EVEN THOUGH THE BOOKSTORES’ supplies of my books were diminishing, word of the book was still growing. Local bookstores began to complain to my distributor about the avalanche of phone calls they were getting for a book they couldn’t get. Some said their phone lines were being jammed with calls, and asked us to do something about it.
What are we supposed to do? I thought. Then I had an idea. I had already paid for some radio commercials, which were now of no use to me. I wrote a new radio commercial that thanked all those who had purchased my book and told people that the book was sold out.
From this I learned a powerful marketing lesson: if you really want to sell a book, tell people they can’t have it. It was like throwing gasoline on a fire. One bookstore manager told me that a fistfight had broken out between two women over the last copy of The Christmas Box in his store.
By Christmas day every copy I had printed was sold. I had even depleted most of my own private stash of first editions, giving them to my advertising clients, with whom I would be back in business as soon as this author thing was over.
The Christmas Box had sold everywhere I had put it. And I had put it everywhere. Pharmacies, copy shops, doctors’ offices, even hair salons. My hairstylist, as a favor to me, had started selling my book from her counter to her other clients. She said that she was making almost as much selling my book as she was doing hair.
One independent bookstore called to tell us that they had the last remaining stash of my books in the Salt Lake valley (they had forgotten to bring them out of their back room) and had doubled the price of my book and limited purchases to two per person. They had a long line outside their store until the books were gone. Years later another bookseller told me that The Christmas Box had saved her bookstore from bankruptcy.
I was receiving calls about my book every day. One of them was from Keri’s friend.
She was getting her hair cut, she told Keri, when her stylist began talking about her father. She said that he had called her and asked if she would come see him. It was a strange request because she hadn’t seen him for years. He was a difficult man and all his children had pretty much cut off contact with him. Then she called her brother and sister to see if he had called them as well. He had. None of them could figure out what he was up to. Finally they speculated that he must be dying.
A few days later, when they had all assembled at his house, he said humbly, “I’ve asked you here to see if you could ever forgive me for the father I haven’t been to you. And if you could somehow allow me a second chance.”
The children were stunned. After a tearful reunion one of the children asked him what had happened to bring about such a change. He told them that a few days earlier some people in the neighborhood had brought him a Christmas gift, a little book. He knew the people were religious and thought the book probably was as well, so he had no desire to read it. He put it aside. But he could not stop thinking about it. It bothered him so much that he threw the book away. But still it wouldn’t leave his mind. In fact it got worse. It was as if the book was calling him. Finally he couldn’t stand it any longer. Late at night he retrieved the book and read it cover to cover. Somehow it healed him. The strange thing, she said, is that it was just some little Christmas book called The Christmas Box.
•
A few days after Christmas I received a call from a woman I didn’t know.
“Are you the author of The Christmas Box ?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“I wanted to know if I could reprint a portion of your book. Our grandson died over the holidays and we would like to use a paragraph from your book on his funeral program. We found your book very comforting.”
“Of course,” I said.
These calls were the first trickle from the river to come.
Dear Mr. Evans,
As a producer of stage productions for Kansai Telecasting Corporation in Japan, I lead a very busy life. Awaiting the birth of my first son, I was not totally sure of how I felt about becoming a father.
My first son was born on January 1, 1994. This was also the same day I became aware of the book, The Christmas Box. Upon reading the book I was deeply moved by the message in it. I could not hold back the tears that rolled down my cheeks.
From then, your book became my Bible as far as being a father. Still now, I am not the perfect father but your story within The Christmas Box has greatly helped me in becoming a better father. I have intentionally kept my wife from reading this book for the express reason that I want her to think my changing into a more loving father has come from within myself, not from you and your book.
I hope that more people in Japan can read and feel the message I have come to know and love.
Akihito Kimura
Kansai Telecasting Corporation
Osaka, Japan
