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Plenty of people today are often discriminate when it comes to reading Christian fiction books. Since it is labeled as “Christian,” they often think that it will be all about religion and Christianity and that they will be bombarded with teachings, so they shy away from even picking up the book.
Christian Fiction Books Have Different Views
It is true that many people enjoy reading Christian fiction books, however, majority of them think twice simply because of the Christian theme and if they are not Christians or religious themselves.
What most of them don’t know is that they are missing out on plenty of great Christian fiction book reads by overlooking these themes.
It doesn’t necessarily mean that because a book is labeled as Christian, it will be talk about religion in all of its pages.
The truth is that most Christian authors rarely mention or outwardly state their beliefs and faith in the book unless it was important to the central subject.
For example, there is C.S. Lewis. Lewis was an awesome Christian writer and he wrote books that are loved and gave entertainment, but only subtly incorporate Christian beliefs.
If you read Chronicles of Narnia, you will notice how Lewis creatively incorporated his faith in the characters and plot; making it difficult to interpret unless you are a scholar.
You see, there is hardly any reason why you should refrain from reading fiction books made by Christian writers.
Even if they showcase their faith in it, it won’t mean that they will suffocate you with it. It just doesn’t work that way.
Thus, there is no reason for you to not get into the habit of reading Christian fiction books.
Reading Christian Fiction Books
If you are on the other side of the page and instead of a Christian fiction reader, you are an author for Christian fiction books, then there might be several things that you want to do to reach your audience.
It might not be terribly difficult to win people over or to convince them to read your book, but there are some things that you can do to get the word out about it.
They can help you in coordinating between you and your publishing house so that you can go ahead and promote your book as well as its message.
Having a publicist around means having a smoother marketing campaign in coordination with retailers so promoting your book is made easier. It is also an advantage to have one since you will get the exact exposure you need.
Another thing to remember is to use important elements around you in promoting your book, for example, you can make use of the Internet.
What you can do is create a great website that will be all about your book or maybe you can just create your own website as an author and then provide all the information that they need about the book and your work.
It’s really not that difficult to understand and read Christian fiction books or even promote one that you have written.
What you really need is just an open mind as well as plenty of effort if you really want to make it in the Christian fiction books realm.
More info on Christian Fiction Books
Tags: christian epic books, christian fiction books
Posted in Literature · February 14th, 2010 · Comments (0)
We need more young people getting engaged with each other over the books they read. Think about your own group of friends: at least one of your moms is in a book club, meeting up with other mothers to chat about the latest historical fiction or speculative thriller they’ve read. But where is that same engagement among our own generation?
It seems pretty painless: choose a book, choose a time, READ IT, and then get a discussion going. But it’s always the last step that trips the most people up. Creating questions that everyone will be able to relate to is a daunting task, but here are some tips to keep the chatter going:
To learn more about book club questions, visit this very cool book club for The Lovely Bones.
Don’t ask too-smart questions, but don’t ask stupid ones, either. It’s always important to make sure that you’re including everyone, so it’s wise to not link the book to discussion of the space-time continuum (unless it’s The Time Traveler’s Wife!). But at the same time, don’t underestimate your audience; people could be turned off by a dumbed-down query like “Could the car be important to the story?” (Alternatively, “The author seems to use cars as a recurring motif. What different meaning could they have for each character?”) Make sure your questions can be answered with more than a “yes” or “no”, and keep sharp to offer follow-ups.
Make sure you have questions ready for those who inevitably haven’t been able to finish the book. To ensure that you’ve got some open-ended questions, look at the book’s themes. In The Lovely Bones, heaven is not only a theme, but also a space (another trope to consider!). Middlesex is all about the liminal state, of being in-between countries or even bodies. Disgrace looks at sexuality and public versus private spheres.
Encourage personal experiences. This develops right out of the prior tip: Let members know that it’s all right to affix personal viewpoints, to share their own stories while working through thematic and plot matters. If you end up on a tangent but everyone’s interacting, then wait until there’s a lull in the conversation and suggest a snack break. When you’re sitting down again, you can get everyone back on track with a more book-oriented question.
Respect everyone’s opinion. If you take offense to something a fellow book clubber says, it’s more productive to calmly ask why s/he thinks that way, rather than try to shout him/her down.
Share the wealth. Depending if your friends are more leaders than followers, let them set up the next meeting. These two things are important: consistency and diversity. So, try to do a new book each month, or every six weeks depending on your schedules, and have a new person head each round. With this, you can be sure that everyone stays involved and feels valued. Having new leaders ensures fresh new questions every time you meet.
To see a great example of book club questions in use, check out Bookology, a virtual book club.
Tags: book, book club, Literature, lovely bones, questions
Posted in Literature · December 21st, 2009 · Comments (0)