IVP - Strangely Dim - Likewise Is Three--and a Half!

Likewise Is Three--and a Half!

This may be news to you, but Strangely Dim is the semi-official blog of Likewise Books, a line of books from InterVarsity Press. And Likewise books just turned three--and a half!

In our short life (thirty-two new books since the line's launch) we've managed to make our mark in a number of ways. Among many other things,

• The triennial Urbana Student Missions Conference has selected nine Likewise books as "Books of the Day," including Becoming the Answer to Our Prayers by Shane Claiborne and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove.
• Three fourths of our authors--including Chris Heuertz, international director of Word Made Flesh and author of Simple Spirituality--count their Likewise book as their first book--and several--including Scott Bessenecker, author of The New Friars and How to Inherit the Earth--are counting their second book in the same way.
• The Likewise book Love Is an Orientation, by Andrew P. Marin, proved to be a game-changing proposition for the evangelical-gay conversation and has been honored with five awards since its release.
• With Trent Sheppard's God on Campus, Likewise joined with Campus America in the vision for 24/7 prayer happening at every college and university in the United States.
• James Choung's Likewise book True Story offered Christians a fresh way to talk about their faith that, since the book's release, has been in wide practice.
• Working with Haiti Partners, whose codirector Kent Annan is author of Following Jesus Through the Eye of the Needle, Likewise Books will be sending a team of readers to Haiti in May, to learn more about how we can support struggling people there.
• Likewise books have earned multiple awards and accolades, including Hearts & Minds Bookstore's "Memoir of the Year" for Margot Starbuck's The Girl in the Orange Dress.
• Not that it's about the money (it's totally about the money), but Likewise has sold more than a quarter-million books with over $1 million in total sales.

Our favorite thing about the line, however, has been the relationships it's generated--those of us who work here with those who are writing books for us, our authors with one another, our authors and their readers, even their critics, and even us and our readers. Speaking of which, if you're not in touch with us on a regular basis, please consider this your invitation: join us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or subscribe to our newsletter, the Likewise Notebook. (One of our friends in South Africa recently told us "I read every word! I always find them informative and humorous." You might too; you might even win a book every now and then.)

Our agenda from the beginning has been, in response to the constantly changing culture we inhabit but inspired by the biblical vision of a better world, to be a different kind of publishing program--to be not only for but with our readers, and together to be different and make a difference. So far, we think, so good; here's to keeping it going for the next leg of the journey!

Posted by Dave Zimmerman at April 14, 2010 9:58 AM