UPDATE: This sale is officially over! We sold all 1400+ copies in THREE DAYS. The good news is that the book is still available in its second edition via Amazon. Click here to purchase your copy: Pocket Guide to the Bible: A Little Book About the Big Book

I have a few friends who’ve had books published, or are in the process of writing and/or publishing books now. It has been fascinating to learn how publishing works by watching them and listening to their stories. One of the many tidbits I’ve picked up is that the work isn’t done once your book is written, printed, and shipped to stores. Sometimes, weird things happen, and you the author have to figure out what to do with dozens of boxes of your unsold books that your publisher or distributor will no longer store for you.

This happened a few years ago to Jason Boyett’s book, The Pocket Guide to the Bible. (You may remember this interview I did with him a few months ago, about another book.) This book is thoroughly researched and well-written –it’s accurate and informative without being stiff, academic, stodgy, or, well, boring. Jason’s style is entertaining, informative, and refreshing, making this the perfect book for young people, new converts, and anyone interested in learning more about the Christian faith. So it was strange to hear that a few years ago, for reasons I still don’t quite fully understand, Jason had to find a home for over 9,000 copies of the book. A local church offered space in their facility for a number of years, and over time he has managed to sell almost 8,000 copies on his own. However, last week he lost that space and had to move the remaining 1400 books into his garage.

I believe that books like this belong on bookshelves and in people’s hands, not in boxes in garages (unless they’re car repair manuals, which this one clearly is not). I’m not alone in this, either. I’m part of an online writing and networking group (of which Jason is a member as well). When we heard the sad story of the garage, we all decided that we need to help move these books out of the family garage and into your homes and churches.

But how?

We first considered staging an Italian Job-style heist to remove the books from Jason’s garage. But we rejected that plan since his city isn’t built on water and thus lacks any way to swim under his home, dynamite the floor, and drop the books into a speed boat. Plus, his wife didn’t want a gaping hole in the floor, none of us had anywhere to store the books either, none of us has time to spend time in prison for theft and vandalism, and anyway, the idea is for people to buy them and read them.

So, we decided to throw an online Pocket-Sized Garage Sale.

Real photo of the boxes in the garage.

We’ve set a goal to sell all 1400+ books in the next two weeks.

This way, we don’t need dynamite and we won’t get in trouble with the law (or with Jason).

(Just to be clear, we have no stake in this whatsoever other than trying to help a friend. In other words, we’re not getting any cut of the profits. We just want to help out a guy who has helped each of us already in so many ways.)

But we DO need YOU.

We have one opened box with just forty-five individual copies for sale. (Hurry — these are selling FAST.) We’ve discounted these 50% to just $4 each, AND we’ve volunteered Jason to sign each one. Order a book for yourself. Order one for the student you know who is graduating (they make excellent gifts). Order one for a friend interested in learning more about what Christians believe and what the Bible says.

But we need to think EVEN BIGGER than individual copies.

We have 4 boxes of 75 for just $70 (that’s less than $1 per book!), plus shipping (this is a heavy box, so be ready for a media mail shipping cost of around $15 or a standard mail cost of at least $30). We also have 23 boxes of 48 copies for $48 plus shipping.

• Order a case for your youth group at church, or your Campus/Young Life group.
• Order several cases as gifts for the students attending your summer camp.
• Give books to the incoming freshmen at your Christian school.
• Order a few cases and sell individual copies for $5 each for a youth/school/mission trip fundraiser!

The possibilities are endless.

There’s one catch – YOU CAN’T BUY THEM ON AMAZON. Yes, the book is available on Amazon, but it’s a rerelease, not the copies piled up in Jason’s garage. Plus, those copies aren’t signed. But, don’t worry, both versions are exactly the same.

Click here to visit our Big Cartel store and place your order. If you can’t buy one today, will you please share this post on Facebook, Twitter, and/or Pinterest? Thanks! That’s a HUGE help too! And don’t forget – this awesome sale only lasts for a couple of weeks or until all the copies have been sold.

I’d love for you to brainstorm with me in the comments. What’s your creative idea for sharing these books? Did you know that authors sometimes get stuck with thousands of copies of their books?