Christian Science Fiction & Fantasy Blog Tour

First, for those of you wishing to do an interview with Sigmund Brouwer, our contact person has changed. Now send your questions to Elizabeth Johnson, ejohnson at randomhouse dot com and she will forward them on to Mr. Brouwer.

Second, don’t forget to submit your interview and/or DragonLight review to me for Latest In Spec. We’re extending the due date since some of you may not have time during the work week to get your information together. The new date to turn in news for LIS is Saturday, August 2. (And please don’t forget to format it as closely as possible to the samples in the last email).

Thanks so much.

Becky

I just had a jolt, literally, that disrupted my plans (and ironically, I had just read Karen Hancock’s blog post on altered plans).

The jolt I’m referring to was a 5.4 earthquake that shook Southern California along a fault line that runs not too far from my apartment. Nothing like a reminder that God is in charge of our time, our lives, our plans, the ground upon which we stand. I’m sure those who have endured the fires in Northern California, the floods and tornados in the Midwest, or the hurricanes down South can identify with this.

With God’s supremacy firmly in mind, I’m back to work.

First a word about the August blog tour. If you are interested in interviewing Sigmund Brouwer, contact the WaterBrook publicist Kelly Blewett with your request at kblewett at randomhouse dot com , and she will pass it along to him.

As I mentioned in my note yesterday, it is time for us to gather news (related to Christian speculative fiction) for Latest In Spec. We’re aiming to make this a short turn around, so please send your information no later than Thursday, July 31.

You do not need to be a LIS subscriber to give us your information (though we would love to have you receive LIS so you can pass it on to others).

Reminder: we want to avoid repetition. Contests, book releases, and author appearances need pre-event buzz. Therefore, those items may appear more than once. Other items such as blog information, interviews, and reviews should be one-time announcements

* Send your news to Rebecca LuElla Miller: rluellam@earthlink.net .

* Follow the steps below.
1) Identify the category your news fits in.
2) Provide all the necessary news in the correct format as shown in the examples below. (Please be sure to give the EXACT LINK to a blog post).

I look forward to getting your news.

Becky

—
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Christian Fantasy
Author Blog: http://rebeccaluellamiller.wordpress.com/
Team Blog: http://specfaith.ritersbloc.com/
Tour Blog: http://csffblogtour.com/
Latest In Spec Classifieds: http://latestinspec.org/

If you would like to be dropped from this e-mail group, please reply to that effect, and I will remove your name.

Categories and examples:

Member Profile
Up to 250 words about you and your writing, along with a picture.

Favorite Bookstore
Example:
State
Store name
Address
URL (if available)

Author Appearances
Book Signings
Speaking Engagements
Teaching Engagements

Example:
Donita K. Paul:
Mardel Book Store
Littleton CO
April 7th, 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Book Releases (include a book that will release within the next 3 months—building pre-release buzz is important)
Example:
The Restorer by Sharon Hinck
NavPress (May, 2007)
A soccer mom stumbles into an alternate world waiting for a promised Restorer. (limit hook to 15 words or less)

Contract News
Example:
Bryan Davis with Zondervan, a three book deal
Untitled contemporary fantasy
Spring 2008

Reviews (ones you have done; ones featuring your book)
Example:
Return of the Guardian King by Karen Hancock - Bethany House (April 1, 2007)
Rebecca LuElla Miller at A Christian Worldview of Fiction
Exact Link

Interviews (ones you’ve conducted; ones featuring you)
Example:
George Bryan Polivka by Rebecca LuElla Miller at Speculative Faith,
Exact Link

What’s on the Web (new web site or new section; genre blog information you wish to announce)
Example:
Lost Genre Guild: Shoutlife: forums, podcasts and live-chat.
Exact Link

Contests
Example:
Dragons, Knights & Angels Annual Fiction Contest
First Prize: $60.00 plus publication online and in print and a bonus prize
$5.00 Entry Fee. Electronic submission
Deadline: April 10, 2007
Contest details at: Exact Link

Awards
Example:
Waiting For Appa by Mirta Ana Schultz
Winner of The Sword Review Annual Fiction Contest
Exact Link

