was a great experience. I had large state schools like the University of Maine and the University of New Hampshire and smaller schools like Colby and Bates. It was a great way to learn about ministry and to be involved with InterVarsity. I became a team leader and then Area Director in New England and then Regional Director for the Northeast.  In 1980 I moved to Madison and was national Director of Campus Ministries. I lived in Madison for seventeen years with two stints as Director of Campus Ministries and with a stint as Director of Human Resources in between. I started our NISET [National Institute of Staff Education and Training] program and led a lot of our management training. I came back to Campus Ministries when asked by Gordon MacDonald when he became President. I served in that role for a total of 14 years. I moved to the Press in 1997. It will be nineteen years by the end of June of 2016 as IVP publisher.

What was the biggest change or transition in moving from the collegiate ministry world to the publishing world?

A number of interesting things. I wasn’t asked to speak as much! As Director of Campus Ministries I spoke often at student and regional staff conferences. Somehow the publisher’s role was not seen as a ministerial role in the same sense. I had a lot to learn about the publishing industry. The publisher role was more of a CEO role. I was able to be in more of a leadership role without having to process things through three or four levels of people spread across the country. We have a lot of process at IVP but having most of the people in the building makes the process easier and the pace of decision-making was much, much faster because we have to get books out on time and sign authors. It was figuring out how to marry a ministry and a business. With Collegiate Ministries you don’t have the sense of the business aspect in the sense of time or urgency or money, although there is fund-raising, but it is not the same thing as making financial decisions every day as to how your business is going to turn out. I’ve enjoyed the challenge of bringing together both parts and that business is a ministry, too.

One of the things I’ve heard about InterVarsity Press is that you’ve won some awards for being a great place to work. I wonder if you could talk about that and what makes it such a good place to work?

I can answer the second part first. We have a lot of great people here. People come because they appreciate the books that we publish. We have been recognized by the Best Christian Workplaces Survey, I believe it is six straight times, and one of the questions that is asked is, “what do you most appreciate about IVP?” Usually the top answer to that across the whole company are the books that we publish. People are attracted to that. People are affected by the books. You can’t edit books and mark up books that don’t affect you as to its content. So that’s a big piece.

We have a strong leadership working team. Five of us have been together for eighteen years and so we’ve been able to benefit from each other’s gifts. We are fairly transparent in our leadership. We have a daily sales record so everyone in the company knows where we are on our sales on a day to day basis. We give quarterly financial reports and we share everything about what’s going on. I think people feel a high sense of ownership for IVP, a great deal of loyalty, great communication, and fine people. It sort of all comes together.

One of the things that may be indicative of this is that we have office meetings on a regular basis but we only have them when we need them. So we try to avoid perfunctory meetings but when we get together, everyone is expected to be there, so there is this sense of real community. We celebrate anniversaries, we share announcements, there may be times when we have authors that visit and usually those meetings are a morale boosting time and celebration time when we are together.  We have special Christmas parties, we honor people when they leave, when people get married, when they have children. We try to celebrate each other, we try to celebrate our authors and our books and that creates a very positive environment.

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In Part Two of the interview, which will appear tomorrow, we will discuss how InterVarsity Press has responded to trends in reading and publishing, how IVP continues to support the collegiate ministry of InterVarsity, what Bob Fryling sees as IVP’s most significant accomplishments under his tenure, and his plans for retirement.

Conflicts of Interest and Bias in Reviewing

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managing-coiThe last few years of writing reviews on Goodreads and on this blog have been an interesting journey from writing reviews simply because I want to remember what the book was about and my “takeaways” to having a group of people following my reviews who are interested readers, and in some cases authors or publishers. I’ve gone from only reviewing books I’ve bought to getting review copies of books from publishers. Friends have asked me to review books they’ve written, and sometimes I’ve done so. I also review a fair number of books from InterVarsity Press, the publishing division of the organization for whom I work. Most of these books I purchase at a discount and some I receive on a complimentary basis, not for review, but for use in my work.

What this raises, which was called to my attention by a friend who forwarded this NY Times article, is the question of reviewer bias and conflict of interest. My first response as I think about this is that it is impossible to not be biased unless I am utterly ignorant of a subject, and even then, I have my own preferences about writing style and more. If I’m utterly ignorant of a subject, I may actually be an unhelpful reviewer, even if relatively unbiased.

