Celebrates the Legacy of Prayer She Leaves Behind

(BIRMINGHAM, Ala.) June 20, 2019—Iron Stream Media is saddened to announce the loss of author Jennifer Kennedy Dean, a flagship author for the New Hope^® Publishers imprint. Dean, who was with New Hope Publishers for more than fifteen years, was the author of more than twenty-five titles, which included her best-selling Bible study Live a Praying Life^®. A memorial service is planned for June 29 in Dean’s hometown of Marion, Kentucky, with a second memorial service to follow in July in Kansas City.

Ramona Richards, associate publisher of Iron Stream Media, remembers her. “Jennifer had a true heart for God, and working with her was a privilege. One of her greatest gifts was her ability to take difficult concepts and paint a picture with her words that allowed everyone to grasp the essence. She wanted everyone to have a deep and personal relationship with the Lord.”

“Jennifer Kennedy Dean was more than just an author to our team,” wrote John Herring, CEO of Iron Stream Media. “We considered her our friend and our sister in Christ. While we mourn our earthly loss of her presence, we celebrate knowing where she is and knowing she left a legacy of prayer behind.”

Andrea Mullins, retired publisher of New Hope Publishers, stated, “As Jennifer’s publisher and friend, I was challenged both theologically and spiritually as we worked together to challenge believers to a deeper prayer life. She not only cared about her readers, but she invested in other authors and had a desire to see Christian authors excel in whatever way God was leading. Her voice will be heard through her timeless books, but as a person and friend she will be missed deeply.”

Dean’s impact on the Christian publishing industry and on the hearts of her readers is evident through her long-tenured writing career and ministry. Dean was the executive director of the Praying Life Foundation and a respected author and speaker. Her numerous books, studies, and magazine articles specialized in prayer and spiritual formation, and her work Live a Praying Life^®has been called a flagship work on prayer. Some of her other works include Prized, SEEK, Heart’s Cry, Clothed with Power, Set Apart, Power in the Blood of Christ, Power in the Name of Jesus, Altar’d, and Conversations with the Most High, among others.

Widely recognized as an unusually gifted communicator, Dean spoke all over the world, calling God’s people to discover the difference between a prayer life and a praying life. She served on numerous boards and committees for ministries focused on prayer and spiritual awakening. She will always be remembered as a respected voice in the area of prayer.

Media Contact:  Ramona Richards  205.216.3427  Ramona.Richards@ironstreammedia.com

Uhrichsville, OH—Barbour Publishing is pleased to announce the promotion of current President, Mary Burns, to the position of President and Chief Executive Officer effective July 1, 2019. Predecessor Timothy Martins, who held the position of President and CEO for over twenty years, will continue to serve on the company’s board of directors.

“I expect this announcement will come as no surprise to most as Mary’s contribution as President over the past eighteen months has been gargantuan,” says Martins. “She has brought a very thoughtful and important style of leadership to the position and has been vitally instrumental in readying the company for a bright future in an industry still moving through the seas of change. In this new role of CEO, Mary will have even more opportunity to reshape the business and adapt to the challenges and opportunities ahead.”

Mary Burns, a twenty-four-year veteran of Barbour Publishing, served as Vice President of Marketing for the bulk of her career before taking on the role of President in January of 2018.  “We have an outstanding team here at Barbour and I’m honored to be able to be involved and work with each of them to form our future.  As an ESOP, everyone has a chance to contribute and benefit from our success and that is truly exciting.” Burns also currently serves on the ECPA board of directors as Member at Large.

Barbour Publishing, founded by industry veteran Hugh R. Barbour in 1981, was acquired by company CEO Timothy H. Martins in October 2000. The now employee-owned company publishes 180-200 books and Bibles a year focused on inspiring the world with the life-changing message of the Bible. To learn more, visit www.BarbourBooks.com.

