In less than a month—March 19–22, 2009—the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) will host the first-ever Christian Book Expo (“CBE” for short) in Dallas, Texas. Unlike traditional publishing trade shows, this one will be open to the public. That means YOU can attend.
Activities at the three-day Expo will include workshops, seminars, mini-events and evening programming—all led by authors. In fact, more than 200 authors have agreed to participate, including bestselling authors Max Lucado, Donald Miller, Andy Andrews, Patsy Clairmont, Terri Blackstock, Lee Strobel, Gary Chapman, Stephen Arterburn, J.I. Packer, Don Piper, Mary Manz Simon, Henry Blackaby, Ruth Haley Barton, Stormie Omartian, Colleen Coble, Sheila Walsh and Elizabeth George.
In addition, virtually every Christian publisher will be exhibiting. (In fact, I don’t know of one that won’t be there.) With more than 100,000 square feet of exhibitiion space, you will be able to choose from thousands of new, bestselling, and hard-to-find Christian books. Best of all, you can purchase them right on the exhibit floor.
I am particularly excited about the discussion panels, which will be hosted by Christianity Today magazine. Several of them will no doubt prove to be controversial.
In fact, the final panel of the weekend—“Does the God of Christianity Exist, and What Difference Does It Make?”—is expected to attract special attention. Panelists will include nationally bestselling authors Christopher Hitchens (anti-theist, journalist), Lee Strobel (Christian apologist), Douglas Wilson (Christian apologist, co-author with Hitchens), William Lane Craig (professor/Christian philosopher) and Jim Denison (pastor/Christian apologist).
ECPA’s goal in this event is to raise the visibility of Christian books. So many, many people are unaware of the amazing resources that are available to both Christians and honest seekers of the truth. I am confident that this event will accomplish this and garner national media attention.
Daily admission is only $29 per day or $59 for the 3-day pass for the entire show, but using online discount codes and by registering in advance you can save $5. You can use the code “cbe5off.” You can register here.
Special Opportunity for Pastors: I have five three-day passes, which I will give away FREE to the first five pastors who email me. The only catch is that (a) your church must be within 25 miles of Dallas (b) you must have more than 1,000 church members, and (c) you must agree to put an announcement in your church bulletin or newsletter this coming weekend and announce it in your services. You can find numerous promotional resources online, specifically designed for churches.
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I live in Fort Worth and look forward to several of the presentations, as well as seeing J.I. Packer and Michael Hyatt.
I forgot to mention that I'm particularly interested in learning more about how to get published.
I signed up to go as media. I attended ICRS as media and conducted dozens of interviews and wore myself out. This time around I want to limit my interviews and take advantage of the rest of the Expo, and visit with my agent and writer friends, of course!
Any tips to make my attendance as media most productive and enjoyable?
I don't know what to suggest, since this is the first time for the event. We are all learning.
I don't know what to suggest, since this is the first time for the event. We are all learning.
We're attending the Book Awards dinner, then doing book-signings the next three days in a row: Friday, Saturday, Sunday. When we're not at our booth we'll be exploring every other Christian author, publisher, and ministry. We love these events and it looks like Dallas 09 will be the biggest and best yet! Thank you for encouraging everyone to attend!
I'm in! Looking forward to seeing how we might participate next year.
I wonder if the panel I'll be on "Living Christianly in a Postmodern World" will be controversial. I'm really looking forward to hearing what the other panelists share.
Michael,
Thanks for bringing attention to the Christian Book Expo. Based on some prior comments to your blog post, many authors seem confused about how to maximize exposure for their books at this event. To help out, I taught a free webinar for the ECPA last month called "Preparing Authors for CBE Success." Some of my suggestions from this webinar are available at my blog:
http://wildfiremarketing.blogspot.com/2009/01/chr...
Authors are welcome to take advantage of this information. See everyone in Dallas next month.
Rob Eagar
WildFire Marketing
Hmmm, yeah. The title of my book has sparked a lot because of the word postmodernism in it. Am I pomo? I don't know. But I am pierced!
Rob's done a great job helping authors build their platform and maximize their opportunities like this one.
Will be there! Sounds like a great opportunity for any reader (not just authors).
Absolutely! This is a reader's dream come trueat least if you love books as much as I do.
I think we are post postmodern at present, but nobody's coined the next catch-phrase. Mary, maybe you can do it! Be the first and get the word out. Where are we, culturally?
I just spent the weekend in Colorado Springs at the Writing for the Soul conference. The Christian Writer's Guild will be exhibiting at the Expo. I didn't understand what the Christian Book Expo really was though, so this post has been great for more information. I also appreciate Rob's link above.
Great. I'm glad I could help clarify it.
Here it is: NOMO
Standing for NoMore crabbiness about cultural shifts. They just are.
I like it! Nice multicultural flavor to it. Well done!
Mr. Hyatt,
Why would leading Evangelical Christian apologists address the question, "Does the God of Christianity Exist, and What Difference Does It Make?” before what is almost certain to be primarily an evangelical audience? In another context, it might as well be Sufi masters at an Islamic book convention asking whether Allah exists, and its significance! Every author and every book there begins with that assumption. How authentic, then, is the question? What if they were to begin by asking what authentic questions Evangelical Christians ought to be asking themselves?
The Reader John Herman
St. Ignatius Orthodox Mission, Mesa, AZ
The intention is to respond to the challenge of The New Atheism as typified by Christopher Hitchens. Rather than talk about the subject, Christianity Today decided to invite him to participate. He accepted.
Very good! I'm glad to hear it. That certainly makes more sense of the topic. Thank you.
It is certainly healthy to examine one's presuppositions, clearly and accurately. It is definitely a sign of maturity to invite opposing points of view, and to give opposing views an equal platform and opportunity. Kudos to ECPA for showing this level of health and maturity.
I quite agree. I simply wasn't aware of the invitation to the opposition. Somehow I missed that piece. I am a strong advocate of respectful, carefully reasoned dialectic; so I am glad to know it wasn't the one-sided perspective I had mistakenly assumed. Thank you.
We look forward to being the headquarter hotel for ECPA for this year and many years to come. Dallas is a great city for this inaugural event and we are excited to provide every attendee with the hospitality Hyatt Hotels and Resorts is known for throughout the world.
Where is "Touch" by Rudy Rasmus. I love that book! You all were the publishers! Pastor Rudy rocks!
The audio (and video) from the panel discussion can be found here.