Podcasts or Web chats
Example:
Author Virginia Lori Jennings’ Live Web Events
Jo Linsdell’s live chat, with guest speaker Virginia Lori Jennings
Sat. May 26, 6:00 pm (CET)
Exact Link

And-Then-There-Is-This (Miscellaneous)
Example:
Suspense Technique Challenge by Wayne Thomas Batson: Show off your writing chops and hone your craft.
Exact Link

Before Donita Paul’s DragonLight tour, I was blogging about the book Word of Mouth Marketing, by Andy Sernovitz. This weekend, Andy linked to each of my posts on his site. A handful of people have already clicked over to A Christian Worldview of Fiction from his blog. And here I am, writing to all of you about his book. The point is, Andy understands how to keep the discussion going about his work. I think that’s something CSFF can learn to do, too. We want to keep the discussion of fantasy, our featured book or web site, and our own blogs going.

Here are a couple things you might consider doing.

1. Invite two of your friends, via email, to stop by your blog and read your posts.
2. If you reviewed DragonLight, post a version of it at Amazon, CBD, and any other sites you know about that post reviews.
3. Turn in the link of your review or interview when you receive the call to news for CSFF’s Latest In Spec on-line newsletter.
4. If you received a free book as part of the tour, stop by Donita’s new blog, http://dragonbloggin.blogspot.com/ , and thank her
   

Speaking of thanks, here’s mine to each of the participants in the July tour. Great stuff. Honest reviews, interesting interviews, creative content. I really enjoyed visiting the sites. Of course, the better your material, the harder it is for me to choose a winner for the CSFF Top Tour Blogger Award for July 2008. After much consideration, I decided on John Otte - http://www.leastread.blogspot.com/ , in part because he went above and beyond to re-read the previous DragonKeeper books in order to post a summary on his “Day 0” preceding the actual tour.

Our August tour is for Sigmund Brouwer’s Broken Angel. Normally this tour would be during the third full week of the month, but I’m going to move it to August 25-27. Many of you ordered the book, and I’m hoping it has arrived by now. For those of you who didn’t get a copy, you may want to pick one up at Amazon or your favorite bookstore. It’s fairly short but is quite a story. I’m already looking forward to reading what you all think of it.

September we are featuring Jeff Gerke’s new publishing venture, Marcher Lord Press. We’ll also sneak in an extra tour for the Motiv8 Fantasy Tour coming to the West Coast. Then in October we’ll feature Bryan Davis’s YA science fantasy, Beyond the Reflections Edge. I’ll send out the book offer for that one a little later.

Thanks again for your part in CSFF. And look for the call for news for Latest In Spec.

Becky

That’s three new members in a matter of days - all hot on the heels of a very successful tour.  Woot!

Please take a moment to welcome the newest member of our family. Welcome Kathy!

Kathy at http://hobbiton-hill.blogspot.com

In the midst of a blog tour too!

Please take a moment to swing by and say hello to our two newest members.

Keanan Brand at http://www.AdventuresInFiction.blogspot.com

Jaymie Dieterle at http://pizza-monkey.blogspot.com

Tour Participants,

First, if you have requested an interview with Donita and have not yet received the answers to your questions, please email her at donitakpaul@msn.com

Our June CSFF Blog Tour for Donita Paul’s DragonLight, book 5 of the DragonKeeper Chronicles, is Monday through Wednesday—July 21-23. Participants are encouraged to post all three days. Please remember to ping Technorati after you post. Thanks bunches.

Here are the links you’ll need (the asterisk indicates those that are required).

*Featured book, DragonLight http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1400073782 .

Featured author, Donita Paul.
Web site – http://www.donitakpaul.com/
Blog – http://www.donitakpaul.com/author/blog.html

*Participants’ Links:
(Just for fun I marked the five who also participated in CSFF’s first book tour, featuring Donita Paul’s DragonKnight back in June 2006.) July Tour Links Text Doc.

