August 10, 2020 Edition

ECPA releases August Christian Bestseller Lists

As the Christian publishing industry continues to adjust to the effects of the coronavirus and also react to the calls for racial justice and reconciliation, ECPA publishers are working hard to bring compelling voices to an eager reading public.  This month the August Christian Bestseller lists, based on POS sales from July as compiled by NPD BookScan, reflect the preference for books that are tried and true, while compelling voices on racial justice continue their momentum.

View Lists

ECPA Christian Collective will not participate in 2020 Frankfurt Book Fair

Due to continued stipulations on European travel including mandatory quarantine, ECPA and the publishers belonging to the Christian Collective have decided to not participate in the 2020 Frankfurt Book Fair.  As they continued to evaluate the feasibility, they also discovered that most of their meeting contacts would not be attending.  ECPA and the Collective remain hopeful of resuming their attendance in 2021.

PubU Online registration opens with debut of new engagement site for members

PubU Online registration has now opened for ECPA members.  The program features more than 25 webinars offered daily during the month of September, plus access to the new PubU Online engagement site of forums and Zoom meet-ups.  An access pass for all content is $99 so each attendee can customize their training content and schedule. PubU Online will kick off on August 31 at 10 am central with an inspiring keynote by Dr. Theon Hill on “The Role of Publishing in a Time of Crisis.”  ECPA plans to open access to webinar registration for non-members later this week.

REGISTER TODAY

Last week to nominate yourself or a colleague for the PubU Emerging Leader program

Every year PubU features a class of industry Emerging Leaders scholars who represent new and/or under-represented voices in the industry.  This year, recipients receive a scholarship to attend PubU Online and will be part of a couple sessions with industry leaders – while they have full access to the training content of the PubU Online program.  The deadline for nominations is this Friday, August 14.

NOMINATE TODAY

Last week to submit your best book and Bible designs for Top Shelf Award

This is the last week to submit Top Shelf Book Cover Award nominations for books and Bibles published June 2019 to August 2020.  The deadline is August 15. Winners will be announced during the closing session of ECPA PubU Online on October 1st via webcast.

Submission and program information is available at TopShelfAward.org.

PubU Online to gather and train industry’s marketing professionals in September

The PubU Online program will include a track of sessions for marketing professionals, curated by Brain Trust leads Michele Misiak who leads marketing at Revell, and Jenaye White, marketing and PR specialist at B&H Publishing.  The four webinars will be offered in September on Tuesdays at 10 am central and will feature these topics and experts:

• Creating a Powerful Book Marketing Plan with Caleb Peavy, Founder of Unmutable™
• Utilizing Podcasting in Your Book Marketing with Elizabeth Evans, CEO/Founder of Elizabeth Evans Co
• Harnessing the Power of PR In Your Marketing Efforts with Jennifer Willingham, CEO of EPIC Agency
• The State of Digital Trends for 2021 with Lindsay Gustafson and Alexis De Weese of Apricot Services

Pre-recorded master classes related to marketing that will also be available are:

• Publishing Data Trends You Can Act On with Joshua Tallent, Director of Sales and Education at Firebrand Technologies
• How to Reach Readers in Critical Times and Beyond with Brittyne Lewis, Director of Digital Services, LSC Communications
• Setting up a Self-Publishing Platform for your Overflow Titles with Larry Bennett, Executive Director, Nord Compo

Registration is now open.
Learn more about each session
Presenter bios featured on new PubU Online Engagement site

Bible Gateway interviews Megan Fate Marshman, author of “Meant for Good”

What does it mean when the Bible says God’s plan for your life is to give you a hope and a future? Can you know his plan? Can you trust it? What is active dependence on God? What is God’s definition of good? Bible Gateway interviewed Megan Fate Marshman (@meganfate), author of “Meant for Good: The Adventure of Trusting God and His Plans for You” (Zondervan, 2020).

Read this interview.