“I give thanks to you, my Lord, my God, with all my heart, and I will glorify your name forever.” Psalm 86:12 Common English Bible (@CommonEngBible).
Happy Thanksgiving!
Matthew Richtel (@mrichtel) and Julie Bosman (@julie_bosman) write in their New York Times article that print books “have a tenacious hold on a particular group: children and toddlers. Their parents are insisting this next generation of readers spend their early years with old-fashioned books.”
This is the case even with parents who themselves are die-hard downloaders of books onto Kindles, iPads, laptops, and phones. They freely acknowledge their digital double standard, saying they want their children to be surrounded by print books, to experience turning physical pages as they learn about shapes, colors, and animals.
Parents also say they like cuddling up with their child and a book, and fear that a shiny gadget might get all the attention. Also, if little Joey is going to spit up, a book may be easier to clean than a tablet computer.
Let Somersault (@smrsault) help you identify and understand your consumers. And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard designed especially for publishing and marketing executives.
Reporter Jeffrey Trachtenberg (@JeffreyT1) writes in The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ), “In a sign that major book publishers are now recognizing the potential of the digital self-publishing industry, Penguin Group (USA) (@penguinusa) has launched a service to help writers publish their own books."
For a fee of between $99 and $549, plus a cut of any sales revenue, Penguin's subsidiary Book Country (@Book_Country) will offer an array of tools — ranging from professional ebook conversion to a cover creator — to help a writer make their work available through digital book outlets and print-on-demand services.
The self-publishing venture could help Penguin discover new writers while creating an additional revenue stream.
Penguin Group (USA) has invested “a substantial amount of money” in technology to launch the new service, said Chief Executive David Shanks. “If some of these books hit the best-seller lists, it could be very successful.”
Also see Laura Hazard Owen's (@laurahazardowen) article in paidContent (@paidContent), "Self-Published Authors Sharply Criticize Penguin's Book Country."
Other self-publishing services by major publishers include WestBow Press (@WestBowPress), a division of Thomas Nelson (@ThomasNelson), CrossBooks (@CrossBooks), a division of LifeWay (@LifeWay); Dellarte Press, a division of Harlequin (@HarlequinBooks); and Balboa Press (@BalboaPress), a division of Hay House (@hayhouse). HarperCollinsPublishers (@HarperCollins) sponsors Authonomy (@authonomy), a “community of discovery where writers become authors.”
Also see Huffington Post Books’ (@HuffPostBooks) “How Will We Read: A Book by You?” where Cathy Rubin (@CMRUBINWORLD) interviews Kevin Weiss, CEO of Author Solutions (@authorsolutions), (the white label service providing the backend operations to several publishers above) about “new technologies and services that are helping more authors achieve their personal publishing goals, as well as helping traditional publishers and passionate readers discover new talent.”
As millions of Americans have turned away from mainline churches in the past few decades, megachurches — large congregations that emphasize casual style over ritual and doctrine — have seen huge growth in membership and budgets. The above Infographic by GOOD (@GOOD) and Column Five (@columnfive) depicts a glimpse of the wide world of American megachurches.
View the Infographic in OpenZoom viewer.
In the article “Megachurches: When Will The Bubble Burst?” on Huffington Post Religion (@HuffPostRelig), Sky Jethani (@skye_jethani) analyzes the above data.
Buried in the positive stats about megachurches may be signs of challenges ahead. Could a bubble be forming? And when it finally bursts will the mega-model be abandoned or severely reengineered? Are we seeing the maturation of the megachurch movement into a sustainable and long-term model for the American church? Or, like Wile E. Coyote, is the ground going to suddenly disappear under its feet?
More than 130 bloggers will begin Sunday to contribute to a 3-month blog and Twitter tour for the new Common English Bible (http://CommonEnglishBible.com) translation. The “Common English Bible Thank You-Come Again-I Promise” tour extends from November through January, honoring National Bible Week (11/20-27), Thanksgiving (11/24), Advent (11/27-12/24), Christmas (12/25), and New Year’s celebration (1/1-30). The complete tour schedule, participation details, and list of bloggers with links to their blogs are available at CommonEnglishBible.com/CEB/blogtour (http://CommonEnglishBible.com/CEB/blogtour). New bloggers may continue to join throughout the tour.
Background information on the Common English Bible is available at http://CommonEnglishBible.com/CEB/newsroom. Badges that can be placed on blogs are available at http://j.mp/uvrxBL.
The CEB Twitter stream is @CommonEngBible (http://twitter.com/CommonEngBible). The tour Twitter hashtag is #CEBtour (http://twitter.com/#!/search/%23cebtour). Bloggers will be writing posts around the above seasonal events, including commenting on verses from the Common English Bible, reviewing the Bible translation itself, interviewing the translators or associate publisher behind the translation, or discussing the translation with their readers.
