As you probably know, I run not only this blog but also Discerning Reader, a site that, until now has focused entirely on book reviews. Just last week I relaunched the site with a whole new design and a bunch of new features. Most notably, we will now add new reviews every week (on Tuesdays) and will add other information on a near-daily basis. I expect to update the site at least three to four times a week. It will become (and, I hope, is already becoming) a place where you can keep up with what is new and exciting in the world of Christians books. If you visit the RSS page you can subscribe (via RSS or email) to receive update notifications for either articles or reviews.
You’ll see that the subscription-based features I mentioned a few weeks ago are in place, even though the content is not there yet. I continue to gauge interest in that aspect of the site and, for the time being, am preparing to launch the first subscriber content next month.
Now, for some reason that remains unknown to me, Google has been hesitant to add Discerning Reader to its index. The primary way Google finds out about sites and gauges their importance is through links from other sites. And so I’m going to ask you, if you have a site of any kind, to link to Discerning Reader. Just to entice you a little more, I’ll sweeten the deal. I’ve got a few copies of some great Steve Lawson books around here that I’d love to give away (because they are so good and because they are taking up a lot of space). So here’s the deal. If you add a link from your site to Discerning Reader and send me an email proving you’ve done so, I’ll enter you in a draw. If you are a blogger, don’t feel obliged to mention us in an article or post. A simple link in your blogroll or on the main page of your site will be fine. A week from today I’ll select three winners, each of whom will be sent a copy of Foundations of Grace, the first in the A Long Line of Godly Men series, along with a copy of The Expository Genius of John Calvin. This will get you a good start with this series that will build over the next few years. Even if you don’t anticipate enjoying the books, I guarantee that you know someone who will. Hold on to them until Christmas and give them away then!
You can link to the site however you see fit. It would probably be most helpful if you would link something like this:
Christian Book Reviews or Discerning Reader. The search engines pay great attention to the actual content of your link text (which in the two examples I’ve given are “Christian Book Reviews” and “Discerning Reader”). If you prefer to link with a graphic, here is the logo in a few different sizes:
