Memories

Aug

2017

Publishing: 3

More from Jim on Publishing

In my last post, I mentioned April Fool’s day 2014, the day that dawned following over ten years’ service to my erstwhile employers, Day One Christian Ministries. In my tenure there as director of publications and marketing, I had gained a good sense of the publishing world, its strengths and its weaknesses, and how it could maybe benefit from having things done differently. I enjoyed working with editors and with graphic designers, and it was both pleasing and productive to develop so many new lines of books. I’ve mapped out some of these things in my portfolio in one of my websites [HERE].

Working in publishing significantly connected me with some fairly well-known authors, including people like John Blanchard, John MacArthur, Andy McIntosh, Roger Ellsworth and many others (you could see a part list HERE–there are over seventy names in it–but since then extended to more than one hundred). Some of them said some kind words [HERE], especially Dr. John Blanchard (pictured, right, with his wife, Pam) who wrote:

“Integrity and Efficiency”
Two words come immediately to mind when I think of Jim and Sue Holmes—integrity and efficiency. When you add gracious courtesy to those you have a combination that encourages you to work with them, as I have in South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States. Their experience and expertise will be of great benefit to authors who choose to partner with them and I commend them warmly to any who consider doing so.
Dr. John Blanchard, Evangelist, Author and Christian Apologist

All said and done, I now found myself in the somewhat unenviable position of having been let go of, with a significant workplace injury (which my employers at Day One knew well about and for which they refused to take any responsibility), though, thankfully, with a green card and the right to reside and work in the USA.

Making a Plan

“Well, Sue,” I remarked over my mug of tea. Her gentle face was showing some anxiety and I knew that I would have to work to keep her from stressing overmuch. “It has to be publishing in one form or another. That’s what I know best, and I am happy to be guided by the principle of Ecclesiastes 9:10—Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.” Around this time, John Lehman, an associate minister at a nearby church, had come into my life. He had, he explained, written a long letter that he wished to convert into a book and wished it to be a blessing to his family members. I looked it over, and it was very promising. Now that I have gotten to know John, we can enjoy a good laugh about how I helped to get the book “out of him.” See the graphic above on the right; John is much better looking than the patient undergoing the X-Ray and I hope I would not be mistaken in real life for the doctor! He and his wife, Suzie, are pictured below. John now has three beautifully produced books—the first on parenting, the second on marriage, and the third on fitness, all with engaging titles: It’s Apparent…You’re a Parent; I Do or I Don’t; and Fit for the Master.

As good J C Ryle said, “The best way to do something is to do it.” So I decided that the best way to start was by pushing ahead in some projects, feeling my way forward using social media and making myself as useful as I was able to. Principles lead to empiricals. “Just try doing it,” I counseled myself. One of the concerns driving me was to establish fair competency in website building and development, so while working on some editing projects for P&R Publishing, I also forayed into the world of Google-Sites and WordPress, soon finding the latter to be quite powerful, and that even eCommerce was not as complex as it might first seem. With thanks, under God, for free online tutorials and perusing numerous FAQs, it was not long before I found my way forward in developing websites for other people to help them promote their writing ministries. These include www.fitforthemaster.fit, www.deborahhoward.net, www.timothyjcross.org, www.lifelineminibooks.com, www.twelvedaysofchristmas.org, www.exposingthefederalvision.org, and several other ones.

An Unexpected Phone Call

An email that dropped into my in box from an online form submission from one of my websites was very interesting, and even more so when I phoned the man from whom it originated. “I represent a publishing family,” he said, “And in doing due diligence, we wish to establish whether you might be the right person to help in their publishing ministry.” It was an extra surprise, a pleasant one, too, to learn that the publishing family was none other than that of Tedd and Margy Tripp. Tedd (pictured here) is well known for his remarkable book Shepherding a Child’s Heart, a manuscript derived from a doctoral thesis that nobody wanted to publish when he first wrote it, so it ended up being self published (under the quickly thought-up name of Shepherd Press). Now with a sales history of well in excess of a million copies, it is a book that has challenged, blessed, and guided countless parents and teachers over the years. To cut a long story short, following a weekend visit to northern Pennsylvania, there commenced a relationship between me and Shepherd Press that enables me to be of service in the promotion and development of the ministry, and to help in recruiting new authors and rolling out of new resources. That’s just one of the various things that I love doing. You can find out more about Shepherd Press HERE and HERE .

Waging War on Worry!

