(NASHVILLE, Tenn.) June 2018 – Worthy Publishing is pleased to announce that My First Day of School, written by Michelle Medlock Adams, has won the 2018 Selah Award for Children’s Picture Books. Hosted annually by the Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writer’s Conference, the Selah Awards recognize high-quality Christian books across a variety of genres.

Veteran author Michelle Medlock Adams is no stranger to the Selah Awards. Several of her previous titles have been Selah Award finalists and winners, including God Knows You, which won the 2014 Selah Book of the Year Award.

“Michelle brings great enthusiasm and heart to her books, which makes her a joy to work with, and also results in books that children love,” says Peggy Schaefer, Vice President & Associate Publisher, WorthyKids/Ideals. “We are thrilled to see Michelle’s work honored in this way.”

A board book that tackles first-day jitters, My First Day of School was chosen by the award committee from among hundreds of books. The story follows a young boy as he explores his classroom, makes new friends, and enjoys all the creative and interesting activities school can offer. The book helps first-time students, from preschoolers to kindergartners, understand what happens at school, while providing parents the opportunity to answer any questions their child may have. With a relatable narrator and cheerful illustrations, My First Day of School helps soon-to-be students overcome their fears and look forward to school with excitement.

The full listing of 2018 Selah Award winners can be found on the Awards’ Facebook page.

Michelle Medlock Adams began her career in journalism; but when she had two children of her own, she quickly turned to writing children’s books, including the successful What Is . . . series for WorthyKids/Ideals. Michelle has two grown daughters and lives in Bedford, Indiana, with her husband, Jeff.

Worthy Publishing Group is a privately held, independent voice in inspirational publishing, based in Nashville, Tennessee. Worthy includes four imprints: Worthy Books publishes inspirational works addressing biblical studies, faith and culture, Christian living, fiction, and specialty Bibles; Museum of the Bible Books is a partnership between Worthy and the Museum, publishing books that reveal the history, narrative, and impact of the Bible; Ellie Claire produces beautifully crafted journals, gifts, and paper expressions; and WorthyKids/Ideals creates colorful, interactive children’s books, including VeggieTales and Berenstain Bears, for ages 1 to 9.

New leader arrives from senior executive role at partner Bible Society, inspired by ‘transforming hope of God’s Word’ 

CAROL STREAM, ILL.—June 15, 2018—Patrick Gray and Justin Skeesuck, coauthors of the award-winning title I’ll Push You (Tyndale Momentum, June 2017), will be attending the Abilities Expo in Schaumburg, IL, June 29–July 1.  In addition to their appearance at the Abilities Expo, Gray and Skeesuck will be touring the Chicago area sharing their message about powerful friendship that knows no bounds in their new release for children, The Push (Tyndale Kids, April 2018).  The Push, written by Gray and illustrated by Skeesuck, is a complementary title to I’ll Push You, which the authors hope broadens their story of extraordinary friendship to reach the hearts of children.

I’ll Push You documents the lifelong friendship between these two men and their impossible dream—tackling together a 500-mile pilgrimage through Spain known as the Camino de Santiago, or Way of St. James. While most people attempt this epic journey on foot, Justin traveled the entire distance in his wheelchair, pushed (and sometimes carried) by Patrick (and others).  This incredible story garnered national media attention on NBC’s Today and NBC’s Megyn Kelly Today.

With the release of their second book, The Push, Gray and Skeesuck hope to extend this important message of friendship and inclusion to kids.  The Push teaches kids that people of all abilities have important roles to play and that we are all better together than we are on our own.

Kristi Gravemann, Marketing Manager for Tyndale Kids, says, “The Push children’s book is based on Justin and Patrick’s inspiring, real-life friendship. We hope this book encourages children of all abilities to see that we each have gifts and talents to offer one another and that we all have something meaningful to contribute. We are thrilled that Justin and Patrick will be in the Chicago area spreading this hope-filled message to families.”

