End Medical Debt, a book by the founders of RIP Medical Debt and published by Hoku House, on April 29 received a 2022 Benjamin Franklin Award for Health books. Sponsored by the Independent Book Publishers Association, the annual award, recognizing excellence in writing and design is regarded as one of the highest national honors for independent publishers.
End Medical Debt was written by Jerry Ashton, Robert Goff and Craig Antico, who in 2014 founded the national charity RIP Medical Debt,. Based in New York. RIP uses donations to buy and erase unpayable medical bills, with no negative tax effects for the recipients of debt relief. To date, RIP has abolished about $7 billion in medical debt causing hardship for four million disadvantaged Americans.
The authors, former debt collectors and a hospital administrator, offer the historic and current “big picture” for the root causes of our broken U.S. healthcare system. They apply divergent progressive, moderate and conservative views to examine the major proposed solutions, from healthier foods to Medicaid expansion to universal healthcare. They present the facts and let readers decide for themselves what we should do as a nation to end the crisis of medical debt in America.
The USA currently has $140 billion in unpaid healthcare bills, reports the New York Times. RIP estimates at least $1 trillion in medical debts have accumulated over the past ten years. These debts generally arise from being uninsured, underinsured, or getting treatment outside the care network, such as surprise bills from the balance due after insurance for an emergency room visit. In most cases, the unaffordable medical expense was unplanned and urgent.
End Medical Debt shows how unpaid healthcare bills, beyond producing stress that harms health an rippling economically across the community and nation. The book provides practical strategies for individuals and families to avoid medical debt or resolve the debts they do have.
End Medical Debt was edited and published by seasoned journalist and award-winning author Judah Freed, who created the indie press, Hoku House, based in Denver.. The book briefly became a #1 bestseller on Amazon and BN.com after the authors were featured on the PBS NewsHour.
The authors and Hoku House donate 85 percent of all book royalties to RIP Medical Debt. The charity acquires bad debt for near a penny on the dollar, so each copy sold cancels about $500 in hardship medical bills. To date, End Medical Debt has earned enough to abolish about $6 million in medical debt.
The 34th annual Benjamin Franklin Awards, presented at the Renaissance Hotel in Orlando, FL, recognized books in more than fifty categories. The awards program is administered by the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA). Books are judged by more than 150 volunteer industry professionals including librarians, bookstore owners, reviewers, designers, publicity managers, and editors. Due to Covid, the 2022 awards ceremony was the first live presentation since 2019.
The Doctors show on TV this Wednesday, January 15, presents a segment about the charity, RIP Medical Debt, and the book, End Medical Debt, an Amazon #1 bestseller (each copy sold forgives $500 in unpayable medical debt).
PBS NewsHour on Thursday, December 12, ran an in-depth story on RIP Medical Debt, announcing the charity had passed the milestone of forgiving $1 billion in unpayable healthcare bills.
The NewsHour report ended with the book, END MEDICAL DEBT, written by the charity’s founders, edited by Judah Freed and published by Hoku House. The book educates readers about the historic causes and proposed cures for medical debt in America. PBS noted that each copy sold forgives about $500 in medical debt.
GREAT NEWS! As a result of the PBS NewsHour segment on RIP Medical Debt and the book, End Medical Debt, because each copy sold forgives about $500 in unpayable medical debt, as of Tuesday morning, the book had sold enough copies for RIP forgive a full $1 million in debt!
Please share this post and ask your friends and family to buy copies as holiday gifts for their friends and family. You will earn the heartfelt thanks of thosestruggling to pay medical bills causing hardship for their own families.
END MEDICAL DEBT Curing America’s $1 Trillion Unpayable Healthcare Debt
End Medical Debt, written by industry insiders Jerry Ashton, Robert Goff and Craig Antico (founders of the charity RIP Medical Debt), realistically and clearly looks at the causes and possible cures for more than $1 trillion in unpayable medical debt in America. Our national conversation on healthcare can no longer ignore the urgent medical debt crisis.
In our fervent public debates about the broken U.S. healthcare system, we have overlooked the devastating impacts of America’s urgent medical debt crisis. Everybody knows somebody struggling with their medical medical bills.
End Medical Debt, written by three industry insiders, is the first book to bypass political posturing to look clearly and realistically at the actual causes and possible cures for more than $1 trillion in unpayable medical debt in America. Medical debt causes hardships for individuals, families, communities, and the nation as a whole.
Voicing decades of experience in debt collections, debt buying and healthcare management, the authors of End Medical Debt bring deep expertise to the problem of medical debt. Jerry Ashton has more than 40 years of experience in the credit and collections industry. Robert Goff recently retired from 40 years in healthcare administration management. Craig Antico has 30 years in collections, debt buying, outsourcing, and consulting.
Drawing on their industry knowledge, the authors lay bare the inner workings of our healthcare system. They show how it produces medical bills that people cannot ever pay, including insured middle-class people who think they are covered. They tell how the early hospitals that focused on patient health evolved into today’s healthcare conglomerates focused on patient revenues. They dissect the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) to show where theory and reality do not match. They expose how our veterans get laden with medical debt that effectively tells them, “No thank you for your service.”
