SO WHY WRITE BOOKS OF PRAYER?

Mary says:

I was privileged many years ago to read and be blessed by the devotional books of my guest writer here today, Marion Stroud. I first met her face to face at a great Christian Writers conference in London when Ray and I were ministering in England from 2001-2003. Later during that time, my husband and I also enjoyed Marion and her husband’s hospitality and fellowship at their home. We soon discovered we all had a good deal in common, especially our love for Christ and desire to serve Him. It has been great in recent years to “meet” again online.

Marion tells me she really loves reading Christian novels and for some time now has had a hankering to also write them. I personally would love to read fiction books by her where she would actually show God at work in people’s lives through their stories. These could even more vividly portray for readers the out-working of her wonderful, thought provoking, devotional meditations and prayers.

Marion asks: 

So why in the world would you write books of Prayers?

The honest answer is ‘Because I was asked to.’ I’ve written 26 books all told and in every case, except for the three children’s stories and these books of prayers, I was looking for  a book to meet a need, couldn’t find what I wanted, and researched and wrote it myself. You know the old adage about ‘Fools rushing in...’

“Dear God It’s me and It’s Urgent “was different. A publisher was launching a new imprint and wanted a book of prayers as part of his list. I almost said ‘no’ because I’m not from a liturgical tradition and don’t often use written prayers myself. Then I remembered Marjorie Holmes, whose ‘Apron Pocket Prayers’ had been hugely successful in America during the 70’s and 80’s. More a conversation with God than formal prayers, they had helped me a lot at the time, and so I decided to try writing in that style. The book sold very well in the United States [120,000 copies and still selling] and the American publisher asked if I would like to write another title in the same format. This is how ‘It’s Just You and Me Lord’ came into being.

These books aren’t intended to be read straight through, but dipped into, savoured and either provide inspiration for the reader’s own prayers, or give them words when they can’t express all they want to say. I didn’t focus too heavily on prayers for marriage and mother hood,  because although these life areas are vitally important to many, not every woman experiences those roles. With that in mind, I have also included  life areas common to us all - prayers for work, for church life and life’s later years; the dark days as well as life’s joyful celebrations.

Most of the prayers are based on real life experiences – my own or other people’s. ‘Burning still’ [ Dear God It’s Me and It’s Urgent ] reflects the pain of seeing my beloved mother-in-law losing sight, mobility and mental clarity in her last few years, but also rejoicing in the way that her faith shone through, despite her difficulties .’Lost and Found’ is based on the terrible moment when I discovered I’d left my infant son outside the house and driven off without him [!] [ It’s Just You and Me Lord’] and The Suitcase  ponders on why it is that we pray for missions and missionaries but so rarely invite overseas students into our homes. [It’s Just you and me Lord]

I have had letters from readers saying “ I didn’t know that you could talk to God like that” or “ It’s great to know that other parents struggle with how much ‘screen’ time to give their children.” So I count it a privilege to share my life experiences in this way.
And one day ... just maybe ... I’ll turn my mind firmly back to fiction.
Watch this space! http://www.marionstroud.com

 

Mary Hawkins is a best-selling inspirational romance author who for many years has enjoyed being a minister's wife in Australia, two years in England and on three short term mission trips to Africa. Her first novel was released in 1993 by Barbour Publishing in their Heartsong Presents imprint. She is delighted that her contemporary Search and historical Great Southland series are now available again from Barbour's Truly Yours Digital Editions as e-books. Her fourth single title manuscript since her Heartsong novels is currently being assessed by a publisher and she hopes to have good news to share very soon about it becoming her twentieth published book. She also enjoys trying to share with other writers some hints about writing she has acquired over the last thirty years.
http://www.mary-hawkins.com

FREE EBOOK GIVEAWAY FOR CAPTURED BY MOONLIGHT

Leave a comment below to win a free Ebook of Captured by Moonlight. A second place winner will win a free Ebook of Shadowed in Silk.

The British are coming! They said this when the Beatles arrived in New York, and they’re saying it again with the recent success of Downton Abbey. An editor of one of the largest US publishing houses says to expect the British invasion in the Christian world of fiction. 

As a British-born writer, I love hearing this news. Yet I shake my head at the same time.

There’s a whole great big world out there folks, exciting, rich, multi-layered with texture and color.

I say this with a broad smile. Especially when I write my books about the British Colonial days in India that were as exciting as the Wild Wild West.

And it will be an exciting time for me as Book 2 of my series Twilight of the British Raj is released—first as an Ebook on Feb. 15 and the printed version May 15. 