Media Contact: Shalyn Sattler  ssattler@barbourbooks.com  740.922.6045 X 109

(Mexico City, Mexico) June 18, 2019—HarperCollins Publishers announced Roberto “Bobby” Torres as its new general manager for HarperCollins Mexico. As general manager for HarperCollins Mexico, Torres will lead day-to-day operations, focusing on sales and distribution of Spanish-language product throughout Mexico and aide in the company’s focus of growing its presence in adjoining Latin American markets.  Torres joins HarperCollins Mexico from Macmillan Education, where he served for seven years as regional marketing director and sales director for Mexico. His diverse career portfolio also includes business management roles in marketing, communications, and sales at Merik and Reebok of Mexico.

The HarperCollins Mexico publishing operation represents a wide selection of Spanish-language product including HarperCollins Christian Publishing, HarperCollins Español, HarperCollins Iberica, and HarperCollins’ Global Publishing Program, in addition to its local publishing of Mexican authors and books in translations.  As general manager, Torres will be responsible for managing and developing distribution and sales relationships with key vendors, retailers, and distributors in Mexico.  He will set the vision and sales strategy that support selling trade books and Bibles, as well as sit on the HarperCollins International World Spanish Acquisitions Board to help select future titles to publish in Spanish.

“HarperCollins Mexico is a critical component to the overall international growth strategy for HarperCollins Publishers. We are excited to have a team in place that can expand the reach of our authors’ works into the Spanish language market,” said Chantal Restivo-Alessi, CEO, International Foreign Language and Chief Digital Officer.

“We have been in pursuit of a leader who understands marketing, sales and distribution in Mexico and the importance their influence plays in other Latin American markets,” said Cris Garrido, vice president and publisher, Spanish, HarperCollins Christian Publishing.  “Bobby’s experience in publishing, as well as his rich knowledge from a multitude of industries will set up our Mexico team for future success and growth, I’m thrilled he has decided to join the team.”

Torres commented, “I am very excited for the opportunity to lead a wonderful team of professionals in Mexico, as I join one of the top publishers in the world.”

About HarperCollins
HarperCollins Publishers is the second largest consumer book publisher in the world, with operations in 17 countries. With 200 years of history and more than 120 branded imprints around the world, HarperCollins publishes approximately 10,000 new books every year in 16 languages, and has a print and digital catalog of more than 200,000 titles. Writing across dozens of genres, HarperCollins authors include winners of the Nobel Prize, the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Newbery and Caldecott Medals and the Man Booker Prize. HarperCollins, headquartered in New York, is a subsidiary of News Corp (Nasdaq: NWS, NWSA; ASX: NWS, NWSLV) and can be visited online at corporate.HC.com.

Contact: Casey Harrell, HarperCollins Publishers 
O: 615-902-1109  casey.harrell@harpercollins.com

[NASHVILLE, TENN., June 21, 2019—] B&H Publishing Group is proud to announce the re-signing of renowned singer-songwriter and now bestselling children’s author Ellie Holcomb. Holcomb’s first book, “Who Sang the First Song?” (October 2018, B&H Publishing Group), spent several months on the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) juvenile bestseller list and was a finalist for Christian Book of the Year in the children’s category.

Holcomb’s next release will be a children’s board book, tentatively titled “Don’t Forget to Remember.” The book is slated for release March 2020 and again features the spectacular art of Kayla Harren, who illustrated “Who Sang the First Song?”.

“It’s been one of the biggest joys of my career to write a children’s book and children’s record that seem to have resonated deeply with both kids and adults,” Holcomb said. “It was so fun, in fact, that I wanted to do it again! My hope for this next book is that it would be full of images and words that help kids and the adults in their lives remember what is true. So many days I forget to remember what’s true, so here’s hoping this book will be like a lighthouse, reminding me and others of the truth and light on the days we get lost in the dark.”

“Who Sang the First Song?” is an engaging board book with whimsical art, where Holcomb asks a childlike question and answers with a lovely lyrical tale that shows young readers that God our Maker sang the first song and created us all with a song to sing. Holcomb also released a companion EP, “Sing: Creation Songs,” inspired by her debut book.

