JOIN ME IN A NEW PUBLICATION EXPERIMENT

JOIN ME IN AN PUBLICATION EXPERIMENT

In 2022, I released my third novel, Shock and Awe: A Church Recognizes Its Racism and Is Awed by God’s Invitation. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08VF9KRPK

My objective was to show in fiction what a church might experience as it tried to address racism in our society. It is an adventure story with a spiritual edge to it. My hope was that it might encourage pastors and churches to engage in taking a fresh approach in how a moderate middle size church might address racism. In the process, they might experience a revitalization of the church community and a deepening spiritual growth among the membership. I was pleased with the story and the response of people who read it, but not the sales.

THE CHALLENGE OF PUBLICATION

While it is important to write a good story, an additional challenge is how to market that story. There are so many books being published on venues like Amazon that it is very easy for even the best of books to get lost from view. I work with a man named Damian Smyth of the Success Formula Club, and he made an intriguing suggestion. Let’s republish the book but with a unique twist that might grab people’s attention.

The novel has thirty chapters. Since in addition to providing a good story to entertain the reader, we also want to encourage people to explore ways to become more creatively engaged in parallel antiracism ministry, we are offering some fresh bonuses for people who get the book. At the end of each of the thirty chapters, the reader will find a QR code. If they access the QR code, each chapter will introduce them to additional resources which can support their anti-racism efforts.

International Day of Tolerance

We thought it might be appropriate to choose November 16 for the day of the publication since that is the day recognized internationally as the International Day of Tolerance. So here is your opportunity to join in the experiment. Find a couple of colleagues who will join you in securing this new version of Shock and Awe and choose to purchase it on November 16 on Amazon. If a large number of people choose to make a purchase on that day, Amazon calculates that it is a hot item and they, therefore, make it more visible on their channels.

So here is a three-way win.  1. People who want to address anti-racism will have a good story suggesting how that would look, 2. In addition to the story they will have access to a whole seminar of resources, and 3. By boosting the sales that day, they will get Amazon to help them spread the word to encourage others to address racism. And maybe #4, it will really be supportive of my efforts in this area—AND I THANK YOU FOR THAT.