Zondervan had one of the largest footprints on the modest-sized exhibition floor at the Christian Trade Association International's convention in Atlanta this week to help introduce its updated New International Version (NIV) to the important overseas market.

In addition to a display of some of the products to be available when the revised translation releases in a few weeks' time, the company hosted a presentation about the process and the schedule of new products.

Director of International Sales Jennifer Dibble said that it was "incredibly appropriate" that the updated NIV should come out this year, which also marks the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible (KJV). "Just as the KJV had been the most readable and most trusted Bible of its time, so was the NIV today," she said.

Explaining the process by which the Committee for Bible Translation had reviewed and revised the 1984 NIV text, Dibble said with those in mind for whom English is a second language, "we wanted to make sure that text is (as) approachable and accessible as possible."

The first new Bibles will ship in February and be available in stores in March, Dibble said. "It's no small task. We have many Bible editions available ... , so we are taking groups of Bibles and putting them in the market, not everything at once."

Among the first print releases—the updated NIV—having gone on sale in e-book form in December—will be all text Bibles, including Thinline, gift and award editions. Dibble said that 175 SKUs will be available, "everything from softcover to hardcover to DuoTone."

Dibble also introduced The Story—a church-based campaign kit—which sees the key themes and message of the Bible condensed to 31 chapters, and arranged in chronological order so that "it reads like a novel." Featuring the updated NIV text, The Story will be available in May.

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