Contest Sponsored by Christian Review of Books—By Roseanna White

I finally gave into the craze and joined ShoutLife. It was fun from the get-go, and I was nearly overwhelmed by the warm reception. After about a week, of course, I was no longer the new kid on the block, so traffic to my page tapered off, and I got to thinking: how can I bring it up again? What can I offer that’ll give the readers on ShoutLife what they want?

The answer descended full-formed upon my mind: an online mystery game. I had also been trying to think up a clever book giveaway idea, and this fit that bill, too. The idea was simple. I’d set up an imaginary crime and have authors write scenes giving clues about it. Readers could then solve the mystery and win the book.


The execution took some work but should result in a lot of fun. Our launching game, on Tuesday 29 May, will be featuring Jill Elizabeth Nelson’s new release Reluctant Runaway, a romantic suspense that revolves around a Southwestern museum heist.

The game will be set in the same museum, where a priceless piece of work is stolen. The suspects? Characters from the new or upcoming novels of Christian authors. Readers will have to visit each author’s blog to try to figure out what really happened and collect one keyword from each. Once you’ve got it figured out, you email the name of the culprit and the list of keywords to the game’s sponsor, the Christian Review of Books, and you’ll be entered to win an autographed copy of Reluctant Runaway.

Writers for this first game include Jill Elizabeth Nelson, Trish Perry, Amy Wallace, Nikki Arana, Miralee Ferrell, and Cyndy Salzmann.

We have the second game scheduled for Tuesday 5 June, and this one will transport us back in time to the setting of Sharlene MacLaren’s Loving Liza Jane. The writers for this one are all in the historical genre: Sharlene MacLaren, Molly Noble Bull, M. L. Tyndall, Cara Putman, and Tricia Goyer.

The great thing about this is the potential to reach readers. Each author will post their scene on their blog and link to all the other authors, which will effectively send Friends from one writer they already know to another they might enjoy.

What’s more, the authors have the chance to get new readers acquainted with their style, voice, and characters. The games will be getting coverage off-ShoutLife, too, at the blogspots of several volunteers and at the Christian Review of Books website.

Want to know which of our lovely authors is donning the cap of bad guy? Well, you’re just going to have to gather the clues!

Any interested authors can contact me at roseanna@whitefireprinting.com or through my Shout-Mail--my page is www.shoutlife.com/roseanna_m_white.