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  • 2022 Book of the Year
    • 2022 Book of the Year Finalists
  • 2021 Book of the Year
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    • 2020 Book of the Year Finalists
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    • Karen Baney >
      • Anna Bottoms
      • Ezara Boyce-Swann
      • Kassidi Brewer
      • Thomas Brown
      • Carolyn Bryant
    • Laura J. Davis >
      • Joan Dowell
    • Marie Edwards
    • Susan Feaster
    • Kristina Hall >
      • Joy Hannabass
      • Abigail Harder
      • Adriann Harris
      • Charity Henico
      • Mindy Houng
      • Monica Huyser
    • Christy Janes
    • Raechel Kelly >
      • Linda Klager
    • Beverly Laude >
      • Cassandra Lee
      • Tammy Lunsford
    • Kevin Maltsberger >
      • Rebecca Maney
      • Lisa McGuire
      • Jane Mouttet
    • Rick Norris
    • Lori Parrish >
      • Deanne Patterson
      • Susan Poll
      • Mary Polyakov
    • Kathryn Sadakierski >
      • Kimberlee Sams
      • Connie Porter Saunders
      • Rob Seabrook
      • Erin Stevenson
      • Emily Stephens
      • Katelyn Sponaugle
      • Sarah Speck
      • Amy Smelser
      • Paula Shreckhise
      • Nora St. Laurent
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      • Winnie Thomas
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      • Diana Varela
      • Elisha Varela
      • Juanita Varela
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      • Sara Beth Williams
      • Tina Williams
      • Conny Withay
      • Cheryl Wood

For Writers
​

8/29/2022

3 Comments

What You Should Include in Your Book

 
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As an author, writing a book is the first challenge. As an indie author, however, formatting and designing it is your second. You want to put your best foot forward in this process. You don't want your readers to be able to tell the difference between your self-published book and a traditionally published book. If you have money, you can get someone to design your cover and design and format your interior. However, if you can't afford that, you must do it yourself. But, can you make your interior look as professional as the exterior? That's assuming you invested in a cover designer because if you haven't, it will be obvious. If you have to spend money creating your book, spend it on editing and a cover. The self-published book covers done in Microsoft Word are obvious. I know you think what you made looks great. But trust me, we can tell you did it yourself. Unless you specialize in design, don't attempt to design your own cover.

But today, I don't want to talk about book covers. I want to talk about the inside of your book and the pages you should include before you get to your actual book.

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3 Comments

10/16/2019

0 Comments

How to Begin a Book Review

 
Sometimes it's hard to know where to begin when writing a book review. I hope this helps!
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0 Comments

9/13/2019

1 Comment

Book Reviews: Great Expectations?

 
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At Interviews & Reviews we have two valuable resources - our reviewers/readers and authors. They kind of go hand in hand. We need each other.

We have a little over fifty team members from different walks of life here at I & R. Some are stay-at-home moms, and some are students and others are even authors themselves. All claim the title of "Christian" and know that our primary purpose at I & R is to promote books and authors who bring glory to God through their writing. We are not just a "book review blog," we are also a ministry, working to build up the body of Christ and spread the Gospel through the written word.

Therefore, when someone submits a book to us, we have certain expectations. We expect a "Christian" book to be without foul language, extreme violence and sexual situations. We expect a message of redemption, grace or hope. 

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1 Comment

6/22/2017

5 Comments

What is a "Christian" Writer?

 
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I have a book that I bought many years ago when I first began my writing journey. It is Ethel Herr's book An Introduction to Christian Writing. It's a great book and one I encourage new writers to pick up. 

I'd like to share with you a few of the points she brought out in her first chapter about writers who are Christian and what their responsibilities are:
​
  • A Christian Writer is - someone who writes! Sounds rather obvious doesn't it? They are editors, magazine staff writers, public relations specialists, technical writers, writing teachers, novelists. They are writers who happen to be Christian. In other words they have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. They belong to a body of fellow-believers. Jesus Christ is our Head and gives us our typing orders 


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5 Comments

11/7/2016

3 Comments

How to Get a Five Star Book Review

 
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With so many self-published books on the market today, many new authors are wondering how to get those elusive five star ratings. We've all been through it at least once. We submitted our book for review expecting accolades and instead the review we got back was as tepid as warm soup. How did that happen? How could the book you poured your heart and soul into only rate three stars? Worse! How could it possibly have received only two? The following are just some of the reasons why your book failed to impress a reviewer.

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3 Comments

9/7/2016

2 Comments

All About Beta Readers

 
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Today I am very pleased to welcome guest blogger and author Laurinda Wallace. Laurinda has some very wise words on using Beta-Readers, what they do and what you need to know. Enjoy!

What's a beta reader? That question has been asked plenty of times when I mention the term. So here's the definition: a beta reader gets to read my manuscript after I've finished the revisions and before my editor gets her hands on it. Betas offer input on everything from the plot, to characters, to settings---everything. Nothing is off limits. My readers are six women who've agreed to give me honest feedback about each book I write. All were handpicked by me because they meet the qualifications below:

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2 Comments

7/13/2016

0 Comments

How Not to Ask for a Book Review

 
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As a review site I thought it might be prudent to start these posts off on how to approach someone to review your book. We have a form on the site for you to submit your book but what if you run across a blogger or a book reviewer for a newspaper or magazine whose reviews you like, and you wondered if they would be as generous with your book? You've done your research, you've discovered their favourite genres, so what's next? How do you approach them?

The following are requests I've actually received over the years for reviews. Let's look at what you shouldn't do when asking for a book review.


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Disclaimer
FTC DISCLAIMER: All the books reviewed on this site are given to us for the express purpose of review. They are provided by publishers, publicists, authors and agents. None of our reviewers were required to write positive reviews and none of them were paid monetarily. All opinions are those of each individual reviewer. We are disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”