Tag Archives: Bibles

News Roundup: 4th July is UK Independents’ Day | Cambridge Bibles publish first English Language flipback® | and much, much more…

Posted on July 2, 2011 by | 3 Comments
Holiday time...

Holiday time...

JULY ALREADY: the sun is shining, Wimbledon is over for Andy Murray, and the holiday season is upon us, oh yes, but there’s still plenty happening in and around the Christian book trade. Don’t forget to shout out with your news if you’d like to be included in the next news roundup… and if you’d like to keep up to speed with the news as it emerges, follow the UKCBD twitter feed:

Independents' Day: Your High Street Needs You! Click through for more info and poster download options...

Independents' Day: Your High Street Needs You! Click through for more info and poster download options...

4th July is UK Independents’ Day

ARE YOU READY? Have you put a poster up? If not, now’s the time to grab one because Monday 4th July is Independents’ Day — atrocious wordplay but a superb initiative from Skillsmart Retail to try to bring some footfall back to the UK’s indie retailers. Anne Seaman, Skillsmart Retail’s Chief Executive, explains the thinking behind the campaign:

We are delighted to lead this campaign and support small retailers. Raising awareness amongst the public is one of the biggest challenges smaller retailers face and our message is about encouraging the public to use their local high street and understand how important a diverse retail sector is.

It’s also essential that local retailers understand that to compete today they need to be top of their game. The time for sitting back has passed and action is required: Your high street needs you!

Find out more and get involved:


h/t Amanda Taylor, Cambridge Bibles

Cambridge Bibles publish first English Language flipback®

The Transetto Bible

The Transetto Bible

CONGRATULATIONS to Cambridge Bibles on becoming the publisher of the first English language flipback®, the Transetto: a new, ultra-compact edition of the King James Version Bible that breaks with tradition by opening vertically rather than horizontally. Published, of course, with the much-publicised 400th KJV Anniversary in mind, the Transetto is available in special trade packs of nine copies plus one free if you request the POS display tower: orders via Lion Hudson.

For those who are beginning to feel that they’ve already seen more editions of the KJV this year than their sanity can handle, don’t panic: more English language flipbacks have just emerged hot off the press from Hodder:

Christian Marketplace news roundup

The latest Christian Marketplace news roundup is out, along with a report detailing all the Christian Resources Together 2011 Award Winners: Stott wins Book of the Year award. Congratulations especially to CLC London and Quench Maidenhead, Large and Small Retailers of the Year respectively.

From Mental Illness to Christian Bookshop Owner: Paul Slennett’s Story

PAUL SLENNETT’S REMARKABLE STORY has made local headlines in the Yellow Advertiser, Bookseller marks 40 years in the business:

A BOOKSHOP owner celebrated 40 years in the business with a message of hope.
Paul Slennett, who runs Christian bookshops in Southend, Chelmsford and Brentwood, said: “I put my trust in God and he helped me turn my life around. He can do the same for anyone.”
The 64-year-old has come a long way from the youngster who ended up in a psychiatric ward, confused and depressed.
Now, as well as the shops, Mr Slennett is behind the Jesus is Alive Mission, which supports overseas aid work, is an author and happily married with four grown-up children who all work with charities.
He said: “I was troubled as a child and teenager. But that all changed when I was in the mental hospital.
“God came to me and said he would be my father and guide, as long as I did what he asked.
“I have done that, and have had a fantastic life as a result.”
After he was made redundant from a job at a ships’ chandlers ‘which was taking up far too much of my time’, God told Mr Slennett that he wanted him to open a Christian bookshop in Southend…

IVP Summer Reading Sale Now On!

IVP’S SUMMER SALE has started, with up to 50% trade discount off selected biography and fiction titles from 1st July to 31st August. To qualify, place an initial order for any mix of 20 or more of the offer titles: download the trade flyer (pdf) for details.

