How Do Genre Butterflies Focus Their Marketing? — Susan J Bruce

Photo by Karina Vorozheeva on Unsplash

I’m one of several authors in the Christian Writers’ Downunder group who are self-confessed genre butterflies—or genre rebels. I use the latter if I'm in an edgier mood 😎. I’ve written about this before in Confessions of a Genre Butterfly, but I wanted to revisit this subject today as it's relevant to me right now. 

How do I market two books—one coming soon and the other next year—when the audience for each of those books is different? Can this ever work?

I’ve been revamping my website as I prepare to release my debut young adult (YA) novel, Running Scared, in the next few weeks. [Bear with me if you head over there and get the 'coming soon' page. I'm having trouble with a couple of settings—it should be sorted soon so check back later.]

I wrote the first draft of Running Scared several years ago as part of my creative writing Masters degree. It’s had lots of nibbles from publishers over the years but hasn’t quite sold. I like this book and I’m proud of it. It’s a good story and deserves to be out there. In 2018, it won the Omega Writers Caleb award for an unpublished manuscript, but for the last year it’s been languishing—hidden from the world—on my computer’s hard drive. I've now decided to embrace indie publishing and send Running Scared out into the world.

There is no problem in publishing a book like this. The difficulty is marketing it when my work in progress (WIP), Dead Again, is a very different book.

Running Scared is contemporary YA, deals with social issues, and contains suspense, first love, and lots of domestic drama. While the romance is sweet, and the story imbibes a significant amount of hope, the circumstances have an edge. It's a story of courage and overcoming that will keep you on the edge of your seat rather than make you feel cosy and warm on a rainy Sunday afternoon.  

In contrast, my current WIP, Dead Again, is a lazy Sunday afternoon read. It’s a light-hearted amateur-sleuth mystery with a romantic subplot, for grownups. The characters change and overcome, but offbeat humour is mixed with the mystery and more poignant character moments. 

The above isn’t the final cover for Dead Again. It's a concept I created to help me write the book. But it should give you the general vibe. Since putting it together, I've added a cat to the story so she'll need to somewhere on my final cover 🐈. I'm only about a fifth of the way through the draft but I'm enjoying the challenge. 

With a mystery, you need to create the backstory of the murder, then weave it through the narrative in a way that brings the assailant to justice by the end of the book. You must give enough clues to give the reader a chance to work out whodunit, while hiding the identity of the murderer. Can I do this? I’ll give it a good go. If it doesn’t work, I’ll turn it into a romantic suspense 😁. Flexibility is one of the benefits of indie publishing! The point is, right now I feel like writing on the lighter end of the literary scale. 

I think this is partly because of Covid—and because I spent much of last year doing some intense non-fiction ghostwriting. Right now, I’m up for fun-filled murder and mayhem! I will write YA again—I have a couple of ideas simmering—but for now I’m craving the escapism of my amateur-sleuth mystery series. 

But. And it’s a big BUT. How do we market ourselves as authors, create an author brand, when our first and second books are for different audiences and have a different tone? 

The purest wisdom is to not mix different genres and age groups under one author's name. An eclectic range of books can create confusion among readers on distribution platforms like Amazon. Amazon remembers what books we like to read and suggests others we might like in the ‘also bought’ section of their website. In today’s digital world, authors and publishers must fight for every bit of visibility they can get. We need the right book being shown to the right reader! 

And then there's the mailing list and the website. My site has a mystery and suspense focus which can cover both novels, but how do I create a mailing list that attracts both sorts of readers? Should I create separate newsletters?

I have some non-fiction book ideas too. How do I handle that?

It’s tricky, isn’t it? 

Photo by Michał Parzuchowski on Unsplash

Would it be better to create a new pen name and another website? 

The problem is that each new site means more work, not just in building the site but in maintaining it and using it as a hub for marketing and social media. I’m not keeping up with social media as it is. And I do other things—animal art and author services such as editing and proofreading. I really should have a separate site for those too, but there is no way I could manage four sites.

There is no perfect solution to my problem—other than not publishing Running Scared—and waiting until Dead Again comes out next year. But I think this novel deserves its time in the light and if it inspires just one teenager to have hope when they're in a dark place, it will be worth it. And I do want to write more YA—just not right now. 

My decision? 

