A while back I tried to create a journaling Bible based on the Illustrated Bible by Day Spring[1] (you can read about that at
- I am thankful that Day Spring and The Spiral Bible have created these Bibles as I do believe they are useful and valuable.
- If you do not bind notebooks often and do not have some materials already (such as a spiral puncher, a printer that can print a large number of pages, etc.), it is definitely more effective to just buy the Illustrating Bible.
How Much Did It Cost Me?
✂️ Supply | 📝 Notes | 💰 Total Price | 💵 Price Per Unit | #️⃣ Units Needed | 💰Total Cost |
I bought 2 reams, totaling 1000 sheets of paper. It was on sale then; the price has gone up since I purchased it | $39.96 | $00.04 | 675 | $26.97 | |
Optional; I just thought it would be cool. It came in a pack of 100; I used 66 sheets | $13.99 | $00.14 | 66 | $9.23 | |
Printing | I paid ~$79 for my toner cartridge which can print up to 3000 pages. | $78.99 | $00.03 | 1350 | $35.55 |
$35.99 | $00.72 | 6 | $4.32 | ||
Cardstock | I used 5 sheets of 12x12 cardstock to make the covers (because of how I cut them) The prices here are an estimate because I used paper I had lying around the house | $2.50 | $00.50 | 5 | $2.50 |
50 came in the pack | $99.46 | $1.99 | 3 | $5.97 | |
Optional | $5.99 | $5.99 | 1 | $5.99 | |
Total Cost | $90.53 |
Bulk Pricing Discussion
My main issue with the price of the Bibles commercially is that I know prices always go down when you buy in bulk. As you can see above, I did pay ~$100 to create my Bible (though I didn’t pay it out up front since I already had the cardstock, chipboard, and toner cartridge. Below I have some screenshots showing how prices change when you buy in bulk and a calculation of how much it would cost me if I were a major printing company—like Day Spring—with access to these materials.
✂️ Supply | 📝 Notes | 💰 Total Price | 💵 Price Per Unit | #️⃣ Units Needed | 💰Total Cost |
Bulk Pricing | $2,462.00 | $00.02 | 675 | $13.46 | |
Vellum | Not included in commercial product | - | - | - | - |
Printing | Commercial Grade Printer (prints 15,000 sheets) | $36.00 | $00.002 | 1350 | $2.70 |
$35.99 | $00.72 | 6 | $4.32 | ||
Cardstock | I used 5 sheets of 12x12 cardstock to make the covers (because of how I cut them) The prices here are an estimate because I used paper I had lying around the house | $2.50 | $00.50 | 5 | $2.50 |
Bulk Pricing (using the .88 figure) | $880.00 | $00.88 | 3 | $2.64 | |
Optional—you’d always buy on your own | - | - | - | - | |
Total Cost | $25.62 |
Without considering bulk pricing for the chipboard and cardstock covers, the price drops to about $26—assuming 3 books like I created, remember the price of smaller coils is lower (for the Spiral Bible).
Currently it would cost you $169.95 to get the complete set from Spiral Bible. That’s a 550% markup.
When I found the Illustrating Bible in 2019, it cost $99.00, now it retails at $69.00. While the $69.00 is probably worth it for those who don’t have access to materials to do their own binding, it’s still about 160% markup.
That just doesn’t seem very Christianly to me…
References & Footnotes
- “Illustrated Bible”. DaySpring; visited November 2022
- “Spiral Bible”. Spiral Bible; visited November 2022
- “Markup Calculator”. Fresh Books; visited November 2022