by Jason Joyner | Oct 20, 2008 | Blog, miscellaneous
Yesterday my wife had her baby shower (wow…so much pink…), so the boys and I decided it was a good time to get out of Dodge. We went shopping for baby ourselves so the boys could get an outfit for her (wow…so much pink…). After that, we hit Tautphaus Park in Idaho Falls.
We found an area where there was some playground equipment ringed with trees. I thought they’d want to hit the jungle gym, but the preferred activity at first was tossing the football around. There was a good blanket of fallen leaves, and the boys happily crunched through them diving for balls (I admit I led them sometimes to make them fall in the leaves, heh-heh-heh). Then Dad had to start a leaf fight. I shouldn’t have let them in on the secret of “downwind” though. Finally we finished up with a rousing soccer match.
The day was one of those times where I was struck by God’s grace and wonder in His creation and His love for us. The crisp autumn air, the crunch of the leaves underfoot, the laughter of children, wrestling and rolling through the leaves; all these things are a joy that wasn’t necessary, but still given to us by the God of all comfort.
Thank you Father, for your incomparable gifts!
by Jason Joyner | Oct 20, 2008 | Blog, miscellaneous
Yesterday my wife had her baby shower (wow…so much pink…), so the boys and I decided it was a good time to get out of Dodge. We went shopping for baby ourselves so the boys could get an outfit for her (wow…so much pink…). After that, we hit Tautphaus Park in Idaho Falls.
We found an area where there was some playground equipment ringed with trees. I thought they’d want to hit the jungle gym, but the preferred activity at first was tossing the football around. There was a good blanket of fallen leaves, and the boys happily crunched through them diving for balls (I admit I led them sometimes to make them fall in the leaves, heh-heh-heh). Then Dad had to start a leaf fight. I shouldn’t have let them in on the secret of “downwind” though. Finally we finished up with a rousing soccer match.
The day was one of those times where I was struck by God’s grace and wonder in His creation and His love for us. The crisp autumn air, the crunch of the leaves underfoot, the laughter of children, wrestling and rolling through the leaves; all these things are a joy that wasn’t necessary, but still given to us by the God of all comfort.
Thank you Father, for your incomparable gifts!
by Jason Joyner | Oct 15, 2008 | arts, Biblical worldview, Blog, fiction
I’ve wanted to blog more about this topic, but I haven’t had the time to sit down and come up with a coherent post discussing Christianity and Culture. However, there have been some recent articles and books out on this topic, and I want to at least bring them to your attention.
The Point blog discusses Christian art and movies like Facing the Giants.
Christianity Today has a cover article discussing “The New Culture Makers”. There is an excerpt from Andy Crouch’s new book Culture Making. There is also a review of the book Christ and Culture Revisited.
I’ve recently purchased Culture Making and another book on the subject, Dick Staub’s The Culturally Savvy Christian. I’ve started Staub, and it already is quite thought-provoking.
If you’re so inclined, check out some of these resources. Hopefully I can get my head around some ideas (head not so stretchy this month, it seems…) and discuss them with a little more depth soon.
by Jason Joyner | Oct 15, 2008 | arts, Biblical worldview, Blog, fiction
I’ve wanted to blog more about this topic, but I haven’t had the time to sit down and come up with a coherent post discussing Christianity and Culture. However, there have been some recent articles and books out on this topic, and I want to at least bring them to your attention.
The Point blog discusses Christian art and movies like Facing the Giants.
Christianity Today has a cover article discussing “The New Culture Makers”. There is an excerpt from Andy Crouch’s new book Culture Making. There is also a review of the book Christ and Culture Revisited.
I’ve recently purchased Culture Making and another book on the subject, Dick Staub’s The Culturally Savvy Christian. I’ve started Staub, and it already is quite thought-provoking.
If you’re so inclined, check out some of these resources. Hopefully I can get my head around some ideas (head not so stretchy this month, it seems…) and discuss them with a little more depth soon.
by Jason Joyner | Oct 8, 2008 | Blog, blogging, CFBA, CSFF, fiction, reading
I’ve been a member of two blog tours, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance and the Christian Sci-fi and Fantasy Tour, for over two years now. I’ve had the privilege to review many good books and enter into some great discussion with others out there in the blogosphere.
Even though this has benefited me, what about the authors? Do the writers who have offered up their work for review get a measurable boost from the coordinated focus of a blog tour.
So far I’d have to say there’s no direct benefit to a blog tour.
I come to this conclusion from from two sources. Brandilyn Collins has been involved with the CFBA tour since its inception, and I recall her blogging that she hasn’t seen specific movement of more books associated with a blog tour. However, with her marketing experience, she knows the value of getting her name and books out there with visibility.
Also, I was involved with a tour for Authentic Parenting in a Postmodern Culture by Mary DeMuth, and Mark Goodyear tracked measurable stats regarding the tour. They tracked how many books were sold directly through Mary’s site. His conclusion was that there wasn’t a large increase in sales from the well-organized tour.
However, does this mean blog tours aren’t worthwhile?
I would say that there are benefits to blog tours that aren’t easily measurable, at least not directly. Maybe people don’t rush out and buy the book from Amazon right away, giving noticeable statistics.
My argument is that it is worthwhile for authors to do blog tours in order to get their book out there and find some people that could turn into influencers. I suggest this can be a big benefit for authors.
I can think of several authors whose books I would not have read if not for getting their book for review: Rene Gutteridge, Lisa Bergren, John Aubrey Anderson, and Tom Morrisey to name a few. All of these authors have won me over with the quality of their writing and their interesting stories. What has happened is I have become their advocate. I continue to think of them as I refer people to good authors.
Not only that, but I support them more than I would have earlier. Even though through the blog tours I generally receive the books from the publisher to review, I have purchased books from the writers above. Either I’ve purchased other books in their catalog, or I buy the books I’ve already read to give away to others. I also lend out books so others can given them a try and hopefully get interested enough to purchase other books in the future.
Of course this can happen randomly. Maybe I would have picked up one of these books in Barnes and Noble (I have no local Christian bookstore). I do recall looking at Anderson’s first book, Abiding Darkness, at B&N. But I never bought it. I don’t think I would’ve walked out with any books from the others I listed there. But I’ve purchased all of Anderson’s work since to give away. I just bought an older book of Gutteridge’s, outside of the series I’ve been enjoying so much. I reviewed Bergren’s first book for a tour, and made sure I bought the others so I could finish the series. Early this year I purchased Robin Parrish’s Merciless because I couldn’t wait an extra month for the blog tour to get it.
Just last week I read a new book from Tim Downs, Less Than Dead. I had read his book Plague Maker on my own and really enjoyed it, but had forgotten about Downs until reading his latest for the tour. I was so delighted to “rediscover” him that I fully plan on completing my collection of his books.
Maybe I’m strange (no comments Mark…), but I can’t help but think this type of situation happens with others for blog tours. My conclusion is that an author won’t know what type of people they will reach with a blog tour. If they get the right person, they will have an influencer who will carry on promotion that goes beyond the investment the author made by sending some books out for a blog tour.
If anyone reading this has been influenced by any of my posts, I’d love to hear from you on this topic. If you have any thoughts on blog tours, I’d also encourage you to speak up. Coolness.