Because the Shepherd Press work is flexible and part-time, there are many other things that I do in publishing. Like when Simon Robinson, my good friend in England, told me that he had been writing some notes all about anxiety. “I think we should make a book of it,” I ventured. “If you could get to 31 readings, it could even become a daily reading book.” Simon warmed to the idea immediately and soon after we were exchanging emails and sharing ideas. The outcome not long afterwards was a book in a black and red cover with an anxious man regarding people holding the book—the man on the cover that is—with 31 easy-to-read chapters, complete with Bible reference, application points, and a suggested prayer to pray—even if just to prime the pump, as it were–all to strategically help readers get over the worry factor.

So, why do I publish… That’s a great question. Perhaps it’s something like ink (rather than blood) in my veins.

So I am not yet done in sharing these thoughts. There is more to say about this ministry of publishing, especially inventing new and more efficient and effective ways of doing it, so I will add to this short cluster of posts and share some interesting insights into what I do and how I do it—and especially how the paradigms are changing!

To read the earlier posts on this topic, see HERE and HERE. To read the next one, see HERE.

Aug

2017

Publishing: 2

Why I Publish: Jim’s Account Continues . . .

In my last post [HERE], I reflected somewhat on the early interests and influences that were involved in steering me into publishing. I wrote a little about how I faced rejection from a secular publisher in South Africa, notwithstanding the fact that I (probably rather vainly) considered myself eminently suited to the position.

Providence directed my steps into a book-selling and distribution operation in South Africa, one Sue and I started from scratch. Interestingly, what led to this was really, humanly speaking, a low-level dabbling in selling books on a church book table. I think my passion, and Sue’s, was helping others to be enthusiastic about books, and how they could enrich one’s life in the experience of transforming grace. The book table we started was pretty inauspicious, but, like a steadily rising stream, it flowed further and faster and pretty soon became a full-time operation. Our intention, under God, was to fill and flood southern Africa with good books.

But back to why I publish, and some developments that took place once we had the book business in place and had started some printing…

Britain

A family situation arose in which we felt that our time in South Africa was coming to an end and that relocation to the UK was necessary. By the late 1990s, I had developed significant and strategic relationships with several UK- and US-based publishers, so it was not entirely an unexpected development for me to receive a job offer from Darlington-based Evangelical Press, now known as EP Books. David Clark’s crisp voice on my cell phone as he spoke to me from England (I was in the bank in Johannesburg at the time) spoke confidently of EP’s interest in hiring me, and in due course, the contract was signed for my impending position of International Sales Manager, with particular activity anticipated in developing sales in the North American market.

With our feet firmly planted on British soil, so began a new chapter in our lives. Working for EP was both stimulating and challenging. Frequent travel to the USA introduced us to new friends, new ways of thinking, and new opportunities. And because I maintained friendships with other publishers I knew, there were always fresh opportunities at trade shows and other events to compare notes and to think of new ways of doing things.

The Shortest Distance between Two Points

This publishing thing… there often seemed a top-heavy dynamic in the process of moving an idea into print, processing it through all the systems, getting the content edited, a book jacket designed, typography agreed, and then the process of channeling it out to would-be readers through a wholesaler, distributor, retailer, and sales-representative system. Why couldn’t we just get the book from the publisher to the end-user and make the process leaner and more efficient?

In other words, why not just make the whole process more efficient?

I plan to write more of this in my next post…

Christian Care for Body and Soul

When I met Jackie Ross of Blythswood Care, I liked him straightaway. I think most people liked Jackie; he was the kind of person you couldn’t not like. At the time, he was terminally ill with cancer, but close friends reported that his energy was almost unabated. Good friends with him, and related by marriage to William Mackenzie of Christian Focus Publications, the two men were very much like brothers. Both had been visionary and instrumental in the inception of Christian Focus. “We’d like you to work for Blythswood and help us with our literature ministry,” Jackie intoned in his highland Scots accent. My heart was strongly pulled. Some months later, I was engaged as director of Blythswood Books for Life. Blythswood’s primary mission was to show Christian care for body and soul; what better way to help with the soul part than with books! How exciting it was to be back in the discount mail-order operation system once more, this time in the United Kingdom. All the skills learned in South Africa came in useful as once again Sue and I were able to promote the best kinds of books from reliable publishers. And it was a relatively short gap between publisher and reader!

And guess what? I found myself talking again to printers, and also developing a website!

One thing leads to another, and, after Jackie’s passing, a certain measure of restructuring was inevitable. How would God lead us now, I found myself wondering. Then the phone call came from Day One. Would I give some time to them, maybe equivalent to one day a week, on a flexible basis? It seemed a fair question. “What would you like me to do?” I asked. “Well, more or less anything you think you could or that you are good at,” came the reply. So, soon I was in up to the elbows in new projects; there was some editing, there was magazine work, there were customer relations to take care of, and there were authors—authors to encourage, to nurture, and to discuss projects with. John Roberts’ Yorkshire accent was distinctive: “Well, lad, if you think you could develop this series, I think that’d be a right good idea,” his voice boomed. Before I knew it, I was the invisible series editor of “Opening up the Bible” and also pioneering many other of Day One’s sub-brands, such as Creation Points, Life Stories, Faith Finders, and several others.

