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It’s been over a week since my wife and I went on an archeology dig with our daughter. She’s the archaeologist in the family– we are not.

I participated in a dig with her last summer, which was a lot of fun. This year, Denise joined us, which made even more fun.

What was it like being on an archeology dig?  It was hot, dirty– and very much the adventure you might expect. We were part of a large team of archaeologists working three “rich” areas. Lots of artifacts.

We saw flint points, metal points, flint tools, shell casings from army Spencer rifles– the list goes on. It was all cool stuff.

We also found bits of pottery. Now, up to this point, while it was truly neat to see and hold these artifacts, it was difficult to seeing living breathing people. There was such a vast distance in time between then and now that it was difficult to connect. Yes, it made me gawk at the workmanship, and marvel at what it must have been like to live in such a rough environment. But it wasn’t until we were cleaning and cataloging a small piece of broken pottery that one of the older, more experienced participants spoke up and said, “Oh, just wait until you find pottery that has a fingerprint in it!”

A fingerprint, left on the pottery? Now, wait a minute…a real human being, sure-enough fingerprint?

Okay, now a reality hit me. Suddenly I saw past the deadness of the cold objects in front of me and saw a real live, happy, sad, joyful, brokenhearted, successful, depressed, hope-filled human being. Not ancient bones, but the imprint of a living person. It brought the deadness to life.

It was one of those ah-ha moments that I will never forget. 

I’m glad God never forgets our fingerprints.

Well, it’s time for the Texas Archeology field school again.

Many of you may recall that last year I went on an archeology dig in West Texas with my daughter, Anne. This year,  Denise (my wife) decided to join us. Tomorrow we travel to Perryton, Texas, which is located in the Panhandle of Texas near the Oklahoma border. And boy, is it a long drive. Looking at the map tonight, I figure it will take us a  good 7-8 hours. It’s going to be a long day.

So stayed tuned…I’ll be giving you updates along the way.    

Check this out:

 THE WASHINGTON POST

“PUBLISHER OFFERS 5,000 MORE BOOKS FOR KINDLE.  Amazon.com said Friday that publisher Simon & Schuster Inc. will make 5,000 more books available for the Amazon Kindle wireless reader, bumping to 125,000 the number of titles users can download and read.  Later in the day, Amazon.com Inc. CEO Jeff Bezos appeared at the BookExpo America convention in Los Angeles and touted the benefits of electronic book  offerings.  He said Amazon had temporarily sold out of hard copies of “What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception,” the new tell-all book by former White House press secretary Scott McClellan.  Bezos has said Kindle e-books now account for 6% of sales among the 125,000 titles available on the site in both electronic and print formats. The company did not elaborate on that figure.”

The new Kindle reader is drawing a lot of attention. While I love new technology, I’m not sure I will adapt well to a Kindle reader. But it makes me wonder where we will be ten years from now.  Will a hardcover book have such a low demand that retail prices will go through the roof?

Who will use such a reader? It may end up being a generation thing.  Kids in grade school today will be the Kindle readers of tomorrow?  My college age kids may adapt to Kindle better than I will.  Who knows?

What think ye? 

Interesting news from the DMA…

STUDY FINDS INTERNET INFLUENCE SMALL WHEN BUYING.  The Internet isroutinely used when making buying decisions, but its influence is small compared with offline channels such as friends and sales personnel, a new study finds.  Sunday’s report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project looked at consumer behavior in purchasing music, cell phones, and homes or renting apartments.  It found the Internet’s role to be indirect.  Only about 10% of real estate and cell phone buyers and 7% of music purchasers credit the Internet with having a major impact on their decision.  And only a small portion —22% of the music buyers and 12% of cell phone purchasers — ultimately bought their product over the Internet.