Living Oasis Update: Julie Jowett leaves Harrogate for Spain; and Liverpool plans September Opening

El Palmeral

Mike and Julie Jowett at El Palmeral

IT’S NOT ONLY farewell to Nottingham and Worthing today, but also farewell to Julie Jowett, who has now left Living Oasis Harrogate and her role as the company’s National Sales Manager for what looks very much like a real oasis as she joins her husband at El Palmeral, a retreat/guest house for the over-25s in Spain, tried and tested by none other than Mike Norbury. Congratulations, Julie, and very best wishes for the new venture.

Meanwhile Living Oasis Liverpool have posted photos of the shop’s interior on facebook, announced a proposed opening date of some time in September and now have their own dedicated website, livingoasisliverpool.co.uk. At present they’re still facing £20k budget deficit but remain optimistic and are advertising for investors to help meet the shortfall:

We need to raise just 20,000 pounds more and we have the finance to complete phase 1. If you would like to contribute please contact the store.

There’s optimism and there’s optimism, however: the who we are page describes the shop as being “one of a growing, national chain of stores” — an interesting claim, given the last 6 months of store closures; but unlike the stores that have closed, Liverpool does seem to have solid backing from the local Christian community:

The Liverpool store has its own steering group, chaired by Baptist Regional Minister Revd. Phil Jump and comprises representatives from NCT, local churches, representatives of groups and organisations already working in the city centre, and local Christians with a business background

Here’s to September and beyond!

The Accidental Pilgrim

The Accidental Pilgrim

Maggi Dawn on the move

CONGRATULATIONS to Maggi Dawn, author of a number of books — latest, The Accidental Pilgrim, due out in July — who is on the move to pastures new in the USA to take up an appointment as Dean of Marquand Chapel and Associate Professor of Theology at Yale Divinity School.

Hope they allow you plenty of time for your writing, Maggi!

Scam Warning from Sovereign World

PAUL STANIER of Sovereign World tells me that they had a close call with a scammer, but forewarned was forearmed and they avoided the pitfall. Paul writes:

I wondered if you could use your blog to warn Christian publishers and the trade in general over a scam that was successfully used against another Christian company and has been tried against Sovereign World (which failed, as we were pre-warned).

They use card details to pay for books, which appear to be authorised when processed (but it actually later fails in transaction at the bank end, as the card is usually reported stolen). You think you have their trust, so when they ask you to pay for their shipping cost via Western Union to the shipping company that they allocate (their shipping company won’t accept cards) it seems legitimate. The buyer pays for the shipping to you via card, and you then think you are safe to pay on the buyers behalf the shipping company via Western Union. But no… you are not safe because the credit card payment never makes it to your account, and you pay a stranger about £1500 (not a legit shipping company) to Western Union, which is not traceable. They take the Western Union money, disappear and your card payments don’t go through… You lose £1500.

I am wanting to warn the Christian trade, as they appear to be targeting us.

Social Media Update: Look who’s tweeting (and more)

A BRIEF SNAPSHOT: if you haven’t already found them, you can now:

Last but not least: don’t miss the Quench Bookshops blog: a superb example of a Christian bookshop using WordPress.

Twitter, Facebook, Issuu and WordPress are all free services — if you’re not using them to engage with your customers and boost your shop’s online profile, it’s time to get up to speed. If you don’t understand why, pay a visit to Vicky Beeching’s new blog, CyberSoul. For more and more people, the supposed distinction between the “real” and “virtual” worlds is becoming an increasingly false dichotomy — head on over there today and join the conversation where spirituality meets technology … or collides with it, as the case may be…

→ 3 Comments

Posted in Bookshop Ramblings

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

News Roundup: Baker Academic move to SPCK | Hodder titles now available from IVP | Letchworth Christian Bookshop hold Bible Reading Marathon | Living Oasis Phase 2 Openings Delayed | and more…

Posted on April 8, 2011 by | 21 Comments

Baker Academic move to SPCK

AS ANNOUNCED IN DECMBER LAST YEAR following their acquisition of 200 titles from Hendrickson, Baker have now moved their range of academic titles (Baker Academic and Brazos Press) from Lion Hudson to SPCK. Commenting on the move, Dwight Baker, President of Baker Publishing Group, said:

While Lion Hudson has been doing an excellent job in selling these titles into the trade, Baker felt the need to move their Academic titles to a firm that has had a long history of publishing and selling to the academy in the United Kingdom.  The purchase of over 200 academic titles from Hendrickson Publishers this past October was the tipping point for this decision.

