The Bible... more attractive than ever!

Who are you? What do you like? What would draw you in and motivate you to read a certain book or other piece of writing? These are the types of questions that people like authors and advertisers ask in order to cater to their potential audiences. If they want their material to be read and/or sold, they need to make it appealing and attractive for the reader. How do they do this? By niche marketing.

There is so much content out there now... especially given the constant new technologies like the online buying, e-books, podcasts and so on. Instead of having to go to a bookstore, you can save yourself the time and energy by simply looking and ordering online. How convenient to find anything they would have in a bookstore and more AND be able to have it shipped right to your door without you even having to leave your home.

It is hard for authors to make their works stand out above the crowd considering how much competing content there is. Some authors may want to talk to large, broad audiences. However in order to stand out, they usually have to have something special that catches people’s attention. Since everyone has different personalities, hobbies, and interests, one way to catch that attention is by making content that is more specific to certain types of people. For this reason, you can find just about anything you might be looking for. You can get how-to books that will help you master almost any skill. You can learn about the history of the world. You can even be taken to a new world of magical adventures. This makes the readers happy because they can choose more specifically something that interests them.

So when Schultze mentioned in chapter 6 of “Understanding Evangelical Media” that bibles sell best (even outselling popular works of fiction such as the Harry Potter series), I was a little surprised. Perhaps the fact that it did surprise me is a bad thing. It seemed to make sense though, that once you have a bible, you would be set. But I will admit that when I started seeing all the new versions of bibles, I too wanted a new one (if not two or three). Now there are bibles specifically made for young girls, devotional ones for women, and study and application bibles for students. There are even ones made for the archaeological buff, and ones in more languages than ever before. People are seeking truth, and if they can find that truth in a way that is attractive and more applicable to their lives than ever before, they are much likelier to want to seek it out and discover it for themselves. Not only that, but with all the specific bibles out there, it is now also easier to understand and apply scripture to our lives.

I think the producers of these types of Christian material are catching onto popular trends that are also found in secular marketing. Make new versions, better applications, more attractive packaging and sizes and people will want to have what is new. I don’t doubt that God also has His hand in how His word gets to those who need to learn about it and understand it better. No wonder even one of the oldest books out there is still on top.