About
the Company
 Urban
Spirit! creates, publishes and distributes Bibles, books and
gifts for urban America. The company was founded by Mel Banks
II in 1993 as Children of Color Publishing after the success
of the Children of Color Holy Bible – the first Bible
of its kind featuring uniquely authentic illustrations of Bible
characters who are “people of color.” Because of
an even greater need for Bibles targeting the specific needs
of African Americans, the company transformed into Nia Publishing
Co. Inc. and developed the popular Women of Color Study Bible
and the Men of Color Study Bible. The publisher has also created
bibles for young teens (The Wisdom and Grace Bibles for girls
and the Strength and Honor Bible for boys).
 Today
our work includes the same quality craftsmanship and the same
desire to match the needs of the individual with answers from
the word of God that resonate with the unique experiences of
African Americans, people of color everywhere and now urban
America.
Urban
Spirit! remains the only African-American owned publishers of
Bibles in the United States of America.
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About
the Industry
According
to statistics released earlier this summer, religious books
were the publishing industry's fastest-growing category last
year, with Bible sales alone exceeding 25 million copies. And
that's just the tip of the iceberg for the $4.5 billion Christian
products industry,* which runs the gamut from Bibles, books
and videos to toys and games.
2002:
Of the $23.7 billion spent on books, only $10.7 billion is spent
in bookstores. The non-traditional outlets sell more books.
--Tami DePalma, Marketability.
Women
buy 68% of all books.
--Lou Aronica, Senior V-P Avon Books. Publishers Weekly,
March 22, 1999.
Only
32% of the U.S. population has ever been in a bookstore.
--David Godine, Publisher.
African Americans owned 4.5 Bibles per household, compared
to the national average of 3.9 in 2003, according to the latest
survey from Zondervan.
About 65 percent of African Americans report that they read
their Bibles frequently, compared to the national average of
40 percent.
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