Baker’s other imprints, including Bethany House, Revell, Baker Books and Chosen, remain with Lion Hudson whilst Alban Books continue to represent all other Hendrickson lines to the UK.

Hodder titles now available from IVP

Hodder titles now available from IVP

Hodder titles now available from IVP

IVP HAVE ADDED Hodder Faith to their distributed titles list, bringing NIV Bibles and top selling authors such as Tim Keller and Philip Yancey into their portfolio. The announcement was made in the March edition of their monthly e-Bookmark trade newsletter, with further details in a separate trade announcement (pdf, 2.6MB).

Adding the NIV to their list alongside the full range of the ESV from Crossway as well as the NRSV, Good News Bible and range of Greek/Hebrew texts already available via HarperCollins Religious and Bible Society respectively makes IVP an increasingly important player in UK Bible distribution.

The full range of ESV and Crossway titles are also available from STL (pdf, 3.1MB) with 90 day payment terms and higher discounts on initial orders.

The Comet 24: Letchworth bookshop celebrate The Bible with reading marathon

The Comet 24: Letchworth bookshop celebrate The Bible with reading marathon

Letchworth Christian Bookshop hold Bible Reading Marathon

THIS SATURDAY, 9th April, sees Letchworth Christian Bookshop — winners of STL’s Golden Ticket in October last year — launch a Bible reading marathon as part of its celebration of the 400th Anniversary of the King James Bible.

The project, which runs for two weeks with readings by volunteers in 15 minute slots during shop opening hours, has already made local headlines in The Comet (pictured).

Full details are available on a dedicated website, www.wordaloud.webeden.co.uk. Anyone wishing to take part is invited to check the schedule posted via Google Docs then contact the shop to book a slot.

Living Oasis Phase 2 Openings Delayed

LIVING OASIS LEEDS have apologised on facebook and in a letter posted at Network Leeds (4th April 2011) for the further delay to opening at their new location, advising prospective customers to contact the Harrogate store. Previously billed at Network Leeds as “the first Living Oasis shop to realise the full vision the Nationwide Christian Trust had when taking over 19 former Wesley Owen stores in early 2010″, the new Leeds store was originally expected to open by late January/early February this year but has run into financial difficulties.

A series of prayer meetings is being held, next meeting 14th April 2011, with a fundraising meal scheduled for 6th May 2011. The actual opening date for the new store remains unknown.

The new Liverpool store — originally expected to open within “a couple of months” of the old store’s closure (facebook announcement 29/12/2010) — appears to be facing similar difficulties with no updates to their facebook page since 22nd March when a series of weekly prayer meetings was announced. As of the date of this report, no indication of when the store will open has been given.

Unicorn Tree Books flood claim declined

CITY OF LINCOLN COUNCIL SOLICITORS, Hill Dickinson, have declined the flood claims submitted by Unicorn Tree Books and other retailers based in Lincoln Central Market following damage caused when the duty caretaker was unable to find the stop cock after a pipe burst during harsh weather in November last year (reported here 02/12/2010).

In a letter dated 25 March 2011 claiming to have “fully investigated the matter” Hill Dickinson state that “our client’s duty to maintain is one of reasonableness” and conclude that “the incident was caused solely by the extreme temperatures experienced at the time” — a conclusion that completely disregards the Council’s failure to follow its own published advice to householders who may be concerned about the possibility of burst pipes in their homes:

Preventing frozen and burst pipes

  • Make sure you know where your stop tap is and that it is working.

One can only wonder quite what is going on in the mind of someone who regards such gross negligence as “reasonable”…

Web Shops for Churches

Premier Church Insight: Endis Inspire Shop

Premier Church Insight: Endis Inspire Shop

PREMIER CHRISTIAN MEDIA, publishers of Christian Marketplace magazine, have joined forces with Endis in partnership with STL Distribution to deliver online shops direct to churches via a custom-branded, fully integrated web service. Orders, returns and refunds will all be processed by STL in Carlisle — identified only by their address on the demo shop Contact Us and Returns pages — backed up by a dedicated telephone support line.

