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Turtles all the Way Down is here!

Okay, our house is pure shipping madness right now. I picked up about 500 of Turtles all the Way Down on Friday afternoon. We have 200 orders. We’ve mailed 100 of them so far. It’s a little time consuming because I’m writing a short note in the books of everyone who was on the Consafo team. Their advance purchases funded the project. Still, I think we’ve done pretty well. Jeanene and Lillian and I make quite a little shipping team. Jeanene on the computer printing postage and updating the spreadsheet. Me signing and getting them to Lillian, who stuffs envelopes and is making 25 cents for each order. So she’s happy!

And I must say that it is amazing holding the book in my hand. It’s rather like giving birth. Here is this little book I’ve dreamed of.

There is plenty of time for us to mail books to you if you want them for Christmas gifts. Standard media mail will get them there in time up until about December 14th. Between the 14th and the 20th is iffy. We have a Priority Mail option too, if time is a factor. Turtles all the Way Down is available along with my other books at Gracefull Things.

WHAT ABOUT THE BOOK FURNITURE?

Yes, it is true that I constructed a chair out of the boxes of my first book after it was remaindered by Eerdmans. Paul Soupiset asked if I was going to do that again. The answer is YES. I won’t pick up the remaining 1500 copies until later this week. That’s about 40 cases of books. I have NO idea where I’ll put them.

Maybe I can make a recliner this time and watch the Dallas Cowboys’ traditional December meltdown in style!

Gordon

I spoke with the printer today. I had hoped to pick up the books on Wednesday, December 2nd. It now looks like it will be Friday, December 4th before I will have the books in hand. Jeanene, Lillian, Shelby, and I will be shipping them out starting Friday night. All advance purchases will be mailed first, followed by orders that have come in over the last few days. I’ve mailed books around Christmas before. These will easily arrive before the 26th.

WHERE TO BUY THEM: You can use the paypal button below. Or you can buy Turtles all the Way Down along with my other books at GracefullThings.com.

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GREAT NEWS! I have the cover and inside layout for Turtles all the Way Down. Mike Robertson did a great job with this. The editors and I will be proofing the final copy before it goes to the printer. I should have the books in hand and ready for shipping on or about December 1st.

We will ship them in the order they are received. Buy early if you want to make sure we ship for Christmas. Leave a note when you purchase if you want anything written in the book.

It’s been a great experience publishing this book with the help of so many friends.

Thanks to all of you.

Gordon

I am extremely pleased to announce that the first Consafo project now has a title. “Turtles All the Way Down” is the title of the second collection of essays by Gordon Atkinson, also known as Real Live Preacher. The Consafo publication team has been hard at work, and the book will definitely ship well before Christmas.

It’s not too late to join the publication team by making an advance purchase of Turtles All the Way Down. Most of the publication decisions have already been made by the team, BUT we are still looking for blurbs.

Advance copies will be available for purchase through October 25th. If you purchase an advance copy, it will be $12 instead of the full price of $15. And, all purchasers of advance copies will get a chance to submit a blurb for the back and opening pages. I did this for my Christmas book. All the blurbs were by rlp readers.

The title of this book comes from an essay included in the collection. The phrase comes from a classic philosophical story that is often told about Bertrand Russell. After a lecture on cosmology, a woman spoke to him afterward and announced that she believed the earth rested on the back of a turtle.

“And on what does that turtle stand?” asked Russell.

The woman’s reply was quick. “You’re clever young man, but not clever enough to catch me. It’s turtles all the way down.”

The Consafo publishing team, made up of all those who purchased advance copies, has worked together since the summer. 50 essays were voted on and included. The cover design is by Mike Robertson, who is also in charge of the layout.

Right now we’re getting edited copy back from our team of 17 editors, all of whom are in the community of RLP readers.

If all goes according to schedule, the book will be available for purchase on November 1st at full price.  Printing is expected to be finished in mid-November. Shipping will be in late November.

Hey everyone,

The time has come. We have 362 orders for advance copies of the RLP #2 book. That means we’re ready to start collecting the money. If you said you were going to buy one, now is the time. We have to get in enough money to pay for the printing.

It’s easy enough to do. Just hit the button below and enter the number of copies you want. Advance copies are $12, which is $3.00 cheaper than the price of the book after publication. But shipping charges apply. I do have to ship them to you, of course.

Thanks,
Gordon & Jeanene

Greetings everyone,

I know it’s been awhile since I’ve posted  here, but in the meantime I’ve been through 2000 entries at RLP and selected a hundred out of which we will select content for the second RLP book. I didn’t take many essays from 2003 or 2004, in part because the best ones were selected by Eerdmans for the first book. I ended up with a list of just under 100. You can view it that list here – http://reallivepreacher.com/view/newbookstuff.

Those who have purchased advance copies of the book will be receiving an email with instructions on how to vote on the content.

Several important things to note:

1. I know there’s no way any of you will read them all. You don’t have to. There are about 200 of us involved, so we’ll get everything covered if everyone just reads a few or as many as they want. Or if you just remember something you liked, you can vote for it without reading anything.

