Pope John Paul II - More Than Ready for His Closeup

Hello:

Way back in August (August 15th, 2005 to be specific) I was prompted to begin this BLOG because the Hallmark Channel was getting ready to broadcast a movie about the life of Pope John Paul II ("Karol: A Man Who Became Pope"). Sooner or later Dark Glass would have started anyway, I was convinced that Liguori Publications needed to pursue better search engine optimization, but Karol's was the particular face that launched this ship. Today we set off on another Papal cinematic voyage inspired by the upcoming broadcasts of Have No Fear on ABC and Pope John Paul II on CBS.

As you know, my role at Liguori is to promote our electronic efforts. It's a role that acts as a catch all for everything from traditional sales of books over the web to developing products that can reutilize our existing content. When I first heard about the upcoming Pope movies, I began scheming about how I could piggy back on all that national media coverage the networks were providing. You may remember that back in August, we completely missed the boat on being able to capitalize on a movie that was inspired by one of our own titles, Stories of Karol: The Unknown Life of John Paul II by Gian Franco Svidercoschi.

This time, we were able to plan ahead and devised a multi-pronged approach to take advantage of the situation. We're experimenting with a mixture of traditional things like 10% off all Pope John Paul II books through December coupled with free shipping on any order over $20. We're also doing some things that are new to us like running a full slate of Google Adwords text and banner ads. [I'm learning that Google ads only seem cheap, the costs can rise pretty quickly] Most exciting though, was a coordinated effort to generate buzz through our BLOG postings.

Dark Glass, as I've mentioned before is easily the least spiritual of the Liguori related BLOGs. I'm the guy that's just trying to promote his company while also making progress on some personal projects (writing a novel, a writing project with my Grandfather, controlling my ADD). Much more interesting material can be found over at Saintly Sinner, where Dave the Simple Brother has written a very nice post about The Memory of Pope John Paul II. Very exciting to me, is the post The Alchemistic Practice of Lectio Divina by Brother Secundo Pia Columbanus D'Silva - Mystic Alchemy. Brother Secundo has just embarked on what I am convinced will be an absolutely unique BLOG experience (I don't say that lightly either). I won't say anymore about that right now - Brother Secundo and Mystic Alchemy deserve an exclusive post that will have to wait until later.

Dave and Secundo are the types of writers that will fulfill my vision of using BLOGs and the internet to create a Catholic Faith Community. I'm actively recruiting some additional writers and expect this effort to start gaining traction in the next few months.

It's been so long since I've posted that my head is swimming with things to say and desk is awash in post-it notes, but I think it's time to cut and run. If you have any interest at all in Pope John Paul II, I do encourage you to check out our web site. We have a nice selection of titles that make thoughtful gifts for someone else or yourself. Order before December 12th to receive by Christmas.

Peace,

P. Del Ricci - Dark Glass