saving Archives -

Book Bloggers, Publishing and Social Media

28Oct | 2011

posted by Paula

I was fortunate to be able to interview Nicole Langan, the owner of Tribute Books recently regarding social media, bloggers and the future of publishing. As I know a lot of my readers are also writers and bloggers, I thought the answers would be interesting to many of you.

1. Can you tell me a bit about Tribute Books?
Nicole: Tribute Books began in 2004 and we’ve published over 30 titles since that time. Some of our books have gone on to win awards such as the Christian Small Publisher Book of the Year and the Mom’s Choice Award while others were endorsed by PBS and The Thoreau Society. We’ve covered a wide range of genres from children to history to sports.

2. Describe your new project for my readers?
Nicole: In 2012, we will transition into being an ebook publisher for young adult titles. Our main reason is the explosion in popularity of e-readers such as the Kindle, Nook and iPad. Over the course of 2011, we’ve watched our ebook sales outpace our print sales by 2 to 1. The under $5 price point of most of our titles and the ease of purchase and delivery are surely contributing factors.

3. What are you looking for in an author? Who finds illustrator if needed?
Nicole: We’re looking to work with authors who are savvy with social media – those who blog, tweet and update their Facebook status on a daily basis. I’m most excited about working with authors who enjoy promoting their book on a daily basis. Ones who know the ins and outs of the time and effort it takes to make a book a success because I’m ready and willing to work with them every step of the way.
(At this time, illustrations will not be needed since we’re looking to e-publish solely text manuscripts.)

4. Why epubs and not traditional hard copy books?
Nicole: Our main reason is the explosion in popularity of e-readers such as the Kindle, Nook and iPad. Over the course of 2011, we’ve watched our ebook sales outpace our print sales by 2 to 1. The under $5 price point of most of our titles and the ease of purchase and delivery are surely contributing factors.

5. What is your social media experience and philosophy?
Nicole: I am a big believer in the power of social media. I even conduct monthly blog tours for outside publishers and authors in order to help them increase the online presence of a book. Book bloggers are a powerful force in the book industry. With more and more book stores closing and book review columns being cut from major newspapers, readers are depending on bloggers to help them find the books they want to read. They are turning to the internet as a reference point to fill that gap.

Thanks very much to Nicole and Tribute Books

Nicole Langan, owner of Tribute Books

Money and Marriage by Matt Bell

7Apr | 2011

posted by Paula

I have been reading excellent bloggers this week on how to smartly title a blog post so that it gets noticed. Now normally I would think that a literary title about money might be savvy, but it turns out that I am wrong. All the smart bloggers I admire say simple is best. Apparently Google doesn’t really get literary flowery post titles. So what does that have to do with Money and Marriage? Well clearly this title is succinct. But essentially it tells you everything you need to know to buy the book. Money and Marriage. There is arguably no greater issue in a marriage than money. It can make your relationship challenging to say the least. Luckily author Matt Bell is here to help.

“Couples who disagree about finances at least once a week are over 30 % more likely to divorce than couples who disagree about finances a few times a month.”

Money and Marriage: A Complete Guide for Engaged and Newly Married Couples contains many excellent guides, charts and activities designed to help new couples discover more about each other’s financial goals, debts and worth. Remember that marriage course you had to take before you walked down the aisle? Well Money and Marriage is like that course, neatly contained in a book, for your finances. Matt Bell begins by outlining the many ways in which men and women are different in terms of spending, saving and investing. Men, for instance, follow business news more often than women. Men cite investing and entrepreneurship as high on their list. Women cite saving and spending as key issues with money. Women are more likely than men to give time and money to charity. If our approaches to money are so different, then is it any wonder than most couples argue about it a lot?

Financial literacy is nothing if not a hot topic these days in light if such severe economic woes in much of North America. Bell, also the author of Money, Purpose, Joy and Money Strategies for Tough Times, provides a helpful guide to start couples on the right track in their new lives together.

There are some helpful practical and common sense tips here, that I like. For instance, continue learning outside the workplace for as long as your are able, especially before children arrive. You increase your worth as a worker if you are always on top of trends and information. Also many workplaces have some sort of tuition reimbursement or cost savings program. Accelerate your payments whenever possible. Avoid debt and where you have debt prior to your marrige be honest with each other about it. Also contact the bank or credit card company to ask for a lower interest rate on your credit cards. Often this is a simple phone call and this is a practical strategy I use here as well.
For this review and book tour there is also an excellent contest going on. I hope every one of my readers takes time to enter. Thanks to Matt Bell for the great giveaway!

Money and Marriage, by Mat Bell NavPress, 2011, $14.99 softcover, 219 pages

Thriftymommastips rating is $$$1/2 out of $$$$$. The price is right for this book about money. I learned a lot about how spending habits and investing strategies differ by gender.This is clearly an American book with US references throughout. That’s perfectly fine and Canadians can still use a lot of the common sense information here. I am unsure that prayer and money belong together in a book.

I received a free copy of this book to review. This, in no way impact my honest opinion.