“The success of ‘Who Sang the First Song?’ means that families all across the country are experiencing Ellie’s distinct, lyrical story-telling ability,” said Jennifer Lyell, V.P. of Book Publishing and Merchandising. “I imagine the joy of those children learning to imagine the joy of learning that their Creator placed a song in our hearts and am thrilled that we have the opportunity to partner with Ellie on another formational, beautiful message for children.”

For more information, visit bhpublishing.com.

Singer-songwriter—and now author—Ellie Holcomb began her musical career touring the country with her husband in the Americana band Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors. Her honest voice and rich lyrics shined on her first solo album and deemed her the Best New Artist at the 2014 Dove Awards. In 2017, she followed with the restorative, hope-inducing “Red Sea Road.” Ellie, her husband, Drew, and their three children live and make music in Nashville, Tenn.

B&H Publishing Group, an imprint of LifeWay Christian Resources, is a team of mission-minded people with a passion for taking God’s Word to the world. Because we believe Every Word Matters® we seek to provide intentional, Bible-centered content that positively impacts the hearts and minds of people, inspiring them to build a lifelong relationship with Jesus Christ. Among our print and digital releases for the trade, church and academic markets, titles include “The New York Times” No. 1 bestsellers “The Love Dare” and “The Vow,” No. 1 CBA bestseller “I Am a Church Member,” as well as the newly-revised Christian Standard Bible (CSB) version.

The ECPA Bronze Award will be added to the industry’s Gold, Platinum, Diamond suite of awards

The ECPA Recognition Committee has voted to add a new level to the ECPA Sales Achievement Awards, providing opportunity for ECPA member titles to be recognized at a milestone of more than 250,000 sold.

The Bronze Award for 250,000 in sales will abide by the same rules as the Gold (500,000), Platinum (1 million), and Diamond (10 million) award levels, with the addition that the Bronze Award will only be eligible for titles published January 2000 or later.

WHAT SALES COUNT?

ECPA Bronze, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond Sales Awards include all formats of a title (print, digital, audio, e-book, etc.) as long as all content is essentially the same (up to 25% updated material). Apps can be included if a book’s full content is present. Included are the following sales:

• All traditional brick and mortar bookstores (independent, chain) and wholesale distributor sales
• All online sales (publisher’s, Amazon, CBD, and others)
• All “special market” sales (premiums, homeschool, organizations, businesses, etc.)
• All “conference sales” at which the publisher exhibits and retails books
• All college, university and other academic institutions
• Publisher sales to all export/international markets, including verifiable sub-rights sales
• All mass merchant “jobber” sales
• Excluded are those sales with deep discounts or no money exchanged, including free downloads, deep discounts and giveaways.

COUNTING BIBLE SALES ACROSS TRANSLATIONS

In addition, the Recognition committee has updated the criteria for counting Bible sales. Sales may now be combined across two or more translations (versions) of the same Study Bible.

The ECPA Sales Achievement Awards are recognized each year at the industry’s Awards Celebration and featured on ChristianBookExpo.com and ECPASalesAwards.com.  If a sales award recipient title is also on the Bestsellers list, then an icon denotes its special status.

For more information, visit the ECPA website.

 

Documentary creators available for interviews

THE LONG GOODBYE: The Kara Tippetts Story – New documentary follows the powerful story of a wife and mother thrust into the national spotlight through a terminal cancer diagnosis.  KaraTippettsDocumentary.com

Film was a #1 best-seller on the Amazon Documentary chart and remained in the Top 10 for 6+ weeks.

Filmmakers Jay Lyons and Sofia J. Lyons are available for interviews to promote the launch of the film to Netflix.

Documentary releases on Netflix on June 23^rd.

Film features:

Shot in real-time and featuring Kara’s own vlogs and cell phone videos, this film offers an incredibly vulnerable look into a dying woman’s last days. The film also features Kara’s friends-including Ann Voskamp, Joanna Gaines, Ellie Holcomb, Jim Daly, Dianne Derby from KKTV, and bonus content featuring Joanna Gaines, Ann Voskamp, andJoni Eareckson Tada.

