Featured Publisher

Snowfall works closely with many interesting publishers – some who have a broad range of titles, others whose target market is more niched, large publishers and small. It is rewarding to come along side of a publisher to help them gain operational efficiencies, extend a book’s lifecycle, or give new life to an out-of-print series. In other words, finding new revenue and gross profit margin sources.

Our inaugural publisher spotlight is on Wingspread Publishers. Wingspread is a publisher who, like all publishers, is working through all the challenges of an industry in deep transition. But instead of wringing their hands and wondering what to do, they have moved forward into new areas of revenue opportunity. They are the quintessential small business – innovating to thrive, not just survive.

WingSpread Publishers is a division of Zur Ltd., a business formed in 2005 and consisting of three strong components: Wingspread Publishers, Zur Distribution (product consignment, warehousing and fulfillment) and e-church depot (a Web-based curriculum and church supplies store). The Hebrew word Zur means “God is our Rock,” and this new company is founded on this premise.

WingSpread Publishers is best known as the source for A.W. Tozer books. Every WingSpread title must do two things: It must honor God and it must have the potential of being a catalyst for spiritual growth in the life of the reader.

With a backlist of almost two hundred titles by such authors as A.B. Simpson, A.W. Tozer and others, WingSpread faced the challenge of how to keep these books in stock while also publishing new authors and homeschool products. The customer demand for the older books was consistent but sales just weren’t large enough to justify traditional offset printing. And other print-on-demand services were so expensive that it made it impractical (if not impossible) to sell the books to trade accounts.

We had just about given up hope that we could cost-effectively print our books when we met Chaz Nichols of Snowfall Press at the 2009 ICRS (International Christian Retail Show). Snowfall’s fully automated system has allowed us to print as little as one copy at a reasonable price and have it delivered almost instantly! Thanks to Snowfall, we have been able to bring fifteen of our titles back into the market so far. For a customer looking for a hard to find classic—and for a publisher wishing to meet its customer’s needs--this printing option is priceless!