Severe winter weather did not dampen December retail sales as shoppers took advantage of heavy promotions and last-minute deals. December retail sales, which excludes automobiles, gas stations and restaurants, increased 0.4% seasonally adjusted month-to-month, and 4.6% unadjusted year-over-year, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF).

Total holiday retail sales, which includes November and December sales, increased 3.8% to $601.8 billion, which was in line with NRF’s projected forecast of 3.9% and $602.1 billion. In addition, non-store holiday sales, which is an indicator of online and e-commerce sales, grew 9.3% to $95.7 billion.

Regal Books author Jerry Cook died Jan. 11 at his Kirkland, Wash., home. He was 75.

Cook served in Christian ministry for more than 52 years as a pastor, author, professor, speaker and advisor.  He wrote many popular books, including his best-selling Love, Acceptance, and Forgiveness (Regal Books).

Sandra E. Muckenfuss, former co-owner with her husband, Lou, of Son Shine Christian Bookstore in Moorestown, N.J., died Dec. 29, 2013. She was 69.

Born and raised in Medford, N.J., she was the founder of Mill Creek Organic Farm. She was a member of the Fellowship Alliance Chapel where she was involved in a number of ministries, including Alpha USA.

The Parable Group released a summary Friday of some of the 2013 key insights from its data warehouse.

More than 2.3 million print promotions were mailed on behalf of print partner stores in 2013. The average customer response rate was 16.3%—nearly four times the national average of 4.25% as recorded in Response Rate Report by the Direct Marketing Association. Parable’s 2013 Christmas Catalog response rate was 20.1%.

Faith-based publishers reported a modest bump in hardcover sales for October, though net paperback sales fell by 32% compared to the previous October, according to the latest figures available from the Association of American Publishers (AAP).

Net paperback sales from religious presses fell from $10.7 million in October 2012 to $7.3 million in October a year later. That drop resulted in the total net paperback sales for the first 10 months of 2013 declining 4% over the same period in 2012—$106.9 million and $111.3 million, respectively.

Salem Communications Corp. today announced the acquisition of the assets of Eagle Publishing, including Regnery Publishing, HumanEvents.com and Redstate.com, as well as sister companies Eagle Financial Publications and Eagle Wellness. The acquisition allows Salem to strengthen and deepen its presence in the conservative market.

"Eagle is one of the most influential companies in the conservative media space," said Edward G. Atsinger III, president and CEO of Salem. "Its addition to Salem brings together a unique portfolio of conservative media properties and fits with our strategy of integrating traditional media and new media assets all serving the same target audience. The opportunity we like most about this acquisition is that each of Eagle's businesses matches up so well with Salem's extensive media platform. With 102 radio stations and a dozen major national websites all targeting the conservative community, this provides a perfect marketing platform to promote Eagle's products to a wider audience."

Overall album sales in 2013 declined to 415.3 million, a drop of 7.7% versus the previous year, according to a report by Nielsen Entertainment. Meanwhile, music streaming services such as Spotify, Vevo and Rhapsody grew to 118.1 billion streams, up 32% compared to 2012.

CDs suffered the steepest drop in album sales, with last year’s 165 million copies sold representing a 14.5% drop from 2012’s numbers. Digital album sales stayed steady at 118 million, the same as in 2012, while vinyl albums grew 33% to 6.1 million sold.