The Bible on Steroids: Somersault's RNA2010 Presentation

the Bible on steroids
Presented to RNA
September 23, 2010

agenda
1. Introduction
2. A brief history of the Bible
3. Bible technology stats
4. How technology enhances the user experience
5. How Bible publishers are using technology
6. Questions and answers

www.somersaultgroup.com

Jeannette Taylor
• Jeanne%e is the former General Manager of Bibles and Vice President 
of Marke:ng at Zondervan. Considered one of the world’s foremost Bible 
market authori:es, she has done extensive research in this area since 
1984.

• She is now the Research & Development Architect at Somersault, 
responsible for Bible development, marke:ng strategies, and the 
supervision of all research func:ons. 

• Taylor is also the owner of the research ﬁrm JET Marke:ng and an 
adjunct Marke:ng Professor at Cornerstone University, Grand Rapids, MI. 


John Sawyer
• John is the former Vice President of Bible Marke:ng at Zondervan.   

• He is currently the Brand and Marke:ng Strategist for Somersault. 

• Sawyer is also a partner in the marke:ng firm Grey Ma%er Group in 
Grand Rapids, MI where he works with Bible publishing and transla:on 
organiza:ons including Tyndale, Zondervan, Biblica, and The Seed 
Company (a Wycliffe affiliate).


Reaching Somersault
• follow Somersault on Twi%er: @smrsault

• jsawyer@somersaultgroup.com

• jtaylor@somersaultgroup.com

• www.somersaultgroup.com


history of the Bible


the Bible - very, very old
• The oldest form of the Bible ever discovered is a portion of the book
of Numbers – over 2600 years old and written on silver leaves.

Source: How We Got the Bible, Zondervan, 2008, Page 6.


the Bible - very old

• The oldest fragment of the New
Testament yet discovered is a
portion of the Gospel of John
that dates to AD 125 – roughly
30 years after John drafted his
gospel.



the Bible – old

• The oldest complete manuscript
of the Old Testament was
completed in AD1010 in
Cairo, Egypt and is called the
Codex Leningradensis.

• Its long-lived reputation as a
faithful rendering of the Hebrew
Bible was greatly bolstered by its
exceptional degree of agreement
with the Dead Sea Scrolls
discovered nearly a
millennia later.



the Bible - amazing
• In 1947, a young Bedouin shepherd looking for a lost goat entered a cave and
stumbled across the Dead Sea Scrolls.

• Included in this amazing discovery was the complete book of Isaiah, written
on a scroll 24 feet in length.


the Bible – biggest
• The biggest known
manuscript of the Bible,
called Codex Gigas,
weighs 165 pounds
and was completed in the
13th century in what is
now the Czech republic.

• It is said to have required
the skins of 160
donkeys to supply
enough parchment.



the Bible – most colorful

• One of the most colorful
Bible manuscripts ever
created is the Book of Kells.

• This 680-page manuscript of
the 4 Gospels contains bright,
full-color ornamentation on
every page.



the Bible – labor-intensive
• Prior to the inventing of the printing press in 1454, all Bibles were copied by
hand. Monks sat at desks in a scriptoria and copied the Scriptures all day.

• From the 11th century AD on, almost every abbey and monastery
had its own scriptorium.



the Bible – anger-provoking
• In 1382, John
Wycliffe completed
the ﬁrst translation
of the entire Bible
into English.

• Wycliffe died of
natural causes, but
his remains
were later
exhumed,
burned, and
thrown into a
stream.

Source: How We Got the Bible, Zondervan, 2008, Page 46 & 66.


the Bible – cutting edge
• The ﬁrst book
printed on the
Gutenberg press
was the Bible in
1455.



the Bible – more anger
• 150 years after John Wycliffe,
William Tyndale followed in his
steps and created a new English
translation of the Bible.

• Thousands of Tyndale’s Bibles
were printed on the Gutenberg
press – while the Bishop of
London burned every copy he
could ﬁnd.

• In 1536, ten years after the
publication of his Bible, Tyndale
was burned at the stake.



the Bible – popular, inﬂuential

• King James authorized a new
English Bible translation in 1603.

• Published in 1611, the King
James Version of the Bible has
become the most popular
book in history.

• The KJV Bible is considered
the most inﬂuential book
in the history of the
English language.



the Bible – Native American

• The ﬁrst Bible was
printed in America in
1663.