America

“Jim, I think you have really put Day One on the map as a publisher,” offered one friend and mentor. “You’ve straightened up the list and brought discipline and order to it in a significant and strategic way.” His words were carefully chosen. And it was around that time relocation to the USA became a serious consideration. A week before Thanksgiving 2010, the Holmes family placed their six feet on American soil for the first time with the intention of not taking them off US soil for several months. With things that took place then, there might even be a book’s worth of events that I could derive from those early months!

April Fool’s Day

Here is not the place to go into what happened in Day One’s revised thinking with respect to its US operation and my and my family’s being transplanted here. Suffice it to say that I am thankful to know that the Lord God omnipotent reigns in the details as much as the big-picture events of our lives. So it was that on April 1^st 2014 I awoke with somewhat of a sense of “What is God going to do in my life now?” I had but the barest sense of whatever it would be, it would be in publishing…

So, why am I a publisher? Let me try to share some more about that in another blog post! [HERE]

Aug

2017

Publishing: 1

Why I Publish

My résumé looked good–at least I thought it looked good.

So why did the response letter start, after the salutation, with these words: “We regret to inform you that, while we were impressed by your credentials, we are unable to offer you the position…”

I had thought the publishing position tailor-made for me. It did not involve relocation. It required literary and management skills, all of which I had been building up in the years of teaching I had undertaken in a school operated by the KwaZulu government in recent years. Perhaps, unknown to me, the principle of Proverbs 16:33 was at work:

The lot is cast into the lap,
But its every decision is from the LORD.

Be that as it may, a few months later security conditions in the school deteriorated to the point that it was no longer safe for me, as a white South African, to commute the seven or so miles to the school where the students were all black South Africans. A large rock hurled by someone in the bushes on the roadside–intended for my face–narrowly missed going through the windshield (creating a massive dent, instead, on the corner of the roof of my Volkswagen Beetle) and it was considered prudent that I seek employment elsewhere.

To Johannesburg we go!

So, with our vehicle bulging at the seams, we found ourselves en route to Johannesburg after so many happy years in the Natal midlands. I served as bookstore manager for a while before engaging in a temporary excursion back into the teaching world and before biting the bullet and starting an import and mail-order discount bookstore. It grew auspiciously and soon required full-time attention.

It wasn’t quite publishing, but, well, it was a way of serving publishers and people who needed the books.

James Dearmore and the A B Dick

Jim Dearmore was a Texan in Africa. His story was remarkable for its adventure and spiritual verve. He and his wife, Georgia, had been missionaries in the Congo and then moved to what was then Rhodesia before ending up in the northern regions of South Africa, where they continued their missionary endeavors. His outspokenness against Marxist doctrine made him the kind of person who probably would not be welcome to stay in the country once an ANC government was established. He was one of my favorite customers, a godly man, a no-nonsense American in whom there was no guile. I loved the way his gas-guzzling 1970s automobile drove into the parking lot, so much like a great ship, taking as it seemed several minutes to come to a halt as it berthed. From deep within its recesses (it may have been a Cadillac; it was huge) he would emerge, his short white beard outlined against the greenery in the background. His eyes were kindly, always twinkling. His voice deep and his drawl slow and pronounced, he always spoke wisely and well, often punctuating his speech with apt quotations from the Bible, always in the King James version.

“Brother Jim,” he informed me (he always called me Brother Jim or Brother Holmes), “Brother Jim, I am a kicker of sacred cows; if I see a cow in the distance, I will go up to see if it is sacred, and I will kick it if it is. We should only believe and practice things that are in the Bible.”

I loved his straightforwardness, his directness, his call-a-spade-a-spade mentality. He was no stranger to hardship and to hard work. One day he told me about his A B Dick, a printing press he housed in his garage. With relocation back to the USA in mind, he needed to sell it, and he considered that I should buy it. At the time, I was running the book business I had started, and it involved quite a lot of printing that I usually got done in a copy center in Johannesburg. I was also editing a magazine at the time, Reformation Africa South, so that put me in connection with a commercial printer, Leonard Venter. Len was another character. Everything he described was “fantastic.” I mentioned Dr. Dearmore’s offer to sell his A B Dick press to me. In his Germiston accent he enthusiastically said to me, “Fantastic! Jim, my boet, let’s go check out the doctor’s printing press.” A few days later, riding along in his Toyota Camry at around 100mph, we made the long journey north of Pretoria to Dr. Dearmore’s location in a very short space of time.