On the matter of conflict of interest, it was interesting to discover what the New York Times Book Review considered to be conflicts of interest: writing a blurb for the book, having the same agent, or publishing under the same imprint, particularly if it is a small publishing house (none of which is an issue for me at present). They did not consider a personal relationship with the author to be a conflict of interest or strong feelings on the book’s subject to be a problem. Rather it may be an asset if it adds depth and insight to the review and is acknowledged.

So here are a few thoughts of how I am learning to deal with this that I hope will be helpful to those who read my reviews. I also would welcome the comments of other reviewers.

1. I do make a disclosure at the end of my reviews when a book I am reviewing was obtained on a complimentary basis for review. As I understand this, it may be an FTC requirement to do so and publishers actually request this. I have been critical of books I’ve received as review copies and try not to treat them any differently than other books I review. I send the reviews to the publishers as well as publish them on social media. So far no one has cut me off.

2. If I would consider the author a friend, as opposed to an acquaintance, I would disclose this and perhaps give a personal slant to the review where this is relevant. I consider someone a “friend” if we’ve had what I consider a significant and ongoing personal or professional relationship. If I end up considering the book really bad, I just won’t publish a review (I’ve never had this come up yet). I have raised questions or differences in reviewing the books of friends, as I have others.

3. Where I have strong feelings or a definite perspective that is similar to the author’s, I will often ask the question as I review of “what is missing?” or “what might I add?” to what they have written. In general, this would follow my summary of the basic content of their work, and appreciation for what they’ve written. I sometimes will mention books or authors with opposing views, as I’m aware of these.

4. Where I would hold a perspective differing from the author, I would first of all try to fairly represent what they’ve written and the merits of their work and only then, acknowledge questions, reservation, or critique of what they’ve written. I don’t always do this. If they’ve written well and presented their case well, I may simply try to situate their contribution within the context of the larger discussion and differing points of view. Sometimes, I may commend works giving differing perspectives that I’ve found helpful.

5. When would I acknowledge personal bias? I don’t like doing this all the time because I think the review should be about the book, not about me. I think if I come to the review with a strong bias against the book or author, I need to say so. Sometimes that will be true of me and I’ll be favorably surprised by some aspect of the book, or the book as a whole. I’ll say that as well.

6. So, what about those reviews I do of InterVarsity Press? I’ve acknowledged my connection to the publisher both here and previously. I don’t think I need to do this with each book. This is a private blog and not done for my organization. I try to approach reviews as I would for books from other publishers, trying to respect the author’s effort, give some idea of the content and value of the book, and critique where this is warranted. Actually some of my toughest criticism has been of a few of their books. That said, I do appreciate the high quality of books they’ve published over many years, and certainly am happy if people decide to buy one of their books because of a review I’ve written.

The truth is, I have a passion for seeing people buy and read good literature, no matter who publishes it, and even if I disagree with the perspective. I think what it comes down to for me is that in whatever I review, I want to be fair to the author and honestly represent the book to the prospective reader, whether people like what I write or not. If at some point, I fail at this, feel free to let me know. After all, that’s the social in social media.

So Where Do You Find Those Books You Review?

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Someone asked this question on a recent post, and I don’t think I’ve ever talked about this directly.  Finding books that interest me has never been a problem, in one sense. Finding time to read all the books I’m interested in is probably the challenge–and keeping up with other important things in life. But learning about my sources might be interesting for others, so here goes:

1. My most tried and true way of finding books is simply the local second hand bookstore (in our case, Half Price Books, of which there are several outlets in my home town). Often I do not go there looking for a particular book. My usual practice is that I have several sections (science, fiction, history, and religion) in which I particularly look. I also check out the bargain section–I’ve made some great finds of books I was interested in that I picked up for a song.

2. Of course, these trips are supplemented from time to time with library book sales and visits to other book stores.

3. I also attend some conferences related to my work. There is often a book table with books related to the conference theme and our broader work. Many of the academically oriented books, and those on higher education come from these book tables.

4. The organization I work with has a publishing house, InterVarsity Press. You may notice that a fair number of the books reviewed here come from them. We have the option to purchase new releases at a steep discount, and receive complimentary copies of some books related to collegiate ministry. I read these books because they deal with issues I’m interested in, often quite well. When that’s not the case, I feel free to say so. I am paying for most of those books, even if they are at discount!

5. Some of my books are e-books and I learn of these through three sources: Amazon via their Kindle Daily Deal emails, BookBub, which also emails about daily deals, and NetGalley, which is a website where bona fide book reviewers (in print or on blogs) can request e-galleys of new releases in exchange for posting reviews not only on their own sites but on NetGalley’s site, which provides feedback to publishers. Big danger here is that in the ease of downloading to a reader, you will acquire far more than you can read.