Full details of the service may be found on the Premier Church Insight > Endis Inspire Shop introductory page.

Reactions from retailers have ranged from a sense of outrage through concern about the implications for church bookstall services to cautious optimism at the possibility that the service could conceivably form the basis for a Christian version of Gardners’ Hive.

STL have emphasised that Endis are simply another trade customer and STL’s involvement with the scheme is solely order fulfilment. They are, however, currently investigating options to provide a comprehensive web solution for retailers: STL remain 100% committed to supporting and working with their retail partners, including amongst other initiatives the development of a Church Resources training programme designed to equip shop managers with the expertise needed and a sales kit that will enable them to pull local churches together and present new or existing product that will enhance church life.

Women in Christian Publishing Inaugural Event

WOMEN IN CHRISTIAN PUBLISHING, a new group created by the Publishers Association, held its inaugural event on 1st April 2011 with a visit to the Houses of Parliament hosted by the Revd Rose Hudson-Wilkin, who was appointed as Speaker’s Chaplain in June last year.

Those present included Victoria Beech (Beech Publishing/Christian Education) and Janet Evans (Dernier Publishing), who has published some photographs of the event on facebook:

Dernier Publishing > Facebook Photos > Women in Christian Publishing

Dernier Publishing's Facebook Photos: Women in Christian Publishing Inaugural Event

→ 21 Comments

Posted in Christian Publishers, Christian Suppliers, Lion Hudson, News, SPCK, STL

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Glo: Don’t just read the Bible – Experience it! #bibleglo

Posted on October 28, 2009 by | 14 Comments

gloUnless you’ve been living in the dark ages, you must have heard of Glo by now: it’s the Bible for a digital age, a dramatic multimedia presentation of the Bible supplied on 3 DVDs which — if it lives up to the hype — promises to change the way we read the Bible for ever.

Already released in the USA by Zondervan, it officially hits UK bookstores courtesy of Hodder Faith on 12th November 2009 at a special introductory price of £49.99, regular price to be £59.99. USA stock apparently sold out within two weeks, and at LST we’ve already pre-sold our initial stock order and reordered: if you plan to stock it and haven’t already placed your orders, now is the time! As I write, the introductory price on single units only seems to be available when placing orders direct with Hodder/Bookpoint: STL UK list it at £59.99, but offer the 4-copy counterpack with LCD screen at £199.96 retail. Demo CDs are also available in packs of 15, free of charge.

From what I’ve seen and the feedback I’ve heard so far from those who attended the launch event at LICC earlier this week, the hype has not been overdone: this looks like a corker of a package that — to those who can afford it — will be well worth the asking price:

All that said, however — and you just knew this was coming — I have my reservations about it, starting with the simple fact that it’s yet another edition of the Bible for those who already have more versions, translations and special editions than they know what to do with, for whom Bibles have become hardly anything more than fashion accessories: the rich continue to get richer whilst the poor continue to struggle and do without; and that, gentle reader, is plain wrong.

Not in my languageYes, I’m back on my favourite hobby horse: what exactly is going on in the English speaking world — what exactly is wrong with the church, the body of Christ in this part of the world — that makes it invest so much time and energy in producing still more English versions and hi-falutin’ editions of the Bible when there are millions of people who do not yet have the Bible available in their language?

Let’s face it: the ‘digital generation’ being targeted by Glo is not exactly deprived or needy, is it? Anyone with a mouse and a bit of nouse is perfectly capable of doing their own research and discovering most if not all of what they’ll be spoon-fed by Glo.

