Carol McAdams Moore

  A note from Carol McAdams Moore

Last month, I wrote about Six Tips for Planning a Book Signing.  Today, I want  to share one of the major benefits of a book signing — the opportunity to interact with readers. For Christian authors, among other things this is a chance to share the testimony of your book.

The words marketing and testimony may not seem to go together at first. Marketing might be defined as promoting and selling something, in this case a book. We need to consider why a potential reader would consider reading any given book. The story of how the book came to be is often something the reader wants to know. It may, in fact, be the deciding factor on whether or not the book is purchased, read, and taken to heart.

When I first considered writing my tween devotionals (Dare U 2 Open This Book and Just Sayin’) it started with noting the interests of a group of ten and eleven year olds. I noticed that my public school students were obsessed with a certain book format, one that prompted them to take a personal quiz, doodle a picture, or write a quick journal entry. Those kinds of books were first to go at the school book fairs. As I watched the students’ enthusiasm for these books, I knew there was a heartfelt need for devotional books in the same format.

I wrote a proposal and contacted a publisher. The editor also had  been watching other general market books in the same format. Her prayer was to have tween devotionals that would reach out to tweens by engaging them in applying God’s Word to their lives through quizzes, doodles, and journal entries.

Many fine writers submit proposals everyday. Editors cannot possibly read every proposal that is submitted. However, the testimony of a divine opportunity for my books to reach tweens is one that I want to share with my readers. Is that marketing? In a sense I think it is, but so much more than that is a connection from my heart and from the heart of the publication team to young readers and their parents. It is the story of the path to meeting a heartfelt need of young readers.

Whether you have published many books or you are a yet-to-be-published author, your book has its own testimony. I hope that you will share that story with us.

Blessings –

   Carol