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Post by Jeff Gerke on Oct 10, 2007 20:48:13 GMT -5
What an awesome encouragement that is to me, scholar! Thank you, and welcome to The Anomaly.
Jeff
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Post by Jeff Gerke on Oct 18, 2007 14:41:20 GMT -5
A new article about Marcher Lord Press has just gone out in today's online edition of Christian E-Tailing. Here it is: New publisher focuses on Christian speculative fictionMarcher Lord Press, a new publishing company based in Colorado Springs, Colo., plans to release its Christian fantasy and science fiction novels next October. Founded by Jeff Gerke, who worked for more than 13 years in the Christian publishing industry as a novelist and editor, Marcher Lord Press will specialize in the kind of Christian fiction that he said is lacking in the current marketplace. "I've always loved Christian speculative fiction--Christian fantasy, science fiction, time travel, supernatural thrillers, the works," Gerke said. "But I was always frustrated that these novels seemed to get short shrift in the industry. And so I decided to do something about it." The first titles will include a science fiction novel with supernatural overtones and a "philosophical fantasy," Gerke noted. The company will release six original novels a year in two season cycles: April and October. Marcher Lord Press, www.marcherlordpress.com, will also augment its original releases with the re-release of Christian speculative novels that have gone out of print. "I'm shooting for a specific readership," Gerke said. "I like to call them 'Christians who love Battlestar Galactica' or 'Christians who love Heroes.' I want to give them the kind of fiction that is currently all but absent in today's (Christian) publishing climate." He noted that the name of his company comes from European history. A marcher lord maintained the boundary with an enemy nation, guarding against invasion and looking for opportunity to expand the borders of the home country. How cool is that? The link is here: www.christianretailing.com/a.php?ArticleID=16161. As I write this the article was sent out only 15 minutes or so ago and I've already had 5 e-mails from people who've seen it. Jeff
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Post by Khiya on Oct 18, 2007 16:39:55 GMT -5
Congrats! I can't wait till next year. I think it's so cool that God's bringing everything together.
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Post by kouter on Oct 18, 2007 18:48:06 GMT -5
Hey Jeff, I wanted to give you my impression of MLP. It sounds like a very interesting venture that speaks to me as one who aims to write Christian Speculative fiction. When I read your business strategy however, I was quite dissapointed. From a writer's perspective, what you are offering is not much more than a vanity press. I understand your reasons to do POD and zero marketing, but that equates to reducing the risk to zero. But zero risk = zero reward. I think you have a good concept, but you are playing it a little too safe. Be prayerful and step on on faith if you truly believe this is a calling from God. What do i mean by that? Make it a real publishing company. Raise some capital, get a real printer, get a marketing team, get some warehousing, a distribution chain. You have all the connections and the knowlege to negotiate these areas, few can say that. You're in a unique position to make that happen for Christian Speculative Fiction. My impression of MLP right now that it is being designed more as a hobby than a business. I say all this in love because I feel strongly that you are creating something worthwhile here and have the talent to do it, but I want to give you that extra push. Some friends of mine are writing their own comic book, of which I do some editing. They have created their own publishing company and have hired artists, printers ect to make their dream come true. It costing alot though, almost $20k per comic of their own money. But I have seen the results. By taking that risk, they know they need to make it or break it to survive and it has really raised the quality of their product. They have worked hard creating a buzz in the comic industry, forming partnerships, doing interviews, flying to conventions, locking a distributer ect. You can take a look at their site here: www.firstsalvo.comI think they even found a printer that will warehouse and ship for them at a decent price. I believe they do novels as well. I say all this to say, you got the knowledge to make it all happen, but to really make MLP any different than a vanity press that does not charge, you need to increase the risk and create a real chance for the books you publish to get to as many readers as possible. After all, isn't that what publishing is all about? Keep the faith, Jeff. If you need some investors let it be known and I'm sure people would respond. And seek partners, it doesn't have to be a one man show. Hope this was an ecouragment to you and not the opposite. In Christ, Kirk
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Post by Jeff Gerke on Oct 18, 2007 21:03:29 GMT -5
I appreciate your thoughts, Kirk.
Jeff
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Post by sparrow on Oct 18, 2007 21:09:48 GMT -5
Congratulations on the article, Jeff. It's good to see the word is getting out.
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Post by Christian Soldier on Oct 19, 2007 18:47:38 GMT -5
Grats on the article and free publicity! God is truly coming through for you.
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Post by Teskas on Oct 24, 2007 9:48:47 GMT -5
Let's keep MLP part of our daily prayer. The word is getting around. This is a fragile venture for Jeff, and judging by the problems he had getting MLP this far, The Enemy doesn't like the prospect of its success. Here's a link. The reactions are interesting and indicate what lies ahead for MLP. raygunrevival.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?t=1474I'm a great believer that effective prayer is specific rather than vague. Being specific--if you can agree on the points below--pray MLP and Jeff 1. Attract outstanding authors and stories 2. Attract good and sustained public attention and interest 3. Overcome negative reaction in all guises 4. Operate in an effective business environment
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Post by Jeff Gerke on Oct 24, 2007 13:11:51 GMT -5
Amen! Thank you, Teskas. Excellent prayer specifics.
Jeff
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Post by Christian Soldier on Oct 24, 2007 16:40:59 GMT -5
Amen to all and prayers away. I do love how the overlords at RGR defended MLP, as though I doubted they would.
God Bless!! --CS
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Post by sparrow on Oct 25, 2007 13:58:49 GMT -5
More prayers coming your way.
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Post by Teskas on Sept 17, 2008 19:45:05 GMT -5
May I bring Jeff's work to everyone's mind, and ask you to remember him, his family, his advisers, and suppliers in your prayers, as he works toward October the first, and the launch of MLP's first three books.
