The
Essex girl who sold millions of books
March 10, 2006
Victoria
Neumark talks to Lois Rock about her career in religious
publishing
What links a self-proclaimed Essex girl, mother of three
and keen kayaker with ancient documents and worldwide
success? Answer: millions of book sales and Jesus. For Lois
Rock is no ordinary educational publisher.
She has authored a formidable list of successes for Lion
Hudson, the company where she has worked as senior
commissioning editor for many years, but where she also
writes many of their best-selling children's titles.
Lois prides herself on her scrupulous research but sees her
runaway sales as the product of a whole team's work,
bringing the stories of Christianity to a world that
clearly thirsts for them. The Jesus Encyclopaedia has sold
more than 100,000 copies in a year since publication; My
Very First Bible 200,000 in the last two years. All in all,
150 titles by Lois are listed on the Lion Hudson website,
aimed at a range of ages from three to 15; the latest: The
Miracles of Jesus for key stage 1 and Tell Me About Jesus
for KS2.
Growing up in a household that was "cheerfully
non-conformist of its era", Lois became ever more committed
to her faith as she matured; dragging her parents along to
school assemblies where the Salvation Army and Quakers
spoke; definitely describing herself as a Christian in her
student days, studying French at Birmingham; exploring the
beliefs of the Anabaptists when she was writing her
doctorate in Canada; and ending up, as she says, "peace,
justice, social-action-focused, probably nearer to the
Mennonites than anyone: I'm rarely disappointed by the
Mennonites."
It was as a young mother in Canada that Lois first worked
in publishing.
There was a great demand for French-as-a-second-language
textbooks which with her linguistic background she was well
placed to satisfy. When her family returned to the UK, she
worked first in English educational publishing and then
approached Lion, which she had always admired. "As a
student I bought Lion's Handbook to the Bible, then when
the children were small I had Lion books sent for us to
read together. It seemed to me that with a Christian
background and knowledge of textbook publishing I could be
useful."
It was a seamless move from writing teachers' notes to
accompany Christian texts to writing the text itself. An
early publication was The Lord's Prayer for Children, which
Lois cites as both a great publishing opportunity and an
example of how to serve the reading public. "We produce
Christian books for the general reader as well as for the
Christian market," she explains. "We do have the largest
publishing list of prayer books, but we try to make them
more accessible. Our readers are not expected to be
believers nor pressured into that. So this simple book
explained the vocabulary and helped people think about the
Lord's Prayer."
Some of the more recent books have been substantially more
taxing, she admits. "It was quite a squeeze, fitting in the
research and writing for the Jesus Encyclopaedia with my
day job," she says. Placing herself firmly in the tradition
of Biblical scholars, she calls herself a "great enthusiast
for the Bible." It is, she remarks, "not some kind of a
magical mystery tour but a hugely exciting find of ancient
documents that have been valued for a long time and have
much to say to us."
She stresses the value of the "searchings" of the Biblical
Hebrews for the modern-day. The market (booming
particularly in the US, where blood in Biblical stories is
frowned upon) can eat up any amount of Bible retelling,
which she sees as positive. "I'm prepared to believe that
the Bible stories are robust enough to stand up to all
kinds of treatment, be it nativity play level or
university, which is strong enough to convey their inner
purpose. We try to give help to bring out the morally
difficult issues for our readers." Hence her position, in
the middle of the spectrum of Bible-readers, that the
material is "authentic rather than true", and can be read
"in an intelligent kind of way".
In the US, she says, Lion books are very popular with the
Jewish community which is, she feels, as it should be: "I
would like every one who reads one of these books to think
about their own beliefs and values."
l
www.lionhudson.com
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