"There are still many people who walk into stores with money in hand, ready to purchase a Bible, and walk away without one," says Paul Caminiti, v-p and publisher for Bibles at Zondervan. But not for long, if recent innovations by Bible publishers to broaden the appeal of the Good Word pay off. There are now attractively packaged Bibles for men, women, teens of both genders; there are Bibles published in magazine format and novel format; there's even a Bible for the hip-hop generation.
Why these fresh efforts? The market for Bibles, though continuing to grow, has matured in the traditional Christian bookstore outlets. The growth area is outside the CBA market—in independents, chains and nontraditional stores. This presents Bible publishers with a few challenges: they must broaden their product mix to appeal to people who don't frequent CBA stores; and they must sell these products through accounts that often have neither the staff knowledge nor the shelf space to do justice to the variety and depth of Bible publishing.
But for many publishers, it is because of these channels that sales are rising. "The landscape has certainly changed," states Brian Scharp, v-p of marketing for Bibles at Zondervan. "After 9/11 there was an explosion of Bible sales in all channels." While sales in general trade and online bookstores have grown for Zondervan, new direct-mail customers like Avon and new outlets like grocery store chains have boosted business too. Online bookstores are also growing in importance. Hargis Thomas, Oxford's director of sales and new business development for Bibles, reports that Bible sales are up 11% over last year at his company. Other major Bible publishers—NavPress and Thomas Nelson—confirm this report, but agree that the Bible market through Christian retailers has matured. With Bible publishers reporting that sales through CBA stores range from a third to a half of their overall sales, there is plenty of growth possibility outside the CBA market. "Bibles aren't a strong category yet" for Sally Dumont, the religion buyer for the independent Joseph Beth Group. But other independents are already faring better. "We sell a lot of Bibles," says Chris Faatz, sections manager and Christianity buyer for Powell's Books in Portland. Powell's recently took the Bibles out of the Christianity section and gave them their own section—a whole wall—and the rewards in new and used Bible sales have been significant. But most bookstores can't give Bibles that much shelf space, and with the diversity of Bibles available today shelf space is critical.
Fashion-Forward Faith
The biggest growth area at present is in tailoring Bibles for a specific user—a kind of niche publishing. What customers want "breaks down by generation," according to Cameron Conant, director of publicity for Nelson Bibles at Thomas Nelson. Gen-Xers want just the Scriptures and nothing else; Boomers want a study Bible with all the bells and whistles. Nelson's BibleZines break down the audience even more, with magazine-format Bibles geared to men (Align) and women (Becoming) in their 20s and early 30s, along with editions for teen girls and boys. More than a million BibleZine units have sold to date. The newest in the series is Real, geared to the hip-hop culture. Bibles in novel form, like Zondervan's The Story, and modern-language paraphrases likeNavPress's The Message, have done well—very well in the case of The Message, which this year passed 10 million in sales in its various editions. The Remix edition with "hypercolor" covers that appeal to young readers was so successful that an adult version, The Message: Numbered Edition, with new maps and charts and easy-to-read print, was launched in early October.
These days the words "fashion-forward" and "fashion-conscious" roll off the tongues of bookstore managers when they talk about the new Bible selections. "People are really loving these new covers," says Elizabeth Cauthorn, manager of the Viva Bookstore in San Antonio. Rick Lewis, owner of the Logos of Dallas bookstore, agrees: "People are oohing and aahing over these things." Parents buy the pink-and-orange-covered Bibles for their girls and the ones that look like metal for the boys. Families no longer buy just one family Bible—every person needs a version that fits their own age and life stage.
Big-name authors that customers know and trust also help sell Bibles beyond the CBA environment. Nelson's Inspirational Study Bible, with text by Max Lucado, and Harper San Francisco's The Renovaré Spiritual Formation Bible with text from Richard Foster, are cited by publishers and booksellers as hot items. Study Bibles continue to be important basics for stores. Classic editions such as the New Oxford Annotated Bible and the HarperCollins Study Bible are listed as favorites by bookstore managers, as is the more recently released The New Interpreter's Study Bible from Abingdon Press. Hendrickson has also just released the Hendrickson Parallel Bible and is seeing brisk sales.
Bible Selling 101
If the growth in sales in indies, chains and nontraditional outlets is to continue, so must the effort to educate booksellers. "People are searching," says Faatz. "Customers want something that speaks exactly to their life." Bookstore staffers must know "the questions to ask and the stock that matches each customer's needs," says Katherine LeCroy at the Nashville Davis Kidd store. LeCroy knows, but what about when others in the store deal with Bible questions? She answers: "They usually call me." Thomas Rider, co-owner of Goerings Book Store in Gainesville, Fla., gives the same answer: "The staff refers all Bible customers to me, 100% of the time."
The decision to buy a Bible—and which one—is often a very personal decision: the fit has to be exactly right. Bookstore staff training is crucial. Who is the Bible for? What church (if any) does that person attend? What reading level is comfortable? Will the Bible be used for study or devotions? Does the customer need a literal ("word-for-word") translation, one that translates the main thoughts into idiomatic English ("thought-for-thought") or a Bible that paraphrases the original text so it's more readable? Knowing the questions to ask and the versions that match the responses requires more than a passing interest in the subject.
Some publishers are responding with materials designed to help booksellers. Nelson expects to release training materials in print and DVD formats within six months. Zondervan provides stores with an interactive DVD and workbook for individuals, supplemented by a leader's guide for group training. Most Bible publishers say they are happy to help train the staff in bookstores when asked.
Bookstore personnel are also helping each other learn to sell Bibles. One of the staffers in the Joseph Beth Group wrote and forwarded to Dumont a "Synopsis of Various Versions of the Bible" that explains the history and orientation of the various editions. The information was so thorough that Dumont forwarded it to all the stores in the chain and posted it for customers and staff to use—all in the spirit of spreading the Word.
