CTP (S3EMaySpecial3) BAWMay2026 Hybrid Publishing That Puts Authors First

CTP (S3EMaySpecial3) Books Authors Week May 2026 Hybrid Publishing That Puts Authors First  
Exploring more of the fascinating intersection of Activism, Community Engagement, Faith / Religion, Human Nature, Politics, Social Issues, and beyond   
We sit down with publisher Michael J. Clausen, CEO of Illumify Media, to talk about how hybrid publishing can give authors professional quality without losing control of their work. We get into rights, royalties, cover design, distribution, and what it takes to become a “360-degree author” who can actually cut through the noise. 
• why Michael uses his middle initial and how name confusion even sparked the interview 
• what Illumify Media does for authors, from coaching to editing to global distribution 
• why traditional publishing can feel like losing control of your own book rights 
• how hybrid publishing works, including higher royalties and more author say 
• why McHenry Press exists as an imprint and what brand focus it signals 
• how titles, subtitles, and cover design decisions affect Amazon browsing behavior 
• what makes a book cover work at thumbnail size 
• how an author community model changes the long-term relationship after launch 
• the “360-degree author” framework and why story matters for marketing 
• how IngramSpark supports print-on-demand and worldwide fulfillment 
• launch promotion tactics, review strategy, podcast outreach, and AI-driven visuals 
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A Short Story: A Lasting Legacy? book Trailer

Transcript

Welcome And The Week Theme

SPEAKER_08 0:08

Hello, welcome to another episode of Institutionalist Podcast. I am your host, Joseph M. Leonard, that's L-E-N-A-R-D at LeFrench. It's not without an O. Thank you for tuning in. As Brandon used to say on his show, let's get on with the show. Welcome to Deja Vu Week. No, that's not what it is. But kind of sorta. Welcome to Bookslash Authors Week. May 2026. Just coming out of April 2026, bookslash authors week, and October bookslash authors week of October 2025. So yes, you guessed it. It's all about cucumbers and tomatoes and deli shopping books. Let's get on again. Joining me today is Michael J. Clausen and middle initial in there for a reason. I'll get into that in a minute. Of CEO of Illumify Media. Welcome, my friend, to the show.

SPEAKER_00 1:39

Thank you, Joseph. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_08 1:42

Yeah. And as Michael knows, there is an imposter out there using his name. I'm kidding, of course. There is another Michael Clausen. I forget what his middle initial is. And I'd always intended on having you on my show, but we just never got around to it. But the impetus for it kind of came when I got an invite from that other Michael Clausen to appear on his podcast. And I remember I sent you the email. Is this you? Are you doing a podcast now?

SPEAKER_00 2:20

Yeah, well, well, you know, when I registered my Facebook page 20 years ago or whenever that was, and I did Mike Clausen, and there were like 80 Mike Clausens already registered on Facebook. So I thought, well, you know, and all everything I write is going to go by Michael J. Jay is for James, my dad. Um, and and that way I can differentiate myself a little bit, although boy, that we almost uh had a had a had something, a mistake or something happened with you.

SPEAKER_08 2:50

So yeah, so but but I'm glad they reached out because it lined up being the impetus to finally get you on, and I'm the same way with my name, Joseph M. Leonard. It looks French, it's not Lenard, it's was Pol Leonard Owaskowitzki or something at some time. It's Polish, Leonard without the O, but yeah, I have to use my middle initial because there is a Joseph Leonard spelled the same way out of South Carolina, who is also a Christian author. So yeah, I know, right? And and I even get emails on occasion from uh about his books asking me, and I have in fact I did a Christitutionalist video exclusive. I am not Shakespeare, and I joke, I am not that Joseph Leonard Lennard, and he is not me, and neither of us will be confused for Shakespeare. That's right. So a little tongue in cheek to differentiate, because I'd love to have that Joseph Lennard on my show. But I can't he never he doesn't return any calls I've attempted to make or emails. I can't find a website for him. But anyway, you're here.

SPEAKER_00 4:19

Well maybe he's your maybe he's your evil twin.