About:

Kara Tippetts, a wife and young mother with terminal breast cancer shares the raw edges of dying with grace, dignity, and a sense of humor. We follow along with this celebrated author and blogger as she navigates through many of our greatest fears – suffering and dying. As a happily married pastor’s wife with four wonderful kids, a terminal cancer diagnosis wasn’t the storybook ending she would have written. Kara helps us realize that time is precious, and through her incredible honesty and ever-present humor, she reminds us that life truly is a gift. Kara was the author of The Hardest Peace (winner of the 2015 ECPA Christian Book Award® in the Inspiration category) and blogged faithfully at mundanefaithfulness.com. Cancer was only part of Kara’s story. Her real fight was to live genuinely with joy while facing a crushing reality.

Music features:

• Clips from a house concert Ellie Holcomb performed for Kara.
• Selah performing an arrangement of one of Kara’s favorite hymns.
• An original song by Travis Cottrell.
• 2 original songs written for the film by Sofia J, including “I’ll See You Again”

Film talking points:

• Kara’s story, sharing her cancer battle in real time
• Where is God in our suffering?
• Parenting while dealing with an incredible illness
• Supporting a marriage during cancer
• The power of every moment
• How community can support a family that is struggling
• Why Kara wanted to share her story on camera
• What we can learn from Kara’s life and death
• Why were so many prominent national figures drawn to this ordinary mommy blogger?

For more information, to receive a screener, or to schedule an interview, please contact:
Lori Heiselman, 714-553-5181, Lori@BiscuitMediaGroup.com

The Good Book Company is launching Spark Wonder, a new campaign to put storybooks at the heart of how Christians commend God’s works to the next generation.

This comes as a recent survey of 1,000 parents revealed that while nearly half of them aimed to read books to their children before bed every night, over a quarter regularly turned to Amazon’s Alexa and other technologies for storytime, with work and being ‘too busy’ as the main culprits.

As a publisher of Christian books for children, The Good Book Company believes that storybooks are an important means of fulfilling the Biblical command to commend God’s works to the next generation (Psalm 145:4-6), as well as providing immensely positive impacts on a child’s development.

Tim Thornborough, founder of The Good Book Company said, “We’re launching Spark Wonder to urge parents, and anyone with children in their care, to see Christian storybooks as a key discipleship tool. We know that a love of reading in children will serve them for the rest of their lives, especially when they come to approach the Bible.”

The campaign features an inspirational short film to remind parents, godparents, kids ministry workers, and anyone with children in their care, how precious and important reading to children really is. Alongside the video, The Good Book Company is offering special prices on some of their most popular children’s books to help carers of children get started with cultivating this life-giving habit.

Go to your local Christian bookshop or thegoodbook.com/spark-wonder to find out more.

Children’s author, Dan DeWitt, is available for interview. Email eleanor.elms@thegoodbook.co.uk for more information.

Peabody, Massachusetts, June 11, 2019:  Christian Book Distributors, also known as CBD and with a website of www.christianbook.com, will consolidate all various company brands to Christianbook.

President and CEO Ray Hendrickson explains the background of the decision: “When we started the business 40 years ago out of Mom and Dad’s house, we came up with the name ‘Christian Book Distributors’ as we felt it described what we did—distribute Christian books. We had no graphics department or brand consultants but thought using the initials ‘CBD’ as our logo at the top of the catalog would work well—and it did, for many years. In the late 1990s, we acquired an additional brand name when we launched our Internet site, www.christianbook.com. We decided to drop the word ‘Distributors’ because we felt the entire name was a bit too long, susceptible to misspelling, and caused some confusion about us being a wholesaler. So, for more than 20 years, we’ve maintained three distinct brand names: Christian Book Distributors, CBD, and Christianbook.com.”

