Category: Bookish Question

Where would you like to "visit" in a novel?

Bookish Question #81 | Where would you like to “visit” in a novel?

I’m lucky in that I’ve travelled to over 25 countries, and around 20 US states … which means I’ve already visited many of the places I’d otherwise like to visit in a novel. But there’s also places I’d like to visit again in fiction …

Here are three places I’d like to visit in a novel:

Iceland

Iceland is a beautiful country, but it’s cold and dark for a lot of the year, and it’s a long way from New Zealand. I’d love to visit Iceland. One day! In the meantime, it would be great to read a Christian novel set in Iceland. Any suggestions?

India

I’ve read a few novels set in India (e.g. the Silk trilogy by Linda Chaikin, and the Twilight of the British Raj trilogy by Christine Lindsay). It’s a fascinating country, and I’d like to know more about India. Have you read any great Christian fiction set in India?

Wales

My father’s family are Welsh, as is my name (Iola means valued by the Lord). But I rarely come across Christian fiction with a Welsh setting, and I’d like to see more. The ones I have read have had Welsh settings but haven’t featured Welsh characters—that’s something I’d like to read. Do you have any suggestions?

What about you? Where would you like to visit in a novel?

Which lesser-known Christian authors do you wish more readers knew about?

Bookish Question #80 | Which lesser-known Christian authors do you wish more readers knew about?

It’s easy to find out about the big-name authors in Christian publishing.

Think Francine Rivers and Karen Kingsbury. It’s not hard to find out about some of the middle rank—the authors whose books you see reviewed, or you find on the shelf of your local Christian bookstore.

But, as a reader, it can be harder to find out about the lesser-known Christian authors.

It’s equally hard—or harder—for those authors to find readers.

I try and feature some lesser-known Christian authors on my blog, either through book reviews, author interviews, or First Line Friday posts. But I still have to find out about them somehow, and that’s often through them contacting me to request a review or interview.

Anyway, here’s my completely biased list of ten lesser-known Christian authors I suggest you watch out for:

What do you think? Which lesser-known Christian author do you wish more readers knew about?

Do you participate in online reader groups?

Bookish Question #79 | Do you participate in online reader groups?

We’ve all heard of book clubs, but did you know there are also online versions?

I’m a member of several online reader groups, but the two I follow most closely are both Facebook groups: Avid Readers of Christian Fiction, and Inspy Romance. As you’d expect, both specialise in Christian fiction (however published).

I’m also involved in a couple of reader/writer groups: Australasian Christian Writers (which posts a book review each Thursday), and International Christian Fiction Writers. Both are open to readers and writers from anywhere.

Some of the groups (e.g. Avid readers) also have a nominated book of the month, and an author-hosted discussion towards the end of the month. But I haven’t actually participated in any of the discussions … There are also a lot of reader groups on Goodreads. Again, many have books of the month which they discuss, but I haven’t participated.

This is sometimes because I’ve either already read and reviewed the book, or because it’s not a book I’m interested in. More often, it’s because I forget, or because I already have so many books on my reviewing pile that I don’t want to add another.

What about you? Do you participate in online reader groups? Which groups?

Have you discovered any new authors from my blog?

Bookish Question #78 | Have you discovered any new authors from my blog?

I mostly find new authors by browsing NetGalley (for traditionally published books), or by following other book bloggers (for self-published and small press books). And I discover a lot of new authors from the blogs—especially from the First Line Friday blog hop I take part in each week.

New authors I’ve discovered this year from other authors and bloggers include CC Warrens (the Holly trilogy) and
Bell Renshaw (As Easy as Riding a Bike). There are a lot of others, but they are still languishing in my to-read pile!

Have you discovered any new authors from my blog? Which authors and books?

Bookish Question: Do you treasure autographed copies of books?

Bookish Question 77 | Do you treasure autographed copies of books?

Do you treasure autographed copies of books?

I have a few autographed copies of books, and I do treasure them.

Some are books I’ve won in online contests, like A Season to Dance by Patricia Beal. Others are books where I’ve edited as a pre-publication beta-reader, like Close to You by Kara Isaac or The Governess of Highland Hall by Carrie Turansky. And some are books I’ve edited, like Grace in Strange Disguise by Christine Dillon, or Then There Was You by Kara Isaac.

What all these books have in common are that they are great stories, stories made more special because the author has taken the time to leave me a personal message.

What autographed books do you own? Do you treasure them? Leave a comment and let me know!

Do you read more than one book at a time?

Bookish Question #76 | Do you read more than one book at a time?

Yes.

I try to only read one novel at a time. I find that if I’m reading two novels, I inevitably forget about one and it languishes, unfinished, while I move onto the next story.

So what do I read?

Novels.

I read for pleasure, and I review a good proportion of the novels I read (although I don’t review as much as I used to). I find I have to stick to reading one novel at once and write the review before I move onto the next book or I quite literally lose the plot.

The Bible.

Because we’re all reading that, and none of us read the entire sixty-six books in one sitting, right?

Writing craft books.

I’m usually reading at least one writing craft book or taking an online training course. As with my general reading and reviewing, I’ve got a backlog of titles to read … but that doesn’t stop me buying more.

Editing.

I edit fiction, although I’m not sure if that counts as reading. Sure, I am reading the novel, but at a much slower pace than if I was reading for pleasure. I can read a full-length novel (90,000 words) in a day, but I can only edit at a fraction of that pace.

