Of Blog Tours, chats and the Christian Dynamic in Marketing

I spent much of my young adult life in advertising either selling it or writing it or both. As such, I was part of just about every type of business. There was one thing in common about nearly all of them, they were in competition with someone else selling the same kind of product. And in the advertising business, you were often in competition with the people with whom you worked. The back stabbing in the media made you wonder if you even worked for the same organization. No wonder, the stock prices for Alka Seltzer fell when I got out of the game.

I have been struck by the contrast in Biblical Speculative Fiction world. Consider the blog tour. Basically, it’s a group of writers helping other writers get out the word about their books. Can you imagine GM using it’s commercial time to announce the new models Ford is putting out.

The Ezines are the same way. A number of Christian Speculative Fiction e-zines have published announcements of the launch of Wayfarer’s Journal. And they are doing so enthusiastically, even though, theoretically we are “competitors” for readers and writers. Then there are authors holding chats and blog interviews with other authors, in essence, promoting their books.

But there is an understanding here that by helping each other we help ourselves. As we promote the genre, we build a market for everyone. And while I know this is not unique to Christian publishing, I think in many ways it exemplifies a Christian dynamic which should be present in many areas of life, building each other up and in so doing being built up in return.