<a href=”http://www.christiansciencefiction.blogspot.com“> Brandon Barr</a>
<a href=”http://fantastyfreak.blogspot.com/“> Justin Boyer</a>
<a href=”http://www.jackiecastle.wordpress.com“> Jackie Castle</a>
<a href=”http://invalslittleworld.blogspot.com/“> Valerie Comer</a>
<a href=”http://www.kcreviews.blogspot.com“> Karri Compton</a>
<a href=”http://csffblogtour.com/“> CSFF Blog Tour</a>
<a href=”http://www.genecurtis.com/Blog“> Gene Curtis</a>
<a href=”http://word-up-studies.blogspot.com“> Stacey Dale</a>
<a href=”http://www.scificatholic.com/“> D. G. D. Davidson</a>
<a href=”http://scriptoriusrex.blogspot.com/“> Jeff Draper</a>
<a href=”http://projectinga.blogspot.com/“> April Erwin</a>
<a href=”http://virtualbooktourdenet.blogspot.com/“> Karina Fabian</a>
*<a href=”http://bethgoddard.blogspot.com/“> Beth Goddard </a>
<a href=”http://hillcountrywriter.blogspot.com“> Mark Goodyear</a>
<a href=”http://askandrea.adamsweb.us/“> Andrea Graham</a>
<a href=”http://anewnovelistsjourney.blogspot.com“> Todd Michael Greene</a>
<a href=”http://writingchristiannovels.blogspot.com/“> Katie Hart</a>
<a href=”http://www.christopherhopper.com“> Christopher Hopper</a>
<a href=”http://www.faithfiction.blogspot.com/“> Joleen Howell</a>
<a href=”http://www.spoiledfortheordinary.blogspot.com/“> Jason Joyner</a>
<a href=”http://carolkeen.blogspot.com/“> Carol Keen</a>
<a href=”http://sparksoflava.blogspot.com/“> Magma</a>
<a href=”http://www.wayfarersjournal.com/blog.htm“> Terri Main</a>
<a href=”http://sparksoflava.blogspot.com/“> Magma</a>
<a href=”http://cherryblossommj.blogspot.com“> Margaret</a>
*<a href=”http://shenandoahdawn.blogspot.com/“> Shannon McNear</a>
<a href=”http://forstrose.blogspot.com/“> Melissa Meeks</a>
*<a href=”http://rebeccaluellamiller.wordpress.com/“> Rebecca LuElla Miller</a>
<a href=”http://www.leastread.blogspot.com/“> John W. Otte</a>
<a href=”http://deenasbooks.blogspot.com“> Deena Peterson</a>
<a href=”http://ansric.blogspot.com/“> Steve Rice</a>
*<a href=”http://www.cherylrussellwrites.wordpress.com“> Cheryl Russel</a>
<a href=”http://godslightuponme.blogspot.com/“> Ashley Rutherford</a>
<a href=”http://www.chawnaschroeder.blogspot.com/“> Chawna Schroeder</a>
<a href=”http://www.jamessomers.blogspot.com/“> James Somers</a>
<a href=”http://www.epictales.org/blog/robertblog.php“> Robert Treskillard</a>
*<a href=”http://christiansf.blogspot.com/“> Steve Trower</a>
<a href=”http://specfaith.ritersbloc.com/“> Speculative Faith</a>
<a href=”http://laurawilliamsmusings.blogspot.com“> Laura Williams</a>

I’m excited and looking forward to reading what all you’ll have to say this month.

Becky

The summer is flying by, and already it’s time for our July CSFF Blog Tour for Donita Paul’s DragonLight, book 5 (and final) of the DragonKeeper Chronicles. The tour begins Monday, July 21 and runs through Wednesday, July 23. I hope you’re able to post all three days. Those who do will be in the running for the CSFF Top Tour Blogger Award.

Last month I mentioned the importance of being honest in your reviews. This month, as a result of something I read in Word of Mouth Marketing by Andy Sernovitz, I want to encourage you to be interesting in your posts. First, that suggests originality.  Unless you have no other option, please don’t copy material from the author or publisher’s web site. This kind of canned post may still help to place our featured book higher on the Technorati rating, but it may end up hurting you and your blog. For one thing you may earn a reputation as a mass market site (a nice name for spam). For another, Google identifies copy-and-paste post as spam, which will affect your placement on the search engine. This certainly defeats our goal to help readers find you,

What else can make your posts interesting? Humor. Controversy. Any new or different observation or reaction to the book itself, its content, or a related topic. A contest.

