Updates

Mac & Louise Jardine are missionaries in Thailand, who were the driving force behind the translation of The Gospel Uncensored into Thai. In their January newsletter, available in its entirely here, he writes:

Ken Blue has published a new book on grace, “The Gospel Uncensored” and Sukit has had it translated into Thai.  Two families who were stranded on their second floors for many weeks because of the flooding read the book.  One lady, Du, cried most of the way through with her old pain coming up.  Another lady, Noy, experienced spontaneous deliverance when she repented for her Buddhist practices.  Our friend, Pink,  has been on the phone regularly with these ladies, talking, explaining, praying with, teaching them how to pray for themselves in their isolation…God has come!!!!

I never anticipated, as I worked on this book, that it would have an impact in a remote part of the world in the midst of a disaster. It just goes to show that when we hand over our measly loaves and fish, we can never know how it will be multiplied.

The 2001 International Money Changers Convention (that is, the International Christian Retail Show) is being held today through Wednesday (July 10-13) in Atlanta.

This year,  The Gospel Uncensored is one of the books being featured at Westbow Press’ booth, which means it will be on display and will also appear in the ad materials being given away by Westbow at the convention.

My hope is that the very distinctive cover and the book title will cause prospective buyers to stop and take a look. Being Westbow is not a full-service publisher, it’s hard to say how good of a sales job they will do, but then, I am naive enough to hope that the gospel message is enough to make people want to carry the book in their stores.

My friend and neighbor Randy Butler will be there at the show, selling his own book “Reclaiming Heaven’s Covenant.” He promised to look Westbow’s booth and the book up and give me a report. I’m very interested in hearing what he had to say, not just about Westbow, but about his own experiences there.

I would appreciate your prayers this week as the show progresses. As we have no advertising budget, this show could be very helpful.

I’ll report after I hear what Randy has to say, and if I get any feedback from Westbow.

Alden

The Gospel Uncensored will be featured at the WestBow Press booth at the 2001 International Christian Retail Show Book Gallery (that’s quite a catchy name…), to be held in Atlanta on July 10-13. I wish I could go, but at least my book will be there. Besides being featured on their table, it will also be featured in their promotional handouts at the convention.

The “Show” is the largest gathering of independent Christan retailers in the world, it also draws large chain buyers, distributors, and other important folks. Hopefully one or two of them will notice The Gospel Uncensored.

As much as I dislike the commercial end of preaching the gospel, the fact remains that people won’t read the book if they don’t know about it. And while I don’t mind giving books away (of which I’ve done a lot), it would be nice to sell a few more.

As the day approaches, I’ll post reminders here and on Facebook so those who are so inclined can pray that the right people notice the book (the right people being those who will place large orders…).

Ken Blue, teaching on Galatians (Picture courtesy of The Charis Project)

Ken Blue is currently in Bangkok, Thailand, with his son, Aaron. Aaron, along with other members of the Blue family, works with an orphanage in Thailand that currently houses about 40 children who are Burmese refugees. You can read more about The Charis Project on their website, and follow them on Facebook.

After a visit to the orphanage, they will be teaching for another week and a half in the surrounding area. For Ken, preaching the “Good News to the Poor” is more than just a ministry name.

Ken is one of the most passionate and caring speakers there is—whether he’s speaking on grace, spiritual abuse, or any number of other topics, he always gives 100%. For more on Ken’s speaking ministry, visit his website.

As I’ve grown tired of waiting for Westbow to get the additional e-book formats distributed, I have started working directly with Borders.com and BookBrewer to get The Gospel Uncensored formatted for book readers other than the Kindle, including the Nook, Kobo, and iPad. These formats should soon be available through Borders.com, BarnesandNoble.com, as well as from the iBook store.  I just need to work out some formatting issues.  These formats will probably retail for around $9.99, the same as the Kindle price—although I’m going to see if reducing the price is an option.

Check back for more details.

I am looking for a few good bloggers or old-fashioned print writers to review The Gospel Uncensored—How only grace leads to freedom. If you are such a blogger/writer and would like a free review copy, please e-mail me with your name and address and I’ll send you a copy.  If you know of such a person, please have them e-mail me.

All I ask is that you read it, publish a review somewhere, and if you would, post a review on amazon as well.

Please note that I have a limited number of promotional copies available, so if I run out before I get your request, I will send you a nice apology.

I am also interested in getting the book in the hands of key people—folks like Dobson, or Oprah, or perhaps your pastor.  If you have any connections, let me know, and I may be able to get a free book off to these folks as well.

Also, remember that there is also a free study guide available on TheGospelUncensored.com, or available from the Kindle Store (for 99¢).

The Gospel Uncensored Study Guide is designed for both personal use as well as for a more formal 10-week study for churches and small groups. Each lesson consists of additional thoughts related to the text, along with study/discussion questions.

PDF Versions

The full-page pdf format is formatted for standard 8.5 x 11 paper. The small format pdf file is formatted as 5.5 x 8.5, which is more easily viewed on smart phones or e-readers. You can either click on the links below to view the files, or right-click on the links and choose “save as” or “save link as” to save the file to your computer.

The Gospel Uncensored Study Guide – small format

The Gospel Uncensored Study Guide – full page format

Kindle Edition!

The Kindle edition is now available at amazon’s Kindle Store for $0.99 (they insist on a minimum charge).  You can grab it here from the Kindle Store.

The Kindle version has been available for some time at amazon.com. Now, Adobe ePub and MobiPocket versions are available from BooksOnBoard.com for $7.88.

It’s my understanding that ePub books can be read by the iPad, Nook, Sony Reader, and other devices. The Mobi format is supposedly supported by Palm, Blackberry and other smartphones, as well as by the MobiPocket reader.

I’m not an expert on reader formats, but you can check with BooksOnBoard to confirm.  As reported earlier, a number of eBook formats should be available within the next few weeks, and should be showing up on the appropriate sites soon.

It is truly amazing how much work goes in to publishing a book in today’s marketplace.  I have to say, I’m glad I’m not doing this all on my own.  Because the book is “POD” – Print on Demand – large distributors like Baker & Taylor use their own POD printer, Textstream, to sell through such retailers as Borders. And, there are more than one of these mega-retailers who need to be notified about the book.  Apparently books don’t just magically appear on bookshelves… even the online variety.

Information about the book is slowly working its way through the book world, so you will find it listed, at various prices, at various locations. I am noticing that the cover image is someone slow to show up at some stores.

e-Readers

The book is already available for Kindle at amazon.com, retailing for $9.95.  It will also be available for download for the Sony Reader, Barnes & Noble Nook, and Kobo at the normal places, as well as at places like Scribd.com and BooksonBoard.com.  They tell me it can take 6-8 weeks for the book to appear at various retailers.  There is no specific iPad version out yet, however there is a free Kindle app that will work.  WestBow is apparently looking into the iPad market.

Again, it is a very complex process, and this definitely falls in favor of working through someone like WestBow, who is set up to handle all of this.  For me, it’s just a matter of being patient, something I’m not always good at.

I’m happy to report that I just received my first copy of the book (the softcover edition), and it looks great!  The cover came out well, and the pages are on very nice paper.

Hopefully the hardback will be of similar quality; I expect that to arrive in the next day or two, and I’ll report when that arrives.

But don’t wait for me, order your copies today!