InterVarsity Press (IVP) has been recognized by Digital Book World—the premier platform offering educational and networking resources for digital publishing professionals—and their partners for with the Quality, Excellence, Design (QED) certification on the production of IVP e-books. This is the second consecutive year IVP has been so honored.

Digital Book World also announced two IVP titles as finalists for the 2015 Digital Book Awards, including Immigration by Dale Hanson Bourke and Teach Us to Want by Jen Pollock Michel in the Ebook Flowable—Adult Nonfiction category. The award program celebrates innovation in apps and e-book publishing.

Award-winning author Jane Kirkpatrick now has more than 1 million copies in print, WaterBrook Multnomah announced Dec. 11. Kirkpatrick has written more than 25 books with seven publishers.

Many of her historical novels have been set in the American West, with her first, A Sweetness to the Soul, winning the prestigious Western Heritage Wrangler Award in 1995.

Best-selling Whitaker House author Don Gossett died Wednesday, Dec. 10, at 85, his wife Debra at his side, according to a ministry spokesperson. The prolific author was also a pastor, worldwide evangelist, missionary and longtime broadcaster, serving in active ministry for 66 years.

Gossett was best known for his teaching on praise and the power of the spoken word. Many of his books are considered classics, including What You Say Is What You Get, There’s Dynamite in Praise, The Power of Your Words and Words That Move Mountains, co-authored with E.W. Kenyon.

Christian retailers participating in the fourth annual 12 Days of Christmas Sale, developed by The Parable Group, reported increased traffic, new customers and sales just

two days into the promotion. The 12 Days of Christmas Sale, which started Monday, Dec. 8 and will run through Saturday, Dec. 20, features “one bestseller a day for 12 days at a ridiculously low sale price.”

Retailers reported that the 12 Days of Christmas daily deals promoted in their catalogs, Red Plum inserts, promotional in-store signage, email marketing and Facebook campaigns by The Parable Group are effectively driving repeat consumer traffic into their stores.

Barry Berglund from Parables of Omaha, Nebraska, was one retailer who has success with the holiday sale.

“My customers are not just buying the 12 Days of Christmas items, they are coming in with their shopping lists,” Berglund said. “My customers are also checking out the upcoming 12 Days of Christmas items while they are in the store.

“I have the 12 Days of Christmas Sale set up at the back of my store so customers have to walk through the store to get to it,” he added.

Duck Dynasty Season 5 [2-DVD set], regularly $19.98 but on sale for $3.97, hit the No. 1 position on the group’s best-sellers list Dec. 8—selling eight times as many units as the second best-selling product.

Day 2 featured The Donkey in the Living Room ($9.97 on sale), which hit No. 1 on the group’s best-sellers list Dec. 9. It sold nearly 13 times as many units as the second best-selling product that day.

“Our 12 Day Sale is doing very well—all featured products so far have sold out,” said Debra Allen from Gifts of Joy Parable Christian Store in Lima, Ohio. “We even ordered in heavier than past years.”

Laurie Potratz from The Parable in San Luis Obispo, California, said that “the 12 Days of Christmas Sale has helped to increase our store traffic and transactions. Our average ticket is up almost 20%, and we are up 12% for the month! We’ve seen a lot of new customers coming in to take advantage of the 12 Day deals, and I’m selling out of the featured product every day.”

Parable Group had high expectations for Day 3 (Dec. 10) featuring Jesus Daily by Dr. Aaron Tabor on sale for only $5. Tabor, creator of the No. 1 most active Facebook page, Jesus Daily, shared Parable Group’s deal with 27 million fans. The posts linked to a Parable Facebook landing page listing all Parable partner locations with the $5 deal. Jesus Daily landed atop the group’s best-sellers list Dec. 10—selling 21 times as many units as the second best-selling product.

“We always appreciate the synergistic impact that comes with a traffic-driving marketing campaign, retail stores that are prepared for the traffic and the additional efforts from the authors to sell their books,” said Randy Ross, sales and marketing specialist for The Parable Group. We were thankful for the attention Aaron Tabor and Jesus Daily gave to the 12 Days of Christmas Sale.”

All 12 Days of Christmas deals are vendor-supported with post-sale credits. Parable is monitoring and analyzing participating store data daily and reporting to vendors on behalf of their partner stores.

“The 12 Days of Christmas Sale has been a big success for the last three years, and already stores are seeing the response exceed their expectations,” said Steve Potratz, president of The Parable Group. “It’s an effective promotion that provides customers with quality products at tremendous prices while also motivating them to shop multiple times before Christmas to score the next great deal.”

Growing tech companies are turning America’s stereotypical corporate culture on its head, and one of the leaders in the field is Faithlife Corporation—a software company north of Seattle that was just named one of Glassdoor’s top 10 places to work for the second consecutive year, an honor given to just a few companies from the thousands that qualify each year.

“We offer our employees more autonomy, less bureaucracy and more reason to be personally invested in the company,” said Bob Pritchett, Faithlife president and CEO. “Twenty years ago, we were just a few developers in a basement—now we have over 450 employees, including some of the best software developers in the country. Our fun and creative corporate culture has allowed us to build a stellar team of tech innovators.”

God’s Not Dead, the 2011 Inpop recording from GRAMMY-nominated Newsboys, has been certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

The band’s sixth-career Gold album was produced by Seth Mosley and features the title track to the movie of the same name. The song garnered an RIAA Gold single certification earlier this year, topped the CHR chart for seven consecutive weeks and inspired the Pure Flix film God’s Not Dead. The album also features the Newsboys’ spin on favorites such as “Your Love Never Fails,” “Forever Reign” and “Mighty to Save.”

Central Florida’s Long’s Christian Book & Outlet in Altamonte Springs closed in September, but is reopening at First Baptist Church in Orlando. Long’s previously had two locations, but closed its main College Park store some time ago.

Details about the store will not be available until January, but owner Rodger Long announced the future opening to his customers through an email.