Study Bibles are the category’s heavyweight champions

If Bibles are the cornerstone of a Christian retail store, then study editions are one of the foundations of the category. Study Bibles account for around one out of every three Bibles purchased, according to sales data from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA), and while the retail price is typically higher than for other editions, it’s less of a concern to purchasers.

ECPA data for the first 10 months of 2010 found that leather and imitation-leather fine bindings accounted for 73% of study Bible revenues, while Tyndale House Publishers research has revealed price to be only the third most important criteria for purchasers, behind translation and features.

Additionally, publishers say, study Bible users are typically serious about their faith and as such are more likely than some other shoppers to be on the lookout for other resources that can help them grow spiritually.

It’s no surprise, then, that publishers invest much time and effort in ensuring that their study editions are well done—such as the $100,000 B&H Publishing Group put into consumer research during the six-year project that resulted in the fall 2010 release of the HCSB Study Bible in the Holman Christian Standard Bible translation.

It was the latest in a long line of study editions going back to 1975, along with Thomas Nelson’s The Open Bible, which sold more than 5 million copies during its 30 years in print. The subcategory has perhaps been most clearly defined, though, by Tyndale’s Life Application Study Bible, which has sold more than 20 million copies since its 1988 release.

Another significant release has been Zondervan’s NIV Study Bible, which has sold more than 9 million copies and is due to be released in the updated New International Version text in November. Zondervan’s NIV Quest Study Bible, with a million-plus sales in a previous edition, will follow in December.

While each major translation has its own study edition, others reflect theological positions—like P&R Publishing’s Reformation Study Bible—or the work of established authors, such as Thomas Nelson’s The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible and Jack Hayford’s New Spirit-Filled Life Bible.

FRONTLINER EFFECTIVENESS

With so many options, the study section “is broad and confusing to many people,” acknowledged Blaine Smith, Tyndale’s associate publisher for Bibles. 

Company research found that in-store displays were three times more likely to influence a sale than fliers, Internet promotions or mail advertising, he told Christian Retailing.

Meanwhile, only 5% of consumers said that a store clerk had been influential in their buying decision, so “there seems to be a significant opportunity for stores to engage their frontliners in selling study Bibles,” Smith said.

Interaction with the consumer is key because buying a study Bible is “a very personal experience,” said Gary Davidson, senior vice president and Bible group publisher at Thomas Nelson. 

He suggested that staff “never assume that a customer understands all the features.” Stores could group study Bibles together and highlight their different features, he added.

P&R Publishing Vice President of Marketing and Sales Ian Thompson underscored the need for staff to be familiar not only with each of the various Bibles, but also to have a grasp of different church traditions and expressions.

“The key is to find out what the flavor of their church is—and to suggest a Bible that matches that,” he said. “The same questions are relevant if the person wants to be challenged outside of their theological comfort zone, too. For that to happen, the store has to know about different churches’ beliefs and also the key theological concepts behind the study Bibles.”

DIGITAL EXPANSION

Davidson also noted that while study Bible purchases may be a significant, long-term decision for shoppers, it does not mean they will not be looking for a different edition at some stage in the future. 

“We believe that a person’s needs to study the Bible will differ at various stages in their life, so we work to develop study Bibles to help them, through every step of their faith,” he said.

More and more, publishers are wrestling with competing demands in the study Bible area. 

Users want all the information they can get to help them understand the Scriptures, but increasingly they also want to be able to access the Bible whenever and wherever—a challenge for the typically heavy study edition.

With that in mind, Crossway released in January a personal-size edition of its ESV Study Bible. It retains all of the original 25,000 study notes and 240 full-color maps and illustrations, but to conserve space, some of the articles were taken out and made available online. 

Weight and size are not concerns when it comes to digital editions, of course, and publishers are seeing increasing interest in e-study Bibles—though not, they say, at the expense of print copies.

“We’ve seen simultaneous growth in both our ESV Study Bibles and our ESV Online Study Bible,” said Randy Jahns, senior vice president for sales, marketing and Bible production. “People like to access the Bible wherever they are—whether on a mobile device, at their desk or at home. Overall, we’ve seen increased interest in the content. We don’t see any decrease in the print editions.”

B&H, which made its HCSB Study Bible available online for free at the same time the print copy came out, has been “aggressive in having a digital presence and believe this is helping rather than harming print sales,” said Jeremy Howard, managing acquisitions editor. “Digital sampling drives print sales.”

According to ECPA sales data for the first 10 months of 2010, Zondervan had the highest market share of study Bibles, with a third of revenues for the subcategory, followed by Nelson (24%) and Tyndale (20%). 

Zondervan’s NIV also accounted for 33% of translation revenues, with the KJV (18%) and the NKJV (17%) second and third, respectively. Fourth was the NLT, with 14%.

NEW PRODUCTS

Leading the list of major new study Bible releases this year was Barbour Publishing with its KJV Study Bible, published in January to mark the 400th anniversary of the King James Version, with notes taken from its 12-volume “QuickNotes Simplified Bible Commentary” series.

In September, Thomas Nelson will launch The Expanded Bible, which includes traditional wordings, comments, literal meanings of words and phrases and expanded translations in the text to help users understand more of the Bible without referring away from it to a separate source.

The following month, Tyndale will release the Life Application Study Bible in the updated NIV text, while fall will also see publication of B&H’s The Principles to Live By Study Bible by Gene Getz.

Several publishers are also broadening the choices of study-Bible binding in 2010. P&R Publishing is increasing its range of cover designs and finishes “as people have demanded more individual expressions of what they read,” Thompson said. Nelson is “focusing a lot of attention on offering new covers and editions” of some favorites, including Leathersoft cover options for The American Patriot’s Bible and The Lucado Life Lessons Study Bible.  

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