Eddie Jones's Blog, page 41

Merry Christmas, Mom

Merry Christmas, Mom

Mom checked into the hospital a year ago. She came home for three days in January, then died. Christmas won’t be the same this year, but then our traditions are little more than memorials to the past: our memories—some fond, others not—of familiar patterns and persons. Here are a few things I’ll miss this Christmas.

Mom’s cheese straws. Others have offered to bake me cheese straws, but they’re rarely as good. Mom used cayenne pepper in the batches she made for me. Mom was always hot at me about something. Usually had to do with my not coming around as often as I should. My sister can whip up a pretty good imitation. I’ll make do with hers.

Mom’s sausage balls. Not as hard to recreate. I picked up a daughter-in-law this year and her mom brought some over for Thanksgiving. They were almost as good as Mom’s so I’m fine there, I think. The key to sausage balls is to make sure the sausage is cooked. Half-cooked pork is never a good thing, especially when you have a house full of Christmas guests but only two bathrooms.

Mom’s no-bake chocolate oatmeal cookies. Got a batch of these after Mom’s funeral. They were okay, but you’d have to know Mom to understand why no one can bake a no-bake chocolate oatmeal cookie like her. Mom put a lot of grumbling into her batch. She wanted me to know what a pain they were to make. I think that’s what made hers special.

No one ever accused Mom of being meek, but she came from humble beginnings. She bragged about living in a tobacco barn growing up and eating dirt with her grits. She worked the farm and drove a school bus, then escaped Pender County to marry my dad. Mom gave my sister and me more than she ever imagined a farm girl could. Her siblings and children, extended family, and friends were blessed because of her.

My spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed. Luke 1:47-48 Today’s New International Version (TNIV)

Mom wasn’t Mary but from where I stood (far away whenever possible), she was blessed by God.

Whatever success we achieve usually comes with a lot of help from others. God sends folks into our lives and if we’re watching, we see His hand in their hands: hands covered in flour and sticky with dough. On our small days, our humble and reflective days, we know whatever good things come to us come through Him. God uses our circumstances to bless others and those blessings flow down for generations.

God blessed Mom and she blessed others, so the traditions flow forth. Take a moment this Christmas to write a note of encouragement to a family member or friend, letting them know what a blessing they are to your life.

Next Christmas may be too late.

Guest Blog

Readers are Leaders: Buy a Boy a Book! Change a Life
A Lady in Defiance Defies Odds, Becomes Best-Seller –  Heather Blanton

A Lady in Defiance

Back in February I put my book, A Lady in Defiance, up on Amazon to use as a fundraiser for my Relay for Life team. I cleared this move with my lit agent, David Shepherd of the DRS Agency. We all thought that with nothing but word of mouth, I would struggle to meet my $200 goal. What happened next was nothing short of a miracle…or a catastrophe.

My book went live in mid-February and two weeks later, I’d sold 135 copies. By the end of March, I’d sold an additional 343 copies. Goal surpassed!

But A Lady in Defiance continued to sell…and sell well. As of this writing, I have sold over 7000 copies of my book! No marketing to speak of, no publisher, no PR.

So, first and foremost, in answering the question, “What did you do?” I must give praise where praise is due. I prayed many times with the vision in my head of handing my book to God and asking him to do with it what He wanted…but I wouldn’t object if he wanted to sell it to Bethany House. My Heavenly Father has lavished his blessings upon my book. I’m eternally grateful and humbled beyond words.

Second, I read Amazon’s instructions for formatting the book and followed them exactly.

Third, I designed a cover that shouts romance, time period, and location. I studied dozens of covers of other books in my genre and tried to stay in the same field with them.

Fourth, I also studied the tags from other Christian fiction books on Amazon and used the same ones when I set up my book page.

Fifth, I worked really hard to come up with a book description that is compelling. Then I tweaked it. And tweaked it some more, even incorporating feedback from reviewers to make the description more accurate and honest.

Sixth, I stumbled into some effective marketing strategies (again, thank you, God!). My confidence was so low in my book that I initially priced it at $.99. In his book, Amazing Results with Amazon, author Eddie Jones talks about a “soft launch.” Price your book low to help build interest, minimize the consumers’ risk and maybe get the WOM going.

February and March I left the price at $.99;
In April, I tried a mix of $.99 and $1.99.
In May, I played around with $1.99, $2.99, even $3.02.
By August, I’d pretty much settled on $2.99

Also in August, I tried my first FREE promotion. Due to the blog Inspired Reads putting me on their front page (again, a God-thing, as I had no idea who these people were) A Lady in Defiance was downloaded nearly eight thousand times!

I’ve done two more free promotions since, basically one a month.

I work hard to keep my Author page updated on Amazon, linking it with my blog and Facebook page.

I dallied with a few Facebook ads in April and May. The click through rate was average and I couldn’t track any sales directly. My blog (http://patriotsinlace.com/) has helped me sell more books than the FB ads.

Because reviews and likes have a tremendous impact on rankings, I put a link at the end of my book asking for reviews. I also asked a few of my friends to leave reviews to get the ball rolling.

I suppose it’s worth mentioning here that in May my book made it to the publishing board at a major Christian publishing house. However, my sales projections were too low and they passed on the project. I received this soul-crushing email while at work. I sat through a grueling meeting with my boss then went to the ladies room and prayed. Holding back sobs, I said out loud, “God, I trust you. I know you have a plan here. I’m hanging on to you…no matter what.” Not the easiest words I’ve ever spoken, but I meant them.