The authors together began RIP Medical Debt, the charity made famous in 2016 by John Oliver on HBO for abolishing $15 million in medical debt. Since 2014, RIP has purchased and forgiven more than $500 million in medical debt. RIP is on track to abolish $1 billion in medical debt by 2020.
Expressing the authors’ divergent progressive, moderate and conservative viewpoints, End Medical Debt offers pragmatic insights on such diverse solutions as promoting healthier behaviors to reduce costs and debt (personal responsibility), imposing price controls on drugs and care services, reforming health insurance, fixing the Affordable Care Act, making Medicaid an opt-out program for all who qualify, adding a Medicare Option to the ACA for people over age 50, or enacting “Medicare for All” for single-payer universal healthcare.
The authors disagree on the solutions, but they all agree on their one simple act of charity — buying and forgiving medical debt. Debt forgiveness is necessary but not sufficient. At best, it’s an interim solution for medical debt until we can agree on a better financial structure for the broken U.S. healthcare system. End Medical Debt is a major step in that direction.
REVIEWS:
“End Medical Debt confronts an important, sad truth: No one asks to be sick. It’s hard enough being poor; it’s hard enough being sick. But being poor and sick becomes a death sentence for some, a life sentence of indentured servitude for others. The bills are almost beyond belief. I went into the hospital overnight with chest pains, and the hospital bill was $25,000. It’s time to lift this yoke off the necks of some of the most vulnerable and defenseless members of society, and that is precisely what End Medical Debtdoes.” — Alan Grayson, Former U.S. Congressman (D-FL)
End Medical Debt does more than describe the unsustainable structure of our current health care system. The book demonstrates what was always the solution: People helping people, voluntarily and without coercion. The current healthcare system has created a debt-enslaved class with few options. Necessity will produce many solutions, but in the meantime, End Medical Debt is offering hope from those willing and able to pay forward their success. Humanity at its best.” — Ernest Hancock, Publisher, FreedomsPhoenix Talk Show Host, “Declare Your Independence”
“End Medical Debt explains that among all the developed countries, only Americans risk the probability that medical treatment will be financially inaccessible or that a family will be made destitute from a serious injury or disease. The sacrifices families make for medical care of loved ones is heartbreaking. The experience and wisdom of authors Jerry Ashton, Robert Goff and Craig Antico have resulted in the system presented in their exciting new book. Their charity, RIP Medical Debt, may well help us to turn the corner on this major problem facing quality medical care in America.” —Nancy A. Niparko, M.D., Attending Neurologist, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
“While care providers fight to make ends meet and corporate interests seek out profit margins everywhere, politicians struggle to strike a balance as more and more Americans are compounding their serious health issues with unprecedented and unmanageable medical debt. Meanwhile, a small self-appointed group of experts from the world of health care finance are seeking solutions for consumers, providers and a broken system. Where there are no acceptable answers yet, people are creating them. Jerry Ashton, Robert Goff and Craig Antico are putting lifetimes of experience to work in End Medical Debt to spread the word that medical debt is a personal and national crisis. More so, they are offering answers that are gaining national attention.” — Kevin A. Cahill, New York State Assemblyman; Chair, Assembly Committee on Insurance; Member, Assembly Committee on Health
“End Medical Debt is exactly what is needed to jumpstart the much-needed national discussion about our current dysfunctional for-profit health care system, and what to do about it, so patients like me don’t have to experience the financial and personal hardships caused by medical debt. We are a forgotten, disposable, invisible universe of people. There are millions of us. This book explains with passion and honesty the nightmare of medical debt” — Joel R. Segal, Former senior legislative assistant, U.S. Congress, 2000-2019, Co-author, HR 676: “Expanded and Improved Medicare For All”
“America spends more on medical care than any other country, and the resulting medical debt is our nation’s top reason for bankruptcy and financial ruin. I’ve seen the impact. End Medical Debt offers clear answers on what people can do for themselves and society to end this scourge.” — Ed Asner, Actor, Activist
Founders of RIP Medical Debt, the national charity that’s abolished $8 billion in unpayable healthcare bills,
Edited by Judah Freed
In our fervent public debates about the broken U.S. healthcare system, we have overlooked the devastating impacts of America’s urgent medical debt crisis. The time has come to bring medical debt into the center of our national conversation about healthcare.
Available now in Hardcover and Paperback Each book sold forgives about $500 in medical debt!
Voicing the authors’ diverse progressive, moderate and conservative viewpoints, End Medical Debt offers pragmatic insights on such diverse solutions as promoting healthier behaviors to reduce costs and debt, imposing price controls on drugs and care services, reforming health insurance, making Medicaid an opt-out program for all who qualify, fixing the ACA, adding a Medicare Option to the ACA for people over age 50, or enacting “Medicare for All” single-payer universal healthcare.The book concludes with the idea of an American Medical Debt Commission reporting to Congress on the national medical debt crisis.
The authors disagree on the solutions, but they all agree on their one simple act of charity — buying and forgiving medical debt. Debt forgiveness is necessary but not sufficient interim solution for medical debt until we can agree on a better financial structure for the broken U.S. healthcare system. End Medical Debt is a major step in that direction.
