The Bible is regularly cited as the bestselling book of all time, as well as the most-ranslated book and the most-stolen book. Publication of Bibles drove the development and dissemination of the printing press, and the ability of people to have their own Bible for the first time was a major factor in the Reformation which changed the global intellectual landscape.

With so much history, one might expect that there isn’t much new to say about Bibles, and that the days of Bibles being at the vanguard of publishing are long gone. In fact, nothing could be farther from the case.

Recent analysis by SPCK of data from Nielsen BookScan suggests that Bible sales more than doubled between 2020 and 2025, having shown little change for 15 years before that. The religion category as a whole was the fastest-growing area of trade non-fiction in 2024, and the second fastest-growing in 2025. 

Some publishers have been aware of this trend for a while. Last year, Penguin Random House announced the launch of a Christian division in the US and Ebury launched a religious imprint here in the UK. 

Bookshops have also caught on, having seen SPCK’s Bible statistics picked up widely in the national press, or The Bookseller’s own reporting on the growth of religious sales. We at SPCK have noticed increased interest, especially from independent bookshops at places like the Gardners Trade Show in understanding the category and the key titles they might need to carry within it.
So, what does this resurgence of the Bible tell us about publishing, and where it might be going?

As the Bible itself says, “there is nothing new under the sun”. Perhaps the best indicator of future trends, is past trends. Categories that seem to be dying, might actually be ripe for relaunch – just look at the success of Murdle by GT Karber in reinvigorating the quiz books category that was long thought to be dying due to digital competition. If publishers are looking for new opportunities, we could do a lot worse than exploring our own backlist and our own archives.

Linked to this, the Bible is perhaps the prime example of how physical books still matter. All the modern English translations of the Bible are available free online and in apps, and most Christians use these regularly, but they still feel the draw of the physical Bible. Church leaders have told me they encourage their congregations to read printed Bibles because they are less exposed to distraction than when reading on their phone and because it is easier to see whereabouts you are in the context of the Bible’s overall narrative. Many Christians will carry a copy of the Bible around with them for many years, often adding notes and underlining passages. Someone’s Bible can carry great meaning for themselves and for their families – at SPCK we often receive enquiries from people interested in the history of heirloom Bibles which have been passed down through their family for generations.

Publishers’ efforts to throw weight behind one ISBN that we want to get on the bestsellers chart might actually be hampering our potential to maximise revenue and reach

A third point where Bibles point the way, is around the importance of design and customisation. There are thousands of editions of the Bible in print across more than 20 different English translations. Most of the popular translations, such as the new market leader the English Standard Version, are available in around 100 different editions. Many of these will consist of the same book block but with multiple different designs, finishes and price points. Some finishes which have recently become popular in the fiction market, such as sprayed edges and gilded endpapers, have long been common features of Bibles.

The Bible has the economy of scale that makes it economical for publishers to create different editions for very particular tastes and target markets. But the same could be said of many different bestselling titles in categories ranging from fiction to dictionaries. Publishers’ efforts to throw weight behind one ISBN that we want to get on the bestsellers chart might actually be hampering our potential to maximise revenue and reach.

While Bibles remain a physical product, that does not mean that the digital ecosystem is unimportant – in fact, quite the opposite. These beautiful new editions of the Bible are reviewed in extreme detail by a range of specialist bloggers, and Bible unboxing videos are another sub-strand of the BookTok phenomenon. Publishers regularly report that their generosity in making their Bible translations available free online and in apps pays for itself commercially in brand awareness which drives sales of physical Bibles. Increasingly, the apps connect to the printed product through QR codes and other technical solutions which take the Bible reader from the physical page into a vast world of online content which may be free or behind a subscription. Most book publishers never really managed to make a splash in the app space, and there may be good lessons from the success of Bible publishers not to give up here, especially where there is a product with ample potential to dive deeper into its world.

The growth in Bible sales has been very much against the tide of the trade non-fiction market which has been in decline for several years. At least three factors are regularly put forward for the challenges in non-fiction: the rise of podcasts and other media as alternative information sources; consumers wanting escapism from a post-Covid-19 world that seems to lurch from crisis to crisis; and publishers being over-reliant on non-fiction authors with platforms rather than those who can write great books.

All these may be relevant headwinds, but for me the resurgence of the Bible shows that there will always be a readership for books which help people with their search for meaning in their lives and to wrestle with life’s big questions.