During their Chicago tour, Gray and Skeesuck will be sharing their story at the following locations:

Wednesday, June 27:

• 10:30am Ronald McDonald House (Chicago) for book donation

Thursday, June 28:

• 10:30am AMITA Women and Children’s (Hoffman Estates) story time
• 2:30pm Ronald McDonald House (Winfield) book donation
• 3:15pm Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital for story time and book donation

Friday, June 29:

• 11:00am–4:00pm Abilities Expo (Schaumburg)

Saturday, June 30:

• 11:00am–4:00pm Abilities Expo
• 1:30pm Story time on main stage; book signing to follow

Sunday, July 1:

• 10:15am Lurie Children’s Hospital for story time and book donation
• 12:30p–4:00pm Abilities Expo
• 1:30pm Story time on main stage; book signing to follow

Tyndale House Publishers, founded in 1962, is one of the largest privately held Christian publishers of books, Bibles, and digital media in the world. Tyndale Kids, Family, & Youth was formed out of Dr. Ken Taylor’s desire to make God’s Word more accessible to his children. This legacy continues with our award-winning and bestselling picture books, devotions, and Bible storybooks that encourage kids and families to grow closer to God.  Originally founded to publish The Living Bible, a contemporary paraphrase of the Bible that became a global publishing phenomenon, Tyndale now publishes the Holy Bible, New Living Translation (NLT), the translation of choice for millions of people.

For media inquiries: contact Amanda Woods at 630-784-5125 or amandawoods@tyndale.com

 

Author and well-known podcaster Jamie Ivey has announced that her June pick for “The Happy Hour with Jamie Ivey Summer Book Club” is WaterBrook’s very own NO ONE EVER ASKED (4/3/18) by Katie Ganshert.

“I read it sometime this spring, and really, really enjoyed it,” Ivey shared in a Facebook Live video with her book club group of more than 2,200 members June 1. “I hope it causes you to think about some things that maybe you hadn’t thought about before, and I hope it helps you maybe see people and systems a little bit different.”

While Ivey will hold a formal book discussion at the end of June, book club members are already raving about No One Ever Asked, saying:

• “The book did a great job showing the challenges multi-racial families have.”
• “This book was so good. The story is so important. It must be told.”
• “I absolutely could not put it down.”

Ivey also held an Instagram Live interview with Ganshert on June 6 with her 57,000 Instagram followers. Ivey introduced Ganshert to her audience, and the two discussed the inspiration behind the book, each of their adoption experiences, and how No One Ever Asked would tie into the summer book club theme of racial justice.

Echoing real-world events, No One Ever Asked is a riveting tale about the way we see one another, the lies we tell, and the tragedies that result from our blindness. It draws readers into a story of three starkly different women whose lives collide when an impoverished Missouri school district loses its accreditation and the nearby affluent community has no choice but to open their school doors.

To sign up or find more information about the book club, visit www.jamieivey.com/join-the-book-club. For more information about No One Ever Asked, visit www.waterbrookmultnomah.com.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:  KATIE GANSHERT is the award-winning author of Life After, multiple short stories and several additional acclaimed novels, including the Christy Award-winning A Broken Kind of Beautiful and Carol Award-winner, The Art of Losing Yourself. Ganshert lives in eastern Iowa with her family. For more information, visit www.katieganshert.com.

Contact: Chelsea Woodward, Associate Publicist  
cwoodward@penguinrandomhouse.com  (719) 268-1915

Minneapolis, MN – Sarah Philpott, author of Loved Baby: 31 Devotions Helping You Grieve and Cherish Your Child After Pregnancy Loss (BroadStreet Publishing), had the honor of receiving two awards at the 2018 SELAH Awards—one for best book in the Inspiration & Gift category and another for Book of the Year! Held annually at the Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference each year, the SELAH Awards are presented to books within Christian publishing that are considered excellent in their genre.

