SANDY, Utah -- Why just wear your heart on your sleeve when you can wear it on your wrists, walls, gift wrap, bookshelves, ties, mantles and diaper bags?

Mormons who like to advertise their faith can do so in those ways and more if the annual LDS Bookseller's convention is any indication of the products that are available for the Mormon consumer.

Booksellers and buyers from around the country are gathering this week at the South Towne Exposition Center to swap products and make contacts. This year's five-day convention, which began Aug. 3 and concludes today, Aug. 7, featured "booksellers university," which included panels about surviving in the industry during tough economies as well as sessions dedicated entirely to networking and meeting others.

The convention also featured signings by artists and authors alike, and included several new vendors hoping to get their products picked up by retailers.



New to the convention this year was Steve Nethercott and his father, Phill, with their company Real Hero Posters.

"These are real heroes with real stories that can inspire younger generations," Steve, the artist behind the posters, said.

The idea was to create a poster of real-life men and women from scriptural accounts that could hang on youths' walls in place of posters featuring movie stars, sports stars and musicians.

Phill said the company has sold tens of thousands of the posters since the set of 12 Book of Mormon posters was released in December 2008. The Bible series, which also features 12 posters, was released two weeks ago.

The four women posters -- Esther, Ruth, Hannah and Mary -- have been the best-selling posters from the Bible series, Phill said. A poster of Helaman and his army of stripling warriors has been the best-selling from the Book of Mormon series.

When it comes to the posters teens hang on their walls, Phill said, "There's Batman, Spiderman and there's Helaman. We wanted to get in on that."

Steve added, "I kind of wanted to capitalize on that market yet have these people be real people who really lived and have had real experiences."

Linda Stocking manned her booth for the second year to promote her "Quiet Books," which help keep kids entertained during church while also teaching them gospel lessons. The mother of five said she made a few for her own children when they were young, and ward members encouraged her to make more.

"I've done everything I can think of to make them high quality and last a long time," she said.

About three weeks ago, her first grandson was born and she's already sewn him a few.

She draws inspiration from church history and the scriptures. One page has strips of fabric sewn in columns and rows which a child can weave to complete Moses' baby basket. Another has a felted whale which unzips to reveal Jonah.

Other booths featured self-published books, framed paintings, wooden blocks that read "family" and "eternity," as well as tables upon tables of CTR rings.

Illustrator Scott T. Petersen literally went back to the drawing board while manning his booth. Petersen, who teaches a drawing class at BYU, set up his drafting tools so he wouldn't lose any time sketching. Petersen has worked for Disney, Dreamworks and Warner Brothers on various animation projects and films, and has within the past year created a "Missionary Toons" series which features cartoonish, humorous elders and sisters.

While some people perusing the fair commented on the smaller numbers at this year's convention, it's doubtful Mormons will be hurting for niche merchandise anytime soon.

E-mail: mfarmer@desnews.com