Ethix-Bytes

We worship the hind legs off of Jesus, but we never do what he says to do.  –Clarence Jordan

About Marketing

From Donna Russell, marketing director

The primary reason we publish books at Parson’s Porch & Company is to subsidize our 501 c (3).  We have helped hundreds of people since 2004 by paying monthly expense for them like utilities, rent and other routine expense any family would have.

The business model for the publishing company is that we don’t charge our authors to publish their books.  We operate in a deficit until we sells 250 copies of each book – approximately the profits from one year of sales.  Since our primary purpose is to help fund the charity, the sooner we reach the 250 benchmark, the sooner we can support the poor through Parson’s Porch and the other justice and literacy projects we support.

We prefer that you as an author buy the first 100 of your own books from us, and resale them.  You investment will bring you a 60% return on your money if you sell them at the suggested retail price!!

A Challenge

I want to challenge each of you to set a goal of selling 250 books per year.  Not only will your royalties increase, the profits of the company which go to support the poor will increase. Here is a list of things we provide to you for marketing.

1. Each book is distributed by Ingram, the nation’s largest book distributor.
2. Each is available on www.amazon.com, and websites of book stores like Barnes and Noble.
3. Each book is available to order around the world through any bookstore.

More Free Help

In addition to the availability of your book, there are several free sites that each author should us to promote their books.

Websites, WordPress and Google provide platforms for free to build websites.  Each author should have their own site to promote their book(s).

Blogging, WordPress is excellent.  Google also provides blogging services.  Blogs should be sent two or three times a week to promote your website where your books would be available for purchase.

Facebook.  Facebook is phenomenal in its scope.  By sharing your blog, you will send it to potentially thousands, maybe millions of potential buyers.  Post and friend frequently.  Be active in as many large groups who are interest in your topic and genre. Use the “like” button profusely.

LinkedIn.  LinkedIn is a site for professional connections.  There is opportunity to promote yourself and your book.

Finally, Twitter. Where blogs are essays, and Facebook posts are paragraph, Tweets are sentences.  The more people you follow, the more will follow you.

We Can Help You

All of the above marketing tools are free.  Most can use them without additional help.  If you would like a professional like me to help, we will charge a nominal.  We charge a setup fee of $450 to design and provide necessary information for each service to be effective, domain names.  A monthly fee of $50 allows us to manage and update your tools on a regular basis.

We can also send out email blast for you.  All you need to do is to send us a .CSV file of your email contacts and we can design a beautiful email to send to you contact on your behalf.  There is a fee of $45.00 per email blast.

Other Services Which Can Help You

We have agreement with two agencies who are experts in mass marketing:  EMSI and O2Media. Information about their services and fees are attached and are also accessible on our website.

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Before Christmas, I went to the grocery store to pick up a few things.  I wheeled into a parking place which was right in front of the buggies.  I noticed a woman standing in front of the parking place and between the buggies.  When I wheeled in, she was startled.  I stepped out of the car and said, “I bet you thought I was going to hit you!”  We both laughed, and I went into the store.

When I returned to my car, she was still standing in front of the buggies, except now she was standing in front of the car next to mine.  I said, “See there.  You did think I was going to hit you!”  Again, laughter.

The grocery store is in the poor section of Cleveland.  Most of the poor in Cleveland shop there because the prices are the cheapest in town.  I patron it because of its cheap prices and because it helps the poor stretch their dollars, most of which is SNAP, the new name for the food stamp program in Tennessee.  In that context, I am one of the wealthiest people who shop there.  99% of the people who are customers are poor.

The woman I met that day was Nicki.  When I was leaving, I asked her if she needed anything.  I knew the answer before I asked.  She said, “She needed some food.”  It was the end of the month and her husband’s disability check had been stretched as far as it could be, and she had already used the food she had purchased with her SNAP benefit.  I gave her $60.  She was delighted.

The next week her husband, Tom, called me to thank me for the money.  He asked me if there was any way I could helped them with Christmas.  He wanted to have presents for his son under the tree.  We budget $100 for each of our children, so I gave him $100 for his child.  Again – Delight.

Yesterday, Nicki called me and said they needed gasoline and groceries.  $60.00.  Problem: I only had $3.63 in the account, so it put the account in arrears, but hopefully temporarily.  It was Monday, 8:30 am.

The mail ran yesterday afternoon: 4 checks totally $304.00

$247.63.

David

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The World According to Sadie

Sadie is developing a backwards sense of values.

Yesterday her basketball team lost their second game in a double elimination tournament.  The season is finally over!  After the game, I asked Sadie if she was glad that the season was over.  She said, “Yes, but I wish we had won!”

I hope I can live like that statement indicates: completely content with way things are, but accepting life if it were different.  Win or lose, it’s OK.  I can think of two stories which illustrate this idea.

Oprah (Yes, I watched Oprah) asked a holocaust survivor what she appreciated most.  She answered, “A boring evening at home.”

Whoopi Goldberg said about her life, “I wouldn’t change a thing about my life.  Even the bad things have brought me to a good place.”

____________

We begin the week in the red -56.37.  It is going to be interesting how our needs are met today!

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We are in a Tight Spot!!

The Tullocks are in a tight spot!!

Sadie’s basketball team, the Stuart Bullbogs Third Grade team, has won 2 and lost 16 games in the regular season.  Last night, they lost their first game in the double-elimination tournament.  They are playing today in the loser’s bracket.  Even with an overall record of 2 wins and 17 loses, they could still win the tournament if they don’t lose again.  If they lose, the season is over.

