No, Thomas Nelson Is Not Being Sold
The International Christian Retail Show (ICRS) is going on this week in Denver. As long as I have been involved in the book industry, trade shows have been fertile ground for rumors. Usually, each trade show sports one BIG rumor and a lot of little ones. Despite the fact that most turn out to be false, they keep everyone entertained and make long days on the floor bearable.
Though we are not attending ICRS this year, evidently this year’s rumor is about Thomas Nelson. Supposedly, we are being sold or have already been sold. I hate to spoil anyone’s fun, but this is patently false. We are not being shopped or in discussions with potential buyers. As the company’s CEO, I should know.
Maybe it doesn’t have the same high drama, but things here in Nashville are going well. We are struggling in this economy like everyone else, but so far our fiscal year, which began April 1, is off to a good start. For the quarter ending June 30:
- Our publishing sales were up 13.5% over the same period last year.
- Our returns were down 25%.
- Our profit more than doubled.
- Our market share increased slightly.
- We were the #1 Christian fiction publisher (according to PubTrack).
In addition:
- We currently have three books on the New York Times bestseller list.
- We had 17 of the top 50 Christian bestsellers on the July ECPA list.
- We won 6 “Retailers Choice Awards” yesterday—more than any other publisher.
Looking forward, we are optimistic about the fall selling season. In fact, with only three of our top 20 budgeted books for this fiscal year having been released, the best is yet to come.
So if you are attending ICRS and someone tells you Thomas Nelson has been sold or is being sold, please kindly point them back to this post. They deserve to get it straight from the horse’s mouth.
Posted on July 14, 2009
In: Publishing
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