|
 Evangelical Christian Publishers Association |
Week of July 21, 2008
Industry News
Zondervan Introduces Industry's First Digital Merchandising System: Symtio
Zondervan, a world leader in Christian communications, today introduced Symtio, a proprietary digital merchandising system designed to respond to the changing needs of consumers and help CBA retailers compete in the fast-growing digital world. Zondervan President and CEO Moe Girkins introduced Symtio before an audience of several hundred CBA retailers at the International Christian Retailer Show in Orlando, Fla., the annual trade show for the industry. “We live in a digital world and shopping preferences are changing as many consumers now want to buy their books the way they buy their music,” said Girkins. “The question has been: how do we satisfy everyone? How do we meet consumers’ needs by offering our content in a digital format without turning our backs on the CBA? We believe Symtio is the answer.”
Christian Retail Industry Renews Commitment to Work Together as They Look to the Future
A renewed sense of the importance of working together emerged as nearly 7,500 people representing all segments of the Christian retail industry attended the International Christian Retail Show held this week at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando. Retailers from all 50 states and 63 countries converged for the largest gathering in the world of people involved with Christian products. “I was pleased to see retail and supplier leaders come together in regard to a number of industry issues to explore ways to work together as we move into a new day for Christian Retail,” said Bill Anderson, president and CEO of CBA. “Suppliers seem convinced there is a future for Christian Retail and that the future of Christian Retail is critical to their own.” Several new initiatives were announced at the show that reflect the industry’s increasing adoption of new technologies to serve customers and squeeze out costs.
Relationships Over Revenue---How One Small Publishing House is Changing the Rules
It doesn’t make sense. It goes against the grain. How can a publisher come from a position of giving first and still make ends meet? That’s the million dollar question facing the team at NavPress every day. And they love it. “At NavPress we are first and foremost Navigators,” says Executive Publisher Mike Miller. “Because we are connected to a world-wide ministry we are able to do things differently than other publishers. We are here to advance the Kingdom of God. When we concentrate on building Kingdom-based relationships with like-minded ministries, we can trust God for the revenue,” he affirms.
Milestones
Zondervan Receives Supplier of the Year Honors and Seven Other Awards at 2008 International Christian Retail Show
Zondervan, the world’s leading Christian Communications company, was named Supplier of the Year by the Christian Booksellers Association (CBA) for the eighth year. The company was honored with this top award and seven others this week during the 2008 International Christian Retailers Show (ICRS) in Orlando, the $4.2 billion Christian product industry’s largest annual gathering hosted by CBA. In addition to Supplier of the Year award, Zondervan and its authors were honored with three ECPA Christian Book Awards which are presented annually to honor the best in Christian Publishing across six genres. Zondervan also received four Retailer’s Choice Awards, from 31 categories, which are presented by Christian Retailing magazine and voted on by retailers.
Nelson Wins Nine 2008 Retailer's Choice Awards
Thomas Nelson, Inc. was awarded nine of Christian Retailing's 2008 Retailer's Choice Awards. The awards were announced on Monday, July 14th at the International Christian Retail Show in Orlando, Florida. Thomas Nelson received more than twice the wins of any other publishing house and walked away with almost a third of the cumulative awards.
"There are two things about Retailer's Choice Awards that make them among the highest honors in this industry," said Michael S. Hyatt, President and CEO of Thomas Nelson. "First, the awards are selected by Christian retailers, who work on the front lines to help Christians strengthen their spiritual journey. Second, the awards are judged on a product's ability to inspire, encourage, and affirm Godly living. I am so proud of the entire Thomas Nelson team."
The Thomas Nelson winners are:
[Read More]
Product News
Beginning September 15, 2008, the New Living Translation will become the default Bible translation for Bible searches and reference links on Christianity Today International’s websites. When users select a Bible reference in the content on any of CTI’s 40 channels, they will be taken to the NLTStudyBible.com page for that reference, which will include not only the text of the verse, but the verse in context, as well as all of the study notes and features related to that verse from the NLT Study Bible. Additionally, CTI’s flagship websites — ChristianityToday.com/ct, TodaysChristianWoman.com, IgniteYourFaith.com, LeadershipJournal.net and PreachingToday.com — will feature a Bible search box for users to search the NLT by reference or keyword.
Retail News
Barbour Publishing Announces Winners from ICRS Fiction Cafe
Barbour Publishing is pleased to announce the winners of the Barbour Fiction Café prize drawing held Tuesday, July 15, at ICRS. At the Fiction Café, participants had the opportunity to grab a cup of coffee and mingle with Barbour’s five featured fiction authors: Wanda E. Brunstetter, Mary Connealy, Kelly Eileen Hake, Christine Lynxwiler, and M. L. Tyndall.
Endnotes
| Submit a News Item | Send your industry related news release preferably in Word format or in the body of an email to RushtoPress@ecpa.org. RUSH to PRESS is sent every Monday morning and releases must be received by noon on the Friday prior to the Monday's publication. ECPA will post the entire press release for a minimum of one week. |
| Announce A Job Opening | To announce a job opening in RUSH to PRESS, post it first at the ECPA Career Center at www.ecpa.org/careers and your announcement will appear in the next issue of RUSH to PRESS. |
| Subscribe to Rush to Press | To receive the latest industry news items each week, please email RushtoPress@ecpa.org with your name, title, company, and email address and you will be added to the distribution list. |
| Unsubscribe | If you would like to be removed from the RUSH to PRESS distribution list, contact us at RushtoPress@ecpa.org and let us know you wish to unsubscribe. (Note: if you click on Safe Unsubscribe below, you will be removed from all ECPA communications lists.) |
| Advertise | If you would like to reach nearly 2000 industry subscribers and media contacts each week, consider advertising in RUSH to PRESS with a banner ad. Contact sponsorship@ecpa.org for more information. |
Rush to Press has RSS feed option
To add Rush to Press as an RSS feed, go to the Rush to Press web page and click on the orange RSS icon in the upper right of your tool bar and subscribe. You will then be notified of new Rush to Press issues in your RSS reader.
Every press release in this electronic
news service is received from the
original source. No statement herein
can be attributed to ECPA unless
originally created by this association.
No endorsement expressed or implied.
This is a publication of the
Evangelical Christian Publishers Association,
9633 S. 48th St., Ste. 140, Phoenix AZ 85044. For more information about ECPA, contact us at info@ecpa.org or visit us at www.ecpa.org.