Conciliar Press goes Kindle and more

(antiochian.org) - Conciliar Press has announced a new release of their most popular book, Becoming Orthodox, by Fr. Peter Gillquist. This edition of the best-seller includes an epilogue, "Coming Up on Twenty-Five Years," and will be featured soon as Conciliar's first audio book, read by the author himself. Additionally, the Press is moving into the world of digital publishing and has released the first Kindle book, Dimitri's Cross, the story of Fr. Dimitri Klepinin, an Orthodox priest serving in Nazi-occupied Paris.


Additionally, the two journals, The Handmaiden and AGAIN, will gain a second life in the new Conciliar reading room currently under construction. The Press also plans to provide online periodicals in the future, as CEO John Maddex explained in a recent interview.

1. Recently Conciliar held its annual editorial board meeting. How does your leadership plan to navigate all the changes taking place in the greater publishing world?

This is both an exciting and challenging time for all publishers including Conciliar Press. Exciting in terms of opportunities to harness new technologies to disseminate the life giving message of the Orthodox Faith. Challenging in terms of the economy which seems to be improving yet is also still impacting the sales of books no matter who the publisher is. Our intention is to publish high quality content and make these resources accessible to the average Orthodox Christian who may not have their Masters or Doctorates in Theology but who want to grow in their faith nonetheless.At our recent editorial board meeting, we discussed several new titles that are on the horizon which we are very excited about in this regard!

2. Can you tell us about: the new reading room website, your first audio book, and any other new projects?

Yes! There are several new initiatives on the horizon including what you have mentioned. The reading room will draw from the vast archives of Conciliar's former print periodicals - AGAIN, and The Handmaiden. We will be making articles available on line as well as related podcasts from Ancient Faith Radio. We have also completed our first audio book featuring Fr. Peter Gillquist reading his story of the the historic journey into Orthodoxy of 200 evangelicals back in 1987. Becoming Orthodox is the first offering in our audio book category with other titles in progress. Be looking for the audio version Becoming Orthodox in the next several weeks.

We are also introducing a Kindle version of our books with the first one already available for the wonderful story of Fr. Dimitri Klepinin, an Orthodox priest serving the Russian emigre community in occupied Paris. The book is entitled Dimitri's Cross and will be a wonderful addition to your Kindle library.

3. Many people miss reading AGAIN and The Handmaiden magazines. Any chance your periodicals will be revived?

If you have been following the development of some of the new hand held devices like the Apple iPad, you have noticed some intriguing possibilities for on line interactive periodicals. We feel Conciliar Media Ministries is uniquely positioned to embrace this technology through a combination of fresh new articles, podcasts, video and audio resources. In the past, our printed periodicals were only updated once a quarter. Utilizing on line media, we will be able to provide periodicals on a monthly basis.

4. You have recently re-released your most popular title, Becoming Orthodox, by Fr. Peter Gillquist. In addition to the cover, how has this been updated?

In addition to the audio version mentioned above, Fr. Peter has written a new Epilogue ³Coming up on Twenty-Five Years² since the entry of the Evangelical Orthodox into the Holy Orthodox Church. There is also an attractive new cover which demonstrates a commitment to high quality, visually appealing materials that will stand out on the shelf of a bookstore.

5. Now that you've settled into your Chicago warehouse, we're wondering: has outsourcing your warehouse operations improved Conciliar's ability to serve customers?

We are of course in transition with our new fulfillment center but have already seen the benefit of longer hours as well as better and more centrally located shipping capabilities. There are expected growing pains moving from a location that has served your customers for over 20 years to a brand new environment, call center, and data base so the actual experiences of our customers are of great interest to us with this move. Perhaps customers who are reading this interview would be willing to share with us how they felt their orders were handled both on line or by phone.

As stewards of limited resources, we must always be willing to change and adjust to new realities. I'm happy to report that our changes this past year have resulted in a streamlined and lean team of dedicated workers to help "Bring the Ancient Faith to the Modern World" through the ministries of Conciliar Press and Ancient Faith Radio. We thank God for our donors and customers and solicit the prayers of all for the wisdom and sensitivity needed to fulfill our mission.