WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS ... Or Promotion Links You Will Love (and Giveaway!)

-->

“There is nothing better than a friend, 

unless it is a friend with chocolate.”

—Linda Grayson

(Left to right: Deb Giusti, moi, Casey Herringshaw, Sandra Leesmith, Cara Lynn James, Mary Connealy, Ruth Logan Herne, Myra Johnson, Audra Harders and Janet Dean)

With or without chocolate—there is no question that friendship is one of God’s greatest gifts to mankind. I mean, let’s face it—without friends, our lives would be as cardboard as solo characters in a book if we didn’t have that cast of subordinate characters to help flesh out our life. You know, that circle of friends who encourage, stand by us, support us no matter what?

Whether we’re talking reality or fiction, friendships enriches our lives as much as it enhances the stories we write, taking the person or the reader to a deeper level that is more satisfying to both. For instance, in the following scene from A Passion Denied (which—forgive me—I had a wild hair to include in this blog on friendship because it’s one of my favorite friendship scenes from all of my books AND it relates), the friendship between the hero John Brady and his partner Collin McGuire deepens the emotional impact for the reader (I hope). John Brady are Collin are two men who are like night and day and yet God bound them together in an unbreakable bond that weathered every storm—even a past so vile that John couldn’t forgive himself, much less expect it of his best friend.

The bathroom door creaked open, and their heads jerked up. They stared, still as stone as Brady walked into the kitchen, coffee cup limp in his hand. His hygiene was considerably improved, clean-shaven and hair slicked back, but his eyes were still red and glassy. Dead and lifeless, Collin thought, and his stomach twisted. He jumped to his feet. “I have eggs and toast in the oven. More coffee?”

“No,” Brady muttered and dropped into a chair. His eyes trained on the half-empty cup in his hand, his bleary gaze lost in a sea of bitter coffee. “I’m not hungry.”

“Yeah, well you need a little something other than vodka to sustain that thick head of yours.”

That woke him up. His head shot up, and the red in his eyes singed like fire. “Go to the devil, Collin. As if I didn’t pull your head out of the latrine more times than I can count.”

Collin eased back into his chair, all humor depleted. “That’s right, John, you did. Which makes this all the more upsetting. What’s going on?”

Brady closed his eyes and ran a shaky hand over his face. “I can’t tell you.”

“Why? From the very beginning, you’ve known everything about me—my past, my present, what I think, what I feel. The best of friends, closer than brothers. Don’t you think I deserve the same?”

Brady lowered his head. “You do, but I can’t tell you.”

Collin’s jaw tightened. “Why?”

“Because I’m not ready.”

Collin slammed his fist on the table. “Not ready for what? To be a friend?”

Brady’s head lunged up, his eyes swimming with pain. “No, Collin, not ready to lose one.”

Collin released a slow breath and nodded, finally glancing at Father Mac. “Can you try to get him to eat? I want him healthy at work tomorrow.” He gave Brady’s shoulder a quick squeeze on his way to the door. “I’m tired of carrying him.”

“Collin?" Brady's tone was a rasp.

“Yeah?”

“I’ll have half of day’s work done before you even shadow the door.”

Collin turned, hand poised on the knob. A muscle convulsed in his throat. “I want you to know, John, whatever you did, no matter how bad you think it may be, I will stand by you. I’m proud to call you my friend, because I know who you are—a man of integrity, honor and passion for God. And nothing—nothing—you can say will ever change that for me.

Integrity. Honor. A passion for God. The hallmarks of friendship for Christian authors trying to reach the world for Christ. We—or let me clarify that—I would be lost without the many incredible friends who have shored me up on this very difficult path to publication and beyond. From the sisterhood of The Seekers—dear friends, confidants, prayer partners and therapists on call—to precious author and blogger friends who have held my hand through emotional storms and had my back in prayer—THANK YOU for being a touch of God in my life! And reader friends? Oh my, don’t even get me started—God has blessed me with friendships beyond my wildest dreams with so many of you that I am in complete awe of His goodness.

But whether we are talking emotional impact in our lives or writing OR promotional impact in our careers, without question friendship or networking is a vital component for every single writer. I mean, seriously—what good is a writer without a reader? Or a writer without a friend who’ll tell them the truth in a critique, support them and their writing or share their knowledge and experience with them? Over the last so many years, people have often asked me what I did to get published, so I put together a checklist of the steps I took and guess what? Ironically, four of the eight involve friendship and networking:

STEPS I TOOK TO GET PUBLISHED:

1.) Join ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers at http://www.americanchristianfictionwriters.com/), FHL (Faith, Hope & Love at http://www.faithhopelove-rwa.org/) and RWA (Romance Writers of America at http://www.rwanational.org/), both to get connected with other like-minded writers and to learn a lot about your craft.

2.) Take a fiction-writing class or attend a writing seminar or conference.