“End Medical Debt confronts an important, sad truth: No one asks to be sick. It’s hard enough being poor; it’s hard enough being sick. But being poor and sick becomes a death sentence for some, a life sentence of indentured servitude for others. The bills are almost beyond belief. I went into the hospital overnight with chest pains, and the hospital bill was $25,000. It’s time to lift this yoke off the necks of some of the most vulnerable and defenseless members of society, and that is precisely what End Medical Debt does.” — Alan Grayson, Former U.S. Congressman (D-FL)
“End Medical Debt does more than describe the unsustainable structure of our current health care system. The book demonstrates what was always the solution: People helping people, voluntarily and without coercion. The current healthcare system has created a debt-enslaved class with few options. Necessity will produce many solutions, but in the meantime, End Medical Debt is offering hope from those willing and able to pay forward their success. Humanity at its best.” — Ernest Hancock, Publisher, FreedomsPhoenix, Talk Show Host, “Declare Your Independence”
“End Medical Debt explains that among all the developed countries, only Americans risk the probability that medical treatment will be financially inaccessible or that a family will be made destitute from a serious injury or disease. The sacrifices families make for medical care of loved ones is heartbreaking. The experience and wisdom of authors Jerry Ashton, Robert Goff and Craig Antico have resulted in the system presented in their exciting new book. Their charity, RIP Medical Debt, may well help us to turn the corner on this major problem facing quality medical care in America.” —Nancy A. Niparko, M.D., Attending Neurologist, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
“While care providers fight to make ends meet and corporate interests seek out profit margins everywhere, politicians struggle to strike a balance as more and more Americans are compounding their serious health issues with unprecedented and unmanageable medical debt. Meanwhile, a small self-appointed group of experts from the world of health care finance are seeking solutions for consumers, providers and a broken system. Where there are no acceptable answers yet, people are creating them. Jerry Ashton, Robert Goff and Craig Antico are putting lifetimes of experience to work in End Medical Debt to spread the word that medical debt is a personal and national crisis. More so, they are offering answers that are gaining national attention.” — Kevin A. Cahill, New York State Assemblyman; Chair, Assembly Committee on Insurance; Member, Assembly Committee on Health
“End Medical Debt is exactly what we need to jumpstart a national discussion about our current dysfunctional for-profit health care system, and what to do about it, so patients like me don’t have to experience the financial and personal hardships caused by medical debt. We are a forgotten, disposable, invisible universe of people. There are millions of us. This book explains with passion and honesty the nightmare of medical debt” — Joel R. Segal, Former senior legislative assistant, U.S. Congress, 2000-2019, Co-author, HR 676: “Expanded and Improved Medicare For All”
“America spends more on medical care than any other country, and the resulting medical debt is our nation’s top reason for bankruptcy and financial ruin. I’ve seen the impact. End Medical Debt offers clear answers on what people can do for themselves and society to end this scourge.” — Ed Asner, Actor, Activist
I write, edit, design, and indie publish my own books. I edit and design books by clients, and sometimes I might publish their books under Hoku House. I prefer teaching client authors how to professionally publish independently.
I write and edit news for print and online newspapers and magazines. Beats include politics, education, health, media, society, and ecology. I advocate freedom of the press and media literacy for critical thinking.
I help nonprofits, social entrepreneurs and Bcorps create ethical public communication plans and internal communication systems that make global sense. I support democratic teamwork for organizational transformation.
Author, Conscious Evolution (she saw draft). Founder, Conscious Evolution Foundation
Judah Freed has taken the gauntlet from Thomas Paine and other great innovators of democracy to guide us toward the evolution of democracy itself. Making Global Sense is a vital and wonderful book, well written and inspired by the very same passion that founded this country, and can carry the world into the next era of evolution.”
Bill McKibben
Author, The End of Nature, Deep Economy, Falter, Eaarth; Founder of 350.org; organizer, The People’s Climate March
Thomas Paine rallied Americans to a new sense of themselves and their possibilities. Judah Freed does likewise for citizens of the planet.”
Ocean Robbins
Author, Voices of the Food Revolution: Co-founder, CEO of Food Revolution Network
Making Global Sense is at once vast and tangible, disturbing and inspiring. The book provides a sweeping overview of the critical challenges of our times. It conveys both a penetrating diagnosis and a galvanizing vision of possibility.”
Jill Heinerth
Author, Into The Planet; filmmaker, We Are Water: award-winning underwater explorer
Judah Freed guides us toward an urgent paradigm shift for creating a sustainable future.”
Pamela Varma
Author and publisher, Kauai Stories
When I knew it was time to revamp the interior of my book, Kauai Stories, I turned to Judah, who skillfully brought my vision to reality.”
Susanna Lange
Co-Author and publisher, Yes, You Are a Genius
Judah transformed our book from good to outstanding. He is an expert editor who was able to further clarify our message while improving the style…. The book now conveys a more powerful message. Readers tell us they enjoy reading the book so much that they read it again and again.
Please consider how I can serve you as a book coach and publishing consultant. My experience may interest you.
