The unchanging Word of God has undergone a makeover -- in fact, many makeovers. The family heirloom Bible, with name engraved on a black leather cover, wrapped around the 17th-century King James English set in tiny type, has metamorphosed into multiple translations, hundreds of niche editions -- for teens, men, women, kids, people in recovery or spiritual rediscovery -- and scores of study Bibles and Bible-based devotionals. Like a busy village marketplace in biblical times, today's Bible marketplace is crowded with customers and teeming with products. From Tyndale House's The Book, with its mass-market appeal and massive, $7-million promotional campaign, to Oxford University Press's Access Bible, with its own promotional Web site, publishers of Bibles and other sacred texts are constantly seeking creative ways to market and merchandise their products.

In the case of the Christian Bible, that means selling people a book that is already sitting on the shelves of 91% of American households, according to the California-based Barna Research Group. Ingram/Spring Arbor, which distributes about 90% of the Bibles in print, lists 3172 different Bibles (counting all SKUs of all editions of all translations). Publishers call this level of penetration a "mature" Bible market. Yet the Bible is unique in that, like potato chips, one isn't enough for most people. Barna's statistics show the average household has three; a study of Bible purchasers in ABA and CBA bookstores conducted in 1998 for Zondervan showed the average customer has seven Bibles and had purchased two within the preceding 12 months. These customers are mostly female, have money to spend (average household income is $52,000), are most likely Baptist or Catholic, buy Bibles as gifts and come to the store almost once a month. "Most retailers need to understand that people are still buying Bibles," says Tom Mockabee, senior v-p and publisher of Bibles at Zondervan, which offers 1200 different Bible editions and is adding the Knowing Jesus Study Bible this month.

Zondervan and other Bible publishers keep rolling out new editions aimed at a market divided into finely sliced niches: teens of evangelical Christian bent, beginners of serious Bible study in mainline Protestant denominations, theologically conservative Catholics. This proliferation of editions demands creative marketing and merchandising to link the highly focused Bible to its highly specific intended audiences. Fueled by an interest in all things spiritual, today's readers are looking for just the right version among the many varieties offered.

Current or upcoming campaigns put the Bible and other sacred texts on TV, on the concert stage, on the Web and on compact disc, as publishers hope to make their products the ones those searching consumers will buy. Thomas Nelson's new Extreme Teen Bible is being promoted by the evangelical Christian rock group Audio Adrenaline on a concert tour through the fall and next spring. In another kind of concert tie-in to the scriptures of another faith, White Cloud Press will promote Approaching the Qur'an: The Early Revelations, its new English translation by Michael Anthony Sells, through a four-stop performance tour by Hajjah Maria Ulfa, a Qur'anic reciter acclaimed in Southeast Asia. For those who miss the East Coast performances, a CD of recitations accompanies the book. In an elaborate seasonal campaign, Tyndale House has partnered with the Christian Broadcasting Network to spend part of a $7-million budget convincing cable and network TV viewers and shoppers in nonbook outlets across the country that The Book, its contemporary version of the Bible, is a better gift to give at Christmas than socks or a sweater. Oxford University Press has created a dedicated Web site for its new Access Bible, offering downloadable lesson plans for teachers and religious educators.

Holy Writ Large

The intense and immense campaign for Tyndale's The Book is a case study in marketing and merchandising on a grand scale. Launched this spring in partnership with Pat Robertson's CBN, The Book -- offered in a variety of formats -- has already sold 500,000 copies, meeting initial goals, according to Tyndale senior v-p and group publisher Doug Knox. And there is even grander marketing to come, tied into the holiday season and based on research showing that most people buy and get Bibles as gifts. "What we are doing is positioning The Book as the gift to give this Christmas," says Knox. Products in the line just out or due this month include The Book for Teens, a game, an audio version, a calendar and The Book of Christmas, a version containing only the Nativity story. Seasonal merchandising by retailers will include deluxe gift bags -- perfect for setting under the tree -- and gift-themed floor displays with small footprints, intended to make it easier for a retailer to give up the space. Commercials on cable TV and radio will also push the gift message. The aim is ubiquity, the market is mass and the goal is to top a million in sales by the year's end. "The Book will be everywhere in the fourth quarter," Knox predicts. Being everywhere d sn't come cheap: Knox acknowledges that the spring and fall campaigns will consume most of the $7-million budget for what is intended to be a three-year campaign to get the Bible into the hands of untypical Bible readers, those who are more likely to frequent Wal-Mart or Target than a religious bookstore. "We're pretty much spending that the first year," Knox says.

