Aloha from Karen
It's hard to think that the Christmas season is here. I just celebrated meeting my husband 38 
years ago and it's hard to think how fast the time has gone by. Our oldest son
leaves for Iraq in less than two months. His wife and two little ones will move in
with us while he is deployed so life will change!
As treasurer of CAN I've enjoyed getting to know many authors in this network.
We try to help promote one anothers books. That's part of being in the body of
Christ-to offer encouragement and support. Whether you are an aspiring writer or
well-published the Christmas season is a wonderful opportunity to share Christ
through books. I want to share a few ideas about helping one another.
Christian publishing is an industry where people network and get to know one another. It's about people and a common goal to reach a hurting world with hopeful messages. We are today's scribes. I've been writing for 15 years now and continually see changes of editors moving from one house to another. I've changed publishers because of editors and had book contracts because writing friends recommended me to an editor. I've also seen how working together on promotion helps. We spread news by word of mouth and talking about books. We share opportunities for interviews, joiint books signings, and even share speaking platforms at times. I believe God wants us to be united in sharing the words he inspires us to write.
Blog or post lists on your website and social networks of great books to give this year. Let people know what you enjoyed and recommend. That's where word of mouse and mouth begins.
Make up baskets of books (yours and others sprinkled in) to sell at your book tables and to give yourself. Keep one as a decoration in your home for when friends drop by–they might just need a gift for someone they know.
Recommend Linda Lou's hilarious book trailer park so friends can get sneak peeks at new books. http://booktrailerpark.blogspot.com/ is the link.
Most of all pray for writers and new book releases. With so many books out there we all need help to get then sold. And alas sales trigger whether we get new contracts or not.
Speaking of contracts, I'm in the midst of signing two new book contracts, have a proposal going to committee, and a publisher discussing another book possibility. Things are moving fast and that's makes life a bit crazy. But at least I wrote a great little gift book about time managementand I use those principles for daily living.
Merry Christmas!
