And the bestselling book of 2008 is. . .

not Harry Potter.

Not Twilight or even the latest thriller from James Patterson. The bestselling book of 2008 is, just like every other year, The Bible. 90% of U.S. households already have at least one copy, but slick marketing and endless procession of new editions with new translations, new illustrations, and new limited edition leather bindings helps The Bible sell about 25 million copies each year.

A fascinating piece in the December 23 Wall Street Journal (subscription required) looks at the brilliant niche marketing that keeps people who already have Bibles coming back to buy more each year: there are special editions for surfers, golfers, fashionistas, alcoholics and anime fans.

Bibles have been big business as long as they've been around: It was the first book to roll off of Gutenberg's printing press and, according to scholars, there's probably never been a year since then when it didn't sell more copies than any other book. In the first half of this century, it was a business dominated by door to door salesmen immortalized in this classic documentary from 1968.

According (PDF File) to religious publisher Thomas Nelson, 38% of Bible buyers already own between three and ten copies of the book, and most Bibles are bought as gifts.