Growth Means Publishing House Turns Over “New Leaf”
By Deborah Deggs Cariker
Assistant Editor/Product Reviews Department

Maria Von Trapp. Pat Boone. Ken Ham. Tim LaHaye. For three decades, New Leaf Press has offered, through these and many other authors, the hope only found in Christ, an average of 40 such new book titles each year. Now, in celebration of its anniversary in the Christian publishing industry, New Leaf Press unveils a new corporate identity: New Leaf Publishing Group (NLPG).

"We are excited about our continued growth, and we feel this change will help us to more efficiently and effectively manage our new opportunities," NLPG President Tim Dudley noted. "We felt it was important to keep 'New Leaf' in the corporate name to reflect our proud tradition of quality and service.”

Tradition is important to Dudley, and understandably so. His father, the late Cliff Dudley, founded the company Dudley now heads.

"It has been 13 years since my father passed away. Evangelism, especially through the power of the printed page, was very important to him," Dudley shares. "He began the company with a heartfelt belief in the impact of books in sharing the loving message of Christ, and that same spirit remains a driving force in our success today. It is especially exciting that we have experienced the steady levels of growth while remaining located in rural Northwest Arkansas where my father first began our company with faith and a single book.”

New Leaf Press was founded in 1975 with the publication of the company’s first title, Yesterday, Today, & Forever, by Maria von Trapp, whose story was made famous with the movie production of “The Sound of Music.” The book still remains in print today with New Leaf Press, a remarkable fact, said corporate publicist Laura Welch, considering the competitive and constant turnover in book publishing these days.

The new corporate identity was officially revealed as part of the 30th anniversary celebration for the imprints of New Leaf Press and Master Books. Both began operations in 1975, and New Leaf purchased Master Books in 1996. The company then created Balfour Books, a third imprint, in 2003. Master Books began as the vision of Tim LaHaye and Dr. Henry Morris, who created the venture to offer creation science books and related materials to the marketplace. New Leaf Publishing continues to support the mission of Master Books to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ through the publication and promotion of biblical creation titles. Since 1975, Master Books has grown into the largest, exclusively creation science publisher in the world. In addition, Welch said Master Books has developed a strong presence in the homeschool market in addition to retail stores with its impressive line of educational and unique evolution-free titles. Some Master Books titles are accompanied by an on-line study guide, which makes them even more useful to homeschoolers. Those particular books then can become more than just supplemental, fun-to-read material, since the guides make student progress easy to evaluate.

Meanwhile, New Leaf Press focuses on areas of Christian living and high-quality gift books, with Balfour Books highlighting the relevance and importance of Israel to evangelical Christians and the world.

“We have been awarded Gold Medallion honors for several of our gift books, and we have also received a number of awards from within the homeschool community from The Old Schoolhouse, Practical Homeschooling, and more!,” added Welch, who has been with the company nearly four years.

“Each of our imprints have their own individual mission statements, but as a company, evangelism and sharing the truth of God’s love and His Word is at the heart of New Leaf Publishing Group. We are proudly rooted in faith and upon this foundation, we will continue our work.”

That work touches far beyond the reaches of the mountain air of Arkansas.

“Today we have a global presence in the publishing world thanks to (my father’s) remarkable vision and the support of our retail partners,” Dudley noted. “I am very proud that my father's dream continues to grow and touch the hearts of Christians throughout the world."

The new imprint debuted at the July, 2005, International Christian Retail Show in Denver, Colorado.

“Becoming New Leaf Publishing Group accurately reflects the success and the potential for additional imprints beyond New Leaf Press, Master Books, and Balfour Books which currently exist,” Dudley continued. “It is important that we remain flexible and forward-looking while continuing to produce products that reach our core audiences in the most relevant ways. We are currently in acquisition mode, and are actively seeking business opportunities which can complement our existing lines."

Such growth could mean branching into new areas for the company, but Dudley said the core mission of New Leaf Publishing will not change.

