Can You Celebrate a Competitor's Win?

Would Peyton Manning celebrate if Tom Brady won the Super Bowl?

I've been pondering a question like that since I heard that one of our competitors, Thomas Nelson, will have five books on the New York Times Best-Seller list released on Oct. 21.

Is that good news for the average Christian writer or publisher?

Nelson is the fifth largest trade publisher in the country and the largest Christian publishers, so they've not unused to producing best-sellers. Even so, five at once is quite an achievement, sort of like hitting for the cycle in baseball.

Yet when a big player wins big, it can have a demoralizing effect on those who struggle to succeed. It's likely that nobody in Cincinnati cheers when the Yankees win yet another World Series.

As a writer or publisher, are you able to cheer when a best-selling author produces yet another mega-hit?

I believe Nelson's success is good news for every Christian writer and publisher, regardless of their platform size or market share. We can all be encouraged by this victory.

Here's why.

Our Message Is Gaining an Audience

There was a time when Christian books were not taken seriously in the general market. We've always had the best message, but we didn't always have the best packaging (some covers were terrible) or word craft.

All that has changed.

Christian books are well written, well presented, and authored by some of the most recognizable personalities in our culture. All of this means that our message—the good news that Jesus Christ transforms lives—is getting a wider hearing than ever.

This is a time to celebrate our opportunities, not fret over the "competition" from fellow travelers.

Communication Is Not a Zero-Sum Game

It's tempting to think that one author's success must mean another's failure. Every book you sell means one less customer for me; if I land a big contract, that means your chances are diminished.

But that simply isn't true.

The last time I checked, there were 303,118,523 people in the United States, and 6,624,471,350 in the world. So even mega-hits that sell over 1 million copies don't begin to penetrate—let alone saturate—the market for good news. If the top five publishers all doubled their revenue in the coming year, there would still be billions of people left without Christian books, resources, and Bibles.

That means we've all got more than our share of opportunity—and responsibility—to get the message out.

We're On the Same Team

When I entered the publishing world, I knew little about the business of making books. "Call one of our competitors," my boss, Don Cady, advised. "I'm sure they'll be glad to tell you what they know." I doubted it, but I placed the call anyway.

To my surprise, he was right. I spent an hour asking questions of a seasoned pro who was glad to share what she knew, regardless of the fact that we sometimes compete for the same customers.

Since then, I've made a habit of asking questions of editors, marketing directors, and publishers from other houses, and I've occasionally offered advice to newbies. We share our knowledge because realize that helping others grow strengthens the industry as a whole. It doesn't weaken others when I succeed, and vice-versa.

It is tempting for us—writers and publishers alike—to be more fearful of failure than we are eager for success. In reality, there are plenty of readers, plenty of customers, plenty of new markets yet to be explored. We just have to do the hard work of getting our message out.

So if you're a writer, write. If you're a publisher, publish. If you're a retailer, sell.

These are great days to be telling the greatest story ever told.