Germany's Bertelsmann media company and British publisher Pearson have agreed to merge the book publishing units Random House and Penguin Group, forming the new Penguin Random House company, said to be the world's largest publisher of consumer books. Bertelsmann owns Random House, the parent company of WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group, comprising WaterBrook Press and Multnomah Books.

WaterBrook Multnomah officials declined comment on the move, but the Oct. 29 merger "should have little impact" on Christian publishing, according to industry observers.

"Penguin has published some strong Christian authors, but they don't have a Christian division," Evangelical Christian Publishers Association President and CEO Mark Kuyper told Christian Retailing. "Consolidating could prove to be beneficial for the two organizations, but I don't see much impact for Christian publishers, stores or consumers."

Dwight Baker, president of Baker Publishing Group, said he does not anticipate "staff consolidation to the degree that HarperCollins is applying presently" to Zondervan and newly acquired sister company, Thomas Nelson.

"Multnomah ceased to function [as] an independent publisher eight years ago, and Penguin's contributions to the Christian market are uneven," Baker said. "Neither [Random House or Penguin] controls a proprietary Bible translation.

"Now that Rupert Murdoch at News Corp. controls Zondervan, Thomas Nelson and both the New International Version and the New King James Version of the Bible, Bertelsmann perhaps did everybody a favor by placing Penguin assets beyond his reach," Baker added. "As an ongoing participant in the Christian market, Penguin's future was uncertain anyway. Penguin announced last summer that they planned to abandon the Christian book category due to frustration over the inflated price of contracts. Coming from the offices of a major international publisher, there was some irony in that complaint."

However, Erica Glass, senior manager of corporate communications for Penguin Group (USA), told Christian Retailing that Penguin “remains committed to the authors, readers and sellers of Christian books.”  “Putnam Praise, our catalog of titles for Christian bookstores, is now represented by a dedicated salesperson,” she said. 

The merger "will have little direct impact on CBA," said literary agent Steve Laube "Penguin did not have a Christian division. They do publish a select number of titles, usually by highly visible authors—T.D. Jakes, for example. ... Any merger is usually done with an eye towards finding efficiencies and eliminating duplicate infrastructure. Merging the best-seller and backlist power of Random House and Penguin creates a behemoth company representing billions of dollars of book sales."

The merger is expected to close in the second half of 2013. Penguin Group Chairman and Chief Executive John Makinson will become chairman of Penguin Random House, while Random House CEO Markus Dohle will be CEO.

Under the terms of the agreement, Bertelsmann will own 53% of the joint venture and Pearson will own 47%. The joint venture will exclude Bertelsmann's trade publishing business in Germany, and Pearson will retain rights to use the Penguin brand in education markets worldwide.

"For now, it is business as usual at Random House and Penguin," Dohle wrote in a letter to Random House authors. "Soon, we hope to join together to offer an even deeper backlist alongside our newly published titles. In our partnership, we will be even better positioned to provide copyright protection and support your intellectual property."

Editor's Note: This article was updated on Feb. 4 with comments from Penguin Group (USA).

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.

Karen Kingsbury's The Bridge (Howard Books) debuted at No. 8 on the Fiction best-sellers from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA), tracking sales for the week ending Oct. 20, according to Pubtrack Christian data. The book was to be officially released Oct. 23.

The Top 20 General best-sellers were: 1. One Thousand Gifts, Ann Voskamp (Zondervan); 2. Jesus Calling, Sarah Young, hardcover (Thomas Nelson); 3. Praying God's Word, Beth Moore (B&H Books/B&H Publishing Group); 4. I Declare, Joel Osteen (FaithWords); 5. Heaven Is for Real, Todd Burpo (Thomas Nelson); 6. Jesus Today, Young, hardcover (Thomas Nelson); 7. Jesus Calling, Young, large print deluxe (Thomas Nelson); 8. The Me I Want to Be, John Ortberg (Zondervan); 9. Jesus Calling, Young, deluxe (Thomas Nelson); 10. The Harbinger, Jonathan Cahn (FrontLine/Charisma House Book Group); 11. Full Disclosure, Dee Henderson (Bethany House/Baker Publishing Group); 12. Grace, Max Lucado (Thomas Nelson); 13. God Loves You, David Jeremiah (FaithWords); 14. Unglued, Lysa TerKeurst (Zondervan); 15. Not a Fan, Kyle Idleman, hardcover (Zondervan); 16. Unleash!, Perry Noble, Andy Stanley (Tyndale House Publishers); 17. The 5 Love Languages, Gary Chapman (Northfield Publishing); 18. Heaven Changes Everything, Todd and Sonja Burpo (Thomas Nelson); 19. Crazy Love, Francis Chan (David C Cook); and 20. The Power of Praying for Your Adult Children, Stormie Omartian (Harvest House Publishers).

