Walking The Narrow Road Marketing and Spiritual Instruction for Christians in Business By Josh Kilen Published By JoshKilen at Smashwords Copyright 2011 Josh Kilen All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from the author Smashwords Edition, License Notes This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author Table of Contents The Lonely Life of a Christian in Business Business and Marketing The Church and Christianity Writing, Publishing, and Extra Thoughts Conclusion The Lonely Life of a Christian in Business Life’s not easy being a Christian, holding on to those ideals, and still running a profitable business In fact, as Christians we are held to higher standards and hamstrung in ways that our secular counterparts would never understand Where they can cheat a little, the Spirit inside of us will accept only honesty Where they can bend the rules, we must walk the straight and narrow Where they can feel justified in closing a lop-sided deal, we must love our neighbors as ourselves We’re handicapped in getting ahead Or are we? Business is changing The old ways of tricking and making people feel a certain way through psychological manipulation are over If you watch carefully, the tides are turning, as people become more informed, more savvy, and fed-up with with businesses broken and lame promises The future belongs to those people who can form relationships, exceed customer expectations, connect, and tell relevant stories In short, the future belongs to the Christian Business Owner We have a model for all those things, the man we claim to follow, Jesus himself He valued and maintained quality relationships above everything (with his relationship to His Father being the most important), He consistently exceeded his followers expectations on things that mattered, and He communicated mainly in story through parables As Christians, or literally followers of Christ, we are called to emulate these traits, to walk in his steps as Peter says in his second epistle If you do, then as a Christian Businessperson you are in prime shape to outlast your secular competition and grow your business for the Kingdom Because our faith and our commercial lives cannot be separate, we can’t have a serious discussion about business without also addressing our relationship with God and His people The spiritual life connects deeply to the rest of our actions, and we need to feed that part of us in addition to learning new ways of doing business This is not your typical business book Not only is it directed at Christians in Business (a rarity due to prejudices in the church) but it’s also structured as devotionals rather than as chapters It’s my firm belief that you will be better served by reading one section every week than by reading the whole thing at one sitting So read one entry, put it down, then meditate on it for a while Read, reflect, re-read, then put it into action If you are looking for quick answers or easy solutions, Jesus never promised that and neither I But if you dedicate yourself to change then I guarantee you will succeed You’ve already taken the first step by purchasing this book, I believe you can make it the rest of the way Part One: Business and Marketing Introduction to a New Way of Thinking About Your Business There’s something coming on the horizon, a revolution A battle between those who business for the transaction and those who business for relationships Only one side can win Business as it has been conducted relies on four pillars: Thinking about people as numbers and transactions Giving customers and employees the absolute minimum required, finding their expectations and delivering just enough to not disappoint Talking about your own interests, incessantly, in order to make people listen Since no one listens when you talk about yourself, you have to rely on psychological tricks and manipulations tactics in order to make people hear you Regardless of the industry or the business, I see these ideas being the basis for almost every business decision made As hurtful as it is, it has worked for over a hundred years Your conscience knows there’s a different way Most of us know what it is but we don’t have the words for it We don’t want to treat people in-humanly, but we can’t think of what else to Do you think your customers are immune to the way you run your business? Do you think that they want to be treated like transactions? Do you think that they care? All signs point to “yes” and as the field for choice opens up even more (mostly because of the internet), your customers will make the best choice they can They will choose relationships How we save ourselves? You cannot just get by anymore, you can't just treat your customers as means to an end Instead you have to think of your customers as an end Cultivate quality relationships with them In order for your business to survive, you will have to give your customers more than they expected, every time And, if you want to just tell them what you think is important, only talking about your interests and values, you'll turn them off and won't be as effective as connecting and bonding through shared values Finally, persuasion and psychological tricks won't make a significant difference in the future Instead, you will have to tell stories and more importantly, stories that make the customers want to share in the story that you are telling But it all begins with thinking of and treating people like people, and not numbers The following devotional style articles will point you in the direction of a new way to think about business and customer relationships More About Relationships and Transactions You hate marketing and I want to tell you that’s okay You don’t trust business anymore, and I think that’s great You have this pain in your gut when you make a deal and it bothers you when you sell a contract That pain is wonderful Those feelings are signs that you're still