Tag: Blogging

Reading, Writing and The Internet

~ Bob Hayton ~ 2 Comments

Recently, I was discussing how blogging and book-reading complement each other. I find I read more theological books as a result of my blogging than I might otherwise. Yet blogging does eat up time and keep me from reading as much as I’d like. It’s more than just time, however. Blogging gives me bits and pieces of info which fascinate me and substitute the place of reading to some degree.

It’s not just blogging. All things internet promote a piecemeal view of the world. News and information, on the run, in bite size pieces. Immediate access. Unending links to yet more and more and more. The daily presence and impact of the internet on the majority of today’s culture, myself included, is shaping how we think and how we read.

In college, I was required to read Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death. In that book he argued that the various technological media of our day and any other, impact what and how we think far more than we realize. He showed how the printing press revolutionized the world, just as had the alphabet before it, and now the TV (and nightly news) after it. I think Neil’s work should be updated to include the internet’s influence. It will be interesting to see how dramatically it will shape our thinking and culture.

My thoughts here were spurred on by stumbling across an interesting article entitled “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” [HT: Stephen Altrogge]. Nicholas Carr, who recently published a book on this topic, does a good job of explaining the problem in this column (published in The Atlantic). It’s definitely worth your time to read it all the way through (without skimming, mind you…).

I’m not so sure the internet’s influence is a huge problem, but I think we should all be aware as to just how much our reading habits are influenced by our internet usage. This makes me even more satisfied with my new focus on reading and reviewing more books on my blog. This will help my blog serve my aim to read more books. I hope you’ll join me in reading more books, because Christians after all, are people of The Book. It follows we need to preserve the art of reading and thinking (and even writing), since God communicated to us not in a movie, or a drama, not on the internet or a magazine, but through books, 66 of them.

4000, 560, and 3

~ fundyreformed ~ 8 Comments

Warning, this is a self-serving, post. Read at your own risk…

I just realized I recently went over the 4,000 comments mark. My review of O. Palmer Robertson’s The Israel of God, created a pingback on one of my older posts back on 11/10 and that was #4,000. Then, on 11/13, David Kjos, the Thirsty Theologian, started the fifth milleniad of comments around here. I hit the 2,000 comment mark back in August of 2007, so the second 2,000 comments came in much quicker than the first.

This is also my 560th post, and this last month marked the completion of three full years of blogging. My actual blogiversary is 10/9; but I only added one more post that month, and two in November 2005. I really didn’t start blogging until December 2005, and today is the anniversary of the posting of “My Story”. That post now has 105 comments.

I’d been meaning to blog about my 3rd blogiversary, so today’s a good day to do that, especially since Jamsco mentioned today was his 501st post. (He’s gonna catch me for sure).

All of this just to say “I’m three!” No, the blog’s three, me, well…..

My New Favicon: What Do You Think?

~ fundyreformed ~ 14 Comments

Hey everyone. Have you noticed my new favicon (the little picture to the left of my blog’s url address in your browser bar)? WordPress.com, the best free blogging service by far, now offers blog images, which double as favicons. You can upload your own image from the Settings menu (top left of the dashboard next below the Support tab).

My quandry is I really think I should redesign the header to match it. I designed this a long time back, before I really realized favicons weren’t possible for wordpress. So I can’t hunt down the cross image I used for this, to use in redesigning my header, so I may have to redesign everything.

I added a larger version of the favicon at the top of my sidebar (not quite as large as the one in this post). For now I’ll leave it like this. But I may get the designer in me going again.

So I thought I’d ask: What do you think of the current blog header? Or theme? Does it jive with the favicon? Should I change it? Are you happy with everything as is? (I know I tend to change things up around here too often….) I’m interested in your thoughts. Thanks.

Blogging for Books part 2

~ Bob Hayton ~ 8 Comments

Last week I started sharing how serious bloggers can get free books to review on their blogs. I shared how Reformation Trust and Thomas Nelson, both have book review programs that bloggers are free to sign up for. Today I’ll share how to get books from other publishers that don’t have such programs.

It’s really quite simple. All you do is ask. Let me illustrate this for you, by sharing my story.

My Personal Story

A few months back, I was reading some blogs and other sites online and I came across an interesting discussion on the Biblical flood. In it I found out about a book called Beyond Creation Science: New Covenant Creation from Genesis to Revelation. I looked at the website for the book, and got interested in it. I’m interested in the creation debate and prophecy, and I thought I’d like to check this book out. (Note, I’ll be reviewing this one soon.)

Once I knew I was interested in the book, I emailed one of the authors (whose email was visible on the site). I described my blog, how many visitors I get on average, and who my target audience is of my blog. Then I simply asked if they had review copies and promised to do a review if they would furnish one. Very soon I had a positive respone, and a week or so later had a free book at my door.

Later once I met Shaun Tabbat and we compared blog notes. I soon realized he was using this same method to get books from respected publishers like Crossway, IVP, Kregel and others.

I decided to try and see if I could get some books to review on my blog from them. So I sent out my requests, either via a form submission or email, to various publishers. I tried to pick books interesting to me, that would fit in to my overall blog plans. I honestly expected to get some “no”s; so I wasn’t prepared for the response. I’ve asked 13 publishers to date, and have received free books from 12 of them. The last one hasn’t responded. Besides smaller private publishers, I’ve gotten books from IVP, Kregel, Crossway, Fortress Press, Harvest House, Presbyterian & Reformed Publishing, Thomas Nelson, & Reformation Trust.

