Two Years After Release, Updated NIV Embraced and Trusted by Millions

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., March 26, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- With more than 450 million copies in print, the New International Version of the Bible has long been the bestselling, most read modern English Bible translation since its initial debut nearly 35 years ago.  That status has remained unchanged since Zondervan, the world's leading Bible publisher and part of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, released the updated version of the NIV to the public two years ago this week.

The updated NIV eBook went on sale in December 2010 and became Zondervan's fastest and bestselling eBook of all time. The first updated NIV print products hit store shelves in March 2011. Today, combined sales of both print and digital formats of the updated NIV have exceeded 11,000,000 units total. 

Among the most popular NIV titles are:

• The Story, a narrative telling of the Bible in chronological form, which uses the updated NIV text and has sold more than 1,000,000 copies
• The updated NIV Study Bible which was released in October 2011 and has sold more than 250,000 copies and remains one of the bestselling study Bibles of all time with more than 9,000,000 copies sold.  It was just named a finalist for the Christian Book Awards.
• The NIV Thinline Bible, which was one of the first print products to release with the updated NIV text and has sold nearly 1.1 million copies
• The NIV eBook which has sold more than 500,000 units

Zondervan currently has 25 publishing partners who are publishing in the updated NIV text, including its sister company, Thomas Nelson, as well as Harvest House, Tyndale, Cambridge University Press and Concordia Publishing House.  A number of notable churches, ministries, non-profits and church organizations currently use the NIV as their translation of choice including Willow Creek Association, Salvation Army, Walk Thru the Bible, Campus Crusade for Christ, Awana Clubs International and John Hagee Ministries, to name a few.  In addition, many of Zondervan's bestselling and most respected authors are publishing titles using the text of the updated NIV, including Philip Yancey, John MacArthur, Max Lucado, Henry Cloud and John Townsend and Andy Stanley, among others.

"We are elated that the NIV remains the translation of choice for millions of people around the world who want to read and understand God's unchanging Word in today's language," said Chip Brown, Senior Vice President and Publisher of Bibles for Zondervan. "Since its debut in 1978, the NIV has become and remains the world's bestselling Bible by God's grace, and because the NIV translation philosophy uniquely translates directly from the original Bible languages into the way English is spoken today." 

The updated NIV Bible replaces the 1984 and 2006 TNIV editions.  The translation update was completed in November 2010, following years of rigorous translation work by the Committee on Bible Translation (CBT), the group of highly-respected Biblical scholars responsible for the text of the NIV. The CBT meets every year in accordance with the NIV charter, which requires constant monitoring of developments in biblical scholarship and English usage and the reflection of these developments in periodic updates to the text.  The members of the CBT are drawn from various denominations and from some of the finest academic institutions in the world. 

As part of the update process, the CBT initiated a relationship with Collins Dictionaries to use the Collins Bank of English. It is one of the world's foremost English language research database tools which provides objective, statistically significant data on the state of written and spoken English – more than 4.4 billion words – at any given point in the history of the language. Working with some of the world's leading experts in computational linguistics and using cutting-edge techniques developed specifically for the updated NIV, the CBT gained an unprecedented and authoritative perspective on contemporary linguistic norms.

Over the past two years, Zondervan has released more than 500 unique products featuring the 2011 NIV text which are exported to 36 countries outside of the U.S.  Many more products are currently in development for release in the coming months. New NIV titles range from known content such as NIV Streams in the Desert Bible 365 Thirst-Quenching Devotions (Release Date: 03/05/2013) to known authors such as NIV Real-Life Devotional Bible for Women - Insights for Everyday Life, by Lysa TerKeurst (Release Date: 03/19/2013) to scripture portions such as What's Your Mark? Every Moment Counts by Jeremy Cowart (Release Date: 03/19/2013).

About Zondervan
Zondervan, part of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, is a world leading Bible publisher and provider of Christian communications. For more than 80 years, Zondervan has delivered transformational Christian experiences through its bestselling Bibles, books, curriculum, academic resources and digital products. The company's products are sold in multiple formats, worldwide in more than 60 countries, translated into nearly 200 languages. Zondervan offices are located in Grand Rapids, MI. For additional information, please visit www.zondervan.com.

SOURCE Zondervan