Such is the case with the very unique End User License Agreement (EULA) I wrote for my e-book, “The Reason Your Church Must Twitter”. In this instance, I was trying to make it easy for church leaders to give away lots and lots of copies of the e-book. Why? Because, to me, it is more important for your volunteers to buy-in and understand the value of using Twitter with your church than it was to make lots of money.

Here’s how it works:

If you have three ministries that want to leverage Twitter, buy three copies of the e-book. If you have 15 ministries that want to learn how to use Twitter, buy 15 copies of the e-book. Each unique ministry that buys a copy can then give away FREE copies to the volunteers that serve in that particular ministry.

Ok, so that sorta is the big picture recap that I keep getting questions about via email & Twitter. Here, for the record, is the full text of the EULA:

Following the Biblical model of 1 Timothy 5:18, this e-book is a ministry tool of Anthony Coppedge Consulting and not a free giveaway.

We’ve kept the price low ($5) to make it affordable for everyone. All we ask is if you’re using this e-book for your ministry, please make sure you’ve bought it.

We fully license churches to buy a copy for a staff member and share this with volunteers for free. If your church has three staff members who could benefit from the book, then please pay the ridiculously affordable $15 and give out copies like free candy to your volunteers!

End-User License Agreement (EULA)

This e-e-book contains copyrighted material. Its use is subject to the following License Agreement that essentially says you may not give away the e-book you just purchased, except in the case of sharing with church volunteers under your authority.

1. Grant of License
Anthony Coppedge Consulting has authorized you one copy of the electronic book (e-book) and grants you a nonexclusive, nontransferable license to use the e-book according to the terms and conditions herein.

2. Usage
Printing. You may print the e-book for your personal use. You may not give printed pages from the e-book, or the entire printed e-book to others, unless they are church volunteers under your authority.
File sharing. You may not share e-book as an electronic file transfer to anyone other than church volunteers under your authority.

3. Intellectual Property Protection
The e-book is owned by Anthony Coppedge Consulting and protected by United States and international copyright and other intellectual property laws. Anthony Coppedge Consulting reserves all rights in the e-book not expressly granted herein. This license and your right to use the e-book terminate automatically if you violate any part of this Agreement.

4. Limitation of Liability
In no event will Anthony Coppedge Consulting be liable for any damages, including loss of data, lost profits or other special, incidental, consequential or indirect damages arising out of the use or inability to use the e-book.

5. Copyright, Use, and Resale Prohibitions
All content in the e-book is copyrighted under U.S. Copyright laws. Anthony Coppedge Consulting owns the copyright and the e-book itself. Other than as stated in this License Agreement, you may not copy, print, modify, remove, delete, augment, add to, publish, transmit, sell, resell, create derivative works from or in any way exploit any of the e-book’s content, in whole or in part, and you may not aid or permit others to do so.

6. Your Agreement
Your use of the e-book constitutes your agreement to the above license agreement.

Respected ratings giant, Nielsen, said Twitter grew 1,382% from February 2008 to February 2009. Facebook was in second place with a still impressive 228% growth over the same period.

If your church leadership hasn’t heard about Twitter by now, they’re quickly becoming the minority. It’s time – nearly past time – to learn about Twitter for churches. Make sure your church leader has a copy of “The Reason Your Church Must Twitter” E-book for only $5.

Their only complaint?

“A more accurate title might’ve been ‘The Reason Your Church Must Think About Using Twitter to Assist You with Your Communication Needs’, but we realize that’s not very snappy or marketable.”

I love it! Yes, I’ll stick with the shorter title.

I like to describe Collide this way: If this magazine was any better, I’d explode. It’s only $12 for a year’s subscription. Go sign up and get this uber-magazine!