Bibles on the Market: The power of consumers and competition among publishers - The case of the Brazilian Bible Society

Abstract

The first copies of the Holy Bible arrived in Brazil at the beginning of the 19th century. The protestant missionaries distributed Bibles, but until the end of the Second World War, the Bibles were printed abroad and their distribution depended on efforts from the British and Foreign Bible Society or the American Bible Society. The Brazilian Bible Society was founded in 1948 after the union of the foreign societies that operated in Brazil for more than one hundred years. The publication of Bibles boomed from 1995 onwards, due to the establish­ment of the “Bible’s Printing House”. Since then, the Brazilian Bible Society. has printed 100 million Bibles, which were distributed in Brazil, as well as in Portuguese speaking countries, and exported to another 105 countries around the world. In this period, the Bible market became increasingly competitive and diversified. Publishers started to use marketing tools and adjusting their main product - the Bible - to the laws that seem to govern the market, as well as to consumers’ demands and desires