Hachette Book Group is one of the first advertisers to use an app to advertise Joyce Meyer's new book, Power Thoughts: 12 Strategies to Win the Battle of the Mind. (FaithWords, Nov. 6).

Most publishers are using digital—on their own websites, renting e-newsletter lists and advertising on other sites—but advertising on apps and mobile phones is new.

Charisma Media is one of the Christian media companies that has developed a mobile app (also available for iPad users) for its Charisma News website. The app is an RSS feed of 10-15 news articles a day. Since it launched in May 2010, it has had 68,000 downloads.

"We did not take any ads at first until we built an audience and learned what advertising on mobile is about," said Steve Strang, owner of Charisma Media.

"We now have more than 1 million page views a month and we're excited that Hachette wanted to use the app for Joyce Meyer's new book," Strang added. "We have had a close relationship with her as a columnist for Charisma since 2003."

On average this year, approximately 2,100 new users are being added each month, growing monthly active users to nearly 9,500.

"Charisma Media offers a wide variety of digital products to our advertisers," said Ann Marie Kelly, Charisma Media's advertising manager for Ministry Today. "This includes our digital magazine, web advertising with banner ads, first-party opt-in newsletters with HTML ads and our dedicated eblast list where an advertiser can drop in their own content to reach a specific audience.

"The new advertising option for the Charisma News app will provide additional exposure for advertisers on a daily, weekly or monthly basis, and it can help expand the advertiser's reach to a culture of smartphone users," Kelly added. "This is a way the advertiser cannot only brand, but also it's a quick, responsive purchase, an impulse buy of an ebook download or physical copy with ship-to-home delivery."

The ad runs at the bottom of the app for a week when it's replaced by another advertiser.

The app can be obtained for free through the iTunes store or by texting the word "Charisma" to the number 24587.

In addition to the Charisma News mobile app, the company also has a digital magazine app called "Charisma Digital Magazine," which is available in any app store, including iTunes and Google Play. The download is free, but the subscription for Charisma costs $19.99.

The company also has a free app for best-selling author Dr. Don Colbert.

Charisma Media has been publishing Christian Retailing since 1986.

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