Which reminds me. Donita Paul has a limited number of tee shirts and bookmarks she will make available as prizes if you have a contest at your site. First come, first serve. You’ll need to contact her directly to work out the details.

I will provide you with the other participants’ links no later than Saturday night. Be sure to include these at least once in the body of your blog OR update your sidebar to show the JULY participants.

As you know, visiting other blogs on the tour can stimulate community, networking, and give and take about the book we’re featuring. I encourage you to visit other blogs on the tour and to leave comments. This is another way you can draw traffic to your site.

The book link you are required to post for DragonLight is http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1400073782 .

Optional links you may wish to include are Donita Paul’s Web site, http://www.donitakpaul.com/, (be sure to check out the Fun Stuff section) and her blog, http://www.donitakpaul.com/author/blog.html .

If you DID NOT participate in June (for the Kathryn Mackel’s tour) you will need to opt in no later than Saturday morning by replying to this e-mail with your name and blog address (even if you’ve emailed me earlier about your intention to participate this month).

If you participated in June but are unable to participate this month, reply to this and opt out for the month (no later than Saturday morning).

At present, our schedule for the coming months is as follows:

*  July – Donita Paul, DragonLight (fantasy)
*  August – Sigmund Brouwer, Broken Angel (adult suspense/fantasy)
*  September – Marcher Lord Press
*  October – Bryan Davis, Beyond the Reflection’s Edge (YA science fantasy)
*  November – John Olson, Shade (dark fantasy – tentative)
*  December – Lost Genre Guild website

I’m looking forward to another outstanding tour as CSFF celebrates the beginning of our third year.

Becky

Thanks for an exceptional Tour. Great job during the Kathryn Mackel tour last week. The interviews were outstanding, book reviews honest, and topical discussions thought-provoking.

Tough as it was this month to make a decision, I’m happy to announce, for those of you who didn’t read it at my blog, that the winner of the June Top Tour Blogger Award is Chawna Schroeder: http://www.chawnaschroeder.blogspot.com/ . Chawna posted all three days, including a wonderful interview with Kathryn Mackel and an insightful book review.

Book Offer. We’re firming up our August book selection. Our scheduled feature is Sigmund Brouwer’s Broken Angel. If you would like a copy to review for the tour, please let me know by replying with your name and the mailing address where the publisher can send your copy no later than Wednesday July 9.

Special Tour. A group of eight fantasy writers will be doing a book tour on the West Coast in October. As we did last year, I’d like to add this tour as a “special.” More details later, but you might want to reserve some blog time for the first week of the month.

Special Posts. Our July feature is Donita Paul’s DragonLight, a fitting selection because CSFF’s first book tour two years ago highlighted Donita’s DragonKnight. This is also the concluding book in the DragonKeeper Chronicles. I’d love to give Donita the royal treatment. The best idea I could come up with was an extended tour, with posts and comments during these weeks leading up to her tour to generate some enthusiasm and buzz. This extended tour would be completely voluntary. All I’d ask is that you include the appropriate link http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1400073782 somewhere in the post, then remember to ping Technorati.

Some ideas for the extended posts would be a countdown to the tour (July 21-23), links to reviews of previous books in the DragonKeeper Chronicles, reports on the weekly chats Donita holds (for details, see http://www.donitakpaul.com/interactive/chat/index.html ), comment on the MANY goodies on her web site, or any other idea you come up with. Again, the link to post for the extended tour (and for the regularly scheduled tour, but I’ll supply it again) is http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1400073782 .

Interviews with Donita Paul. If you would like to interview Ms. Paul for this month’s tour, contact her at donitakpaul@msn.com .

For those of you in the USA, hope you enjoyed a great Fourth of July.

Becky

Welcome to Courtney - the newest member of the Christian Science Fiction & Fantasy Blog Tour.

Please take a moment to welcome her to the group.

http://amomspeaks.com

First off - thank you everyone for your participation in this months tour for Vanished - there was a lot of excellent content.  And fresh on the heels of our tour we’re happy to welcome two new members.  Please head over to their blog and say hello.

Sean Slagle
http://seanslaglebookmarkcafe.blogspot.com/

and

Nissa
http://linalamont.blogspot.com