Book Birthday Bash - Writer's Update September 2023
- Elaine R Kelly
- Sep 8, 2023
- 6 min read
Updated: Dec 29, 2025
It's the first book-iversary of the publication of my first novel, Forgotten Followers, and we are celebrating with a Book Birthday Bash!
Click the button for a 60-second video showing highlights of the first year since publication!
Looking back on this novel's first year, I am thankful for so much. I am grateful for the many readers who have expressed interest, shared their thoughts on the themes of this biblical fiction, told their friends about it, or written online reviews.
Below are details of our 3 birthday surprises:
1. CIPA EVVY award
2. New Pricing
3. Special birthday gift offer
Read on!
1. Forgotten Followers is a CIPA EVVY Silver Award Winner!
Forgotten Followers from Broken to Bold is a 2023 Silver Award Winner in religious fiction at the CIPA EVVY Awards!
This secular contest is one of the longest-running book award competitions on the Independent publishing scene. Receiving entries from around the world in nearly 50 categories, the CIPA EVVY™ entries are reviewed and scored according to established minimum criteria. Judges are selected through CIPA’s qualification process and include teachers, business leaders, authors, critics, editors, readers and others.
The annual competition is sponsored by the Colorado Independent Publishers Association (CIPA) and the CIPA Education and Literacy Foundation. The award will soon show on my book covers.
My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed a trip to Colorado to attend the August 31, 2023, banquet, where I was presented with the award and networked with other authors. I took this photo from the top of Lookout Mountain, home of the Buffalo Bill Museum. It looks out on Table Mountain, where we hiked. We also saw ancient footprints on Dinosaur Ridge and enjoyed hiking near there.
2. New Prices:
After a year of providing a generous wholesaler discount to encourage retailers to offer my book, I have changed to reader-first pricing. Reducing the wholesaler discount provides readers with a better price for paperback and hardcover formats. Prices are set in US currency and online retailers automatically convert to other currencies.
The paperback will move from US$19.99 to US$15.99. Hardcovers will move to US$25.99. Ebooks remain at US$5.99. Local independent retailers can get copies at a discount on consignment directly from me.
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3. Book Birthday Bash Special!
To celebrate the one-year book birthday, the CIPA EVVY award, and the new online price, I am offering a birthday special!
Those who have read the novel know that the apostle James the Less (Jamie) is portrayed as a blacksmith. When he is on the road with Jesus, he carries a small jeweller's anvil and crafts jewelry, toys, and trinkets to financially support his mother and aunt. This is comparable to how Paul made tents to fund his travels and missions. At the close of the novel, Jamie creates fish designs and gives them to the newly baptized believers.
I have purchased a limited supply of handcrafted Ichthus fish necklaces and bookmarkers reminiscent of those described in the novel. The above photo shows the fish bookmark and fish necklace. You can receive one or the other FREE by buying Forgotten Followers on Amazon during the Book Birthday Bash Special September 8-20, 2023. Email me a screenshot of your proof of purchase (paperback or hardcover), and let me know if you prefer the bookmark or the necklace and your shipping address, Canada or continental US, while supplies last. Limited-time offer. Subject to change. You can also contact me or visit the shop tab of my website if you would like to buy a bundle including the fish pendant and the novel.
Bookmark: The antique silver finish bookmark is 12.5 cm (5 inches) long chrome-plated steel. The fish charm is Tibetan silver-plated and measures 2.0 cm (3/4") in length. (Approx. Value CDN$12.15)
Necklace: The chain is a silver-tone metal chain 22 inches long. The fish pendant is made of Tibetan silver-plated and measures 2.0 cm (3/4") in length. (Approx. Value $13.85)
Book Launch Events:
We had a successful book launch event, a local book club discussion, and a book signing/discussion event. I appreciate my local retail outlet: The Nook.
Media Coverage and Guest Podcasts:
I have been blessed by two amazing media articles.
To date, three YouTube Interviewers graciously agreed to have me on their show: the Local Churchology Podcast, the Regency History channel, and the Reluctant Christian Feminist Podcast.