Loved Baby is a book that offers much-needed support to women in the middle of psychological and physiological grief as a result of losing a child during pregnancy. In the book, Sarah Philpott gently walks alongside women as they experience the misguided shame, isolation, and crushing despair that accompany the turmoil of loss. With brave vulnerability, Sarah shares storiesthat offer Christ-filled hope and support to women navigating grief.

Kelly O’Dell Stanly, author of Praying Upside Down, says, “Our culture programs us to feel as though motherhood should be all sunshine and roses—breakfasts in bed made by beaming, freshly-bathed children. We learn to think that a woman cannot fulfill her God-given destiny unless she nurtures the lives God enabled her to bear. And yet, when one of those lives is lost, the world suddenly goes quiet, leaving these women alone and suffering. Through Sarah’s words in Loved Baby, you will realize that you’re not called to forget but to welcome God into your pain. You can remember and honor and grieve and be made whole again. With God, even this is possible. Step into these pages like you’re walking into God’s comforting embrace because that’s exactly what this book has to offer.”

To learn more about this important resource for mothers who have experienced pregnancy loss, please visit Sarah Philpott at http://allamericanmom.net/.

Publishing industry leaders, starting with John Ingram, sound off on the future of the book business in this new podcast series

Nord Compo is partnering with Publishers Weekly and Book Buddy Media to produce The Future of Publishing, a podcast series featuring interviews with leaders from across the international publishing industry. Conceived by Nord Compo’s Arnaud Lecompte, director of digital and international business development, and hosted by Larry Bennett, executive director, North America, these interviews will look ahead to developments likely to shape publishing over the next three to 10 years.

“Our goal is to have a wide diversity of opinions and perspectives from industry leaders across multiple disciplines,” Bennett says. “Accordingly, our initial interviewees include leaders in e-book publishing and distribution, the top distributors to mass and traditional markets, the preeminent digital print provider, and a leading children’s book publisher. In future podcasts, we intend to include thought leaders from complementary disciplines that influence book publishing, including content creation and technology.”

The Future of Publishing will explore the publishing industry broadly, extrapolating from today’s trends and imagining what will be important to the book business throughout the world in the coming years. The goal of the series is to enable industry leaders to share insights, experiences, and useful information and thereby stimulate conversation among industry professionals.

Nord Compo is a leading supplier of prepress composition, digital, and editorial services for publishers. With 50 years of experience and more than 500 full-time employees, Nord Compo services many industry leaders, including Elsevier, Hachette, Ingram, Pottermore, Princeton University Press, Sourcebooks, and Springer. Seattle-based Book Buddy Media, which handles podcast production for The Future of Publishing, is a major supplier of high-quality audiobooks specializing in, but not limited to, the K–12 market.

“Our once-staid industry has been going through major changes since the 1950s, when a majority of trade books were sold through department stores like Macy’s,” Bennett says. “The pace of change seems to be accelerating in this century, with the advent of the internet, e-books, digital printing, and industry consolidation. We thought it would be interesting to get industry leaders’ perspectives on where we are heading.”

The debut podcast, featuring a conversation with Ingram Content Group chairman John Ingram, launches today. Visit publishersweekly.com/nordcompo.

The industry is invited to nominate the year’s best book covers until August 31

ECPA created the Top Shelf Book Cover Awards to honor the role of good design in Christian book publishing. Each year covers are judged by a new team of top design professionals, whose reputations are renown throughout the entire design industry, to choose the year’s best book designs published by ECPA members.

“It is imperative the judges of Top Shelf have the insight needed to judge other’s work in this space,” states Torrey Sharp, Principal of Faceout Studio. “It’s not easy being a judge. It takes a deep understanding of what design is meant to accomplish, the landscape of publishing and ultimate impartiality.”

Sharp, who shared his connections and expertise to recruit the program’s judges, continues:

“This year’s judges are consummate creatives, highly successful in their own right and lovers of the craft. I’m really excited they have agreed to participate this year.”

They are:  Gabrielle Wilson, Sarah Dubbeldam, and Nate Salciccioli. Each of their full bios and designs are listed on the program website.

