It goes without saying that translating one’s own mission into an innovative new vision of any industry requires a clear understanding of that mission and the current landscape.
Byron Williamson, a young American born into a small North Texas farming village in the 1950s, came to embody an innovative new vision for a unique industry–Christian book publishing. Many have visions of their future from their early years. And that was true for Williamson, whose calling began to emerge in Christian book publishing—an enterprise lost in the backrooms of the trade book industry for generations. Modern book publishing began in the 1450s in Germany with Gutenberg’s invention of the moveable-type printing press and its first printed book—the Holy Bible.
Williamson’s vision for Christian books helped transform this marketplace into a much more diverse and inclusive sector by publishing works from authors from different spiritual and racial backgrounds and in multiple categories. His vision aimed to expose the industry’s product to a broader audience with a more significant impact.
Before this journey, Williamson had begun to immerse himself in the needs of the target audience. He recognized that readers sought content that spoke to their faith needs, experiences, and struggles, so he sought authors and content that could speak to those perspectives.
Expanding the book marketplace
More expansive retailing of Christian books didn’t kick in until the early 1980s, partly fostered by hit books in mainstream retail from music artists Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith, featured in December of 2021 with Jane Pauley on CBS Sunday Morning. As president of Worthy Publishing, Byron had seen the potential, signing books and engineering prominent space in mainstream retail for Grant’s Heart to Heart Bible Stories and Smith’s book, Old Enough to Know. Both sold more than one million copies, pleasing then leading retailers such as B. Dalton’s, Walden’s, and Target.
Williamson’s success with Grant and Smith sparked his innovative vision for the Christian book industry. He realized there was a considerable market for Christian books outside traditional Christian bookstores, so he began to target opportunities in mainstream retail.
Attracting the interest of CapCities/ABC
Innovative successes at Worthy grabbed the attention of Word Entertainment, a division of CapCities/ABC (now Walt Disney). Word saw what Williamson was accomplishing and acquired Worthy in 1988. Word began a move into Walmart and other general market retail with Christian authors in an industry that had sold books almost exclusively through religious bookstores. Many of these become New York Times bestsellers, including Billy Graham, Max Lucado (over 120 million books sold), Tony Evans, Charles Colson, Dr. James Dobson, and such personalities as Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan, whose book was featured on the cover of Parade Magazine.
Maximizing exposure through national news
Soon novelist Frank Peretti, author of This Present Darkness, moved to work with Williamson. Peretti’s new novels The Oath and The Visitation were hot enough that in 1995 The Oath itself was featured on the front page of the New York Times, along with other Word fiction titles from Charles Colson and Pat Robertson.
This exposure strengthened Williamson’s efforts to grow shelf space with general market retailers such as Barnes & Noble and Borders. Carrying a higher profile, Word was acquired by Thomas Nelson Publishers in fiscal 1993, which soon became the only Christian book company traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
Creating major generational bestsellers
Recognizing these new opportunities, Williamson was the first Christian publisher to assign a full-time executive to manage mass market retail like Walmart, Sam’s, and Costco. His focus on mass-market retail and innovative merchandising strategies helped boost the entire Christian book industry.
As founder of Integrity Publishers in 2001, Williamson imagined and then recruited Sarah Young to write Jesus Calling, which has sold over 35 million copies, becoming one of the bestselling trade books first published in the 21st century. Christian books have become so popular that they regularly appear on bestseller lists alongside national mainstream hits.
At Integrity, Williamson’s vision for authors like Beth Moore, Max Lucado, Newt Gingrich, Michael Vick, Stephen Mansfield, and David Jeremiah attracted the attention of major publishing companies such as HarperCollins, Penguin-Putnam, and Simon & Schuster. All three soon entered the Christian publishing arena.
Launching Worthy into the mass market
In 2011 Williamson created and relaunched Worthy Publishing. His vision and innovative ideas helped boost Worthy, partly by acquiring Ideals Children’s books from Guideposts magazine, merging it into WorthyKids, and creating a top eight seasonal children’s book imprint in the United States. Worthy then acquired Ellie Claire gift books, which held strong positions at Barnes & Noble and other national gift retailers.
Under his embodied vision and leadership, Worthy published books by noted authors like BeBe Winans, Jerry Jenkins, Max Lucado, John Hagee, and David Jeremiah. By 2018 creative innovations in product development and distribution had expanded the reach of Christian books far beyond traditional religious bookstores and into the general market and online retail. In light of these innovations, in 2021, the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association recognized Byron Williamson’s contributions to the Christian book industry with The Chair’s Award for Lifetime Achievement.
