October 5, 2020 Edition

John Crone, VP at Josh McDowell Ministries, dies

Josh McDowell Ministries has announced the passing of dear friend John Crone, Vice President at Large. John celebrated 50 years of ministry with Cru and 60 years of faithful marriage with his wife Linda. God blessed John with 83 years of life on earth, and now an eternity of life in Heaven.  Having dedicated their lives to sharing the gospel, John and Linda coordinated the translation, printing, and distribution of over 40 million Christian books in over 100 countries around the world, including many hard-to-reach areas throughout North Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Latin America and Asia.

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ECPA releases October’s Christian bestsellers: “The Harbinger II” tops two lists

“The Harbinger II: The Return” by Jonathan Cahn (Frontline/Charisma Media) grabbed both #1 positions in the Top 50 and the Fiction Christian bestseller lists by a wide margin, selling more copies in the month of September than the next four titles in the Top 50 combined. As of this writing, the book is also listed by Amazon in the Top 20 of its “most sold” books.  In addition, 14 new releases populate this month’s Top 50.

View the Christian Bestseller Lists

The Christy Award® finalists to be named on Thursday in webcast with Chris Fabry

The Christy Award finalists will be announced this Thursday, October 8 in a free webcast at 11 am central.  Since 1999, The Christy Award has honored Christian novels of excellence, imagination, and creativity.  Three finalists in nine fiction categories will be named.  The webcast will be hosted by ECPA president Stan Jantz, and Christy Award Hall of Fame author and radio host Chris Fabry. The event will precede the kick-off to Art of Writing 2020, a series of five weekly webinars for storytellers, writers, and publishers, presented each Thursday – starting October 8 — at 7 pm central.

Registration is free, but required.

NYT bestselling authors Lisa Wingate and William Kent Krueger kick off Art of Writing series this Thursday

Don’t miss this opportunity to participate in a once-in-a-lifetime conversation between two New York Times bestselling and acclaimed novelists William Kent Krueger and Lisa Wingate, as the five-part Art of Writing webinar conference launches this Thursday, October 8. Kent Krueger is the author of more than 20 novels, including the Edgar Award winning Ordinary Grace. His most recent novel, This Tender Land, is a Depression-era adventure story that awakens the reader to atrocities suffered by Native Americans. Lisa Wingate is also the author of more than 20 novels, including the runaway bestseller Before We Were Yours, winner of the Pat Conroy Southern Book Prize. Wingate’s latest, The Book of Lost Friends, is a post-Civil War historical novel about newly freed slaves desperately searching for loved ones who had been sold away. Through their masterful storytelling, both Krueger and Wingate bring attention to troubling chapters in American history that no reader can ignore. Yet the issues don’t drive their books. Instead, the stories are built with captivating plots and compelling characters, taking readers to the dark recesses of the human heart before lifting them to a place of hope and change.

Baker Book House is currently offering a 30% discount on Wingate and Krueger titles this month.  See ChristyAwards.com for details.

Register for the five-part Art of Writing webinar series at the bundle rate of $79.

Largest Publishing in Color online conference starts today

Publishing in Color has only one objective: increase the number of books published by Christian writers of color. This includes groups such as African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinx Americans, and Native Americans, who have been under-represented in terms of the number of published books.  Due to Covid, this conference is online with several acquisition editors and literary agents participating, looking for new writers of color.

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The Rabbit Room presents Hutchmoot as online conference, starting Friday

The Rabbit Room will present Hutchmoot: Homebound, a multi-day digital event focused on community, story, music, and art. The event launches on October 9 with content available through the October 23. Tickets available through October 11. Announced speakers include Steve Taylor, Russell Moore, Russ Ramsey, Andrew Peterson, Ruth Naomi Floyd, Malcolm Guite, Sally Clarkson, Mark Meynell, Lanier Ivester, Phaedra Taylor, Matthew Dickerson, David Taylor, and Helena Sorensen.

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ECPA names 24 book designs as winners of Top Shelf Book Cover Award

ECPA announced the winners of the 2020 Top Shelf Book Cover Award during Thursday’s live broadcast of the closing session of ECPA PubU Online, featuring artist and author Ruth Chou Simons. Nashville-based designers and part of this year’s judging team – Micah Kandros and Becca Wildsmith — helped announce the winning covers, reading the judges’ comments for each winning title.  The judges chose a record-number of designs – 21 books and 3 Bibles – to represent the year’s best and award the Top Shelf Book Cover Award.  The winners include one children’s book and two sets.

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ECPA presents two Bronze and one Gold Award for sales milestones

ECPA recently presented three Sales Awards for the following milestones reached:

• The GOLD AWARD for 500,000 sold was presented to The Passion Translation: New Testament, Psalms, Proverbs & Song of Songs, by BroadStreet Publishing and Dr. Brian Simmons.
• Two BRONZE AWARDS for 100,000 sold were presented to:
  The Color of Compromise by Jemar Tisby (Zondervan Reflective) and You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit by James K. A. Smith (Brazos Press/ Baker Publishing Group).

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Abingdon Women to release “Lose Control” women’s Bible study by Mary Shannon Hoffpauir

Releasing October 20, “Lose Control” by Mary Shannon takes women on a six-week journey through the Book of First Samuel, which tells an epic story about a fight for control and helps women learn to lose control and live in total dependence on God.

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Author/podcaster Jamie Ivey on Jesus Calling Podcast: God’s voice is the one that matters

Author and podcaster Jamie Ivey recently joined the Jesus Calling Podcast, sharing that she knows all about comparison culture, and how it always seems the grass is greener on the other side. But she’s learned how to utilize her gifts, and that it’s how you use your influence—not how large it is—that really makes a difference in the world. Ivey’s book, “You Be You,” is available from B & H Publishing.

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