alive, that you're human and breathing That you want to live The acts of marketing, business, and signing contracts aren’t inherently bad or evil In fact they are some of the most beautiful and complicated human relationships we engage in The problems come when we think about relationships as transactions Please be honest with yourself Anyone in business who has sold anything has a moment where they hated themselves At least once And the reason you hated yourself? Because you focused on the transaction instead of the relationship It grates against our souls and if we give in to the temptation once, the next comes so much more easily People in general not trust businesses The lack of trust isn’t caused by MCI or Enron or Lehman Brothers, people don’t trust because businesses don’t treat them like people They feel like transactions made to serve the corporate interests Now, the corporations don’t see it that way, but it doesn’t mean that it isn’t there We live in a world where the transaction trumps the relationship, only because most businesses are not designed to cultivate relationships, only to streamline transactions We make sure that the transaction costs less and less, keeping the price the same This practice, while monetarily beneficial to the corporation, has the added problem of devaluing the relationship with the client over time And the relationship is all the client cares about And relationships are becoming everything Can’t you feel deep down that business needs to change? Maybe you’ve written about it, or spoke with a friend, or just felt it in your gut You have to see things are changing This is how Much as been made of relationships in business during the past 20 years But I think that they all miss three vital points: The first is that this is a battle, a war between ideologies The fight is between those who want to blank out, cut costs, treat people like numbers, and “just run their business” and those who understand that with so many choices in the marketplace, people are looking for companies that are willing to give them a relationship Clients recognize that a relationship is an asset, that it’s difficult to provide They will reward you for that This is a war, between businesses that simply want to sell stuff and those that value and cultivate relationships The second vital point that this movement for relationships has not latched on to in any meaningful way, is that the human need for relationships is natural and rational It makes a lot of sense But rarely we delve into the psychology that underlies our basic motivations and ideals I think it’s knowable, you can understand it, and it will make the bigger picture so much clearer And clarity makes the details shine I think that this has been generally ignored in the past because it’s pretty difficult to talk about, and not at all easy to illustrate A third vital point missed, mostly because the underlying causes were unknown or ignored, is the impact of storytelling on communication We tell stories, to ourselves as expectations of things to come or past, and to others in order to convey information It’s lovely that storytelling is emerging as a qualified topic of conversation, but I rarely see any information that goes beyond reciting some information you can find with a quick Google search Typically it involves some variation of the three act structure, maybe some hero’s journey mixed in, but there’s a much deeper level that will allow you to communicate more effectively more often Ultimately, if you decide to operate relationally, there will be serious consequences for you personally and your business You will have more clients, you will make more money, you will create an amazing reputation But I wonder if those will matter to you anymore? Because when you start cultivating relationships beyond creating transactions, you begin to care more about relationships That may have unintended consequences Questions Are you ready for this revolution? Will you be able to make the change? How will your business look if you sincerely and completely focused on cultivating relationships with your customers and clients? Why Tricking People Won’t Work for Your Business I think we can all agree that businesses should not try to sell things that people not really want Unfortunately that’s how people traditionally use marketing; to identify what people will be most susceptible to buying and then how they can be persuaded to buy it This marketing model is not only outdated, it’s dangerous Marketing Is Not Really Connecting The danger comes from trying to sell at the expense of the person Isn’t that why people don’t trust marketing? The customer automatically assumes that the business doesn’t have their best interests at heart I envision a system that affords businesses the opportunity to connect with their clients in such a way that they tell the business their story Then it’s up to the business to help them live the story that they really want to live marketing = persuading people to buy things they don’t need connecting = helping people’s current lives be amazing Two Quick Examples Proctor and Gamble makes Tide Their gargantuan marketing machine will sell you and market to you using thousands of focus groups to refine a message designed to get you to buy Tide Why? Because they want to make your life better? Not really They simply want to sell more Tide The customers are no longer dealt with as people, they are a line item, a number The customer becomes a way to perpetuate the business Seventh Generation Laundry Detergent on the other hand takes a different approach They are living a better story and they strive to help others live that story too The business connects with their customers through that story If you are an extremely eco-conscious individual, you will probably find the Seventh Generation narrative more appealing than P&G’s Seventh Generation has found your story