Thomas Nelson has formed a CBA retailers' advisory council to help the publisher better serve Christian retailers. President and COO Michael Hyatt announced the council as the company posted third-quarter results revealing 8% year-to-date growth in sales over the same period in 2003.

Revenues increased 13% in the October-to-December period to $63.4 million, while net income was up 38% to $5.5 million. While ABA sales grew 20% over the last year, sales in Christian retail-which Hyatt said remained the most important channel-increased by only 4%.

CBA retail was "healthier than it has ever been," he commented. "We are more committed to the CBA trade than we have ever been. We recognize that CBA as a channel is the most important one. It's only there that we sell our breadth and backlist. It's only there that we break new authors."

Hyatt predicted a strong final quarter for the company's financial year ending March 31 thanks to two forthcoming titles. Captivating, which he described as "Wild at Heart for women," is by Stasi Eldredge and her husband, John, whose Wild at Heart has sold more than 1.5 million copies. The other is Monster, Frank Peretti's first adult fiction project in six years.

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