NASB2020 ESV & CSB Versus UASV2021
I have no feelings about the success or failure of the NASB. I do not wish it to fail at all. I have opinions about its success. It is a niche Bible because it is still very much a literal translation. It is only going to have sales in that part of the market. From what I have been told, if I remember correctly, The Lockman Foundation (TLF) does not even market and advertise that much. The ESV and CSB have the part of the market that TLF is after and they market heavily. So, I don't think the NASB is getting that. TLF would have to do what they did, ESV essentially literal, CSB optimal literal translation. You see, they (ESV & CS are trying to convince us that, 'hey we are still literal but we have made it more readable or easy to read. But we are still faithful to the literal philosophy.' They are trying to get part of the NIV market. That is difficult because the NIV market team advertises even more. In addition, the NIV people are starting to become like the KJVO people, that is, NIVO people.
If TLF thinks it is climbing out of its niche market with just a few steps into the essentially literal world, they are mistaken, in my opinion. What I think they are going to do is anger their base readers and fall short of getting any ESV or CSB readers. And they certainly are not going to get any of the NIV readers. The only way to move into another market is to spend more money on marketing and become more like the company you are trying to capture.
The other possibility is to try and make the ESV and CSB readers realize that their Bibles are watered-down versions of literal. Maybe it is not so true with the ESV in the OT but that is what needs to be done. And this is where the UASV is heading. We are looking to get part of the NASB market. We have many pastors waiting for us to get done to check out the Bible for their churches. We intend to appeal to the NASB readers (abandoning literal translation philosophy) and the ESV and CSB readers (watered-down literal translation philosophy).
https://www.uasvbible.org/donation