What Illumify Media Actually Does

SPEAKER_08 4:22

Yeah, right. I'd like to know. But at any rate, you are CEO of Illumify Media, which full disclosure, my terror strike's coming soon to a city near you. The imprint is technically McHenry Press. Right. We'll get into that, but uh through through you and Illumify Media, and what I like about it is it's a family, it's not just a publishing firm. Uh, and we'll get into that more too. But the the obvious first question, what is Illumify?

SPEAKER_00 5:06

So we publish books for authors who want to change the world. And and uh and I've been in publishing since 1997. We've probably published in the last 10 years over 300 books. And um so so uh anyway, that's what we do. We we we have coaches to help coach you up. If if we like the message, um, you know, we'll coach you up to get that manuscript up to the right spot. But we have uh professional typesetters, copy editors, book cover designer, one main book cover designer, and then we can distribute your book around the world.

Why Traditional Publishing Feels Disempowering

SPEAKER_08 5:43

Your motivation for leaving traditional publishing to go out on your own and start up this yeah, so so I have been traditionally published, I have actually worked on about 70 traditionally published books.

SPEAKER_00 5:58

Um, and and actually, uh, you know, probably half of the study Bibles out there, I was the theological editor. And uh and and I authored some books on prayer. Um, but what I found was in traditional publishing, um there's some really good things about it where they they're going to, you know, they can give you that stamp of approval that you're a good writer, but they also in exchange ask for the rights to your book. They don't ask, they demand the rights, and you can't even forfeit those. They they won't forfeit the rights until 70 years after you die. So I wrote a book in 2001 on prayer by a traditional publisher. I'm not gonna badmouth them by name, but but they they they bought my book and it sold okay. I had a co-author on that, and then I tried to get the rights back because they weren't doing anything with it, and they wouldn't even answer my emails. And then finally, I I uh they contacted me in 2022 and said, Oh, we're gonna re-release your book. Here's the new title, and here's the new cover. I had zero say on anything on those decisions, and uh so so and actually the bull the book sold better the second time around than the first time around, but it just was disempowering. And so, with our version of publishing, which is a hybrid, we call it hybrid, it's kind of self-publishing and and traditional publishing publishing having a kid. It's you get the quality of the traditional publishing, but then you get the control of the self-publisher. Uh, you know, our authors will make over twice as much in royalties. The they they make ten to twelve dollars per copy of print print books that they sell in person, so it's really an advantage for authors. If you have a platform, if you have an audience out there, you're better off going with us. You're gonna make more money publishing through us than you will going through a traditional publisher.

SPEAKER_08 7:45

There's good and bad with everything, and I call it assisted publishing. And all assisted publishing firms are not the same. There are low-end and there are high-end, and there are a whole lot of rip-off agents out there.

SPEAKER_00 8:04

A whole lot. Yeah, you're absolutely right.

SPEAKER_08 8:07

In fact, I lost out on a podcast opportunity. Someone initially invited me on, but when they found out I worked with you, because they've had people who've worked with bad hybrids, bad assisted publishings, ripoff agents, they decided they wash their hand of any author that has anything to do with any hybrid publisher. Really? Yeah, and that to me is really so you're gonna punish me and you for other bad actors.

SPEAKER_00 8:47

Right, right. Well, and there's a lot of arrogance in the traditional publishing circles. They look down on other people, they want to be the gatekeeper to anything published, and they don't want anybody outside publishing the book except them. And and I just I found there's a lot of arrogance in the industry, and again, that's a reason why I jumped out of traditional publishing and into hybrid publishing.

SPEAKER_08 9:12

Mm-hmm. I again, uh, terror strikes coming soon to a city near you. Explain the why it's a McHenry press imprint rather than an Illumify Media.

SPEAKER_00 9:24

So so I used to work um 10 years ago, I worked for a um uh a right uh how do I see right wing publisher journalism company, and and uh and we had a lot of good business, and then they were starting to kind of shut down, and I started Illumify, but we had a lot of authors who had conservative books that they were publishing, and I thought, you know what, why don't we spin out our own imprint called McHenry Press? And I was thinking of Fort McHenry, where the Star Spangled Banner was written, or the words were, you know, where the rockets red glare, bombs bursting in air, and there's all this um craziness right now in our society, with uh, you know, and and and here you try to get this voice, this beacon of freedom that you're trying to tell everybody about, and it just seemed the right kind of imprint. So we've done a few a few McHenry Press books, um, you being one of them, um uh Joseph, but uh we've done some other ones as well. And that's yeah that way we can kind of create a brand around McHenry Press.

