I was born and raised in Ohio and didn’t join the church till I was almost 17. I came out to BYU a year later. I’ve lived in Ohio, Utah, Idaho, Montana, Washington and Florida since then. So plenty of time has been spent in both what I will refer to as Mormon Country, and what a lot of people call the “mission field.” For years I served in the Primary. I always developed my own materials. My best friend and I would go to the nearest LDS bookstore and she would always say something like - “Oh Debbi, you ought to write a book with all your ideas.”
Honestly - this is kind of embarrassing, but, in 1992, I did one of those beauty make-overs/glamor shots dealy things at Nordtrom’s or somewhere down in Florida. When I saw the photos, I thought to myself - “This looks like an author’s photograph you see on a book jacket.” And I got it in my thick skull that someday that picture WOULD be on a book jacket. I had ZERO idea what the book would be about - but it was like this kind of knowing I had - it was going to happen - sooner or later.
So a few years go by and I am called to be Primary President in my ward. I develop this program - right off the bat - first week - I call it Primary Scripture Search. It takes a few weeks to iron out the wrinkles, but in general, I’d take a scripture reference from the primary outline for that month, and come up with a search - something the children would have to look up in their scriptures somehow to figure out. I passed these out on little slips of paper before Sacrament Meeting. The children would work on them as they sat there in the chapel. Then afterward, they’d run up to me and hand them in. I saw whole families feverishly flipping through their scriptures before the meeting started to find the answers. Before long, the children in our Primary really knew how to use the Topical Guide and footnotes etc.
When I was released, I had already prepared a lot of the searches and activities for the upcoming year. I decided to see if I could sell them on the internet. My boss set up a webpage for me on their server. I got a very few orders. Then one day I was in the stake offices and noticed the stake Primary President had the new outline for 1998 in her box. I admit it, I sneaked a peak. The theme was “I Know the Scriptures Are True” and the instructions said leaders should teach children to use the Topical Guide and other study tools in the LDS scriptures. I felt like the spirit knocked me over - I had to sit down. I knew right then that I HAD to publish a book - a Primary Scripture Search book for 1998.
So I hunted up LDS publisher email addresses and contacted about seven. I heard back from three or four, including Deseret Book. They wanted a sample but insisted there was no way to get the book out before the start of the year. I said it was of no value whatsoever unless it was available before the start of the year. But I prepared my sample. Then I heard from a small publisher who was ready to print the book ASAP. That is how I started writing books.
I got to attend the annual LDS Bookseller’s Association Convention in Salt Lake City the next year. I was so overwhelmed! Yet, a lot of people came up to me and acted like they knew me - all because of my website! It blew my mind. Marvin Goldstein called me the Primary Guru.
Well, that was a long time ago. In web years - it is almost pre-historic. The thing was, I got free internet with Netzero. I got a free browser and web editor from Netscape. I had a free webhost in my employer (two brothers - Clayton and Alan Chevrier - from my ward who basically said as long as I didn’t bug them with too many needy questions I could have my site on their server for free). My publisher covered the cost of printing my books and marketing them. So with no monetary investment, I suddenly had a web business.
I realize that the LDS market is tiny compared to the rest of the world. But every time I have considered creating materials targeting a wider audience I feel absolutely no desire to do so. Tell you what - writing and web design were very late entries in the “What Debbi likes to do” line up. I would say art and music and mostly theater are what I had invested so much of my life toward - but none of them ever made me much money. Now I had a book to put that ol’ Glamor Shot photo on - and I was actually earning some money. Not much, but some. It is very creative work - I love it - but what I really love is that it is gospel oriented. That combination - creative and gospel oriented - is what sets me on fire.
