Christian Retailing

Audio version of 'Action Bible' coming Print Email
Written by Eric Tiansay   
Monday, 30 August 2010 02:57 PM America/New_York

A Bible aimed at people who like pictures has been reinvented for those who prefer sounds.

David C. Cook's new The Action Bible, a comic book version of the Scriptures, will also be available as a listening edition from Oasis Audio, from next month.

The Bible stories presented by former DC and Marvel Comics artist Sergio Cariello in the 752-page Cook title have been adapted for an eight-CD Oasis set, which runs to almost 10.5 hours.

Additional text had to be added to the Cook narrative and dialog to translate the visual edition-an updating of Cook's classic Picture Bible publication. The Oasis set features multiple actors and sound effects.

"We do very well with Bibles at Oasis and we just thought that it would be a good idea," Oasis Director of Sales and Marketing Steve Smith said of the unusual adaptation. It could prove popular in the comic book market and serve as "a stepping stone to bring people into the real Bible" who are unfamiliar with it, he added.

Retailing for $29.99, Oasis' The Action Bible includes more than 200 Bible stories, each running between two and three minutes.

"When we saw some initial concepts of the artwork coming in from Sergio, we knew we had a very, very strong product that would also require a complete revision to the text," said Ryan Dunham, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Cook. "We also field tested the product with parents of different age groups of children, plus with children themselves. They provided valuable feedback that helped us come up with the cover, the trim size, the title and the packaging and other product ideas."

That led to the idea of having the visuals from The Action Bible coupled with an audio reading to create "a powerful experience for kids, boys especially," Dunham added. "So we pitched the idea to Oasis who also saw the vision for this product. As a result we have several ideas for how we can work together on this product that we believe consumers will really respond to."

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