2. These are just the ones that I thought were my best work. If you remember something you liked and it’s not in the list, go ahead and vote for it. Make your case.

Christian Century, Foy, and RLPDV

Christian Century: I’m pretty sure CC will give permission to use any of the essays in their collection. There are 35 on their website.  I think there is some good stuff there.

Foy Stories: I don’t know. This is the writing that means the most to me, personally. But do they fit the book? If you think one or two should be in the book, suggest which ones.

RLPDV: I’ve gotten away from those. Not because I don’t like them but I just haven’t been driven to do them. I’m sure I’ll go through an RLPDV phase again at some point. But there are a few of them. I think I like Where is the Man the best. I’d like one or maybe two of those to be in there.

Other Stuff – Never Published:

I’ve got a number of things not published before:

1. Emails and answers from my archive with permission to use. I could get some of those for a few “Dear RLP” pieces. Those could be scattered around in the book. They’re short.
2. I have some never published RLPDV stuff from the Old Testament and one that is the background for the book of Galatians, written as a story.
3. I have a number of essays in progress. I could cloister myself and work up a few of those.
4. Finally, I have a bunch of old things I wrote before Real Live Preacher that were in various newsletters for Covenant. If I went through all the old newsletters, I might find 2 or 3 that I like. I’ve planned on doing that anyway but I’ve always had more fresh stuff to work on than I had time anyway.

I’m thinking it would be fun to put some of that stuff together and send it to you guys. Let you take a look. I feel a little vulnerable about that because some of it might be rough. But if you saw drafts, maybe some of these new things would be in there.

That’s where things stand. Go ahead and take a look at the stuff. Watch for the email with instructions for the vote.

Con Safo (usually spelled Con Safos) is a Chicano phrase, very popular on the West Coast and around the border of Texas and Mexico. The phrase literally means slippery. Insults slip off of anything marked Con Safo. Graffiti marked with c/s is said to be untouchable. Buried in the attitude of Con Safo is a defiance to power.

It’s been a few months since I went public with the Consafo publishing concept. It’s time to begin. Detailed information about Consafo can be found in the left menu, but basically Consafo funds the publication of a book with advance copy purchases. Those who purchase advance copies not only get a discount, they become the publisher, voting on content, deciding the title, etc.

The first Consafo project is a follow-up to my first book, RealLivePreacher.com.

-Project Name – RLP essay book #2

-Number of advance copy sales needed to fund the project – 416

-Title – To be determined by YOU!

-Description – The second collection of essays written by Gordon Atkinson as Real Live Preacher. These essays come from a body of work written between from 2004 through 2008.

-What will be included:

• 50 or 60 essays (Some chosen by me, the rest voted on by those with shares in the project)
• At least 2 RLPDV stories.
• Possibly a Foy Davis story.
• NEW – Two RLPDV scripture stories never published. (One from the Hebrew scriptures)
• NEW – Several essays never published.
• NEW – Some “Dear rlp” letters never published.
• NEW – Some back-story and/or epilogue information about selected essays.

-Specs – 9×6 Trade Paperback with a glossy cover. 200-225 pages.

-Cover & Layout – Paul Soupiset

-Cost – $15.00

-Advance Copy Price – $12.00

Greetings,

Real Live Preacher here. I’m glad you stopped by. This is the Consafo experiment in social media community publishing. You can read a summary here. Details are on the left menu

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A traditional publisher does the following:

• They help decide what the book should be about.
• They provide an editor for the book.
• They pay for the cover design, layout, and artwork.
• They pay to have the book printed.
• They provide an ISBN # and barcode.
• They MIGHT help get the book distributed and publicized.

In return for this a traditional publisher requires the following:

• Final say on the content and editorial philosophy.
• Control of the cover design and layout.
• Exclusive publication rights in perpetuity.
• 100% of the income from the book until all expenses are paid, including the author’s advance. After that, roughly 90% of all income from the book.

Why would a person enter into this agreement? Well, in the past there were no other options. No ordinary person could possibly do all of that AND have a large enough personal network to publicize the book.

BUT HERE’S THE THING: I got to thinking that you and I could do all that stuff. We could decide what essays and content will go in the second real live preacher book. We could edit it together. Someone could design a cover. I know how to do the ISBN/barcode stuff.

I’m not concerned about selling thousands of copies. And going with a traditional publisher is NO guarantee that you’ll sell that many books anyway. I just want to do the book. If I can sell it online and make a few bucks, great.

How would this work? Check out the menu on the left.

Thanks,

…………………gordon (rlp)

Leave comments and help me with this idea. Do you see any potential problems? Have I left anything out? Do you have a better idea about how this might be done? You’re the publisher. As such, we would even work together to decide exactly how we would do this.

NOTE: You can leave a comment on any page. Talk back to me. I want to hear from you. If enough of you are interested, I say let’s move forward with it.