Talk Them Into It (Again)

Introduction

In summer 2020, shortly after my opening dive into the smart noting experience, I embarked on an experiment. I was already author with three “real” published works to my name. I’d also tried my hand at converting podcasts into ebook format. But the release of Without Flesh (arguably my most important book) to mediocre sales (in part due to being released under the flurry of March 2020 and in part due to the seeming inability of my publisher to promote others much beyond their niche market catalog,) left me a bit frustrated.

I’d labored for years to develop Without Flesh. I’d written both Broken and Echo in order to be able to write Without Flesh for my publisher. This wasn’t a game for me, and it certainly wasn’t about making money. This was something I believed the current American churches (both Lutheran and otherwise) desperately needed. I’d also handed it to the publisher some fifteen months before its release. But “for the sake of sales” it wasn’t released for the Christmas season in 2019, and was held in reserve for better market timing. Crushed by COVID (as were all books published in that window) it was also “for the sake of sales” that it was quickly relegated to the back burner of all future CPH promotions.

In any case, I was now supremely curious what might be achieved if I pursued the self-publishing model. But I also was under (ridiculous) contract in which my publisher owned something called “first right of refusal” to my next work. This meant that I was legally forbidden from self-publishing and compelled to publish my next work with them unless they rejected that right. (This is very different from “first right of offer,” a much more writer-friendly legalese that I lobbied unsuccessfully for.)

In any case, I also had another idea: a comic book.

Ancient Legacy (with art by Adam Boggs) was already fully developed. This first issue of a 30-page comic was ready to print, with a second issue concept ready to begin. All that it would take was for the publisher to agree that Christian comics are a good idea.

Wouldn’t you know, even though they “liked it,” they would only consider a single graphic novel. Since the purpose of a comic book is to have a “run” that leads to multiple graphic novels one would think there might have been some understanding. But no. I received an email stating they were not interested in the work. (For those that you are curious, Ancient Legacy isn’t dead yet. The hope is still to kick-start this project into publication some time in the future.)

But in the meantime, I was released from my chains, and simultaneously pondering a major premise of smart noting: all publications are just notes from something else that you clean up and release. So, I had an idea; what if I took two great resources that had influenced me and tried to smash them together into a brief but useful tool. The result was three fourteen-hour days reading, noting and smurging Did the Resurrection Happen and Tactics into a single work, Talk Them Into It.

You read that right. I wrote Talk Them Into it in three days. It took about a week for some friends to help me proof and layout, and away we went with the multifaceted experiment. The results were… good.

• Talk Them Into It did not sell more copies that Without Flesh, but it was significantly more profitable, especially considering the time invested. It proved to me beyond all doubt that the primary reason to make use of a publisher is for the revisionary help one gets from a good editor, not for any kind of sales.

• The proof of concept was in: it’s easy to smart note a book. Take any three of your favorites, keep reading I Will Teach You to Be Smart, and let the magic happen.

• No matter how good you are, a book written in three days can be better.

For over a year now I’ve wanted to return to the work and clean it up. It’s laid out in a devotional format, which might be helpful, but due to time and limitations I am not convinced that the final format is very accessible. It is also filled with not only typos, but needless ideas, trains of thought that need a destination and language that should be tighter given the quality of my other works. Last of all, I think that content deserves wider reach.

But I’ve also found it hard to return to the work. Those who have read it speak highly of it. It’s done a lot of good in the circles that read it. I promoted it hard for a few months on youtube and also gave it away to any subscriber to Mad Mondays. Did I really need to spend months rewriting it? Would it be worth the time?

But yes! Here we are, with all the time in the world and no rush to manufacture the content. It’s not like reprinting snippets of “How to talk to your friends and neighbors about Jesus” here is going to bring down a horde of lawyers harassing me for violating copyright (and yes, printing Echo or Without Flesh might just do that.)

So, there you have the inside scoop and where and why I’ll be working on the rewrite here and now. Why wait any longer:

Talk Them Into It: The Truth about Making Christians

It’s Not That Hard

Not if by hard you mean complex.

You don’t need an array of expertise, a degree in apologetics nor a boatload of programs and consultants. You just need a little beggar’s grit, some discipline to your tongue and some patience with those whose minds are hostile to God. But if you are planning to help those people whom you know and love, who also do not know or believe in Jesus Christ, then this is not too much to ask. After all, we are dealing with the ultimate issues of life and death. We are talking about eternal salvation or damnation. We are making the case for the hope that does not disappoint.

This is a book about getting people baptized into the Kingdom of God. It’s meant to by a simple manual rather than a treatise. It’s also intended to increase your confidence in the power of the Holy Spirit to work in and through you today. In both of these things, it’s a manifesto for getting back to basics. Do you want your friends and neighbors to become Christians? Then it’s time to learn to talk them into it.

To be continued…