Brilliance Audio, Inc., has signed an agreement for the exclusive global distribution rights of the hard goods products of Nashville-based Thomas Nelson and Zondervan — the two publishing groups that form HarperCollins Christian Publishing.

The three-year partnership, financial terms of which are not being disclosed, includes all front list and select back-list titles for non-fiction trade and fiction audio products in CD and MP3 CD format.

Related to the agreement, past favorites from Rick Warren, Max Lucado, Colleen Coble and Lysa TerKeurst, among others, will be included in the available backlist CD products.

Brilliance Audio is based in Grand Haven, Mich. Of note, Zondervan is based in Grand Rapids, Mich.

The announcement follows HarperCollins Christian Publishing’s April announcement that it finalized a licensing agreement with Spanish publishing house Editorial CLIE.

“With certain backlist titles being available in hard goods for the first time, this new partnership will increase our audio presence in the world’s retail and libraries markets,” Cat Zappa, director of licensing for HarperCollins Christian Publishing, said in a release.

HarperCollins Christian Publishing — comprised of local publisher Thomas Nelson Inc. and Michigan-based Zondervan — announced Monday that last week it entered into a licensing agreement with Spanish publishing house Editorial CLIE. 

The move comes not quite one year after after New York-based HarperCollins Publishers, in July 2013, finalized its purchase of Thomas Nelson, the headquarters and warehouse for which are located near Nashville International Airport. Read more about that acquisition here.

With the exception of Spain, HarperCollins Christian Publishing will hold global exclusive print selling and distribution rights for the entire CLIE active product catalog. The agreement also includes licensing of the popular 1977 revised Reina-Valera Spanish Bible translation. CLIE will remain a separate imprint under HarperCollins Christian Publishing’s International team, joining Grupo Nelson and Vida.
 

A week after launching a Spanish-language version of its GLO interactive Bible tool, execs at Thomas Nelson were able to say Monday that their first shipment for Windows users has sold out. A version for the Apple ecosystem will be issued in a few months.

"Zondervan took a smart, strategic risk when they originally launched the English version of 'GLO' in 2010," said Mark Schoenwald, President and CEO of HarperCollins Christian Publishing. HarperCollins Christian Publishing is comprised of both the Thomas Nelson and Zondervan publishing groups. "The company discovered a consumer need. Grupo Nelson realized that the Spanish Bible market also had shown a digital shift and partnering with Immersion Digital ensured that we would be the first to meet the consumer demand."

Publishing group HarperCollins is continuing with its merger of Thomas Nelson and Michigan-based Christian publishing peer Zondervan. Execs have named Daisy Hutton, who joined Thomas Nelson in Nashville four years ago, to lead a united fiction group.

"We have the opportunity to take Christian fiction to a new level by supporting two strong publishing legacies while at the same time preparing to move into the new digital frontier," said David Moberg SVP & Group Publisher, Harper Collins Christian Publishing. "We intend to maintain separate teams for publishing, editorial and marketing for both Thomas Nelson and Zondervan where it makes sense strategically. However, I have no doubt that our fiction presence will only benefit from Daisy’s leadership."

SEE ALSO: Other Thomas Nelson news since the HarperCollins sale news last Halloween

Thomas Nelson Inc. announced today the acquisition of the originally self-published title God Makes Lemonade series of books by Don Jacobson.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Slated to release May 2013, God Makes Lemonade — a collection of inspirational, true stories — will undergo editorial changes and additions before its official launch in time for Mother’s Day, according to Matt Baugher, Thomas Nelson senior vice president and publisher.

Jacobson is the founder of D.C. Jacobson & Associates, an Oregon-based author agency, and the previous owner and president of Multnomah Publishers.
 

Christian author and speaker Lisa Harper has joined the team at Live Event Management, a division of Thomas Nelson, as ministry director. Harper has been a feature of Live Event's Women of Faith tour.

“As an effort to continue our spiritual growth within Live Events,” states Carol Nygren, Executive Vice President and Managing Director of Live Event Management, “we wanted Lisa to join our team to incorporate a group dynamic that focused on making the Gospel even more relevant to our work and relational environment.  Lisa was the missing piece in our puzzle and we are happy to have her join the family.”