"With the creation of WestBow Press, we will be able to help more authors realize their dreams of being a published author, while discovering more diamonds in the rough to add to our roster," said Thomas Nelson CEO Michael Hyatt.

Hyatt added that the new venture would allow Nelson to see some of the authors it may ordinarily overlook. "Publishers aren't omniscient," he wrote on his blog. "We miss numerous opportunities every year. Finding the next best-seller is like searching for a needle in a haystack. WestBow Press provides us with a kind of ‘farm team.' We intend to watch the sales of these titles carefully. We will offer traditional publishing contracts to those authors whose self-published books begin to gain traction."

Through the partnership, ASI--the parent company of AuthorHouse, iUniverse, Trafford Publishing and Xilbris--will be responsible for selling and delivering publishing, marketing and selling services.

With WestBow Press--formerly the name of Nelson's fiction imprint--the company joins other Christian publishers who have ventured into self- or co-publishing programs, including WinePress Publishing, Salem Communications' Xulon Press, B&H Publishing Group's CrossBooks Publishing, Tate Publishing and Strang Communications' Creation House.