Changes Coming at Energion

… and some that are already here.

These changes fall under the headings of structural changes and adjustments to our overall mission as a company. Don’t worry! There is no subtraction going on here. None of the current Energion projects are going to go away. This is a process of addition and growth.

Structural Changes

In February of 2020, just before COVID-19 came to occupy so much of our attention, I agreed with my long-time friend Dick Miller to combine Energion Publications with a company he was just starting to develop under the name Little Burro Productions.

Energion Publications is currently a sole-proprietorship of which I am the owner. Little Burro Productions was a project in the early stages of development.

What brought these two projects together?

Dick Miller and I have known each other for many years and we share many of the same values. Our skills are complementary, and from an economic point of view, both companies required the same infrastructure, largely already available, or easily developed under Energion Publications.

While Energion Publications has been primarily a publisher of Christian material (more on that a bit later), Little Burro Productions was to be a general platform for producing educational material, starting with, but not limited to, enrichment material for elementary school. This material can be incorporated into Energion’s publishing and distribution options very easily and will save a great deal of time, effort, and money in a project that is quite daunting enough in itself.

If this is from February of 2020, why are you just hearing about it now?

Good question, and it has a readily available answer: COVID. One of Energion’s primary markets is selling material to churches for small groups, Sunday School classes, and other studies. This category of sales has been much smaller. Authors who regularly conducted seminars in churches found invitations canceled, and much less need for quantities of their books.

Balancing this was an upturn in ebook sales as people did more reading while stuck at home. But that wasn’t enough for a company so strongly dependent on that one area of sales.

As a result, we have spent the past two years both surviving the pandemic, but continuing to develop materials quietly. In addition, we have been looking at ways of flourishing not only post-pandemic, but also of ways to continue to provide good educational material for all ages in whatever becomes our new normal. We are still dealing with this pandemic, and some things will never be the same as they were.

Some Notes About Energion as It Was

For those who may be thinking we published purely Christian material up to now, let me provide a few notes about the company that people not involved with particular projects often miss.

1. EnerPower Press: our imprint for paid publishing. This imprint has largely been used by folks who want to control their own publishing process, but who also want the help of a real human on a regular basis. Topics are open under this imprint, provided they fulfill in some way our mission to educate, energize, and empower.
2. Enzar Empire Press: our imprint for science fiction, fantasy, and potentially mystery. This has been a very small imprint, but is slated for more attention. (If you would like to submit a manuscript, check the imprint submissions page.)
3. Eucatastrophe Press: our imprint for niche fiction, as in anything that is a bit out of normal categories.
4. Books in our politics category; these books may reflect any viewpoint consistent with our general company values.

Thus we have been publishing material for a broader audience for some time.

Organization

Energion Publications will no longer be individually owned. My partners and I will be creating a corporation, Energion Infomedia, which will become the umbrella for all our publishing and media activities. I will not personally be the majority owner, and my partners and I will operate with shared decision-making. Besides Dick Miller and I, my wife Jody Neufeld, and our editor Chris Eyre will be part owners.

If anyone is concerned about the new structure, let me point out that I have already been operating this company as though it was a partnership for two years. We have become a team providing you with quality printed and electronic media.

What Will Be Added

Besides Little Burro Productions, which will be an imprint of Energion Publications/Energion Infomedia, we have added the Eudokia Enrichment Library for high school materials. There will be additional imprints for age groups over time. We will be adding more categories and book series to cover the many possibilities.

Adjustments to Our Mission

… or not! In fact, rewriting our mission statement truly reflects changes that have taken place or are in progress. We’re bringing the words up to date.

Please read our Statement on Publishing and Dialog, which expresses the principles on which our actions and changes are based.

We have chosen not to divide Energion into “Christian” and “non-Christian” imprints. Books that are in separate imprints will remain, but they will be placed there based on content and audience. Just as our politics category reflects multiple views, so might other categories in our catalog. We have written a version of our mission statement that is generic from a religious point of view, but nonetheless reflects our continued values.

From that general mission statement, we will publish specific mission statements with various book series and categories as appropriate. Our complete Christian-oriented mission statement will now be shown on those categories specifically intended for Christian religious education and devotion.

There are two values that drive this decision.

First, we don’t believe our mission to educate, energize, and empower is religion-specific. It reads well and advocates good values, however stated. Thus, we will use the broadest mission statement for the company as a whole, driving our effort from elementary education to general devotional material, along many routes.

Second, we don’t like the binary division of ideas. Many ideas that we use every day are not oriented to a specific religion. It is valuable to be able to identify books for a particular purpose, thus we will provide links to the most specifically relevant mission statement throughout our catalog.

And, as always, you can contact us by email (pubs@energion.com) or phone (850) 525-3916 and chat about the materials. You can also request examination copies so you can determine whether these are suitable for a class or discussion group.