One Bible category needs careful attention, but offers good returns

Other Bible categories like one-year and award editions may have larger market shares and more clearly defined selling seasons, but devotional Bibles offer a strong niche for stores able to keep on top of the opportunities.

From Mother’s and Father’s Days through graduation to Christmas and other points on the calendar, devotional Bibles are a highly popular gift choice—as evidenced by Evangelical Christian Publishers  Association (ECPA) data from 2010 that found 45% of Bible sales were for pricier leather or imitation-leather, fine-bound editions.

With releases for everyone from teens and those in recovery to couples and Catholics, devotionals accounted for around 4% of all Bible sales through the first 10 months of last year, according to the ECPA’s Pubtrack Christian retail records.

Though Zondervan, with an extensive range of titles, had the greatest share of the publisher’s market, the best-selling edition for the period was God Sightings: The One Year Bible in the New Living Translation—the second most-popular devotional translation, behind the New International Version—from Tyndale House Publishers.

The top seller spotlighted a challenge for the category—the very question of categorization. While part of Tyndale’s popular One Year Bible line, the edition was classified as a devotional. Other “daily readers” in the ECPA top 10 included Harvest House Publishers’ The Daily Bible and Tyndale’s The One Year Chronological Bible.

CATEGORY CHOICES

Not surprisingly, devotionals are a category “that can be a bit difficult to define” at store level, said Dylan Hillhouse, senior buyer for Mardel Christian & Education. “Many ‘study’ Bibles are devotional in nature, and many ‘devotional’ Bibles are specialty Bibles that aren’t real devotional.”

For Mardel’s categorization, “we usually rely on how the publishers designate a Bible.  Even though I might think a publisher’s Bible is more devotional in nature, if they call it a study Bible, then typically it would end up with the study Bibles.”

Display is tricky, too. “We have tried cross-merchandising Bibles in the devotional area for our book department, but found fairly limited success with that,” Hillhouse added. “We might still carry a few of the better-selling titles in the book department, but it is pretty limited.”

Bought heavily as gifts, devotional Bibles are also mostly purchased by women, hence the predominance of women’s editions. Having said that, there are opportunities for men’s titles. “A significant portion of women are also buying devotional Bibles for their husbands, sons and fathers,” said Chip Brown, senior vice president and Bibles publisher for Zondervan.

The company’s male-oriented devotional Bibles include the New Men’s Devotional Bible, the Men’s Devotional Bible: Classic Edition, the Busy Dad’s Bible and Manual: The Bible for Men. Several publishers have produced sports-themed editions.

“The women’s SKU will always be a stronger seller than the men’s; women are the primary buyer in most CBA categories,” said Blaine Smith, associate publisher for Bibles at Tyndale. “That being said, getting men engaged in the Bible is a ministry priority for us. One Bible where we see a higher-percentage engagement of men compared to women is our Life Recovery Bible.”

Another Tyndale edition for men that has seen some success is the Every Man’s Bible, based on the WaterBrook Press best-seller Every Man’s Battle. “We have seen some benefit from cross-promotion with the trade title, although the impact was not as strong as we would have hoped,” Smith said. “Frankly, packaging, messaging, cover, price and placement within the Bible department have much stronger impact than cross-promotion.”

AUTHOR-DRIVEN EDITIONS

At Thomas Nelson, where The Devotional Bible: Experiencing the Heart of Jesus by Max Lucado has been the company’s top-selling devotional Bible, Gary Davidson, senior vice president and group publisher for Bibles, noted an upswing in author-driven editions. “Customers see a great value in the content of them,” he said.

Contemporary names feature predominantly in the author-related devotional Bible lists, but there are also classics like Crossway’s 2009 ESV Oswald Chambers Devotional Bible. Last fall HarperOne debuted The C.S. Lewis Bible, combining the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) text with readings from a selection of Lewis’ works.

The Lewis Bible was developed by an advisory board that included Lewis scholars and biographers. HarperOne Senior Vice President and Publisher Mark Tauber said that the NRSV was a good for the project because it is used by Catholics and Protestants, and Lewis enjoys a wide readership across church traditions.

He also noted a distinctive of devotional Bibles, that they are often “also” reads. “We don’t see people buying (the Lewis Bible) as their first or only Bible, but as an additional resource for Lewis fans who want something else to help them in their Bible reading.”

Though suppliers see a draw in author-driven editions, the results are mixed at retail according to Mardel’s Hillhouse. “There really have been very few of those that have done extremely well,” he said. “Sometimes they do decent out of the gate, a spike like a book would, but usually they don’t have a lot of holding power. And author-specific Bibles, rarely have the same type of demand that his or her books would.”

Hillhouse was also cautious about some of the more niche-focused devotional releases. “The more specific niche devotionals, though many times having great content, are just too specific to reach a broad market and therefore haven’t done as well.”

SEASONAL FOCUS

Being alert to the seasons is key, said Davidson. “Devotional Bibles offer a great opportunity to capitalize on gift-giving seasons. Retailers should be sure to emphasize devotional Bibles in displays, lift them out of the clutter and to the top-of-mind, especially during gift-giving seasons.”

In addition to Mother’s and Father’s Days, Davidson suggested couples’ editions be highlighted during the summer wedding season and that new believer-style issues might be featured at Easter.

“Plus outside of the traditional gift giving times there are always events like Breast Cancer Awareness Month that can lend perfectly to bringing attention to the inspiration found in devotional Bibles,” he said. “Our marketing and sales teams are constantly working to identify seasonal promotional opportunities for our accounts.” NavPress’ 2009 The Message//REMIX Solo Pink was developed specifically for those dealing with breast cancer.

Thomas Nelson’s the Women of Faith Devotional Bible, refreshed in new hardcover and Leathersoft editions, has been Nelson’s “consistent best seller in the devotional Bible category, Davidson said. 

Marking the 20th anniversary of its NIV Women’s Devotional Bible last year, Zondervan has been looking at ways to  stimulate devotional Bible sales by offering them bundled with devotional books, such as twinning the best-selling Streams in the Desert for Graduates with a portable NIV Compact Thinline Bible.

Looking ahead, Davidson sees growth in the digital market. While The Devotional Bible: Experiencing the Heart of Jesus by Max Lucado has been repackaged as The Lucado Life Lessons Study Bible, it will be offered as an e-edition along with the Mom’s Bible and Dad’s Bible.  

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