Apps Available Today Through iTunes®

(Nashville, Tenn)- Thomas Nelson Gift Books released a line of apps today for their bestselling devotionals. The first apps in the launch include the platinum-selling devotional Jesus Calling and Max Lucado’s newest devotional Live Loved. These apps, priced at $9.99 each, are available for purchase today in the iTunes® Store for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad with apps for Droid phone and tablets following this fall.  The $9.99 app includes customized formatting for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.

Each app includes all of the devotions and scripture from the book, as well as features that take each devotional to the next level in terms of interactivity and ease of use, including the ability to:

• Share excerpts or thoughts on social media platforms
• Add personal notes for each devotional
• Customize with a choice of beautiful backgrounds
• Search by topic, date, verse, or keyword
• Watch special videos and interviews with the author
• Shop for other products by the author
• Gift the app to a friend

“God’s love is vast, His grace unending,” says pastor and best-selling author Max Lucado. “My hope is that the Live Loved devotional app will provide each user with a continual, interactive reminder of God’s overflowing love and encouragement.”

With the print versions of these titles already showing great success in the consumer market, Thomas Nelson anticipates that these daily devotional apps will provide hope, encouragement and inspiration to a whole new generation of readers on the go.

“After Jesus Calling was made available to the public, I was astonished to hear people say, time after time, each day’s reading seems to be written just for me,” recalls author Sarah Young on the success of Jesus Calling.

Thomas Nelson is happy to provide these apps as a continued path toward convenient and user-friendly gift and inspirational product offerings.

Thomas Nelson Gift Books Publisher Laura Minchew explains, “Apps offer a new level of accessibility for this outstanding devotional content.  I especially love the ease of sharing content via Facebook or Twitter and the immediate giftability of the apps.”

Max Lucado has more than 100 million products in print, including 80 million book products, and a publishing career spanning 25 years. Many of his titles have been on national bestsellers lists like The New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly and ECPA. Lucado has been featured on many national media outlets including The TODAY Show, Good Morning America and Fox & Friends in the last year. Max and his wife Denalyn live in San Antonio, Texas, where he is Minister of Preaching at Oak Hills Church. More on Max Lucado can be found at www.MaxLucado.com.

Sarah Young is quietly leading millions of men and women worldwide on a journey of intimacy with Christ. Sarah and her husband have traveled around the world planting churches and counseling. They currently are ministering to a Japanese-speaking community in Australia. Hometown: Perth, Western Australia.

For more information, contact Julie Solomon, jsolomon@thomasnelson.com

Thomas Nelson Gift Division sets the standard within the gift book industry by placing exceptional quality and innovative design in each and every one of its journals, devotionals, promise books and gift books. For more information, visit our website www.thomasnelson.com.

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Max Lucado’s Bestselling Brand to Have Fresh Design, Packaging and New DVD Pricing

(Nashville, Tenn.) – With more than 5.5 million units sold in the Max Lucado’s Hermie & Friends™ line, Max Lucado’s beloved book and DVD brand is planning to refresh and re-launch in the fall of 2011. The re-launch that includes board books, a hardcover level two reader, and DVD’s, will release on October 4th, 2011 with the new everyday value DVD pricing starting in September. A second new hardcover level two reader is set to release in spring of 2012.

The new Max Lucado’s Hermie & Friends™ will include a fresh design with bright, colorful new art, and will feature a mix of classic and new stories for kids of all ages. The hardcover Level Two Readers have been designed for kids starting to read on their own. They will feature basic vocabulary words and simple sentences. The Little Hermie board books will include sweet, soft art and simple rhyming text that explains basic Christian concepts for toddlers. New design, packaging, brand new books, and lower DVD pricing all help busy families bring faith into their daily lives affordably.

The beloved DVD line, produced by GlueWorks Animation, will have a new lower retail price and a larger emphasis on felt needs for children. The new DVD pricing for the Hermie brand will include $12.99 for a two-episode classic DVD pack and $9.99 for a classic single episode package, adding more value for the consumers than the previous $15 single episode packages. The two-episode DVD packs will include two classic Hermie episodes based on a Christian felt-need message.

“The Hermie brand is very special to me”, says author Max Lucado about Hermie & Friends™. “We’ve all come to love this little caterpillar and consider him our friend in helping us give parents tools for teaching the importance of prayer and for learning how to live as Jesus would. The relaunch is the beginning of a new era for Hermie—the illustrations are warmer, more inviting and childlike. I think Hermie lovers and new fans of Hermie will be as happy as I am with the latest design.”

