Sunday, July 31, 2011

Tune in for Dianne's interview on BlogTalkRadio's Hope for the Journey!

I will be Yvonne Ortega's guest on her Blog Talk Radio show this Tuesday, August 2, 2011, at 10:00 am eastern (that's 8:00 am Colorado time!).

Tune in here:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/hope-for-the-journey

See you then!

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Are you a Book Reviewer and a Blogger? New Opportunity!

Are you a blogger? Do you review books on your blog? Check out the Christian Small Publishers Association's new "BookCrash" program.

http://www.bookcrash.com/

You get a free copy of a book to review if you promise to post a review on your blog and one other place, such as Amazon.com.

My Deliver Me book is part of this program, so you can get a complimentary copy of my book if you join the program! Click on "Women's" books and you'll see it.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

A Glimpse of my Book Signing at ICRS in Atlanta, July 11, 2011

Marketing Christian Books, the blog from Christian Small Publishers Association, posted about the booth at the International Christian Retail Show two weeks ago.

Read it here: Booth #338.

In the third photo down, that's David Yanez. He's not only an author and publisher, but he also hosts a radio show. Immediately after my signing, David took Linda Evans Shepherd, me, and Joy Schneider down to the media room and did an interview with all of us. You can listen to it here: Midwatch with the Rev. Linda's interview is first, then mine starts at about 17:30 and runs around nine minutes, then Joy comes on.

If you scroll down to the fourth photo... Who is that?!

Monday, July 25, 2011

Deliver Me on Kathi "Easy Writer" Macias' blog

Kathi Macias has posted a nice display with my guest post on her blog. It's the July 22, 2011, post at http://kathieasywritermacias.blogspot.com/ I'm very grateful!

Please check it out here: Guest Post from Author Dianne E. Butts--on a very important topic.

I keep trying to leave a comment but that function doesn't seem to be working right now.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Deliver Me book reviewed!

Emily M. Akin at the Tennessee Christian Reader blog wrote a very nice review of Deliver Me! It is good for me to get some reviews, since I've had very little input from outside sources. It is gratifying to hear from a reviewer that I did a good job with the book.

If you're interested, please pop over and read the review. Leave a comment if you wish.

If you're a contributor to the book or have another interest in it, please consider linking to this review from your own site or blog.

Emily also posted her review on the Deliver Me book's page at Amazon.com so you can read and comment on it there also.

Friday, July 15, 2011

Book Signing at ICRS and Radio Interview about Deliver Me

What a great trip I had! So much happened I'm going to be writing about it for several posts. I took a computer with me, but I was so busy I never got a blog posted.

My book signing on Monday went really well, I think. I spent the morning walking the aisles of the convention with my little fliers I'd made with the information about my book signing. It had a copy of my book's cover, the title, and then the book signing info:

Monday, July 11
BOOTH: #338
3:00 - 4:00
Christian Small Publishers Association Booth

I'd made 500 of those little fliers (four to an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet) and I was determined to hand them all out. I didn't make it. But I did hand out a bunch of them! My goal was to get enough business to give away all the copies of my book that I had brought.

The Christian Small Publishers Association (CSPA) required me to supply 75 books. At this book signing (at ICRS -- the International Christian Retail Show) we don't sell books. We give them away. (Crazy, right?)

I was one of five CSPA authors. The others are David Hope, Peter StanwayDavid Yanez, and new member Joy Schneider. We helped each other with our book signings by standing in the aisle with CSPA catalogs and directing passersby to the book signing.

Don't forget that I missed all the deadlines to be in the daily newspaper that tells which personality is signing which book in which booth at what time. (Yeah, now I'm a "personality.")

Anyway, my strategy must have worked because by 4:05, all my books were gone! I've got to hand it to the CSPA folks. They seemed to know that a person can sign 75 books in an hour. I had a couple of lulls, but that was it. I would guess that 90% of the people in my line were folks I recognized from handing them a flier, so it was good that I did that.

The response to my book has been tremendously positive. I haven't had a negative reaction yet. Whenever I tell people about my book, I can see their face light up. That's a good sign. Lots of people say the cover is "beautiful," and that's huge since people really do judge a book by it's cover.

There was another CSPA author signing right before me. So as soon as he got up, I sat down and away we went. And do know who stood in line to get one of my books? It was about the second or third person in line. I looked up and there was Cecil Murphey! I have stood in line at past ICRS shows to get one of Cec's books. To see him in line to get one of mine, well... I think that might have just been the coolest thing ever. It was because Cecil graciously gave me a scholarship to the AWSA conference that I was even at the ICRS convention. What a blessing that man is.