SPEAKER_08 10:34

Yeah, my friend Patrick J. Colbeck, who used to be a Michigan state lodged uh later in the uh Michigan Senate. Uh Bishop Ira Combs, finally. Uh I talked to you, we talked about him years ago, and that finally happened now. Yes, yeah, yeah.

Titles Subtitles And Cover Decisions

SPEAKER_00 10:56

We we had a ghostwriter working working with him. Uh, let me just say Patrick Holbeck is uh one of the best people I know. I mean, he is just wow, I I really uh think highly of him.

SPEAKER_08 12:09

As do I. I I'm glad we're friends. Uh I don't see him anymore these days, it seems, but you know, there comes that unfortunately uh reach different forks in the road, but um still the same attitudes and uh whatnot. Uh I was gonna you mentioned a cover team and Lisa mainly. Um I wanted to talk about my cover, but before I go there, I want to talk about the subtitle. One thing professionals like you help bring to the table is discussion of I have a different sub. I was always insistent it would be terror strikes, but there are bazillion books called terror strikes. The subtitle is what distinguishes it. I originally had terror strikes, they're here soon they'll strike. That was my working title. What I expected would be the title, and you guys all workshopped with me a better subtitle, coming soon to a city near you, holds the same thought of they're here soon they'll strike, but makes it more makes it more compelling. There you go, more compelling and even more descriptive of some of what I was trying to say in the book. Hey, it's not just a New York thing, uh, 9-11, it's not just a Madrid, Spain, 311 or London uh attack, it can happen in a location near you. Smaller terror strikes are happening all over. So coming soon to a city near you really indeed compelled it to that much higher level, and your years of publishing help bring that about. And I I say pick your battles, right? Stick to your guns on like certain content in the book through the editing process. I stuck to my guns on it. No, that word has to be there for a particular subconscious, subliminal, other reasoning, an Easter egg kind of, if you will, for those who wink, wink, nod, nod, nudge, nudge, who will get that broader implication. But be open to most of the editing changes, because again, you guys are professional. The book title potential change, the cover. I had a four-quadrant design that I wanted, and you guys kept saying, and I eventually gave in, you know, four that might be distracting and maybe too busy. We could put elements on the cover in pieces, and like it's hard to tell from here on the doomsday clock is pretty obvious, but the other subtle imagery, unless if you're looking at the book, you don't see, and uh you indeed convinced me a a simpler, more subtle cover, even with the elements, something compelling. Again, the main thing with the doomsday clock, the striking, because I also originally wanted the eye in strikes to be an AK-47 round, but we couldn't find the right round. You guys had a NATO bullet and they didn't know that isn't it, and gun people will know the difference. But the people, unlike Martin Luther King Jr., content of character don't judge a human by their cover, they definitely judge your book by its cover, yes?

SPEAKER_00 16:30

Yeah, you're right, right. Well, you know, and one thing that one of the philosophies I take with me into Illumify is I'm a strong believer in collaboration. And I believe, you know, we've got experience in publishing, you know your subject material, and I believe that when we bounce things back and forth enough, we're gonna get a better product than if it was just us or just you making that decision. So, and so to your point, you know, that's what how we came up with your your great book. It was a collaboration between you and our team.

SPEAKER_08 17:00

Yes, and I I really liked because it was although I've been writing my whole life and published locally things, that was my first international book. So I needed definitely the help in making that presentable, not just outside Michigan, but outside the nation, even to make it international.

SPEAKER_00 17:26

Right, right. Well, and book covers oftentimes when people design the cover themselves, they end up creating a book that drives people away from their book rather than to it. There's too much going on on the front cover and on the back cover, there's too much, there's too much, too many words, and people won't read it. Um, and so but a but a good book cover is going to really way get somebody's attention. You know, when we're working on even the title, and and your your title is perfect for this, you know, when people go onto Amazon, they see your book cover, and the cover is the size of a thumbnail. And so what you need is a title that's short enough that you can have a bigger font size for your cover. Terror Strikes, two words. I like one and two word titles. And look how big, look how big the font size is on your cover. And and uh, and those are little things that people don't always think about. So, but your cover is a great example.