• I’m  going to publish Running Scared as Susan J Bruce and start building my mailing list with some freebies focused on that book. 

• Once that’s sorted, I’ll add another segment to my mailing list and offer a short story sampler that isn’t just YA focused. People can click on one or the other (maybe both?). I'll also send this out to my existing list.

• At this stage I’m also going to publish the mystery series under Susan J Bruce. I’ve seen authors successfully combine all sorts of books and services on one site, so it’s possible. Scottish author, Wendy H Jones, is a Christian who writes for the mainstream. Wendy has adult non-fiction, YA, crime, humour, and children’s books all on the one site, under the one name. She tells her readers she’s ‘got them covered from the cradle to the grave’. As I wrote this article I came across three different blogs that said the main consumers of YA books are adult women. So maybe Wendy’s onto something. Get the mother to buy her daughter the YA book (the mother will read it first of course) and at the same time she can pick up an amateur-sleuth mystery for herself. If Wendy can do this, why can’t I? It’s worth a try 😀.

• When I get time (ha!), I’m going to create a separate portfolio site for my art and possibly another for author services, but I’m going to keep life as simple as I can and run most things from the hub of my main author site. This may change in the future depending on how my creative business evolves, but it feels like the best way to keep myself sane for now.

This may not be the perfect solution and the marketing purists will groan, but it's the best I can do for now. I'm still early in my writing career and my book writing direction could change a couple of times before I find my groove. It would be different if I had ten books out and they were all different genres. That's fine if your writing is a hobby but not if you want it to be a key focus within your creative business.

What about you? Are you a rebel genre butterfly? If so how do you market your books? How do you bring focus to your website and mailing lists? What solutions have you found? Please let me know in the comments below. And feel free to leave a link to your website so everyone can see your awesome genius at work 😃.

Susan J Bruce, aka Sue Jeffrey, spent her childhood reading, drawing, and collecting stray animals. Now she’s grown up, she does the same kinds of things. Susan worked for many years as a veterinarian, and now writes stories filled with mystery, suspense, heart and hope. Susan also loves to paint animals. Susan won the ‘Short’ section of the inaugural Stories of Life writing competition and won the 'Unpublished Manuscript' section of the 2018 Caleb prize. Susan is the editor of'If They Could Talk: Bible Stories Told By the Animals' (Morning Star Publishing) and her stories and poems have appeared in multiple anthologies. Her e-book, 'Ruthless The Killer: A Short Story' is available on Amazon.com. You can check out some of Susan’s art work on her website https://www.susanjbruce.com.

Ducks, Duck Ponds, and Return on Investment

By Mazzy Adams

One of the delights spread abroad by the Lord in recent times has been the proliferation of church services now livestreamed, many of them made available for later viewing. It’s possible to binge watch church in your lounge room 24/7. I’ve been incredibly blessed while partaking of this abundant feast. 

I wonder if the streamers realise how many people they’re blessing. Last Sunday, I shared communion with a worldwide fellowship of believers. As I broke my piece of communion ‘bread’ (a gluten free seeds and grains cracker), the Holy Spirit whispered, 

“Cast your bread upon the waters and after many days it will return to you.” 

I jotted the words down so I could consider them later. What did I think of? This:

Image copyright Catie Jay Sercombe. Used by permission. 

Our family’s favourite picnic spot when our children were young—the duck pond at Lake Annand Park, Toowoomba. It’s changed a bit since those days—the old bridge has been replaced, the lake and islands have been upgraded to incorporate flood mitigation aspects, and the playground is now a modernised safe environment for children. 

But the ducks are still there, and children still cast pieces of bread upon the waters, and the ducks still come running to partake of those soggy morsels, and children still shriek with delight as they do.

Last year, before our eldest son and his family cast their hopes (and themselves) abroad to live overseas in obedience to God’s leading, our whole clan gathered for a barbecue at the duck pond. As my beloved and I watched our grandchildren at play, (and feeding a new generation of ducks), we revelled in the blessed return on the efforts and energy we expended raising our children.

In essence, The Preacher’s words recorded in Ecclesiastes 11:1 reflect the words I jotted down, though translations differ as this Biblehub search reveals. The myriad renderings include:

CEV: Be generous, and someday you will be rewarded.

