Kicking off Oct. 8 and ending Nov. 14, "An Evening With Brandon Heath & Jars of Clay" will see the artists playing within each other's sets, and raise funds and support for Blood:Water Mission and Food for the Hungry.

Christian Retailing points store buyers to our expansive listing of books, Bibles, gifts, CDs, DVDs, children's products and more, so take advantage of the opportunity to enter your new and forthcoming products free of charge. To be considered for print, products releasing in October are due online today.

Simply click here to create an account at Christian Retailing's Web site, notify Managing Editor Christine Johnson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and start uploading your new products.

Running through Labor Day, Sept. 6, the show is hosted by Christian Retailing magazine, aiming to help stores set themselves for the fall and Christmas seasons with product news, order specials and training. It is the magazine's fourth virtual trade event since debuting the innovative program following last year's ICRS.

New series, reprints and authors' online category guide aim to maximize segment's growth

In the absence of a runaway best-seller, center-stage spot on the exhibition-floor for inspirational movies and reduced show space for many companies, publishers jockeyed for attention.

The biggest single book happening of the week—in contrast to others' pared-down ICRS efforts—brought out a large crowd for FaithWords' Author Reception, forcing organizers to send out for more food for all the guests.

Several hundred turned out to hear from recent FaithWords arrivals Charles Swindoll, David Jeremiah, Philip Yancey, Ted Dekker and Jill Kelly.

"We are publishing our strongest list ever this fall, and naturally we wanted the retailers to take note of its significance as well," said Hachette Book Group Director of Publicity Shanon Stowe.

If no one title garnered most of the attention at ICRS, a category did—the still-growing area of inspirational fiction.

ICRS was a stop on the three-city, 10-venue B&H Publishing Group's Thriller Tour promoting authors Robin Carol, Brandilyn Collins, Tosca Lee and James L. Rubart.

The trip was due to end in New York City the following week, with Collins and Lee participating in a panel at ThrillerFest, the international thriller writers' group meeting.

Their involvement in that event "shows that Christian fiction has a tremendous amount of respect," said Julie Gwinn, in B&H trade book marketing. "Good fiction is good fiction, no matter whether it is inspirational or whatever."

Popular Amish-fiction author Wanda E. Brunstetter helped Barbour Publishing host its third annual Barbour Fiction Café, signing books and mingling with retailers.

Visitors were given an advance copy of Brunstetter's next book, Lydia's Charm, a stand-alone title releasing in September. It is to be followed by The Journey, the first in a new, three-part series, "Kentucky Brothers."

Summerside Press introduced a new series from Christian fiction favorites Bodie and Brock Thoene, "The Zion Diaries," which picks up on the pair's popular World War II books.

Whitaker House reported a good response to extending its fiction with a recent first African-American title, Vanessa Miller's Yesterday's Promise.

Another respected figure in Christian fiction at the show was Carol Johnson, recognized for her pioneering of the category—signing Janete Oke's groundbreaking 1979 Love Comes Softly for Bethany House Publishers—with the naming of the American Christian Fiction Writers' (ACFW) highest annual Book of the Year Award as The Carol Award, in her honor.

Johnson and husband Gary, both still working part-time for Bethany since their retirement in 2008, spoke about their own J&J Literary Advisors project with Hendrickson Publishers to bring out-of-print fiction back to the market. The first titles will come out next spring with fresh covers, with plans for about a dozen titles a year, they said.

Christian fiction's gala night was on the eve of ICRS, when around 160 writers, publishers and agents gathered to find out which of 165 novels from 26 publishers won this year's Christy Awards.

Winners: Contemporary Romance: Breach of Trust by DiAnn Mills (Tyndale House Publishers); Contemporary Series: Who Do I Talk To? by Neta Jackson (Thomas Nelson); Contemporary Standalone: The Passion of Mary-Margaret by Lisa Samson (Thomas Nelson); First Novel: Fireflies in December by Jennifer Brin Valent (Tyndale House Publishers); Historical: Though Waters Roar by Lynn Austin (Bethany House/Baker Publishing Group); Historical Romance: The Silent Governess by Julie Klassen (Bethany House/Baker Publishing); Suspense: Lost Mission by Athol Dickson (Howard Books); Visionary: By Darkness Hid by Jill Williamson (Marcher Lord Press); and Young Adult: North! Or Be Eaten by Andrew Peterson (WaterBrook Press).

While some ACFW authors were at ICRS for publisher signings, they also took time out to man the group's booth and tell retailers about a new program intended to help stores sell more fiction.

They spoke about the free online fiction guide, www.fictionfinder.com, which provides information about authors and their books, including the genre, what social issues may be addressed in the story and its level of intensity.