and invites you to live an even better version of that (your) story Does Marketing Have A Future? Marketing is being replaced by connecting with people to share mutual stories Not pushing agendas on others, not coercing them to take certain actions, not tricking them to act against their best interests That’s a dying model Marketing as it’s been practiced has no place in the future of business Questions In our increasingly connected society, which you think stands a better chance of success: Connecting to share in stories or tricking people to make purchases? Which side you fall on? The Hidden Secrets of Client Emotions Talking about the origin of emotions is not unlike talking about where babies come from We understand the process intellectually, but when we try to wrap our minds around that first spark of creation everything becomes a little hazy Do you really know how the spark of life brings a new being into existence? In the same vein, you really understand why you get emotional? Where Emotions Come From The key is in how people see the world We see the world through our expectations We expect certain things to happen and whether reality delivers or not determines what emotions we feel Too simplistic? I’ll give you some examples: Situation 1: The Lost Lover If someone you love calls and says he’ll be home by 5:30pm, how you feel when he still hasn’t shown up at 6:30 and isn’t picking up his phone? What about at 10:30pm? Are you more upset? The farther reality gets from your expectations, the more emotions you feel Situation 2: The Disappointment Store You walk into an upscale store, expecting a certain level of service As you walk through the aisles, sales clerks pretend to be busy, others actively walk away from you No one comes to help you Do you feel disappointed? Or angry even? Now imagine you actually are able to corner a salesclerk to ask question, but instead of treating you as important, she holds up her hand, tells you to wait, and walks away Are you mad now? Why? It’s because you had certain expectations and the business didn’t deliver What if the same situation happens in a dollar store? Are you just as mad? Were your expectations different for the cheaper store? Are you still thinking about the hand in your face? How does that make you feel? Why? Situation 3: The “Nice” Date Now, imagine that you are on a date You go to dinner, a movie, and have a nice time How you feel? Would you call it happy? Or would you call it satisfied and maybe content? When we get exactly what we expected to get, we are content Situation 4: The Unbelievably Great Experience What about happiness? Happiness and joy are when reality exceeds our expectations You feel this most often when you are surprised with more than you originally expected A husband comes home with a surprise gift, your kid suddenly decides to clean the bathroom (and does an excellent job!), the IRS gives you a bigger tax refund than you thought they would What about the same business from the second example, with a twist You walk into the upscale store, expecting great service, and looking to buy a nice scarf You’re immediately greeted by a smiling salesclerk She asks if you have been to the store before and you tell her yes, that you are just browsing She helpfully points over to a new line of clothes that she thinks you will like (you can tell that she did a quick evaluation of your current style and made a well educated guess) To your surprise, you actually like the outfits they have laid out and try a few on The salesclerk at the dressing room is also trained as a fashion consultant and makes a few careful recommendations about different sizes and accessories, all of which improve your look measurably You choose two outfits that look fantastic, and the sales/fashion consultant points you to where the scarves are You find one that you like and head up front, where you find the first salesclerk You ask her where to check out and she says that she can help you over at an obscure kiosk that you would have never expected to be a checkout counter As the clerk is scanning your outfits, and complimenting your taste, you tell her that you really just came in for the scarf She looks at you with a smile and tells you the scarf would look great with the second outfit, and as a thank you for coming in, the scarf is included at no charge How you feel as you leave? Will you go back to that store? Did they succeed in making you happy? At the very least more than content? Emotions Unleashed As you can see from the examples, emotions stem from the interaction of reality against our expectations What steps you can take to be happier is the subject of another post entirely This is especially important for business to understand this Honestly, your future depends on understanding this Questions What you think? Is this definition right? How you think you can use it in your business? What about your personal life? The Power of a Villain for Your Business You’re telling a story with your business And the customer either finds your story good enough to join or rejects it In any good story, the hero struggles against the antagonist which creates deep emotion Customers won’t become emotional about (i.e remember) your story unless they can see themselves as the hero in an epic struggle or a battle with an antagonist or obstacle So what you do? You join your customer in the fight against the common enemy and aid them in their fight, fighting along side of them if possible Keep this in mind; in the end, the villain is almost always disappointment Help them avoid that, achieve happiness in the process, and they will love you for it Questions What are you fighting against? What mutual villain you and your customers have in common? How Much Do You Trust Your Neighbor? I’ve noticed that we Americans seem to take for granted that everyone is trying to kill us Perhaps this is nothing new, but it shows