Worthy Publishing has signed a deal with Oasis Audio to release Worthy’s inaugural list as audio books. Worthy, the new publishing venture of Byron Williamson’s Worthy Media, debuts this fall with nine titles; Oasis has opted to produce eight of them for simultaneous release. Rob Birkhead, senior v-p of marketing and deputy publisher of Worthy, said the company selected Oasis “because of their track record, and because they offer a lot of marketing perks that others don’t, like an iPhone app, print advertising, and trade show presence that will feature us in a major way. It’s an impressive package.” He also cited their broad distribution channels: “Their audio books are basically available everywhere—is as good a brand coverage as I’ve seen.”

Neither company called the deal exclusive, but, said Birkhead, “We’ve committed all our titles to them for an open-ended period.” Oasis publisher Tammy Faxel called the agreement “a first for us,” referring to it as a “partnership” or “alliance.”

Founded in 1999, Oasis currently has some 1,000 titles in its library, with a focus on Christian books. Said Faxel, “About 80% of our list is Christian, but we are also developing a YA line with Scholastic and expanding our business books line, so that proportion will change.” She said Oasis has just launched the audio for Thomas Nelson’s bestselling Heaven Is Real into Wal-Mart. “That’s not our first with them—our audio of The Shack did well there—but it’s the first in a while.” The company enjoyed a “significant” bump in sales for its audio of MTV’s Soul Surfer after the recent release of the movie, Faxel said. According to Oasis director of sales and marketing Steve Smith, Soul Surfer “was our #4 bestselling title and our #2 selling app in April, right behind Heaven Is Real,”.

Among the Worthy titles to be produced by Oasis are Charles Colson’s The Sky Is Not Falling; Cathleen Falsani’s Belieber, about Justin Bieber’s faith; and Walking into Walls by Stephen Arterburn, bestselling author of Healing Is a Choice and Every Man’s Battle. The companies will cross-promote and partner in marketing the books.