Beginning as a bookmaker

In June this year Sandra Byatt took up the position of Commissioning Editor for Christian Life and Contemporary Issues with the well-known Christian publisher, IVP. EN interviewed her about her faith and the important role she now fills.

EN: How did you get the job at IVP?

SB: The route had God's controlling hand evident at every turn.

I hadn't actually seen the advertisement for the job myself, but my good friend from Christian Book Promotions (www.christianbookpromotions.org.uk/), Trevor Hames, called me and encouraged me to apply for the role. Ten years ago I had completed some work experience at IVP when I was studying at Leicester University, so I knew about the ministry there.

I forgot all about the application until I was helping out at the Christian Re-sources Exhibition this year and I happened to find myself chatting to Brian Wilson, Chief Executive of IVP. It transpired he had just read my CV and hence knew far more about me than I did about him! The following week I heard I had an interview for the job and in May I was offered the position. I was thrilled to have the chance to combine two of the passions in my life, books and my faith, so I was delighted to accept the role.

At the ideas end

EN: Tell us about IVP and what you do.

SB: IVP aims to publish books to help people at all stages of their faith, from those who have no belief in God through to mature Christians who continue to want to grow. IVP wants to provide resources to equip leaders as well as church members, to understand the Bible, reach out in evangelism and disciple others. The position of Commissioning Editor is at the ideas end of the publishing process. There is an emphasis on finding new authors, encouraging existing authors to continue writing and to seek out the issues that people want, and need, to read about. A lot of my job revolves around meeting people and understanding the topics that are at the forefront of people's minds in the Christian world. I have found a lot of my time so far is taken up with reading manuscripts, assessing proposals for publication and talking ideas through with authors. Even with email readily available, nothing beats face-to-face conversations with authors and it has been those meetings that I have enjoyed the most so far.

EN: How did you become a Christian and what led you in to publishing?

SB: I was encouraged by my mum at an early age to go to the parish church in the village of Wootton, near Bedford. I went to the Sunday School, Explorers and Pathfinders groups there. It was when I was ten and a Pathfinder that one of my leaders challenged me to think more about what the church was really about. I knew about Jesus, but wasn't fully aware that his work on the cross had been for me and to pay the price for the sin in my life. As this dawned on me I realised I had to respond. And what can you do for someone who has died for you? I knew the only thing I could do was give my life to him. So I became a Christian and I can see how God has held me close to him through school years, university and when I moved to Cambridge for my first job.

I became interested in publishing during my third year at university when I opted to take a module in Publishing Skills. Having worked in a bookshop during my sixth form, I had a great love of books and studying English Literature had only increased this. I was keen to find a job that would allow me to spend as much time with books as possible. The Publishing Skills module required work experience to be undertaken and so I wrote to IVP to see if they would be willing to help out with this. I worked with Stephanie Heald who kindly gave me an insight into the world of publishing. And I was hooked. I knew that working in publishing was what God had given me a desire to do.

EN: Before you worked for IVP you worked in secular publishing. What is that world like and what was it like being a Christian in that world?

SB: My first job was at an electronic publisher in Cambridge called Chadwyck-Healey (now Proquest) and then I took up a job at Polity Press (www.polity.co.uk), a small academic publishing house. It was there that I learnt everything about the production process of a book. I worked with a great team and met many academics who were passionate about their subjects. In many ways this made it an easier place to talk about the thing I was passionate about, my faith. I met with a lot of curiosity from my colleagues and they were always willing to listen.

Although people were passionate about what they were doing in secular publishing, I was overwhelmed by the depth of feeling that I met with when I joined IVP, and this has to be the biggest difference between secular publishing and the Christian world. As I joined the IVP team, authors would email and say how committed they were to the work that IVP does and how they prayed for us and the decisions we had to make. It is this focus on the common goal of the gospel with its life-changing impact that makes a big difference to the work we do. There are many similarities between secular publishing and a Christian publishing house; we have deadlines to work to, we have to make sure we publish in a profitable and responsible way and book titles are still wrangled over at length! But we hope that the focus on Jesus, and his presence with us in the business and publishing decisions taken, will make a difference to people's lives here and in eternity.

Challenges

EN: What are the challenges of getting Christians to read these days? What do you think are the issues facing Christian publishing now?

SB: Time! No one has any time to read. Everyone is so busy. Even our leisure time is taken up in a huge amount of different ways and this means that reading is relegated to the slot before we drop off to sleep at night, or when we are stuck in a waiting room with nothing else to do. And this is the challenge in Christian publishing; we need to encourage people to read. This may mean producing shorter books, titles that can be read start to finish during the length of a train journey. Or it may mean making better use of web materials, giving people bite-sized chunks of information over the internet.

A constant challenge is always to publish theologically robust books but in a profitable way so that we can be good stewards of IVP resources and enable the ministry to continue. In a market place flooded with books, and people reading less than ever before, it is hard work to get people to buy and read Christian literature.

EN: As commissioning editor what are the hot topics that need writing about? What would you like to see IVP achieve over the next few years?

SB: Some of the hot topics that I think need writing about are the issues we face as a result of our changing society. What does it mean to have a day of rest in the 21st century? How can we reach out to our neighbours in an increasingly individualistic society? How do I keep going as a Christian?

IVP has strong links with the Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship (www.uccf.org.uk), so we publish books aimed at students, but we also want to reach people from all parts of society, at all ages. I am keen to see IVP reach people who have never heard of us before, from backgrounds where reading is not a natural way to learn, and to attract readers from all denominations.

I am committed to IVP maintaining its strong reputation as an evangelical publisher and to do this by publishing material that will present different perspectives on issues in the Bible. I hope that by giving people the tools to investigate the Bible for themselves they will be able to hear God speak, and grow in their faith.

EN: What about pressures of work, church and family? How can people pray for you?

SB: I live in Cambridge and attend St. Andrew the Great Church with my husband Matthew. We have busy lives filled with family, friends, church responsibilities and full time jobs just like many people. Making time for God and for our marriage is always a constant balancing act and as we hope to bring up a family in the future I am sure that this will be a pressure which won't go away! I would value prayer that we would keep Jesus central as we seek to serve him in our marriage, family life and careers, so that others will be drawn to find out more about the Lord.