NY TIMES BEST SELLING TITLES 3/31/2013

• THE FIVE LOVE LANGUAGES by Gary Chapman (Northfield/Moody) is #1 in paperback advice & misc.
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• AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL by Ben C. Carson and Candy Carson (Zondervan) is #2 in paperback nonfiction; #4 in combined hardcover & paperback nonfiction; #4 in combined print & e-Book nonfiction; #8 in e-Book nonfiction; and #31 in hardcover nonfiction.
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• HEAVEN IS FOR REAL by Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent (Thomas Nelson) is #8 in paperback nonfiction; #22 in combined hardcover & paperback nonfiction; #23 in combined print & e-Book nonfiction; and #27 in e-Book nonfiction.
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• DAMASCUS COUNTDOWN by Joel C. Rosenberg (Tyndale House Publishers) is #10 in hardcover fiction; and #23 in combined hardcover & paperback fiction.
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• TO HEAVEN AND BACK by Mary C. Neal (WaterBrook)is #13 in paperback advice & misc.
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• THE CHANCE by Karen Kingsbury (Howard Books) is #14 in hardcover fiction; and #32 in combined hardcover & paperback fiction.
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• THE HARBINGER by Jonathan Cahn (FrontLine) is #15 in paperback trade fiction.
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• THE DUCK COMMANDER FAMILY by Willie & Korie Robertson with Mark Schlabach (Howard Books) is #18 in hardcover nonfiction; and #26 in combined hardcover & paperback nonfiction.
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• THE STORY OF GOD AND ALL OF US Roma Downey and Mark Burnett (FaithWords)is #20 in hardcover fiction.
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• KISSES FROM KATIE by Katie Davis with Beth Clark (Howard) is #24 in paperback nonfiction.

From ECPA's Rush to Press at ecpanews.org/rush

RELIGIOUS BOOK SALES

Continuing an upward trend in e-book sales, religious presses reported a nearly 23% increase for the first 11 months of 2012 versus January-November 2011, with sales of more than $53 million, according to the latest figures available from the Association of American Publishers (AAP). The association has also seen double-digit growth in religious digital books in recent months.

Overall, religious book sales for the year-to-date versus the same time frame in 2011 saw a 3.7% drop to more than $542 million. AAP has seen a decrease in overall religious book sales during recent reports.

Religious paperback sales experienced a more than 15% decrease for the year-to-date versus January-November 2011, with sales of $162 million. In the same date range, religious hardcover sales were down 1%, with sales of more than $274 million.

For the month of November, though, religious presses saw hardcover sales rise more than 25% compared to November 2011. Religious paperback sales also rose 6.6% in November 2012, as did e-books, which were up 16%.

With nearly 1,200 publishers reporting, AAP's Monthly StatShot report included data from Concordia Publishing House, Gospel Light, Moody Publishers, NavPress, Thomas Nelson and Tyndale House Publishers, among others represented by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association.

B & H LAUNCHES GIFT BOOK LINE

B&H Publishing Group is planning a relaunch of a major gift book brand and adding a new devotional line to its already successful gift book program.

Before joining B&H last year, Dawn Woods, publisher, Christian Living and Gift Books, had more than 10 years prior experience working in gift books for Thomas Nelson. Along with building on the publishers’ current success, Woods is also moving the gift book line into the future.

“When I arrived at B&H Publishing, I decided to focus my attention to their current success and add additional content to their gift line,” Woods said. “With the success that we have had in the past, we only see a bright future in the days to come.”

In the spring, B&H will relaunch the “Bible Promises” line with Bible Promises for Dad and Bible Promises for Teacher, and has six more titles in the line on the schedule to release in 2014.

Fall will see the release of seven gift books, three of which will be added to its successful “Day by Day” devotional brand (Stand Firm, Journey and Experiencing God At Home). Included in the seven are a Christmas title (YuleTide Blessings) and a brand-new series titled “Life Wisdom” (Life Wisdom From Billy Graham and Life Wisdom From Coach John Wooden). 

With authors such as Beth Moore (Believing God Day by Day, Praying God's Word Day by Day and Breaking Free Day by Day), Henry Blackaby (Experiencing God Day by Day) and Stephen and Alex Kendrick (Love Dare Day by Day), B&H has sold more than 1.5 million units of its “Day by Day” titles. In total, B&H Publishing Group has sold nearly 2 Million gift books in the last five years.

In 2014, the company also plans to launch an additional, new devotional line.

NY TIMES BEST SELLER FOR WEEK OF 3/24

• THE FIVE LOVE LANGUAGES by Gary Chapman (Northfield/Moody) is #1 in paperback advice & misc.
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• AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL by Ben C. Carson and Candy Carson (Zondervan) is #3 in paperback nonfiction; #3 in combined hardcover & paperback nonfiction; #4 in combined print & e-Book nonfiction; #19 in e-Book nonfiction; and #27 in hardcover nonfiction.
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• HEAVEN IS FOR REAL by Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent (Thomas Nelson) is #6 in paperback nonfiction; #20 in combined hardcover & paperback nonfiction; #30 in combined print & e-Book nonfiction; and #33 in e-Book nonfiction.
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• DAMASCUS COUNTDOWN by Joel C. Rosenberg (Tyndale House Publishers) is #7 in hardcover fiction; #9 in combined hardcover & paperback fiction; #15 in combined print & e-Book fiction; and #21 in e-Book fiction.
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• THE CHANCE by Karen Kingsbury (Howard Books) is #8 in hardcover fiction; #11 in combined print & e-Book fiction; #12 in combined hardcover & paperback fiction; and #16 in e-Book fiction.
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• JESUS IS by Judah Smith (Thomas Nelson) is #11 in paperback advice & misc.
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• FOLLOW ME by David Platt (Tyndale House) is #12 in paperback advice & misc.
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• THE HARBINGER by Jonathan Cahn (FrontLine) is #12 in paperback trade fiction.
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• TO HEAVEN AND BACK by Mary C. Neal (WaterBrook)is #13 in paperback advice & misc.
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• THE DUCK COMMANDER FAMILY by Willie & Korie Robertson with Mark Schlabach (Howard Books) is #21 in hardcover nonfiction; and #28 in combined hardcover & paperback nonfiction.
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• KISSES FROM KATIE by Katie Davis with Beth Clark (Howard) is #25 in paperback nonfiction.
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• THE STORY OF GOD AND ALL OF US Roma Downey and Mark Burnett (FaithWords)is #27 in hardcover fiction.

