An earlier Easter and unseasonably warm weather throughout much of the country meant solid sales growth for retailers in March, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF).

March retail industry sales (excluding automobiles, gas stations and restaurants) increased 0.8% seasonally adjusted from February and 6.6% unadjusted year-over-year.

Nominees for the 13th annual Christy Awards have been announced, and Bethany House tops the nominations with seven, followed by B&H Publishing Group with five. The awards for excellence in Christian fiction—to be presented at a dinner event Monday, July 16, in Orlando, Fla.—will go to winners in nine categories: Contemporary Romance; Contemporary Series, Sequels and Novellas; Contemporary Standalone; First Novel; Historical; Historical Romance; Suspense; Visionary; and Young Adult.

The nominees in the Contemporary Romance category are My Foolish Heart, Susan May Warren (Tyndale House Publishers); Larkspur Cove, Lisa Wingate (Bethany House/Baker Publishing Group); and Wolfsbane, Ronie Kendig (Barbour Publishing).

Sarah Young’s Jesus Calling is back on top of the weekly General top 20 best-sellers after being displaced by Karen Kingsbury’s Loving from the “Bailey Flanigan Series.” The list from Evangelical Christian Publishers Association tracks sales for the week ending April 7, according to Pubtrack Christian data.

The Top 20 General best-sellers are: 1. Jesus Calling, Young, hardcover (Thomas Nelson); 2. Loving, “Bailey Flanigan Series,” No. 4, Kingsbury (Zondervan); 3. Heaven Is for Real, Todd Burpo (Thomas Nelson); 4. Jesus Calling: Deluxe Edition, Young (Thomas Nelson); 5. The Harbinger, Jonathan Cahn (FrontLine/Charisma House Book Group); 6. The Resolution for Women, Priscilla Shirer (B&H Books); 7. Jesus Calling: Large Print Deluxe Edition, Young (Thomas Nelson); 8. The 5 Love Languages, Gary Chapman (Northfield Publishing); 9. One Thousand Gifts, Ann Voskamp (Zondervan); 10. Let It Go, T.D. Jakes (Howard Books); 11. Not a Fan, Kyle Idleman (Zondervan); 12. Crazy Love, Francis Chan (David C Cook); 13. Kingdom Man, Tony Evans (Tyndale House Publishers); 14. Do Yourself a Favor…Forgive, Joyce Meyer (FaithWords); 15. Nearing Home, Billy Graham (Thomas Nelson); 16. The Resolution for Men, Stephen Kendrick, Alex Kendrick, Randy Alcorn (B&H Books); 17. Illusion, Frank Peretti (Howard Books); 18. Through My Eyes, Tim Tebow, Nathan Whitaker, hardcover (Harper); 19. The Half-Stitched Amish Quilting Club, Wanda E. Brunstetter (Barbour Publishing); and 20. Amish Prayers, Beverly Lewis (Bethany House).

Foundation Distributing, the largest Canadian-owned Christian product distributor, and eChristian have formed a strategic partnership to supply Canadian booksellers with Christian eBooks. The deal is a similar arrangement to the December 2011 deal launched by Innovative to serve independent Christian retailers in the U.S.

Foundation has created FDIDigital, built on eChristian’s digital delivery system to supply Canadian booksellers with eBook retailing capability. Retailers can then offer their customers eBooks and downloadable Christian audiobooks through branded websites.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed an antitrust suit Wednesday against computer giant Apple and five major publishers to allow greater competition on e-book prices.

A settlement was reached with three publishers named in the suit—Hachette Book Group USA, HarperCollins Publishers and Simon & Schuster—but the DOJ will continue to litigate against Penguin Group (USA) and Holtzbrinck Publishers, which does business as Macmillan. Sixteen states filed a similar suit as well, with Hachette and HarperCollins agreeing to a settlement.

InterVarsity Press (IVP) is starting two new imprints—Praxis and Crescendo—designed to reach two of its key audiences, ministry leaders and women. IVP will release its first Praxis titles this fall, while Crescendo is scheduled to launch in spring 2013.

“The addition of Praxis and Crescendo as part of IVP’s overarching publishing strategy continues the work that crystallized around the launch of our brand architecture in 2006,” said Jeff Crosby, associate publisher and director of sales and marketing. “These lines create further distinctions of two core customer groups. In an era of marketplace fragmentation and diffusion, such clarity of content and message is a good and necessary thing.”

Praxis seeks to integrate theory and practice for pastors and ministry leaders. It allows IVP to target ministry leaders more effectively “with resources that are both practical for—but also written by—visionaries in church leadership,” Crosby said.

Lead Praxis titles include Protégé by Steve Saccone; Community Is Messy by Heather Zempel; The Journey of Ministry by Eddie Gibbs; Creating a Missional Culture by J.R. Woodward; and Church for the Fatherless by Mark Strong.

Continuing IVP’s reach to “thoughtful Christian women,” the publisher is launching Crescendo, with books written by women who tell the stories of God's activities in their lives as they seek to become women of courage, confidence and calling. With authors like Carolyn Weber, Shayne Moore and Patty Kirk, Crescendo will celebrate and articulate women's experiences and leadership.

“Crescendo will allow us to address the critical lack of female nonfiction voices in the Christian publishing industry,” said Cindy Bunch, associate editorial director. “We want to create a line that is both beautifully written and profoundly inspirational. We look forward to raising the profile of women authors in the market.”

In other IVP news, Mark Noll and Carolyn Nystrom, authors of Clouds of Witnesses: Christian Voices from Africa and Asia (IVP Books), were recently honored with the 2012 John Pollock Award for Christian Biography.

Clouds of Witnesses introduces 17 pivotal Christian leaders from Africa and Asia, revealing their life stories and influence.

“We are glad to think that the award may alert others to the possibility of learning more about the noteworthy Christian believers in Asia and Africa who are profiled in the book,” Noll said.

The Pollock Award, named for the Christian biographer John C. Pollock, is presented annually by Samford University’s Beeson Divinity School for the year’s most outstanding Christian biography. Past winners include Eric Metaxas for Bonhoeffer, Alan Jacobs for The Narnian and Timothy Dudley-Smith for John Stott. 

Audio company eChristian’s audiobook download site, christianaudio.com, will process its 1-millionth order this month.

“This is a significant achievement for any organization,” said eChristian President Cory Verner. “A milestone like this proves that independents can gain significant traction in digital markets.”