When I start having negative thoughts and feel like we might be entering the end times predicted in the Book of Revelation, Amazon usually pops into my head. Why? Revelation 13:17 claims that no one will be able to buy or sell without the mark of the Beast on them. My book is being marketed on Facebook. Why? Because that's really the only game in town when it comes to reaching a large audience on a low budget. Do I like Facebook being my best (and only real) option? Do I like giving Mark Zuckerberg money that he can turn around and use in direct efforts that conflict with my best interests? No, of course not. But like it or not, Facebook is the best place to spend advertising dollars on the Internet. I mean, you could go to Instagram instead, but both are owned by the same guy, so what difference does it make at the end of the day? The same is true of Amazon. Whether I like it or not, I have no real choice. If I want to sell my book, it must be listed on Amazon. I don't like giving Jeff Bezos power over me any more than I like giving power to Mark Zuckerberg, but if I want to sell my book, I'd better learn to like it. The author is powerless on Amazon. I've given away free books to people in exchange for their honest review, only to have at least two of them rejected because, according to Amazon, the reviewer hadn't spent enough money using their service to warrant publishing their review. Conversely, the brutal one-star review written by someone trashing my book almost certainly without reading it has been displayed more prominently than the mostly negative … [Read more...]
Odds and probabilities
My alma mater, the #1 ranked University of Georgia Bulldogs, play the Kent State Golden Flashes in football next Saturday. According to the professional oddsmakers, the final score won't be pretty. Georgia is a 44 point favorite to win the game. The oddsmakers give the Bulldogs an overwhelming 99.2 percent probability of winning the game without factoring in the point spread, which statistically speaking means Kent State doesn't have a prayer of winning. Georgia could start the game with their second string players and still win easily. The Bulldogs could probably even pull in a couple of students out of the stands, dress them in uniforms and put them on the field, and still win the game. One of them could pretend to be our punter and never even have to get on the field. He could just put on a uniform and stand on the sidelines the whole game. After Georgia played Oregon, one writer said the Bulldogs were not a buzzsaw, they were what makes buzzsaws weep. Another writer said that every team in the NFL would trade their current tight end room for the Bulldogs collection of tight ends. Georgia looks good. Georgia is good. The Dawgs lost most of last year's defense to the NFL after winning the national championship, but this year's version is currently only giving up about a field goal per game on average. That's a very stingy defense. Of course, we still have to play Florida, Mississippi State, Tennessee and Kentucky, but true freshman Mykel Williams looks like Travon Walker's clone, and the rest of the defense looks awfully stout. The competition will get … [Read more...]
What I didn’t want to include in my book
The God Conclusion was written by a Christian (me) and intended to be read by people interested in the scientific evidence for a Creator, and the logical argument for belief in a supernatural God. In the book I defend the Bible against a determined attack by Richard Dawkins from his book The God Delusion, but when I attack atheism, I rely almost exclusively on logic and scientific evidence to make my case. I spent more than a decade of my life researching the book before writing it. Thousands of hours were spent watching lectures and videos that didn't even earn a mention. I had no idea how difficult it would become to determine what information should be excluded from the book. What do you do when you find information that you consider to be coming from a credible source that conflicts with your existing worldview? I am a Christian, and not the least bit shy about saying so. However, my book argues for belief in "God" (not specifically Yahweh) even though I believe that Yahweh is God. What does that mean? The ultimate goal of my book is to convince nonbelievers and those with very serious doubts about the existence of God the scientific evidence actually shows that a supernatural Creator exists. I make it clear that I personally believe this Creator is the God of the Bible, but I leave it to the reader to figure out God's true identity for themselves. While doing my research I discovered some evidence that reincarnation might have possibly occurred. I'm going to be brutally honest, mostly because that's the only way I know how to be -- I really didn't want … [Read more...]
My First Five-Star Review
Well, it turns out there really is a first time for everything. For example, if you'd asked me before today if I could ever receive a five-star book review for my new book The God Conclusion and be anything less than completely ecstatic about it, I would have laughed in your face and told you the question itself was absurd. After all, who wouldn't be happy about receiving a five-star review for their new book? Have I lost my mind? I don't know about you, but maybe I have. The answer to that question turns out to be me. I'm less than thrilled with my five-star review. Now, I do NOT want to sound ungrateful, because I am very grateful that this person (whose identity is protected, so I felt okay about writing this article) read my book in a reasonable amount of time, and more impressively, took the time to write a review. I also happen to know this person put in extra effort to get the review published on Amazon, and I am very grateful for that as well. The content of the review itself was excellent. So, why am I complaining? What is wrong with me? Well, I know something you don't, because I haven't told you yet. The person who wrote and published the review sent me a private message afterward and let it slip that the review probably should have only been four-stars, but he felt sorry for me because of the early negative review and he wanted to balance the scales, to make it fair. While I sincerely appreciate the time, effort, and sense of fairness this person exhibited in my defense, I wish he would have just given my book the rating he felt it … [Read more...]
Do people read books anymore?
When the Georgia Bulldogs play the Oregon Ducks next month in the Chick-Fil-A Kickoff Classic, an estimated 78,000 fans or more will fill Mercedes Benz Stadium in downtown Atlanta to watch a game of football. I went to the University of Georgia, so I'll be watching from home. If even ten percent of that audience bought The God Conclusion, I'd sell almost eight thousand books. In truth, if even eight hundred books had been sold by this point, I'd be dancing in the street like a fool. Selling a book is hard work. Is my book not any good? In my opinion, it's the best book I've written to date of the seven that have been published, but I'm biased. My opinion doesn't count. Yours does. In addition to the hundreds (well, dozens for sure) of books sold so far, I've given away more than twenty additional books to readers who promised an honest review when they finished reading the book. About three weeks have passed since the giveaway, and thus far only one person has attempted to publish a review, which Amazon then rejected for some unknown reason. I'm not having any luck getting book reviews. None whatsoever. There are a lot of books in reader's hands, but no reviews except one from a reader with a rather strong bias against the content. I don't mind a negative review, but when the only positive review isn't legitimate in my mind, I'm left with only negative feedback. Which begs the question -- do people not read books anymore? I've noticed that when I write an article, or even more than a couple of sentences, that those posts and advertisements tend to get … [Read more...]
