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Thomas Nelson will continue to operate as an independent company with its unique editorial focus on inspirational and Christian content. Details, such as how Thomas Nelson will benefit from HarperCollins global print and digital platform, will be forthcoming.

HarperCollins also has a religion imprint called HarperOne (@HarperOne).

Read the news release.

GalleyCat says

Last month, News Corp. (the corporate parent of HarperCollins) announced it would split into two entities, an entertainment business and a publishing business.

Digital Book World says

Digital revenues are growing quickly in Christian publishing, with the Association of American Publishers reporting nearly a 50% increase in digital revenues in religious publishing in February 2012 versus February 2011.

See our previous blogpost, “HarperCollins to Acquire Thomas Nelson.”

Bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard.

Family Christian Stores (@FCstores) is the world’s largest Christian-focused retail chain with nearly 300 stores nationwide. Along with its books, Bibles, gifts, and music, it now is selling its own exclusive e-reader, edifi.

Based on a chart comparing edifi with the Nook Color, Nook Tablet, and Kindle Fire, edifi is comparable but a bit smaller (although same screen size), has less resolution and pixel density, runs on Android 2.3.5, comes with its own stand, and is less expensive. It’s uniquely pre-installed with family-friendly features and free apps including Safe Search Wi-Fi Web browsing, 27 Bible translations, and Christian Internet radio. With edifi, users are able to check email, access social networks, watch movies, display photos, and download ebooks and read them with the included FC Reader app.

Read our previous blogposts on the subject of tablets.

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you publish your content for ebooks, pbooks, and audiobooks.

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

According to recent research, 44% of online American adults (that’s 35% of all American adults) use the Internet for religious purposes.

Now a new study by Grey Matter Research, Phoenix, AZ, says 36% of American adults who are online have visited the website of a church or other local place of worship within the last year.

Most commonly, people visiting the website of a place of worship are

·         checking to see the times of services (43%)

·         checking what activities are offered (e.g. youth groups, studies, events – 29%)

·         looking for a map or directions to the church’s location (28%)

·         watching streaming video (26%)

·         listening to streaming audio (26%)

·         checking to see what the church’s religious beliefs are (22%)

·         requesting prayer (18%)

·         downloading a podcast (15%)

·         checking what denomination or group they belong to (15%)

·         sending a message to the pastor or leader (12%)

·         posting on a bulletin board or forum (5%).

Read this in full.

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you discern relevant research and connect your brand’s content with searching people.

And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard, especially the Research tab.

On the heels of Gallup’s assessment of the religiosity by state, American Bible Society (@americanbible) has released findings from its State of the Bible survey (@UncoverTheWord) conducted by Barna Group (@barnagroup), which details Americans’ beliefs about the Bible, its role in society, its presence in US homes, and more.

·         47% of American adults believe the Bible has too little influence in society today; only 16% believe it has too much influence, with the remaining adults expressing neutral opinions

·         55% read the Bible to be closer to God, down 9% (from 64%) in 2011

·         79% believe they are knowledgeable about the Bible but 54% are unable to correctly identify the first 5 books of the Bible

·         46% believe the Bible, the Koran, and the Book of Mormon are different expressions of the same spiritual truths; 46% disagree

·         On average, 85% of US households own a Bible; the average number of Bibles per household is 4.3

·         36% of Americans read the Bible less than once a year or never, while 33% read the Bible once a week or more

·         Younger adults are less likely to perceive the Bible as relevant and useful when compared with older adults.

·         62% of adults age 66 and older believe the Bible contains everything a person needs to know about living a meaningful life, dropping to 54% among boomers (age 47 to 65), 44% among those age 28 to 46, and dropping even further to 34% for those age 18 to 27.

Read this in full.

See the graphic (pdf).

Read the full analysis report (pdf).

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you reach Bible readers.