I am the author five books since 1982, including independently published works on global thinking that won the 2012 and 2007 Nautilus Award for best social change book plus a 2005 Evvy Award for best personal growth book. I’m also the author of a 1998 book on distance learning published by Financial Times, UK).
Before moving to Kauai in 2010, I served as the trade shows chair of the Colorado Independent Publishers Association, president and director of the Colorado Authors League, director of the Denver Press Club, and founder of the Denver Book Club.
I am active in the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBA), Authors Guild (AG), American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA), Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), National Society of Newspapers Columnists (NSNC), and the Coalition of Visionary Resources (COVR).
Services Offered
Since 1982, I’ve learned about book publishing from the inside out. I’ve learned what works and does not work. I’ve made costly mistakes that I could spare you from making yourself. If you have a book or a series of books in development, especially if you are looking at independent or self-publishing, please consider accepting help from a seasoned book publishing professional. My clients range from across the United States and overseas.
Recent client book projects include:
Author services include:
Book Concept Development
Book Text Editing or Rewriting
Book Interior Design and Layout
Book Cover Design and Layout
eBook Design and Production .
Choosing the Best Publishing Option
Benefits and Risks of Royalty Publishing
Benefits and Risks of Indie or Self Publishing
Printing Options, including Print on Demand
Red Flag Warnings on Publishing Predators .
Developing a Royalty Publishing Book Proposal
Developing an Indie Publishing Business Plan .
Identifying the Audiences for Your Book
Book Marketing and Distribution Strategies
Red Flags Warnings about Book Publicists
Leveraging Your Book for Greater Profits .
Coaching on Writers Block or Other Issues
Akin to teaching you how to fish rather than catching a fish for you, I love training you how to publish a book yourself (without getting ripped off) or how to find a traditional royalty publisher. I enjoy helping you choose the best path for fulfilling your vision.
Hoku House is not a subsidy or vanity publisher. As a rule, Hoku House does not publish books by clients. An exception are a friend’s two books, End Medical Debt and The Patient, The Doctor and The Bill Collector. In the exceptional event that I agree to serve as your publisher, I’d insist that your book meets high professional publishing standards.
To discuss your project, please use the contactform.
Testimonials
“When I knew it was time to revamp the interior of my book, Kauai Stories, I turned to Judah, who skillfully brought my vision to reality. His knowledge of InDesign, Photoshop and QuarkXPress assisted me in making choices that allowed me to get the look and feel I wanted for my book. Thank you, Judah!” — Pamela Varma Brown
Otto Siegel Susanna Lange GeniusCoaching.com Business Coaching for Smart People
To Whom it May Concern:
After consulting with various publishing experts, Otto Siegel and I were confident we had a quality book that was well positioned to carry our message to many readers. Although we had expert input all along the way in creating our book (Yes, You Are a Genius – Whether You Know it or Not), we decided to hire Judah as a book consultant to perform:
Book Editing
Book Design
Cover Design
Judah transformed our book from good to outstanding.
He is an expert editor who was able to further clarify our message while improving the style. Otto and I are from Germany, so English is a second language, which is why we’d already had the book edited by an editing professional. Judah was able to find and correct many grammar and style errors. The book now conveys a more powerful message. Readers tell us they enjoy reading the book so much that they read it again and again.
Judah further designed all aspects of the book interior (including the page layouts and graphics), and he contributed to the cover design. From first impressions of the book, we’ve heard many times the following positive feedback: “I am so impressed with the quality of your book. I read a lot of books, but yours stands out by far.”
Judah provided his expertise beyond the scope of our initial contract. His generous feedback and honesty wasn’t always easy to hear, but he helped us to avoid many first-time author mistakes, and his solid commitment to excellence ultimately caused us to have a much better book.
All the best,
Susanna Lange
Author of Yes, You Are a Genius
To ask Judah about your book, please use the contact form.
Judah Freed is a journalist, author, speaker, and consultant at Hoku House. He has published about 2,000 articles in newspapers and magazines in Colorado, Hawaii and internationally. He’s written, edited or contributed to more than 15 books,
Judah the author of MAKING GLOBAL SENSE: Grounded Hope for democracy and the earth inspired by Thomas Paine’s Common Sense. In 2003, so far, the book is a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Book Awards’ Montaigne Medal, and the book is a nominee for Dayton Literary Peace Prize. Award results will be known by June..
His earlier works on global thinking won a 2005 Colorado CIPA Evvy Award for best personal growth book and a national 2007 and 2012 Silver Nautilus Award for best social change book.
To publish his books when he moved to Hawaii in 2010, Judah founded Hoku House, which evolved into a consultancy and service that helps authors independently publish quality books themselves. He rarely publishes books by others, yet an exception is a book he edited, END MEDICAL DEBT, by the three founders of the charity, RIP Medical Debt, who donate all their royalties to buy and forgive debt. Each copy sold forgives about $500 in hardship healthcare bills.
A Colorado native, Judah Ken Freed entered journalism in 1976 through a decade at Denver newspapers as a reporter and editor. He wrote for Westword (first issue onward), Rocky Mountain News, The Denver Magazine, Colorado Woman, and others. He began and edited the Denver edition of Colorado Daily and The Denver Downtowner. Judah returned to Colorado in 2020. Hoku House continues from there.