in our conversations, or lack thereof, with our neighbors How much people, especially those living in the city, know their neighbors? Not especially well I think Maybe it’s because we don’t need to, being loosed from the constrains of proximity thanks to the internet But I think it’s more than that It comes down to the fact that we simply don’t trust people We look at strangers as potential thieves and murders and not as potential new friends As if their sole purpose in life is get chummy with us in order to take our $35 DVD player or study our habits so that they can better off us when we’re sleeping Now I know that there are other reasons for not making friends with neighbors; renters don’t want to make friends they might have to lose if they move, perhaps you have a full social calendar (Who needs more friends, Facebook has given me plenty!), or you might be utterly disagreeable to everyone you meet, in which case none of this really applies to you But for those who are generally well liked, what’s your excuse for not getting to know all your neighbors? Why hide yourself away in a perpetual fog of fear and uncertainty? Are your neighbors really going to kill you? (If your answer is “Yes!” to the last question, my advice is to move I’m fairly certain there exists a community close by that has diminished degree of murderous intent) If your excuse for not knowing your neighbors starts with “But…” or “Well…”, I would say throw the excuses in the trash And while you’re outside, get to know your neighbors You never know, you might get a good DVD player out of it Questions When’s the last time you had a good conversation with your neighbors? Do you know what’s happening in your neighbor’s life? A Reminder to Be Better Is life really all about going to school…then getting a job…then coming back home and watching TV? Aristotle once said something interesting, “We are what we repeatedly do.” So ask yourself; Is this the person I truly want to be? You are telling a story with your life, right now, this very moment and for the rest of the day, month, year, life I think today is a great day to decide whether you want your story to suck, or whether you want it to be awesome It’s really that simple I hope that you make the right choice Questions Look at your life and decide right now if this is the person you want to be If not, you need to change today Parenting Advice for Terrified Parents of Soon to be Teenagers I told my son that he would go crazy I let him know that that as he begins his ascent into teenagerhood, his brain will actually rewire itself I told him that teenagers turning crazy is a biological fact I also told him that this particular insanity would reveal itself through his emotions, anger, frustration, sometimes random needs to cry or fight It’s all very natural Most importantly, I asked that when he feels the Craziness attacking his brain, and he gets really upset and doesn’t want to trust his parents, that he should remember that I said these things and predicted they would happen I don’t think he believed me at first But this all changed when, one day, I heard some crashing in his room, and my son emerged crying, an unholy mess behind him through the door He looked up at me, “I think I have the Crazies…” he confessed to me He came over, I gave him a great big Dad hug and the tears subsided He was OK Maybe I am blessed with an extraordinary kid (and what parent doesn’t believe that deep down?) but I think there might be some lessons here Lesson One: Be Honest, Always, Brutally Honest As a parent I think that it is crucial to be honest like this I try to never pull the punches with Sean and so far he seems to be reaping the benefits of this practice I try to let him know what will happen and my best not to sugar coat anything Lesson Two: Tell Them That Your Arms Are Always Open Along withe honesty I let him know that my wife and I will always be around to love him through mistakes, changes, accidents, anything that might come up So far he’s accepted that Lesson Three: Tell Them All the Bad Things You Did Most importantly, I am sharing my own experience with him Now he knows, since I essentially predicted his future, that I really understand what he’s going through If your kid really believes that you have some idea about him or what he’s going through, there will be far less moodiness and anger So share with your son and daughter, tell them the stories that they need to hear about how you rebelled or acted out Be honest with them about the mistakes that you have made, share those experiences, and let them know that you are aware they might make similar mistakes This all seems impossible to many folks, but I’m convinced that it’s helped my son immeasurably What if the world wasn’t what you thought it was? Back in College a Professor mentioned an excellent book called Flatland by a mathematician named Edwin Abbott Abbott If you have the time (and it doesn’t take much, it’s a rather short book) or the inclination, I would highly recommend finding a copy (here’s a free Kindle version) It was written in 1880 but it’s message has particular relevance to modern Christians like you and me The story is about a square who lives in a two dimensional land The shapes in this 2D universe have no concept of more dimensions, they are more than happy to live their lives as squares, circles, triangles, and other various shapes That is until one day the square meets a sphere Then everything gets interesting The square learns of a whole universe, one filled with cubes and pyramids and bigger spheres, it seems amazing Then the square is introduced to the the line, the one dimensional object that cannot comprehend that there is life in two dimensions The original sphere, who served as the 2D square’s mentor throughout this process, is pleased with the square’s education Until the square asks about other dimensions Using a very logical mental