Known for being “built on common ground,” the Common English Bible is a collaboration of 120 academic scholars and editors, 77 reading group leaders, and more than 500 average readers from around the world who joined together to clearly translate the Bible’s original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek languages into 21st century English. More than half-a-million copies of the Bible are currently in print. It’s also available online and in 20 digital formats.
For a media review copy of the Common English Bible and to schedule an interview with Paul Franklyn, please contact Audra Jennings, ajennings@tbbmedia.com or Diane Morrow, dmorrow@tbbmedia.com, at 1.800.927.1517.
On SocialTimes (@SocialTimes), Megan O'Neill (@maoneill) says, “Word-of-mouth marketing is one of the most effective kinds of marketing when it comes to influencing purchase decisions.” The following Infographic from WOMMA (@WOMMA) and Column Five Media (@columnfive) takes a look at just how important and effective word of mouth marketing is, online and off.
Let Somersault (@smrsault) help you engage your consumers so they mention your brand often in their social networks – online and offline.
On The Proactive Report, Sally Falkow (@sallyfalkow) encourages you to map your brand’s social graph. She says “your stakeholders are on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn and they’re connecting to each other.”
It’s quite likely that your content is filtering into the social graph across many platforms and nodes. One customer likes a video you post and adds it to their Facebook page. One of her friends tweets the link. A colleague of his sees it and adds your video to StumbleUpon and a follower there posts it to Digg. As it travels across the graph people add comments. Later it gets seen by a journalist researching a story or someone searching for a solution to a problem.
Invest the time to map your social graph. Locate and build relationships with your brand advocates and online influencers. Respond to your detractors and convert them to fans.
There is real ROI in mapping your social graph and making it possible for your stakeholders to share your content .
Let Somersault (@smrsault) help you graph your brand’s social map.
Infographic by Pulpmedia Online Marketing
An international network of bloggers will soon contribute to a three-month blog tour for the new Common English Bible (http://CommonEnglishBible.com) translation. The “Common English Bible Thank You-Come Again-I Promise” tour extends from November through January, honoring National Bible Week, Thanksgiving, Advent, Christmas, and New Year’s celebration. The complete tour schedule, and information about joining the tour, is available at CommonEnglishBible.com/CEB/blogtour (http://CommonEnglishBible.com/CEB/blogtour). Background information about the Common English Bible is available at CommonEnglishBible.com/CEB/newsroom.
The Twitter hashtag for the tour is #CEBtour.
Beginning Nov. 20 and running through January, the tour is an opportunity for bloggers to join together in writing posts around upcoming seasonal events using the Common English Bible (Twitter @CommonEngBible – http://twitter.com/CommonEngBible), including commenting on verses from it, reviewing the Bible translation itself, interviewing the translators or associate publisher behind the translation, or discussing the translation with their readers.
“This tour is designed to help bloggers coordinate for their readers the thoughtful consideration of the biblical expressions of gratitude, waiting for the coming of Christ, and personal renewal,” says Paul Franklyn, PhD, associate publisher for the Common English Bible. “What better time to consider these themes than during Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the New Year? And in what better manner than with a scholarly Bible translation that’s easily comprehendible to the majority of English readers?”
Participating bloggers in the tour will receive a copy of the leather-like Thinline Bible DecoTone Tan/Brick Red edition, suggested themes, topics, and verses on which to write, an invitation to interview Bible scholars, and badges to place on their blogs indicating their involvement. Bloggers will have the opportunity to offer to their readers a free copy of the softcover edition: one copy per week for every week the bloggers write a blogpost that includes mention of the Common English Bible during the tour.
Known for being “built on common ground,” the Common English Bible is a collaboration of 120 academic scholars and editors, 77 reading group leaders, and more than 500 average readers from around the world who joined together to clearly translate the Bible’s original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek languages into 21st century English. More than half-a-million copies of the Bible are currently in print. It’s also available online and in 20 digital formats.