Then we have the unfortunate fact that it’s based on the NIV, a “demonstrably flawed translation” (Tom Wright) that really ought to be consigned to history, not recycled electronically. A longer quote:

JustificationWhen the New International Version was published in 1980 [sic], I was one of those who hailed it with delight. I believed its own claim about itself, that it was determined to translate exactly what was there, and inject no extra paraphrasing or interpretative glosses. [...] Disillusion set in over the next two years, as I lectured verse by verse through several of Paul’s letters, not least Galatians and Romans. Again and again, with the Greek text in front of me and the NIV beside it, I discovered that the translators had had another principle, considerably higher than the stated one: to make sure that Paul should say what the broadly Protestant and evangelical tradition said he said. [...] if a church only, or mainly, relies on the NIV it will, quite simply, never understand what Paul was talking about. [...] those blown along by this wind may well come to forget that they are reading a visibly and demonstrably flawed translation…

- Justification: God’s Plan and Paul’s Vision, pp.35-36.

Glo is undoubtedly an excellent resource and I do not doubt the good intentions of those who have invested so much money, time and effort in developing it. But I do think that all of that money, time and effort would have been far better spent in working with an organisation such as Wycliffe, in helping them towards their Vision 2025.

As Coldplay sing so evocatively, we live in a beautiful world: all of us are done for … because we also live in a profoundly unjust world, and we as the church — including Bible publishers — should surely be working to counter that injustice, not propagate it by widening the rift between the haves and the have-nots. It seems more than a tad ironic that the very Scriptures that frequently cry out so powerfully on behalf of the poor have now become yet another rich person’s plaything; and as for me, stocking and selling it: the word ‘hypocrite’ comes to mind…

→ 14 Comments

Posted in Bookshop Ramblings, Musings...

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Bibles for Causes: how far should we go?

Posted on July 16, 2009 by | 6 Comments

Pink Ribbon BibleAnd so we move from the ridiculous to the sublime: a special edition Pink Ribbon Bible for breast cancer sufferers, courtesy of those canny marketeers at HarperCollins.

I’ve blogged this topic before. No, not breast cancer: Bibles. Blue Bibles, pink Bibles, rainbow hued Bibles, Bibles for banana lovers, Bibles for cat lovers and mouse haters and Bibles printed on recycled paper for those who value the environment more than high quality print. No doubt there are even Bibles especially designed for balancing on your nose at fancy dress parties so that when the bouncers ask what you’ve come as you can say, “God knows.” Don’t worry, it’s late at night and my mind is running wild…

Seriously, do we need this? When does use of the Bible become abuse of the Bible as publishers set out to exploit every human weakness simply to sell another Bible? Or is this a genuine attempt by HarperCollins to meet a sector of the community where they are? Not a commercial decision, then, but one born out an honest desire to reach people with the words of eternal life? Except I look at the cover of that Bible and see those immortal words, Limited Edition: no, this isn’t about making the Bible available, it’s about making the most from a sales pitch targeted towards a particularly vulnerable group of people.

Had it been about making the Bible more accessible, about highlighting its relevance to their needs then yes, in this case, I think that I could actually see it. I’ve lost friends and family to cancer. I have friends who’ve had mastectomies and live with the constant fear of their cancer recurring. Would or could a special — special, not limited — edition Bible have brought or bring them some comfort?

Not in my languageBut in the meantime as we seek to serve more and more niche markets with niche products, millions of people remain without the Bible in their own language, and if but a fraction of the investment made by publishers such as HarperCollins in these fancy dress accessory styled Bibles were to be made in Wycliffe’s Bible translation projects then, perhaps, some real light would begin to shine in humanity’s darkness.

Now, if you haven’t already done so, go read Alicia Cohn’s Breast Cancer and the Bible for even more questions; and as for beating breast cancer — and other forms of cancer — there are surely better ways than branding (or brandishing!) the Bible: run10k.org for one amongst many.

→ 6 Comments

Posted in Book Trade Ramblings, Bookshop Ramblings, Christian Publishers, Musings..., Product Queries

Tagged , , , ,

Bibles and Bookmarks: Part 3

Posted on August 27, 2008 by | 2 Comments

Delighted to report the safe arrival of a box of bookmarks from Wycliffe Bible Translators this morning: thank you to all concerned. This picture shows them occupying pride of place alongside our own LST bookmarks on the main shop counter:

'Bible-less Bible Bookmarks' courtesy of Wycliffe Bible Translators

If you’d like some for your shop or to give away at your church to help raise awareness of those people who do not yet have the Bible available in their own language, please contact Wycliffe. More details on the Wycliffe Blog: Bible-less Bible Bookmarks: Now available

And if you’d like some LST bookmarks, I’ll gladly send you some of those too: you have only to ask.

