A challenge to meet have I.

Our district synod is meeting in Walsall in September and I asked if we were having a bookshop as I though it might be a good opportunity to have my book of vestry prayers for year B of the revised common lectionary on sale (Year B starts the first Sunday in Advent 2011). I was at coffee morning at Pleck Methodist Church this morning and one of the circuit stewards said that there would be a bookstall and they would be willing to sell copies of the book.

That was fair enough but then one of the folk from Pleck said what happened to the other two years of prayers which I had said I was going to write. I said I hadn’t got round to it and she said I really ought to. She does have a point as most of the churches in our circuit use the book when I am preaching and often comment on how useful they find it. So the challenge now is to write prayers for Year C to publish middle of next year so they can go on sale around September.

I will keep you updated on progress here – I am four chapters into a follow up to my other book about my childhood so I may need to do a bit of work on both – hope I don’t get confused.

Book of Vestry Prayers - Now Available

Hello Readers, further news on the book of Vestry Prayers which is now available for purchase if any readers are interested - I took one to church with me this morning to show our senior steward and she said it was very good and that she thought the price of £4-99 was a good price given the quality of the book. Postage and packing will add a further £1 to the price and the book can be ordered direct from me at the moment by sending a cheque for £5-99 made payable to Ian Southall, 81,Alexandra Road, Palfrey, Walsall. WS1 4AZ. Cheques should be made payable to Ian Southall. (Please allow 28 days for delivery as I only have 5 copies until my next order is placed for a larger amount of copies) It would be an ideal present for your church stewards or as a resource in your vestry.
I am looking at making them available direct from the publisher both to purchase as a book and to download and I will post more news shortly.
The picture of the book will give you an idea of what it looks like but I have to say that the cover is plain green not striped as it appears on the scanned picture.
For those who read the vestry prayers I put on the blog I will continue to do this and the year 'B' prayers will not be the one's that are in the book.

Vestry Prayer Book Latest News!

The book of Vestry Prayers has arrived from the printer's today and I am very impressed with the quality of the product. I think the price of £4.99 is fair and I will tomorrow post a copy to myself so I can see what the postage is to give a proper price. I ordered six books initially but will probably place a bigger order with the intention of taking some to our district synod in September to see if I can get a feel for whether it might be worth widening the availability. I will look also at allowing customers to purchase direct from the publisher and at being able to download for friends in such far flung places as South Africa.
My son said something along the lines of I wouldn't be selling many as I am putting one on the blog each week, but these are written each week using the same method I did for the prayers in the book - I look at the lectionary readings and suggested hymns in a number of sources and compose the prayer using the thoughts from the various things I have looked at.
In the book there is a prayer for each Sunday in the lectionary year but not for the extra Sundays such as MHA and NCH on the basis that these sorts of organisation often produce their own material.

Book of Vestry Prayers

Following on from my previous post and the comment From Steve Jones in South Africa I thought I should post again relating to this book.
The original book was done completely from start to finish by me using a local office supplies company for the printing and then I cut the pages down to A5 and used plastic slides for the binding of them. I produced 50 copies and gave one to each of our local preachers and one to each church in the circuit - while the cost was reasonable there was a lot of work involved in the production process and I decided not to go any further with it at the time.
Two years on and encouraged by the fact that the book is being used quite regularly in our circuit I thought there may be other people and places where the book could be a useful thing for them to have. I was also encouraged by the fact that a number of people check the prayers I have been putting on the blog each week.
I have found a self publishing company through a magazine I read and last week ordered six copies of the book to see what it would look like produced 'professionally' with the thought of taking it to our district synod in September to see if there would be any interest. I also thought it might be worth putting something on the blog about it again to test the water so to speak.
I have to say that the production cost using this method is probably a little higher but I am hoping when I receive the order that they will be a far better product and will be attractive to people who may wish to have a selection of vestry prayers. I would have to fund the printing of any quantity initially and that is part of the reason for testing the water - the project is not about making money but more about providing what may be a useful resource for others at a reasonable cost and covering my initial outlay - there is a possibility that if I were ordering say 100 copies that the price might come down due to bulk purchase discounts.
At this point in time I have set the book up so that I am the only one who can purchase it but may well open it out to anyone being able to purchase and there is a facility to enable downloads of copies direct from the publisher and again this is certainly a method I will consider using once I have seen the book 'in print' and been able to satisfy myself with the quality of the product.
I am hoping to receive the book in the next few days so watch this space for more news!!