A Book BlogHop and a $25 Chapters Giveaway – Canada

11Feb | 2011

posted by Paula

I have a new bloghop today just for book bloggers and it looked like fun so I am passing it on. Those of you who read me often know this month is my February I Heart Books Event and I am giving away a lot of great goodies. Today I am also giving away a $25 Chapters/Indigo gift code.

Mandatory (To Win:) Canada Only
1. Follow me – thriftymommasbrainfood -on GFC at side of blog.
2. Follow me – thriftymommastips – on GFC side of that blog here http://www.thriftymommastips.blogspot.com/
3. Tell me what you might buy with it and leave me your email address.

That’s it!
1. Extra two entries for following me on twitter @inkscrblr
2. Extra two entries for tweeting this or something like it: “Canadians can win a $25 gift card to Chapters/Indigo from http://www.thriftymommasbrainfood.blogspot.com/”

I will draw for this one on Feb. 22. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Twelve Pearls of Christmas: Guest Series and Giveaway: Just Give Me Christmas This Year

23Dec | 2010

posted by Paula

Welcome to the 12 Pearls of Christmas! Enjoy these Christmas “Pearls of Wisdom”! Please follow along through Christmas day as each post shares heartfelt stories of how God has touched a life during this most wonderful time of the year. AND BEST OF ALL … there’s also a giveaway! Fill out the quick form at the link located at the bottom of this post to be entered to win a PEARL NECKLACE, BRACELET AND EARRINGS! Pearls – a tangible reminder of God’s grace to us all.

~~~

All I Want for Christmas… Melissa Mashburn
Is to be able to have Christmas this Year

by
This is a simple request, isn’t it? In the previous years, we had great big bountiful Christmases with our family. Gifts, goodies and general Christmas cheer but this year it was different. The year before has been chock full of disappointments, failing businesses and severe cutbacks for our family. Sitting with my husband one night we hammered out the bare minimum that we could spend that year for Christmas and even still the total was four hundred dollars. It does not sound like a whole lot compared to what we’ve spent on Christmas before, but this year it could have been four thousand dollars because we just did not have it. We prayed, I cried, we prayed some more and decided that we would cut back anything else that we could that year so we could have Christmas for our kids. We did not know how we would make this happen, but we knew that we needed to step forward in faith that it would happen. Answer this question: Does the God who lavishly provides you with his own presence, his Holy Spirit, working things in your lives you could never do for yourselves, does he do these things because of your strenuous moral striving or because you trust him to do them in you? Don’t these things happen among you just as they happened with Abraham? He believed God, and that act of belief was turned into a life that was right with God. Galatians 3:5 the Message. Not even two days later, we hear a knock on our front door. We open the door to see some friends of ours from church. With tears in their eyes, they handed us an envelope and said that the felt they needed to give us this. We opened the envelope and inside there was four hundred dollars cash. Shocked, stunned and with tears flowing down our face we just sat there in a state of crying and laughing at what God had done. We never shared with anyone that year what we needed, how bad it was, what was going on or what that number was for us to have Christmas for the kids, but God knew. “And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others.” 2 Corinthians 9:8 NLT. He took a willing servant, led them to our front door and changed Christmas for us that year. After many years of being in full time ministry we knew that God would provide, but when He shows up just at the right moment, you know that it was all a part of His plan to show how much He loves, provides and cares for His people.
Father God, thank you that after all the years of serving and loving you in ministry that you continue to teach, guide, love, shepherd and care for us. You, Father, are abundantly gracious and kind, thank you for showing up for us at just the right moment every time, forgive us when we forget that. In Jesus name, Amen.

~~~

About Melissa: Melissa is the founder of the blog Mel’s World Ministry, co-founder of the Praise and Coffee Nights Ministry with Sue Cramer, Kids Ministry Director at her church. Just last year she launched a new weekly series called Godly Gals ~ Real Women, Real Life, Real Faith where we meet new women each week who are “Taking their everyday, ordinary lives and placing it as their offering to God.” Romans 12:1 the Message. You can find her on twitter and at her blog. She loves encouraging women to live with an authentic faith by being transparent, renewed and transformed. ~ Romans 12:2.

~~~

A three strand pearl necklace will be given away on New Year’s Day. All you need to do to have a chance of winning is {FILL OUT THIS QUICK ENTRY FORM}. One entry per person, per day. The winner will be announced on the Pearl Girls Blog (http://margaretmcsweeney.blogspot.com/) on New Years Day! 12 Pearls of Christmas Series and contest sponsored by Pearl Girls®. For more information, please visit http://www.pearlgirls.info/

Twelve Pearls of Christmas: Guest Series and Giveaway: Grief and Loss Near Christmas

19Dec | 2010

posted by Paula

Welcome to the 12 Pearls of Christmas! Enjoy these Christmas “Pearls of Wisdom” Please follow along through Christmas day as each post shares heartfelt stories of how God has touched a life during this most wonderful time of the year. AND BEST OF ALL … there’s also a giveaway! Fill out the quick form at the link located at the bottom of this post to be entered to win a PEARL NECKLACE, BRACELET AND EARRINGS! Pearls – a tangible reminder of God’s grace to us all.

