InterVarsity Press (IVP) has re-signed with Noble Marketing Group for representation to expand its reach to more Christian retailers and academic bookstores.

IVP was represented by Noble Marketing for more than eight years until 2011, when Jeff Crosby, InterVarsity's associate publisher and director of sales and marketing, launched an in-sourced sales model for the publisher for the first time since the mid-1980s.

With the decline in the number of Christian and academic retail outlets, the plan was designed to have more direct contact with retailers in an effort "to bring a sharper focus" on IVP's publishing program, company officials said.

"When we made the decision to test the in-sourced sales model in August 2011, Noble Marketing President Ted Terry and I agreed that the doors would remain open, both on the IVP and the Noble side of the equation, to work together again," Crosby said. "We learned a great deal during the 16 months of our experimental in-sourced sales paradigm.

"Even with the decline in the number of retail outlets, we found that our coverage was not as broad or as effective as what Ted Terry and the other members of the Noble Marketing Group afford their client publishers," Crosby added. "I'm delighted to once again be working with the Noble team, and I look forward to the fruitful years of partnership ahead of us."

Terry added: "We missed representing [IVP's] titles over the past 16 months. I'm grateful that Jeff Crosby and the IVP team once again have placed their faith in Noble Marketing to do the job."