“Recently I spotted a headline on a well-known lifestyle magazine that read, Beautiful Design Matters Now More Than Ever,” said Stan Jantz, executive director of ECPA. “That same principle easily applies to books, which is why the Top Shelf Award program is so important for our industry. Book cover design matters more than ever because readers value what it says about the message that’s inside.”

Top Shelf winners are officially announced and presented with an award at ECPA’s annual PubU on November 6-7. Winning covers are also featured in an Annual designed by Faceout Studio and printed by Color House Graphics.

Nominate a cover design until August 31.  More

PubU will be held November 6-7 at Lipscomb University, Nashville

The industry’s premier training and networking event for publishing practitioners, ECPA PubU, will be held November 6-7 on the beautiful campus of Lipscomb University in Nashville.  The event will host more than 40 sessions about the industry’s most pressing topics in marketing, sales, publicity, editorial, design, rights, reader engagement, production, data, delivery, workflow, digital, and more.

This year’s program will also feature a closing keynote by StoryBrand CEO and author Donald Miller.

Each year, a “Brain Trust” of industry leaders is formed to recruit speakers, develop topics, and plan the event. Heading up this year’s Brain Trust is Dave Schroeder, VP of Marketing at B&H Publishing Group, who returns a second year to lead the program.

“We are so pleased to introduce the 2018 PubU Brain Trust and appreciate the return of Dave Schroeder’s enthusiastic and creative leadership,” states ECPA executive director Stan Jantz.

“This program is the most altruistic 24 hours in the entire industry because it is the culmination of hundreds of volunteer hours by 50+ volunteers, led by a core of publishing leaders, all sharing their expertise and connections for the benefit of strengthening each other and the industry.  How can anyone want to miss an experience like this?”

The following industry leaders will serve as the 2018 PubU Brain Trust:

• DAVE SCHROEDER, VP of Marketing, B&H Publishing Group (Marketing/Publicity/Sales sessions and Brain Trust Lead)
• JERRI HELMS, Sr. Director of Digital Marketing Strategy, HarperCollins Christian Publishing (Reader Engagement sessions)
• MELINDA BOUMA, Publisher, Zondervan Bibles (Editorial sessions)
• JOSH DENNIS, Executive VP/Creative, Crossway (Design sessions)
• GEORGE ROACH, International Rights Manager, Tyndale House Publishers (Rights sessions)
• KRISTEN MCLEAN, Exec. Director of Business Development, NPD Book
  (Data, Delivery & Workflow sessions)
• JOSHUA TALLENT, Director of Outreach and Education, Firebrand Technologies (Data, Delivery & Workflow sessions)
• AMY GREEN, Fiction Publicist, Bethany House Publishers
  (Art of Writing conference held for publishers & writers after PubU)

PubU’s signature value is learning from industry colleagues and leaders through panels, Q&A, sessions, and discussions about best practices, case studies, and challenges they’ve faced and overcome. Early bird registration will open soon.

Sign up for program updates at ECPAPubU.org.

Museum Co-Founder Jackie Green and Daughter Lauren McAfee Discuss New Release on Women and Legacy

WASHINGTON, May 24, 2018—Jackie Green, co-founder of Museum of the Bible, and her daughter Lauren Green McAfee want women to know that their lives and legacies matter. In Only One Life, Green and McAfee tell the stories of past and present world-changing women and encourage readers to play a unique and irreplaceable role in the story of the world by intentionally investing their time and talents in the people they meet every day. They examine 12 characteristics of legacy through profiling 36 women who have and are leaving remarkable legacies, including biblical figures such as Queen Esther, Ruth, Mary Magdalene and Hannah as well as more modern role models like Rosa Parks, Queen Elizabeth II, Florence Nightingale and Christine Caine.

Green and McAfee will launch their book at Museum of the Bible as part of the museum’s regular speakers series. The hour-long program will be featured on Facebook Live atfacebook.com/museumoftheBible, and a book signing will follow.