THE NEW YORK TIMES

ONLINE SEARCH ADS FARING BETTER THAN EXPENSIVE DISPLAYS.  In the past few years, Web publishers have made a big bet on booming online advertising revenues.  But the economic slowdown may be throwing a wrench into those plans.  While search advertising remains strong, there are signs that the growth in online advertising — particularly in more elaborate display ads — is slowing down.  In the past few weeks, major online-advertising players, like Yahoo and Time Warner, have posted mixed results.  And online publishers may be getting less money for the ad space they do sell.  The prices paid for online ads bought through ad networks dropped 23% from March to April, according to PubMatic, an advertising-technology company that runs an online-pricing index.  Large Web publishers fared the worst in PubMatic’s study, with the prices they received through networks dropping 52%.

What comes to mind when you hear the words, “dignity in the workplace?” 

It’s not discussed much, is it? But, as a consultant, I often see dignity damage. But, it’s not obvious. Anyone can spot the angry boss who yells at his employees, always telling them what a horrible job they do, always belittling them as human beings. No question about such a case. But, to be honest, I can’t say that I’ve ever witnessed such an extreme—although I know they certainly exist. So while such dramatic—and sad—dignity busters occur, it’s often the little dings that punch holes in our soul.

Most of what I observe goes unnoticed by most observers. That’s why I think it’s important to ask these questions. In fact, as I observe various situations, it occurs to me that the ones dishing out the pain may not realize they are doing so. Often, there’s a thin line between solid business practice and dignity damage. Without at doubt, it’s a very complex topic, filled with many pros and cons. There’s the situation where a little dignity damage might actually help someone in their career. But then there’s the case where dignity damage is done only out of a selfish need for control or power.

I’m not an expert in this area, so I can not produce recommendations or solutions in a global sense. In fact, to be honest, I’m feel way over my head even writing about it. However, as an individual and a believer, I can try to make a difference in my every day life. I often pray in the early morning that God will guard my words and give me wisdom as I communicate with others. That may be too simplistic, but it helps me become more aware of the words I speak and write each day.  

In his book, Dangerous Wonder, Mike Yaconelli tells the story of a woman, Barbara Taylor, spending her holidays at a beach.

It was the time of year when loggerhead turtles made their way to the beach to lay their eggs. One evening, Barbara observed a female turtle coming ashore and laying her eggs. The next morning she returned to where she had last observed the female turtle and was shocked to discover the turtle had apparently lost her bearings and headed further inland into the sand dunes instead of returning to the ocean. Following the tracks, she soon found the struggling turtle. Realizing the danger, she acted quickly and contacted a park ranger.

Soon a jeep roared up, a park ranger jumped out and flipped the turtle on its back. Wrapping her front legs with chains and the other end of the chains to the Jeep’s trailer hitch, he raced off towards the ocean with the turtle in tow. However, this was no Sunday drive. The female turtle was dragged through the sand, her mouth filling with sand, her head bent back. The ranger stopped at the water’s edge, unhooked the turtle and flipped her over. Nothing happened at first, but then the water began to wash over her. Slowly, she moved out into the ocean until she was free of the beach and out of sight.

Barbara Taylor remarked, “Watching her swim slowly away and remembering her nightmare ride through the dunes, I noticed that sometimes it is hard to tell whether you are being killed or being saved by the hands that turn your life upside down.”

Humility is difficult to define. It’s like the old joke of the man who won the Humblest Man of Year Award. As the crowd clapped and cheered, the winner held the trophy high over his head and smiled. Immediately the host snatched the trophy out of his hand. The recipient looked shocked, to which the host replied, “Well, you’re not humble any more.”

 Perhaps we’ll never be able to fully define humility, but I’ve always liked what Frederick Buechner says in his little book, Wishful Thinking:

“Humility is often confused with the gentlemanly self-deprecation of saying you’re not much of a bridge player when you know perfectly well you are. Conscious or otherwise, this kind of humility is a form of gamesmanship.

“If you really aren’t much of a bridge player, you’re apt to be rather proud of yourself for admitting it so humbly. This kind of humility is a form of low comedy.

“True humility doesn’t consist of thinking ill of yourself but of not thinking of yourself much differently from the way you’d be apt to think of anybody else. It is the capacity for being no more and no less pleased when you play your own hand well than when your opponents do.”

