Of the Making of Books (Part 6)

Today’s guest blogger is Ken Smith, General Manager of Electronic Publishing Services at Logos.

(This is the next installment in a series of articles about our nearly 60 publishing partners who market their own electronic products using our technology.)

Standard Publishing
One of the most rewarding aspects of our work at Logos is when we see our technology helping people to be more consistent and fruitful in their daily study of the Bible. When we partner with a publisher who values this as much as we do, great things can happen. Such is the case with Standard Publishing.

Beginning in the fall of 2001, Standard began issuing an electronic edition of their annual Standard Lesson Commentary using our technology. As you can see from the cover, the CD-ROM was considered a “bonus” and I’m sure both companies wondered just how many of the loyal purchasers of the print edition would actually use the CD-ROM.

In those days, we didn’t really have any way to track that statistic, but Standard seemed pleased enough with the reaction to continue the following year. Because the 2002–2003 edition was based on the Libronix Digital Library System, we were able to gather some information about the number of people who made the effort to take the CD out of the back of the book, load it onto their computer and complete the activation process.

Were we ever surprised. Thousands of people activated the software and gladly embraced the electronic format. The following year, the numbers were nearly identical.

For the 2004–2005 edition, Standard took a big step and decided to launch an electronic-only product. The product was named The Standard Lesson eCommentary and included a small library of reference books as well.

If one of your New Year’s Resolutions is to be more consistent in your daily Bible study, it’s not too late to pick up the 2005–2006 Standard Lesson eCommentary and get started. And don’t worry. Planning for the 2006–2007 edition has already begun!