I'm doing a copy and paste from another area of the board, "Jeff, How's MLP Doing?", quoting him:
Please be in prayer for me during these last days in the run-up to Launch Day.
Things are progressing well but I still have some major hurdles that I need to see God get us over.
There were some obstacles in the path that would've been devastating, but God has cleared the way there. Still others remain.
Right now my biggest concern is that the whole online catalogue / shopping cart / credit card authorization system isn't working yet. I've been working on it solid since late August, and it's still not working.
It's a more complex integration than I thought it was going to be. Already there are seven companies involved at some level--and that's not even using creative counting to sound impressive (like adding ISPs, Microsoft, etc.).
Every time we get one obstacle cleared and get one more step into the transaction, a new problem arises.
But this whole endeavor is moot if people can't purchase my products. Please pray--especially since I'm going out of town for 5 days now for the ACFW conference.
Also, most of my time is being spent on MLP, which means some of my freelance editing projects are not getting done, which means some of my paychecks aren't coming in, which means more stress at home...
God is in charge of all this. I have no doubt. It's going to work out according to His plan. Right now I'm so focused on making it work at all that I don't have time to wring my hands and wonder if sales will soar or tank. That's probably a good thing!
I may be asking you guys to help me test out the shopping cart system in the Last Days of September.
Thanks for your prayers and support.
Jeff
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Post by Jeff Gerke on Sept 22, 2008 10:35:43 GMT -5
Thanks, Teskas. See the update on that thread, too.
The short of it: the shopping cart system is working! Thank You, Jesus! Still got some bumps to hammer out, but now at least I can receive money for MLP books. Kind of the point! If you'd like to help me take the shopping cart system through its shakedown cruise, drop me an e-mail.
Jeff
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Post by Jeff Gerke on Sept 29, 2008 7:37:27 GMT -5
I'm writing this when there are just 41 hours remaining before MLP goes live. Please continue to pray.
For one thing, the shopping cart continues to be iffy. Apparently my tech was working all weekend with one of their programmers/developers to get part of it working. It's bad when the programmers don't know what's going on with what they wrote.
Last week, the cart was essentially working. It wasn't passing the proper sales tax information on to PayPal (for the poor Colorado residents who have to pay it) but just about everything else was working. I hope they've fixed that, but I suspect they've been working on the coupons I wanted to use. Coupons are secondary. I can use them or not. But if I'm not able to charge the right sales tax--or if other things are now not working--it's really going to bite me.
I expect to see a proof copy of the second of three novels today or tomorrow. That will be good. I'll have time to approve the proof or (please, no) instruct them to make changes before we go live. The third one I probably won't see a proof of until after Wednesday, so I'll most likely have to approve it for production without seeing it. Ack! Or I could delay shipping for a day or two until I've seen the proofs. Don't want to do that, especially if someone pays for expedited shipping.
I do want to emphasize that I know this is all going to work out for God's glory. Maybe He's just wanting to show me how He can pull things together when they're way out of my hands. Even if it's some kind of disaster on Launch Day, I still know God's reigning over this entire process.
Thank you.
Jeff
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Post by Jeff Gerke on Sept 30, 2008 10:54:10 GMT -5
Update at the T-Minus 14 hours, seventeen minutes mark.
We are go for liftoff.
Yesterday the UPS man brought me my proof copy of Hero, Second Class. Oh...my...goodness this thing is incredibly beautiful. And heavy! Six hundred-plus pages and nearly 3 pounds! But a thing of beauty.
And I've just now gotten off the phone with my LightningSource rep. She was holding in her hands the proof copy of Summa Elvetica, which she said is one of the best-looking books she's ever seen LightingSource produce.
I'm actually working with my reps to see if I can have this book become one they send out to prospective clients to show what LightningSource is capable of. We'd do a special (shorter) version just for them, but I think it would be a great way to increase the exposure of Marcher Lord Press.
Anyway, I hope she's right that it looks good for production, because I've approved it for printing sight-unseen. She's sending it to me but it probably won't arrive until Thursday. I go live in 14 hours. So, no waiting.
Yesterday morning the sales tax thing began working. At least, it's suddenly activated now. It charges sales tax to people in Colorado, which is what it's supposed to do. That's a major breakthrough.
All the site updates--giving the store link--are saved and ready to be uploaded at midnight tonight, Mountain time.
The prize winners page is built and ready to go up. The winners haven't been chosen yet, of course, but I wanted to have the page ready to go so I could 1) upload it and then 2) start populating it with the names of winners.
There is still one remaining issue, and it's a minor one. When someone successfully makes a purchase, s/he is shown a button that says "Click here to return to Marcher Lord Press," but when you click on the button the browser hangs. It gets stuck in some kind of infinite loop thing instead of going to my thank you page. It's no big deal. The order has been successfully placed and paid for. I'd just like it to work correctly. But I'll be okay with it if that's the worst of my problems!
I'm intending to stay up tonight until midnight local time to upload the pages, send out the notices, and note who the last registrant is who is eligible for the prize drawings.
I'm wearing my Mountain Dew T-shirt and am expecting to imbibe large quantities of the Blessed Liquid between now and then.
It's really wonderful to be in this position right now. Yes, I'm very nervous. But in a way I'm calmer than I've been for the last six weeks. At this point it's out of my hands. God is going to do with MLP what He's going to do. I hope He has decided to make this thing a phenomenal success from Day 1, but even if He does not, I have had such an amazingly fun time doing all this and I'm just glad to be on the front row to see what happens in this, our grand experiment.
Thank you all for your support!
Jeff
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