After going back to school, starting in 1992, he worked nearly two decades as a media industry journalist, writing for top U.S. and European media trade magazines, including Cablevision (managing editor), Multichannel News, Broadband Week, CED, Interactive Week, Video Age, Electronic Media, Euromedia, TV Technology, and others. Specializing in “new media” and its social effects, he pioneered the media industry trade press coverage of the emerging internet, interactive TV, high-definition TV, and distance learning.
He is the author of Financial Opportunities in Educational Television (Financial Times Media & Telecoms, UK, 1998), stating the business case for developing world educational media markets by developing more educated minds in the world.
Judah also is a professional coach trained in personal growth process facilitation. His services focus on communication issues (intra-personal, interpersonal, organizational) with a specialty in releasing writing blocks and making lifework choices.
Judah is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA), PEN America (PEN), Th Authors Guild (AG), Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), National Society of Newspaper Columnists (NSNC), Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), and the Coalition of Visionary Resources (COVR), serving the Mind Body Spirit community on the COVR membership committee. He earlier served as a president and board director of the Colorado Authors League (CAL), board director and trade shows coordinator of the Colorado Independent Publishers Association (CIPA), board director of the Denver Press Club, and founder of the 1,000-member Denver Book Club. He currently represents ASJA on steering committee for the National Banned Books Week coalition.
Judah further is a master teacher of Usui and nontraditional Reiki. He is developing the new “Chaim (Life) Reiki” system of healing.
For more information or to request a consultation, please contact Judah.
“Thomas Paine rallied Americans to a new sense of themselves and their possibilities. Judah Freed does likewise for citizens of the planet.” — Bill McKibben, The End of Nature; founder of 350.org
“Making Global Sense is a vital and wonderful book, well written and inspired.” — Barbara Marx Hubbard,Conscious Evolution.
“Making Global Sense is at once vast and tangible, disturbing and inspiring. ” — Ocean Robbins, CEO of The Food Revolution Network
“Judah Freed shows how global awareness is already changing life on our planet. The book offers us real hope when we need it most.” — John Mackey, Conscious Capitalism; CEO of Whole Foods
“Making Global Sense by Judah Freed is truly a masterpiece. — Don Beck, PhD, co-founder of the Spiral Dynamics Movement
“Making Global Sense is compelling in its ideas and wonderful in its personal elements!” — Herb Goldberg, PhD, The New Male; The Hazards of Being Male
“This is the first book I can remember reading that synthesizes so much into a coherent whole.” — Shel Horowitz, co-author with Jay Conrad Levinson of Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green.
In these trying times of global pandemic atop social, political, economic, ecological, and spiritual upheaval, fear and hate drive too many of us to trust bullies promising to save us from hobgoblins — or ourselves. Some seek more grounded hope. Making Global Sense offers reasons why a growing number of of us are now evolving a global sensibility and acting upon it. We are now generating the “global sense movement,” a useful name for all and each of us building up critical mass on earth for the urgently needed enlightenment of humanity.
Making sense of our world.
Award-winning author and journalist Judah Freed reports that at least a billion globally conscious people worldwide already are working — spiritually and politically, alone and together — to build a mindful, equitable, sustainable civil society. He cites world social trends as evidence a billion of us on earth have a universal sensibility, no matter what we call it. We are changing our world by making global sense.
For healing ourselves and our world both, readers are asked to work on both spiritual growth and social change at the same time. The book bridges the gap between the two, in itself a breakthrough common sense proposal these days.
To show why a global shift is needed, the author draws inspiration from Thomas Paine and his world-changing essay, Common Sense, which was pivotal in shifting public opinion to support the American Revolution. The author updates Paine’s work for likewise shifting public opinion to support our global evolution. He revives ideas and ideals of the 18th century Enlightenment to champion 21st century enlightenment — a common sense awareness of our sacred global oneness.
To humanize these “big ideas,” the book’s essays are interwoven with the author’s personal survival story. Freed’s bestselling model for balancing an essay with narrative is Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, in which Robert Persig balanced “an inquiry into values” with his moving story of a breakdown and breakthrough into wholeness — a kindred “character arc.”
Globally awake readers will feel they are not alone, nor powerless, because our natural connectivity gives us global reach. Readers not yet awake to our global oneness may now safely open their eyes.
Book Synopsis:
The book structure has four parts modeled on the four parts in Common Sense.
Where Paine detailed the nature of civic government, Freed details the nature of personal self-government.
Where Paine refuted monarchy and hereditary succession, Freed refutes “alpha male rule” and “authority addition.”
Where Paine surveyed the state of world affairs in the 18th century to conclude revolution was necessary, Freed surveys the state of world affairs in our 21st century to conclude evolution is necessary.
Where Paine used facts and logic to prove a national revolution was possible, Freed uses facts and logic to prove our world evolution is possible — and already well underway.