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

A demographic milestone has been passed that will be important to marketers and publishers. Here’s how The Wall Street Journal puts it:

For the first time in US history, whites of European ancestry account for less than half of newborn children, marking a demographic tipping point that is already changing the nation's politics, economy, and workforce.

Theologian Martin E. Marty suggests,

Insert the word “Religion” next to “Politics” and “Economy” ... and you will have the mix which excites, troubles, and provides new agendas.

According to the WSJ,

Among the roughly four million children born in the US between July 2010 and July 2011, 50.4% belonged to a racial or ethnic group that in previous generations would have classified them as minorities, up from 48.6% in the same period two years earlier, the Census Bureau says. That was the first 12-month stretch in which non-Hispanic white children accounted for less than half the country's births.

The New York Times says,

While over all, whites will remain a majority for some time, the fact that a younger generation is being born in which minorities are the majority has broad implications for the country’s economy, its political life and its identity. “This is an important tipping point,” said William H. Frey, the senior demographer at the Brookings Institution, describing the shift as a “transformation from a mostly white baby boomer culture to the more globalized multiethnic country that we are becoming.”

Read the WSJ article in full.

Read The NYT article in full.

Read Martin Marty’s commentary in full.

Read the Census Bureau news release.

Also see our previous blogposts, “Millennials Aren't Kids Anymore; Plurals Are” and “New Website for Demographic Info.”

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you reach your brand’s targeted demographic.

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

According to a new study from Grey Matter Research (Phoenix, AZ), 44% of online American adults (that’s 35% of all American adults) use the Internet for religious purposes. During the last 6 months:

·         19% have visited the website of a church or other place of worship they’re currently attending

·         17% have visited the website of a church or place of worship they’re not attending

·         19% have visited a website designed to provide religious instruction or learning

·         17% read religion-oriented blogs once a month or more

·         14% have a pastor or other religious leader as a friend on Facebook or a similar social network site

·         11% have visited the website of a group or organization from a religious faith that’s different from their own

·         1 out of 10 have “Liked” a church or other place of worship on Facebook or a similar social network site

·         8% participate in religion-oriented discussions online (e.g. bulletin boards or forums) once a month or more

·         2% follow a church or other place of worship on Twitter

·         2% follow a pastor or other religious leader on Twitter

·         57% of online adults under age 35 use the Internet for religion, compared to 48% who are 35 to 49 years old, 36% who are 50 to 64, and 31% who are 65 or older.

Ron Sellers, president of Grey Matter Research, notes how much diversity there is in how the Internet is used for spiritual purposes:

No one type of religious use or method dominates Internet religion. Eight different activities we evaluated saw participation from between 8% and 19% of online adults, from blogs to church websites to social media. There’s tremendous diversity in who is using the Web for spirituality, but also in how it’s getting used for that purpose.

Read this in full.

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you connect your brand’s content with searching people.

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

This article in Christianity Today (@CTmagazine) by Kent Annan (@kentannan) draws organizational communication lessons from a recent social justice viral video. He says, “We can all keep striving to better understand how to work toward justice not only with our actions, but also with how we tell people's stories. Jesus' so-called Golden Rule should serve as the overarching guide: ‘You should treat people in the same way that you want people to treat you’ (Matt. 7:12 CEB).”

His 6 principles are:

1.    People need a clear, compelling next step....

2.    The audience is who you're talking to—and who you're talking about....

3.    Be virally prepared....

4.    Take care when casting the hero and agent of change....

5.    The pitch is the message....

6.    Be attentive, not safe....

Read this in full.

Also see Ken Davis’ (@KenDavisLive) guest post on Michael Hyatt’s (@MichaelHyatt) blog, “4 Characteristics of Effective Communicators”:

1.    Prepare a message with a singular and crystal clear focus….

2.    Read an audience and customize the presentation to make that audience want to listen….

3.    Be passionate about the subject….

4.    Leave the audience no doubt about how to benefit from the talk’s objective….

Read this in full.

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you tell your story.