“It is not always easy to keep a corporate vision when a company experiences the tremendous growth that we have over the past five years, and indeed, over the past 30 years,” Dudley continued. “ There are always temptations in the marketplace that can slowly erode a company’s mission, but we have not only been blessed with amazing growth, these opportunities have come in ways that mesh with our core mission statements.”

As the company celebrates its history and this new corporate identity, Welch said it has aggressively added new authors and projects to their Fall-and-Spring, 2006, lineup. New Leaf has just developed a new, strategic partnership with Joseph Farah of WorldNetDaily and signed contracts with powerhouse ministry leaders Dr. Wayde Goodall (Why Great Men Fall), Dr. Ronnie Floyd (Finding the Favor of God), Zola Levitt (Dateline Jerusalem), and Tommy Ice (The Case for Zionism), she said. Meanwhile, Welch is promoting “vibrant new voice likes Abby Nye (Fish Out of Water) and powerful new releases from Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis designed to take the creation science message to younger audiences.”

For Welch, an avid reader since elementary school, the job with a Christian publishing company is an incredible blessing.

“I honestly love every book that we publish. If I had to choose just one, I would have to say that The Annals of the World by Archbishop James Ussher is the most unique books I have ever read,” she said of the landmark venture that top the $2 million sales mark in just over a year. “Packed with historical facts from the creation of man up to 70 AD, it is without a doubt the most fascinating presentation I have seen. I have always loved history—and this book presents information and details that have been unavailable in print in English for over 300 years. Much of the information comes from sources that have been lost over time or that are no longer accessible to scholars.”

Planned Fall, 2005, products may extend Welch’s list.

One title, Character for Life, is “focused on the faith and character of some of this nation’s most influential historical figures—and the other book is an incredible version of the classic Pilgrims Progress by John Bunyan,” she said. “This is a special version printed in the 19th century and contains a number of Bunyan’s other works. It will be an exceptional product!”

The corporate “to do” list is hefty. Welch said New Leaf Press will continue to boldly present not only quality gift titles, but titles that address the continuing cultural chasm between Christians and the secular forces that seek to silence the body of Christ in politics, education, and the corporate world. She added that Balfour Books continues to garner international attention as projects develop with powerful and well-known figures from Israel and the diplomatic scene. The senior editor Jim Fletcher agrees, “With titles from former Israeli tourism minister Benny Elon, internationally renowned Jewish historian Benzion Netanyahu, and others, not to mention a powerful backlist of titles on radical Islam, current issues, and more—Balfour Books continues to represent the highest quality in pro-Israel products.”

Overall, New Leaf Publishing Group’s combined imprints, have published an average of 40 new titles per year. The company experienced growth of over 30 percent in 2004 and 20 percent in 2003 in multimillion-dollar annual sales. The company employs 25 people in its office (not counting the resident groundhog in a nearby field) and has staffers working from home.

“The Lord has blessed New Leaf with tremendous success over the past 30 years – and the most wonderful part of it all is the small hometown, rural area in which our company is headquartered.” Welch said. “We are literally located in the picturesque Ozark hills surrounded by farms and creeks. Though we are in a small community our book products are distributed throughout the world and have received numerous awards for quality. We are a recognized and trusted supplier of homeschool supplemental products and strive to offer only the very best and unique Christian inspirational products.”

Welch said when Eclectic Homeschool Online magazine visitors read this article, she hopes they will realize how NLPG feels about its customers.

“Their support and loyalty for our products over the past 30 years has been deeply appreciated by each one of us at New Leaf Publishing Group! And I would also like them to know that they can continue to rely on us to provide unique, purposeful, and educational products that they can feel secure in sharing with their families and enjoying for years to come!,” she said. “We value each and every one of our customers—and are committed to going the extra mile to see that they receive the very best in products and service from us! We are honored by the trust that so many put in us, especially among the homeschool community, and we are committed to maintain the high quality and biblically sound products they have come to rely upon.”