Changing how we make sense of the world, he affirms, changes the world. He describes the sense-making process, how “split perceptions” avert seeing our oneness. A global sense of our innate and infinite unity dispels any authoritarian thinking, liberating equally women and “new men” (all races, LGBTQI). A global sensibility, he says, induces “mindful self rule” and “personal democracy” — the inner and outer yin and yang of why and how we can and do think globally and act locally. Seeing all life as a web, we live more sensibly. The ideal gets real.
An open global sensibility is a measurable societal force gaining momentum on earth. Global thinkers comprise at least 22 percent of all adults in North America over age 15, he reports, up to 30 percent in Western Europe, and 16 percent on average worldwide. The authors cites world trends that both reflect and foster global thinking. The trends include environmentalism, holistic health, conscious commerce, social entrepreneurs, global internet, literacy, the new spirituality, personal growth, gender equality, and peaceful mass demonstrations for equal rights and justice.
Given rising pressures from climate change, global pandemic, globalization, and serious threats to democracy, a global sense of life could reach a pivot point in our lifetimes — IF we do the work.
Interwoven Narrative: The author’s ideas are persuasive, but a good story opens hearts and changes lives more than logic. Judah balances head and heart by balancing his essay with his survival story, showing the roots of the ideas in the essays.. He recalls his 1950s childhood in Denver, illness and abuse, school bullies, 1960s rebellion, life in a 1970s cult, then a long journalism career, world travel, social activism, marrying for the first time at 60 and moving to Hawaii, at 65 surviving Stage IV cancer,, at 69 divorcing, coming back home to Denver, and restarting his life, more whole than ever. He thanks miracles, medical science, holistic health, community, men’s work shadow work, forgiveness, love, and Light. He stays alive to do his soul work, which means this book.
Written in present tense with vulnerability unusual for a man, his tales illuminate topics in the essay. His father’s story (his youthful dreams, later giving up on his dreams) weaves together the essays on how we make sense of life, split apart our perceptions, and change what makes sense to us. The tale of a tree limb crushing his old car, leading to healing with his mother before she dies, wraps the chapter on gender equality. His tale on Kauai of fighting to regulate GMO crops affirms his proposal for“direct republics,” an update of Paine’s blueprint for democracy. His visit to Gandhi’s home in India frames a chapter on finding our courage.
Lending a global character, his storytelling carries the reader to Washington, DC, New York, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Honolulu, Mumbai, Istanbul, Sydney, Fiji, Britain, and elsewhere.
Judah Freed is a gifted and accomplished writer. His book offers important ideas evolved over a lifetime and refined by 19 years of writing. He offers a rare blend of literary craft and marketing savvy, such as talking on BookTV or directing communications for a national charity. With a mature mind and a young heart, he has written one of those books you feel in your soul, one that if it catches on can go viral very comfortably.
Making Global Sense mainly will appeal to readers who already are aware of our global connectivity — the “global thinkers,” the “Cultural Creatives,” and the “conscious consumers” with “Lifestyles Of Health And Sustainability” (LOHAS). Researched for demographics and psychographics, they fund the $800 billion world market for holistic and green products and services, investing $21 trillion in green and ethical ventures.
Says Ted Ning at the The LOHAS Group, “The interconnections between global economies, cultures, environments, and political systems play a large role in the holistic worldview of the typical LOHAS Consumer.” They vote. They spend money like a vote. “Equally important are the interconnections of mind, body and spirit within individuals.”
LOHAS Consumers with global sense match the traits in The Cultural Creatives by sociologist Paul H. Ray and psychologist Sherry Ruth Anderson. “Cultural Creatives,” they write, “care deeply about ecology and saving the planet, about relationships, peace, social justice, and about authenticity, self actualization, spirituality and self-expression.”
Cultural Creatives tend not to realize that they’re part of an “Emerging Planetary Wisdom Culture,” lament Ray and Anderson. “If humanity is to survive this period of planetary crises, we need a collective positive image of a future that works for all.” Meeting the need: Making Global Sense.
Primary Market: “LOHAS Consumers” — Spiritual and globally aware people, active stewards of the planet, the early adopters and heaviest purchasers of green products and services, they evangelize all other market segments. They’re mostly woke Millennials, GenZers, Baby Boomers, and female, comprising 22 percent or 54 million of all U.S. adults over age 15 (out of 247 million total adults), and up to 30 percent Western Europe — 2017 numbers by Natural Marketing Institute (NMI), which has surveyed a half million people in 25 countries since 2005.
Worldwide, the percentage of LOHAS Consumers in nine representative nations averages 16 percent of all adults and young adults on earth. Given 5.2 billion adults over age 15, this 16 percent yields 830 million people living with global sense, in any lingo or culture, an enlightened consciousness of our oneness.
NMI and other sources say the percentage of LOHAS consumers in each nation varies — 22 percent in the USA, 17 percent in the UK, 16 percent in Germany, 30 percent in Sweden, 13 percent in Russia, 14 percent in India, 16 percent in China, 11 percent in Japan, 17 percent in South Africa, and 18 percent in Brazil. They average 16 percent.
