From the Worldwide Faith News archives www.wfn.org


Bible Sales Are Sluggish this Year


From PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org
Date 20 Nov 1996 23:03:35

19-November-1996 
 
 
96455           Bible Sales Are Sluggish this Year 
 
                     by Religion News Service 
 
NEW YORK CITY--The Bible, that perennial best-seller, is having a sluggish 
year, with some chains sending unsold copies of the Good Book back to 
publishers. 
 
     The $200 million market for Bibles is flat, the "New York Times" 
reported. 
 
     Last summer, the Family Bookstore chain returned to publishers more 
than $200,000 worth of unsold King James versions.  Three new Bible 
translations introduced this year have not improved the sales picture. 
 
     In June, traditionally a time when fancy volumes are given to college 
graduates and newlyweds, Bible sales fell sharply to $3.7 million, a 48 
percent decrease compared to the same period last year. Sales increased 
some in July, but remained down 9 percent for the year. 
 
     "I've never seen a time in which well-positioned and well-financed and 
well-done translations have entered the market with such horrible results," 
said Hargis Thomas, sales and marketing director at Oxford University 
Press, one of the smaller Bible publishers.  "I think that we've about 
reached the saturation point." 
 
     Some Christian booksellers and Bible publishers attribute the flat 
market to a glut of products. Several hundred versions of the Bible range 
from holy books for runners to study volumes for teenagers and devotionals 
for couples and mothers. 
 
     Thomas Nelson Inc., the largest publicly held Bible publisher, 
reported a loss of almost $1.4 million in its fiscal first quarter that 
ended in June.  The company said a drop of more than 6 percent in Bible 
revenue from the same period a year earlier was due to reduced sales and 
high returns from some Christian and general bookstore chains. 
 
     The publishers and booksellers in this market hope sales will pick up 
during the Christmas season or with a release of a new translation.  But 
even Bill Anderson, president of the Christian Booksellers Association, has 
doubts. 
 
     "I'm not sure that customers are holding off," he said of the 
possibility that customers are waiting for a new translation before opening 
their wallets.  "It's not like the release of a new Mustang." 

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