• It was not printed in
English but in
Algonquin, a
Native American
language.



the Bible – authorized by Congress
• On September 10, 1782, a printer named Robert Aitken received authorization
from the United States Congress to commence his American printing of the
Bible in English.

• This is the only instance in history of the U.S. Congress
authorizing the printing of a Bible. In subsequent years, that session
was often referred to as “The Bible Congress.”

Source: http://www.greatsite.com/timeline-english-bible-history/colonial-bibles.html


the Bible – available
• The Gideon Bible Society was
founded in Boscobel, Wisconsin in
1899. Bibles were ﬁrst placed in
hotel rooms in 1908.

• Now over 1.6 billion Bibles have
been distributed worldwide

• More than 700 million Bibles and
New Testaments were distributed in
just the last 10 years.

• 79.8 million copies of God's Word
were distributed last year.

Source: www.gideons.org/AboutUs/WorldwideImpact.aspx


the Bible – on the moon
• Astronaut Buzz Aldrin
wrote out and left
Psalm 8 on the
surface of the moon
in1969: “When I look at
the sky, which you have
made, the moon and the
stars which you set in their
places, what is man that
you think of him?”

Source: http://clausenbooks.com/bible2000.htm


the Bible – ubiquitous
• 91% of U.S. households own one or more Bibles. On average, Bible-
owning households have over 3 Bibles in the home.

%&'&$()*+,-)./+$0$123.,$456,7+-28$

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:)6;<$)56$

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Source:The Wall Street Journal, Dec. 23, 2008, p.8.


the Bible – bestselling
25 million copies
in 2009
• The Bible, in all its 
edi:ons, is the best‐
selling book in America 
year over year, with 
approximately 25 – 26 
million units sold 
annually. 

• In contrast, the 
bestselling novel of 
2009, The Lost Symbol 
by Dan Brown, sold 5.5 
million copies.
5.55 million copies
in 2009

Source: Chicago Tribune, June 4, 2007 and AAP, 2009.


the Bible – half billion dollars/year
• The annual retail value of Bibles sold in the U.S. is $500,000,000.

Source: Publishers Weekly, Oct. 30, 2006.


the Bible – global

• Last year, 71,425,000 complete Bibles were distributed
around the world by the United Bible Societies.

• A further 400 million smaller Scriptures were also
distributed by UBS, including Testaments, Gospels and
selections from Scripture.

Interna:onal Bulle:n of Missionary Research, Vol 34. No 1, January 2010

the Bible – multilingual
• As of 2010, at least one book of the Bible
has been translated into 2,508 of the
6,900 languages in the world including:

• 680 languages in Africa

• 590 languages in Asia

• 420 languages in Oceania

• 420 languages in Latin America and
the Caribbean

• 210 languages in Europe

• 75 languages in North America.

Source: h;p://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible_translaDons.

the Bible – old and new

• While dozens and
dozens of Bible
translations are available
in the U.S., just two
– the King James
Version (1611) and
the New
International
Version (1978)
– account for over
half of all Bible units
sold in the U.S.

Source: State of the Bible Market, 2006, Zondervan research, Dec. 2006..

the Bible – from Moses to Steve Jobs
• The Bible has become one of the most popular books on the iPad,

• In mid-2010, Olive Tree’s Bible Reader app broke into the top 100 iPad book apps
and was listed in the top 10 highest-grossing book apps for the iPad.

Source: www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2010/07/

technology statistics


publishing tsunami
• In 2005 Michael Hyatt, CEO of Nelson,
predicted “The Death of Traditional Book
Publishing.” He said, “We’re one device away
from a digital publishing tsunami.”

• In 2005, wholesale ebook sales from the top
15 trade publishers were $2,175,131. The ﬁrst
quarter of this year their ebook sales were
over $31,900,000.1

• E-book sales continue to grow, with a 118.9%
increase over June 2009 ($29.8 million); year-
to-date E-book sales are up 204.2%.2

1 www.openebook.org/doc_library/industrystats.htm
2 http://www.publishers.org/main/PressCenter/Archicves/2010_August/June2010Statistics.htm


past the tipping point
• The Magazine Publishers of America
found that nearly 60% of U.S. consumers
expect to purchase an e-reader or tablet
within the next 3 years.1

• Apple’s four-month-old iPad is turning
in strong sales with 3.27 million units
sold to date.2

• ABI Research revisited its forecasts,
almost tripling their original estimate to
11 million tablets expected to ship by the
end of 2010.3

