Tag: Australasian Christian Writers

Do you participate in online author groups?

Bookish Question #184 | Do you participate in online author groups?

I’m part of several active Facebook groups for authors (as well as a few for readers).

I’m also a member of dozens of Facebook groups for authors which I never visit because they are nothing but havens for post-and-run spammers. I should probably do myself a favour and leave the groups, I forget I’m in the groups because I never see the posts.

Off topic, but that’s one reason (of many) why it’s not a good idea to spam Facebook groups: no one will see the posts, so what is the point?

Anyway, it won’t surprise you to hear my favourite Facebook groups are the ones where the admins keep a tight lid on spam. In fact, “no spam” is a rule in all the groups I’m admin for.

Off topic again: it always amazes me how many so-called writers can’t read group rules that say things like “no links” or “no self-promotion” or “no spam”. Either they can’t read the rules, or they think they’re above the rules. Why else would you spam a group that forbids spam, or post links in a group that says no links?

Several of the writer groups I’m in are member-only groups i.e. only paid members of a specific writing organisation or paid training course can join the group. Those are some of the most useful.

Others are general groups that anyone can join, as long as they agree to the group rules (e.g. no spam).

My favourite groups are:

Australasian Christian Writers

Christian writers (and readers) from Australia, New Zealand, and around the world. An excellent place to ask questions and get advice that’s not US-centric.

Christian Writers Downunder

The first online author group I connected with, thanks to Paula Vince inviting me.

International Christian Fiction Writers

In this group “international” means “not from the USA”, because it’s important to know there is more to Christian fiction than the books published by the major US-based publishers.

SPF Community

A free group by Mark Dawson of Self Publishing Formula. He also has paid groups of those in his paid courses. This isn’t a Christian group so the content is sometimes a little more adult, but Mark is one of only a handful of writer coaches who earns more from writing and publishing than from teaching. As such, he is walking the talk rather than talking the walk.

Association of Christian Writers

Yes, another ACW. This one is a writing group for British Christians, and they allow non-members to join their Facebook group.

Christian Authors and Writers

The biggest group I’m a member of, and which has a lot of new writers and unpublished Christian authors.

Strengths for Writers

Author and Gallup-certified Strengths coach Becca Syme discusses the application of Gallup Strengths for writers … and for life in general). If you’ve every wondered “why do I find it hard to …”, then Becca has the answer.

Each group serves a different purpose.

Some allow me to learn, some allow me to teach, some allow me to connect. All are important.

I’m also a member of many reader groups … but that’s a topic for a different post.

What about you? Do you participate in online author groups?

Did you receive any books for Christmas?

Bookish Question #39 | Did you receive any books for Christmas?

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas and are ready to jump into 2018. I am!

I’m making a couple of minor changes here on the blog. The main one you’ll notice is that I’m publishing a book review on Monday instead of my Bookish Question. And the Bookish Question has now become a Tuesday Book Chat, in association with Australasian Christian Writers. We’re hoping to get more people involved, and we’ll share a little more about that later.

Anyway, here’s our first question for 2018:

Did you receive any books for Christmas?

I gave some books. My mother asked for the latest historical novel from Alison Weir, which was easy. My children asked for the new edition of the Official Scrabble dictionary which includes words like “twerk”, “emoji” and “emoticon”. Sigh. And I bought my husband Artemis, the new novel from Andy Weir, author of The Martian. He isn’t a big reader but he enjoyed The Martian, so I hope he’ll like Artemis as well.

And I will admit to treating myself to a few Kindle books over the Christmas holidays. Weird story. I signed up for a free service called Down Notifier, which sends you an email if your website goes down—something that’s handy to know (says me, the victim of a hacker attack which destroyed my site a couple of years ago).

Anyway, Down Notifier emailed me and offered me a $20 Amazon US gift voucher for reviewing their service. It’s a good service, so posting a review was no problem. Sure enough, a week or so later, I got an email offering me the choice of a $20 Amazon gift voucher, or $20 via PayPal. I chose the voucher, and bought:

I also pre-ordered Surgeon’s Choice by Richard Mabry, which releases this week. But that only uses up half my voucher (thanks to pre-Christmas sales!).

So did you receive any books for Christmas? (And yes, buying yourself books totally counts!) Share in the comments!

Don’t forget to pop over to Australasian Christian Writers as well!