We're about one month out from the release of Earthen Vessels, and there's a little bit of news worth talking about. I may talk more personally about the writing process at some point and about what I have learned through it. But for now, you'll have to be satisfied with an all-too-brief update on the book's release and progress.
A new subtitle. The publisher made a last-second substitution in hopes of making it absolutly explicit that yes, this book is in fact about the physical body. Gone is "Breathing New Life into a Broken Faith." It's been replaced
by the more direct, happily third-person "Why Our Bodies Matter to our Faith." I think it's a great change, though I would have preferred the more forcefully confrontational second-person.
A new release date. Most places still say that it's going to be released June 1st, but I'm told the actual ship-date will be closer to June 11th. This is my fault--for various reasons, I pushed the manuscript submission beyond the deadline. Amazing-editor-Andy was great about it, but I'm paying the cost for it now. On the upside, this gives you more time to buy a second or third copy at the low price of $9.25.
Electronic versions. Yes, they're coming. Christianbook.com has preorders for them now. Not sure when Amazon will get them, but I'll let you know.
Endorsements. They happened. Really. I'll probably start rolling them out later this week or early next week.
A book trailer. This happened too. I did my best Rob Bell impersonation for the camera. Haven't seen the rough cut yet, but it's coming soon and I'm excited. Except for the guy in it, it should look pretty fantastic.
Word of mouth. Obviously the question now is getting the book in front of the right audiences. I'm so grateful to everyone who has read Mere-O over the years--I wish I could give you all a copy, and I may give away a bunch, just to say "thanks" anyways. But I would appreciate it if you would slowly start prepping friends and neighbors to give the book a whirl while passing along your best marketing ideas to me. My path to the NY Times bestseller list is going to require the help of an "army of Davids" telling friends and family the old fashioned way: with email, Facebook, and Twitter (that's a joke, people).