→ 2 Comments

Posted in Bookshop Ramblings

Tagged , , , ,

Bibles and Bookmarks: Part 2

Posted on August 18, 2008 by | 3 Comments
The Bookmark (Side 2)

Vision 2025: The Bookmark (Side 1)

Back in April I protested the seemingly endless proliferation of new and revised English Bible translations when, according to Wycliffe Bible Translators, there are still more than 2,200 languages — representing some 193 million people — which do not yet have the Bible available:

The Bookmark (Side 1)

Vision 2025: The Bookmark (Side 1)

I put it to you that if a fraction of the creative energy that’s put into hyping up the Bible for English language speakers and readers went into translation programmes, Vision 2025 could be realised by 2012 if not sooner — and what a gift that would be to the world, far greater than Britain hosting the Olympics will ever be! 

So next time a publisher or a sales rep shows you yet another English edition of the Bible, do the world a favour: just say no. Refuse the gimmickisation of the Bible!

Instead, ask them for a bookmark — for a pack of bookmarks to give away! If you’re anything like me, you can never have too many bookmarks. I usually have about half a dozen books on the go at any one time and without my bookmarks I’d be lost. What’s more, my customers at LST can never seem to get enough bookmarks.

I finished that post with a suggestion:

And finally, a suggestion for the good folk at Wycliffe: instead of flyers, produce lots of bookmarks promoting Vision 2025. I promise you, if you supply me with a stack of Vision 2025 bookmarks, I will put one in every Bible I sell from now on.

I’m delighted to say that Wycliffe have now produced a Vision 2025 bookmark — and you’ve already seen it here. If you’d like a pack of bookmarks to give away to your customers or at your church, I’m sure Wycliffe would love to hear from you — so what are you waiting for? Contact Wycliffe today!

→ 3 Comments

Posted in News

Tagged , , , ,

Fishing Poles

Posted on May 12, 2008 by | 6 Comments

The other day I was wandering along the Thames Path with a friend — who happens to work with Wycliffe Bible Translators — and we came across a sign I couldn’t read. “It’s ‘No Fishing’ in Polish,” my friend explained, “We have a fair-sized immigrant community around here.”

How ironic, I thought, that the fishing Poles can’t read our regular ‘No Fishing’ notices: they need their own. It made me think of  those photographs I’m sure we’ve all seen of kingfishers perched on those same notices. It also set me thinking about the number of Poles (or should I be saying Polish people? No doubt someone will set me right) and other immigrants who would be completely lost if they visited most UK Christian bookshops, my own included, with the vast majority of our stock in English.

Polish New TestamentThere’s good news for the Poles, however, and good news for us as booksellers: one positive spin-off from STL’s recent merger with IBS (International Bible Society) to form IBS-STL is an increase in their stock range to include other language Bibles — Polish as well as Arabic, Chinese, French, Kurdish, Spanish and Urdu. That’s a Polish New Testament shown on the left.

Roger the RepHonourable mention must go to my good friend Roger Compton, a member of STL’s sales team, official STL mugshot on the right, for showing me these when he called in at LST last week. I invited Roger to contribute a guest blog introducing himself but he told me he’s a “grumpy old man” (his words!) who doesn’t do blogs! Sorry, Roger: there’s no escape — it’s blog or be blogged in today’s world.

STL are not the only UK source of foreign language Bibles, of course: No Frontiers (a division of Kingsway) offer an impressive range of books and Bibles in an equally impressive range of more than 200 languages, from Albanian to Zulu. Red Moon RisingTheir most recent project is a Macedonian edition of Red Moon Rising, the story of 24/7 prayer as told by Pete Greig and Dave Roberts of Soul Survivor — the 24/7 movement has created something of a buzz amongst the students at LST, but not many sales of the book (a good sign, I guess, if it means they’re too busy praying to read about praying!).

