Post by Jeff Gerke on Jun 4, 2007 7:58:18 GMT -5
Not Dummies; Demons. ;D
In my years working for Christian publishing companies I came to understand that most marketing departments at such companies have way too many books to promote and way too little time and manpower in which to do it. That kind of situation leads, necessarily, to the development of some survival strategies.
One of those is the development of generic marketing plans. One marketing person I worked with explained that they basically have three marketing plans for all the books they are asked to promote: one for "C" books, one for "B" books, and one for "A" books.
(A, B, and C are designations of how "big" publishers think any given book is going to be. A is blockbuster big. C is fall-in-a-hole small.)
All C books get the same basic treatment. B books get that plus one or two extras. A books get all that plus the marketers' time and creativity as they craft a unique marketing plan for that book. "A" books get what those of us on the outside always thought ALL books get.
Okay, all that was background. On to the story idea.
What if demons are like marketing departments? What if there are so many humans to decieve and destory but too few demons with too little time and not enough resources? What if they have had to come up with generic "temptation plans" simply as a survival mechanism?
Plan 1. People from non-Christian families or in non-Christian cultures get the most generic plan: "Wait for their flesh to show their main weaknesses; give just enough 'help' to get them addicted and keep them that way."
Plan 2. People from nominally Christian families or cultures, who might actually encounter true Christianity, get everything from plan 1 plus a little more attention to be sure they're predisposed to reject it if they hear it.
Plan 3. People from strong Christian homes get everything from plan 2 but also stronger impetus to embrace their fleshly lusts; more demonic encouragement and "success" of sinful impulses.
Plan 4. This is the standard plan for pastors, missionaries, and "professional Christians." Dedicated demonic campaign to encourage the development of resentments, disappointments, pridefulness, and anything else that will be likely to trip these people up. This is Satan's hit list, so the demonic marketing department spends lots of time custom tailoring their efforts to bring these people down.
Plan 5. This is for the highest-profile Christians who have become notoriously resistant to all previous efforts. Here's where they call in the big guns, even Satan himself, for consultation and cooperation. This is the ultimate marketing plan, the kind of plan that every first-millenia freshman demon wishes his person could've received, but won't.
Some humans begin at level 2, for instance, but become Christians and send the demonic marketing team into a frenzy. Some demonic manager steps in and authorizes changing this person to a plan 3 person. If that fails, he's "promoted" to plan 4, etc.
Okay, that's it. It's similar to The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, I know, but not too much so, I don't think. I also know that demons probably aren't this well organized.
But I think a story set against such a system would be fun.
Jeff
In my years working for Christian publishing companies I came to understand that most marketing departments at such companies have way too many books to promote and way too little time and manpower in which to do it. That kind of situation leads, necessarily, to the development of some survival strategies.
One of those is the development of generic marketing plans. One marketing person I worked with explained that they basically have three marketing plans for all the books they are asked to promote: one for "C" books, one for "B" books, and one for "A" books.
(A, B, and C are designations of how "big" publishers think any given book is going to be. A is blockbuster big. C is fall-in-a-hole small.)
All C books get the same basic treatment. B books get that plus one or two extras. A books get all that plus the marketers' time and creativity as they craft a unique marketing plan for that book. "A" books get what those of us on the outside always thought ALL books get.
Okay, all that was background. On to the story idea.
What if demons are like marketing departments? What if there are so many humans to decieve and destory but too few demons with too little time and not enough resources? What if they have had to come up with generic "temptation plans" simply as a survival mechanism?
Plan 1. People from non-Christian families or in non-Christian cultures get the most generic plan: "Wait for their flesh to show their main weaknesses; give just enough 'help' to get them addicted and keep them that way."
Plan 2. People from nominally Christian families or cultures, who might actually encounter true Christianity, get everything from plan 1 plus a little more attention to be sure they're predisposed to reject it if they hear it.
Plan 3. People from strong Christian homes get everything from plan 2 but also stronger impetus to embrace their fleshly lusts; more demonic encouragement and "success" of sinful impulses.
Plan 4. This is the standard plan for pastors, missionaries, and "professional Christians." Dedicated demonic campaign to encourage the development of resentments, disappointments, pridefulness, and anything else that will be likely to trip these people up. This is Satan's hit list, so the demonic marketing department spends lots of time custom tailoring their efforts to bring these people down.
Plan 5. This is for the highest-profile Christians who have become notoriously resistant to all previous efforts. Here's where they call in the big guns, even Satan himself, for consultation and cooperation. This is the ultimate marketing plan, the kind of plan that every first-millenia freshman demon wishes his person could've received, but won't.
Some humans begin at level 2, for instance, but become Christians and send the demonic marketing team into a frenzy. Some demonic manager steps in and authorizes changing this person to a plan 3 person. If that fails, he's "promoted" to plan 4, etc.
Okay, that's it. It's similar to The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, I know, but not too much so, I don't think. I also know that demons probably aren't this well organized.
But I think a story set against such a system would be fun.
Jeff