HarperCollins will pay $200 million to acquire the Christian publisher Thomas Nelson. News Corp., the parent company of HarperCollins, revealed this figure in its quarterly filing on Friday.

As we noted last week, the publisher intends to finalize the deal by the end of 2011.

Publishers Weekly has more details about the sale: “In 2006, InterMedia paid $473 million for the publisher which had sales of $253 million at the time. Nelson’s current revenue is unavailable.”

Algonquin Books has launched the ‘Ask an Editor’ video series on their blog. Executive editor Chuck Adams stars in the video embedded above and answers the question: “How did you acquire Water for Elephants?”

Marketing director Michael Taeckens explained how it will work: “For this series, readers who have any questions about the publishing process can submit them on our blog or on our Facebook or Twitter accounts. Every two weeks a different Algonquin editor will select and answer one of the questions submitted.”

The next Algonquin Books Club will feature a conversation between Gruen and The Help author Kathryn Stockett on April 26th. Those interested can check out the website for a reader’s guide, essays by Gruen, and her recipe for oyster brie soup.