Fiction, Bible, and Curriculum Titles Garner Nominations

(Nashville, Tenn.) Thomas Nelson, Inc. is pleased to announce that three of its titles have been selected as finalists in the 2008 ECPA/Dickinson Press Book Cover Awards. The objective of the awards is to encourage, identify and celebrate “best in class” design for Christian publishing’s book covers. The winner will be announced during the ECPA Publishing University conference’s opening ceremony event November 2nd in Chicago, IL.

This year’s Thomas Nelson finalists are:
Adam by Ted Dekker (Fiction)
The Domino Effect Participant’s Guide by Wayfarer Ministries: Chris Brooks, Chad Norris & Dave Rhodes (Bible Study)
The Voice of Hebrews – The Voice™ translation; Greg Garrett and David Capes, contributors (Bible)
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Star-Studded The Word Of Promise™ Wins Top Gold Honors In Audio

(Nashville, Tenn.) Thomas Nelson, Inc. is pleased to announce that The Word of Promise™ New Testament Audio Bible has been honored with three Gold Millennium Awards. The project received the top prize in the spring 2008 competition’s audio categories for “Direction,” “Sound,” and “Best Use of Music.” The Millennium Awards recognize outstanding creativity, skill, craft, and talent in audio, television/film/video/commercials, print, advertising, Web design, and radio. The Millennium Awards competition received over 1,204 entries that were judged by award-winning professionals in the communications industry on creativity, design, innovation, presentation, and technical merit. READ MORE »

(Nashville, Tenn.) Thomas Nelson, Inc. was awarded nine of Christian Retailing’s 2008 Retailer’s Choice Awards. The awards were announced on Monday, July 14th at the International Christian Retail Show in Orlando, Florida. Thomas Nelson received more than twice the wins of any other publishing house and walked away with almost a third of the cumulative awards.

“There are two things about Retailer’s Choice Awards that make them among the highest honors in this industry,” said Michael S. Hyatt, President and CEO of Thomas Nelson. “First, the awards are selected by Christian retailers, who work on the front lines to help Christians strengthen their spiritual journey. Second, the awards are judged on a product’s ability to inspire, encourage, and affirm Godly living. I am so proud of the entire Thomas Nelson team.” READ MORE »

Dramatic Audio Bible Takes Home Top Prize From ECPA

(Nashville, Tenn.) Thomas Nelson, Inc. is pleased to announce that The Word of Promise™ New Testament Audio Bible has been awarded “Christian Book of the Year” by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association’s (ECPA) 2008 Christian Book Awards. Wayne Hastings, Senior Vice President and Group Publisher for Thomas Nelson, Inc.’s Bible Group, accepted the award at a celebration ceremony Sunday night during the International Christian Retail Show (ICRS) in Orlando, Fla.

The “Christian Book of the Year” award recognizes excellence and impact in Christian publishing. This prestigious honor is based on quality and excellence as judged by the Christian Book Award finalists, while including a sales component to represent the impact of the book on consumers. Out of 230 entries from 35 Christian publishers, The Word of Promise™ New Testament Audio Bible was chosen from the 32 top-scoring Christian Book Award finalists that represent the highest quality and greatest impact for 2008. READ MORE »

Felt-Need Categories To Transmit To Bookstore Manager and IBID/IRT Users

(Nashville, Tenn.) Thomas Nelson, Inc.’s Bible Group has announced that they are partnering with the management groups for the Bookstore Manager and IBID/IRT inventory systems, to provide their users with updated content on Felt Needs categorization for Bible products produced by all publishing houses. They have developed a database of products using data available through PubTracks for titles, BISAC codes, and publishing houses and have assigned each title to a felt need category. The publisher anticipates that retailers who utilize the point-of-sale systems will be receiving their transmission in late-July/early-August.

Retail partners utilizing the Felt Needs Bible Merchandising System who don’t subscribe to either of the inventory systems will be mailed an update for use in their stores. Also, to ensure that the information is kept current for all retailers, Thomas Nelson plans to provide these updates twice a year.

The Bookstore Manager and IBID/IRT system updates are just another step in the publisher’s efforts to assist retail partners in addressing the needs of their customers using need-based merchandising. The overall goal of the publisher-neutral Felt Needs Bible Merchandising System developed by Thomas Nelson is to help simplify the shopping experience by enabling consumers to quickly find a Bible, using simple color-coded need-based signage and a clearly-defined shopping guide categorized by customer need. In addition to an easier purchasing experience for consumers, the new merchandising system also allows for greater flexibility in cross merchandising opportunities for stores and doesn’t require a change in inventory. The system officially launched in early 2007, and continues to positively impact overall Bible sales.

“In the last two quarters of 2007, when we implemented the Felt Needs Bible Merchandising System, our Bible sales increased 17% over the same period in 2006,” noted Ken Summerlin of Crossroads Books & Gifts in Mobile, AL. The Felt-Needs Bible Merchandising system continues to push our improvement in Bible sales, as so far in 2008 our Bible sales are up 12.5%.”

Contact: Brenda Smotherman
Publicist
tel: (615) 902-2231
fax: (615) 902-1132
email: bsmotherman@thomasnelson.com