Guest Posts
Writing guest articles is another way to spread the word about my writing and to increase the domain authority of my website. I was following the biblical fiction Tessa Afshar, and she posted the idea of submitting an article to Charlotte Readers Community. It is my first guest post:
Eight Months of Editing was published in the Charlotte Readers Community in August, 2021. I had just finished eight months of editing, afater writing Forgotten Followers in 2020. When I wrote the article, I had no idea it would be another year of editing before my novel would be formatted and published in September of 2022. Since then, I have written other guest post articles:
Making Christian Fiction Better (on CIPA)
From Prostitutes to Priests: How We Imagine Women Matters (on CBE International)
First Non-Fiction, February 2023: The Sword: A Fun Way to Engage in Healthy Debate on What the Bible Says About a Woman's Role.
I had gathered a lot of research on egalitarian and complementarian ways of reading the Bible while developing my biblical fiction. I researched Christian theology, history, and interpretations and put some of these together in a simple, accessible format that may be used for church youth groups or couples counselling. In 104 flashcards, readers can see contrasting views side by side, and then do further study with its 180 endnotes.
Writer's Update, September 2023
It turns out that building your platform is almost as important and time-consuming as writing your novel. While I enjoy writing and spend most of my time there, I am also finding some rewards in the marketing side. I enjoy interacting with readers and authors and continue to learn about Christian theology, first-century Judea, biblical fiction, publishing, marketing, and the writing craft.
Social Media December 2021
I began promoting myself on social media in September 2021, a full year before my first book was released. After 3 months:
Twitter:
178 Followers, largely through the writing community. I posted about how art influences our ideas about religion and women as disciples. I engaged with other authors, Christian leaders, and artists. I also retweeted posts about:
The ordination of women (from the Junia Project),
How the ESV translation promotes a complementarian viewpoint (from Beth Allison Barr), and
How divorce can be lifesaving despite harmful half-truths spread by Focus on the Family (from Gretchen Baskerville)
157 Followers, with the most engagement from posts with good-quality images. I engage with Christian writers, thinkers, and activists. By looking up profiles of those who like my posts, I have found several books I want to read on similar topics of Biblical women and women's empowerment. In addition, I find out about new YouTube channels and resources for writing, editing, and marketing. Since Instagram users cannot click live links to a full blog, I am putting bits of blogs as comments with images. I also post links on linktree. My most popular posts:
How Jesus brought equality and mutual service, with biblical references
inspirational image of encouragement by sharing a light
personal story about my mom as a lay preacher
Facebook Page
90 Followers; 201 engagements in October. Some posts had higher reach because friends shared on their personal page one of my posts about inspiring a friend (It was not a complex or controversial post about women in the church). The posts with the most engagement were about:
white evangelical racism (Anthea Butler),
Spanish artist showing a man and a woman on the road to Emmaus,
personal photo for Thanksgiving.
Many Facebook users seem to prefer a Facebook Friend rather than following a Facebook page. I find Facebook Groups very useful, and enjoy discussions on pages such as BareMarriage and the Biblical Christian Egalitarian Group. I have networked with like-minded people and met the theologian Marg Mowczko.
This month I also updated my LinkedIn profile and tagline to show my move out of the financial profession and instead joining writer and author groups.
Social Media, May 2023:
344 Followers on IG
715 Followers on Twitter
158 Followers on Facebook Page
10 YouTube Subscribers; managing YouTube playlists, Linktree, LinkedIn, Website
Elaine Ricker Kelly Author is empowering women with historical fiction about women in the Bible and early church and Christian blogs about women in leadership, church history and doctrine. Her books include:
Forgotten Followers from Broken to Bold, Book 1, A Novel (2022)
The Sword: A Fun Way to Engage in Healthy Debate on What the Bible Says About a Woman's Role (2023)
Because She Was Called from Broken to Bold, Book 2, A Novel of the Early Church (2024)
Walk with Mara on Her Healing Journey: 21 Steps to Emotional Resilience (2024)
Finding Her Voice from Broken to Bold, Book 3, Acts of Early Female Apostles: A Novel (2025)
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