The Top 10 Fiction best-sellers were: 1. The Harbinger; 2. Full Disclosure; 3. The Fiddler, "Home to Hickory Hollow" No. 1, Beverly Lewis (Bethany House/Baker Publishing Group); 4. All Things New, Lynn Austin (Bethany House/Baker Publishing Group); 5. The Bridesmaid, "Home to Hickory Hollow" No. 2, Beverly Lewis (Bethany House/Baker Publishing Group); 6. Coming Home, Karen Kingsbury (Zondervan); 7. Whispers in the Wind, "Wild West Wind," No. 2, Lauraine Snelling (Bethany House/Baker Publishing Group); 8. The Bridge; 9. When a Heart Stops, "Deadly Reunion" No. 2, Lynette Eason (Bethany House/Baker Publishing Group); and 10. Lethal Legacy, "Guardians of Justice" No. 3, Irene Hannon (Bethany House/Baker Publishing Group).

The top five Bibles were: 1. The Story, NIV, deluxe, hardcover, New International Version (Zondervan); 2. NIV Adventure Bible, hardcover, (Zonderkidz); 3. NIV Student Bible, compact, softcover (Zondervan); 4. NLT Chronological Life Application Study Bible, hardcover, New Living Translation (Tyndale); and 5. NLT Life Recovery Bible, softcover (Tyndale).

Messianic rabbi Jonathan Cahn's The Harbinger (FrontLine/Charisma House) has reached 42 weeks on the New York Times Paperback Trade Fiction best-seller list.

Released Jan. 3, the novel—a warning of God's judgment to America—has sold more than 700,000 copies and gone to reprint 15 times. It has also spent 41 weeks on USA Today's Top 150 Best-Selling Books and has been on Amazon.com's top 100 best-seller list for more than six months.

"The Harbinger has impacted the lives of many who have been gripped by the uncanny scriptural parallels of Is. 9:10 and what's happening in current events since the September 11 attacks," said Steve Strang, founder and CEO of Charisma Media, which publishes Christian Retailing. "Not only has this message served as a call to action for Christians to pray and sold hundred of thousands of copies, it is perhaps one of the most important messages that we've ever published."

The Harbinger received a bump in sales in June after conservative talk show host Glenn Beck mentioned the book on his radio and television programs, calling it "incredible and the essence of the truth."

Since 1988, Cahn has led Beth Israel Worship Center in Wayne, N.J., one of the country's largest Messianic congregations.

Subtitled "The Ancient Mystery That Holds the Secret of America's Future," The Harbinger traces the parallels between events in the U.S. since the 2001 terrorist attacks.

Steve Smith has been named the new publisher of Oasis Audio, following the resignation of Tammy Faxel. With him more than 25 years of publishing experience, Smith has served as the vice president of sales and marketing since August 2010.

In addition to editorial and marketing positions, he has authored eight juvenile fiction titles and contributed to several short story anthologies and art books.

"While the Oasis team is sad to see Tammy go, we are excited for her as she enters into this new chapter in her life," Smith said. "Because of the dedication and expertise of our entire staff, we anticipate a seamless transition with no disruption to our customers. Over the past decade, Oasis Audio has established itself as the leader in inspirational Christian audio products, and we look forward to continuing this tradition of excellence and integrity."

After five years with Oasis Audio, Faxel has taken a role in business development for Brilliance Audio.

Tyndale House Publishers has joined forces with Prison Fellowship to distribute the You Are Loved Holy Bible—a special-edition Bible for boys and girls aged 7-15 featuring the New Living Translation (NLT)—to children receiving a gift from the ministry's Angel Tree program this year.

Tyndale's fourth Christian retail channel exclusive aims to provide free Bibles for prisoners' children. In the United States, 1.7 million children have a mother or father in prison, according to Prison Fellowship, founded by the late Chuck Colson "to seek the transformation of prisoners and their reconciliation to God, family and community."

"We have been blessed to partner with Christian retailers in the distribution of over 1.5 million Bibles through our Operation Worship (soldiers), Beautiful Everyday (crisis pregnancy) and Ghana Student Edition Bible (high school students throughout Ghana) campaigns," said Mary Chapman, director of the NLT alliances. "We are thrilled to be joining with Prison Fellowship and Angel Tree to distribute You Are Loved Bibles."

As part of the campaign, consumers may visit participating retailers until the end of October and purchase a You Are Loved Holy Bible to donate for about $5-$6. Consumers who buy a Bible will be able to receive a free Angel Tree Christmas ornament. Local churches participating in the Angel Tree program will include the Bibles with gifts distributed this Christmas.

Angel Tree is a ministry founded by Prison Fellowship that reaches out to the children of inmates and their families. Click here for more information on the You Are Loved Holy Bible initiative. 

Guideposts Publishing has named Christian publishing veteran Dale Wilstermann as vice president of national sales of its retail services division.

"Dale will ensure that Guideposts capitalizes on opportunities in today's rapidly changing publishing environment," said Guideposts CEO Dick Hopple. "Dale's CBA and ABA market experience—particularly in the digital market—will help us stay focused in our approach to our retail program. We are confident he will help us keep our loyal customers happy as we move forward with 21st century publishing strategies."

Wilstermann, who will lead the sales teams for all Guideposts imprints, comes to the company from Worthy Publishing, where he served as senior vice president of sales and distribution. Wilstermann's previous experience also includes senior management duties at Thomas Nelson, where he led the company's e-tailer division and marketing teams, and also worked in the company's ABA sales division.

Guideposts' flagship, Guideposts magazine, has a paid circulation of 2 million. Guideposts' divisions also includes Candy Cane Press, Ideals, Williamson, Summerside Press and Ellie Claire.