Christian Books Pitch Meeting - 2

The Problem of Monetizing Christian Books

So you have a ministry we can monetize. Yes, sir. I do. I was thinking we monetize Christian books. That's a good one. You almost had me there for a second. No sir. I'm really serious. You can't be. I actually am.

That's ridiculous. I mean selling prayer was a bit of a stretch, but this is way nuttier than a squirrel turd. I realize it might seem that way sir, but you got to hear me out. There's a way to do this because there's always a way to slowly Condition people towards a consumerist mentality even in the church.

Just give me a chance. Alrighty then give it your best shot, but keep in mind There is still a conscience somewhere in here even though it may be small and twisted, okay? So here's the game plan. We got to get people to forget about the fact that we're actually just selling them the truth in our own words.

We don't want them to think of it that way. We don't want them to realize that a Christian book. It's just a regurgitation of what the Bible says and we're charging money for that regurgitation. That's the first step and why would people not like that.

Well because there are verses like Micah 311 that make it sound pretty bad. What does Micah 311 say? You don't want to know but I actually do want to know trust me sir. You do not for the sake of all that is holy.

Do not look up that verse. I read it once and I still have nightmares. Oh, don't be silly. It can't be that bad. Now if only I could remember where Micah is New Testament. I'm not falling for that. Hey look.

It's the church organist running naked outside. All right, okay. Well. I thought miss Betty was a little loopy, but. Wow. Guess I missed it. I guess you did sir, so what were we talking about. I totally forgot right we were talking about selling Christian books.

Ha ha that pipe dream. All right, keep trying to sell me on this silly idea. Okay, so the next step is to make people think that the church itself shouldn't be publishing books. Christians need large.

Institutions of.

Professionals who will do that, but why can't the church just publish books instead of farming out that responsibility to others because that works. And if local churches decided what needed to be published and sold it at cost We'd probably end up with way more books that are actually Needed rather than books that are only guaranteed to sell because they're written by a celebrity.

Oh, no.

Then we've got to convince people that it's impossible for us to even try or consider Paying the bills for these institutions by donations and offerings. We've got a brainwash people into thinking that the only way the absolute only way that these Publishing houses can exist is by selling products.

Publishing Houses, Donations, and Artificial Scarcity

Wow that sounds like it's gonna be basically impossible to do. Actually, it's gonna be super easy barely an inconvenience. Oh, really? Yeah, we simply hammer them over the head over and over with first Timothy 518.

You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain. I do love that verse. We love it, sir. It's like the Chuck Norris of verses for shutting down radical generosity. A cold-blooded killer of careful thinking about money and ministry.

Yeah, he was amazing and top gun. What what anyway, sir? The next step is to tell people that when they're buying products from these Christian publishers Some of the proceeds are going towards giving away Christian books and resources to those who can't afford them, etc.

But if they could give all their books away digitally to everyone it wouldn't cost them anything. Oh, dang it. That's a good point. Whoops, whoops a well in any case if people bring that up we can just hit them with the Oxfords.

I know how could you possibly have anticipated that? You know, I've been wondering if oxen demand payment in grain before they start treading they absolutely do sir. That's why we demand payment for Christian books before we allow people to read them a perfect parallel and you know all that from growing Up on a farm.

No, I watched planet earth once a long time ago when it came out on DVD. I'm pretty much an expert on animal behavior now, so let me get this straight publishers are giving away physical copies of books.

But they could just give those away at cost paid for by donations, right? But we're going to make it seem like that's impossible We need to tap into people's natural doubt of God and his ability to provide for a ministries needs.

God couldn't ever provide enough donations for a publisher to give things away freely. If people start believing that God is actually powerful enough to supply the needs of those who step out in faith and want to be Radically generous.

It's could go really bad for us. We might lose this whole business model and end up having to drive Toyotas instead of Tesla's. Enough with the grim scenarios.

All right.

I get the point people need to understand that it's better to trust in secular business models that profit from creating artificial scarcity. Rather than trust in God and his people to get Christian teaching out for free and have an exponential impact.

That's what we're going with. And we need to make sure that no one thinks about the example of the biblical writers because they never sold any of their writings. Or even copyrighted them, of course. That's why they had much more impact on the world over the course of history than anyone else has had.

But we don't want anyone to ever go down that path in their mind. Bad for our business. Yeah, we should probably make people think that if the biblical writers were living today in our culture with our technology.

They would definitely go with the flow and sell their books and eventually end up driving Tesla. Absolutely, they would never want to just freely give their writing through the internet. So that millions of people could be blessed by what they had to say.

Instead they would want to put it behind a paywall and a joy passive income for the rest of their lives. Oh. So beautiful. Brings a tear to my eye just to think about it. But there's this little thought that keeps pricking my conscience as we talk about this.

Didn't Jesus say explicitly you received without paying give without pay? Listen, even if he said that and he probably didn't it would have no implications for us today. Zero nothing nada. Are you sure I seem to remember that he was saying that in the context of doing ministry?

Yeah.

But they had a different culture back then that was less bound by decades of rabid relentless materialism. And that matters because. Listen, sir, I'm gonna need you to get all the way off my back about Jesus and other stuff in the Bible.

Oh, okay. Let me get off of that thing. And if we're going to be debating over Bible verses don't forget John 3 16 For God so loved the world that he sold his only begotten Son in Order that he might recover the cost of his sacrifice and make his ministry sustainable.

There's two important principles there selling Jesus and Sustainability. My model for Christian publishing is simply to follow this beloved verse and at the end of the day It's the most biblical way to go.

That does sound like the Bible, but are you sure it's worded that way exactly? There's literally no way for me to check that really. Nope. Well, I can't help but wonder if it will compromise the sincerity of people's ministry if they claim that they want to help people through Their writing but they deny people access to it unless people pay them.

Free Distribution, Global Access, and the Closing Pitch

Yeah.

But you got to understand that everyone can afford to pay them. Last time I checked everyone on planet Earth has a credit card and more than enough Disposable income to buy a commentary on a book of the Bible for like 60 bucks.

Amazing here. I was thinking that there were still Christians on the other side of the world who are as wealthy as us. Silly, no, I'm pretty sure they all have more money than they know what to do with.

So why not give some of it to some wealthy Christian authors in the West. Wow I just love the idea of giving our brothers and sisters in Asia and Africa an opportunity to spend their money on something that would Otherwise cost us nothing to distribute digitally.

Exactly sir, and if we didn't charge them anything for it, they wouldn't value it. It's a well-known fact that no one has ever read a book they got for free About that. Hey everyone if that video made you curious confused or even offended you you're not alone.

So let me point you to some free resources that will help you dig deeper into these issues links down below. First head on over to the Dorian principle org and read or listen to the book Which is thoroughly biblical and its response to the commercialization of Christianity.

Second check out the website copy church where you'll learn even more about these same issues, but from a different angle and Finally don't miss selling Jesus which complements this channel there. You'll find a whole lot more to read and learn and hey if this video upset you that's okay.

But before you leave a comment, please consider thoroughly Investigating the deep biblical and historical rationale behind everything on this channel. I think you'll be surprised. Thanks so much for watching and I hope some of you will consider taking part in abolishing the Jesus trade and Freely giving what we have freely received.