Then, I guess it was about half way through the signing that I looked up and there was another familiar face stepping up for one of my books. This time it was Linda Evans Shepherd. Now Linda is not only my friends, but the founder of AWSA (Advanced Writers and Speakers Association), and it was she who urged me to join the group and come to the AWSA conference and so I wouldn't have been there without Linda either.

And if all of that wasn't enough, David Yanez invited all these authors to be on his Internet radio show! And so after I finished my book signing, Linda Evans Shepherd, Joy Schneider, and I walked down to the media room and did the interview. You can listen in at David Yanez Ministries. Linda was interviewed first, and then me, and then Joy, so if you don't want to listen to Linda's, you can fast forward. My interview starts at about 17:30 and runs about nine minutes to approx. 26:45. I hope you'll take the time to give it a listen, link to it, and/or leave a comment.

That was only my Monday! It was a great experience. More highlights from my other days to come...

Saturday, July 9, 2011

I'm now a member of AWSA! And I'm at ICRS!

I've known Linda Shepherd for around twenty years, and I remember when she started the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association (AWSA). I have never qualified for the group before. The qualifications have been modified over the years, but at least it used to be that to be eligible to be a member we needed two books published and needed to speak outside our home state to a certain number of people so many times a year. I definitely didn't qualify! But since I just published my second book, Deliver Me, in April, I suddenly met that requirement. But the other?

Well, at the Colorado Christian Writer's Conference Linda asked me why I hadn't joined AWSA yet. I told her I didn't qualify. She said they're just looking for two forms of communication. A radio talk show. Host a TV show. Blog. Newsletter. Then she asked me what I was doing in Hollywood. I told her about some work I'm doing (which I'll tell you later) and she said I qualified! So I joined AWSA.

You might qualify for, and benefit from, AWSA too. Find more information here: http://www.awsa.com/ .

Then...of course Linda asked if I was attending the AWSA conference. I've known since Linda started AWSA that its conference was held right before the start of the International Christian Retail Show (ICRS). I also knew ICRS was in Atlanta this year. I've been to ICRS two times when it was close to me in Denver.

Even though I have a new book out, I had no plans to go to Atlanta. I don't have the money in my writing account to make the trip for the conference. And I felt the only way the expense of going to Atlanta for the AWSA conference would be worthwhile for me was if I could have a book signing at ICRS. But the chances of me, who published my own book, having a book signing at ICRS are slim and none. Unless God makes it happens. I guess God had other plans.

If you're familiar with the International Christian Retail Show, you know it's extremely challenging for a self-published author to have a signing at this convention. If you're not familiar with ICRS, it's a trade show for publishers and Christian bookstore owners. Publishers pay, no doubt, thousands of dollars for a booth at the convention. Little ol' me, as the publisher of my own book and on a shoestring budget, obviously can't do that. But Linda reminded me of the Christian Small Publishers Association (CSPA). I'd seen their booth at the previous ICRS shows I'd been to and I always thought if I self published another book I'd join. Well, I contacted them and, even though I'd missed all the deadlines, they said I could join and still have a book signing in their booth at ICRS. Of course there were fees to pay to do so. And because I'd missed the deadlines, it was too late to get my information printed in the Show Daily, so I'd have absolutely no publicity for my signing. And I still wasn't sure I could afford the AWSA conference and all those fees. Plus I have to provide 75 books (at my expense) for the book signing. All the books at ICRS are given away free. So...what do to?

Well then Linda granted me a scholarship from Cec Murphey for the conference registration. That did it. How could I say no? So, now in Atlanta. We just wrapped up the AWSA conference and the Golden Scroll awards banquet is tomorrow. 

I'm signing my book at ICRS on Monday, July 11, from 3:00 - 4:00 in the CSPA booth #338. Since I won't have any publicity, I made fliers with my signing time and booth number and I plan on running around handing them out Monday. Beyond that, I'm depending on God to take care of my publicity, too.

All of this has come about in just the last couple of weeks, and I'm absolutely amazed.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Echoing Strains of "Taps"

My article "Independence Day Brings Echoing Strains of Taps" appeared July 1, 2011, in the Faith column on www.TheChristianPulse.com.

If you've never read or sung the lyrics to the familiar song "Taps," you can find them in that article. To me, they are hauntingly beautiful and comforting.

Hope you had a happy and safe 4th of July. May God continue to bless America.