Secondary Market:“Naturalites” —Conscious consumers who care slightly more about holistic health than planetary health. They buy green and organic as much as they can afford. NMI in 2017 reported they comprise 21 percent or 51 million of all U.S. adults over age 15. The global average for all Naturalites is 24 percent, yielding a secondary market of almost 1.25 billion adults on earth over age 15.
When the primary and secondary market counts are added together, the U.S. market totals 105 million, and the global audience reaches two billion. The author realizesl that in the USA barely half of the population are book readers, higher or lower elsewhere on earth, and only a tiny fraction ever buys any title. Still, he believes the foreign rights potential deserves consideration, and the timing for this book to help shift the culture could not be better.
A lesser tertiary market identified by NMI are the “Drifters,” who have good intentions about sustainability but mixed follow-through. NMI’s “Conventionals” and “Unconcerned” segments are not likely readers for the title, admittedly, or at best as gifts for the global thinkers in their lives.
Market Positioning:Making Global Senseextends the lineage of general nonfiction “big ideas” titles for global thinkers. The author will position his cross-niche title as next in the long line of popular world-changers with a global vision. Forerunner books are more complementary than competitive.
Likely readers value the following titles, which all advance the shift into global consciousness:
>Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming, edited by Paul Hawken (Penguin, 2017). Reports solutions already working in the world, as does Making Global Sense.
> Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Social Movement in History Is Restoring Grace, Justice, and Beauty to the World, by Paul Hawken (Penguin, 2007). Documents the impact of activists, as does Global Sense.
> A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose, by Eckhart Tolle (Plume/ Penguin, 2005). Affirms that transcending ego will end conflicts and suffering in the world. Global Sense adds that a global sensibility helps us transcend authority adduction and alpha male rule to transform our world from within.
> The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People are Changing the World, by Paul H. Ray and Sherry Ruth Anderson (Crown, 2000). Named and studied globally aware Americans creating a better world. Cultural Creatives worldwide are the primary market for Making Global Sense.
> Conscious Evolution: Awakening the Power of Our Social Potential, by Barbara Marx Hubbard (New World Library, 1998, Revised Edition 2015). Updates her groundbreaking work on human potential. Making Global Sense advances our evolution by reporting on 12 evolutionary world trends.
> The Aquarian Conspiracy: Personal and Social Transformation in Our Time, by Marilyn Ferguson (Houghton Mifflin, 1980; Tarcher/ Penguin, 2009). Became the #1 New Age handbook for personal and social transformation.Global Sense carries this energy forward,
> Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values, by Robert M. Persig (Morrow, 1974). Interwove a powerful life story with essays on a paradigm shift into wholeness, akin to Global Sense.
> Future Shockand The Third Wave by Alvin Toffler (Bantam, 1970, 1980) plus Megatrends by John Naisbitt (Warner, 1982) are the “paradigm shift” trilogy, Global Sense builds upon the trends they spotted.
>The True Believer by Eric Hoffer (Harper, 1951, 2002); the “longshoreman philosopher” explained how totalitarian mass movements exploit dependence on authority, an insight updated and extended in Global Sense.
>Common Sense by Thomas Paine (Philadelphia, January 1776) inspired Making Global Sense.
In the 243 years since Common Sense, in the 68 years since True Believer, the 49 years since Future Shock, the 45 years since Zen, the 39 years since Aquarian Conspiracy, the 21 years since Conscious Evolution, 19 years since Cultural Creatives,14 years since New Earth, and two years since Drawdown, the market has grown exponentially for a spiritual book voicing a grounded global sensibility.
The success of such “Big Ideas” titles for self and world improvement validates the faith and vision of the respective publishers. They ably cross-market global titles that transcend narrow niches. They realize the megatrend opportunity. They realize Cultural Creatives of all generations still want a book voicing “a collective positive image of a future that works for all.”
Making Global Sense is a good idea whose time has come — the right book at the right time.
Documentary: Making Global Sense was written with the visuals in mind for a companion documentary or miniseries. The documentary has a startup team. Already attached as the Narrator is Rolland G. Smith, fabled 11-Emmy TV news reporter, anchor and producer (parodied as “Roland B. Hedley” in Doonesbury). Attached as a Producer is Richard A. Cooper, Directors Guild of America. Attached for the production facilities is Allen McLain at SkyTheory (skytheory.com), leading indie digital soundstage and post house in Denver.
The author wants to develop a documentary collaboratively with the publisher or backer. He has the experience to participate in scriptwriting, production and post.
Related Books:Making Global Sense presents the author’s vision for world enlightenment and his evidence it’s already underway. To provide useful “how to” details for realizing the vision, the author has begun writing two prescriptive follow-on books:
Global Sense Movement: How a Billion of us are Rebuilding our World.
Mindful Self Rule: Global Sense for Spiritual and Personal Growth.
Personal Democracy: Global Sense for Relationships and Social Change.
Each book is about 55 percent written. The bones are there, but the author wants to flesh out his own narratives and add more anecdotes from other people.
Global Sense series: The author will create titles modeled on the Chicken Soup series, featuring inspirational stories from readers using global sense in their lives. Possible titles include Global Sense for Mindfulness, Global Sense for Healing, Global Sense for Women, Global Sense for Conscious Commerce, Global Sense for….
