Marketsquare Asia will be held September 2-4 at the Singapore Recreation Club in Singapore. This trade and licensing show aims to reach publishers and distributors in one of the most dynamic areas of the world.
"Marketsquare Asia is your opportunity to meet with Asian customers,” says Kim Pettit, Executive Director of ChristianTrade Association International. “We will have distributors, wholesale and retail buyers from Singapore, but we also expect buyers from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and other Asian countries. Plan now to join us!”
Download the schedule and registration form here, or visit our secure website to register online. In Singapore, please contact Campus Crusade Asia Limited, Mass Media. “We are pleased to be working with Campus Crusade to publicize this event,” adds Pettit.
Below is a list of the companies that are looking forward to doing business at Marketsquare Asia. Please feel free to write in advance for appointments!
|ABridge International, representing AMG Publishers, Ellie Claire, Gospel Light, Gospel Publishing House Influence, Moody Publishers, NavPress, Outreach, Standard Publishing, and YWAM ||Bill Schultz|
|B & H Publishing ||Daniel Mays |
|Campus Crusade Asia, Mass Media ||Lynda Tan|
|CWR Care and Counseling Asia Ltd. ||Eddie Olliffe|
|Forever Shines, representing Biblical Reproductions and Mustard Seeds. ||Wendy Law|
|Harvest House Publishers||Kathy Landrum |
|Loveworld Publishing Christ Embassy||Doyin Ikeokwu|
|Thomas Nelson ||Kevin Hyer|
|Tyndale House||James Elwell|
|Vocatio Publishing House||Piotr Wacławik |
|Wombat Books||Rochelle Manners|
To participate as an exhibitor in Marketsquare Asia, please contact Kim Pettit (+1-719-432-8428; kpettit@ChristianTrade.com). Download the exhibitor form here as well as the rules and regulations.
Program and schedule
Marketsquare Asia starts with a Celebration dinner on Sunday, September 2. After worship led by Pastor Jun Undag, Mark D. Taylor, President and CEO of Tyndale House Publishers and the Tyndale House Foundation, will speak about “The Top Five Trends in Christian Publishing That Excite (or Worry) Me.”
Monday 3 and Tuesday 4, the exhibition floor will open for business. Marketsquare Asia will include international translation rights negotiation as well as sales of Christian product—books, Bibles, gifts, and other resources--in English and in other languages.
Bookseller and publisher workshops will also be offered. Dave Endrody, Vice President of Sales for Tyndale, will present two workshops drawing on his past experience at American Express and at Tyndale to provide timely, practical advice for the Christian trade in the region. Piotr Waclawik will present a workshop on what publishers want booksellers to know.
Approximately 50 people were present at Marketsquare Asia, held 4-6 September, 2011 in Singapore. Exhibitors from Australia, China, Denmark, the United States, Singapore and Taiwan did business with Christian retailers from Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, and South Korea.
The event began on Sunday, 4 September, with dinner. Pastor Billy Lantang of Immanuel Publishing in Jakarta spoke about the vibrancy of the church in Indonesia and shared Bible verses to encourage everyone working in Christian resource ministry.
The trade show began the following day with product presentations. “We are grateful to exhibitors who participated,” says Kim Pettit, executive director for ChristianTrade Association International. “Effective sales come from word-of-mouth, and Marketsquare Asia attendees received a double dose of information to understand what new resources can meet the needs of the local church.”
The second day featured a speech on the growth of the church in Asia. Bill Greig III, of Gospel Light in the U.S., shared startling statistics and graphs to demonstrate the “Asian Century” has already started. Two thirds of Marketsquare Asia participants—including most of the Asian retailers and distributors present—came to Christ without having grown up in a Christian family. “The significance of our work in distributing materials to support this growth was immediately evident,” says Pettit. “It was electrifying.”
“I enjoyed the presentations, Lantang's inspiring message, and Greig's enlightening talk,” says Singapore retailer Stephen See, of True Vine Christian Bookroom. “You did a beautiful job putting everything together; kudos for the great time of connections, fellowship, learning and encouragement.”
“The show proved to be a useful and uplifting experience,” says Pettit. “It was our second year in Singapore, and the support we received for this event from Campus Crusade Mass Media was invaluable.”
Plans are now underway for Marketsquare Asia 2012. “We want to continue to offer trade shows in venues that make sense our partners,” says Pettit. “These are exciting days for our brothers and sisters in Asia, and we want to do all we can to support the work of the Holy Spirit in the region.”
"Marketsquare Asia was an excellent meeting point for encountering new
contacts, encouraging existing ones and expanding each others' networks," says Chen
Hui Lin, Campus Crusade Mass Media, Singapore. This comment well sums up the overall response
to the fifth annual convention sponsored by ChristianTrade Association
At Marketsquare Asia in Singapore, American and international publishers, wholesalers, distributors and retailers gathered 10-11 September at the Fort Canning YWCA to learn from each other and to do business. At this year's show, 13 suppliers from China,
Denmark, the United States and Singapore met with 50 Christian
distributors and booksellers the region. While most attendees hailed
from Singapore, buyers were also present from India, Malaysia,
the Philippines, Sri Lanka, South
Korea, and Thailand.
Exhibiting companies at Marketsquare Asia were ABridge
International, AMG Publishers, B&H International, Ellie Claire,
Campus Crusade Asia Ltd., Gospel Light/Regal Books, Gospel Publishing
Mission, Great Value Books, InterVarsity Press USA, Kingneed, Moody
Publishing, NavPress, Outreach, Purity Solutions, Scandinavia
Publishing, Strang Communications, Thomas Nelson, Tyndale House
Publishers, and YWAM Publishing. (Left: Daniel Mays of B&H Publishing interacts with Emilia Lim of Canaanland distributors in Malaysia.)
Asia brought together many buyers and sellers for the first time, and set the
stage to build upon for future such events," says Leslie Lim, of Pansing, a
leading secular distributor of books and magazines in the South Pacific.
was a memorable and wonderful gathering of fellow lovers of the Lord and
like-minded movers of His Word," says Ardy Roberto,
of Christian Publishers' Representatives in Manila, Philippines.
Daniel Scott Mays, of B&H
Publishing Group, began Marketsquare Asia by providing an inspiring and
challenging message to participants at the Celebration Dinner held 9 September, 2010. "We live and work in a
challenging environment," he stated. "If we recognize our calling and that we
are One Body, then how do we respond to the competition within our industry?" Mays, based in Brisbane, Australia, has worked in the Christian publishing industry for more than 25 years and has experience in retail, wholesale distribution and publishing. He frequently leads seminars on leadership, Christian growth, and marriage enrichment.
was a very strong component of Marketsquare Asia 2010. Jack Scott,
ChristianTrade's director of training and member development, led a Professional
Retail Institute the day before the event began. He also gave additional
workshops for retailers during the trade show. Publisher workshops were taught by Ellen Hsu of InterVarsity
and Jim and Ellen Elwell of Tyndale House publishers. (Left: Jack Scott speaks to booksellers and distributors.)