Featured Predictions for CBA Best Selling Bibles...

It's clear that the NKJV is losing market share. It's only recently that the NLT started consistently outselling it. I predict that before long, the ESV will consistently outrank it on that list. While it was mainly Calvinistic people buying the ESV initially, that's no longer the case. From what I can ascertain, the CBA numbers don't include online sales. If online sales were included, I think it's quite possible the ESV should be higher. (And I'm not an ESV fanboy.) In the most recent list, the ESV is #3 in unit sales. I've never seen it that high, but it is clear evidence of the trend. It remains to be seen if it will stay that high, but I don't see it dropping below #5.

The NKJV has survived on brand for a long time, and many of those switching to it were former KJV readers. It reached its height before the ESV and HCSB were released. But now many KJV readers go straight to the ESV or something else. Nelson doesn't care about the NKJV anymore and the quality of their editions are worse than any other version. And I say this as someone who has primarily used the NKJV over the past decade. NKJV sales were also buoyed by sales of several popular Study Bibles. But the MacArthur, for example is now available in the NASB and ESV, and I'd be surprised if the ESV isn't the top seller among the editions of that Study Bible.

I don't think we'll see the CEB into the top 5. For that to happen, it would have to start outselling the ESV, NLT or NKJV. And many distributors, like Lifeway, apparently don't even stock it. It would be a sign of the apocalypse to see a liberal version like that into the top 5, especially on a consistent basis.

 

Based on this ludicrous comment, I'm wondering if you're not just an incorrigible troll on the Bible version issue.

You have to look high and low to even find those versions at this point in retail stores. And I think CBA sales only reflect sales in Christian bookstores. The NRSV is the "academic" version used in secular and moderate to liberal schools as well as mainline pulpits. It's never sold as well as the RSV did and by the late '80's the RSV only had 4% market share. The mainlines are now pushing the CEB, which, as I understand it, is owned by a consortium of mainline publishing houses. Besides, they've been hemorrhaging members for decades.

 

It's not offensive, just ridiculous unless you just mean that one may appear for one month and quickly drop off. Perhaps my reaction was too strong, but you evidently relish promoting the NIV and dynamic equivalent translations on a board where the people tend to favor either the KJV or versions like the ESV, NKJV, NASB, etc. Since that's your focus, you simply forgot the ESV in your initial posts here even though it's on the rise more than any other version among the top sellers.

There is indeed some variation at the bottom of the rankings. I'm not going back to read every post, but the NIV's children's version, the NIrV, is consistently around #10 as well. The Message comes on and goes off, but I don't think we'll see it going back to selling as well as it was 5-10 years ago. The R-V is usually 9 or 10 but will occasionally drop off. Except for the NKJV's slide, the ESV and the NLT's rise and the introduction of the CEB, the rankings are actually fairly predictable. The NASB pretty much always is a few spots higher in $$ sales than in unit sales. The unit sales for the various versions sometimes reflect large bulk sales of outreach editions. Crossway publishes relatively high quality outreach editions compared to the NKJV and several other translations. There is a cheap paperback of the CEB too that likely accounts for a lot of their sales.

With regard to the NIV, its market share has slipped in the past 10-15 years with the increased popularity of the NLT and the introduction of the HCSB and ESV. In the latter two cases and maybe all of them, many of those buyers formerly read the NIV as their preferred translation. But the NIV's branding is strong. My guess is that vast majority of people are unaware of the changes and a good many will not be concerned about it regardless. There are, I think, a couple of exceptions. One would be those who have been following the gender-neutral controversy for years. The second exception would be those who have committed portions of the 1984 to memory who will be surprised when reading some of those passages in the 2011. I can't predict how it will look in 2023 (if the Lord tarries) but for the short term the NIV will very likely remain #1. If for no other reason, it's because those who switch from it for various reasons are probably split between the ESV, HCSB and NLT. And a good many will stay with it.

 

Here's the current list--July 2013:

Dollar sales:

1 New International Version
2 King James Version
3 New Living Translation
4 New King James Version-
5 English Standard Version
6 Holman Christian Standard Bible
7 New American Standard
8 Common English Bible
9 Reina Valera 1960
10 New International Readers Version

Unit Sales:

1 New International Version
2 King James Version
3 English Standard Version
4 New Living Translation
5 New King James Version
6 Holman Christian Standard Bible
7 Common English Bible
8 Reina Valera 1960
9 New American Standard
10 New International Readers Version

 

If any comment is ludicrous, it's this one. Where did I ever suggest such a thing?

 

Good news is that there were still 4 formal translations among top 10 both lists!

 

Four?:null:

 

Still amazes me that the KJV is in the top of anything. To each their own, just a bit confusing, I guess.

 

It's refreshing to see the NKJV still going strong. Looks like the KJV '82 may become the go-to for people who want the Good News in modern English without all of the socio-political baggage of the NIV '11.

 

I'm happy to see the NLT move up to #3. I really enjoy reading it.