From his writings, Howard Butt talks about being thankful. Each morning, he remembers to gives thanks to God. I like that. For me, it’s a good reminder to stop and take notice of the big picture of my life.

But oddly enough, I’m finding that the “big picture” isn’t so big. Well, it is big, but it just comes in smaller packages than I expected. .

A good meal.

A comfortable bed (much appreciated after so many business trips with nights spent in hotels).

A family that loves me.

A stray cat that comes around every day and wants desperately to make conversation.

An old car that keeps chugging along.

One of the best mechanics in Texas to fix my old car when it doesn’t chug along so well.

This is life—and I often over look it. If slow down enough, all of these small things help me see better as I give thanks to God for them. They help me keep a better focus, a better balance. And even in the midst of my daily stress and struggles, they help me find a little bit of joy.

Of course, what that really means is they help me keep focused on God.

After spending 28 years in the publishing business, I find it easy to become jaded. After a while, publishing becomes simply numbers on a page. How many can we sell?  What are the markets for this book?  Who will endorse it?

Born in East Africa, Phillip Keller worked as an agricultural development specialist, and wildlife photographer and naturalist. He also became a best selling Christian author in the last part of the 20^th Century with such titles as A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 and Lessons from a Sheepdog.  However, Keller always seemed to avoid talking about his success. In one of his books, Thank You, Father, he addresses this issue:

“I am aware that it is common in Christian work for those engaged in it to look for tangible results. We are a success-oriented society. We measure a man’s worth by the numbers he commands and the net returns delivered. But no such measurement can be used in assessing spiritual achievement. Our Father does not deal in digits. His chief concern is the solitary inner response of a single soul to the still quiet voice of His Spirit. Ultimately He deals with us as individuals. He does not manipulate us en masse. …So it was that in large measure I refused to keep any record or results achieved.”

Later he writes,

“The question was not, ‘How many books would sell?’—’Or would this work make the best-seller list?’ Rather, the central concern was that it be used by our Father to awaken His people to their peril. Here our faith could not repose in any publisher, editor, sales strategy, bookstore or publicity.”

These are good words for a jaded publishing person to read. Does it mean that I no longer believe in marketing? No, not at all. I believe marketing can inform people of books and resources available. How many times have I heard customers say, “Why, I never knew this book even existed!” Such comments convinced me long ago that marketing is not all bad.

But, on the other hand, it’s good to read these words and be reminded of a higher purpose and a higher calling. It’s not about numbers…it’s about people.

I must admit, I struggle with headlines.

…Get too creative and you risk becoming silly and may lose credibility.

…Get too conservative and you go unnoticed.

From my marketing experience, I know that headlines can be one of the more important parts of any text. It often makes the difference between being read and not being read.  But for me, after working on a text, I have a tendency to slap 5-minutes of thought into a headline and move on. But I know better.

Great headlines take time.

Here’s a quiz. If you know the author, pretend you don’t. Now, which of these book titles might temp you to take a closer look?

Here I am… Send Aaron

The Cross of Christ

Messy Spirituality

A Better Hope

On the Edge of Adventure 

If you answered one, you’re probably working at this too hard. If you answered three, you’ve got talent. If you answered all five, you’re a hopeless bookoholic.

Creating great headlines takes time, at least it does for me. I found there are no short cuts.  I’m not always consistent about doing this, but here’s a routine I go through for titles:  First, I tell myself that it’s worth the time to create a good title. In other words, I need to slow down and make sure I do the best I can.

Once I get that settled, I start writing down every title that comes to mind. Sometimes, I come up with a title on the first pass. But more often, I lay the list aside and come back to it later. It helps to give it space.  Usually by the second round, I create something that I feel good about. But, I try not to stop there. I put it aside again, and if I still feel good about it after a short time, it then becomes an official title. If not, I keep working on it.

Is it worth it?  I believe it is, but you’ll need to be the one to answer that one for yourself.