c. 2005 Religion News Service
(UNDATED) Beauty secrets, decoder rings and “Is this the guy for me?” quizzes aren’t just the stuff of teen magazines. Now they’re in the New Testament as Bible publishers find success marketing the Good Book to the golden demographic.
Biblezines, or Biblemags _ biblical text in magazine format _ for teenagers have become best-sellers all over the country _ and not just at Christian bookstores. Wal-Mart, Borders, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon.com have sold millions of the magazine-style books at an average price of $17.
Banking on their success with teens, Thomas Nelson Bibles has expanded beyond Generation Y and begun marketing Biblezines to younger children and even the hip-hop generation.
Magnify, for kids ages 7-11, was released in March and a new version with the Old Testament will be released in September. Real _ targeting urban youth _ will hit bookstores in July; it features articles like “Jail’s No Joke _ Testimonies From Ex-Convicts” and “How You Travelin’? _ How to Walk Out Your Life With the Lord.”
Officials at the Tennessee-based Thomas Nelson Bibles said they have found a great way to get the Good Book into young people’s hands.
“It was obvious that we were missing the mark because we weren’t speaking to them (teenagers) how they needed to be spoken to,” said Wayne Hastings, vice president and publisher of Thomas Nelson Bibles, which publishes four Biblezines and plans on making more.
Candace Leutzinger, of Layton, Utah, spotted one of Nelson’s most popular ‘zines, Revolve, at a Barnes and Noble store four years ago.
“I looked through it and realized it was a Bible,” explained Leutzinger, now 22. After she shared the Biblezines with her friends, they got interested, too, and even starting giving them as gifts.
Most Biblezines use text from the New Century Version (NCV) translation first published in the 1980s and known for its easy-to-read language. Fans of the ‘zines say this translation makes it much easier for teens to connect to Scripture.
Leutzinger agreed. “I think it’s a really good concept because prior to seeing those (Biblezines) I was really turned off by the Bible.” She described the Bible as “wordy, hard to follow and kind of confusing at times.”
These hip versions of the New Testament feature articles like “Extras: Girls, Cash and Cars,” “Top Ten Ways to Make a Difference” and “Radical Faith: How to Live What You Believe” along with devotional guides, beauty tips and music reviews.
Nelson’s Revolve, Refuel, Magnify and Becoming are the most popular Biblezines geared toward teen girls, guys, children and young women, respectively. They have sold more than 1 million books so far _ a staggering number for Bible sales among that age group, according to Hastings.
Its next project, Real, will target urban youth.
“It is a culture that is permeating everything,” said Hastings, who added that hip-hop, which made up 78 percent of Billboard’s top 25 CDs, has gone untapped in the Bible publishing world. Nelson wants to reach it first.
That aim might bring even more young readers to the Holy Writ because many think it’s especially tough for teenagers to be religious and cool at the same time. Biblezines might be the answer, according to Todd Starowitz, a publicist with Tyndale House Publishers.
“They may be hesitant to carry a Bible on a bus,” said Starowitz of Bible-reading teens. Tyndale published the sports-themed New Testament Biblezine “nt:sport” in 2004 and has sold 40,000 copies since September.
Despite the bustling sales, however, not everyone is happy with trendy updates to a text many believe is sacred.
One Amazon.com reviewer wrote this about Revolve2, the recently updated version of Nelson’s Revolve: “Girls, please don’t short-change yourself ever by thinking you are too stupid to understand something as complex as a book. There is more to you than makeup and boy angst.”
Even Leutzinger thought the ‘zines went a bit too far.
“It had some really sexist ideas in it,” Leutzinger said, “like women aren’t supposed to work and how girls should not ask guys out.”
But even with reviewers calling the Biblezines an affront to young people’s intelligence, youth pastors say the benefit of getting Gen Y interested in the Bible far outweighs the criticisms.
“I think that any time we can get kids reading the Bible, it’s going to be a plus,” said Jeff Slack, pastor of student ministries at Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, Calif., which hosts the popular cable show “The Hour of Power.”
Slack works with almost 100 junior high school students and has passed along Refuel and Revolve to about one-third of his teens.
He said he gives them to “the kids that don’t have a church background who are a little resistant to the traditional-looking Bible.”
“Then I’ll … follow up and ask them some of the questions based on those articles,” Slack said. “I think it’s a great entry point.”
With millions of Biblezines sold and Becoming ranking fifth on the Christian Booksellers Association’s June 2005 best-seller list, the ‘zines have clearly reached their target.
Hastings, of Nelson Publishing, said a 2002 meeting with a marketing company opened his eyes to the possibilities of grabbing younger readers.
“They walked in and threw Seventeen magazine and a Bible on the table and said, `If you were a teenager, which one would you rather read?”’
KRE/PH END ANDREWS
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