Monday Milestones

By Iola Goulton @iolagoulton

Welcome to International Christian Fiction Writers and our first Monday Milestones post for 2018. In Monday Milestones, members of the Beyond the Borders zone of American Christian Fiction Writers share their latest achievements.

Click here for more information on joining American Christian Fiction Writers. In case you were wondering, Beyond the Borders covers all members outside the USA—there are around 100 of us, from over a dozen different countries.

Onto our Monday Milestones!

Award Nominations

Kara Isaac

Then There Was You by Kara Isaac, edited by Iola Goulton and Halee Matthews, is a finalist in the Romance Writers of America RITA Awards for Romance with Religious or Spiritual Elements.

Then There Was You is also a longlist title for the blogger-nominated INSPY Awards for Contemporary Romance/Romantic Suspense.

Carolyn Miller

The Dishonorable Miss DeLancey by Carolyn Miller is a longlist title for the INSPY Awards for Historical Romance.

Carolyn is also on the Debut Novel longlist with The Elusive Miss Ellison.

Patricia Beal

A Season to Dance by Patricia Beal is another longlist title for the Debut Novel category of the INSPY Award.

Christine Dillon

Grace in Strange Disguiseby Christine Dillon is a finalist in the Women's Fiction/General Fiction category of the Grace Awards.

Grace in Strange Disguise is also a longlist title for the Debut Novel category of the INSPY Award.

New Releases

Carolyn Miller

Carolyn Miller has released Winning Miss Winthrop, the first book in her new Regency Brides: A Promise of Hope series.

Nathan D Maki

Nathan D Maki has released The Keeper's Crown, a novel of the Apostle Paul.

New Contracts

David Rawlings

David Rawlings has signed his first publishing contract! His debut novel from Thomas Nelson will release in early 2019.

Carolyn Miller

Carolyn Miller has signed another three-book contract with Kregel Publications.

Kara Isaac

Kara Isaac has signed a two-book contract with Howard Books.

New Facebook Page

Jessica Kate

Jessica Kate has started the Story Nerds Facebook group, where she nerds out with Hannah over books, movies and TV.

Congratulations, everyone!

Ebook vs Paper

By Eva Maria Hamilton  @HamiltonEvaM

It's that time of year again...

Judging for the Romance Writers of America’s annual RITA Awards have begun!

I’ve been judging this contest for many years now, but this year they’ve changed one very big thing…

Do you know what's different?

This year I didn’t receive my usual box in the mail. The one that feels like a late Christmas present where I excitedly unwrap it and hold all the books I hope I’ll love.

This year, all the books I have to judge are in digital format!

I see both positives and negatives. (Too many to list.)

For instance, I’m a little sad to no longer receive signed copies, but I won’t have to add anymore bookshelves to house these books, and the savings on delivery charges must be substantial! And that’s always in everyone’s best interest.

Did you know there are some contests I can’t judge, because I live in Canada. 

They’ve deemed it too expensive to deliver the books here. (Although, when they’re in a pinch they have sent me ebooks to judge, which I loved.) So, for contests like that, I’m completely biased to having them turn to ebooks and eliminate that restriction.

But I ask you:

Do you like reading ebooks? Or do you prefer paper in your hand?

About Eva Maria Hamilton

Eva Maria Hamilton is the author of Highland Hearts, a Love Inspired Historical novel published by Harlequin. Her novel, Highland Hearts, won 2nd Place in the Historical Romance, as well as the Traditional/Inspirational Romance Categories in the Heart of Excellence Reader’s Choice Awards, and was an Inspirational Series Finalist in the 2013 Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence. Her short story, Disinherited Love, can be read in the anthology, A Kiss is Still A Kiss. Eva Maria Hamilton is also the owner of Lilac Lane Publishing, which is currently publishing the Jane Austen Colouring & Activity Book series.


To connect with Eva Maria Hamilton, please visit her at www.EvaMariaHamilton.com

Judging A Book By Its Cover - Kara Isaac

It's currently contest season for authors. At the beginning of each year scores of contests kick off aimed at celebrating the best books released the previous year. Some of the most well known in Christian circles are the Carols, the Christy Awards, the Inspys, the FHL Readers' Choice Award and Christian Retailings' Best Awards but there are many many others.

