Christian Fiction Deals for Kindle

 
 
Monday Musings Tattie Monday Musings Tattie

Monday Musings: New Releases, News, and More 10/4/21

New releases for October, Christy Awards 2021, Sweet Like Jasmine by Bonnie Gray, Monday Musings, and the discussion topic of the week.

Monday Musings

The new book year is in full swing now. Children are going back to school, people are putting their gardens to rest and moving indoors to catch up on their reading. I’ve been reading more lately, despite all my reading hang-ups. I’ve recently decided to embrace my tendency to read nonfiction and check out some new Christian books on the market.

I admit, I haven’t read a lot of Christian nonfiction. My reading obsessions over the years have been in waves of mainly relationship and other self-help books, nutrition books aimed at getting you to eat less meat in the name of good health, cookbooks (with the same goal,) and the odd assortment of biographies, how-to books, and other interesting non-fiction stories. Most have been secular in nature. 

So imagine my surprise when I went in search of Christian nonfiction and found a lot of secular books being published by Christian publishers. I’m having a hard time wrapping my mind around this. On one hand, if a book is “clean” or “inspirational” I can see why a Christian publisher would want to publish it.

But while I’m not publishing the books found on this blog myself, I feel a bit responsible for the content. I try to only publish Christian books, which, up until recently, included all books from Christian publishers and indie books that were well checked out. 

Indies have always been a wild card. You never know what you’re going to get but if you do your homework you can find some gems. Often I’ll find an indie author who was traditionally published before and has decided to self-publish for bigger royalties, or someone with a famous Christian podcast, or someone who has been a missionary in six different countries.

I would never discard these authors just because they didn’t have a fancy publisher label behind them. But some people are still hesitant to take a chance with indies and I get that. We’ve come to trust big publisher names, that they’d never do us wrong. 

Or would they?

Last month I decided not to post a book from a top publisher because the reviews had complaints about the material being too “raunchy, degrading,” and “disappointing from a Christian publisher.” (Those words were taken from three different reviewers.)

I decided that sale or not, if other bloggers wanted to post this book it could be on their conscience, not mine. 

The other day I found a new book in audiobook format to read. It’s a…

Read More
Monday Musings Tattie Monday Musings Tattie

Monday Musings: New Releases, News, and More 9/27/21

Tales of the Bargain Hunter

I know I’ve been slacking on my articles for this site lately but I’ve been working hard exploring the world of Christian books, following rabbit trails and chasing new authors. I’m sure you all have noticed that the site now includes links from Amazon, Christianbook.com, and Google Play. It’s been a lot of work getting used to that but I’ve gained some great insights about bargain hunting from the experience.

For instance, new releases are usually cheaper at Christianbook.com. Take The Mystery of Israel and the Middle East, a new release book listed above. At the time of this post it’s $12.99 on Amazon, $17.99 on Google Play, and $9.99 at Christianbook.com. This is a common occurrence I’m finding for brand new books. The sales also have trends. When a book is $3.99 on Amazon it may be $3.89 on Christianbook. A $1.99 book on Amazon might be $1.59 on Christianbook and it may be full price Google Play. Sometimes it’s the same price on all three retailers but it’s not common.

As an author/publisher myself, I thought there were rules about pricing. I think the small price differences are when the retailer cuts it themselves as a loss leader technique to bring in business, but I’m finding a lot of publishers don’t even bother to put their books on sale at all on Google Play and sometimes a book may be on sale just at Amazon or just at Christianbook.com.

When I set out to include links from other retailers I was simply interested in giving people more choices about where to shop. I had no idea they were allowed to compete against each other for the best price. It’s been very interesting to watch and it’s taught me that (as a book hunter) I need to be open to all retailers to get the best deals. (As an author, I still wouldn’t price my book differently on various retailers as I personally think it’s just disrespectful to customers.)

One of the Bravest Things I’ve Ever Done

So, I decided to …

Read More
Reviews Tattie Reviews Tattie

Review - Take The Day Off: Receiving God’s Gift of Rest by Robert Morris

Which day is the Sabbath, Sunday or Saturday? What are the Jewish Sabbath rules? What's a Jewish sabbatical year? Is the Sabbath mentioned in the new testament?

I didn’t have time to read this book but I MADE myself do it anyway, and I’m so glad I did. Here’s the backstory on that. (Clears throat nervously.) My name’s Tattie and I’m a workaholic. I’ve been a workaholic for many years now, sometimes working sixteen to eighteen hours a day when I’m jazzed up about a big project, and I often wake up and go to sleep thinking about work.

I also have times when I find myself thinking about work related problems when I’m supposed to be engaging in conversation with others or watching movies during family movie night. 

Despite this, I consider myself lazy and I’m afraid for anyone to know about my less than stellar productivity days. I get out of the bed before anyone else in the family and I still feel guilty when someone does more housework than me. My favorite saying I used to give my writing partner on an almost daily basis was “Be Productive!” Meaning, get things done, don’t just be busy.

I’ve read LOTS of books on how to get more done in less time and I’m a master at scheduling, planning, and to-do lists. 

I knew I had a problem when I tried to slow down and realized I didn’t know HOW to rest. I just couldn’t. Sit. Still.

Now, before you run away thinking this book review isn’t for you because you’re not a neurotic workaholic like I am, let me tell you a little bit about the book.

Take the Day Off by Robert Morris is about so much more than just giving ourselves some “me time.” It’s a Biblical approach to rest and Sabbath. At one time I got hung up on which day the Sabbath should be, Saturday or Sunday. Should it start in the evening or the morning, or does it begin at 12:00am?

What should I do, and more importantly, not do on the Sabbath? What is a Jewish Sabbath like? Wasn’t the command to rest on the Sabbath an Old Testament …

Read More