AMP: Cast your bread on the surface of the waters, [be diligently active, make thoughtful decisions], for you will find it after many days.

ISV: Spread your bread on the water—after a while you will find it.

NIV: Ship your grain across the sea; after many days you may receive a return.

NLT: Send your grain across the seas, and in time, profits will flow back to you.

GNT: Invest your money in foreign trade, and one of these days you will make a profit.

A little research into the cultural understanding of King Solomon’s day reveals three main ideas, interpretations, and principles drive these variations. Each holds wisdom and encouragement for believers and writers. They work together to remind us not to be discouraged or give up when we don’t see an immediate or obvious return for all our efforts. 

1. Practice generosity.

Giving generously of our time, energy, enthusiasm, directed endeavours, capital, wisdom, knowledge, and experience with due diligence and without expectation of return opens a channel of blessing that often surprises and delights us in due season.

Back in December 2020, my sisters and I received a request from the church my family attended when I was a toddler. They were seeking photos for inclusion in a book and history display for their centenary celebrations in June 2021. While my eldest sister has excellent memories of people and places from that time, as the youngest sibling, I’m keeper of the extensive collection of photos and slides taken by my father who was a keen photographer. 

Though it was a joy to honour our father through this legacy, and to honour the faithful ongoing ministry of that church, searching, scanning, mending and transforming relevant images into suitable quality for print, exchanging dozens of emails with my sister who lives in another state, and writing and collating information and memories took hundreds of hours. At the time, we had no idea which, if any, of the images would be used, nor whether either of us would be able to attend the celebrations.

But God … God worked in marvellous ways.

My sister and I and several other family members were able to attend whilst enjoying a lovely couple of days at the beach together. Several of the images and memories we provided were included in the book. ALL of the images, memories, and testimonies of God’s goodness we provided were utilised in the history display which remains open to the public for a month. 

My sister met folk who, like me, had attended the Sunday School class she’d taught over half a century ago—once children perpetually captured in a photo she’d taken with a box brownie camera—now adults who love and serve the Lord with all their hearts. Seed she had cast upon the waters as a teenager had fed children hungry for the love of God and resulted in a bountiful harvest.

For me, perhaps the defining moment attesting to this principle from Ecclesiastes 11:1 came when the lady who had first suggested they create a book said to me, ‘When your photos and stories started to roll in, the whole team got excited, believing we could do this.’ 

Not only is there a blessing which returns to those who cast their bread, or seed, or efforts, or words upon the waters of God-given opportunity, there’s a flow-on of blessing to a potential ocean of others.     

2. Consider diversifying your marketing efforts and options.

Back in Solomon’s time, if farmers could not sell all their produce locally, they would send it overseas on consignment. The wisest would divide their grain (produce) between ships, sending it to many distant ports in the hope that some, if not all, would be purchased, providing a return. This focus explains why some translations use the words ‘ship’, ‘send’, ‘invest’, and ‘spread’.

Words can travel across oceans. Borders might be closed to bodies, but not to words. 

As much as we writers may baulk at the thought, this interpretation supports and confirms the wisdom of diversifying our marketing endeavours. It also encourages thoughtful planning, diligence, optimism, patience, and trust when waiting for sales and results.

3. Take advantage of God-given opportunities and seasons.

This interpretation derives from the agricultural practice of sowing seed during times of flood; the seed cast upon the water settles to the soil below. When the waters recede, it sprouts in the flood-enriched soil which has been replenished with nutrients. The idea is especially reflected in the words ‘cast’ and ‘spread’. 

Coconut seeds cast upon the ocean can float a long way before they reach the shore and take root. Even seed dropped or dispersed by the wind during times of drought sprouts into life after flood waters pass over. 

Hmm … a writer’s efforts are often spread thin when the idiom, “It never rains but it pours” reflects real life. I’m challenged by this thought even as I write it, given the number of times I’ve pressed pause on my writing/publishing activities till after the ‘flood’ subsides. Or been frustrated by a drought of inspiration and enthusiasm. What about you?

There is another aspect to seed that sprouts after it’s been immersed in water; just as baptism symbolises death and resurrection, it is when we surrender all, cast our bread, our seed, our hopes, ourselves upon the waters of God’s grace and mercy, that his eternal promises and resurrection life return to us, and us to him. 

