Saturday

Thomas Nelson Tenure

I joined the team at Thomas Nelson in March of 2004.

They hired me as a ministry consultant for the Eastern Region. I served ministries, churches, seminaries, and Christian businesses along the East coast, Southeast, Arkansas, and Illinois.

During my tenure, I exceeded my sales goals ($1.8M and $2.1M) and helped with the release of several big titles from Charles Stanley, John Maxwell, and Dennis Rainey.

I am most proud of two projects.



I had the privilege of helping the sports ministry, Upward Unlimited, create its new player's Bible. In the past, they had used a full text New Testament. Their research showed, however, that the kids weren't interacting with the Bible. Very few had opened it. The readership statistics of the magazine included in the package every player received were much higher. Nelson's success with BibleZines allowed us to help Upward combine the magazine content with a four-color presentation of the gospel of Matthew. More than 500,000 were printed during the first year. Upward received rave reviews from parents whose children were reading and interacting with the Scriptures. Upward has renewed their relationship with Nelson for two more years. More than 800,000 copies of the Gospel of Mark will be distributed this year.

This project was significant because I was used by God to help thousands of children interact with the Bible. I was blessed by God through this contract as well. It was the largest contract our division signed during 2004.



Don Wilton's book, Totally Secure, was a pleasure to acquire for Thomas Nelson. This book was more than a sales invoice. We developed a strategy for Dr. Wilton's broadcast interests and wrote a marketing launch plan for the book.

In January of 2006, I was recruited by the Reference and Electronic division of Thomas Nelson Publishers. Wayne Kinde named me his Senior Acquisitions Editor of the $10 Million publishing unit "General Reference". I set out to accomplish three goals:
  • Mine the rich backlist of titles to create a new generation of tools

  • Develop ways to use modern typesetting and graphic design techniques to make reference books more accessible and fun to use

  • Create a new line of "inspirational reference" books to crack Barnes and Noble, Borders, and Books-a-Million (i.e., travel, writing tools)


During my time as Senior Acquisitions Editor, I worked on a number of projects. My favorites:

How to Get Ready for Short-Term Missions


Smart Guide to the Bible Series


Everyday Reference Series (4 books)



Nelson's Student Bible Handbook

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