Looking Out the Window: Go Behind the Scenes at Christian Indie Author and Reader Group. Meet Samantha Fury and Pastor George McVey
A Warm Welcome to Samantha Fury and Pastor George McVey
What fun to go behind the scenes of Christian Indie Authors Readers Group!
If you aren’t a member check out the Facebook link below to join
Hi Samantha, thanks for joining us. Are you and Pastor McVey the administrators for Christian Indie Authors Readers Group? If not, what role does each of you play?
We are two of the seven administrators that keep the Christian Indie Authors Network afloat. I started the CIA groups in 2010 and one small forum turned into two websites and over 20 Facebook groups.
(Pastor George) PG was one of our first members and has always operated as a spiritual director and firm supporter of the Christian Indie publishing platform. Like most passionate people, he kept offering to help Sam out with the constantly growing Network. He likes to tell people he is the guy who does what needs doing. IF you thank him you're likely to get his typical response "That's what I do here."
(Pastor George) PG was one of our first members and has always operated as a spiritual director and firm supporter of the Christian Indie publishing platform. Like most passionate people, he kept offering to help Sam out with the constantly growing Network. He likes to tell people he is the guy who does what needs doing. IF you thank him you're likely to get his typical response "That's what I do here."
Samantha, what inspired you to start such a group?
The idea for the CIA readers group came to me in prayer one day. I had a vision of sorts to place an ad at the end of our novels inviting readers to join one group. Then the thought came, in order for authors to join they would need to have this same ad at the end of their novels also. For some that can’t edit their books we allow them to share via their blogs and or websites with a html code. But we still prefer every author that can, to place our small ad in the back of the books they want to share in our Readers group.
What is your goal for the group?
Our goal is to gain more readers every week and we are hitting that goal. Our second goal is to help people see through fiction that God loves them, that yes, being a Christian is hard but that we can do all things through Christ if we just trust him and read his word. Some people will never read a Bible or go to church but they will read fiction and that is where we can reach a multitude of souls.
What do you love about having the group?
I love that it’s a way for us to meet people that we would have never known. It’s a way to connect up front and personal with readers. They get to ask us questions and now and then they get some free reads too. The best thing is that we are sharing God’s word to a dying a lost world. True most of our readers are Christians but they feel lost at times, and I just hope that reading one of our good clean novels will uplift them in some way.
We believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God, and is our source of truth. Jesus Christ, God's only Son, came as a man but was still fully God. He was tempted but lived without sin, died, was buried, and rose again as the perfect sacrifice for sin. He lives today to intercede for us. We are looking for good clean books that reflect this message in some way.
How many readers belong to the group? How many authors?
(Samantha) To be honest I just at the end of last year started keeping track, but since Dec 28th, 2015 until now we’ve added 145 readers. We have a lot of authors that are readers too so I would be afraid to guess how many of our over 700 members are authors.
(Pastor George)What we can say is that we have 41 authors or bloggers who are authorized to post about their work on our group because they have included the ad in either their books or on their sites. If any other author or blogger out there wants to be allowed to do the same they can contact any of the administrators to find out how to be approved.
Why would you advise an author or reader to belong to the group?
For authors, it’s a great place to share your work. We have some of the best Christian Authors in the business. Our group is unique because we cater to the reader. We don’t allow discussions on the group wall unless it’s something that would interest a reader. We don’t focus on Author related issues. For readers, we are very grateful to our readers and we often award prizes, and free books. We have Reader of the month, and also we have moments that we shine the light on our authors, by awarding them cover of the month author, etc.
What has been your most rewarding experience since starting Christian Indie Authors Readers Group?
For Me, Pastor George, the most rewarding experience is having new readers find my books and then start asking when the next one will be out. I think all our authors feel that way. Also those times when a reader or author gets serious and asks for prayer and I get the awesome privilege of praying with them and for them or having them PM me off group with a prayer need or spiritual question. I don't want to speak for Sam here but for me I am thankful that God made this group a part of the larger online ministry he has trusted me with.
What has been your most fun time since starting it?
The most fun for Me, Pastor George again, is getting to fill the role of interviewer for our Author Google Hangouts. That and sharing snippets and interacting with our awesome readers. Samantha and I both would like to thank you for taking time to interview us and for including the Readers Group on your website. We're thankful to have great authors like you in our group, who are willing to share about our growing readers group.
It's my pleasure to have you! Thank you for the kind words!
If you are a Reader you can join our Readers group. here, https://www.facebook.com/groups/291215317668431/, but if you are an author we would rather you join our Entry group because all authors must be approved before joining. We need to read some of your reviews and make sure that your books go along with our group standards. Which is this, we believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God, and is our source of truth. Jesus Christ, God's only Son, came as a man but was still fully God. He was tempted but lived without sin, died, was buried, and rose again as the perfect sacrifice for sin. He lives today to intercede for us. Any books posted in this group should reflect this message in some way. If you're an Author and would like to share your books with our readers please learn more here, https://www.facebook.com/groups/356689447801642/
Check out Samantha's Street Justice Book Series
Comments
great authors and readers and if anyone has any questions they can join the group and ask, or send me a pm. ;)
Thanks again
Samantha