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New group member with newly published book!
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Hi and Thank you for letting me part of your group. This is all very new to me and I am very excited as I just Just completed my book, titled, "Ezekiel's Eyes", A faith based story of one mans journey into the realm of the supernatural, to wage spiritual warfare against evil, with the souls of his friends, himself and mankind's hanging in the balance. Due to be released by mid march.
What is the best/most efficient way to get a book out to the public?
Hey John! You might want to contact the head moderator of the group (James) since he's a published author, but I can try to give you some tips from what I know, too.By your question, you mean the marketing side of everything and not the publishing side, right? If you use social media (especially Instagram), having some publicity there can make a big difference. There's lots of Christian readers out there who use Instagram (I'm usually on the more Christian fantasy side of Bookstagram), and readers usually trust other readers for book recommendations. You could also find lots of book blogs done by other believers out there. Contacting these small influencers and asking if they'd be willing to read and review (and maybe feature your book on their socials or blogs) could really help your book have more viewership. I've also seen dedicated authors do cover reveals, launch teams, blog tours, etc. None of that is necessary, but those are the things that help readers discover your book.
Hi Lilyyy, Thank you so much for getting back to me. I really appreciate you taking the time to write me. I was definitely referring to the marketing side, and your comments and suggestions were very helpful. I will definitely looking into a few of the avenues you pointed out and see what develops.
Thanks again,
John
Hello John!It was my pleasure! I'm also a freelance editor and book reviewer, so if you haven't gotten professional feedback on your manuscript yet or would like an early review of your book, I'd love to help. God bless!
Hi Lilyyy, Thank you so much, Where were you a few months ago. LOL
Right now, everything has been completed, and the book release has been moved up to the end of this month.
It's called "Ezekiel's Eyes".
It's been a fun and exciting process, but we are finally coming to the end of that road and now, I can't wait to see the physical book hand. (I'm smiling right now.)
I will definitely keep you in mind as my publisher wants me to get started on the next book in the series.
Thank you once again for your suggestions, they were very helpful.
Warmest Regards,
John
Hey John!Haha, well, if you ever start working on a second book, I'd be happy to help! You can save my email (lilylyu7@gmail.com) if you'd like. :)
That feeling of holding your book in your hands must be tremendous! Congratulations in advance on your release. What company are you publishing through? I wish you all the best with your book!
Lily
Lily,Do you belong to Tea With Tolkien? I saw that you mentioned Tolkien’s work in your Goodreads bio. Are you looking forward to the LOTR series beginning in September on Amazon Prime?
Wishing you the very best, John. Have you considered a Goodreads Giveaway?
Hi Frances!!I don't belong to Tea With Tolkien, per say, but I do love her website and her articles! I do also know that she's done Tolkien read-alongs in the past with discussions on Discord, but I was always too busy to participate. Are you familiar with Tea With Tolkien?
As for the Amazon series, I was definitely looking forward to it 4 years ago and even a few months ago, but it's looking to be a bit... interesting, if you get what I mean! I'll watch the show, of course, but so far, it doesn't feel like Middle-earth at all. What do you think?
Hi, Lily.Yes, I belong to Tea With Tolkien, although I’m nowhere near as adept at technology as you are. I love hearing the reading of LOTR, but my most cherished experience has been being able to read J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic ‘’On Fairie Stories.’’
I certainly understand what you mean about the coming series on Amazon! Do you know if the estate of J.R.R. Tolkien has any control over the narrative or the characters? Doesn’t it seem that protecting the integrity of the series would be hugely important? Some of the reviews I’ve read have been positive, some concerning. No one who loves LOTR wants to see ‘’Game of Thrones 2.0’’ But, I don’t think we will. I am cautiously optimistic.
Please let us know if you hear something you think is significant. I’ll do the same.
My best, Frances
Hello again!Haha, I wouldn't say I'm adept at technology, but it has become almost impossible to not get used to tech in this day and age! I actually haven't read On Fairy-Stories yet (even though both of my younger sisters already did!)... Admittedly, I have a bit of an obsession with First Age stuff, so The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, Beren and Luthien, The Children of Hurin, etc. is where I've spent the most of my time.
Well, Christopher Tolkien did some negotiating with Amazon when the deal was first made, and it was established that the studio wasn't allowed to change anything that's specifically canonical to Tolkien. However, what Amazon has one now is create a whole slew of original characters (e.g. a Dwarven queen named Disa, a colored Elf named Arondir, a single mom healer named Bronwyn, a human associated with Galadriel named Halbrand). There's so much of this that it seems like Amazon is disregarding Tolkien almost completely and making up their own stuff. All of this is already confirmed and I don't want to disappoint anyone, but I personally don't have very high expectations for the show. I was very excited when the posters came out, but in general, Tolkien fans didn't take the teaser trailer very well. Sorry that was so long, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on the trailer if you haven't seen it already!
I love talking about Tolkien, so it's really nice talking to you!
