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The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (@ecpa), in conjunction with Dickinson Press as the sponsor, has announced the winners of the ECPA | dp Book Cover Awards. A total of 101 covers were submitted from 19 publishers for the 6th annual program.

Launched in 2007, the awards aim to educate, promote, and recognize superior cover design in Christian publishing. This year, the program presented two awards: one for design and one for research-based marketability.

Highlighting the art aspect of book covers, the ECPA Book Cover Design Award focuses on the design merits of a book cover, including the level of conceptual thinking, the quality of the execution, and appropriateness for the market. Design winners are:

·         The Hole in Our Holiness by Kevin DeYoung; designed by Josh Dennis (Crossway); in the Small Publisher category

·         Daddy, Is That Story True or Were You Just Preaching? by James W. Moore; designed by David Carlson (Abingdon Press); in the Mid-Sized Publisher category

·         Love Does by Bob Goff; designed by Connie Gabbert (Thomas Nelson); in the Large Publisher category.

Highlighting the science aspect of covers, the Research award is based on the consumer-buying research of the Research Institute for Social Change, which measures consumer motivations as it relates to cover design and book sales. Covers were judged and analyzed on how well their design elements match characteristics of their intended audience. Research winners are:

·         Spark by Jason Jaggard; designed by Kristopher Orr (WaterBrook Press); in the Small Publisher category.

·         What Every Man Wishes His Father Had Told Him by Byron Forrest Yawn; designed by Koechel Peterson & Associates (Harvest House Publishers); in the Mid-Sized Publisher category

·         Soul Detox by Craig Groeschel; designed by Curt Diepenhorst (Zondervan); in the Large Publisher category.

Also see our previous blogposts:

·         “The 2013 Christianity Today Book Awards”

·         “The 2012 Leadership Book Awards”

·         “ECPA Announces 2012 Christian Book Award Finalists”

·         “Christian Book Award Winners for 2012”

·         “2012 Christian Small Publisher Book of the Year Award Winners Announced”

·         “ECPA Announces 2011’s Best Book Covers.”

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you strategically design your book covers.

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Martin Taylor (@nztaylor), founder of the Digital Publishing Forum, says bookstores should adapt the example from the technical industry in order to succeed in today’s fast-changing retail environment. He points to the strategy known as co-opetition, in which it’s “in each supplier’s self-interest to help competitors reach its customers.” He says, in the advent of Web 2.0, “even traditional media sites found that opening up and sharing widely, even with competitors, was good for business.”

Bookshops are already operating in a world where readers have lots of choices for new book discovery with bookshops just a small part of their repertoire. In this world, the idea that a store in some way ‘owns’ a customer who is disloyal if they stray elsewhere to buy seems quaint.... So a better strategy than closed walls might be a welcoming and respectful openness.

The lesson from co-opetition is that when barriers come down and markets open up, your best strategy might be to work with competitors in ways that make your customers’ lives easier.

Influence – amplified through partnerships, online media, and other channels – rather than location, price, or convenience might be the currency of the leading bookstores of the future. At an industry level, that influence – whether or not the purchase happens in bricks and mortar stores – is the best antidote to the too-common view of an industry in terminal decline.

Read this in full.

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you publish and market your ebooks and pbooks.

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Add our Facebook page (http://facebook.com/SomersaultGroup) & Twitter stream (http://twitter.com/smrsault) to your Flipboard account on your iPad, iPhone, or Android. 

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Christian Retailing (@ChristianRetail) reports that ACM Digital, Inc., has launched "Myeebo" (@MYeebo) tablet and apps, described as the first digital device and service to provide "all categories of downloadable Christian entertainment," including ebooks, music, audiobooks, and movies.

David Amster, chief innovation officer of ACM, says, "Our objective is threefold: provide independent Christian retailers with a solid digital service to give them a competitive edge with Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Apple; significantly improve the online browsing and discovery experience for ebooks and music; and create a way for retailers to partner with churches."

Amster says, so far, 125 retailers have signed up to offer Myeebo, including Berean Christian Stores (@BereanChristian), Lighthouse Christian Supply, Logos Christian Bookstore, and Bible Gift Shop. In the first quarter of 2013, ACM Digital plans to add another 75 stores.

The name Myeebo is a derivative of the words “my,” “electronic,” and “books.” The tablet’s suggested retail price is $179. It includes an 8-inch touch screen with features not available on the Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet.

Read this in full.

In November, Family Christian (@FCstores) announced it was discontinuing its own ebook tablet, edifi, which had just launched in June. FCS is now selling Kobo (@kobo) e-readers.

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you publish and market your ebooks and pbooks.

Learn about online marketing with SomersaultSocial.