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

The above image, especially for the National Day of Prayer (@NationalPrayer), is by Common English Bible (@CommonEngBible). See it on Facebook (www.facebook.com/LiveTheBible) and Pinterest (http://pinterest.com/pin/91479436151190489/). Place it on your own blog, Facebook status update, or Pinterest board, or tweet about it (#CEBtour).

Recognizing “the absolute highest quality in Christian books based on excellence in content, literary quality, design, and impact,” the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (@ecpa) has announced the winners for the 2012 Christian Book Awards (@CBAwards & @ChristianBkExpo). Presented annually since 1978, the Christian Book Awards honor titles in 7 categories: Bibles, Bible Reference, Non-Fiction, Fiction, Children, Inspiration, and New Author.

Five finalists are selected in each category following a stringent judging process by judging panels specially selected for each category. The top scoring book in each category is named the Christian Book Award winner. The Christian Book of the Year is chosen among the finalists to represent Christian publishing's highest quality and greatest impact for 2012.

The Christian Book Award winners and Christian Book of the Year were announced at the ECPA Awards Banquet in Chicago, IL, April 30th.

ECPA also announced the winners of the Jordon Lifetime Achievement Award: Gary & Carol Johnson and John R. W. Stott.

The 2012 Christian Book of the Year
Nearing Home by Billy Graham (@BGEA) (Thomas Nelson (@ThomasNelson))

Bibles
ESV Student Study Bible (Crossway (@CrosswayBooks))

Bible Reference
Dictionary of Christian Spirituality by Glen G. Scorgie (Zondervan (@Zondervan))

Children
The Story for Children, A Storybook Bible by Max Lucado (@MaxLucado), Randy Frazee (@RandyFrazee), and Karen Davis Hill (Zonderkidz (@Zonderkidz))

Fiction
The Queen by Steven James (@sjamesauthor) (Revell (@RevellBooks) / Baker Publishing Group (@ReadBakerBooks))

New Author
Love Amid the Ashes by Mesu Andrews (@MesuAndrews) (Revell (@RevellBooks) / Baker Publishing Group (@ReadBakerBooks))

Non-Fiction
Close Enough to Hear God Breathe by Greg Paul (Thomas Nelson (@ThomasNelson))

Inspiration
The Law of Happiness by Dr. Henry Cloud (@DrHenryCloud) (Howard Books (@Howard_Books))

Also see our previous blogposts, “ECPA Announces 2012 Christian Book Award Finalists” and “2012 Christian Small Publisher Book of the Year Award Winners Announced.”

And be sure to bookmark and use daily SomersaultNOW, the online dashboard for publishing and marketing professionals.

Millennials Survey Report

A growing tide of young Americans is drifting away from the religions of their childhood — and most of them are ending up in no religion at all.

According to a new report from the Public Religion Research Institute (@publicreligion) and Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, & World Affairs (@GUberkleycenter), 1 in 4 young adults choose “unaffiliated” when asked about their religion. But most within this unaffiliated group — 55% — identified with a religious group when they were younger.

·         Across denominations, the net losses are uneven, with Catholics losing the highest proportion of childhood adherents — nearly 8% — followed by white mainline Protestant traditions, which lost 5%.

·         Among Catholics, whites are twice as likely as Hispanics to say they’re no longer affiliated with the church.

·         White evangelical and black denominations fare better, with a net loss of about 1%. Non-Christian groups post a modest 1% net increase in followers.

·         The only group that has significant growth between childhood and young adulthood is the unaffiliated — a jump from 11% to 25%.

·         The study also finds a morally divided generation, with 50% of respondents saying right and wrong depends on the situation and 45% believing in absolute morality.

·         An overwhelming majority of white evangelical Protestants (68%) say they believe some things are always wrong, compared to 49% of black Protestants, 45% of Catholics, and 35% of the unaffiliated.

Read this in full.

Read the full report (pdf).

Also see our blogpost, "US Consumer Habits Evolving."

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you market your brand to Millennials.

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