Tyndale House pays a lot of attention to merchandising and packaging to make its products stand out, marketing director Joan Begitschke tells PW. Tyndale's own New Living Translation products are branded to give them a "family look," and the branding is carried through a variety of merchandising devices, including a chart that compares the NLT to other translations. The whole system is intended to invite a potential buyer to pick up a book and look at it. "A lot of our effort is to get them to sample it, to read it," says Begitschke. "Our line is, 'You won't want to put it down.' " That strategy seems to be working: the NLT is already the fastest-selling translation, with more than five million NLT products sold through Tyndale House since the translation's 1996 debut (though it has yet to topple the NIV as the number-one selling translation).

Tyndale House and other publishers also provide help to retailers through Bible education. Both Zondervan and Tyndale House offer staff-training kits that include a video and manuals. Thomas Nelson's Bible catalogue contains a translation chart, glossary of terms and sales tips. Oxford University Press uses its catalogue to supply detailed product information and provides retailers with informational literature they can pass along to customers.

Bible Plus and Minus

Like Tyndale House, Thomas Nelson is positioning some of its newest Bible products as ideal gifts. Some marry Scripture with another product; some editions offer abridged Scripture, aimed at readers too busy for more lengthy study and reflection. Available in time for the holidays are Come Let Us Adore Him (Oct.), a green leather hardcover edition of selected Scriptures and Christmas reflections with color artwork by popular artist Thomas Kinkade, and Daughters of God (Nov.), a hardcover edition for women that contains selected Scripture passages, commentary and meditations and comes boxed with a one-ounce bottle of essential oils of frankincense and myrrh. Its packaging closely resembles the classic women's holiday gift of boxed fragrance. Other new Nelson Bibles shrink the Good Book for greater portability: in the New King James Version, the NKJV Slimline Bible measures 5" x 8" and is designed to be tucked into a suitcase, yet offers a concordance and other study aids; WoW: The Bible in Seven Minutes a Day contains about one-third of the Bible, organized into 365 daily readings.

Tim Jordan, Nelson's Bible marketing director, says marketing and mission are closely intertwined in developing and selling new Bible products. He points out that Nelson is broadening its variety of products to fulfill its mission of reengaging the culture with Scripture. It's also trying to speak the language of specific groups, such as teens, within that culture. Tying Bible promotion into a rock music tour is unusual, he concedes, but it's a handy way to reach young people. "You have to communicate through the right media, words, style and graphics," Jordan notes. "We don't change the Word. It's just how you package it and make people comfortable with it and encourage them to explore."

A Unique Catholic Market

The New King James Version, a translation to which Nelson owns the rights, is the publisher's flagship and gets marketing horsepower accordingly. But Nelson is also actively developing products for Catholics. (The U.S. Catholic Church officially uses the New American Bible translation.) "We're trying to be more sensitive to the Catholic market and the Catholic consumer's needs," says Marsha Day, Nelson's Catholic marketing specialist. As a Roman Catholic, she knows the terminology and calendar of the Church, and she teaches that to Nelson reps to help them sell effectively. "I bump heads with that every day," she tells PW. "They don't understand the selling cycle is quite different, and they don't understand the Catholic terminology." Day is paying particular attention to the Catholic youth market right now. In February 2000, Nelson will bring out My First Catholic Bible, including New Testament stories and prayers, with illustrations by children's artist Natalie Carabetta. Day will be at the National Catholic Youth Conference in November to promote it as well as Nelson's International Student Bible for Catholics, NAB, which sold 7000 copies at the beginning of the school year. "We're going back to print," she says. "It went so fast we didn't even know they were gone."