Recent Books And Marketplace Faith

SPEAKER_08 18:22

Yeah, and I'm I'm really happy with it. Indeed, it's much better. I I'm still fond of I you guys still coming from publishing, hold to the but that's kind of the way it's been done. That's kind of the way we do it, and I like pushing boundaries on occasion, but that was one I gave up. But that was at first an initial thought. Hey, my cover will be pushing boundaries and different, and it'll catch the right eyes, but indeed, truly, it can drive a lot of eyes away.

SPEAKER_00 19:03

But you know, your your book is doing a great job, so we're really proud of your book.

SPEAKER_08 19:09

It would be like asking a parent what their favorite child is, so not gonna do that. So let me ask a fact-based question, so you don't have to pick and choose what recent books have come out on, or if you prefer, what's in the works, and I understand we have to be careful how we may talk about it, depending how close to being published they are, because you don't want to give away titles and whatnot, because that happens with movies a lot. A studio will announce a movie and a bunch of other studios, then rush to present a copy of it quicker.

SPEAKER_00 19:58

Right. Yeah, well, so so actually, and um and I met with this author this morning. Um, we we were contacted by an author, and when he told me his name, Walt Callisted, I knew who he was. He he was one of the top-selling Christian authors in the 1990s. Uh he and I I have a new uh pastor church called Community Church of Joy in Phoenix, Arizona, and he had a book idea uh called Epic Marketplace Revival. And uh and he and his first wife died, and he wrote the book with a second wife, Blakeney, and um John Maxwell endorsed it. I mean, Ken Blanchard endorsed it. We had some I mean some high profile names, but he's talking about what God is doing in the marketplace in touching people's hearts, and and the exciting part that's happening for us right now is um the Christian there there's different Christian music stations. One is Caleb, but there's another one, a competitor called Way FM, and they're having a business conference in Nashville, and we're gonna be a sponsor at that conference, but we're hosting Walt Kalistead, who sold millions of books, and we're doing a uh he's he and I are both on panel discussions, and then we're doing a book signing there, we're doing that together, and we're taking that message about what God can do through business people and taking it to the very people who need to hear it. And he's gonna do some other promotional things as well. We also um worked with uh an author who sold a lot of books, Bob Belts, wrote a book called The Holy Spirit, and he um he and Wall together were actually consultants on a lot of uh the movies, uh Christian movies that have been out there. And Bob Belts, we just released his book, and we're really proud of that book as well. So we've got we've had some really good things. We've got about 60 books we did last year. I love changing the world, um, partnering with my authors.

SPEAKER_08 21:47

One book at a time.

SPEAKER_00 21:49

Right.

SPEAKER_08 21:50

Yeah, and regarding the business, most businesses wanted used to want to stay out of faith and politics. And politics really crept in, and so a lot of businesses now are seeing well, the faith needs to come back in. So we are seeing more of that as opposed to before didn't want to touch that subject. So that that's good timing on that, I think.

SPEAKER_00 22:23

I was a pastor for 28 years, and I was writing books on the side, and then just ran out of gas uh about 10 years ago and decided just to focus on publishing. And I run my publishing company the way I pastor churches. We're relational, we love our authors, live in integrity. Um, I answer to God for the way I run this company, and I'm and I am I'm not preachy with authors who we pick up who are not believers, but I'm not gonna hide my faith. I'm just gonna live it openly and be who I am. And I've had some authors and they're going through a crisis, and so I pray with them in our Zoom meetings, and and uh, you know, if they don't like it, well, they can publish somewhere else. This is this is God's company. Me. And and and um and that's why I was so interested in we're doing a lot more business books. Um just because I want to see people living their faith in their in their everyday world and and and doing these books and working with authors like this um helps us do it, helps them do it.

SPEAKER_08 23:24

I'm not trying to make this all about my book again, but in you know, people think about a terrorism book. Did you have any misgivings when I first approach you? Because it's really about life and living, not about death and destruction. But coming at you with a book about terrorism, and it is a Christian book, but not the normal fluffy kind of traditional book. Did you have misgivings? Do you remember when I first approached you?

