Talking Books

Okay, let’s talk about books. We love them. Reading them. Writing them. For those of us who write them, the challenge comes in trying to keep up with our always growing TBR pile, right? I struggled with this for a long time, but this past year I’ve read a lot of really good books. Have you?  Without giving it too much thought, list the BEST five books you’ve read recently, not ever, but like in the last year! And briefly, why do they rank on your bestseller list?

How This Works…

I usually have a bit of trouble explaining myself, (yes, I know I’m a writer), so it’s no wonder I’ve received a few emails from confused people.

Let me try and break it down.

This blog is for READERS.

This blog is for READERS WHO REVIEW CHRISTIAN FICTION.

This blog is for AUTHORS WHO WRITE CHRISTIAN FICTION.

This blog is not for cat lovers.   I mean, to each his/her own, but I do love dogs. Which has nothing to do with the purpose of this blog. I’m just throwing it out there. I also love roses, orchids, cheese and wine and Starbucks. Not necessarily in that order.

However.

If you are a READER (you’re awesome, we love you!!), you’re probably going to want to hang out in the New Releases Section. This where we hope wonderful authors are going to list their new and upcoming book releases. Because I don’t want to pop anybody onto the blog without their permission, it may take a while for me to compile this list, which is why I’ve directed you to ACFW’s Fiction Finder.

If you are a REVIEWER, then obviously you’re a READER so ditto what I just said. And if you’re not listed on THE LIST (this is the good list – the list of lovely people who do book reviews) and you want to be, then hop up to the How To Get On The List page. Don’t leave me a comment here saying you’d like to be on the list. I wrote the How To Get On The List page for a reason.

If you are an AUTHOR then you’re in the right place. I hope I have made your life a little easier by compiling a list of reviewers who you can contact when you need a review. You can send wine, chocolates, money to the following address… If you have a book that released in the last year,(from Jan 2011 on…) and you WANT to be in the New Releases section, please let me know. I won’t post your information without your permission. But I would love to feature your book/s here, so I hope you will want them featured here!

So that’s what I WILL DO.

Here’s what I WON’T DO. 

I won’t be posting a myriad of reviews on this blog. I’m still thinking about it, but I might compile a reviews for the week page, where you could send me your link to upcoming reviews. Mulling it over, I’ll get back to you.

I won’t put a link to your book unless you are published through a publisher on the approved ACFW list, which you can find under the New Releases section.The reason I adhere to ACFW’s list is because I’m an ACFW member and hey, they’re just an awesome organization. I’m also a Zone Director, so the rules is the rules.

I’m not listing self-published or e-books. At this time I’m also not listing non-fiction.

I won’t do reviews. I’m an author. I love to read and I’ll occasionally post a review someplace if I like a book, but I don’t have the time to do a bunch of reviews. That said of course, I’m always happy if anyone wants to review my book. Hey, it’s my blog. Might as well get some perks, right?

As I said, this is a work in progress. I’m open to any and all suggestions. Bottom line, I really hope this will be a helpful place to visit and find great Christian fiction!

 

 

 

Welcome to The Blog About Books!

As a debut author, I’ve spent the last six months connecting with readers, authors and reviewers. It hasn’t been easy. In fact, at times it’s been downright difficult. Why? Because there are thousands of blogs, thousands of bloggers who love books, and thousands of bloggers who love books and review them! How do you sift through all those lists until you find the right readers and reviewers  you think you might forge a connection with? You might waste hours of time, visit a ton of blogs and send hundreds of emails-sometimes you hit the jackpot, but a lot of the time, you just end up frustrated.

So here’s my new venture.

A place where we can all gather to share information, talk about books, writing and maybe some other stuff.

I’m in the process of compiling a list that I’ll be sharing on this blog.

A list of lovely people who do book reviews.

Won’t that be helpful? Please note, as I write for the CBA market (Christian), the reviewers I include on this list will all review Christian books. There are plenty, and I do mean plenty, of reviewers out there who like to review all kinds of fiction, and these guys do too, it’s just that in my quest for the Holy Grail, aka a list that points me to reviewers interested in reading what I write, I came across too many blogs that outright stated they DO NOT review Christian fiction. To each his or her own and no hard feelings, but this blog is ALL about Christian fiction. YAY!

Maybe that’s a new genre for you entirely. Maybe you don’t know much about God. Don’t want to know. Or maybe you do. Maybe you just don’t know what you want. You’re definitely not alone there!

Stick around, pull up a chair. You might actually find something here worth your time.

I hope so.