Market demand is one reason Doubleday intends to revive its original Jerusalem Bible, to be reissued next February. First released in 1965, that edition is now out of print; a revised edition, the New Jerusalem Bible, has been on the market since 1985. Mark Fretz, senior editor with Doubleday's Religious Publishing Division, says demand came, surprisingly, not only from Catholics: "We got a huge demand for it, both from Catholics and Protestants. Protestants say, 'We've just discovered this thing.' " Fretz interprets this as evidence of the growing demand for a Bible that uses "traditional language," that is, language that retains almost exclusively male imagery and pronouns. The theologically conservative part of what he calls a "diverse" Catholic market is strongly interested in this original translation. "It's like bringing back the Volkswagen," he says, asserting that "most laypeople will say the Jerusalem is superior to the NAB in readability." Doubleday is also poised to mine more niches in the vast market of 61 million U.S. Catholics. Taking a page or two from the evangelical publishers, the house is planning a variety of specialized editions, including meditation, study, teen and Confirmation Bibles.

Fretz notes that the relationship of Catholics to the Bible is changing. The traditional hierarchy is no longer seen as being the sole authority on the Bible's meaning. "Priests are now doing Bible study groups," Fretz points out. "People are actually studying the Bible themselves in the Catholic Church in a way that they hadn't before." Retail outlets for these products include not only Catholic specialty stores but some CBA stores that have been expanding their Catholic selections.

Tried & True Mixed with New

Some publishers are using a standard technique to reap more sales: lower prices. After its success last year, Zondervan is repeating a fall and Christmas sale on selected Bibles. Zondervan's Mockabee was pleased with the 1998 results. "On some titles we had a 20%t increase, and some as high as 50%," he notes. Merchandising support -- including shelf talkers, floor displays and endcaps -- helps the retailer highlight the selected titles. The first two phases of the sale, which opened in September with an "early bird" offer, reduce by 25% prices on selected bestselling NIV Bibles -- Zondervan's bread and butter. (The NIV translation, which Zondervan introduced in 1973, now has a 45% market share.) A third phase of the sale, closer to Christmas, offers devotional Bibles priced at $19.97. Mockabee says the company is moving toward making the seasonal sale an annual event.

Time-tested strategies still lure customers into stores during the year's biggest gift-buying season, but the World Wide Web presents the newest channel for publishers to promote and sell sacred texts (see sidebar). More than a year before the August publication of its Access Bible, Oxford University Press dedicated an entire Web site (www.accessbible.com) to the project. OUP also developed relationships with church leaders and curriculum publishers, using mailings and the Web site. Oxford sees the promotional site as a means to disseminate information quickly. "We wanted to provide the Web site as another dimension, another avenue of approach for people to get information about this new product," explains Rob Stone, marketing manager for Oxford Bibles. (Although OUP d s not aggressively promote online sales, customers can order the Access Bible directly from the Web site; they can also order Nelson Bibles direct from nelsonbibles.com. Tyndale House and Zondervan direct customers to online retailers or help them find a local store.) Positioned as "an ecumenical learning resource for people of faith," the target market of the Access Bible is readers studying the Bible in local congregations or small, home-based groups. The Web site can be a means of extending the Bible's utility and shelf life by providing downloadable lesson plans that can be used with a wide variety of study curriculums. Says Stone, "We can issue instant updates and supplements to the educational offerings online." The site also contains endorsements from readers from a variety of Christian traditions, another means for Oxford to broaden the book's market. "We're hoping in the long term that people like directors of Christian education and ordinary laypeople will also feel encouraged to send in an endorsement," Stone tells PW. "That will raise the comfort level of the potential consumer."

From bookstores to rock concerts to Web sites, publishers are using evolving and creative strategies to market and merchandise the ancient Scriptures and link the buyer to the right book. While the cover or format or translation may change, the content d sn't, and that's what counts to consumers. "What sells," says Doubleday's Fretz, "is the Bible itself."