Retailers saw a mixed bag in July, with sales gains in many back-to-school categories, but surprising declines in home-based categories, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF).

Core retail sales—excluding autos, building materials and fuel—increased 0.3% seasonally adjusted and increased 5% unadjusted year-over-year in July. Including those three categories, last month's retail sales rose 0.2% and 5.4% unadjusted year-over-year, U.S. Department of Commerce figures showed today.

Book and music, sporting goods and hobby stores' sales increased 1% seasonally adjusted month-to-month, and rose 3.9% unadjusted year-over-year, NRF said.

"Consumers continue to grind forward in July, marking 13 consecutive months of retail sales gains," NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said. "However, consumers alone can't be expected to shoulder the burden of the economy. Fiscal and monetary policy uncertainties combined with stagnant economic and employment conditions continue to breed a volatile market with extreme swings in consumer spending. The economy can't seem to maintain any amount of momentum. We just can't seem to pull ourselves up."

NRF Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz noted that "spending has stalled and the economy is stuck in neutral."

"Even with modest employment gains and steady consumer confidence, Americans remain in a cautiously positive spending pattern," he said. "While clothing and sporting goods retailers saw modest gains with early back-to-school shopping, home-based retailers saw marked decreases, possibly indicating the end of the year-long housing boom."

Retailers saw a mixed bag in July, with sales gains in many back-to-school categories, but surprising declines in home-based categories, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF).

Core retail sales—excluding autos, building materials and fuel—increased 0.3% seasonally adjusted and increased 5% unadjusted year-over-year in July. Including those three categories, last month's retail sales rose 0.2% and 5.4% unadjusted year-over-year, U.S. Department of Commerce figures showed today.

GRAMMY-nominated band Newsboys will headline Winter Jam West, which will visit 11 cities this fall.

Created and hosted by NewSong, the tour also features Tenth Avenue North, Thousand Foot Krutch, Plumb and Building 429 along with either Crowder or Passion featuring Kristian Stanfill (both in select cities), as well as speaker Nick Hall. The Youth Music Vault Pre-Jam party will include performances by Love & The Outcome, Everfound and Dara Maclean. As usual, admission is $10 at the door with no ticket required.

"We are thrilled to head West with Winter Jam for the third year in a row," said Eddie Carswell, NewSong's founding member. "The tour exists for the singular purpose of bringing the good news of Jesus Christ to as many people as possible, but we believe it's also one of the most unforgettable, musically diverse concerts in any genre. Newsboys have long been a favorite of Winter Jam audiences, so we're excited our good friends are headlining this tour."

Kicking off Nov. 8 at Ontario's Citizens Business Bank Arena in Los Angeles, Winter Jam West is slated to hit Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas; the Rose Garden Arena in Portland, Ore.; Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento, Calif., ; World Arena in Colorado Springs, Colo.; Taco Bell Arena in Boise, Idaho; and Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, Ariz. The tour concludes Nov. 24 at the Fort Worth Convention Center in Fort Worth, Texas.

For the third consecutive year, Winter Jam Tour Spectacular—Christian music's biggest tour—was the No. 1 tour in the world for the first quarter of 2013.

The multi-artist event outpaced attendance for January-March for all other tours—including Pink, Maroon 5, Justin Bieber and Bon Jovi, according to Pollstar's 2013 Worldwide Top 100 Tours chart. Playing to a total of nearly 554,000 people, this year's tour was the largest in Winter Jam history.

For more information, visit www.jamtour.com.

The annual Standard Lesson Commentary held four spots on the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) General best-sellers list for the week ending Aug. 3, according to Pubtrack Christian data.

The top 20 ECPA General best-sellers were: 1. Jesus Calling, Sarah Young, hardcover (Thomas Nelson); 2. KJV Standard Lesson Commentary, 2013-2014, softcover (Standard Publishing); 3. Not a Fan, Kyle Idleman (Zondervan); 4. KJV Standard Lesson Commentary, 2012-2013, large print softcover (Standard Publishing); 5. Kingdom Woman, Tony Evans and Chrystal Evans Hurst (Tyndale House Publishers); 6. Jesus Calling, Young, large print deluxe (Thomas Nelson); 7. Jesus Calling, Young, deluxe (Thomas Nelson); 8. The 5 Love Languages, Gary Chapman (Northfield Publishing/Moody Publishers); 9. Jesus Calling, Young, women's edition (Thomas Nelson); 10. NIV Standard Lesson Commentary, 2013-2014, softcover (Standard Publishing); 11. Jesus Today, Young, hardcover (Thomas Nelson); 12. The Circle Maker, Mark Batterson (Zondervan); 13. Heaven Is for Real, Todd Burpo, Lynn Vincent (Thomas Nelson); 14. The Harbinger, Jonathan Cahn (FrontLine/Charisma House Book Group); 15. NIV Standard Lesson Commentary, 2012-2013, large print softcover (Standard Publishing); 16. Becoming Myself, Stasi Eldredge (David C Cook); 17. Trusting God, Jerry Bridges (NavPress); 18. Happy, Happy, Happy, Phil Robertson (Howard Books); 19. Gods at War, Kyle Idleman (Zondervan); and 20. Radical, David Platt (Multnomah Books).

