(NASHVILLE, Tenn.) Aug. 29, 2011 — Thomas Nelson announces the creation of the company’s first enhanced e-book, which released on Aug. 25. This landmark e-book authored by New York Times best-selling author and pastor Max Lucado features the full digital content of his most recent bestseller, Max on Life: Answers and Insights to Your Most Important Questions (Thomas Nelson, April 2011) in addition to audio and video elements.

“We knew Max Lucado would be the perfect author to launch our first enhanced e-book,” says David Moberg, Sr. Vice President and Group Publisher, Thomas Nelson.

The enhanced e-book features all editorial content from the trade book, Max on Life, as well as a personal video introduction from Lucado for each of seven core sections: hope, hurt, help, him/her, home, haves/have-nots, hereafter. Sprinkled throughout the book are embedded one-minute audio segments.

The enhanced e-book released in the Apple iBooks Store and Barnes and Noble Nook Store on August 25 with an Amazon Kindle Store version following.

Written with candor, humor and a pastor’s heart, Max on Life reads like an advice column from one of the most respected voices in inspirational writing. Lucado’s answers draw from the wisdom and experience of more than 30 years of preaching and are graced with his trademark conversational writing style and practical application. More than 60 percent of Max on Life content is never-before published material from Lucado’s sermons, emails, letters and conversations. Products in the Max on Life line include the hardcover book, the enhanced e-book, standard e-book and the recently-released Max on Life DVD-Based Small Group Kit (Thomas Nelson, $39.99).

With a publishing career spanning 25 years, Max Lucado has more than 100 million products in print. 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, Huckabee 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. http://www.maxlucado.com

###

Thomas Nelson is a leading provider of Bibles, products, and live events emphasizing Christian, inspirational and family value themes.  For more information, visit our websitewww.thomasnelson.com.

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/.

###

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, Inc. announced today that LeeEric Fesko is joining the Nelson team as the Lucado Trade Marketing Director. In this role, Fesko will be responsible for overseeing all aspects of marketing, promotion, and publicity for all Max Lucado trade titles.

With over 10 years of sales, marketing, and web development experience with some of the most popular Christian brands, Fesko began his career at Word Entertainment in 1999. For the last five years, he has worked as the Director of Web Development at Big Idea Entertainment in Franklin, Tennessee, where he has been responsible for the development and execution of web initiatives for VeggieTales® and 3-2-1 Penguins® brands. Also, he has directed the company’s online store and maximized the brand’s reach through promotions and online positioning.

“LeeEric brings a wealth of experience, energy, and a fresh perspective to the Lucado marketing team,” said David Moberg, Senior Vice President and Nonfiction Group Publisher. “He joins an energetic and savvy marketing team including 20-year publishing veteran Susan Ligon and marketing specialist Liz Johnson. Thomas Nelson remains committed to hiring the top marketers and publicists in the industry to continue the tradition of excellence for which the Lucado brand is known.”

Fesko was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He graduated from Georgia State University with a B.A. in Music Industry and Entertainment Marketing and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary with a Masters in Music Theory and Education. He and his wife, Tracy, live in Franklin, with their sons Jack and Logan.

“Joining Thomas Nelson not only gives me the opportunity of joining the most respected name in publishing, but it also affords me the privilege of working with arguably the most influential author of this generation,” said Fesko.

(Nashville, Tenn.) Thomas Nelson, Inc. announced today that five of their products have been selected as finalists for the ECPA 2011Christian Book Awards. Since 1978, the awards have been presented annually to the highest quality in Christian publishing in six categories – Bibles, Bible Reference, Non-Fiction, Fiction, Children, and Inspiration. The awards are selected by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) based on excellence in content, literary quality, design, and significance of contribution.

Max Lucado is the first author to appear on the Christian Book Award finalist list three times in the same year, all in different categories (Bibles, Inspiration and Non-Fiction). Since 1978, Lucado has earned 12 wins and 32 finalist placements in the Christian Book Award program. READ MORE »

(Nashville, Tenn.) Thomas Nelson, Inc. announced today the launch of a multi-faceted social media campaign to coincide with the release of Max Lucado’s new book, Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear. The company is utilizing the influence of its online “friends” and “followers” to help spread the world about this important release.

On Monday, August 10 at 10 a.m., Michael Hyatt kicked off the campaign on his blog, http://michaelhyatt.com/, with a video book review and a unique offer. He offered the first chapter of Fearless for anyone to download or share. He gave the first hundred commenters a free copy of the book with no strings attached. Lastly, he made available a thousand copies for bloggers through Thomas Nelson Book Review Bloggers program. READ MORE »