All the best,
Lily
Thank you so much, Lily. I don’t understand why Amazon didn’t use The Silmarillion as the basis for the series. As I understand it, material accumulated from Tolkien’s work in general was used. I don’t mind if a character or two is added — as long as that’s all it is — one or two. Just from a practical standpoint: Amazon has paid close to a billion dollars for this project. Do they really want to anger or turn off lovers of LOTR? That said, I realize, as I know you do, how difficult it is to make a sequel equal to the quality of the original.If you haven’t seen this You Tube video, I think you might like it: Google ‘’On the Power of Fiction,’’ C.S. Lewis, Tolkien. What you will see is about a 14 minute video (with two short commercial breaks), narrated by Timothy Keller on the friendship of Lewis and Tolkien, and ‘’Fairie Stories’’ in particular.
It’s wonderful to have met you, Lily. Thank you again for all you’ve shared.
I’ll be in touch!
Frances
Yes, I know quite a few people have wanted to see The Silmarillion on screen (or at least parts of it), but both Tolkien himself and Christopher (his son) saw those First Age works as being too precious to sell the rights to. And see, the Second Age has plenty of events that they could've built the show around (e.g. Eregion, Celebrimbor and Narvi, Celebrimbor and Annatar, the war at Eregion, Lindon, Gilg-galad and Elrond, Galadriel and Celeborn, Lórinand, Cirdan and the Grey Havens, Khazad-dûm, Elros, Nûmenor) to build an exciting timeline, but instead, they chose to compress everything into a single point in time. I think that this will be a mistake, but we'll see, I suppose! You are right that it's difficult to adapt a Tolkien work, though!I'll watch the video when I get the chance to. Thanks so much for sharing!
God bless.
Lily
You have such a rich imagination, Lily. I love reading your descriptions. Thank you for sharing the information about Christopher Tolkien’s decision. Wasn’t he prescient!To all members of the group: the You Tube video I recommended to Lily is outstanding. Some time ago I read that in terms of quality it is considered one of You Tube’s top ten videos. The title is ‘’On the Power of Fiction,’’ narrated by Timothy Keller. Its theme is how J.R.R. Tolkien, a devout Catholic, led his atheist friend, C.S. Lewis, to faith in Christ. During the course of the video (it’s only about 14 minutes long) Keller discusses Tolkien’s theory of what he called ‘’secondary belief,’’ the power of deep and beautiful stories to tap into human beings’ most profound intellectual and emotional longings. This, of course, is exactly what Tolkien did with LOTR.
Thanks so much, Lily. I think September 2 is the date on which Amazon’s series begins.
God bless you.
Frances
He was indeed! I loved how dedicated he was to his father's writing and his father's ideals, spending quite a significant amount of his time and energy to editing, compiling, and publishing First Age material.And yes, September 2nd is when Episode 1 releases! I still find myself hoping that it won't be a let-down, but that might just prove to be wishful thinking. I do hope you'll enjoy it, though!
The video you spoke about is the one below, right? I'm excited to listen to it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoAE1...
With love,
Lily
That’s it. I am confident you will like it. Listen for Tolkien’s explanation for why we need ‘’secondary belief.’’ Because ‘’we’re made in the image of God, but we’re fallen . . .’’ Thus, we are stuck at the factual level. That’s so profound. Later in his life, after he’d become a Christian, C.S. Lewis once said that you can deduce most of theology from the fact that people feel uncomfortable in the presence of a dead body; that there’s something wrong; we humans are made for something more than this. This goes directly back to Tolkien’s thought, expressed in “On the Power of Fiction,’’ that we crave stories about a love that never ends, of good triumphing over evil, of life overcoming death, and that when we look at the Gospels, we find that everything we’ve been looking for is there.
Warmest thoughts,
Frances
Good morning! I'm new here as of today. I am searching for reviews for my newest book publication. It's the first book I've written where I've actually been able to have a professional editor go through it. That was scary! Ha! Anyway, I'm not sure how things work here in acquiring positive reviews or any review at that. How should I go about the process? Most who have read my books love them, but after my editor returned my manuscript, I realized that my first four books need to be revised. Ha! I'm still working on revisions for my first book. Once I'm satisfied with those, I'll ask for more reviews on that one. For now, this is for book five. The first in my second series called Men of Honor. Help! ;)
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Hello to all. I am Stan and new to this group. I love to read and write Christian non-fiction. During the past couple of years, I have written and self-published three books that are listed here at Goodreads. They are Hope Through the Truth - Standing in the Gap in America, Twelve Gifts of Christmas From Our Heavenly Father, and a related Bible study guide for Twelve Gifts of Christmas. As an unknown, self-published author, book exposure is not the easiest thing to achieve. If anyone is interested in reviewing either of my books, I would certainly appreciate it. I look forward to reading and participating in the discussions among this group.
My name is Henry and I'm very excited to be a part of this group!
My wife Vanessa and I recently published an inspirational, non-fiction book entitled, “From Zion to a City of Hope”. The book is about our cancer journey from diagnosis to remission. I'm looking forward to more interactions with the group and perhaps even feedback on our book or a review or two.
Peace and Blessing