Add our Facebook page (http://facebook.com/SomersaultGroup) & Twitter stream (http://twitter.com/smrsault) to your Flipboard account on your iPad, iPhone, or Android. 

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Somersault was given early review access to Guy Kawasaki (@GuyKawasaki) and Shawn Welch’s (@shawnwelch) forthcoming 324-page book APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur — How to Publish a Book (Nononina Press, 2012, ISBN 978-0-9885231-1-1, Kindle edition).

In describing their work, Kawasaki and Welch have coined the term “artisanal publishing,” which they say consists of “writers who love their craft and who control every aspect of the process from beginning to end. In this new approach, writers are no longer at the mercy of large, traditional publishers, and readers will have more books to read.” Kawaski says,

In 2011 the publisher of one of my books, Enchantment, could not fill an order for 500 ebook copies of the book. Because of this experience, I self-published my next book, What the Plus!, and learned first-hand that self-publishing is a complex, confusing, and idiosyncratic process. As Steve Jobs said, “There must be a better way.”

With Shawn Welch, a tech wizard, I wrote APE to help people take control of their writing careers.

Among the chapter titles are:

·         Tools for Writers

·         How to Write Your Book

·         How to Finance Your Book

·         How to Avoid the Self-Published Look

·         Understanding Book Distribution

·         How to Convert Your File

·         How to Price Your Book

·         How to Guerrilla-Market Your Book

Kawasaki and Welch have done a huge service for hesitant or nervous authors who want to self-publish (they've also lobbed a huge salvo into the ramparts of traditional publishers already agitated over the revolutionary changes occurring in the industry). The book is packed with helpful, practical advice and direct links to important online sources (the only thing missing is a link to the wealth of publishing and marketing information at SomersaultNOW ☺). Also check out the Kindle/iBookstore/Nook/Google Play/Kobo Royalty Calculator on the book's website.

If you want to become an expert at self-publishing, buy APE.

If you want experts to help you publish and market your book, contact us (@smrsault). ☺

Also see our blogposts, "Self-Publishing a Book: 25 Things You Need to Know" and "Free iBook Targets New Writers, Missionaries, Christian Journalists," and others tagged "Self-Publishing."

Learn about online marketing with SomersaultSocial.

Add our Facebook page (http://facebook.com/SomersaultGroup) & Twitter stream (http://twitter.com/smrsault) to your Flipboard account on your iPad, iPhone, or Android.

Get our blogposts delivered into your email inbox.

And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard.

The Biblio-Mat is a random book dispenser built by Craig Small (thejuggernaut.ca) for The Monkey’s Paw, an idiosyncratic antiquarian bookshop in Toronto, Canada. Biblio-Mat books (112 million possibilities), which vary widely in size and subject matter, cost $2 and are dispensed without regard to customer selection.

The machine was conceived as an artful alternative to the ubiquitous and often ignored discount sidewalk bin. When a customer puts coins into it, the Biblio-Mat dramatically whirrs and vibrates as the machine is set in motion. The ring of an old telephone bell enhances the thrill when the customer’s mystery book is delivered with a satisfying clunk into the receptacle below.

Read this in full.

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you lead strategically.

Learn about online marketing with SomersaultSocial.

Get our blogposts delivered into your email inbox.

And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard; especially the Innovation tab.

The management team of Family Christian (@FCstores), the nation's largest Christian retail chain with 280 stores in 36 states, has partnered with a group of Atlanta-based Christian businessmen to acquire the company from its private equity owners. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Under the new ownership, Family Christian's pledge is to contribute 100% of its profits to Christian causes and, specifically, ministries serving widows and orphans both in the USA and abroad. Family Christian has always been committed to providing resources for the Christian community, but the new ownership structure will allow the organization to not only equip Christians in their daily walk, but to increase the organization's impact by providing substantial financial support to faith-based causes.

Read the news release.

Additionally, Family Christian president and CEO, Cliff Bartow, told Publishers Weekly the company has decided to drop its own e-reader – the edifi, launched in June – “because the technology is moving so rapidly, and this is not our core competency.” Instead, Family will work with Kobo (@kobo), carrying four of their color devices and three of their black-and-white devices for the Christmas season. “We definitely believe in the future of ebooks,” Bartow said. (Also see PW’s earlier article, “Family Christian Chain Launches E-Reader.”)

As for the future of brick and mortar, Bartow said, “We believe our stores are a viable concept. Today customers want to be served through multiple channels. Look at Apple--they do business online but their physical stores are also important. Our customers want the store experience. They want a place they can come for inspiration and interaction with our staff.”

Also see Christianity Today’s coverage.

Let Somersault (@smrsault) help you navigate the fast-changing environment of today's book publishing world.

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And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard.

LifeWay Christian Resources (@LifeWay) has launched a new ebookstore and a new mobile ebook reader.

