Blatant Marketing

It is hard to believe that I took a marketing class in college or that I had a passing interest in going into advertising. There are so many things which I do not know about marketing. I suppose the hardest part is that by trying to market my books and my own writing, I am really marketing myself. And who wants to do that? But then who can afford to hire someone else to do it?

I know that I have told you that my latest book, “The Early Life of Jesus in 40 Days”, is now available through the publisher, Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble and “every place where books are sold” (which may not quite be true, but I would love it if people would try that). Or of course you can send me a message by whatever means works for you, and I can get you a signed copy, price negotiable.

It might help you if I told you more about the book. The cover blurb reads like this:

Jesus' life on this earth began in a humble stable. Thirty years later He began preaching the good news of salvation for lost sinners. Have you ever wondered where He was for those three decades in between?

Take a few minutes each day to learn about the infant Jesus and His parents Mary and Joseph. Find out what life was like for a simple Jewish family two thousand years ago. Travel the countryside of the Middle East during Biblical times. Witness Jesus becoming a young man.

By reading The Early Life of Jesus in 40 Days...

•          “Your faith will be strengthened as you learn more about the boy Jesus.”

•          “You will feel closer to God by knowing more about His Son.”

•          “You will understand what life was like for Jesus growing up.”

•          “You will know more about living during Bible times.”

But is that all there is to it? A friend of mine said that she read somewhere a fictional story about Jesus as a young boy. He was goofing around with a friend, the friend fell out of a tree and broke his arm. Jesus touched it and it was healed. His friend is like –whoa! And Jesus is like, don’t tell anybody!

I kept my book as close to fact as possible, throwing in just a little bit of speculation. But I so badly wanted to write a story like the one above. Or maybe make something up about Jesus out fishing with His brothers. Naturally they each want to catch the biggest fish, but they all know that Jesus is going to always pull in a fish bigger than anybody else’s.

Did His brothers and sisters get tired of Him always being perfect? Or did He always keep a low profile, even in the family? Did He always catch the smallest fish? Did He always come in last when running a race? Did He do His chores just good enough to pass inspection?

I’d like to think that Jesus was like any other boy growing up in His time. Ok, maybe, He never did get in trouble, He never disobeyed His parents or fought with His siblings. But wouldn’t you have liked to have known Him then?

 All I can offer you is my 40 days of thoughts in my latest book. Available at all of the places mentioned above.