Patheos Announces New Publishing Partnership with Bondfire Books

 Bondfire Books and Patheos Announce New Publishing Partnership

Bondfire and Patheos are joining forces under the imprint of Patheos Press

  DENVER and COLORADO SPRINGS, CO., April 1, 2013 - Bondfire Books, the thriving e-press launched last spring, and Patheos, the world's top independent website for religion content, today announced the launch of a publishing partnership under the moniker Patheos Press.

Under the joint imprint with Bondfire Books, based in Colorado Springs, Patheos Press will publish a wide range of titles. The imprint will feature several current Patheos writers in addition to other leading voices in religion media and academia.

Since the fall of 2011, Denver-based Patheos has published prominent religion writers such as Scot McKnight, Hemant Mehta, Peter Enns, and Jana Riess. The new arrangement with Bondfire will mean expanded operations for Patheos, allowing for about two dozen new titles annually, plus expanded marketing and promotion.

Bondfire Executive Editor Patton Dodd says the partnership will help both companies achieve their mission of promoting writers whose voices can help shape a positive, productive conversation about religion and spirituality. "Bondfire has a broad editorial perspective, but we're especially invested in books about faith and spirituality and authors who are driven by questions about life's ultimate meaning," says Dodd. "Patheos has become the web's premiere site of that conversation."

Leo and Cathie Brunnick launched Patheos (www.patheos.com) five years ago and have watched it grow from a world religions library into the web's most engaging-and heavily trafficked-independent source of religion and spirituality content. "We are home to more than 300 bloggers across the faith traditions," says Leo Brunnick, "and that number grows every month. Our new strategic partnership with Bondfire Books enables us to expand our publishing reach and ensure that works from our leading authors are available wherever ebooks are sold."

Bondfire (www.bondfirebooks.com) was founded in May 2012 by Rick Christian, who also founded Alive Communications in 1989. Alive is the nation's leading literary agency for religion and spirituality authors, including #1 New York Times bestsellers Karen Kingsbury and Todd Burpo, as well as Eugene Peterson, translator of The Message Bible. Christian launched Bondfire to be a "game-changer in publishing," says Christian. "We are working with other literary agencies and paying authors 50% of net royalties, double the industry standard of 25% for digital books."

Bondfire and Patheos-and all of their authors-will benefit from the combined strength of their marketing platforms, including multiple millions of visitors each month to the Patheos website and many thousands of friends and followers at both companies' social web platforms. The co-branded venture will offer direct sales of ebooks on the Patheos and Bondfire platforms in addition to selling all titles via every major online retailer, including Amazon, Apple, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo.

"We are excited to let readers know about the titles they can expect from Bondfire and Patheos," says Dodd. "We have a promising list set for 2013 and are aggressively acquiring new properties. This partnership will produce a ton of great reading experiences."

 

About Bondfire Books:

Bondfire Books is an independent epublisher based in Colorado Springs. Bondfire publishes original fiction and nonfiction in addition to backlist titles, all while maximizing digital prospects for authors. Founded in 2012, it offers full epublishing services to authors on a straight partnership model and for short five-year renewable terms.

 About Patheos:

Founded in 2008, Patheos.com is the premier online destination to engage in the global dialogue about religion and spirituality and to explore the world's beliefs. Featuring many of today's best writers and bloggers on religion, faith and spirituality, Patheos is designed to serve as a resource for people looking to learn more about different belief systems, as well as to engage with others of a similar faith, and to participate in productive, honest discussions on some of today's most talked about and debated topics.