Here’s the dilemma: Do we want her team to win – albeit unlikely, or do we want her team to lose.  Both alternatives have their benefits.  If they win the tournament, which would require several more games to accomplish and several more hours of sitting on those hard seats, they would be exuberate with triumph?  If they lose, there would be no more games and several more hours at home sitting in my recliner.  Both scenarios are extremely attractive to me, so how do I pray?

That dilemma summarizes where we live most of the time: Our choices are between good and good. There are times, however, when the choices are diametrically opposed with one being bad for us and the other good for us.  In those instances, the prayer is obvious: “Dear Lord, give me the good thing!  Not the bad thing!”  What about the times when we do not know what to pray?

Jesus, in the Garden of Gethsemane, gives us a clear way to follow him.  With a choice between crucifixion, the bad choice for him or anyone for that matter, and living, the good choice for him or anyone, on the other hand,  he prayed, “Not my will, but Thine be done!”  We have another choice of prayer, according to Jesus.  It is really a two step prayer: simple and profound.

First, be honest with God about what you want.  We all know what we want in most situations of life.  For instance,  “Dear Lord, I want my daughter’s team to lose today because I am sick and tired of basketball!!  It is taking me away from what I really want to do.  If they win today, I’ll be sick.  I do not want to haul her around anymore at anytime to another basketball game!!!   Don’t let Sadie’s team win today.   God do it!  Now!! Amen!!”

Whether our request is as simple as a second grader’s ball game or something on the other side of the spectrum that is complicated, the first step of the prayer is essential.  Be honest to God what your will is!  That is the easy part.

Second, let life do what life does, and let God do what God does with life!  Whatever the situation and consequences, God can redeem it.  God can use it.  God will make all things -every thing new.  That’s why Jesus said to God in the garden, “Not my will: Thy Will.”  In other words, even if life does its worst to us, we – all of creation – will be OK because God redeems it – God makes it new, brand spanking new.”

I really want the team to lose today!!

Whatever. . .  Either way will be made new.

____________

Update:  Sadie’s team won!!  She plays again today at 4:00 pm. We are still in a tight spot, but we couldn’t be more pleased.

Don’t Tell, But Asked!

One of my tenets is: “Don’t tell anyone that you are a Christian, but if they find out, and they will, don’t let them be surprised!”

I have known Joe SoandSo for almost two years.  He is one of the people Parson’s Porch has been able to help.  I have gleaned from our conversations that he has done most of the things in his life that I would consider debauched and decadent.  Yet, one of the vinettes of his life is throughly descriptive of his life values.

Joe’ neighbor, Ralph  died of cancer a few months ago.  For several month before his Ralph’s  death, Joe cooked for him, took him to the doctor, spent time with him, and visited him when he was hospitalized.  Joe conveyed to me about everyday that Ralph was driving him crazy – he was obnoxious, self-defeating, unappreciative and un-lovable, yet Joe continued to cook, carrying, visit and care for Ralph.

Joe was here for a birthday party, and I heard him commiserating with someone else about his predicament with Ralph.  When asked, “Well, why don’t you stop going over there if is so troublesome,”  Joe said, pointing at me, “Because he is making me a Christian!!”  When I heard that he was a Christian, I wasn’t surprised!

Priceless!!

$1.35

I get a thrill when I use the word damn!  It is one of the best four-letter words I know.  Let me use it in a sentence for you: “It’s one damn thing after another!”  That feels a lot better to say than, “It’s one bad thing after another!”  I prefer damn over bad.  I also prefer: “It’s one damn thing all the time!” because there is always a damn thing to deal with.

The corollary is also true.   However, I hardly ever use the corresponding word: bless.  It sounds too sissy to me.  It’s not a word John Wayne would say!  When I hear someone say, “Have a blessed day,”  I cringe because they didn’t mean it – like a puckered kiss. Bless is a good word.  It’s only short fall is that it is a five-letter word, and your mother doesn’t wash your mouth out with soap when you say it.

I must confessed, though, it’s been one blessed thing all the time around here.  Yesterday was a good example of what I mean.  On a typical day, my routine involves: getting up, showering, drinking coffee, taking my son to school, Morning Joe, emails, blogging, business, publishing, lunch, The Young and the Restless, publishing, napping/Bonanza, publishing, supper, CBS News Evening News, Hardball with Chris Matthews, television, bedtime, sleep.  That is the context of most of my days.  Sound boring?  It is.  Blessed Boredom?  Damned Boredom?  Five-letter day?  Four-letter day?

It depends on your perspective.  I do get a thrill when I say the word damn!  I am anchored and grateful when I experience the word bless-one thing at a time!

Have a Blessed Day!

Priceless

My Sick Cat

We have a sick cat.

Irony at its best

Today I read about a church who disassociated itself from their presbytery because Presbyterian USA will allow homosexuals to be ordained.  The church’s pastor stated that it was because of the session’ss dedication to biblical teaching.  The pastor is a woman.

The strict biblical understanding which was used to oppose women in ministry now has excluded another group.  Of all theologians, a woman theologian should know better.

I was just wondering

Does this work?  I have asked myself this question for over a year now.  The closest answer I can come up with is: Does what work?  What works, and how do you know it?

Does Parson’s Porch work?  Well, we have helped hundreds of people since 2004 with everything from praying for their families to buying gasoline for the travelers to paying utility bills, while establishing a pastoral relationship with them.  How does it work?

All of the donations from our contributors and all of our profits from publishing turns into bread and beans.  If you don’t believe me, try it.

Give a donation at www.parsonsporch.com or buy a book at www.parsonsporchbooks.com.  You’ll find out that it works!