I recently judged the RITA awards, a contest run by Romance Writers of America (RWA) to celebrate the best books released in romance each year. Unlike the ones listed above, the RITA is a general market contest which has a "books with religious and spiritual elements" sub category.

One of the rules for the RITA is that if your books are entered then you also have to be a judge. So in January I found myself the recipient of a box of seven books in a range of genres. I have to admit I was a bit hesitant as some of these books were not ones that I would ordinarily choose to read voluntarily!

This is what was reinforced to me as I read:

Great writing triumphs regardless of genre or topic

Of the seven books there were three books that I gave a score above 9. There reason was simple. Though the genre or content may have been out of my comfort zone, the writing was great. While the characters may have made choices that were different to mine, I was invested them and wanted to know what happened (even though they were all romance novels and everyone knows how those end!).

Covers matter!

While it's all very nice to say that you can't judge a book by it's cover the truth is that well, often you can. That's kind of the point! There's a reason why books don't just come with a plain white cover with the title in black.

Sadly, I predicted which were going to be the lowest scoring books purely by their covers. While a great cover doesn't guarantee a book is going to contain great writing, where a book is independently published it does indicate that the author is prepared to invest in a professional to do that work (if they don't have the skills themselves to do one well). And if they're prepared to do that then it's almost guaranteed that they've also paid to have the book professionally edited which is critical for a great book. No one can write a great book without input from others. Where a book looks like it's been slapped together by someone who knows the bare basics of Microsoft Publisher sadly the story itself is often of a similar standard.

Whether a book was indie (independently) published or published by a traditional publishing house didn't necessarily designate the quality of the content

One indie book that I read was excellent with a good plot, strong characters and great pacing. The author had clearly put it through all the rigours of the traditional publishing process with multiple editors etc. On the flip side, a traditionally published book had so many different points of view and subplots going on that even though the writing was good I spent most of the time thoroughly confused as to what was going on!


If you're an author do you enter contests? Why? If you're a reader, do you ever pay attention to what books win contests? Does it influence your decision at all to read them? 

Kara Isaac lives in Wellington, New Zealand. Her sophomore romantic comedy, Can't Help Falling, is a funny, heartfelt romance about how an antique shop, a wardrobe, and a mysterious tea cup bring two C.S. Lewis fans together in a snowy and picturesque Oxford, England. and was an RT Review Top Pick. When she's not chasing three adorable but spirited little people, she spends her time writing horribly bad first drafts and wishing you could get Double Stuf Oreos in New Zealand. She loves to connnect on her website, on Facebook at Kara Isaac - Author and Twitter @KaraIsaac   

The RITA Awards

It’s that time of year again when this UPS box is delivered to my door.

Is it a late Christmas present?

It feels like that :)

Inside are the books I’ve been given by the Romance Writers of America to judge for their annual RITA Awards!

It’s always exciting to open this box and see what stories I get to dive into.

This year I received six books. One is signed by the author. I love that, although of course it doesn’t affect my view of the book. I remain impartial whether the book has a gorgeous cover or not, whether it was published by a big house or independently published, etc.

Sorry I can’t share more details, but certain things must remain confidential.

For romance writers, this contest is akin to the Academy Awards (Oscars). It is judged solely by published romance writers.

Here is the link to RWA’s website if you’d like more information on the contest: https://www.rwa.org/ritaaward

They even have a list of past winners.

Last year, one of the books I judged won. That was nice to see, since I loved the book. But there are tons, and I mean tons, of great books that didn’t win that are fabulous!

So happy reading everyone!

I have until March 7th to complete my judging. How many books will you read by then?


Eva Maria Hamilton is the author of Highland Hearts, a Love Inspired Historical novel published by Harlequin. Her novel, Highland Hearts, won 2nd Place in the Historical Romance, as well as the Traditional/Inspirational Romance Categories in the Heart of Excellence Reader’s Choice Awards, and was an Inspirational Series Finalist in the 2013 Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence. Her short story, Disinherited Love, can be read in the anthology, A Kiss is Still A Kiss. Eva Maria Hamilton is also the owner of Lilac Lane Publishing, which has currently published, Jane Austen’s Pride And Prejudice Colouring & Activity Book featuring Illustrations from 1895, and Jane Austen’s Sense And Sensibility Colouring & Activity Book featuring Illustrations from 1896.

To connect with Eva Maria Hamilton online, please visit her at www.evamariahamilton.com