Christian Retailing presented Richard Baker, chairman of the board for the Baker Book House Company, with a VIP (Visionary Industry Pioneer) award at Baker Publishing Group’s 75th Anniversary Reception. Christine D. Johnson, editor for the magazine, was on hand to present the award at the April 24 afternoon event at the Baker Book House retail store.

Christian Retailing  has honored several industry pioneers in the past for their accomplishments and service to the Christian products industry. Recipients have included Ken Taylor, founder of Tyndale House Publishers; Wally Bronner, founder of Bronner's CHRISTmas Wonderland; and Bill Greig II of Gospel Light.

HarperCollins Christian Publishing (HCCP) has announced its acquisition of Olive Tree Bible Software.

Olive Tree (olivetree.com) is a leading online and mobile Bible resource and e-commerce company with software accessible on desktop, tablets and mobile devices across all major platforms. The company focuses on providing e-only products to facilitate how consumers read and interact with content.

Francine Rivers’ latest work, Bridge to Haven, became a best-seller in its release week.

Released April 22 from Tyndale House Publishers, the 1950s’ Hollywood-based tale of temptation, grace and unconditional love quickly achieved best-seller standing, landing at No. 6 on the May 5 Publishers Weekly Hardcover Fiction list, reflecting Nielsen BookScan data for the week ending April 27, and No. 18 on the May 11 New York Times Hardcover Fiction list, reflecting sales for the week ending April 26.

In the novel, Rivers draws from Ezek. 16 and reimagines the Prodigal Son parable. Fame comes at an awful price for Abra, who has burned every bridge to get what she thought she wanted in Tinseltown.

ECPA (Evangelical Christian Publishers Association) celebrated its 40th anniversary at the ECPA Leadership Summit, held April 28-30. More than 135 publishing leaders were on hand at the Focus on the Family headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colo., to join in the celebration.

ECPA gathered industry alumni and Christian publishers for an anniversary reception and awards banquet emceed by New York Times best-selling author and Christian Writers Guild owner Jerry Jenkins. Along with the announcement of various milestones, the banquet featured industry awards, the Christian Book Award winners and the naming of Kevin DeYoung’s Crazy Busy (Crossway) as 2014 Christian Book of the Year.

Barbour Publishing has announced the launch of its new children’s imprint, Shiloh Kidz. This brand-new imprint will offer a wide range of educational products with formats that include boxed games, stickers and board books as well as books—devotionals, Bible stories, Bible reference and fiction—for children ages 3-12.

“Our vision for Shiloh Kidz is to develop kids’ products rooted in biblical truth, and it’s important that those products also teach, encourage, inspire—and if they entertain along the way, even better,” said Kelly McIntosh, Barbour’s vice president editorial. 

The Spanish Evangelical Publishers Association (SEPA) has named B&H Español, the Spanish division of B&H Publishing Group, Publisher of the Year for the second consecutive year. Held last week in Miami, Expolit is designed to promote the growth of ministry and resources within Hispanic markets.

B&H also received awards for Best Bible (RVR 1960 Biblia de Premios y Regalo/RVR 1960 Gift and Award Bible); Best Specialty Bible (RVR 1960 Biblia del Pescador/RVR 1960 Fisher of Men); Best Study Bible With Notes (RVR 1960 Biblia de Estudio Arco Iris/RVR 1960 Rainbow Study Bible); and Best Reference or Consulting Book (Diccionario Ilustrado Bíblico Holman/Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary).

Faith-based publishers reported a 7.4% year-over-year drop in total sales for January, though e-book sales grew significantly for the period, according to the Association of American Publishers (AAP).

Net hardcover sales from religious presses fell 12% to 24 million in January, versus $27.3 million sold during the same month in 2013.