1www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/08/tablet-mania/
2 www.reuters.com 8/20/2010
3 http://www.abiresearch.com/press/3461-2010+Media+Tablet+Shipment+Forecast+Boosted+to+11+Million


eReader mania

Source: Forrester Research, Inc., North American Technographics, Consumer Technology Online Benchmark Recontact Survey,
Q2 2010 (US) Baseline: 3,990 US online consumers. Multiple response accepted.

iPad competition is coming
• HP: webOS tablet and a Windows 7 tablet.1
• Dell: Android OS 5-inch Streak tablet phone.2
• Toshiba: “Smart Pad” in October 2010.3
• Acer/Samsung: rumors of 7-inch Android tablets.4
• Lenovo: “LePad” before the end of 2010.4
• Cisco: 7-inch Android tablet, the Cisco Cius.5

1 Source: Shelley DuBois, “HP Casts A Wide Net To Compete With Apple’s Tablets,” Fortune, July 22, 2010 (http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2010/07/22/hp-
casts-a-wide-net-to-compete-with-apples-tablets/).
2 As of writing this report, Dell hasn’t speciﬁed a launch date for the Dell Streak in the US. Source: Dell Website (http://www.dell.com/content/products/
productdetails.aspx/mobile-streak?c=us&l=en&s=corp).
3 Source: Chris Davies, “Toshiba Smart Pad Tablet Prototype Shown; Due Before October 2010,” SlashGear, July 20, 2010 (http://www.slashgear.com/
toshiba-smart-pad-tablet-prototype-shown-due-before-october-2010-2094731/).
4 Source: Donald Melanson, “Acer said to be launching 7-, 10-inch Android tablets before the end of the year,” engadget, July 14, 2010 (http://
www.engadget.com/2010/07/14/acer-said-to-be-launching-7-10-inchandroid-tablets-before-the/); Thomas Ricker, “Samsung Galaxy Tab P1000 Tablet
Sports WiFi and 3G Data, About As Thick As An iPhone?” engadget, June 17, 2010 (http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/17/samsunggalaxy-
tab-p1000-tablet-sports-wiﬁ-and-3g-data-about-a/); and Michael Kan, “Lenovo To Release Tablet PC At Year’s End,” PCWorld, July 20, 2010 (http://
www.pcworld.com/article/201462/lenovo_to_release_tablet_pc_at_years_end.html).
5 Source: Cisco Systems Web site (http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps11156/index.html).

tweeting the Bible
• Stephen Smith from Zondervan used the Twitter APIs
to grab every Bible reference between 4/7/09 and
2/28/10.

• 2,292,836 tweets
340,564 authors
16,580,449 Bible verses referenced

Source: www.openbible.info/realtime


tweets per day citing the Bible
Bible tweets increased 5 times from
2,000 per day in April 2009 to
11,000 per day in February 2010.

top re-tweeted authors
RevRunWisdom
69 tweets
31,571 retweets
850,000 followers

Rick Warren
202 tweets
15,539 retweets
83,000 followers

John Piper
444 tweets
13,493 retweets
64,000 followers


Message HCSB NASB ESV NLT NKJV KJV NIV

favorite Bible translations

Bible sites linked to by day
YouVersion is dominant. They added Tweet
functionality to their app in October.

Bible tweets and celebrities
• Miley Cyrus was the most frequent recipient of Bible
tweets (1200 times), mostly encouraging her to keep
her life in order.


Bible tweets and current events
• About Haiti earthquake: “The Lord is close to the
brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
Psalm 34:18 NIV


Bible tweets and politics
• About President Obama: “Let his days be few; let another
take his ofﬁce.” Psalm 109:8 NASB


Bible tweets and pop culture
• About the Twilight Saga
movie New Moon: “Your
New Moon festivals and
your appointed feasts my
soul hates. They have
become a burden to me; I
am weary of bearing them.”
Isaiah 1:14 NIV


user experience


technology changes everything

• How we read the Bible
• How we study the Bible
• How we experience the Bible in community
• How we share the Bible with others


changing how we read the Bible
• Multi-media edutainment with video, 3D animation, and artwork.

• Mobile inspiration with devotional content and topical verse selection.

• An eBook with translation options, typeface and font size selection.


changing how we study the Bible
• It started with inserting study notes into printed Bibles. The NET Bible has
over 60,932 study notes.

