Authors, Writers, Publishers, and Book Readers
How did you find your way to Authors.com?
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Permalink Reply by Wayne Wise on
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Someone linked to the site on Twitter (and I don't remember who... I follow so many links from there). I still haven't really had a chance to check everything out.
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Permalink Reply by Stanley S. Thornton on
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Well, among the projects I've got going on right now, I'm working on a children's book, i'm also working on a novel, in the fantasy category. I'm also indulging on a book about television. I'm kind of all over the map, rather than sticking to one category.
My first book, which was released in Nov 2010, and is called "Christianity: Myths and Legends". So far, I've sold like a dozen copies. But I've got a booksigning coming up in a couple months, so maybe I'll sell another dozen or so. It's been really hard promoting my book, because of the controversial subject of the book.
It's difficult to get any promotion for my book, so it's either word of mouth, or the rare instance when someone finds my book on an online bookstore, like Amazon, where it's a miracle they found my book, let alone bought it. When I contact the media, I get no response, so it's really hard to get the word out. So far, I've had a book review by Clarion Forward Review, a mention in my local newspaper, and an interview on an internet radio show, which basically turned into a one-hour infomerical, but didn't translate into sales.
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Permalink Reply by Geoff Hall on
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Hi Stanley,
I understand the frustrations of 'getting the word out'. What I've learnt is that it's all about profile. I would also say that the controversial nature of the book (are you bravely suggesting that Christianity is a myth?) would be fuel for the fire as the say. Send it to a prominent church and get a response!
How are you with social media? Does the book have a Facebook page? Do you have: a Twitter account to release information, cunning quotes etc? A writer's website? Can you guest write on other people's blogs? Can you tap in to other larger networks that have the same interest as your book? Is your book available on multi-format platforms? (Kindle, iBook)
Just a few thoughts.
Best Wishes,
Geoff
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Well, I don't get into the argument of whether any deity exists or not. That's a losing battle, because while noone can prove there is a deity, it is also impossible to prove a negative. The whole argument eventually breaks down to both sides end up claiming they win, because the other side can't prove them wrong.
My main quote about my book is "This book asks the questions the church doesn't want you to ask". This book is about the myths and legends of the bible. I tried to focus on those myths and legends everyone knows, creation, Adam and Eve, Noah, Moses, etc. If I tried to cover every story in the bible, I'd have a book 5000 pages long. I also focus on the contradictions in the bible. I have contacted several of the television evangelist churches, hoping for a response, to no avail. When I do my booksigning in Decemeber, I'd love to have some christians with signs attacking me and my book, but there won't be.
I dont have a facebook page, because I have a personal facebook page, and I thought they said you can't have more than one. I do have a website for my writing. I have had a limited number of hits, probably because the only key words that put me anywhere near the top of the search engines are my name, or the name of my book. I can get to #1 result on google and MSM, but only if you enter about 10 key words all at once.
in my last round of attempts to get the media to notice me, I've been resorting to a new strategy. Instead of just saying "here's my book", I've been giving them the story behind why I wrote my book. So far, it hasn't helped any, but i'm trying.
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Hi again Stanley,
Wow, you've got quite a job there with the Bible. You've got to come to terms with different styles in the book: poetry, history, lament, song, vision, legal contexts, apocalyptic writings, the spiritual and the physical, politics and religion. It must be something which has stirred by personal passion to be so committed. If you don't mind me asking, what was the catalyst, the trigger for you to write the book? I always find 'proof' to be the wrong kind of measure, as proof has to do with a scientific kind of knowing, whereas belief is more a form of narrative knowing (storytelling). A favourite philosopher of mine, Michael Polanyi, once wrote that 'belief is the basis of all knowledge', proof is what the scientist uses to verify certain theories, whereas God isn't a scientific object of study (phenomenon). No one will ever prove God by science, but equally I don't think anyone will ever disprove God by scientific method.
Facebook, I have several pages for different activities: mentoring, different books, the film company and one for the latest film, My Name Is Sorrow. I find the problem with some of the pages is that they don't have a 'notes' facility like my home page, so it's difficult to start a conversation using the comments/status tool!
Story behind the book - yes that's a good way of doing it. The bare fact is that you have a book published and people can just say, 'so what' there are lots of books out there, but if you have a story to tell, it is a way of people entering that space with you and starrting a conversation.