The Max Lucado’s Hermie & Friends™ relaunch will include upcoming releases of DVD and book titles including:

DVDs
• I Won’t Be Afraid, God Is Always With Me (DVD)
• A Fruitcake Christmas (DVD)
• I am Special, God Loves Me (DVD)

BOOKS
• Thank You, God, For Loving Me (brand new board book introducing Little Hermie)
• Thank You, God, For Blessing Me (Little Hermie board book #2)
• Hermie, a Common Caterpillar (level 2 reader)

“Hermie has helped so many children come to know the love of God”, says Laura Minchew, Vice President & Publisher Children and Gift Books. “How exciting that Max can share these faith messages so that kids can read for themselves the Level 2 Reader and through the precious Little Hermie board books.”

About Max Lucado:
Max Lucado’s works have appeared on every major national bestseller list including Publishers Weekly, USA Today, The New York Times, Evangelical Christian Publishers Association, and Christian Booksellers Association. He has been featured in countless media outlets and national broadcasts. Max’s writings have been published in a wide array of formats including adult books, gift books, children’s titles, Bibles, commentaries, calendars and devotionals. Max Lucado is the Minister of Preaching at the Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, where he has served since 1988. He has been married to Denalyn Lucado since 1981, and they have three grown daughters—Jenna, Andrea and Sara—and one son-in-law, Brett. More on Max Lucado can be found at http://www.MaxLucado.com.

About GlueWorks Animation:
GlueWorks Animation has been a leader in all aspects of animation since 1999 including entertainment production, corporate branding, intellectual property development and feature film special effects. Its management team has worked with the leaders in the entertainment field including NBC, Twentieth Century Fox, universal and Disney as well as major Fortune 500 companies such as Bank of America, General Electric and Microsoft. GlueWorks Animation has Co-Executive Produced each Max Lucado’s Hermie & Friends™ DVD title to date. More on GlueWorks Animation can be found at http://www.glueworksanimation.com/.

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Tommy Nelson, the children’s division of Thomas Nelson, Inc., was created to place into the hands of children a wide variety of high quality, enjoyable products that are consistent with the teachings found in the Bible. For more information, visit our website www.tommynelson.com.

For more on Tommy Nelson – find us online at
Facebook.com/TommyNelsonKids
Twitter.com/TommyNelson

For More information please contact:

Julie Solomon Backman
Publicist, Thomas Nelson
615-902-1722
jbackman@thomasnelson.com

Rick Eldridge
GlueWorks Animation
704-375-4321
rick@reelworks.net

(Nashville, Tenn.) Thomas Nelson Gift Books, the leading publisher in the gift book industry, has received top ranking on the July 2011 Christian Booksellers Association Best Seller List. Sixteen of the Top 50 bestsellers are Thomas Nelson Gift Division titles, with Thomas Nelson Publishers having a total of 20 bestsellers in the Top 50. Twelve Thomas Nelson gift titles have also been ranked in the Top 20 Inspirational/ General Interest category.

The bestseller list success of Thomas Nelson Gift Books, including its prestigious JCountryman line, has propelled it to the unprecedented mark of more than 79 million books. Titles such as the best-selling devotional Jesus Calling by Sarah Young, God’s Promises® for Graduates: Class of 2011 by Jack Countryman, and Live Loved by Max Lucado are all included on the CBA bestseller list.

Laura Minchew, Publisher of Thomas Nelson Gift and Children Division says, “We are delighted to have such a great showing of bestsellers.  Devotionals are a strong and growing category, led by bestselling authors Sarah Young and Max Lucado. “

Originally launching in 1995, JCountryman set the standard within the gift book industry by providing exceptional quality and innovative design in each of its journals, devotionals and promise books. Now, 16 years later, this reputation and legacy continue as the growing progress with Thomas Nelson’s new prestige line of products JCountryman is seen throughout the retailing industry.

“We are so honored to have bestsellers from the J Countryman line represented on the July 2011 CBA Best Seller List. It is our constant desire to create beautiful gift books with great content that will “Touch Lives and Change Lives” for God’s glory. We are dedicated to producing meaningful books that meet the needs of men and women on every gift giving occasion,” states JCountryman founder, Jack Countryman.

Publisher Laura Minchew adds, “ JCountryman seasonal titles continue to perform exceptionally well.   We’ve found that the J Countryman Spinner has increased sell through of our titles by up to 93%”

The CBA Best Seller List is based on actual sales in Christian retail stores in the United States for the previous month. CBA was formed in 1950 in Chicago, IL, within the incredible 10-year span that saw the start of important evangelistic organization such as the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Campus Crusade for Christ, The Navigators, World Vision, and Youth for Christ.

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Thomas Nelson Gift Division sets the standard within the gift book industry by placing exceptional quality and innovative design in each of its journals, devotionals, promise books and gift books. For more information, visit our website www.thomasnelson.com.

Available This Summer Through iTunes®

(Nashville, Tenn)- Thomas Nelson Gift Books announced today a line of apps for their bestselling devotionals. The first apps in the launch include the platinum selling devotional Jesus Calling and Max Lucado’s newest devotional Live Loved. These apps, priced at $9.99 each, are available for purchase this summer in the iTunes®Store for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad with apps for Droid phone and tablets following this fall.