process, the Square thinks t makes sense that if a one dimensional being couldn’t imagine a 2D being, and until recently he as a 2D could never have imagined a 3D universe, then the sphere might be part of a 4D universe and that universe might be part of an even larger universe The possibilities are endless The sphere becomes angry and asserts that 3D is it, there is nothing beyond three dimensions Eventually the square has to go back to 2D world and he becomes an evangelist or something, but that’s not the part of the story that sticks with me I like the idea of a complex world, where things are more than they seem What if the world was more complex than we could imagine? And God, whoever he is, must be so unimaginably complex that we would be remiss in even trying to understand beyond our current dimensions? What if God was infinite in His dimensions and our lives are simply the process, the journey, the story of being moved through those dimensions so that we can better know him? Lately I have been struggling with some very difficult theological concerns, but thoughts like this bring me peace of mind They make me happy I have never been an advocate of blind faith, believing something just because it’s written somewhere or because your gut tells you to Instead I have always assumed that my faith was built on belief, grounded in reasonable assertions But what if those assertions are wrong? Then you have the choice to believe anyway or re-question your assertions I’m choosing to both but I am comforted through the process with the thought that life is both much more complex, and probably more simple than I believe it to be In other words, no matter what questions I have, there is probably a logical answer, a good answer I just might have to visit another dimension to get it Questions Does this help or hurt your ideas about God? How to Write Since the book publishing industry has changed so dramatically recently, and the ability to reach vast audiences is at any author’s disposal, it just makes sense that anyone with a story to tell should write I don’t have a comprehensive guide for this, all I have to offer are a few tips that have worked for me Just Write Write like it’s the only thing you want to Write because you have to and don’t edit yourself It doesn’t matter if everything that comes out is terrible because you can always edit later What’s important is that you write and keep writing Let the words flow freely and don’t censor yourself Don’t go back and correct your typos, if you see a grammar mistake, leave it alone Fix it later Speak in your voice and let that be the most you that you can put into yourself Embrace the small mistakes that sometimes can lead to the greatest insights If you stop, pick it up again If you miss a day, start again the next day What ever you do, keep going Whatever you have done in the past is merely a prologue, it doesn’t write the rest of your story You do, you decide, you act, you make things happen You either write or watch TV, you either write or watch a movie, you either write or you sleep Which will it be If you have a story to tell then the more you choose writing, the happier you will be A website that helped me get into the practice was a site a called 750 Words It’s based on the thought that if you write about pages everyday, that process will unlock your creativity for the day For me, it made me write every day and I will always be grateful to the owner of the site for that Check it out here I’m sure that I have more, but this will get you started What if…? What if I could live my life how I always dreamed of, what would that look like? What if I actually learned to like people? AND all their issues and problems? AND stopped dealing with them as problems themselves? Stopped seeing them as a burden or a curious idea? Would I be able to help them more? What if I expected less from life than I received, and therefore was happy all the time? What if I stopped reading the Bible to solve my problems, and started reading because of the miraculous story it tells? Less for what it can for me to benefit my life, and more for what it can teach me about God…? What if I truly saw my life as a story, or a movie, and embraced every moment as a scene, where each line was dialogue, and crucial to moving the story forward? What if I really saw myself as important? What if by being important I could help others and make them feel important? I don’t know what would change but I think it would be profound A better story to say the least Will cheap ebooks destroy the book industry? Go on Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble and you see thousands of books priced at $.99, $1.99, and $2.99 Many people are worried, saying this doesn’t bode well for the industry and readers I couldn’t disagree more… The industry as a whole will be fine, people are simply purchasing more books electronically This is just the newest trend, and since digital downloads don’t have any of the costs associated with print, they are much cheaper Or should be That’s where most publishers get into trouble While the industry may be OK, Traditional Publishers may be in some trouble These days it also makes more fiscal sense for most authors to sell direct to readers through an electronic medium An example, Amazon splits the revenue 35/65 on $.99 book purchases, and 70/30 on purchases $2.99 and above So if you retained your digital rights to your next book, you could price it at $2.99 and receive a $2.09 royalty per sale instead of the standard $1.34 royalty (or 17%) from a traditional corporate publisher And how many more books will you sell at $2.99 than at $8.99? There’s now potential for authors to make millions on their own In fact, New York Times Bestseller Author, Barry Eisler, recently turned down a $500,000 advance from St Martin’s Press on his next book, and decided to instead sell the novel direct to readers on the