From The Tennessean, October 13, 2006 --

Nelson sells gardening-books unit:
Franklin's Waynick Book Group buys Cool Springs Press

By Getahn Ward, Staff Writer

  Thomas Nelson Inc. is getting out of the gardening books business because it says it can't sell its other books and products through the home improvement retailers where they're sold.
  The Nashville-based religious publisher on Thursday said it had sold its Cool Springs Press imprint to a company owned by businessman Roger Waynick. The sale comes five years after Nelson bought Cool Springs Press from Waynick as it sought to diversify by adding titles targeting a general audience.
  "We want to focus on products that we can leverage across most of our product formats and most of our sales channels," Nelson Chief Executive Officer Mike Hyatt said of the latest strategy.
  Tennessee & Kentucky Gardener's Guide and All New Square Foot Gardening: Grow More in Less Space are among the biggest titles of Cool Springs Press locally.
  Cool Springs Press has become an imprint under Waynick Book Group of Franklin, which now has 12 employees. Waynick projects revenues in the range of $5 million for 2007.
  Hyatt said Nelson, which was acquired and taken private by investors led by private equity firm InterMedia Partners in June, did not plan to sell any other imprint.
  Separately, Nelson is buying Christian publisher Integrity Publishers of Franklin.