So, on the one hand, this is all an awesome miracle. Just as easily as things went right, they could have gone wrong and my book could be floundering at 1,219,668 in sales rank. On the other hand, A Lady in Defiance will most likely never sell to a publisher now. A catastrophe? No, not at all. I have heard from readers who were really impacted by the book. One person even referred to my writing as my “ministry”. That took me back. I’ve always wanted to write something that glorifies God, but to call it a ministry makes it sound so much more…important.

But this lady was wrong about one thing. It’s not my ministry. It’s his. All his.

August 2012

 

April 2012

Guest Blog

Readers are Leaders: Buy a Boy a Book! Change a Life

Readers are Leaders: Buy a Boy a Book, Change a Life

Writing To An Illiterate Culture by Phil Niekerk

Several months ago, I was part of a retreat where I was introduced to a small group discussion method called Storying. Storying is an age-old method of passing on biblical stories orally. This method has been incredibly important in underdeveloped nations where people can’t read, as well as places where the Bible has been banned. The basic premise of Storying is learning to tell a biblical story accurately but in your own words in such a way that others remember it and are able to tell it to others. This made incredible sense to me as a great way of passing on the Gospel globally; but I was unsure why it would be important in America, let alone in my church and town. I live in a highly educated, professional community where the Bible is easily available. We have the Bible in all shapes, sizes and flavors and we have people who are well equipped to read it. Why spend time with this? These statistics helped me understand why:

14% of Americans are considered functionally illiterate, meaning they cannot read well enough to function productively in a school or work environment.
29% of Americans are low-level, functionally literate. They read only enough to do their job and get through the day.
44% of Americans are highly functionally literate but prefer to get most of their information orally. They’d rather hear than see important or interesting information.
That leaves 13% of people who prefer to get information through the written word.

I don’t know what it does to you as a writer to see that 87% of Americans cannot read, or choose not to read, beyond what they need to survive. Eighty seven percent of your possible audience either can’t read or don’t like to read. I’m betting that some of you might be getting a bit upset with these numbers. You may want to try to discredit the statistics. You may even want to get upset with our culture and blame things like technology, TV, texting and other media sources that limit people’s attention span. I get it. You’re right. But this is the reality that we, as writers, have to work within in our culture today. If this is true, will people actually read? Because I write in a church setting, I need to pay close attention to these numbers. All these categories are represented in my audience. So, here are four things I consider when I write:

Get to the point

Since many of my readers read from computer screens, iPads or smart phones, I need to be aware that if I don’t hook them early, they may not scroll down to read the rest of my good stuff. I need to engage them early, even emotionally. I need to create a tension in the first few sentences that compels them to read on.

Ask good questions

Good questions engage the heart. They create discussions, reflections and thinking that go beyond just finding information. Even more importantly, questions can provoke growth because they demand the reader to consider the implications of the material they are reading.

Challenge the Cultural Norms

With all this said, sometimes our illiterate culture needs to be challenged to step out of their lazy reading habits. This fall, our church is asking the entire congregation (middle school and up) to read the New Testament in eight weeks. This is an aggressive plan that will take an average reader 30 minutes a day for five days a week. The aforementioned statistics indicate that this could be a disastrous venture. People could resist, get discouraged or even quit. However, the only way to build a positive habit is to challenge barriers and to exercise new routines. Sometimes I think we ask too little of people because our culture tells us something contrary. Pick your battles, then push the norms.

 

Phil Niekerk is Small Group Pastor at Ada Bible Church

Success in God’s Eyes

Eddie, PLEASE, PLEASE, don't take up journalism as a career!

Then he prayed, “Lord, you are the God of my master Abraham. Give me success today. Be kind to my master Abraham.  Genesis 24:12 New International Reader’s Version (NIRV)

My sophomore year of high school, I applied to become a reporter for our school newspaper. The English teacher serving as the paper’s advisor complained that I couldn’t spell, but she liked the way I strung words together, so I won a spot on staff. My senior year, another English teacher discouraged me from applying to college. Said I wasn’t college material. Same problem, different year. But oh did I have dreams.

Both English teachers were right. NC State looked at my GPS and SAT scores and rejected my application. A few days later I made an appointment with the admissions office. The day of my interview I wore a pair of red and white polyester pants Mom had made for me, a white shirt, and red tie. To the admissions officer I probably looked like a clown, but dreamers see past their faults and reach beyond their potential.

The admissions officer reluctantly admitted me into their Industrial Arts program. I thought that was pretty cool since, to me, Industrial Arts meant I’d be painting buildings. I flunked English 101 twice before passing with a D. Same problems, different school. But oh did I have dreams.

I graduated from State four years later with a degree in English/Journalism and a cumulative GPA of 2.0. I was what I’d always been: average. But oh did I have dreams.

Last month I reached my dream. Zonderkidz, a division of HarperCollins, published the first in a three-book series for boys. I’m not going to mention the name of the book or its series. Doesn’t matter. My point is, I succeeded in becoming a published novelist with a major book publisher.

In our verse today we find Abraham’s servant praying to God for success. What strikes me about this passage is the boldness and humility of Eliezer. First, Eliezer is not named in the story. We have to go all the way back to Genesis 15:2 to learn his name. There, Eliezer is on the verge of inheriting all Abraham owns. By chapter twenty-four Eliezer is a minor player in Abraham’s “success.” Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – not Abraham, Eliezer, and… By chapter twenty-four Eliezer has learned to be content with God’s plans and bold in asking for God’s favor. Oh that more of us were like Eliezer, and that we would be bold enough to ask God for success and humble enough to work in the shadows on behalf of others.

Pray that God will give you success. Pray also for the ability to recognize success and the strength to let it go so God can give you new work in His Kingdom.

Guest Blog

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