Other sources are Chapter Two Bible Distributors and the Bible Society UK (not to be confused with IBS, please note: they are separate organisations), distributed by IVP. IVP’s distribution department has gone downhill over the last year or so, unfortunately, with a tendency to run out of stock, send out the wrong products or invoice for products they haven’t sent: buyer beware — if you can source your stock elsewhere you may save yourself a lot of admin hassle.

Finally, all of this brings me back to my earlier post about Bibles and Bookmarks: the one thing we absolutely do not need, in my opinion, is more English language versions or editions of the Bible; what we do need is more Bibles in other languages, especially in those languages that don’t have them yet. If you’re looking for a career change and have an aptitude for languages, do get in touch with the folks at Wycliffe: the more people we have working on this, the sooner the job gets done!

→ 6 Comments

Posted in Bookshop Ramblings

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

Bibles and Bookmarks

Posted on April 26, 2008 by | 16 Comments

Too many of one, never enough of the other! Too many Bibles, that is, and not enough bookmarks.

Let’s look at this sensibly: how many English language versions of the Bible do we need? Bearing in mind that Americans don’t know how to spell words like ‘colour’ — let alone ‘Anglicise’ — I suppose we have to make concessions and allow them their own localised versions. But beyond that, do we really need so many different English language versions in so many different editions? Do we need Bibles that feel like handbags or look like hand grenades?

It’s not just a question of cluttering up our bookshelves and overwhelming people with too many choices, it’s about the sensible use of resources in a world that has more than enough to go round but is dominated by the Western world’s me-me-me-market-driven society; and nor is it simply about the abuse and waste of physical resources such as paper and everything else that goes into book manufacturing: it’s also about our use of human resources, of people and time.

Not in my languageAs I write this I’m looking through a flyer from Wycliffe Bible Translators promoting their Vision 2025 initiative. It’s a wonderful vision, to have a Bible translation programme underway in every remaining language that does not yet have the Bible available, and to have this in place by 2025. According to Wycliffe, there are 6,912 languages currently spoken in the world: of these, 2,251 — representing 193 million people — do not yet have the Bible available. And yet here in the English speaking world we not only have so many different translations that we now need other books to help us choose between them, but we seem to have either another translation or another super-duper hip-hop trendy hot-water-bottle-wrapped must-have fashion accessory edition published every week.

Why?

I put it to you that if a fraction of the creative energy that’s put into hyping up the Bible for English language speakers and readers went into translation programmes, Vision 2025 could be realised by 2012 if not sooner — and what a gift that would be to the world, far greater than Britain hosting the Olympics will ever be!

So next time a publisher or a sales rep shows you yet another English edition of the Bible, do the world a favour: just say no. Refuse the gimmickisation of the Bible!

Instead, ask them for a bookmark — for a pack of bookmarks to give away! If you’re anything like me, you can never have too many bookmarks. I usually have about half a dozen books on the go at any one time and without my bookmarks I’d be lost. What’s more, my customers at LST can never seem to get enough bookmarks.

And unlike flyers and leaflets that end up in the recycling bin or littering the streets, bookmarks don’t get thrown away: they sit there quietly in your books, biding their time, waiting for the next time you open it — and suddenly, there they are, reminding you of where you bought the book or of who published it or of the other books in the same series. So simple yet so powerful!

Amazon understand it, of course: Amazon rarely miss a trick. Every book arrives with a brightly coloured Amazon bookmark, its irresistible siren song gently calling you back to order another.

So come on, publishers: wake up! Stop producing Bibles that nobody needs and give us more bookmarks.

And finally, a suggestion for the good folk at Wycliffe: instead of flyers, produce lots of bookmarks promoting Vision 2025. I promise you, if you supply me with a stack of Vision 2025 bookmarks, I will put one in every Bible I sell from now on.

• The Wycliffe Blog
• Kouya Chronicle

Follow-up Features

→ 16 Comments

Posted in Musings...

Tagged , , , ,