  

Captured by Moonlight follows the multi-award-winning Shadowed in Silk and encompasses several serious issues: 

  

• the historical sex trade in South East Asia
• the harshness of Hinduism in the treatment of widows and women in general
• cholera research in the place where that disease was born  
• true-life heroes who worked tirelessly to aid the suffering--Dr. Ida Scudder and Pandita Ramabai

Yet Captured by Moonlight also weaves the stories of two women, Nurse Laine Harkness and child Hindu widow Eshana from Book 1. These two feisty ladies demanded that I write their story. 

I’ve always been enraptured by the title of the famous book, Love in the Time of Cholera. The book itself did not impress me, but the title did, and so I had to write my own story based on that evocative handle.  Hence, Captured by Moonlight.

As I wrote this book, the spiritual picture of my character Eshana stole my breath away. Once more dressed in the funeral garb of a Hindu widow, Eshana learns what all followers of Christ must learn—to die to herself, her own dreams and ambitions, and allow Christ to live His life through her.

Here’s a brief blurb about Captured by Moonlight                              

Prisoners to their own broken dreams…

After a daring rescue goes awry, Laine Harkness and her friend Eshana flee to the tropical south of India…and headlong into their respective pasts.

Laine takes a nursing position at a plantation in the jungle, only to discover that her former fiancé is the owner…but fun-loving Laine refuses to let Adam crush her heart like he had years ago.  

Eshana, captured by her traditional uncle and forced once more into the harsh Hindu customs of mourning, doubts freedom will ever be hers again, much less the forbidden love for Dr. Jai Kaur that had begun to flower.

Amid cyclones, epidemics, and clashing faiths, will the love of the True Master give hope to these searching hearts?

View the Book Trailer for Captured by Moonlight to give you a taste: But do turn up the volume on your computer, the music is truly lovely and indicative of the pacing and passion of the novel.

Don't forget, leave a comment to win a free Ebook of Captured by Moonlight. The second place winner will win a free Ebook of Shadowed in Silk. I will pick the names of commenters from a hat on Saturday, Feb. 9. So make sure you spell out your email address. I wish everyone could win.

Or click on the links below to Amazon or Barnes & Noble to purchase:

Amazon.com Shadowed in Silk only $4.02

Barnes & Noble Shadowed in Silk only $3.99

Amazon.com Captured by Moonlight For pre-order of paperback

 Drop by my website for more information on my series www.christinelindsay.com or join me as a friend on Facebook. or Pinterest. I’d love to hear from you.  

To find out more about this author and the joy she has seeing her own daughters as the models of the front cover of her books, go to www.christinelindsay.com

Ebook Reader Poll Take Two

About a year ago, I posted a reader poll about ereaders and your book buying habits. So much is changed in the past year, as more and more readers are turning to ebooks. Because of this, I thought I would post basically the same poll and see how our answers reflect the growing changes in technology.

In the next few weeks, I will have available via Amazon the first of my cozy mysteries previously published by Barbour, which is another reason I'm very interested in your input. It's amazing to me how with a few clicks of a button (and a lot of hard work) I can publish my own book online and automatically sell to people all over the world. And the technology and publishing world continues to change very quickly.

So take a few minutes to answer the questions on the poll by going to this link. There is also a link on the top, right hand corner of this blog. I'll leave up the poll link through the end of September then post a comparison between last year and this year later in October.

Happy reading and thanks for your input!

Lisa

Visit Lisa's website for more information on her books and life in Africa!

Promotion of books – Pain or Pleasure?

My husband and I have been getting excited the last couple of days as we have seen for the first time the cover for his new book in his 31 Day Devotional meditation series. Captured by Calvary will hopefully be available around Easter time this year.
Then we became excited to discover that my out of print, inspirational romance back list of books will be released again as e-books. So, here is the preliminary announcements of these books. We are excited but know these contracts will also bring us both great pleasure but some  pain too as we try to promote them so people will know about them and hopefully be able to buy them. Our prayer has always been that God will use these efforts to bless, challenge and entertain our readers

For some time now, I’ve been realising how fortunate I was back in the 1990s about how much personal promotion I was expected to do for my published books. Certainly, I was very busy then too. There were a couple of contributions to the Heartsong Presents Book Club newsletter. I contacted Christian bookshops and an Australian distributor to shops about my books published by Barbour. I had a book-signing for my first medical romance from Harlequin Mills & Boon. I joined writers’ groups, especially Romance Writers of Australia, went to writer conferences. I had as many speaking appointments as I could that focused on my writing efforts.

Sounds busy? Yes of course it was, but even though I had teenage children still at home for most of the time and was a busy “minister’s wife”, I simply had more time to actually write my novels than I seem to these days. Of course, being older now too doesn’t help but there simply seems to be so much more promotion and publicity I need to do now and thus far less time to work on this current manuscript.

The main culprit seems to be the internet. There is so much information on other writer’s blogs, websites, newsletters etc to try and read to keep up with not only books by my own favourite authors, but current trends in Christian fiction, publishers, conferences and all that we need to keep up to date with and know as published authors in this writing career.