What about you? Do you read more than one book at a time?

Leave a comment and let me know!

Have you been to an in-store book signing?

Bookish Question #75 | Have you been to an in-store book signing?

No, I haven’t.

I do have some books which have been autographed by the author—some I won in online giveaways, some I was given or sent as a thank you for editing the books, and some I have purchased from the author at writing conferences. But none I bought at an in-store book signing.

Why have never attended an in-store book signing? This is mostly because I’ve (almost) never been in the same town as a favourite author when they’ve held a book signing.

Almost? There was one time … I was in Brisbane to attend the Omega Writers Conference, and one of the authors (Jo-Anne Berthlesen, I think) was holding a book signing that morning in the local Koorong store. Well, I had a map, but after completely missing the correct motorway exit twice, I gave up and headed for the conference venue. So I missed my chance to attend an in-store book signing.

What about you? Have you been to an in-store book signing? Who was the author, and what was the book?

Leave a comment and let me know!

Do you share book recommendations on social media?

Bookish Question #74 | Do you Share Book Recommendations on Social Media?

Yes!

As you all know, I review books. I publish a new book review on this website every Monday, and a #ThrowbackThursday review every (wait for it!) Thursday. I also participate in the First Line Friday blog meme, although I haven’t always read the books I share.

I share all my blog posts on social media: Facebook, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter (I use an app called Buffer to help: I set up a single post, and Buffer shares it to all the social networks for me. Click here to read a blog post I wrote introducing Buffer).

I also share my reviews on sites such as Amazon, BookBub, Goodreads, and RiffleBooks. I reshare reviews and my favourite book quotes on Twitter using an app called SocialJukebox. I add links to the relevant jukebox, and the app shares random quotes on a predefined schedule. (Click here to read a blog post I wrote introducing SocialJukebox).

What about you? Do you share book recommendations on social media? On which sites? What’s your favourite site for finding book recommendations?

Leave a comment and let me know!

How do you discover new books?

Bookish Question #73 | How Do You Discover New Books?

Once upon a time, there were only two ways I discovered new books.

One was to visit the home of new books—the book shop. You remember, the actual physical shop where books were sold. The other was to visit the school library, or the public library. I visited the school library most days, especially in winter or when it was raining. I travelled to and from school by bus, and realised I could stay dry and warm in the library while waiting for the bus. The best part was that only a couple of other kids had worked that out, so the librarian was happy to lock up and leave us inside.

Then I discovered mail order books, but they had to come from Australia and postage was expensive, so I didn’t do that often. Then I moved to London, Jeff Bezos invented Amazon, and my world was much larger.

My bank balance … not so much.

I still mostly buy from Amazon (especially ebooks), but the store is now so big that it’s hard to browse—not like in the old-fashioned book store. It’s easy to find the book you want if you search by title or author, but there are too many choices.

I tend to find new books a couple of ways:

Via NetGalley

I review books, and I get most of my review copies from NetGalley. I can search just those publishers I’m interested in, which makes it easy for me to keep track of what’s new in Christian fiction (from those publishers, at least. Not every publisher is on NetGalley).

Recommendations from Friends

We discussed this a couple of weeks back. Yes, I follow several other book bloggers, and am often introduced to new books and new authors through their posts. I also participate in the weekly First Line Friday meme, which features 20+ Christian novels each week.

So now I’m spoiled for choice!

What about you? How do you discover new books? Or new-to-you authors?

Do you subscribe to book deal email lists?

Bookish Question #72 | Do you subscribe to book deal email lists?

One of the big changes in book marketing over the last few years has been the introduction of book deal email lists, advertising free and cheap ebooks. Many were developed as a way of earning money from the Amazon affiliate scheme. This pays a commission of between 3% and 8% (I think) if anyone clicks through from the website to Amazon and makes a purchase.

Amazon soon caught onto this.

They introduced more rules about affiliate marketing, like the fact affiliates are not supposed to email affiliate links, and that a certain percentage of purchases have to be of paid purchases (not free ebooks) in order to earn affiliate commissions. (Yes, I’m also an Amazon affiliate. I don’t earn enough from the scheme to pay for the hosting on this blog, let alone turn it into a profitable business! But click here if you’d like to visit my Amazon shop and contribute a few cents to my book-buying habit.)

Bookbub is the biggest in the business.

They have the biggest email list, and Bookbub subscribers can choose which genres they want to receive emails about. They have 810,000 people on their US Christian fiction list. It advertises just two books most days—free, or heavily reduced (usually to 99 cents or $1.99). Authors and publishers pay hundreds of dollars for a spot in one of these daily newsletters, and most make their money back.

Other book deal email lists include BargainBooksy, eReader News Today, FreeBooksy, My Book Cave, and Riffle. I subscribe to all of them, and occasionally buy from them.

Occasionally. Why not more often?

Sometimes it’s because I’ve already read the book. Sometimes it’s because I already own the book. Sometimes it’s because I’m just not interested (Christian fiction is a wide genre, and there are some sub-genres I’m not interested in). Mostly I don’t buy because I already have too many books on my to-read and to-review pile, and I’m trying to get that number down. So I’ll buy maybe one book a month as a result of seeing it advertised in one of the emails, although I’m more likely to download or buy a free or 99 cent book than a more expensive book.

What about you? Do you subscribe to book deal email lists? How often do you buy a book from one of the emails?