IVP - Andy Unedited - August 2011 Archives

Losing Their Jobs

Someone famous once said something like, "Those who live by the sword, die by the sword." Apple has certainly flourished and declined with the comings and goings of Steve Jobs. Now that he has stepped down as CEO due to health reasons, what will happen to Apple?

There's No Such Thing As Good Writing

As fellow editor Gary Deddo likes to tell the story, his ninth-grade English teacher was the perfect stereotype. Glasses, tight face, hair in a bun, outdated dress that came up in a tight collar around her neck, leaning over her desk and in a crackly voice exhorting her students, “There’s no such thing as good writing. [Dramatic pause.] There’s only good rewriting.”

Schaeffer's Gift

My first exposure to InterVarsity Press came when a friend, George, handed me a copy of Escape from Reason by Francis Schaeffer over forty years ago. It was the original edition imported to the U.S. from Britain. I was in high school at the time and had heard of some of the philosophers and theologians and artists he mentioned. (Being raised Catholic, Aquinas was at least familiar.) Many were completely new, however. Even though I only had a vague sense of what he was writing about, I devoured the book.

Making Money on Nothing

When I was on vacation, playing cards with friends, someone said, “Hey, have you seen these? Try one.” It was Hershey’s new Kisses Air Delight. It’s the same Hershey’s Kiss you’ve always loved, but now “gently blended into a light, airy texture.”

What this means is that you are now paying the same amount of money for less chocolate. In place of the missing chocolate, Hershey’s has added an ingredient that is entirely free to them—air.

I don’t know what you think of this, but I think it is brilliant.

It’s time for publishers to do the same—make money on something that costs publishers nothing or on something they do anyway but don’t currently charge for. If they did, the problems of the industry would disappear. Here are a few ideas I’m working on:

John Stott and IVP

Sometimes a publishing house can become so closely associated with a single author that both come to mind when either is mentioned. With the passing of John Stott on July 27, 2011, I can't help but reflect on how true this is for IVP.