Focusing on reaching Christian readers

AuthorAppleton on May 2, 2016

Thank you to all who participated in my 2016 Reader Survey! I learned some valuable things that have helped me make some important decisions for moving forward with my website and writing. Finally I have enough data to move forward knowing who is being blessed and responding best to my writing. Before I get into the fun stuff (for the changes I’m instituting for this year) let me share with you some of the survey results:

The vast majority of my readers are devout Christian singles under 26-years-old. They are most interested in getting more novels in The Sword of the Dragon series (including the Neverqueen saga). On my blog they prefer to read about Reinforcing Christian Values through Writing Fiction.

Writing a weekly post for my blog has become all-consuming of my writing time of late, especially with my other commitments. To be candid I am writing far too little fiction and making far too little progress in continuing the novels and stories you all have asked me for. So to free up my creativity I am going to assign my blog posts to the first Monday of each month, no longer putting out a weekly article. Every now and then I plan to throw in an extra writing tip or glimpse into what I am writing. This will allow me to focus on the best content for the website but also to focus on the fiction writing.

I am spread too thin and my energies have been less effective as a result. It is my hope that this will empower my writing to get back on track with the fiction writing, putting my mind back in the story creation process. I have so many good stories to tell and I so badly want to finish writing them. But all in good time!

The second change I am making is a big one for me. My novels have had broad market appeal, reaching people from many different political and religious persuasions. But the people who disagreed with my stances prove time and again that I cannot “straddle the fence” so to speak. Some who despise my Christian values have gone so far as to attack by calling me names or reaching assumptions that were not true. I know in Whom I have believed and I believe He is able to bring all to a knowledge of repentance and that all must repent of sin and turn to God. This message resonates with the readers who are my kindred spirits and I fully intend that my focus will now be on writing chiefly as a Christian author. Christian readers most appreciate where I am coming from, they know me best. They rally behind the right things and call out the things that are wrong.

We are in a spiritual battle, and the way I am gifted to fight the spiritual is to lead hearts and minds through powerful writing that convicts, uplifts, and strengthens the faithful as I grow in my walk with the Lord. It is time to narrow my focus to the Christian readership because there my writing is having the right impact on people’s lives. Please pray for me as I move forward with these changes. Some will not be happy with my decision, but I know that ultimately God will bless it.

Q: How does your faith impact your creative pursuits?

How your content impacts the globe

AuthorAppleton on October 27, 2014

It surprised me the other day, when conversing with an Egyptian friend of mine, to find out that back when Wonder Woman and The Hulk shows were playing on TV they were running internationally. Just like American kids, she was fascinated by those superheroes. I guess I had still thought of Egypt as an out-of-the-way corner of the world where media only recently became so impactful. It was a fun and enlightening conversation. It got me thinking on how our creative content influences people on an international level.

Content that promotes gratuitous violence, sexual promiscuity, lying, and foul language will breed those shortcomings in the societies they impact. Conversely, content that encourages self-control, godly behavior, and faithfulness will encourage those qualities in the cultures they reach.

A couple years ago I received an email from the first fan of The Sword of the Dragon series in South Africa. As it turned out, a bookstore down there had started carrying my novels and people were loving them. It amazed me to realize that the fictional characters I’d created were quite literally my ambassadors to corners of the globe that I have never visited.

In the same manner, creatives around the world have been sending their own ambassadors. It has been thrown into hyperdrive by the advent of the digital age. And those ambassadors can either impact the world for good or for evil. Artists, parents, authors, producers, and bloggers… in this digital age, what kind of a world do you want to make?

Question: How do you see content creators impacting the world?