SPEAKER_00 23:57

Well, you know, and we've we've done some business with people in Michigan. I don't know, it was Patrick Colbeck who kind of opened the way for us to meet a number of great people. And and and you knew Pat, and and so I wasn't afraid. You know, and that's another reason why I thought, well, let's get this imprint. We can focus on this. A lot of similar messages. And we did two books with Pat. One was Illumify, one was the McKinry Press. We have your book, uh, we've done some other ones that that uh help kind of guide that focus, and and where people are not going to be um you know afraid of of terror the in the in the title. I actually think terror is a great word to have in the title because the title, the role of the title is to hook the reader. And and and terror is a everybody's uh I mean there's terrorism stuff going on today in Mexico and Puerto Vallarta. I mean, uh so people with the cartels, so you want to hook your reader, and then and then oftentimes the subtitle you define your audience. Um your your title and subtitle because they kind of go together. Um, but but uh but I'm all about the hook. And whatever's gonna get people's attention, so they'll open up the book or at least look at the book description and look at the table of contents, and if they're on uh Amazon and then buy your book, that's that's kind of the the goal of of why I wasn't afraid of your title. I thought it's just yeah.

The 360 Degree Author Conference

SPEAKER_08 25:34

I'm not trying to sell peer porn here. It's about hope. It's about life and living, not death and destruction. But indeed, until you actually start to get into the book, that title suggests otherwise starting to wrap things up. Anything you want to add before I get to the where do people find you question? Any other things you want to add in, any other recent books or current projects or uh let me think.

SPEAKER_00 26:12

I mean, we're always in the middle of working with different authors at different levels, and and um, you know, I mean the main thing is uh the authors we work with, they become our friends, and we become, you know, the the the relationship continues. So the last book we published with you, Joseph, was what, two years ago? But but we keep up the relationship because um that's that's the way that I I want Illumify to run. We're we're building a community of authors. It's not just one and done, one and done. We're building a community of authors, and we have an annual you know conference it every every September, October. Oh, I'm a British conference.

SPEAKER_08 26:52

Let's talk about that more because I really wish I could make it out there to see you all IRL in real life and attend that conference, but my disability budget just won't afford it. Right. But see, I'll just talk more about the conference.

IngramSpark Printing And Global Distribution

SPEAKER_00 27:08

I didn't think of that. I'm really excited about it. So, and and this actually came about in our our our last conference in October. Um, it hit me. What we're trying to do is we're trying to equip what we call the 360-degree author. The 360-degree author is if you're writing a book, what are all the things you should know right from the outset? Thinking like a uh writing like a business person, you know, when it's writing like a business person thinking about page count, word count, how long the book's gonna be, the retail price, uh, you know, writing with that with the journalists in mind, and and how do you tell a good story? Writing um with a bookstore, you know, even as a bookstore manager, what is a bookstore manager looking for in a book? And so we're trying to equip our authors, and we're gonna be on we're gonna be uh doing more with that um as the year progresses. I'm gonna write a book called this 360-degree author. It's gonna come out probably sometime in the summer, and then um we're gonna focus our our uh our conference this year on on story. How do you tell a story? How do you even how do you uh and Donald Miller has this uh concept he calls story brand? How do you market your book in inviting your readers into a story? It doesn't matter if you're fiction or nonfiction, and so um I've I'm already getting the pieces in place. We're gonna spend the whole the whole day with people that are gonna tell you how do you tell a compelling story, how do you invite authors or readers into your story as you market your book? The conference info and other info will be at all.com, I L L U M I F Y Media.com. And and in fact, if and if anybody out there wants to run a book idea by me, there's a scheduling link on the website where you can schedule time on Zoom with me and let's let's volley around the possibilities of your book. Um, and you can also sign up for I have a weekly Power Writers Report that um uh have a couple thousand people who read it, and uh my open rate's over 50%. I mean, people really like it, it's been very popular, and uh, you can sign up for the Power Writers Report as well at the website.

