What do Norman Schwartzkopf, Patrick Buchanan, Wal-mart, AIDS, corporate downsizing and the approaching millennium have in common?
All have been suggested as part of the reason for the recent sales boomlet of the Bible.
A blend of turbulent times, national uncertainty and slick marketing have combined to thrust Bible sales to record levels and transform the scriptures from the stolid “thees” and “thous” of the King James classic into hip-looking niche Bibles that tell teens how to “info surf” Hebrews and Exodus to find reasons why they should practice sexual abstinence.
There are little pink Bibles for women, big green cowhide Bibles for men, Bibles for couples who want to share the scripture on weekends, Bibles for senior citizens and Bibles for kids who can barely read.
There are Bibles where the scripture is reproduced in little boxes resembling computer screens and Bibles designed to look and read like USA Today.
And then there are the CD-ROM Bibles where hypertext speeds readers from one book to another as they explore topics and themes.
“This is an industry that has exploded over the last three years,” says Michele Buc, a spokeswoman for Thomas Nelson Publishers, a Nashville-based religious publishing house.
“We have tried to make the Bible more user-friendly. Everyone has caught onto the need to produce more innovative products.”
Thomas Nelson alone offers 1,000 different versions of the Bible, ranging from gilded, leather-bound copies of the King James version to a hugely popular paperback Bible that comes with a little sticker on the cover saying “As seen on TV.”
The market for Bibles in the United States is huge.
According to the American Bible Society, 27 percent of Americans own at least five Bibles; the industry trade paper Publishers Weekly estimates that the average American household contains 3.2 copies of the Good Book.
Just how many Bibles are sold each year?
“Nobody’s got a clue and anybody who tells you that they do know is a liar,” says Phyllis Tickle, the religion editor of Publishers Weekly.
The most widely accepted gauge of the size of the market is the number of Bibles sold through retail outlets. These so-called “trade sales” that can be tracked amount to about $500 million a year.
But Tickle says that number does not reflect the true size of the Bible industry.
“I would bet you that for every one of those sold through a trackable source, two more are sold through some untrackable source,” she says.
Groups such as the American Bible Society, the International Bible Society and the Gideons distribute huge numbers of Bibles each year and those numbers are not compiled in any standardized way.
“Religious books are among the most important growth areas in the publishing industry,” she says. “The Bible is referred to as the milk cow of religious (publishing) houses.”
The Christian publishing industry nationwide is estimated to be a $3 billion business, with Bible sales accounting for approximately 16 percent of the market.
The wildfire spread of niche and mass marketing in what was once a staid corner of the publishing industry–Wal-mart and Sam’s Club warehouse stores have become key links in the distribution chain–is part of the reason for record levels of Bible sales.
Aiming for teenagers
Colyer Robison, a publicist for Broadman & Holdman Publishers, another Nashville-based religious publisher, says that careful marketing played a huge role in the success of their new “True Love Waits Bible.”
Aimed at teenagers, there is a strong focus on sex.
“It is an attempt to get teenagers to read the scriptures and to use them as a means of conveying a strong message about sexual abstinence,” says Robison. “It includes 40 full-color pages that attract teenagers. It uses very bright colors, the kind of things that they would see in their teen magazines.”
One of the color pages–tucked in between Chronicles 13 and 14–presents teens with “the best answers” to “the worst lines” of adolescent attempts at seduction.
“Line: I’ll just call someone else.”
“You: Here’s a quarter.”
“Line: Everybody is doing it.”
“You: That’s not true. I’m not doing it, and tonight neither are you! (smile)”
“Line: I’ve never wanted anyone as much as I want you.”
“You: That’s wonderful. Let’s pray now and ask God to bless this relationship.”
“Line: Nobody is going to care.”
“You: OK, let’s go ask my dad.”
When the Bible was first released in April at a youth conference in Atlanta, the book drew a positive response.
“The kids said that this was `sooooo cool,’ ” says Robison.
The surge in Bible sales by Christian book sellers has had an impact on Jewish publishing houses as well. A major part of the increased sales of Jewish scripture has come through Christian distribution companies.
“We see it as a crossover effort,” says Ellen Frankel, editor in chief of the Jewish Publication Society.
“This is the authoritative translation based on the Hebrew original,” she says, explaining the popularity of the 1985 translation of the Tanach, the holy scriptures of Judaism.
“Many non-Jewish professors have been anxious to use our version because of the accuracy of our translation. Christian scholars are more and more interested in the Jewish spin on the Bible,” she says.
Translating the scriptures
Another way in which publishers have sought to make the Bible more accessible has been by aiming translations at lower reading levels.
This trend began in 1972, when Wheaton-based Tyndale House Publishers produced “The Living Bible,” a translation that put scripture into plain English.
The trend has continued and one of Thomas Nelson’s largest investments has been in the translation, production and promotion of a new version of the Bible called “The Promise.” The company invested $6 million in producing the new Bible with the help of the American Bible Society.
“This kind of money is unprecedented in Bible publishing and almost unprecedented in publishing, says spokeswoman Buc.
She says one of the reasons “The Promise” has been so successful is that the book is written at a 4th-grade reading level. “It reads a lot like USA Today,” she says. “This is an attempt at an easier-to-understand level.”
Another reason sales of “The Promise” boomed is clever marketing. “We ran lots of target ads,” says Buc. “We ran a lot of ads on the Rush Limbaugh program. That is where we got the greatest response.”
The book was also mass marketed through Sam’s Club, Wal-mart and other warehouse retailers.
Since the book was released last August, more than 400,000 copies have been sold nationwide, 75 percent of them through such non-traditional venues as warehouses.
Driven by spiritual need
Part of the growth is due to a resurgence of religious and spiritual awareness. Many Americans who were skeptical of organized religion have sought deeper understanding of spirituality through independent reading of the scripture, experts say.
Such trends arise periodically, according to Tickle, who describes them as times when people feel the need to “burst out.”
“In a literate society like ours one of the first things you see when the burst out comes is that people go back and read the scriptures,” she says.
Tickle, author of the book “Rediscovering the Sacred: Spirituality in America,” says that while the industry traditionally has been very stable in terms of sales and growth, it also is subject to sizable peaks from time to time.
“These are usually during times of stress or national tension,” she says, noting the two most recent peaks came during the Gulf War and after the Oklahoma City bombing.
Even the present contentious campaign for the Republican presidential nomination and the sometimes heated debate on conservative social and moral values espoused by the Christian right and GOP contender Buchanan are helping to boost Bible sales.
“What is increasing the market is the foment going on in our society,” says Tickle. “The publishers are following the trends in our society, that is all.”
