If you haven’t read my last post, I documented my decision to give away my ebook free to the world.
Actually, it wasn’t a decision so much as obedience. As wise old leader declared, “God’s children are not called to decide. They are called to obey.” So the decision isn’t so much about what to do, but rather whether we’ll do it. And I did.
Following this, my good sister in Christ Elaine asked me to let you all know how that decision has been playing out. So here I go.
1. It’s incredibly freeing, actually. There’s joy in letting go, as all serious saints know. To dropkick the money issue right out of the park is so liberating. There’s a peace and joy in obedience, because it’s not my book, it’s his.
2. It’s also hard, because I could have gone one of two “get it free” routes: One, to give it away free on my website and make people email me to get it. That way I could have a foggy clue about how many people are reading the book.
The second path is what God chose for me, where people can download it indiscriminately, invisibly, without me knowing—and can pass it on a hundred times if they like, also without me knowing. So not only have I let go of making money, I’ve let go of knowing how well the book is doing. This takes an enormous amount of faith, I’m finding. The beauty of it is that I’m entirely out of the way.
3. What I can tell you is that last Friday, the book homepage, www.findinghomebook.com, had a major spike (+40) in visitor hits, and that this has waned significantly since then. What I don’t know is whether those forty visitors downloaded a book, and if so, will they pass it on? Have they done it already? More than once?
4. Something interesting has been happening with some folks, something I didn’t plan on: The story—that God told me to give it away—has become part of the mystique of the book. “Did you hear about that guy?…” God told me not to milk that story, but it’s real, and it’s working in our favor.
And here I want to make an appeal: For this book to spread and change more lives, I need people to “buy in” and become part of the viral spread of this thing. Don’t just promote the book, give it away. Don’t just tell people about it, get the pdf and send it to them. ALL of them! I’ve made it as easy as “Forward email” to spread the book around the world. If you believe in the message of Finding Home, forward it to everyone you care about. And maybe even some you don’t. 😉