Guidelines:
This is where we get into the thick of things, so people, please read carefully. These aren't perfect, but are in place to enable a smooth running operation. If you have suggestions as to what should be added, questions about removing or modifying one or more of the guidelines you must a) be keeping these guidelines as written to be heard, b) present modifications or changes that are more glorifying to the Lord and c) be willing to accept the decision of the coordinators.
1. Joining CFRB – It has come to our attention that while many people join, they do not properly fill out their personal profiles. This means it is difficult for one member to contact another offline, and worse, if a member wants to tour their book we have no idea where their website or blog is found. There are even a number of people who haven't even entered their names. These are things that we need. If you don't wish to tell us where you live or leave an IM contact, that is fine, but all members must update their profiles to include the following minimal information:
Name
email address
website and/or blog address (and corresponding names of sites)
2. Submissions – in the past we have taken nearly all submissions by members and toured there work. God has been gracious to us and we have had nothing but quality material. However, it seems to us that there needs to be a safeguard against touring substandard material. To meet this need we will either be establishing a group who will preview submitted works, or submitted works will be polled by the members. The guidelines they will be following shall be the following:
Submissions must be works of Christian fiction. That does not mean that the characters in the book overtly refer to the Bible or Jesus, but rather that the Christian message can be clearly seen regardless of the context. A look at some of the past reviews will show you that there are a number of works that don't even mention Jesus or refer to Scripture at all, yet each and every one does carry the Christian message within the story. This is crucial.
Submissions must be quality work. Since my book is possibly the least professional in this regards it is hard for me to say that, however, we do not want works that are just slapped together and please only the author. There must be merit, quality and professionalism in the presentation of their story.
Submissions need not come from CBA approved publishers or authors. In fact, while they are also welcome, our goal here is to provide an outlet for those CBA will not endorse. The reason for this is because while CBA standards make work for some people and actually be well thought out, they end up “throwing out the baby with the bath water”, as the saying goes. Very few of last years entries were CBA endorsed, yet they were of possibly a higher calibre.
Submissions by CFRB members will be considered above other submissions, although that does not guarantee their works will be accepted either. They must pass through the same previewing process as everyone else. If their work fails to be a Christian work of fiction or if it is not quality material, they too can and will be rejected for a blog tour.
Submissions by writers outside of CFRB shall be accepted if they meet the above standards, and if there is a place to schedule them once we have schedule the CFRB members accepted submissions. In addition we hope to have one or two guest blog tours for authors who have a large following. This is to increase our visibility as well as to help a fellow author.
3. Involvement – Every member should find a way to get involved. There are too few of us doing most of the work. Our membership is large enough that we should be able to expand and do more things, however the active membership is about one forth the size of the entire membership. This puts the entire burden of this ministry upon the shoulders of 25% of its members, perhaps even less. This isn't right from several aspects. We're not here to placate you and give you a free ride because we don't have anything better to do. The fact is the active members are overly busy with their own tasks. Yet they still find time to help the other members out. In doing so they have come to know the joy of serving Christ. This may be a difficult concept for some of you, so I will refer you to Scripture:
"Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was hungry, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungry, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." (Matthew 25:34-40)
According to the words of Christ, when we help out our brothers and sisters in Christ we are ministering to Him. There is great joy in this. Later in that same chapter you will find that those who do not minister to their neighbors, not only live a life lacking in joy, but that they are removed from the very presence of God. In prison the Christian inmates said that there were, “Believers, unbelievers and make-believers.” Believers reach out to the unbelievers that they might believe. Make-believers go through the motions so people around them will think they are religious. This is why I personally do not wish to be called religious. I am a son of God by the blood of Jesus Christ. I am a very imperfect son, but I am a son nonetheless. This past year has been a joy for me as I have ministered to my Lord by helping out my brothers and sisters in Christ. We want no make-believers here. (Sorry for the sermon folks, but that's what happens when you mix a writer together with a licensed minister.)
You can be an active member on many levels. Here are the ones that we expect of our members:
Posting during blog tours
Occasionally posting on the CFRB Yahoo site
Reviewing books every now and then
You can also do the following:
Contact members directly to encourage them
Interview authors who have tours coming up
Help with the previewing process.
Provide artwork that may benefit a particular author or the CFRB blog.
Provide technical help for those wishing to work on their sites, artwork, and video trailers for their books.
Pray for each other. Pray as if you were the one in need.
Jesus gave us the perfect blueprint, which you can read about in Philippians 2:1-11. You put others first. Jesus, who is God, became a servant to all, that He might present us holy before the Father by His blood. In the same way we must put one another's goals above our own that they might find fulfillment in God. If we all do this, then everyone is watching out for everyone else.
4. Web Presence – We are working to increase our web presence on the Internet. We can be the greatest group of reviewers, but if no one knows about us then all our work is pointless. I have put up a sight on MySpace. Join it and post on the bulletin board there. Cynthia MacKinnon has put up one Shout Life as well. Each member should at least have the CFRB logo on their site, hopefully linked back to the blog. Tell people about us. Add our URL in your signature for your emails. In addition to this we will be having some give-away programs, like Treasure Hunt and a game I call “Between the Lines”. Also, I'm looking to share the posting with those interest using a “tag team” method.
Tag Team – This is a voluntary program that I hope to run occasionally throughout the year. A group of members would agree or volunteer to post on a specific day during a blog tour. The CFRB main blog would have a blurb about the book with cover art, links, etc. Then they would direct people to another site. Each member would post on their day (or before) so that when CFRB directed readers to a particular site, they could go there and read more detailed information about the book. If that member happens to know of another existing post about the book being toured they can “tag” that site at the end of their post by directing people there for more information. This would not increase anyone's load, except that they must remember what day of the week they must have their post up. I think it would be fun to do it this way. It would also give the other sites increased visibility, at least that is the plan. I feel very strongly about this kind of posting. It seems that there is too much random posting, so that the only place people can be assured of a post at any given time during the tour, would be at the CFRB blog. This is unacceptable. The goal here is to promote one another, to get people to as many different places as possible, without coming up with “empty links”, meaning links to places where no posts exist about the book toured. This kind of posting starts at a center point and spreads outward, exposing people to other blogs and websites, and while they are there, to the other specialities on those sites.
In addition to this there has been some talk about touring twice a month instead of only once. This is what I would like to do. It's something we have the ability to do, but only if more of our members get involved. Currently trying to double up would only draw away from the effectiveness of our tours. The suggestion has been made that people review on alternately, so we'd still be doing one a month, yet together we'd be doing two a month. This would indeed give everyone the chance to do reviews or whatever, without increasing their workload. However, if only 10 of us are doing so, then that means we're talking 5 the first part of the month and 5 the middle of the month. I'd rather have 20 people (or all nearly 40 of us) involved so that it would be 10 to 20 a tour. Not only will this give the appearance that we have depth to our little group, but it would enable us to utilize the Tag Team Posting method and still have 2 tours a month. This is one of the many reasons I keep pushing for 100% involvement by our members.
David Brollier
CFRB co-founder