The LifeWay Reader app is now available as a free download from the Apple App Store for iPhone and iPad and from Google Play for Android devices. LifeWay's new app allows users to build a personal library from a growing list of ebooks and resources from the same Christian publishers found in LifeWay Christian Stores and at LifeWay.com. The LifeWay.com ebookstore currently offers more than 8,000 titles.

The LifeWay Reader app comes with a free pre-loaded copy of the Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB). Other free content also is available online.

Read this in full.

LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention (@SBCLife), established in Nashville, TN, in 1891, is one of the world's largest providers of Christian products and services, including Bibles, church literature, books, music, audio and video recordings, church supplies, and Internet services through LifeWay.com. The company also owns and operates 160 LifeWay Christian Stores across the US, as well as one of the largest Christian conference centers in the country.

Read our previous blogposts:

·         "Family Christian Stores Now Selling Its Own Tablet"

·         "Parable, Mardel Latest to Launch Ebook Sales; Ebooks Now at 500+ Christian Stores"

·         “Ganxy Offers an 'Easier Way to Sell & Market Ebooks'”

·         “How Ebook Buyers Discover Books”

·         “Sites That Facilitate Book Discovery”

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you strategically plan your book’s disoverability.

Get our blogposts delivered into your email inbox.

And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard; especially the Book Discovery Sites tab.

In the above video, David Sheets, vice present of sales, explains Snowfall’s program.

Social media connection is rapidly becoming a necessary tool for authors. Authors have a chance to engage their fans like never before. The Snowfall Facebook bookstore application allows authors and publishers to open an e-commerce bookstore right on the Facebook fan-page. Authors can bypass the cost and hassles of other online commerce methods and connect directly with readers and fans. Not only will they be able to browse titles, but also add them to a shopping cart and check out through the PayPal network.

The biggest feature, however, is that authors and publishers won't have to ship them. Leave the printing and shipping to Snowfall Press. Order confirmations will automatically transmit to the Snowfall Press server, and print/ship order directly to the end reader/fan.

Read more information about this new service.

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you maximize the communication of your brand’s content through news releases and electronic press kits.

Learn about online marketing with SomersaultSocial.

Get our blogposts delivered into your email inbox.

Be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard; especially the Publishers tab, which includes links to self-publishing publishers.

Digital Book World (@DigiBookWorld) reports on new research from Bowker (@Bowker & @DiscoverBowker) that says about 235,000 titles were self-published in the US in 2011; 87,000 of them were ebooks.

While most self-published titles are still print books (some 63%), the ebook category is growing faster. Ebook self-publishing production is up 129% since 2006, versus a gain of 33% for print over the same period.

A handful of larger players dominate the ebook self-publishing market, according to the report. Author Solutions (47,094 titles, now owned by Penguin) and Smashwords (40,608 titles) led the way but Lulu wasn’t far behind (38,005). Outside of these three and Amazon’s CreateSpace, which dominates the print side of self-publishing, no other company has more than 10% market-share.

Read this in full.

Read the news release.

Also, paidContent’s (@paidContent) coverage, “Bowker: Number of self-published books up 287% since 2006,” says “43% of all print books published in the US in 2011 were self-published.”

See our previous blogposts

·         “The Golden Age of Self-Publishing is Driving Title Growth”

·         “Ebooks Projected to Comprise 50% of US Trade Book Market By 2016”

·         “Extensive New Study: The Rise of E-reading”

On a related note, IndieReader’s (@IndieReader) article, “Are Self-Pubbed Authors Killing the Publishing Industry?” by Melissa Foster (@Melissa_Foster) says, “Self-published authors have created a devaluing of the written word, and, some of them are scrambling to see how low they can go to get noticed.”

Read this in full.

And now Publishers Weekly (@PublishersWkly) reports that Random House and Penquin are in merger talks.

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you take advantage of today's technology to publish and market your content.

Learn about online marketing with SomersaultSocial.

Get our blogposts delivered into your email inbox.

Be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard; especially the Publishers tab, which includes links to self-publishing publishers.

Christian Retailing (@ChristianRetail) says, “Christian retailers are reporting good sales and positive feedback for CBA's 3rd annual Christian Store Week (@CSW_2012)” Sept. 28 – Oct. 8.

More than 400 Christian stores nationwide — including 134 independent retailers and the Family Christian Stores (@FCstores) chain — partnered with World Vision (@WorldVisionUSA) to raise awareness of the need for hunger relief among American children as part of CSW, an effort to spotlight Christian bookstores and drive traffic, CBA said.

Read this in full.

See our previous blogpost, “This is Christian Store Week.”

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you reach the Christian store market with your brand message.

Get our blogposts delivered into your email inbox.

And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard.