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Mar 18, 2004 Although she's sold over $100,000 worth of music across the U.S.and in over 60 countries, Mary Jo Moore's religious music engraving and publishing business is one of the best-kept secrets in the industry. "For years, I was a Christian piano teacher and most of my students were from Christian homes,desiring to learn hymns. There was no music or piano course that taught this; I often wished that someone would write a course based on the hymn tunes. Finally, the Lord impressed upon me to do this, and the piano course started in 1973. You can play hymns from the very first lesson." Mrs. Moore first made the music books on stencil and ran them off on a mimeograph (2400 copies). "Then in 1975, I acquired a loan and had the music professionally engraved and printed," she added. "Since then, I've written other books. Engraving's so expensive that I bought a music writer and now do my own." The business is essentially a one- person shoestring operation. There wasn't much capital for a large-scale launching; savings from piano lessons enabled Mrs. Moore to buy the beginning supplies she needed. Then the idea struck. She recalled, "I put my first ad in the Bapist Bulletin for March, hoping that by the time payment was due on the ad bill, I'd have enough orders to pay it. And it worked out that way!" Incoming funds have been reinvested for advertising and supplies. A previous distribution method was by ad placement in different magazines, but Moore found this to be very expensive: "I haven't done this for the last four years because I reached the point where I felt I'd saturated the markets. Currently, my orders come from word-of-mouth and former customers. What I'd love to see happen is for a large publishing house to take it over. A couple of times someone had expressed interest in becoming my distributor, but it didn't materialize." She further added, "I've had letters inquiring why my books aren't in music stores; I can't afford to sell it to a music store at a 40% discount, for I'd be taking a financial loss. But on the other hand, if this had happened at the beginning, I'd never have had contact with the people to know how the music was being used." Mrs. Moore's a member of Boardman Baptist Temple, which is affiliated with the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches (GARB), serving over 200 churches statewide. A recent visit by state representative Larry Fetzer and his wife resulted in good news. Mrs. Fetzer became intrigued with Moore's music and bought some. Mrs. Fetzer belongs to the Lady's Missionary Group, which takes on different projects judged to be worthy causes. A month ago, the head of the Columbus, Ohio chapter notified Moore that her business was their next project. "They're trying to buy a copy machine for me. I've also been invited to come in September and speak to the group. Now those women will have a part in my ministry. My husband(The Reverend Charles Moore) has asked me 'Is it worth the struggle?' I thought about it. And I also thought about the letters of appreciation I've received from folks. Yes, it's worth it." "One letter came from a woman who, while waiting on news of her cancer-stricken sister, comforted herself at the piano with page after page of my music. A missionary in Africa wrote to say that in preparing her heart for Thanksgiving, one of the first things she thought of was my music. It's more of a ministry than a business. Maybe the Lord meant this to be so." ------------ Email Patricia Jacobs: Patj25@yahoo.com ------------ |
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