Worthy Publishing author Robert Jeffress (Twilight's Last Gleaming: How America's Last Days Can Be Your Best Days, Jan. 2012) appeared on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher on October 14. Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Dallas, recently drew media attention for characterizing Mormonism as “a cult,” though on the show he told Maher he would vote for Mitt Romney instead of Barack Obama. Jeffress has also recently appeared on Fox & Friends, CNN, MSNBC, BBC, and other media outlets.
David C. Cook (with Flannel) has produced a series of short films featuring Ed Dobson (The Year of Living Like Jesus, Zondervan), about Dobson’s struggle with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). The series, Ed's Story, includes three films, It Ain’t Over, Consider the Birds and Be There: all are available at retail on DVD. Dobson was featured on NBC’s The Today Show on October 17. The remaining films in the 7-film series will release throughout 2012.
Baylor University Press author Laura Hobgood-Oster (The Friends We Keep: Unleashing Christianity's Compassion for Animals) was featured in an article on pet ministries in churches in the New York Times on October 15.
Tyndale House author Joel C. Rosenberg has reached 2.5 million copies in sales of his seven political thrillers and two non-fiction bestsellers on politics and faith in the Middle East. Rosenberg’s new novel, The Tehran Initiative, released on October 18. His first two novels, The Last Jihad and The Last Days, were originally published by Tor/Forge; Tyndale has acquired the trade paperback rights. In other news at Tyndale, this week veteran publicist Mavis Sanders retires after a 40-year career in publishing, the last 14 of them at Tyndale.
The Christian Small Publishers Association has announced that its Christian Small Publisher Book of the Year Awards are open for nominations in 12 categories, including general fiction, romance, Bible study/theology, biography, Christian living, devotional, relationships/family, children’s books (4-8 years), children’s books (8-12 years), young adult (12+ years), gift books, and e-book exclusives. Any small publisher can nominate their books for the awards. Books must be published in 2010 or 2011 by a publisher with annual revenues of $400,000 or less. Acccording to CSBA, “The books must be Christian in nature and intended for the Christian marketplace. All nominated books must be printed in English and for sale in the United States.” The deadline for nominations is November 15; complete guidelines, eligibility, and the nomination form can be found at http://www.christianbookaward.com. The awards were established in 2007 “to bring recognition to quality Christian books by small publishers." Publishers need not be CSPA members to nominate their titles.The association represents more than 100 publishers. Christian Small Publishers Association can be found online at www.christianpublishers.net.