All for now.
Best Wishes,
Geoff
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Permalink Reply by Amanda Chambers on
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@Stanley You can only have one personal profile page. You can have an unlimited number of fan pages. I have four. As for your book, if you don't mind about a 6-week delay, I write reviews and post them on my blog, Amazon, B&N, Goodreads and GetGlue.com. I don't have a huge following, only a few hundred, but it might help get your book out there some. I am a Christian, but it doesn't bother me to read things that may stretch me a bit. You can check out some of my previous reviews on my blog.
@Geoff If you go to your FB pages, and click Edit Page, you can go to Apps on the left sidebar. Select Notes and click Add (Tab). There you go.
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Hi Geoff,
Here is the story behind the writing of this book:
As a child, born in the 1950s, I naturally went to church every sunday. We went to a sermon, which I usually didn't pay alot of attention, becuase to be honest, I have trouble listening to anyone for an hour and a half. Then we'd spend an hour in sunday school. About the time I became a preteen, I was already having my teachers say I had a logical, analytical mind. So it wasn't long before I would question either what I was told in church, or what I read in the bible. As an example...we are taught there was Adam and Eve, they have two children, Cain and Abel. Cain kills Abel, and then he gets a wife from the tribe to the east of Eden...Unless Cain married one of Darwin's apes, where did the wife come from?
When I would ask one of my questions, I usually received one of two pat answers, "You have to have faith." or "Because the bible says so." And in the case of the second answer, that wasn't always true. I was either 12 or 14 when I got the hint that I wasn't as welcome as everyone else, and quit attending church. But that didn't end my search for answers. Over the years I started finding those answers, and it didn't take long to figure out why I wasn't getting the answers from my church.
I use to talk about it with acquaintances, and sometimes i would get an argument, and sometimes people would atleast consider what I had to say. Awhile back, a friend of mine, who happens to be a devout catholic, and one day she asked me why I didn't write a book. I had to confess, that's one question I couldn't answer...and a year and a half later, I was paying a publisher to publish it.
i guess that about covers it...lol
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Hi, Amanda.
I would love a book review. I have one book review so far on my website, a clarion review from Forwardreviews. And if you review my book, I'll also add it to my webpage. I just want you to know, if you do review my book, no matter what your review is, it will get put on my site. I don't feel like I have the right to censor which reviews I put up, and which ones I don't. I'll go to your blog and check it out, and see how to submit it to you.
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Okay, I'll be looking for it.
BTW, I asked that question, too. Adam and Eve had more children and Cain married one of his sisters.
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As a lawyer would say...that is facts not in evidence. The problem with Cain's wife being a sister, you have to follow biblical chronology..
4:1 Cain is born...4:2 Abel is born...4:8 Cain kills Abel...4:16 Cain dwells in the land of Nod...4:17 Cain's wife...4:25 Adam knew his wife again, Seth is born, to replace the seed of Abel who was slain...5:4 And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters.
I have had theologists try to make the argument that Cain's wife was a sister; however, their argument is flawed. The theory is based on that women were not considered important, so would not have been mentioned. The problem with this theory, is that women are mentioned. Not only is Eve mentioned, in 4:19, Lamech is mentioned, he is the 3rd greatgrandson of Cain. And both of Lamech's wives are not only mentioned, but mentioned by name.
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Interesting. I'm looking forward to reading the book.
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Permalink Reply by Steve Mekkelsen Madden on
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Not to get too in depth about this, but I have found over the years of studying the bible (various versions of it), that there are so many subjects that are so vague, or contradictory and omitting facts that it leaves it up to interpretation which we tend to get wrong or hypothesize on what we believe they meant. I've had conversations with friends of mine who are Conservative and Orthodox Jews and we've compared different letter of the bible and find it interesting of the variations and interpretations of the letters to each language. Being a novice linguist, I have found that the original language used to dictate the bible did not accurately translate to English as it may have been intended. Not by purpose, but simply in effect the translation that closely matched in accordance to those who did it. Sometimes, this does not always match what was intended or meant. In summary, I have left the world of Christianity because of the interpretations of the bible being so unclear and hypocytic in may christian faiths, that I have gone back to the ancient religion of paganism/wicca as I'm more concerned about the earth, and elements we need to survive than what someone needed over 2000 years ago. :-)
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