Among the more than 120 bloggers scheduled so far for the tour are:
· Bruce Reyes-Chow (http://reyes-chow.com/) – Bruce Reyes-Chow
· Corybanter II (http://caspianrex.posterous.com/) – Cory Howell
· Deep Breathing for the Soul (http://keriwyattkent.com/soul/) – Keri Wyatt Kent
· Flowing Faith (http://www.flowingfaith.com/) - Mari-Anna Stålnacke
· GodHungry (http://godhungry.org/) – Jim Martin
· Inspiring Followers of Jesus to Live Love (http://margotstarbuck.blogspot.com/) – Margot Starbuck
· (Ir)Regular Christian (http://www.irregularchristian.com/) – Casey Taylor
· Jennifer Grant (http://www.jennifergrant.com/) – Jennifer Grant
· A Journeyman’s Catalog (http://mattlipan.blogspot.com/) – Matt Lipan
· LeadFollower (http://leadfollower.wordpress.com/) – Tony Johnson
· Mike Slaughter (http://mikeslaughter.com/blog) – Mike Slaughter
· Nicole Unice (http://www.nicoleunice.com/blog/) – Nicole Unice
· Only Wonder Understands (http://onlywonder.com/) – Jay Voorhees
· The Parson’s Patch (http://theparsonspatch.com/) – Mark Stevens
· A Peculiar Prophet (http://willimon.blogspot.com/) – Will Willimon
· Ponderings on a Faith Journey (http://pastorbobcornwall.blogspot.com/) – Robert Cornwall
· Posts from the Blog of an (un)Tamed Cynic (http://johnvest.com/) – John Vest
· Preacher Smith (http://preachersmith.com/) – David Smith
· Rev. Brent L. White (http://brentwhite.wordpress.com) – Brent White
· Salvaged Faith (http://salvagedfaith.blogspot.com/) – Katie Dawson
· Shekinah Glory (http://pastorofdisaster.wordpress.com/) – Brian Merritt
· Spirit Stirrer (http://spiritstirrer.org/) – Juan Huertas
· Storied Theology (http://www.jrdkirk.com/) – J. R. Daniel Kirk
· Whitby Forum (http://www.whitbyforum.com/) – Carolyn Custis James
· Willis Wired (http://www.williswired.com/) – Randy & Joleen Willis,
“When we say ‘built on common ground,’ we mean that the Common English Bible is the result of collaboration between opposites: scholars working with average readers; conservatives working with liberals; teens working with retirees; men working with women; many denominations and many ethnicities coming together around the common goal of creating a vibrant and clear translation for 21st century readers, with the ultimate objective of mutually accomplishing God’s overall work in the world; in essence, helping Bible readers live on common ground,” says Paul Franklyn, PhD, associate publisher for the Common English Bible.
The Common English Bible is written in contemporary idiom at the same reading level as the newspaper USA TODAY—using language that’s comfortable and accessible for today’s English readers. It’s available—with and without the Apocrypha—in multiple editions and bindings. Information about the Common English Bible is available on its website, Twitter stream, Facebook page, and video.
Combining scholarly accuracy with vivid language, the Common English Bible is the work of 120 biblical scholars from 24 denominations in American, African, Asian, European, and Latino communities, representing such academic institutions as Asbury Theological Seminary, Azusa Pacific University, Bethel Seminary, Denver Seminary, Princeton Theological Seminary, Seattle Pacific University, Wheaton College, Yale University, and many others.
Additionally, more than 500 readers in 77 groups field-tested the translation. Every verse was read aloud in the reading groups, where potentially confusing passages were identified. The translators considered the groups' responses and, where necessary, reworked those passages to clarify in modern English their meaning from the original languages. In total, more than 700 people worked jointly to bring the Common English Bible to fruition; and because of the Internet and today’s technology it was completed in less than four years.
Visit CommonEnglishBible.com to see comparison translations, learn about the translators, get free downloads, and more.
The Common English Bible is sponsored by the Common English Bible Committee, an alliance of five publishers that serve the general market, as well as the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) (Chalice Press), Presbyterian Church (USA) (Westminster John Knox Press), Episcopal Church (Church Publishing, Inc.), United Church of Christ (The Pilgrim Press), and The United Methodist Church (Abingdon Press).
For a media review copy of the Common English Bible and to schedule an interview with Paul Franklyn, please contact Audra Jennings, ajennings@tbbmedia.com or Diane Morrow, dmorrow@tbbmedia.com, at 1.800.927.1517.
An article by the Association of Religion Data Archives (@ReligionData) says, “Even though research shows spiritually alive churches are the most likely to grow, the percentage of US congregations reporting high spiritual vitality declined from 43% in 2005 to 28% in 2010, according to the latest Faith Communities Today survey.”
The drop was accompanied by a decline in the emphasis given to spiritual practices such as prayer and scripture reading across nearly all groups aside from white evangelicals and congregations with 1,000 or more attenders.
The most notable slide occurred among white mainline Protestant denominations, which have been aging and losing members faster than any other major religious group.
The reasons are varied:
· Declining financial health in the recession saps morale
· Aging memberships are less likely to embrace new forms of worship
· Some denominations have shifted emphasis away from personal piety toward social service programs.