Thomas Nelson History: Growth and Success

As Moore's vision has expanded, so has the new Thomas Nelson, achieving success at unprecedented levels. In 1992 Nelson took a significant step forward with the acquisition of Word, Inc., one of the world's foremost Christian publishers and home to many popular authors including Billy Graham, Max Lucado, and Barbara Johnson.

Throughout the ‘90s, other companies joined the publishing family, including J. Countryman and Spanish-language publisher Caribe-Betania Editores. Women of Faith, the traveling women’s conferences attended by hundreds of thousands annually, thrived at Thomas Nelson, seeing huge growth in all areas from registrations to product sales. The company capped off the decade by acquiring Rutledge Hill Press in 1999 and watching it make waves shortly thereafter with New York Times bestselling book I Hope You Dance.

As Thomas Nelson entered the new millennium, it continued to forge new paths. In late 2001, the company sold gift division C.R. Gibson in order to refocus on its core strength: publishing Christian media. This poised Nelson to enter 2003 with a 60,000-foot warehouse expansion, paid for in cash.

The year 2003 became a watershed year as Thomas Nelson expanded physically, landed an unprecedented five books on the prestigious New York Times bestseller lists, and captured three of the top 15 positions on the BusinessWeek Hardcover Business Books Bestseller List.

In the fall, Nelson broke new ground in Bibles when it released Revolve, the first Bible magazine. The Biblezine caught on quickly, garnered national media attention, and has since expanded with Biblezines for teen guys, women, and kids. To close the year, fiction division WestBow Press launched with a roster of 20 popular authors, including Ted Dekker and Frank Peretti, clinching the company’s designation as the No. 1 book publisher in the CBA market for the second consecutive year.

By the end of 2003, Sam Moore felt his vision to help ordinary people understand the scriptures was being fulfilled in a multitude of ways. Now it was time to share the dream. In early 2004, Thomas Nelson announced that Moore would hand over his role as President and Chief Operating Officer to Michael S. Hyatt, who was already acting as Group Publisher.

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