From ECPA's Rush to Press at ecpanews.org/rush

A PRAYER REQUEST

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

To all of Sally Stuart’s prayer partners,

Hello to all you writers. I’ll just go by my first name, Steve, in this prayer request.

As writers, there is really only one reason why you would consider praying for me and that’s because, as a computer programmer, I’d like to computerize Sally’s Periodical Manuscript Tracking system.

A little background is in order. I was a professional programmer analyst from 1987 to 1996 when I became disabled. I’ve been disabled up until now. But I’ve resumed my studies and intend to return to work after I complete a certificate program at a local university.

The reason I’m asking for prayer is because I’ve developed sleep apnea. When I became disabled, I weighed approximately 165 lbs.; I’m now at 225 lbs. This weight gain has caused several problems:

• Sleep apnea causes me to be lethargic.
• Worst of all, and mysteriously, I tire and fall asleep most easily when I’m working on computer programming issues. It seems as if:
  • I don’t fall asleep but am put to sleep;
  • I don’t sense myself falling asleep; rather I just notice myself waking up after having slept at my desk, sometimes for nearly two hours;
  • These factors make me wonder if I’m suffering demonic, in contradistinction to simply physical problems.
• I have had sleep studies and do use a BiPAP, a type of CPAP, but it only helps a little.
• At bedtime, I only sleep two hours at a clip and must force myself to get extra sleep.

What are my prayer requests?

1. Please pray that I can walk regularly. Walking releases endorphins which help me stay alert. It’s too early to walk when I arise, I tend to sleep at my desk the hours when I should walk, and by the time I’m ready, I feel like I should be working—around 11:00 A.M.
2. Please pray that I sleep longer when I do sleep. Two hours is clearly not enough.
3. This is a weird problem. Something often drives me to my PC late at night. I should go to bed around 9 PM to 10 PM. Instead, I’ll go to the PC around that time and just fall asleep in my desk chair. Now that kind of sleep is unproductive; it is un-restful, so it doesn’t help me. Yet it causes me to go to bed around 2:00 AM, after which I awake at 4:00 AM. When I do awake, my head is groggy but my body wants to work. That makes going to sleep hard. Please pray God changes this strange tendency about me.

For those of you who care to pray for me, I thank you dearly.

Steve

WRITE2IGNITE! WRITERS CONFERENCE

Dear Writing Friends, 

I want to invite you to the Write2Ignite! Writers' Conference held at North Greenville University on March 15 -16, 2013. Registration is still open, andthe fees are reasonable.

All workshops will be presented by editors, publishers, published authors, and professional writing instructors.

Our keynote speaker this year is Cecil Murphey, author of over 130 books, including "90 Minutes in Heaven."

First Pages, Critiques, Workshops, Door Prizes, Food, and Fellowship all wrapped up within a Christian environment. Plus there are two tracks of workshops--one for adults and one for teens.

All information can be found at www.write2ignite.com. Please check it out and help us spread the word. Hope to see you there!

Blessings,

Jean Hall

View/reply to this message

BACK FROM FLORIDA

Hi All: I'm back from the Florida Christian Writers' Conference. Was a great week. New leadership did an outstanding job. I was honored to be the first to receive the "Billie Wilson Matthew 5:16 Award" for service to the writing community. What a surprise that was!

NY TIMES BEST SELLERS WK OF 3/10

• THE FIVE LOVE LANGUAGES by Gary Chapman (Northfield/Moody) is #1 in paperback advice & misc.
• AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL by Ben C. Carson and Candy Carson (Zondervan) is #3 in combined print & e-Book nonfiction; #3 in paperback nonfiction; #3 in combined hardcover & paperback nonfiction; #4 in e-Book nonfiction; and #8 in hardcover nonfiction.
• HEAVEN IS FOR REAL by Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent (Thomas Nelson) is #7 in paperback nonfiction; #19 in combined print & e-Book nonfiction; #20 in e-Book nonfiction; and #24 in combined hardcover & paperback nonfiction.
• THE HARBINGER by Jonathan Cahn (FrontLine) is #8 in paperback trade fiction; and #15 in combined hardcover & paperback fiction.
• FOLLOW ME by David Platt (Tyndale House) is #13 in paperback advice & misc.
• TO HEAVEN AND BACK by Mary C. Neal (WaterBrook)is #14 in paperback advice & misc.
• KISSES FROM KATIE by Katie Davis with Beth Clark (Howard) is #23 in paperback nonfiction.
• THE DUCK COMMANDER FAMILY by Willie & Korie Robertson with Mark Schlabach (Howard Books) is #26 in hardcover nonfiction.
• AN INVISIBLE THREAD by Laura Schroff and Alex Tresniowski (Howard Books) is #27 in paperback nonfiction.
• CROSS ROADS by Wm. Paul Young (FaithWords) is #30 in hardcover fiction.

From ECPA's Rush to Press at ecpanews.org/Rush