Multimedia:Making Global Sense was conceived as a book-based multimedia venture. The author has decades of experience producing studio and location video and audio content. Some key projects:
eBook: The mss supports conversion into a basic mobi and epub or the most immersive interactive ebook imaginable.
Audiobook: The authors willing to narrate all of it, part of it or none of it. Available as a separate voice reading the quotes of Thomas Paine is Philadelphia-based professional Paine re-enactor, Steve Gulick.
Teaching Series: The author will interview global visionaries and explore ideas. Possible episodes: Global Sense for Lightworkers, Global Sense for Relationships, Global Sense for Success, Global Sense for Leaders, Global Sense for Going Green, Global Sense for….
Meditations: The author will record and produce versions of his guided “Global Sense” meditations.
Recorded Talks: The author has recorded and will record his live talks on audio and video.
Workshops: After launch, the author will periodically tour with his self-funding “Global Sense Workshop,” supported by live talks that funnel into the weekends (e.g., speak-for-sales events).
Making Global Sense is Judah Freed’s fifth book. Prior works twice won the Silver Nautilus Award for the best social change book of 2007 and 2012. He won the Evvy Award for the best personal growth book of 2005. He’s delivered speeches across the USA and on four continents. He’s discussed his ideas on dozens of U.S. and oversees radio shows. He produced and hosted in Philadelphia a special program on Thomas Paine for C-SPAN BookTV.
A journalist since 1976, an author since 1982, Judah Ken Freed has served as president of the Colorado Authors League, director and trade shows chair of the Colorado Independent Publishers Association, and director of the Denver Press Club. He founded the 1,000-member Denver Book Club and the Kauai Independent Authors and Publishers Association. He’s attended and/or shown books at BEA, ALA, INATS, LBF, Frankfurt, and other book trade shows. He is a member of IBPA, COVR, Society of Professional Journalists, Authors Guild , and the American Society of Newspaper Columnists.
Judah currently is the Director of Publishing for RIP Medical Debt, a national charity based in New York that buys and forgives unpayable medical debt. He works from home in Denver, Colorado.
In advance of a publishing contract, showing the book quality (and author’s knack for marketing), the title already is blessed with 15 blurbs from key thought leaders (in alphabetical order): .
Martin Adams, executive director of Progress.org, author of Land: A New Paradigm.
Don E. Beck, author and co-founder of the global Spiral Dynamics movement.
Jed Diamond, men’s movement author of MenAlive and The Warrior’s Journey Home.
Herb Goldberg, PhD, pioneer author of The New Male, The Hazards of Being Male.
Jill Heinerth, award-winning underwater explorer and filmmaker of We Are Water.
Shel Horowitz, co-author w/ Jay Conrad Levinson of Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green.
John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods and the co-author of Conscious Capitalism.
Barbara Marx Hubbard, author of Conscious Evolution, global visionary futurist.
Marian McCain, Australian author of Elderwoman, editor of GreenSpirit Magazine.
Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, the Climate March, bestselling ecology author.
Jordan Paul, PhD, relationship counselor and author of Becoming Your Own Hero.
Jules Pretty, OBE, sustainable agriculture expert, author of The Edge of Extinction.
Ocean Robbins, CEO of Food Revolution Network, founder of Yes! Magazine.
Leslie Sponsel, PhD, ecological anthropologist and author of Spiritual Ecology.
Terry Tamminen, former Secretary of California EPA, author of Lives Per Gallon.
More than 20 other authors have committed to writing blurbs before publication.
Making Global Sense was completed in 2016. The author has since done extensive revisions in response too surviving cancer. An ebook was released in January 10, 2020, the anniversary of Common Sense. A print edition will be release by late autumn 2020.
End Medical Debt was written by Jerry Ashton, Robert Goff and Craig Antico, who in 2014 founded the national charity RIP Medical Debt,. Based in New York. RIP uses donations to buy and erase unpayable medical bills, with no negative tax effects for the recipients of debt relief. To date, RIP has abolished about $7 billion in medical debt causing hardship for four million disadvantaged Americans.
The USA currently has $140 billion in unpaid healthcare bills, reports the New York Times. RIP estimates at least $1 trillion in medical debts have accumulated over the past ten years. These debts generally arise from being uninsured, underinsured, or getting treatment outside the care network, such as surprise bills from the balance due after insurance for an emergency room visit. In most cases, the unaffordable medical expense was unplanned and urgent.
To publish his books when he moved to Hawaii in 2010, Judah founded Hoku House, which evolved into a consultancy and service that helps authors independently publish quality books themselves. He rarely publishes books by others, yet an exception is a book he edited, END MEDICAL DEBT, by the three founders of the charity, RIP Medical Debt, who donate all their royalties to buy and forgive debt. Each copy sold forgives about $500 in hardship healthcare bills.
NMI and other sources say the percentage of LOHAS consumers in each nation varies — 22 percent in the USA, 17 percent in the UK, 16 percent in Germany, 30 percent in Sweden, 13 percent in Russia, 14 percent in India, 16 percent in China, 11 percent in Japan, 17 percent in South Africa, and 18 percent in Brazil. They average 16 percent.