So some people have criticized me for charging money for what I spend my full-time effort doing. It is material for people serving in church callings, for the most part. That really bothers some people. Tim and I have been accused of “extorting” money from latter-day saints because we charge for our materials. This is a simple case of economics. My house costs money. The food I eat costs money. The car I drive runs on fuel that, unfortunately, costs money. There is no end of sources demanding that if I want to do almost anything at all, I will have to fork out some money to do it. Well, where am I to get that money? Same place the vast majority of people get their money. They have a job - they have a business. They are employed. My choice of employment is Latter-day Village. It doesn’t even pay my house payment frankly. I guess it is a compliment that people assume we make tons of revenue and have sizeable incomes - but that is absolutely not the case. I could no sooner live on my income from LDV than I could having an average newspaper route. But I work as much at it as anyone works at their full-time job. For awhile, my elderly mother lived with me and together we got those proverbial ends to meet. When Mommy died, she left all of us a nice inheritance. I bought a house - or was able to get a mortgage I should say. Now all that money is gone. I got married to Jerry and moved to Ohio. My husband had a job at the time, it was a new job and they started him off at half what they usually pay - to see how it would work. Just about the time he was supposed to get that big raise, we moved back into my home in Utah and for a year and a half, he has been struggling to get his business going in a new state. It isn’t happening fast enough. On the verge of losing our home, he has taken on two jobs. So that’s us.
We sell LDS stuff. Mostly the stuff we sell is to help people in their callings. A lot of it is online material or digital download material. I create a TON of original material. I choose to publish it digitally rather than make 12% or less on royalties from printed books I often only had three weeks to write. Tim has gathered material from teachers in the field for ten years. He has organized it and maintains a huge number and variety of software programs that make LDV useful to people. We pay a lot of money for our server and all this software. We pay a lot of money for our hardware and supplies. If someone else can do all that without charging, there is a reason for it. They are being supported by a well salaried spouse or an institution or business or advertising revenue, or are independently wealthy. That is a blessing to both them and those who benefit from their efforts. Tim and I don’t have those advantages.
As poor as my husband and I are - we love movies. The other day I went through our accounts and figured what we were spending on various types of expenses. I was surprised how much we spent on movies! We go to the cinema 1-4 times a month (usually matinees) except for a few months when even that was out of the question. We rent DVDs from Netflix, occasionally Hollywood Video, and now Redbox. We do not have tv service. So maybe we watch more movies than most people. Still, it is a lot of money. When I look at that, and realize that most people pay for cable or satellite tv, and buy DVD’s and go to evening cinema for full-price - we probably spend less than a lot of people just to watch a screen for entertainment. So while I have no doubt many people are on a tight budget, I see that LDV offers people wonderful material that is conveniently organized at a remarkably low price.
I also realize that a lot of women derive a huge amount of satisfaction and sense of contribution by serving in their callings. If they are stay at home moms, their callings are one of the most public forms of expression they have. If they work outside the home, mostly it will be at something far removed from gospel service. So again, their callings are very important forms of expression in the lives of LDS women.
I propose that no one needs to spend money to fulfill their callings. Nor do they need to hunt the WWW to find ideas. The spirit will reveal what they need and provide all they need. So if anyone feels they are deprived because they cannot afford to buy stuff at the bookstore, church distribution or from online sources - they sell the spirit short. On the other hand, I have really enjoyed many things I have been able to purchase that have helped me with my callings and just spiritual development. Frankly, I can’t get enough - there aren’t enough books to read, there isn’t enough music to listen to, there aren’t enough films to watch, there isn’t enough art to adorn my home - I want more and better choices than I currently have.
So I will leave the general Christian market to someone else. I will leave the general education market to someone else. There are PLENTY of options already available in every area of life. Except our LDS gospel centered world - there isn’t enough. The quality begs to be improved as well as the quantity. So as I learn how to do things better, I am happy to offer it to my fellow latter-day saints and hope it will enrich their lives. If I can’t offer something better or different, I don’t want to bother - so I work hard to have something better or new.
Blogging is - I don’t get the huge attraction to it - but I guess there is something visceral about it that people like. - These are things I have not known how to express to our internet audience - so maybe this blog will work for that.
I’ve been over all this with the Lord for years. It has been my path for whatever reason, and a better path has not been found - I’ve tried! I just figure I will keep at it until some other path clearly reveals itself to me. When someone takes a minute to write in a thank you - believe me - it makes my day - it makes Tim’s day. I never tire of what I do - though it is pretty late and I need to go to bed.
TTFN
Debra