And remember, the one who inspired The Preacher to pen Ecclesiastes 11:1 also inspired the Apostle Peter to write, “Cast all your cares upon Him for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).

How or where has God challenged you to cast your bread? Have you experienced an unexpected return on investment or activity that exemplifies the truths in Ecclesiastes 11:1? I’d love to hear about it. 

Mazzy Adams is a published author of poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction. She has a passion for words, pictures, and the positive potential in people. 

Website: www.mazzyadams.com

Email: maz@mazzyadams.com

Bookmark Marketing by Nola Lorraine

 

Back in prehistoric times when I was at school, there were no laptops, no mobile phones, no iPads or Kindles, no World Wide Web and no online shopping. If you wanted a book, you went into a physical bookstore and bought a real book with pages. Those pages needed a bookmark and I had dozens of them. Some with encouraging scriptures, some illustrated with my favourite Peanuts characters, some with tassels, some laminated and some made of leather that were too thick to actually use as bookmarks.

Although we tend to do a lot more electronic bookmarking these days, most of us still own, buy and borrow physical books. The humble bookmark still has its place and I decided to use it as one of my marketing tools for my historical novel Scattered. Using bookmarks for marketing is nothing new, of course, but there’s a lot to think about, especially if you’re designing your own.

 

Why Do You Want to Use Bookmarks?

Given that there are dozens of merchandising options you could use to advertise your book (e.g. flyers, business cards, magnets, postcards, pens, banners), why do you think bookmarks are a good choice? I can think of a few reasons (though some of these aren’t exclusive to bookmarks).

• Booklovers love bookmarks. If you meet someone in a bookstore, a signing or a writing event, you know they already love books, so why not put your bookmark in their hands?
• Bookmarks make great gifts. It’s easy to pop them in with a present, card or letter.
• Bookmarks are great examples of ‘takeaway’ marketing. Someone might not buy your book at a particular event. But if readers take your bookmark away with them, it serves as a great reminder. Every time they turn to the page they’ve marked with your bookmark, they’re reminded of your book or brand, and you might get a sale down the line.
• They’re great conversation starters. If you’re at a book event, it’s easy to approach people and say, ‘Hi, would you like one of my bookmarks?’ If they look like a startled rabbit, you can leave it at that. If they look interested, you can tell them a bit about your book.

 

 What Type of Bookmark?

If you decide that bookmarks are a good marketing choice for you, think about what you want on your bookmark. This might seem obvious, but it takes a lot of thought. Do you want it to showcase your books or one book in particular? Are you going to include the book cover? A book blurb? Info about where to buy the book? Do you want the bookmark to advertise you as an author? If so, are you going to include all of your social media links? Do you want to advertise services you offer? If you’ve written a book for the Christian market, do you want to include a scripture? Do you see your bookmarks as part of a broader ministry or are you focusing on one aspect of your work?

With so many potential inclusions, your bookmark could get very cluttered, which may take away from the visual appeal. You could have a double-sided bookmark, but that costs more money. What do you want to achieve?

Designing and Printing

Copyright and permissions - If you’re using any images on your bookmark, such as book cover images, check that you have permission to use them. This could mean checking with your publisher or anyone who has assisted with the cover design (e.g. your graphic designer or other service provider). If you designed your own book cover, you should have already checked that you had permission to use the images. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re free to use those images on other merchandise, so check any licensing agreements.

Budget Considerations – It’s good to have a rough idea of how much you want to spend on bookmarks. Do you have the skills necessary to design your own bookmark or do you need to hire a graphic designer? Do you have dozens of upcoming book events and need hundreds of bookmarks, or do you want a small print run? The more you order, the cheaper it usually works out per bookmark, but it’s no use having a thousand bookmarks sitting at home that you can’t get rid of. How fancy do you want your bookmark to be? Double-sided printing, higher quality card and different kinds of surfaces cost more. What do you definitely need and what are you willing to compromise on for the sake of price?

Designing the Bookmark – A full discussion of this topic is beyond the scope of this blog. However, I just want to mention a couple of tools I found useful. Some graphic design sites like Canva have bookmark templates to help you design your bookmark or you can create a custom design. I use Stencil for creating most of my memes. While they don’t have a bookmark template, you can create a custom design in any format. Whichever program you use, you can generate various designs and get a feel for which one works best. You can even post your designs on social media and do a poll to see which one grabs potential readers.

