Hi, everybody. I jumped feet first into the electronic social pool this week and joined up with Facebook and Goodreads. I’d been talking about doing Facebook for months but had to meet that July 1 deadline first. Once the new book was off, I had to carry through on my resolve to put a presence out there on Facebook. I have a few Facebook friends already. Thanks to you who may have befriended me. I’m amazed at the speed of the network. And I’m still feeling my way and trying to decide the best way for me to do Facebook settings, etc. Appreciate any advice you old hands at Facebook want to offer a newbie.
Then a publicity person at my publisher, Baker Books, got in touch and asked me to join up with Goodreads. That’s something similar to Facebook except on there the friends/members just talk about books. They list books they’ve read and rate them with stars as well as write reviews if they want. A lot of my books are listed on there already and have been rated over a hundred times. Some good ratings and some not as good ratings. One thing that’s true about any author is that your book can’t be everybody’s favorite – even if you want it to be.
Anyway Baker wanted to post a giveaway on Goodreads for my new book, The Believer, and in order to give away a few early copies I had to be a Goodread member. So now I’ve signed up with them and I’m trying to remember the books I’ve read so I can add them to my list. There are people on there with hundreds of books listed. I may have read hundreds of books, but I probably – no I won’t remember all the titles. Now my sister could do a better job of this. She’s been keeping a list of the books she reads for years. I do that now too along with a short personal review about whether I liked the book and why or why not, but I wish I had started years ago the way she did. I’ll have to tell her to join up with Goodreads so she can brag on the many books she’s read.
I haven’t really gone out fishing for friends at either site. I guess I’m hoping friends will just swim on over and jump into my net. And some already have. Isn’t that amazing? But if you’re a member of Goodreads, you can go to their book giveaway page and sign up to win an early copy of The Believer. A bunch of people already have. There are lots of other books on there to be given away too. Of course, you can still send me an e-mail and get in on my July drawings where the odds are sure to be lower than on Goodreads.
Thanks to all of you who have said you’d like to go to the “Brunch with Ann” at 10 a.m. on July 25 at Shaker Village in Mercer County, KY sponsored by Corinth Christian Bookstore. Of course some of you have said it might be a little too far to drive. I understand, but I do wish you could all be there. And you at least will get the highlights on here or in my newsletter after the event.
I’m looking forward to that traditional Shaker breakfast which is the reason you have to buy tickets. My talk will be on the house, but we’ll have fun. I’ll leave time for Q & A because that’s my favorite part of any talk I do about writing. I never know where the questions might take us or whether I’ll be able to come up with an answer. So far I always manage to answer something. I think the Lord has give me a gift for gab after making me so painfully shy when I was a child. In my next blog on Sunday, I plan to write about the different gifts the Lord blesses us with and how sometimes those gifts are surprising.
Again, as always, thanks for dropping by. Hope your week is the best you’ve ever had and that you are feeling loved and appreciated. And if you’re on Facebook or Goodreads, come on over and we can be friends there too.