6. I follow reviews of others on Goodreads, in Books and Culture, the New York Times Book Review, First Things, and other periodicals that include reviews. Hearts and Minds Books “Booknotes” is another great source. I often look more at reviews than articles in some journals. Then I keep an eye out for a good deal on the books I’m interested in.

7. One of the things I’ve begun doing is requesting review copies of books I’m interested in reading and reviewing. Review copies are furnished at no cost but involve the commitment to read and review the book often within a 30 to 60 day period, send a copy of the review to the publisher that they can re-post, and to post a review on commercial media like Amazon. So you need to be a legit reviewer with a review platform like a blog. I suggest being sparing in your requests so that you can honor your commitment to review the book in a timely fashion.

8. Occasionally a book will be an “assigned” reading for work purposes. My usual reaction is, “Oh boy–I can even justify reading as a work-related activity!

9. Every so often, I stop by our local library. They have a section with their new acquisitions and this is one more way to learn about recent publications in areas of interest.

10. Finally, there are those books friends suggest or even give you and tell you you “HAVE” to read. I will if I’m interested. My son is a source of a number of these, and thankfully, he knows enough about my propensities to buy stuff that I actually AM interested in!

So there it is. Those are some of the ways I find out about books, and find the books I review. As I said, this has never been a problem in my “bookish” world. But maybe some of these ideas will connect you with new sources of learning about good books. Hopefully, it doesn’t open up new avenues of temptation!

 

Weird Title But Available for Free Today on Kindle

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Just learned this book with a quirky title is free today on Kindle.   It chronicles a Christian-Atheist dialogue that is substantive and real-to-life.  Brought to you by my friends at InterVarsity Press.

Books Out, Books In

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So we really are trying to clear out some books.  Sold a box load at our local bookstore last weekend.  Gave away another box load this weekend at a grad student retreat.  So what is awaiting me when I get home?  You guessed it–two box loads of books from my good friends at InterVarsity Press!  Right back where I started.

Here are 10 that caught my attention:

1.  Troubled Minds:  Mental Illness and the Church’s Mission by Amy Simpson.  I have several friends dealing with loved ones facing mental illness.

2.  On a related theme is Restoring the Shattered Self:  A Christian Counselor’s Guide to Complex Trauma by Heather Davediuk Gingrich.  Once again, because I know people who have survived such traumas and carry the wounds of these.

3.  The next two address our digital world.  The first is Ministry in the Digital Age, by David T Bourgeois.  The cover mentions that we are in a “post-website” world.  Sigh!

4.  The second is a bit more profound.  Shaping a Digital World by Derek C Schuurman focuses on how the big narrative of creation, fall, and redemption might shape our use and development of digital technologies.

5.  The next book moves from shaping the digital world to shaping our brains.  The God-Shaped Brain by Timothy R Jennings, M.D. explores how our beliefs about God change our brains.  I have some neuroscience friends who might find that intriguing!

6.  While we are on the shaping theme, my good friend Robbie F Castleman has recently published a new book: Story Shaped Worship.  What she explores is how the narrative of scripture shaped a pattern of worship for Israel and the early church and what it means to have our worship today shaped by this timeless story.

7.  The Global Diffusion of Evangelicalism:  The Age of Billy Graham and John Stott by Brian Stanley is the latest volume in IVP’s History of Evangelicalism series.  Every one of these has been outstanding and I look forward to this installment centered around two of my heroes.

8.  This one should be a great resource for our Dead Theologians group:  Reading the Christian Spiritual Classics by Jamin Goggin and Kyle Strobel.

9.  The new atheists love to fix on the idea of holy war in the Old Testament as an argument for rejecting God.  Holy War in the Bible, a collection of articles edited by Heath A Thomas, Jeremy Evans, and Paul Copan (who wrote Is God a Moral Monster–here is my review) promises to be an excellent resource in responding to this argument.

10.  Bonhoeffer, Christ, and Culture is another collection of articles edited by Keith L Johnson and Timothy Larsen.  Bonhoeffer’s life and work has captured much attention of late.

I haven’t read any of these yet and probably won’t get to all of them.  Local friends, let me know if there is something you are interested in.  But I’m sure, Lord willing, that you will see some of these reviewed down the road.

OK, now for some shut-eye!