3.) Join a critique group (you can do that through ACFW).

4.) Purchase and study writing books such as Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King or Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maas, AND invest in a great thesaurus such as The Synonym Finder by Rodale Press (my writer’s bible!!).

5.) Enter contests for invaluable feedback, growth, confidence, networking opportunities and to get your name out there.

6.) Frequent websites/blogs that deal with writing, such as The Seekers (http://seekerville.blogspot.com/), a group blog that I belong to whose theme is “On the road to publication. Writing, contests, publication and everything in between.”

7.) Go for an agent first, publisher second.

8.) Then pray your heart out and put it in God’s hands.

So, why am I talking about friendship today? Well, because I have a number of good friends who have been promotional godsends to me and not only did I want to bless them, but I wanted to bless YOU with their amazing “free” services as well! As “writers,” the last thing we want to do is take time to promote our work, and I have found that not only are good friends invaluable in holding my hand, lifting me up or giving me the benefit of their advice, but many of them are masters at author promotion as well. Whether you are an author who wants to advertise your giveaways or blogs or whatever OR a reader who’s looking for great giveaways and info on freebie e-books, following are the top ways I do both … with a little bit of help from my friends! ;)  NOTE! I have a select few favorite regular blogs I subscribe to because I flat out love the bloggers and their content and they are dear friends, but that's a blog for another day. The following blogs listed are specifically set up to help authors promote their promotions and advise readers of freebies.

1.)   FICTIONADDICTION FIX:  Boy, oh boy ... if you like to win free books, then do I have the website for you!! Hop on over to Fiction Addiction Fix and subscribe free for a daily update of all the current book giveaways going on in the Christian market—for me, this is a MUST signup! This site is run by two dynamo aspiring authors and good friends, Debbie Lynn Costello and Kathleen L. Maher who are not only kind enough to compile the giveaways, BUT will feature your giveaway if you are an author looking to promote your book. So readers and authors alike, take advantage of Fiction Addiction Fix and put this site on your favorites like I have—you will be totally BLESSED by the ministry of these two lovely ladies.

2.) THE BOOKCLUB NETWORK: Whoa, baby, whether you are an author looking to promote OR a reader looking to win free books, you are going to love The Book Club Network, the brainchild of another dear friend, Nora St. Laurent! TBCN is a worldwide community of avid readers, book club leaders, club members, book club leader wannabe’s, bloggers, and authors that promotes wholesome non-fiction and fiction books as well as helping you find face-to-face and on-line book clubs to join. Not only is TBCN one of the places that I post all my promotions and giveaways, but Nora and her husband also write a monthly TCBN column for the Christian Booksellers Association's Retail Magazine to feature a “Book of the Month” based on TBCN members’ nominations. I strongly recommend signing up for this incredible club that's totally free—you won’t be sorry!

3.)   THE VESSEL PROJECT: The Vessel Project was founded by Keiki Hendrix in 2008 as a website dedicated to those who love Christian books. Its purpose is to present readers with reviews and information on a wide range of genres and to introduce, promote and publicize Christian authors and books. The Vessel Project features book reviews, new releases, book trailers and a large group of free e-books for Kindle and NOOK as well as many free audiobooks. The site host reviews from 25 contributing Christian book reviewers from all walks of life with reading interests in a variety of genres.

4.)   CHRISTIAN FICTION GATHERING,  CHRISTIAN REVIEW OF BOOKS,  CRAZY FOR BOOKS: When I am looking to post promos for my giveaways or to advertise Seekerville or my own blog Journal Jots, I ALWAYS post it on these three wonderful group sites, which not only allow me to reach a broad reading audience for my blog and giveaways, but also provides me with lots of interesting reading, giveaways and freebie notices. 

FREE AND SALE E-BOOK SITES!!

1.)   INSPIRED READS: Okay, this is one of my favorite “freebie” sites because it sends me regular e-mails announcing the latest free or on-sale e-books, so I never miss any I may want, so just sign up for the e-mail notices.

2.)   WORDSALT: Not only is this a new promo blog for authors, but it also features interviews with Christian authors, practical writing tips for new and “seasoned” writers, and book reviews as well as lots of freebie writer’s books and freebie e-books for both fiction and nonfiction.

So, remember … if you’re looking for free promotion and free books, you can find what you’re looking for … with a little bit of help from my friends!

Leave a tip for an author promotion or freebie blog or just a comment for a chance to win your choice of any of my books, including my upcoming release A Love Surrendered.

NOTE: Separate second drawing for choice of any of my books for those who tell me they sign up  to follow SEEKERVILLE, Fiction Addiction Fix, TBCN or Vessel Project (3 points each in this drawing) or any of the "Free and Sale E-book Sites" mentioned (1 point each). This will be a random drawing, but your chances increase with every point entered. NOTE: This does not include my points given to get published -- ONLY the promotional websites mentioned.

Hugs,

Julie