Finding a Printer – This turned out to be harder than I thought. Not all printers do bookmarks and some have certain stipulations regarding the size of the print run. You also need to take note of any special formatting restrictions they have and whether they can cater to your requirements  (e.g. certain fonts and colours).

I settled on a Melbourne company called CMYK Colour Online, as I could use special fonts and colours, and they seemed to have the best balance of what I wanted for the price. It was a bit of a learning curve using their templates, but they have some really detailed instructions. When you go to order, they also have an option where you can pay a bit more to have someone check the artwork. I decided to go with that option, so that I could be 100% sure the bookmarks weren’t going to have any nasty surprises like blurred images. When ordering, there were also a lot of pricing options, so it was easy to play around with it and find something that fit my budget. The bookmarks also arrived quickly and I was very happy with the final product. (Disclaimer: Although this company worked well for me, it may not be for everyone. Before deciding on a printer, see which company is a good fit for you and always check customer reviews. If you can get a personal recommendation from someone who’s used them before, all the better.)

Time is Your Friend – I was so busy leading up to my launch, that I left it a bit late to get cracking on the bookmarks. It turned out okay, but it did cause undue stress. Allow yourself plenty of time, as all the steps I’ve mentioned above take longer than you think.

 

How I’ve Used The Bookmarks

My novel Scattered was released in October. Since then, I’ve given the bookmarks out at my book launch, a book signing, and a writing workshop. I’ve also included them with any books I’ve sold directly to readers.

When I did a recent signing at Koorong, my local Christian bookstore store, I used them as conversation starters. It was easy to walk up to someone, offer them a bookmark and tell them that my book was on special in the store that day. Sometimes I just left it at that, as I didn’t want anyone to feel pressured. However, some people asked me more about the book and ended up buying one.

The manager of my local Koorong store was happy for me to leave some bookmarks on the counter. She’s since told me that a lot of people have been picking them up and some customers have then asked if the book is available in the store.

 

The Ultimate Aim

In one sense, the aim of any type of marketing is to boost sales, but it’s not all about making money. With such competition these days, very few authors make pots of money anyway. If you have a book God has laid on your heart to share, you need to think about how to get that book into the hands of potential readers and then leave the rest to God. Bookmarks are just one of many avenues available to you.

What about you? Do you have hoards of bookmarks stashed in books all over your house? What makes a good bookmark? Have you designed your own bookmarks? Do you have any tips you can share? I’d love to hear your comments.

 

Author Bio

Nola Lorraine has a passion for faith and social justice issues, and loves weaving words that inspire others with courage and hope. She co-edited the Christian charity anthology Glimpses of Light; and has more than 150 short publications, including fiction, poetry, devotions, true stories, magazine articles and academic papers. She and her husband Tim run a freelance writing and editing business, The Write Flourish, from the home they share with their two adorable cavoodles in southeast Queensland, Australia. 

Her debut novel Scattered was released in October 2020. It is available from a number of outlets including Amazon, Koorong, and Breath of Fresh Air Press.

To find out more, please visit her author site: www.nolalorraine.com.au

She’d also love to connect with you on social media:

Facebook:    https://www.facebook.com/nolalorraine

Twitter:        https://twitter.com/nolalorraine1

Pinterest:        https://www.pinterest.com.au/nolalorraine1

 

 

 

The Selfless Self-Promotion Conundrum - by Ben Morton

Chances are, if you’re reading this, then you’re at least vaguely aware of the world of modern social media. It’s an ocean of voices constantly sharing opinions, tips, rants or whatever stray thought happens to coalesce. It seems like millions of people are crying out to the web to be noticed in the hope that the others will take a break from the same activity to listen for a bit. 

Chances are, you’ve been caught up in the drive to promote your own sense of style and worth - or your collection of favourite hobby-horses or soap-boxes - to build your public profile and show the world who you really are. We all seem to have the idea that it is important to make our online presence an extension of our own carefully crafted façade so that people around us can ‘get us.’

Chances are, you’ve heard that as a writer you need to ‘build a platform', ‘promote your brand', 'publicise your work' and post more content to garner more followers. And if you’re a Christian there’s a fair chance that thinking about this issue makes you feel just a bit icky. 

Yeah, me too.