SPEAKER_08 30:04

Yeah, and McHenry Press is the basically the same thing, but the other input, and that's McHenry Press.com.com, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:16

M-C-H-E-N-R-Y press.com.

SPEAKER_08 30:19

Now you have to be careful because there is uh another McHenry, Illinois press new outlet. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:33

Wow, I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_08 30:34

Oh, you did yeah, so if you put in McHenry Press, uh you're not necessarily the one that pops up on top of you.

SPEAKER_02 30:47

Interesting.

SPEAKER_08 30:50

Uh anyway, thank you, Michael J. Clausen, for for spending some time with me today. It was great getting to interact with you again. And I really wish that I could come out for that conference, but uh been on a couple of your webinars. That's another thing. Occasionally you have a webinar. Talk about that.

SPEAKER_00 31:13

Yeah, we just did one. We we put our authors on a platform, a publishing platform called Ingram Spark. And and Joseph, your books are on Ingram Spark, and and uh it's um they distribute, they do all the printing and everything, and there are certain um promotions that they offer, and we trained our authors on how to use some of these promotions that Ingram Spark offers. So we do webinars like this, oh, every few months and for on different topics. Um, and actually in the business book market that we're getting into, I'm gonna be doing a uh a monthly um uh like an open shop where people can come in once a month at the same time every month, and they can get tips on how to write and they can ask me questions.

SPEAKER_08 31:55

Yeah, and that's another important detail. I kinda we kind of glossed over, didn't mean to. You don't print any books, you publish, you get it ready to be published or printed via and through Ingram Spark, which is the big player in book printing.

Launch Marketing Reviews And AI Images

SPEAKER_00 32:19

Right, right. So, yeah, Ingram Content Group is the world's biggest book distribution company and printing company. And and so they created Ingram Spark for authors. So you create your account, we upload the files to your account, we do all the work and upload the files to your account, and then Joseph, you can buy however many copies you want, you just go on to your Ingram Spark account, order copies, you can have them delivered somewhere. Um and and they do all the all the printing and all the fulfillment, and your books are available in North America, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, and uh Great Britain. So pretty much the whole English-speaking world uh they make it available to you.

SPEAKER_08 32:58

Yeah, for some reason, I usually mention booktopia in Australia. For some reason, I do pretty good through Booktopia in Australia.

SPEAKER_02 33:08

Interesting.

SPEAKER_08 33:09

Well, yeah, you you never know. You just never know. I mean, you can suspect, but there are so many new authors on a daily basis out there. There's a lot of noise. You you need the edge in helping to cut through that noise, yes?

SPEAKER_00 33:31

Right, right. Or, like I said, if a person does all the work themselves, they usually produce a book that drives readers away from their book rather than to their book. So we're trying to help make your book, create your book in a way, work with you, collaborate in a book that's gonna are or that people are gonna want to read your book, they're won't gonna want to open it, the book cover, the the interior design, the copy editing. We require a professional copy editor so it reads smoothly, minimize the mistakes inside, and and uh and sell more books and change the world.

SPEAKER_08 34:03

Yeah, one of the potential services you offer is uh a short term of promotion. You took over my Twitter and IG accounts for a while. And was it Lisa that she might have done it?

SPEAKER_00 34:18

We we have so she still does work for us. We have a marketing director, and and she's been like, so we've been pulling her in on a lot of our book launches where she helps build your book launch team so that you can get 20 uh five-star reviews on Amazon within the first couple weeks, and then build it up to 40 because people aren't gonna buy a book that nobody else is reading, that they think nobody else is reading. So, but she does social media, she does she she's able to get people into podcasts, that's another service that we offer. So I'm I'm pretty happy with with the setup that we have uh in helping promote authors' books.

Music Interlude And Metaphor Bit

SPEAKER_08 34:54

Yeah, in fact, I just took one of the images. It's a woman holding a baby, because in in my Naperville chapter, I talk about Teresa. Are you gonna be a mama bear or an ostrich? Are you gonna be the protector or are you gonna pretend the world is great, everything is wonderful, and nothing bad can ever happen to you? Well, bad things happen at times to good people, right? If you don't bring it on, it just can't happen. Again, I don't want people paranoid, but I ran that through the Groc Imagine 1.0 the other day, and it brought the image lease it did for me to life. So I'm resharing it again in an animated form to further promote. Yeah, that's another great thing. Uh images, uh the AI is great for image creation. What you want in it and then like Rock Imagine 1.0 can bring it further into an animated short, much more of a life because this Tic Tac world we're living in short attention spans and people want video.

