Author: Stan Shinn (Page 111 of 112)

Reviewers continue to praise the crime fiction debut by Chris Well, “Forgiving Solomon Long” (Harvest House Publishers). Already hailed by “Publishers Weekly” for breaking new ground in faith-based fiction, it is a suspense thriller for fans of “Get Shorty,” “Macbeth” and “100 Bullets.”

CCM Magazine reviewer Anneka Morgan gave “Forgiving Solomon Long” an A-plus:

We join the bandwagon. It’s good — very good. … This faith-based thriller will both surprise and delight you.

In case you’re near San Jose, California:

From Newsweek to the New York Times, Christian books are everywhere. Bay area bookstores, including Borders Santana Row, which now offers Bible imprinting, are no exception. Seven members of American Christian Fiction Writers will be featured at the 356 Santana Row store in San Jose, Thursday, March 17, 2005, 7:00 to 8:30 PM.

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Non-Christians and nominal Christians are embracing Christian media in droves:

In a survey released yesterday, the Barna Group stated that the number of people who utilize Christian Media is substantially higher than those who actually attend Church.

Why the appeal? I think it is in part because Christian media is ‘family friendly.’ Picking up a Christian CD or book is akin to buying something with a ‘Rated “E” for Everyone’ sticker.

Could it also be that Christian Media has other qualities that appeal to the masses? Improving content is no doubt a factor.
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To garner interest and anticipation for her latest novel, author Susan M. Brooks is revealing one page per day on her author blog.

Most authors or publishing houses wouldn’t dream of putting their works online for no charge, but Small Dogs Press and author Susan M. Brooks are trying a different approach to building interest and anticipation for Brooks’ second novel, “Collecting Candace.” Brooks is posting one page of the novel per day on her author blog, at http://www.susanmbrooks.blogspot.com.

Susan Sabo, publisher at Small Dogs Press, says:

“We don’t see this as a way of giving away the books. The book is 200 pages long, so this will go on till the end of the year. If someone is really bent on not paying for the book, I suppose they could visit the blog everyday and print it out, but I seriously doubt anyone would want to read a book that way.”

By visiting the blog, readers can read each entry (named by the page number) in sequence or out, depending on their need for continuity and linear action. But the main idea, says Brooks, is not to get people to visit everyday and read the entire book, but to be enticed by the few pages they might read into buying the book.

“Unknown authors have a really tough time of selling books,” says Brooks. “So free content, like teasers, are essential to building an audience.” Although there are dozens of ways an author can blog a novel, Brooks likes the idea of the slow tease of one page per day. “It can really build a lot of interest and anticipation,” she says, “when you’re in the middle of some really exciting scene, and you’re cut off by a hyphenated word!”

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Big sales have changed the way many big-name bookstores view the Christian market. Books-A-Million, a chain of 204 stores in the Southeast, dedicated more space to religious books.

Says Terry Finley, executive vice president at Books-A-Million:

One of the fastest-growing categories in our stores is Christian fiction. This is not a Southern phenomenon; it’s a cultural phenomenon.

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