• The Logos Platinum Software put an
entire library of 1,250 theological and
biblical books with the Bible -- worth
$19,000 in print.

• Coinciding with the October 2010
release of the HCSB Study Bible,
LifeWay is launching a premiere
online Bible study service.

• MyStudyBible.com contains the complete HCSB Study Bible, commentary
notes, and content from books like the Holman New Testament Commentary
and references from Strong’s Greek and Hebrew Dictionary.


community Bible experience
• We’ve read the Bible in fragments. Scripture has been
packaged for a sound bite culture. We’ve lost the narrative arc.

• We’ve read without historical context. Most of us have no
idea how to bridge the gap between the ancient world and our own.

• We’ve read the Bible in isolation. We’ve lost the beneﬁt of
reading the Bible and discussing it as a community.


changing how we share the Bible
• Blogging/Microblogging
• Websites/Social Sites
• Online video
• Slide Productions
• Tagging/Sharing/Bookmarking
• Email
• Webinars/Webcasts
• Mobile
• Chat
• Wiki
• Widgets
• Syndication/Podcasts


!" (
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how publishers

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use technology


Logos Bible Software
• Logos Bible Software was founded in
1992 by two Microsoft employees.

• Logos is the largest developer of Bible
software for Windows, Mac, iPhone and the
Web, and a worldwide leader in multilingual
electronic publishing.

• They partner with more than 130
publishers to make more than 10,000
electronic Bible study resources available to
customers around the world. Their
technology is used in more than 160
countries in a dozen languages.


Logos Bible Software
• Logos, an 18-year-old technology
company, recently launched a print
tool, Bible Study Magazine.

• Logos has also created a Bible
timeline that highlights key translation
milestones from 2000 BC to the
publication of the King James Version.


Zondervan Bibles
• Zondervan is the world’s leading
Bible publisher with exclusive North
American publishing rights to the
best-selling NIV translation.

• Since the beginning of 2010,
Zondervan’s NIV Bible and NIV Study
Bible have been among the top ﬁve
eBooks in the Religion & Spirituality
category of Apple’s iBookstores and
Amazon’s Kindle store. The NIV Study
Bible is currently #57 in iBooks.


Zondervan Bibles
• Zondervan’s eBibles represent more
than 40% of their eBook revenues, and
in some cases outsell their traditional
Bible counterparts.

• Zondervan’s BibleGateway.com is a
Bible reading and research website that
now serves over 8 million users a
month.


Glo
• Glo is new Bible software distributed by Zondervan.
• Glo is designed to bring the Bible to life with HD video and documentaries, high-
resolution images, historical animations, zoomable maps, 360-degree virtual tours
and much more.


Thomas Nelson

• Thomas Nelson Bibles is one of the oldest Bible publishers in the world,
and is the largest publisher of the King James Version.

• Nelson is planning a celebration of the 400th anniversary of the KJV in
partnership with the History Channel and Salem Communications.


Broadman & Holman
• LifeWay, an entity of the Southern Baptist
Convention, is one of the world’s largest providers
of Christian products and services.

• Holman is releasing a new Bible, the HSCB Study
Bible, in October. Coinciding with this release is
the launch of MyStudyBible.com, a premier online
service to read and study the Bible.

• “This is the ﬁrst product in the history of our
company that will be releasing with a full scale
launch on all print and digital fronts,” states Paul
Mikos, Digital Executive Editor.


the Net Bible
• The NET Bible project was commissioned to
create a faithful Bible translation that could be
placed on the Internet, downloaded for free,
and used around the world for ministry.

• Now serving individuals in 170 different
countries on an average day, bible.org is the
largest Bible study resource on the Internet
with over 40,000 pages of Bible study materials
currently available online for free.


Crossway
• ESV Online enables users to customize their own interface, highlight and mark
verse numbers, add bookmark ribbons, search the ESV text, and manage notes.

• The free version also includes a variety of daily reading plans and devotional
calendars.


Tyndale
• Setting a new standard for the introduction of
Bible products, the NLT Study Bible is the ﬁrst
study Bible to release simultaneously not only
in a print version, but in a fully-searchable
online version.

• It is also available on the three major electronic
Bible formats including WordSearch,
PocketBible, and Logos.


if King James
were alive today...

if King James
were alive today...

...he would use
an iPad Bible.

The Bible on Steroids: Somersault's RNA2010 Presentation

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Editor's Notes