Given my success, I thought I’d share this strategy with my blogging friends. Many of you, like me, are strapped for funds and can’t get these exciting new books you hear about. This might help you like me to enjoy some good books, and then review them on your blog.

Answers to some common questions:

How many hits do you need to average to be able to do this?

I’m not really sure how many hits one has to have to be considered. The main thing is knowing your audience and describing your blog well.

Is this just a cheap way of getting a free book? Isn’t this sort of dishonest?

Not at all. In today’s world, especially, more and more books are bought and promoted online. Recently I posted a review of one of my personal books, in the comments someone shared that they actually went on to purchase the book as a result of my post. This is the benefit we bring to publishers. Their product will be talked about and publicized. And the cost for them is negligible. It’s inexpensive marketing. As long as you pledge in good faith to review the book, and you actually do follow through, there is no dishonesty. A publisher will easily be able to tell if you don’t follow through and won’t honor requests for more books.

Where do I find publishers’ email addresses? How do I request books?

I recommend Googling for Christian Publishers and just go to each publisher’s website and look around. Often you’ll find a contact form, or a media submission form. Sometimes, as with Crossway, IVP and Fortress you’ll need to register with them as a media outlet. In the comments section you clarify you are a blogger and give your request.   You can look for contact us, or about us pages on most publisher’s sites.

One other tip would be to look for smaller independent book publishers. These people are more likely to say yes as they don’t have the large marketing budgets other publishers have. A list of small Christian publishers can be found here (compliments of Christian Small Publishers Association).

Any other tips for getting them to say “yes”?

I’d recommend having a book in mind when you contact a publisher. Tell them why you’re interested in the book and that you think it will interest your readers. I try to stick to books that I’d be glad to blog about on my blog, and that would fit into my existing blog themes.

Also, be sure to mention you will post your review on your site as well as on Amazon.com or some other site like that. Posting the review on Amazon helps publishers have a voice in the largest bookselling site out there. Reviews on Amazon consistently influence shoppers, so this is a great help in a publisher (actually the publicist or marketer) deciding to accept your request.

You can also save the review in pdf format so you’ll be able to email a copy of the review to the publicist. There are a few free pdf creating programs online, I use Open Office.

Be timely with your reviews and stay in touch with the publicists. This will help build rapport. You can get to the point where they let you keep extra books to give away on your blog, or they can work with you to help sponsor give-aways on your blog to promote traffic for you, and interest in their products.

So now that the secret is out, get to it. Let’s use this avenue as a way to grow spiritually as Christians, and become better bloggers along the way.

Update: More and more publishers make book review blogging easy.

Books, Blogs, and Blogging for Books

~ Bob Hayton ~ 6 Comments

The votes are in from my recent poll regarding books and blogs. Out of 30 votes, 9 read blogs more than books, 9 read books more than blogs, and 5 were a toss up. 6 people claimed to read more because of blogging, and I think I’d find myself in that category too.

I could do another poll to see what we think are more valuable and of lasting impact, books or blogs. I don’t think I’ll do that poll though. Most would agree books are more valuable, yet blogging has value and has a place — it offers something books don’t.

Still, books are important, and as a blogger I want to be reading more books than blogs. I want to push myself to grow more through reading more substantive, edited material.

So why not use my blog to get books? Free books at that. I am a sucker for anything free, but this makes sense really. I can read books and review them on my blog. I already do that.

What I’ve found recently is that if you want to read books and review them on your blog, you are a candidate for getting free books directly from publishers.

The only catch is you must agree to review the book. This will cause a buzz to surround the book and earn the publishers free publicity.

In this post and the next, I will share some secrets on how to get free books for blogging. I’ve just started using this technique and I’m up to around a dozen books to review. Some of them are kids books, so I think I can handle it. In truth I hadn’t thought I’d get so many “yes” responses. But I’m getting ahead of myself here.

For starters, two publishers make it very easy to get free books. They are courting bloggers and have blog for book programs.

1) Reformation Trust, which was founded by R.C. Sproul’s Ligonier Ministries, will provide up to 2 pdf books for your review. Once you are finished with your review, notify them and they’ll send you a free copy of the actual book. I recommend browsing through their selection and finding one you are truly interested in since pdf books are not the easiest way to read, and you want to make this worth your time. For my part, I got Joel Beeke’s new book Living for God’s Glory: An Introduction to Calvinism. I’m close to 100 pages in to it and I’m very excited about the book.

2) Thomas Nelson. They recently created a Book Review Bloggers club, where certain select books are made available to you and you can request more once you finish the books they’ve sent. You have to select the genres which interest you and there are not an unlimited supply of books available. In fact some of the choices they offer aren’t that great, but when i signed up, I was able to get a copy of the The Chronological Study Bible (NKJV) to review. (They actually sent me two copies, so when I get close to posting my review, I’ll be giving the second copy away with their blessing.) I would at least sign up to be included and then keep checking to see when a book is available that interests you. Or be brave and pick a book you don’t know much about, and explore new territory.

In a follow up post I’ll give pointers for how to get books from other publishers. But for now, let me encourage you to check out Shaun Tabbat’s blog, where he reviews books almost weekly, which he gets from publishers. Seeing how others review books, and promote them, can give you ideas for how to do the same yourself.

One last word. I don’t want to turn my blog into a book blog. I don’t think you have to do this in order to take advantage of free books. I try to choose books which fit in to my blog’s overall theme. I’ve gotten a book on worldliness by C.J. Mahaney, and one on redemptive historical interpretation by Dennis Johnson. These are themes that I already cover in my blog, so reviews of these books will fit right in.

Okay, enough for now. Happy reading, I mean, blogging…. 😉