And now my dear husband is discovering how much he too should be doing about promoting his books. Until now he has quite vigorously resisted getting involved in having his own website, his own blog and especially his own Facebook wall. As you know only too well it has been great sharing my blog with Ray and also the information about him and his writing on my (our) website. But as I mentioned to him today, when anyone would do a Google search for Ray Hawkins to find out more about him and his writing, would they find many sites? Would they find out both his 31 Day devotional books are also e-books?

I have had to spend heaps and heaps of time learning about websites, how to publish blog posts and about Facebook, how to have an “internet presence”. Now it is time to make sure Ray knows how to do these things – and eventually without my help!without my help!

However, I hope he too discovers that while promotion, especially on the internet will take time, there is also often great pleasure in hearing from readers, connecting with other writers and learning from them– especially those targeting the same kind of audience as ourselves.

So often pain and pleasure can go hand in hand. Discipline and having a God directed priority will keep it more pleasure than pain. Of course, what I really need is a secretary/helper to do some of the “business” of writing for me, but that is still just a dream.

Okay, this is where I am at the moment – enjoying making contact with readers of my blog and Facebook, but suffering “pain” too because of the time it all takes me away from writing my books. Would love to have some comments about how you cope with your own responsibilities and, if a published author, what you do to make time to write your next book.

Oh, and by the way, you will be hearing a lot more about books from Mary Hawkins and Ray Hawkins in coming days!

Mary Hawkins is a best-selling inspirational romance author. A Queensland farmer’s daughter, she became a registered nurse before going to Bible College. She and her minister husband have three adult children and five grandchildren, enjoyed over 47 years of ministry including church planting in Australia, two years in England, three short term mission trips to Africa and now live in Tasmania, Australia's island state. Her first inspirational romance novel, Search For Tomorrow was released in 1993 Barbour Publishing's Heartsong Presents book club which was recently sold to Harlequin. 19th title, Justice at Baragula was released May, 2011.
Read more about her books, her husband Ray and his devotional books on their blog from the website: http://www.mary-hawkins.com/

EBook Reader Poll Results

This is Lisa, getting back with you with the results from my last post that included a reader poll on eBooks. Earlier this year, my husband bought me a Kindle for our anniversary. At the time, I wasn’t sure it would ever take the place of a “real” book, but I decided to give it a try. Eight months later, I’ve already noticed a huge difference in my reading habits. The biggest difference is that I’m reading much more. It’s just so convenient to take the Kindle with me wherever I go then decide once I’m there what I’m going to read. I can take notes and switch easily from book to book.

Like me, 59% of those who took the e-book reader poll now own an e-book reader, most of those having bought one within the last year. So here are the results to the poll with about forty people participating.

I always check for freebies, and so do 61% of those who responded. I agree that they are a great promotional tool, but I have found that I’m more likely to read a book that I’ve invested a bit of cash in.  This seemed to hold true in the poll as well as 55% of you were more likely to read a book that you paid for. I’ve also become very picky about what I download. Even if it’s free, it has to be something I’m pretty sure I will end up reading.

How much do you think an eBook should be priced? I agree with the majority here. 39% said they should be priced from $1.99-3.99, though I have paid more and will pay more for books I really want. Interestingly enough, the lowest vote, at 11%, went to the $.99-1.99 range which proves that price isn't always the strongest factor in our buying decisions. 28% thought the $3.99-6.99 price range was good and 22% thought they should be priced at $6.99-11.99.

Most people who own an eBook reader voted that they were more likely to buy more books with their reader. This is definitely true for me. Living overseas with no bookstore around, I’ve always had to wait, sometimes months, for the chance to get a specific book I wanted. Now, I can even preorder a book I don’t want to miss, and it will be delivered to my Kindle the day of its release. I love this!

Another interesting question was what are the primary factors of deciding whether or not to buy a book. For me, even for an eBook, the cover is still very important, though not the most important. Personally, if I don't like the cover, I'm much more likely to skip the book and not spend anytime looking further. Only 8% of you, though, thought that the cover was the primary factor in buying a book. What matters for 51% of you, by far the highest, was the book blurb. Next up was the author, at 38%. And as for price? Only one person out of thirty-nine thought price was the primary factor in deciding whether or not to buy a book.

So while you might not agree with all the results of the poll, I hope you found it as interesting as I do. What are your further thoughts about eBooks in this changing world of publishing? I’d love to hear from you.

Lisa

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

LISA HARRIS is a Christy Award nominated author who has over twenty novels and novella collections in print. She and her husband, Scott, along with their three children, live near the Indian Ocean in Mozambique as missionaries. As a homeschooling mom, life can get hectic, but she sees her writing as an extension of her ministry which also includes running a non-profit organization The ECHO Project. To find out more about her books you can visit her website.