Tag: authors

  • A Publishing Panacea Receives Favorable Mention from CSPA

    I want to take a moment to thank Sarah Bolme, the director of the Christian Small Publishers Association (CSPA) and the author of Your Guide to Marketing Books in the Christian Marketplace (now in its 3rd edition) for endorsing and featuring my latest book, A Publishing Panacea: How to Be Your Own Publisher in the Digital Age, in her blog Marketing Christian Books. Since the focus of her recent blog post which mentioned my book was about getting endorsements for your books, let me also take this opportunity to thank my fellow authors and independent publishers, John Kremer and Brian Jud, for taking time out of their very busy schedules to write an endorsement for my book. I heartily recommend all three of these renowned authors, independent publishers, and marketers for anything they’ve done professionally. All three offer tremendous support and profound insights into the mysterious world of writing, publishing, and marketing books — all at the same time!

    After you’ve spent a few hours reviewing what they have to offer, may I ever-so-humbly invite you to check out my latest book which these three have endorsed? Again, it’s called A Publishing Panacea: How to Be Your Own Publisher in the Digital Age, and it offers step-by-step assistance to all aspiring authors on how to become your own publisher. It’s also available in eBook for both Kindle and Nook. Now, here’s to your writing and publishing success!

    By the way, if you haven’t subscribed to the Parson Place News and Views blog yet, please take a moment to do so now so that you won’t miss another important post. Also, why not invite your other contacts to do the same? The subscription box is at the upper right corner of this screen. I hope to have you sign-up soon!

    Before you leave, will you also take a moment to write a brief comment here? I’d really appreciate your feedback!

  • Are Books Really Dead?

    Authors and publishers, take note. We all know that some have been pronouncing the death of reading books for quite some time now, but how true is that? Writers keep writing, publishers keep publishing, and retailers keep selling printed (and now digital) literature of all kinds. So, what’s the truth?

    According to The Barna Group’s latest survey about what Americans are reading, the answer to this question of “Is reading books dead?” is, “No.” However, I would like to qualify that “No” with a statement of my own: “Book reading is not dead, but the number of readers is definitely small compared to the general population.” Perhaps Mark Twain’s infamous comment about a rumor of his own death is apropos here (with a slight twist for application to the subject of reading books): “Rumors of the demise of reading are greatly exaggerated.”

    As a Christian researcher for decades, The Barna Group has analyzed just about everything from frequency of church attendance (or maybe infrequency would be a better description) to the moral decline of American culture and much more. Their latest research on Americans’ reading habits is interesting, but perhaps the one fact that caught my attention as a Christian minister is that a sizable number of non-Christians are reading the Bible, maybe even more so than nominal Christians. By “nominal” I mean the less committed ones. Furthermore, since this latest survey was conducted with a random selection of participants (with a few questions directed at ferreting out Christians within the selection), it seems to me it is skewed more toward non-Christians’ reading habits. Nevertheless, the results of the survey are certainly noteworthy, especially for an author-turned-independent-Christian-publisher like myself.

    If you’re an author, publisher, or retailer of printed and/or digital content (whether Christian or not), this research ought to give you some new ideas on how to make your profession more profitable. If you’d like to read Barna’s review of the results of their survey, just click on the following link: The Books Americans Are Reading–And What That Reveals About Us.

    Perhaps you might consider checking out some of my writings and publications (both for myself and for others) as well. You’ll find a list of my personally authored and published books at my author’s Website (be sure to scroll down to the “Works in Progress” heading for details about my current and upcoming writing projects, too). For a list of the books I’ve published for others (in addition to my own) check out The Parson Place Press Bookstore. Of course, all of these books — both mine and those I’ve published for other authors — may be purchased from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books-a-Million, etc.

  • Writing Projects

    I’m presently working on three separate writing projects which I hope to have completed soon and ready for publication sometime in 2013. They are as follows:

    1. I’ve just finished retyping a collection of my poetry which I’ve been wanting to compile and publish for years. I still have some manuscript formatting to do and I have to get my designer to create an attractive cover for me, but I expect to be able to publish it very soon. In fact, I’m even toying with the idea of rushing it to press in order to give it as gifts to my closest family and friends for Christmas 2012. However, I’m not quite sure I can pull that off at this point. You can check back here and at my personal Web site at http://books.parsonplace.com for current updates.
    2. I’m working on a crash course for authors who want to be their own publisher. It will contain information and instructions on everything an author will need to do in order to be his or her own publisher. I’m keeping the details under wraps for now, at least, until I’m ready to unveil and offer it to the public. Again, check back here and on my personal Web site for current updates.
    3. I’m approximately one-third finished with writing on my next book, which will address the topic of salvation, what it is, how to obtain it, and how to be certain you have truly obtained it. I’m really excited about this one, as I feel that God gave me the idea and the chapter topics for writing this book. I can’t say when I will finish this one, but I expect it to be sometime in 2013.

    If you’re interested in obtaining either one of these materials, be sure to check back for current updates. I welcome you to leave a comment below as well.