Over the last 12 months, there has been a rise in popularity of a medicinally used product derived from the cannabis plant—cannabidiol, commonly referred to as “CBD.” Across the country, people see signs for “CBD sold here,” which creates brand confusion. In the past, a Google search for “CBD” would place our company at the top of the results page. Now “our CBD” is nowhere to be found in the search results, only sites for the cannabis product are listed, and paid ads are no longer allowed. As this wave of popularity over the “other CBD” is not likely to subside, we will stop referring to ourselves as “CBD” and will also drop the word “Distributors” from our company name. Going forward, we will operate under the name of “Christianbook.”

Some of our customers have begun to notice the transition in the logo and terminology we’ve used in our most recent catalog mailings. Some have even wondered if we should use “Christianbook.com” for everything. But Ray offers this reasoning: “We see ourselves as more than just an e-commerce company; we’re completely committed to the catalog side of our company, where it all started 40 years ago. We have no plans to change the way we do business and serve our customers; we will concentrate all our efforts on the brand name ‘Christianbook’ and the tagline ‘Everything Christian for Less’. We’ll be providing the same products (books, Bibles, homeschool materials, gifts, toys and games, church supplies, academic resources, etc.), all at the low prices and exceptional service on which we’ve built our solid reputation in the industry.”

Our History and Mission

In 1978, two teenage brothers started Christian Book Distributors, Inc., which would become the world’s largest seller of Christian products. Through its online presence, Christianbook.com, and 65 unique catalogs, the company offers the lowest possible prices and maintains an inventory exceeding 500,000 items. The wide selection includes books, Bibles, DVDs, music, homeschool materials, toys and games, gifts, academic resources, and church supplies. Christianbook.com provides a depth of information on our products, including author profiles and interviews, detailed product descriptions and excerpts, music clips, articles, reviews, specialized search engines, and video content. The company offers not only great value but also exceptional customer service and support. The company is proud to be the recipient of the Bizrate Circle of Excellence Platinum Award for 18 years and also is an 8-time recipient of the Boston Globe’s Top Places to Work award. Employing over 600 people from the surrounding communities, Christianbook is committed to the spreading of the gospel both through the products we sell each day and in our philanthropic support of missions around the globe. In particular, we seek to have an exponential impact on the kingdom by equipping overseas pastors and Bible school students, who then have a lifetime of impact in their ministries. We are also a proud supporter of the City of Peabody and many local charities.

For more information, please contact Bridget Timmins at (978) 573-2201 or btimmins@christianbook.com

by Stan Jantz, President and CEO, ECPA

One of the most critical issues facing the book publishing industry is the strong possibility that a tariff of up to 25 percent will be placed on goods imported from China, including books and Bibles. Because this would affect many of our members, ECPA is working with the Association of American Publishers (AAP) to express our concerns to the United States Trade Representative (USTR) in Washington.

Thanks to the efforts of Craig Gipson of Flagler Law Group, along with Luisa Simpson, the VP of Global Policy for AAP, we were able to schedule two ECPA members and myself to give testimony this week before the USTR. As you read this, I am flying to Washington in order to present reasons why books and Bibles should be exempted from the Chinese tariff. Mark Schoenwald, President of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, and ECPA board member Paul Hendrickson, general manager of Hendrickson Publishers, are also giving testimony in Washington on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Publishers who belong to ECPA account for the majority of the Bibles distributed within the U.S. A large number of these these Bibles—well over 50 percent—are printed in China. While there are some domestic Bible options available, the U.S. printers comparable to China on price and quality to not have the capacity to meet current demand. The same can be said for four-color books printed in China.

A 25 percent tariff imposed on Bibles would cause a hardship for many publishers. As I have talked with many of our members about the impact of the tariffs, I am hearing the same concern. There will be significant damage to Bible accessibility if Bibles and books are not excluded from the tariffs. Some believe such a tariff would place a practical limitation on religious freedom. For sure we know that competitive options for printing Bibles outside of China are limited, especially if the current average price of a Bible is to be maintained.

I will provide additional updates in the coming days. In the meantime, please feel free to reach out to me with your concerns, comments and questions by sending me an email me at sjantz@ecpa.org.