“Ag, Jim, I think you should buy it,” Len told me. “It’s quite an old machine, but these are fantastic for jobbing.” Jobbing, he explained, was for doing the run-of-the-mill printing that involves a printing press that just keeps on going in a stable way–ideal for catalogs, newsletters, flyers, etc.

The deal agreed some weeks later, we knew we would need space to house it, so a few months later, we commenced building a double garage on our Strubens Valley property. Getting the press from where Dr. Dearmore had housed it to our location was challenging; it weighed more than a ton. And it arrived with a bewildering number of rollers and peripheral items, all with special names and functions that would need to be learned!

Then Julian showed up. Julian Glover was one of those young chaps who will try his hand at anything. “Yeah, I think I can make this machine work,” he said confidently. I must say that I wondered… Long into the night hours he tinkered with it, multiple colors of ink adorning his fingernails, hands, arms, face, and hair. And, sure enough, the steady duff-duff-duff of the press eventually yielded some remarkable output, including printing in full color.

Why I Publish

So, why do I publish? I’ll have to explain this a little more in my next post! I read Theology, Biblical Studies, English, Greek, and Hebrew (and some other stuff) in my Bachelors degree; I trained in postgraduate studies and practiced as a teacher; I started a book business; and I purchased a printing press knowing a little more than nothing about how I would make it work, but in the care, purpose, and providence of God, it worked–and it worked well. I think that might hint a little as to why I have ended up as a publisher…

So I will take up more of the story in a future post [HERE].

Illustrations of James and Georgia Dearmore, from CWS Funeral Home. The A B Dick printing press is one rather like the one I purchased. Image credit here.

Oct

2016

Remembering my Father

In October 2003, my dad left this world after battling cancer for some months. I have many fond memories of him–a man of action who would never let his teacup get cold before he was up on his feet to go and get back to the project he had been working on, whether fixing a vehicle, modifying a system in his house or garden, or doing something to improve one aspect or another of my mother’s life.

I was sharing some memories with my thirteen-year-old son some weeks ago. He had been tasked to write a short story, something to do with, perhaps, a family member. I generated some points for him by way of outline that he could use in his eighth grade English class.

As I thought about this, it became evident to me that it was a story I, too, could share with others. So, here we go! I originally generated the notes in point form (expanded here), and titled it Granddad fixes his car in the middle of nowhere in Africa.

Granddad fixes his car in the middle of nowhere in Africa

The year was around 1985. Granddad, then in his early 60s, decided to drive from Durban in South Africa to Lusaka in Zambia with Grandma so they could visit their daughter and grandchildren. The distance to be traveled was about 2,000 miles each way. Their car, a small Chevrolet 1300, was well maintained, but had been driven extensively and over some lengthy distances for nearly ten years.

Granddad was a skilled mechanic, and he always carried tools in his car as he had learned since World War 2 to be as self-sufficient as he could. Once in East Africa as a very young man–possibly still in his teens, when serving in the army–he had fixed a broken water pump on the truck he was driving–in semi-desert conditions–by modifying a part from another machine that the truck happened to be carrying. Never one to wring his hands in despair, he had the spirit of determination that would not give in and admit defeat.

As he and Grandma were driving back through Zimbabwe, about 400 miles from any major city or garage, the gearbox of their Chevy failed. The casing broke, and the bearings carrying the drive shaft were in ruins.

Granddad jacked up the car, removed the gearbox (a fairly major operation to be conducted on the side of the road) and started to fix it by using strong glue and wire. He always carried Pratley’s glue, as well as a range of tools in order to make emergency repairs or temporary modifications.

While he was doing this, a Zimbabwean soldier with a rifle–I think it was an AK47–drove up and asked what was going on. He lay his weapon down on the ground next to the car, pointing in Granddad’s direction. He–Granddad–reported that he and Grandma were a bit nervous about what would happen, especially if the gun accidentally went off!

As matters transpired, there was nothing the lone soldier could do to help, so, after a while, he left, and much to Granddad and Grandma’s relief, he took his gun, and without any unfortunate incident having taken place.

After some hours of grovelling in the roadside dirt and (no doubt grunting as he struggled with the components), Granddad managed to complete the temporary repair, and drive the car, which was making a terrible noise, all the way to Pietersburg (now called Polokwane) in the northern region of South Africa where he was able to purchase a second-hand gearbox and install it. He described the rumble and vibration of the driveshaft he and Grandma had to endure for some hundred miles as being almost impossible to bear.

I am thankful to be able to say that he and Grandma managed to get back to Durban in the car eventually, around a day or two later than originally planned.

Memories

Publishing: 3