Free online event features writers presenting filmed introductions to new titles, training helps

An online product preview and buying service for retailers unable to attend live industry shows is offering additional benefits.

Christian Retailing's Virtual Christian Retailing Show runs through Labor Day, Sept. 6 to help stores set themselves for the fall and Christmas seasons with product news, order specials and training. It is the magazine's fourth virtual trade event since debuting the innovative program following last year's ICRS.

Added to the event , announced at ICRS, have been video visits in which writers present filmed introductions to new titles, and informal question-and-answer sessions with suppliers intended to help retailers learn more about the inspirational and personal stories behind some of the new releases.

More than 30 suppliers—including Thomas Nelson,Tyndale House Publishers, Baker Publishing Group and David C. Cook—had signed up to participate in the Virtual Christian Retailing Show, with their "booths" presenting details of key new and recent releases and offering links for ordering and catalogs.

Other participants include Abbey Press, Charis Gifts, Strang Book Group, Swanson Christian Products, Lighthouse Christian Products and Robert Spooner Galerie.

Additional features include Christian Retailing editors hosting roundtable discussions with suppliers and retailers on trends, including movies and DVDs. "Is God Just a Human Invention?," a free Webinar, was scheduled for this month. Access to the online event is free, with visiting retailers also eligible for a drawing to win an Apple iPad.

"With travel budgets tight and staff levels low, many Christian retail stores do not have the option of attending industry events as they have done in the past," said Dave Condiff, Christian Retailing publisher. "The Virtual Christian Retailing Show is an ideal way for suppliers to connect with retailers."

Last year's first Virtual Christian Retailing Show attracted more than 5,500 unique visitors from more than 70 countries. For more information on the new show, visit vcrs.christianretailing.com.

New releases supported by retailer ratings and screenings

Rising interest in inspirational movies saw them the hot category of the International Christian Retail Show (ICRS) , from a central and headlining spot on the floor to the main, special-event draw.

CBA created a Family Entertainment Theatre mini-auditorum in the exhibit hall to showcase forthcoming releases and hosted a special reception for media to highlight faith films, while trailers looped on convention hotels' in-house channels and advance screenings dominated the after-hours evening offerings.

Among the new titles being promoted were Affirm Films/Sony Pictures' Soul Surfer, about teen Christian surfing star Bethany Hamilton, and A Christmas Snow, a debut movie project from Destiny Image Films in collaboration with the Narrative Television Network and Trost Moving Pictures.

Meanwhile, retailers learned that they will have to wait longer than they were hoping for the next release from the team whose best-selling Facing the Giants and Fireproof releases—the latter also producing the chart-topping tie-in book The Love Dare—have fueled the hunger for Christian films.

Co-writer and producer Stephen Kendrick—a featured speaker at the opening Pacesetter event—revealed that Courageous, the police drama addressing issues of fatherhood that has just finished shooting, will likely not be released in theaters until fall 2011.

"Of course, we would like for the movie to come out real soon, but we will just have to be patient," he said. Editing will take the next few months, he said, to be followed by advance screenings of the film for churches and other groups the makers hope will get behind it. "Then the summer hits, and there will be several superhero movies coming out at the same time, so we have to dodge the tidal wave and wait for a window," Kendrick said.

A year after the movie adaptation of Karen Kingsbury's Like Dandelion Dust premiered at ICRS, film-making brothers Kevin and Bobby Downes—whose work inspired the best-selling novelist's "Above the Line" series set in the screen world—were back to announce the Sept. 24 theatrical release of the movie, with the DVD likely following before the end of the year.

While most of the projects promoted to the Christian market are modest productions, Motive Marketing partner Richard Schirmer was at ICRS to represent the $35 million budget film There Be Dragons.

He said that the film—about Josemaria Escriva, founder of the Catholic Opus Dei movement and made by Roland Joffé, director of the Oscar-winning The Killing Fields and The Mission—"will resonate with the community of faith."

Other on-their-way titles promoted at ICRS included The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Walden Media/20th Century Fox), rare Christian comedy Holyman Undercover and holiday story Christmas With a Capital C (both Pure Flix Entertainment), inspirational film Letters to God, race drama The Least Among You (Thomas Nelson) and biopic Wesley: A Heart Transformed Can Change the World (Vision Video).

Though features dominated, the small-group and short-form section was also represented with a premiere screening of best-selling author Francis Chan's new "Basic" series. Attendees got to see "Fear God," the first 14-minute film in the seven-part series, released on DVD July 1.

As well as highlighting the wide range of new and forthcoming titles available, the movie area promoted two ways that retailers can capitalize on the opportunities.

CBA presented details of a new, video-rating system developed in association with the Dove Foundation, which helps stores identify releases to customers as "faith friendly" or "faith based" depending on content.