WHAT
Museum of the Bible Speakers Series, Only One Life: How a Woman’s Every Day Shapes an Eternal Destiny book launch

WHEN
Tuesday, June 5, 6 – 7 p.m. ET, 7 – 7:30 p.m. ET Book Signing

WHERE
Museum of the Bible (Gathering Room), 400 4th, Washington, DC 20024

COST

• Free for museum members and those with a student ID as well as members of the press
• $5 for the general public

About the Authors:
Jackie Green, co-founder of Museum of the Bible, is a full-time homemaker who relishes her roles of wife, mother to six children, mother-in-law and “Gigi” to four grandchildren. Married to Steve for more than 30 years, Jackie actively supports him in his role as president of Hobby Lobby and chairman of the board of Museum of the Bible.

Lauren Green McAfee is a speaker and writer with a heart to engage others with the Bible. While pursuing her graduate degrees in pastoral counseling and theology, Lauren worked at Museum of the Bible from its founding days until its opening. Today, she works at Hobby Lobby as a corporate ambassador and is also pursuing a Ph.D. in Ethics and Public Policy. Lauren and her husband Michael live in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

About Museum of the Bible
Museum of the Bible is an innovative, global, educational institution whose purpose is to invite all people to engage with the history, narrative and impact of the Bible. Admission to the museum is free with a suggested donation of $15 per person. A fly-through of the museum is viewable here.
Website | museumoftheBible.org  Twitter | @museumofBible

Guests’ personal stories and diverse backgrounds continue to drive the podcast’s success

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (May 29, 2018) – Today, Thomas Nelson announced that the Jesus Calling Podcast has surpassed one million downloads since it launched in February 2016. The podcast was created as a result of the success of the bestselling daily devotional, Jesus Calling, which has sold more than 22 million units since it was published in 2004. The weekly podcast, available on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and other podcasting platforms, features stories from readers of Jesus Calling and illustrates how spending time with the devotional has made a difference in their lives.

“On a daily basis, we receive stories via email and social media about how Jesus Calling has touched a reader’s life,” said Michael Aulisio, vice president of marketing for gift books, Tommy Nelson children’s books and new media at Thomas Nelson. “The podcast has become a revolutionary platform that connects people around the world in one location to hear amazing stories from fellow readers as well as a diverse group of thought leaders – from music to sports to business.  We are thrilled this power of personal storytelling combined with these impactful devotionals is impacting people’s lives and faith.”

Recently, the podcast expanded to include video episodes from individuals such as Kathie Lee Gifford, Emily Ley, Reba McEntire, Dolly Parton, country star Collin Raye, and Lysa TerKeurst. Those episodes are also available via the podcasting platforms, Facebook, and the Jesus Calling YouTube channel, providing readers and listeners with an additional way to experience the content.

Future episodes will feature incredible personal stories from many other Jesus Calling readers around the world—readers whose lives have been transformed. Upcoming episodes include conversations with Super Bowl-winning quarterback Jeff Hostetler, NFL and Dancing with Stars champion Rashad Jennings, bestselling authors Rachel Hollis and Lisa Harper, and country groups Shenandoah and The Oak Ridge Boys.

Since it was published in 2004, Jesus Calling has expanded to encompass a line of products that includes adult devotionals, coloring books, children’s books, a Bible storybook, custom versions, and many other products. More information is available at www.jesuscalling.com.

About Thomas Nelson: Thomas Nelson is a world leading publisher and provider of Christian content and has been providing readers with quality inspirational product for more than 200 years. As part of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc., the publishing group provides multiple formats of award-winning Bibles, books, gift books, cookbooks, curriculum and digital content, with distribution of its products in more than 100 countries. Thomas Nelson, is headquartered in Nashville, TN. For additional information visit www.thomasnelson.com.

Contact: Stefanie Schroeder, Publicity Manager  615.902.1722  Stefanie.schroeder@harpercollins.com