SPEAKER_00 36:19

Right. Absolutely. ADHD. I tell uh I tell authors when you write your manuscript, you gotta begin with the assumption that your reader has ADHD, because they all do. Thanks to the internet, gaming, and whatever. So you gotta get their attention.

SPEAKER_08 36:36

A lot of noise, yeah. Uh there are more and more books, but it seems like there's less and less people reading. Or is that not true? Is that a myth?

SPEAKER_00 36:48

I mean, the book sales have stayed pretty steady. I don't know about literacy rates, I mean whether you know reading rates, but whole other question, yeah. Yeah, I mean, and I will say this Christian Christian book sales are up, and Bibles are up, like it's like tripled in the last five years. And um, so there's something going on in the hearts of of uh everyday Americans, and and uh it's good. But but uh the Christian publishing actually readership has increased, and and the other publishing companies they don't understand what's going on. Um, so it's just kind of interesting.

SPEAKER_08 37:25

All right, thanks again, Michael J. Clausen. Have you been a great day? Take care. God bless, brother. God bless.

SPEAKER_00 37:32

Thanks, Joseph.

SPEAKER_05 37:41

Metaphors water boy, I'm far too clever. For those whatever I use. Yup, analogy is lame. Wait, move over and let me show ya how it goes.

Reflection On Life Meaning And Legacy

SPEAKER_07 38:09

Metaphor, the Book of Kennedy by Project Carpe Diem.

SPEAKER_01 40:28

Back of the book says it all. Kennedy realized that indeed all life had value and meaning, but indeed, as Stew's life movie, I also tried to make clear Was life just indeed a collection of mediocre days with some random happy times? Was life irreparable and tainted with misspent youth, bad reputation children might have had, or redeemable with age and wisdom acquired? What then was the sum of that life? If, like the Egyptians believed at time of weighing by Osiris and Anubis could be lighter than a feather, in order to pass into the afterlife, were too tainted and weighed down by those earlier transgressions, dwelling on the mundane, or even clearly happens from time to time bad or negative days, or those good times and the math of life, so to speak, were good deeds and good days, perhaps worth a larger value in the overall equation, getting to that balance, sheep, sum, total. The day-to-day, a butterfly effect, the small smiles shown to another that made their day better. Perhaps maybe even saved a life whose life then went on to produce another, through a child, who then goes on to cure cancer? What role then did that small, seemingly insignificant smile on that day, likely long forgotten by all parties involved in the smile transactions, as it seemed at the time play, in that role of another one day curing cancer. How many points might that tender toward afterlife admits? And what score does one have to achieve? Note from the author. I want to state as a warning. This book contains not one line of dialogue. I feel it important to say that. Because a reviewer of my terror strikes. Coming soon to a city near you. Novel once wrote that she didn't think there was enough dialogue in it. Well, in all interviews I'd ever given regarding that book, I never promised it to be a dialogue-laden book. In fact, that while having some dialogue, it is heavy narrative style. As this book is entirely narration style. Versus Plato's dialogues, Philip Roth's Deception, Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, which known for extensive use of dialogue courtesy, of asking Google for that answer.

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SPEAKER_04 43:39

Life has its ups and downs, like a tilt of work and spin us around. Life like an amusement park. But not always too amusing. Ups, downs, happy cycles and season. Sometimes the last other still left foundation. Can be found season after season, we learn the right, every fall can teach us how to climb. So when the wall gets heavy, hear me now. What spins you down today? Can turn around, it can turn around, it can turn around up to the sky, down in the ground. It can turn around, oh, it can turn around, oh you feel you can be found. It can turn around, it can turn around. Roller coasters Life has its ups and downs. Like a tilt a world can spin us around life, life like an amusement park, but not always too amusing. Ups, downs, happy sights, cycles and season. Sometimes lost, others feel found. Wait, it can turn around.

SPEAKER_08 47:34

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