internet He cited that the royalties from many, many years of online sales would far eclipse the advance and small royalties from the publisher But many say $.99 is just too cheap, it’s devaluing books But many “direct to reader” authors are using the $.99 price point to bring in new readers, essentially making their books an impulse purchase Then, when the readers are good and hooked, upping the price back to $2.99 or higher J.A Konrath talked about this in his blog He adjusted the price of a novel, The List (not affiliate), to $.99 and it shot up to #15 on the Amazon Bestseller list During the 15 days his novel was at $.99 he made $5647 and sold 1500 copies a day average Then he raised the price to $2.99 and made $4092 in 50 hours.Obviously not every author is going to make $9700 and sell 20,000+ books in 17 days, but many are selling thousands every month, many at $.99, and they are making a living If authors well, then readers will well In the future I see more good authors receiving more of the fruits of their labors, which makes them want to write more, so that readers get more of what they want at a cheaper price How is everyone getting more of what they want a bad thing? All of this change bodes well for the authors and the readers, just not the traditional corporate publishing industry Is publishing an e-book just like making a crappy B-Movie? One of the groups on LinkedIn asked an interesting question: Is E-Book only publishing – Literary equivalent of ‘Straight to video’ films? To answer that question No For an increasing number of people the stigma of “e-books” is fading and being replaced with “That book on my Kindle” or “That book on my Nook” (say that last one out loud, it’s fun) Can we prove the trend? http://money.cnn.com/2011/01/27/technology/amazon_earnings/index.htm http://www.pcworld.com/article/218039/amazon_kindle_book_sales_soar.html Now, there are many more people who prefer to hold a book over downloading a book on their Kindle, Nook, or iPad But which is showing an increase; downloads or paperbacks sold? The links above only show Amazon, but as the largest book seller in the world I think we should consider this a valid trend This has all happened before Let’s look to other industries that have been absolutely rocked by the onslaught of digital technology How many video stores you see anymore? Is that a good business to be in? How about record stores? Would you invest in a friend opening a store that sells CD’s? It looks like books and bookstores will suffer the same fate, soon relegated to specialty and vintage sales My verdict? E-Book publishing used to be like the old “straight to video” movies, but it is increasingly becoming a preferred method for the readership Does Self-Publishing Pay? Let’s consider a completely fictional Amazon story, but one that has a ring of truthiness Mrs Average Kindle User just got a Kindle for Christmas and absolutely loves it At first she downloads a few authors that she knows from print, but she has to pay $9.99 or more for each title She loves their books, and downloading book is much cheaper than hardcover, so she’s happy with what she’s getting But after a month or two, she starts to look at Amazon’s book recommendations or the eBestsellers lists and notices other authors that she’s never seen before She has no idea whether these are “real” authors or not, but if their books are in the top 10 of all bestsellers then they must be worth trying right? Plus they only charge $.99, which makes her suspicious, but that also makes purchasing less risky She decides to go ahead and buy it She reads the book, finishes in two days actually It was a quick read And not too bad, at the very least it was worth a buck When in need of a quick read down the road, can you guess which novel she’ll buy? Will she buy James Patterson for $12.99 OR will she go for John Locke or Jack Kilborn or Victorine Leiske at $.99 each? Now her brain must some interesting math She must decided, usually sub-consciously, whether reading Patterson gives her 13 times more enjoyment than the other books Unless an Expensive Book is HIGHLY recommended by a friend, I predict Mrs Average Kindle User will begin to choose the less expensive authors more often I think that a majority of readers will pay more attention to the price of the work as opposed to whether or not it has a publisher And instead of being a deterrent, signaling a poor-quality work, the $.99 – $2.99 prices will draw people in at an ever quickening pace If the quality matches the price then why pay more? So, most people don’t have a bias toward self-published books in an electronic format This is why currently, James Patterson is #12 on the Amazon eBestseller list and John Locke is #1, and #4, and #9 And all seven of his books are in the top 100 Locke is self-published but he’s sold 350,000 copies in the last months, and his popularity is growing And I’ll let you in on a secret… his writing is not great But people BUY what is popular That may change someday but for now I think self-publishing in the electronic format is the way to go Are You Ready for a Publishing Revolution? I can’t stop preaching about the new revolutions happening in the book publishing world Traditional publishers are falling by the wayside, slowly but surely, and independent authors are taking their place Don’t get me wrong, the major publishing houses are still the dominant players and if you want your book in the brick and mortar stores your best bet is still to shop your script around and hope for the best But the future is certainly in the hands of those who don’t follow conventional wisdom right now Can you believe that digital downloads are more popular than either hardbacks or paperbacks? This summer, ebook sales outpaced hard covers on Amazon The ratio is now to in favor of digital downloads And as of February the digital books have overtaken paperbacks Digital downloads