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Hi Friends,
WRITING
Considering that I describe myself as a writer on my business card, I have not done much writing this month. I have made a little progress with my survey of the 21st century (so far). In particular, I have pointed out this: The internet has changed human communication more than anything since the dawn of humanity. I took the telephone 75 years to reach 50 million users. It took television 13 years. I took the internet 4 years. It took the game of Pokemon Go 19 days. !
TALK
My talk on the first three gospels went well on Monday 11th, The talk and discussion finished precisely at 8.00, giving folk an hour for wine and cheese. I am a strong advocate for Mark as I regard a lot of it as effectively a first person account. Luke is generally reliable, but I don’t like Matthew much. I find him a bit churchy, not so reliable, and too ready to call down eternal punishment. I had already written my blog on it, so was able to send it out at the end of the week. I also put it on facebook, leading to several diatribes from Christians. One person found it refreshing though.
THE BOOK OF JOB
The copyright holder of the NRSV, the version I used in my book on Job, asked me for $100. I found out how hard it is to send money to the US. I tried postal orders, money orders, cashiers checks. Eventually I did it by bank transfer, but put the wrong name on the receiver. I must read small print more carefully. I could have saved myself the £25 it took to change the name.
MARKETING
February was an active month for marketing. I managed to make a list of all the 120 Christian bookshops in the UK, and sent a long letter and flyer to them, introducing “Bible in Brief” and offering to send them a complimentary copy. I got two replies. And it cost me £60 in stamps! I will follow it up with an email. You never know.
MAILCHIMP LIST
Ona major success was a joining form I created in time for my St Cuthbert’s talk, in which i could ask people to sign up to receive my monthly newsletter and Bible blog. I had lost all my contacts through GDPR last Spring. But a simple A5 form I found was ideal to get people on board. I took them to all the groups I am part of, including HTB Queens Gate. So now my mailing list has increased from 32 to 75 in two weeks! So thank you, who are reading this, for signing up!
POSTS AND TWEETS
I have continued to put tweets and facebook posts out about four times a week, trying to start to do several on Mondays and schedule them. It’s working quite well, but I realise I will have to go out into London and take several more photos of odd corners. Some of my favourites are the one about Jerusalem cats, a parish magazine misprint: The meeting will be gin with prayer”, Floris the perfumers with the world’s smallest museum, a picture of two Israeli soldiers for Valentine’s day (!), the amazing legacy of a monk Rahere who built London’s oldest church and oldest hospital in 1123 – St Bart’s, and where to get decent coffee in Jerusalem, the Old City. I have great fun doing my Secret London posts on Tuesday, and Secret Jerusalem on Thursdays. And it does keep my brain active!
COMMENTS AND SHARE
Do email me ay comments you have about all this. I promise to respond. And feel free to share it with anyone you think might be interested.
God bless
Andy