Each app includes all of the devotions and scripture from the book as well as features that take each devotional to the next level in terms of interactivity and ease of use, including the ability to:

·      Share excerpts or thoughts on social media platforms

·      Add personal notes for each devotional

·      Customize with a choice of beautiful backgrounds

·     Search by topic, date, verse, or keyword

·      Watch special videos and interviews with the author

·      Shop for other products by the author

·      Gift the app to a friend

“God’s love is vast, his grace unending,” says pastor and bestselling author Max Lucado.  “I invite you to dwell in the depth of his love daily as you explore these new apps.”

With the print versions of these titles already showing great success in the consumer market, Thomas Nelson anticipates that these daily devotional apps will provide hope, encouragement and inspiration to a whole new generation of readers on the go.

“After Jesus Calling was made available to the public, I was astonished to hear people say time after time each day’s reading seems to be written just for me,” recalls author Sarah Young on the success of Jesus Calling.

Thomas Nelson is happy to provide these apps as a continued path toward convenient and user-friendly gift and inspirational product offerings.

Thomas Nelson Gift Books Publisher Laura Minchew explains, “Apps offer a new level of accessibility for this outstanding devotional content.  I especially love the ease of sharing content via Facebook or Twitter and the immediate giftability of the apps.”

Max Lucado has more than 100 million products in print, including 80 million book products, and a publishing career spanning 25 years. Many of his titles have been on national bestsellers lists like The New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly and ECPA. Lucado has been featured on many national media outlets including The TODAY Show, Good Morning America and Fox & Friends in the last year. Max and his wife Denalyn live in San Antonio, Texas, where he is Minister of Preaching at Oak Hills Church. More on Max Lucado can be found at www.MaxLucado.com.

Sarah Young is quietly leading millions of men and women worldwide on a journey of intimacy with Christ. Sarah and her husbandhave traveled around the world planting churches and counseling. They currently are ministering to a Japanese-speaking community in Australia. Hometown: Perth, Western Australia.

For more information, contact Julie Solomon, jsolomon@thomasnelson.com

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Thomas Nelson Gift Division sets the standard within the gift book industry by placing exceptional quality and innovative design in each and every one of its journals, devotionals, promise books and gift books. For more information, visit our website www.thomasnelson.com.

Thomas Nelson’s Prestige Gift Line Renews Commitment to Meeting Retailer Needs

(Nashville, Tenn.) Originally launching in 1995, JCountryman set the standard within the gift book industry by placing the stamp of exceptional quality and innovative design to each and every one of its journals, devotionals and promise books. Now, sixteen years later, the reputation and legacy continues as the growing progress with Thomas Nelson’s new prestige line of products JCountryman is seen throughout the retailing industry.
One national Christian retailer has reported a near 100% unit sales increase in stores with the floor display versus similar stores without. Independent Christian retail stores with floor displays report inventory turns of 6 times, doubling the turns seen at non-floor display stores. Adding to the success, the JCountryman display has helped increase visibility for JCountryman titles on numerous bestseller lists, including ECPA. Desiring to join in the success, a number of new national and international stores have signed onto the program in recent weeks.

“Of our three stores, I can see a definite improvement in sales of these gift books at our location with the display than at the two without it”, said Miranda Epperson at Cedar Springs Christian Store in Knoxville, TN.

With a remarkable history and reputation within the industry, JCountryman titles have reached an unprecedented mark of over $375 million in sales. Titles such as the best-selling devotional Jesus Calling by Sarah Young have sold over 1.7 million copies.

“During the recent months we have had the opportunity to witness sales success using the JCountryman display and face out sections. All of the stores are experiencing an increase in sales of the JCountryman devotionals, promise books and journals. We are committed to bringing, meaningful, beautifully designed gift books  with great content that will touch lives and change lives for His glory,” states JCountryman founder, Jack Countryman.

New summer releases on the display out June 1^st, 2011 such as God’s Promises for the American Patriot, by Dr. Richard Lee and Jack Countryman, A Leader’s Heart by John Maxwell and Live Loved by Max Lucado will deliver the same moving and profound content consumers have come to rely on with JCountryman products. A seasonal end cap that features top gift book products from the line is slated to start in September 2011.

JCountryman line is flexible to the needs of retail stores with display and endcap options. Featuring products from best-selling authors such as John Maxwell, Max Lucado, Sheila Walsh, Beth Moore, Dr. Richard Lee and Sarah Young, J Countryman promises to deliver new life changing content to inspire the world.

JACK COUNTRYMAN IS AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEWS
To schedule an interview, contact Julie Solomon, jsolomon@thomasnelson.com

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Thomas Nelson Gift Division sets the standard within the gift book industry by placing exceptional quality and innovative design in each and every one of its journals, devotionals, promise books and gift books. For more information, visit our website www.thomasnelson.com.