now sell more copies than either paperbacks or hard covers, and selling more than both categories combined is right around the corner The book world is changing, and it’s a beautiful thing Why this dramatic change is happening The drivers for this epic change are price and availability Since the books are offered digitally, available for download to Kindle or similar device, the price can be much lower Correction, the price for independent authors can be much lower Traditional publishers must cover nondigital costs within the digital pricing structure, and therefore they must raise the price considerably This offers the brand new Kindle owner an interesting choice A new way of pricing books Kindle owners download the new James Patterson, of course, and maybe the new Grisham paying $9.99 each The question is does that reader want to keep paying $7-10 per digital book? Maybe, if he or she is fanatical about bestselling authors The more likely scenario is that the Kindle owner will look at the best seller lists and see 20 or 30 books priced at just $.99 What?!? A whole book for only $.99? So they will download a sample of the cheap book, read it, and at that moment their brains have to decide if James Patterson’s writing is 10x’s better than the book they just previewed Lately, and increasingly, people have decided that the expensive books are not as worth it If you have the chance to buy an okay to pretty good book for $.99 you are much less likely to pay $9.99 for a good book You might buy one down the road, but not as often as you buy the less expensive novels and books Infinite space and the spread of digital readers Availability plays a role as well, in two parts One is the shear amount of product available to purchase Since writers and authors now can go direct to the consumer, many of them are publishing them Granted, this leads to some very questionable writing hitting the digital shelves But I am confident that companies like Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and the like will set up the systems so that the cream rises to the top In fact, their recommendation systems, based on customer purchasing behavior, has already catapulted several independent authors into the Kindle stratosphere The second part of availability is the Kindle itself and it’s rapid growth Quality hand held book readers are vital to this change, and widespread adoption of eReaders will be the driving force behind the demise of book store as we know them They will join the ranks of the video rental store, the record store, and the pager store Relegated to the specialty and sometimes novelty collector, popular book consumption will see the wide spread adoption and increased consumption Just not in physical form How Authors make money? Financially, the benefits are amazing Where as an author may receive 14-17% on their digital downloads when going through traditional publishers, Amazon offers royalties of 35-70% Even when you take into consideration any advances given (which I hear are shrinking every year for new authors), the amount of money you can make during the life of the book far outweighs any advance And make no mistake, it is the life of the book That’s the beauty of the digital landscape There are no overstocks of product, no dusty bookshelves, only bit and bytes when you want them Almost more importantly this gives authors the means to control their products Each author now determines the future of his or her creation, either how successful or unsuccessful it becomes This has not always been the case When traditional publishers buy your book, they purchase it’s soul, and they can rip it’s heart out if they choose to Now an author can work on a novel till it’s done to their satisfaction, create a cover they think is best, there only a one step approval process The future is so bright for authors Any serious author looking to make a living with their writing now has the opportunity The culture is shifting and the economics make sense, the only thing that doesn’t make sense is not writing and publishing for all to see For a great blog about the shift taking place in the publishing world this is your best resource It links to an article about John Locke, an author currently (March 2011) in the#1 and #4 slots on the Amazon Bestsellers lists He sold 350,000 books this year and he only began publishing last spring Conclusion I'll be brief Your business world is changing and you must change with it There is no other choice if you want to survive You have to cultivate relationships, exceed customer expectations, connect with people, and tell good stories Don't be left behind Christianity is the only good answer to this challenge Only a follower of Christ is equipped to properly deal with the shift from Transactional Thinking to Relational Narrative Just meditate on the true values and principles of our faith Copyright Information Walking The Narrow Road Weekly Inspiration For Christians In Business Published By Josh Kilen Copyright © 2011 by Josh Kilen All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from the author Other Works By Josh Kilen The Tell Me A Story bedtime stories: The Tales of Big and Little: Doom of the Three Stones The Superhero Chronicles: Birth of Moonlight The Lost Princess: In the Beginning Or get all stories in one book! ... about reinvesting in the business? YES, reinvest in the business but don’t reinvest simply to expand the business so that the business can grow and become larger for the sole purpose of becoming... Part One: Business and Marketing Introduction to a New Way of Thinking About Your Business There’s something coming on the horizon, a revolution A battle between those who business for the transaction... the economy and business changing, and how this all fits together Gary is exactly right, this is where business and marketing are heading We are becoming more connected and seeing the reversing