What are we to do with the fact that the Christian faith is one where humility is prized, and the individual’s identity is found in belonging to the broader body of Christ and the self must give way to the life of Jesus? 

Photo by Joshua Earle on Unsplash

I’m not writing this as an example of someone who has it all figured out, or any kind of success story, but rather as a writer who has had this nagging issue in the back of my mind, and a sense that maybe the Holy Spirit is drawing my attention to something I need to learn. So I’m going to spend some time thinking and praying it through on this page and maybe you’ll benefit from it too.

Truth be told, I have never been particularly comfortable with self-promotion, and have occasionally sabotaged myself (possibly unconsciously) because of a desire to be humble and a distaste for self-glorification. As a teenager I struggled with the tension between a desire to pursue fame through my creative talents or to lay them down and serve Christ. I felt like there was no middle road. It was clear to me that the desire for my own recognition was attractive to me for the wrong reasons, and using my God-given talent to achieve it was a corruption of their purpose. I had a very long and painful struggle to let go of all that. People who aren’t believers would probably point to that moment as the reason I never achieved the great things people always predicted for me, but I can’t fault teenaged me for doing what I thought was right at that time, regardless of the consequences.

Photo by Gerd Altmann on Pixabay

But God gave me talents so that I could use them, not to bury them and wait for him to return. I need to work and my family need to eat. How do I navigate the issue of being a humble follower of Christ when my talent is the thing I have to sell and it seems unanimous that self-promotion is how artists ‘sell themselves?’ Can I actually sell myself when I belong to Christ? 

I can serve Jesus by using my talents as he intended me to, and by using them to the best of my ability in a way that honours him. In fact, I must do this because they are a gift from him for that purpose. They are not to benefit me, but to serve Him and others. Diligence and faithfulness. Ouch, that hurts. I’m rubbish at those.

But how are people going to know about my faithful and diligent work if I can’t promote myself? I can speak the truth. I can talk about my work and I can talk about my talent, but not to showcase myself. It can’t be about me. God has called me to do this, and a servant doesn’t get credit for doing their work. If I have created something that I believe is likely to be of benefit to others, then it is good that I let them know about it. Not for my benefit, but for theirs.

I pray that for myself, and anyone else who is reading this, that we would know the difference between self-glorification and diligent, humble service accompanied by speaking the truth in love.

How do you navigate the humility / self-promotion conundrum? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
Ben Morton AKA Morton Benning.

Bible verses I used

Let someone else praise you, not your own mouth— a stranger, not your own lips.

Don’t demand an audience with the king— or push for a place among the great.

It’s better to wait for an invitation to the head table— than to be sent away in public disgrace.

Do you see any truly competent workers?— They will serve kings— rather than working for ordinary people.

Don’t think of yourselves more highly than you ought

Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.

Never act out of selfish ambition or vanity; instead, regard everybody else as your superior.

He must increase, but I must decrease.

Those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

Some pages I looked at while thinking about this issue.

Beautiful Christian life - what does the bible say about self-promotion?

Lies young women believe - the lure of self-promotion.
SBC voices - marketing, self-promotion and the Christian.
Justin Deeter - four ways to avoid the vanity of self-promotion

The gospel coalition - Justin-Taylor - 10 ways to avoid sinful self-promotion online

Beyond Sunday Worship - Self Promotion In The Church?

CBN self-marketing and Christian Humility are they compatible?

Christian Today - Platform: why a culture of self-promotion threatens to throttle the church

Desiring God - What Is the Difference Between Good and Bad Self-Promotion?

My Song in the Night - Self-Promotion Versus Christian Humility

GoinsWriter - A Surprisingly Satisfying Alternative to Self-promotion

Ben Morton

Ben Morton AKA Morton Benning is an author, illustrator, editor, publisher and occasional lecturer in speculative fiction, as well as a fiction-writing coach who runs his own assisted publication business called Immortalise [helping writers become authors]. He is the author of Playing God, and The Tale of Alathimble Spaide and Other Such Nonsense (Stone Table Books) and creator of Morton’s Anglish Fictionary (Immortalise) and largely responsible for encouraging a lot of creative people to attempt things they weren’t sure they could (or maybe should) do. He and his lovely wife are members of Christies Beach Baptist Church and have almost three adorable girls.