The Top 10 Fiction titles were: 1. The Harbinger; 2. The Tattered Quilt, Wanda E. Brunstetter (Barbour Publishing); 3. The Living Room, Robert Whitlow (Thomas Nelson); 4. Rosemary Cottage, "Hope Beach" No. 2, Colleen Coble (Thomas Nelson); 5. The Outcast, Jolina Petersheim (Tyndale); 6. The Letters, "The Inn at Eagle Hill" No. 1, Suzanne Woods Fisher (Revell/Baker Publishing Group); 7. The Secret Keeper, "Home to Hickory Hollow" No. 4, Beverly Lewis (Bethany House/Baker Publishing Group); 8. Sons of Encouragement, Francine Rivers (Tyndale); 9. The Icecutter's Daughter, "Land of Shining Water" No. 1, Tracie Peterson (Bethany House/Baker Publishing Group); and 10. Redeeming Love, Francine Rivers (Multnomah Books).

The top five Bibles were: 1. The Story, NIV, deluxe, hardcover, New International Version (Zondervan); 2. Start!, red, hardcover, New King James Version (Thomas Nelson); 3. NIV Adventure Bible, hardcover (Zonderkidz); 4. ESV Thinline Value Edition Bible, TruTone, midnight, flame design, English Standard Version (Crossway); and 5. NIV Reference Bible, Large Print, black, imitation leather (Zondervan).

Logos Bible Software recently made a $40,000 mistake, but company officials owned up to it, blessing customers with free products.

During the Aug. 3-4 weekend, a technical mistake set Logos' web prices for dozens of products to zero.

"The mistake was identified quickly, and our team worked to fix the error," Logos President and CEO Bob Pritchett wrote in a blog. "In the meantime, dozens of customers placed orders for free product worth $40,000. Since then, we've heard from some customers asking if they needed to return the free products, and a few employees have wondered if we should re-lock these unintended product giveaways.

"The answer to both questions is no!" he added. "We made a mistake. We own it, we learn from it, and we welcome the chance to show our employees and our customers that we mean what we say about our values and 'The Logos Way.' "

Logos received praise for the move.

"Your honesty and integrity is awesome," Launa George said in response to Pritchett's blog. "In today's society, it is highly unusual to find a company that stands by its word! Kudos for you! I was not one of the lucky few [customers]. However, it is solidly formed in my mind that I would prefer to do business with people to stand by the Lord's ideals no matter the consequences."

Pritchett noted that the mistake "lets us showcase our values."

"From our Employee Handbook and Corporate Culture Guide: Logos accepts mistakes as part of learning," he said. "Interactions with our company should involve occasional pleasant surprises. Free stuff is a pleasant surprise!"

In the year following the exit of Borders, online retailers—led by Amazon—captured 44% of book dollars in 2012, up from 39% in 2011, according to the 2013 U.S. Book Consumer Demographics and Buying Behaviors Annual Review.

Prepared by Bowker Market Research and Publishers Weekly, the study also found that bookstore chains held less than 20% share last year. While Barnes & Noble remained the second-largest book-selling outlet, it depended more on sales of print books in 2012 than it did in 2011, with consumer e-book spending the chain declining from 6% in 2011 to 4% last year.

E-books continuing a steady upward trend, with an 11% share of spending in 2012, compared to 7% in 2011.

"The review reveals the larger industry impact of the growth of e-books," said Jo Henry, director of Bowker Market Research. "This is more than simply a format change. E-books are driving powerful behavioral changes among book buyers. The review captures those trends, providing greater ability to predict and prepare in a very dynamic landscape."

Among other findings of the review included: fiction e-books, particularly in the mystery/detective, romance and science fiction categories, accounting for more than 20% of 2012 spending; and traditional print book output growing 3% last year, from 292,037 titles in 2011 to 301,642 in 2012.

The review, which polled almost 70,000 Americans who bought books of any format and from any source in 2012, also revealed that women increased their lead over men in book buying, accounting for 58% of book spending in 2012, up from 55% in 2011.

For more information on the review, visit www.bookconsumer.com.

The Gospel Music Association (GMA) will announce nominees later this month for its 44th Annual GMA Dove Awards, which is taking place in the fall for the first time.

Francesca Battistelli, Mandisa?, Jason Crabb and James Fortune are scheduled to appear at the nominations press conference Aug. 21 at Allen Arena on the campus of Nashville's historic Lipscomb University. The press conference will be streamed live on HearItFirst.com.

The association's marquee event will be held Oct. 15 at Allen Arena, and will be nationally televised on the Up Nework, formerly GMC TV. GMA moved the Dove Awards back to Nashville after a two-year run in Atlanta, and switched the event from April to October.

Visit www.gospelmusic.org or www.doveawards.com to learn more.