In addition, Pure Flix was talking up its church-screening program through which stores can license screenings for local congregations ahead of DVD releases for $149 per film, providing a way for them to promote the film in advance and build relationships with churches in their area.

Noting the growing appetite for inspirational viewing, both Spring Arbor and STL Distribution North America reported increasing the range of titles they carry, aiming to help stores.

Christian retail channel remains 'an important piece' of the music field, industry leader says

Retailers lauded the caliber and variety of artists at the convention, while music officials praised the Christian retail channel as still an "important piece" of the music industry.

Greg Bays, chairman of the Christian Music Trade Association, which tracks sales of Christian music, said that the music industry was "well represented" at ICRS via the Worship Him event and the Heart of the Artist Luncheon.

"As it relates to booth space, events and overall presence at ICRS, from what I have seen and heard, it appears that the Christian music industry's presence is on par with what it has been over the last two years," said Bays, senior vice president of sales and marketing for EMI CMG Distribution.

He added that EMI CMG's labels and artists were in St. Louis "because our company recognizes the unique opportunity ICRS offers to connect artists and retailers." EMI CMG's show line-up included Jeremy Camp, Matthew West and Sanctus Real as well as new and developing artists such as Audrey Assad, The Museum and Willie "P-Dub" Moore.

Additionally, the Pacesetter event featured performances by The Blackwood Brothers Quartet and Gold City, celebrating the 100th anniversary of Southern gospel music.

Bays said the CD format and Christian retail stores are "still vital to the health" of the Christian music industry, and Christian music "is still vital to the health" of Christian stores.

"Without question, Christian retail is still an important piece of the music industry," he said. "ICRS still provides a great place for music companies and artists to connect with key accounts, marketing groups and with the hundreds of independent retailers who attend the show and serve their local communities."

Bays said the latest research from The NPD Group (National Purchase Diary) revealed that 65% of Christian-music buyers only purchases CDs, while 17% buys both CDs and digital formats.

"This translates to only 18% of Christian music buyers being 'digital-only' buyers," he said. "Christian retail still receives exceptionally high customer-satisfaction ratings from consumers, with customer service/shopping experience and selection/availability of music being key factors. These factors help to explain why Christian retail music sales dropped only 1% in 2009 versus 2008, while general market retailers experienced a 10% decline in music sales."

A large crowd heard compelling stories and testimonies from contemporary, rap and Southern gospel artists during the Heart of the Artist Luncheon sponsored by the Gospel Music Association.

Hosted by Mark Schultz, the event featured performances by contemporary musicians Audrey Assad, Sanctus Real and Matthew West as well as Candy Christmas and rapper P-Dub.

West shared about how he spent two months in a Tennessee cabin reading thousands of letters and e-mails sent by fans and strangers, which led him to write songs for his latest album, The Story of Your Life, to be released Oct. 5 by Sparrow Records.

"God opened my eyes to see the world outside my door," he said. "There were times before I would go on stage and I would hear a voice that said, 'You're just preaching to the choir.' ... After reading stories of broken hearts, I began to see people in a different way. ... This experience changed me."

Then in a lively segment in which Moore—who referred to himself as P-Dub—started by asking the crowd to stand and sing a rap version of Rich Mullins' "Awesome God." He shared how he had a rap album with Universal Records in Los Angeles, but then God "called" him to an evangelistic, hip-hop ministry. He also encouraged retailers to support his first Christian rap album, The Turning Point, to be released in September by EMI Gospel.

Barb Eaton, assistant manager of Trinity Christian Gifts & Books in Richmond, Ind., said the rapper was "amazing." "I was blown away by his passion for Christ, and his message of being who Christ called me to be," said Eaton, a first-time ICRS attendee. "I will enjoy his CD. His performance has (opened) my ears to this sound."

Kymburly Odell, gift buyer of The Master's—A Parable Christian Store in Clovis, N.M., said she was grateful to CBA and GMA "for giving us a glimpse of what it takes (for artists) to write songs."

Tina Beyer, co-owner of Skia Christian store in Bentonville, Ark., said hearing the artists' stories "got me excited to get their albums." Her husband, Bill Beyer, added: "Anytime we can tell the story behind the album, they sell better. We feel more connected to it."

Meanwhile, a benefit CD to raise funds for relief work in Haiti will be part of the effort for the premiere Christian Store Day on Oct. 23. The $5 compilation CD will feature artists such as Francesca Battistelli and Sidewalk Prophets, with royalties donated to a Haiti fund that will be divided between Compassion International, Samaritan's Purse and World Vision.

Among the specials confirmed so far is Word Label Group's knocking all its CDs down to $5 for the day, organizers said. In addition, Provident Label Group has moved the release of Third Day's new More to Oct. 19 to support the effort.