~~~

Hurting Near Christmas? 10 Tips to Hope Again
by Stacie Ruth Stoelting

Feel sad this Christmas? Hey, I know the feeling. In fact, many programs have interviewed me to share about it! Last year, I tried particularly hard to share stories and tips on how to cope with grief during the holidays: I wrote a feature for CBN.com, Coping with Grief at Christmas, visited and counseled grieving people, etc. Then irony hit: Near Christmas, two people I loved died within two days (December 15-16, 2009).

Before I continue with tips, let me share this: If you feel suicidal, contact an emergency counseling service like the New Life Call Center at 1-800-NEW-LIFE(639-5433).
10 Tips for Hurting Hearts to Hope and Cope at Christmastime
1.    Realize and internalize it: God still loves you and wants to hear from you. He wants you to know that there is a Way out of your pit of despair. The Way is Jesus.

2.    Sometimes, our suffering causes us to forget His. Understand He understands you. He suffered more than any of us when we bore the weight of every sin and pain on the cross! In fact, Is. 53:3 describes Jesus: “He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.” Think of it: He took your punishment and pain on the cross. He was your capital punishment Substitute! And your Deliverer -your Rescuer- wants to hear from you. His heart hurts with yours. Will you pour your heart out to Him now? He’ll pour His love in where the fear previously resided. Let Jesus inside. Do you know Jesus on a personal, one-to-One basis? Visit here to learn why Jesus was born to die and how to be born again. (Hey, Jesus said it: “You must be born again.”)

3.    Rather than mere gifts, make a Christmas prayer list of other hurting people. Then pray for them and request prayer for yourself, too. Contact your church. Tap into ministries (including CBN.com) that offer extra prayer support. And feel free to join my prayer e-group at www.PrayingPals.org or on Facebook by clicking here.

4.    End the Christmas comparison game. Don’t compare your Christmas to your neighbor’s. Don’t compare your Christmas to past celebrations.

5.    Center on the Savior! This year, trade a superficial Christmas for a real one. Deepen your appreciation for the true Christmas: the arrival of Jesus Christ to banish the effects of sin and death!

6.    Whatever your loss or pain, open up and let God be your Gain. Maybe your pain comes from another cause: a divorce, a devastating diagnosis, a job loss…the list extends. God offers to be your Counselor, your Father, your Healer, your Provider. Let Him answer your heart’s cry.

7.    Love on people. Even if you don’t “feel” like it, prayerfully do something for someone else who is hurting.

8.    Remember: Feelings change. God doesn’t. Loved ones’ deaths never kill His love for you. God’s immeasurable, unconditional love still flows to you! When you know Jesus, you know eternal love and security. Nothing separates you from His love! “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39, ESV).

9.    Realize the reality of the sudden reunion. Holidays exacerbate the feeling of long separation from our loved ones in Heaven. Does it feel like it will take forever for you to see your loved one in Heaven? Be encouraged: Jesus IS coming again and it will be a time you don’t expect! So the fact that you feel like it won’t happen soon is a good thing! Once reunited, it will feel like no time transpired. All sadness will be entirely removed!

10.    When Jesus comes back to earth, it will be a celebration greater than any previous Christmas you’ve ever experienced!

For believers, losses hurt but never win. We will celebrate Jesus together -and it will be glorious “for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith” (I John 5:4, NIV). In that Day, all believers will be able to jubilantly say, “Merry Christmas to all and to all the true Light! Additional Help: Ready for some practical tips for coping with grief at Christmastime? Here’s one: Rearrange furniture to reduce absence reminders. To read this tip and others found in another of my CBN.com’s articles: “Coping with Grief at Christmas”, visit http://www.cbn.com/.
Going thru a rough time? Join Stacie Ruth’s prayer group at http://www.prayingpals.org/.

~~~

About Stacie: Stacie Ruth knows pain, but she also knows Jesus! After Stacie Ruth met Jesus, her life blossomed with true joy and purpose. Life’s blows hurt her, but Jesus heals and strengthens her. Now an author, actress, and recording artist, she laughs at the irony and praises God, who uses unlikely people…like herself. Discover why she’s written a book at age 15, sung/spoken for the 43rd President, been pictured in major media (i.e. The New York Times, USA Today), and keynoted conferences since she was a teenager. To watch video clips, worship Jesus with music from her album, or get in touch with her ministry for women, visit http://www.brightlightministries.com/.

~~~

A three strand pearl necklace will be given away on New Year’s Day. All you need to do to have a chance of winning is {FILL OUT THIS QUICK ENTRY FORM}. One entry per person, per day. The winner will be announced on the Pearl Girls Blog (http://margaretmcsweeney.blogspot.com/) on New Years Day!12 Pearls of Christmas Series and contest sponsored by Pearl Girls®. For more information, please visit http://www.pearlgirls.info/