Tears began flowing when I received an email that started out by saying “Exciting news! Your press release has been picked up by several national media outlets including FOX, NBC, ABC, and USA Today affiliates.”
Honestly I was kind of expecting it because the Book Excellence Award representative said it would happen, but to see it actually happen is another story. I am beyond thankful and grateful for all that the Lord is doing for me and through me as an author. Having my book, The Birthday Gift: Book 1 receive national media coverage as an award recipient opens doors for me to continue spreading the message inside the book. My 5-book series will not only be intriguing stories of heartbreak and hope, but more importantly, avenues to share the greatest gift ever given to mankind and the greatest story ever told. To continue sharing that message around the world and to have more control over the project, I am starting my own business, John316 Global Publishing. Details will unfold over the next few months. Visit my website here to learn more about the John 3:16 Global Placement Mission.
As for the Amazon bestselling, award-winning first book in this series, take a look at the national media coverage:
The Book Excellence Award Program sent out a press release announcing my book as a 2022 award finalist earlier this summer. It was distributed to a wide array of news outlets across the United States with millions of viewers! How many actually saw it? I’ll never know; however, I do know that the Lord has continued to open doors for the message inside the book to be shared across the nation and around the globe. Here’s the press release below recognizing The Birthday Gift: Book 1 as a top 2022 book award finalist in a competition that celebrates excellence in books around the world.
I’ve also been told repeatedly by numerous people this book should be turned into a movie. It has always felt like a movie to me ever since I used to dream about Mrs. Williams, Bill, and Bella when I was writing the manuscript. I’m going on record right here that I believe it will happen. Watch the book trailer video below. It feels like a movie trailer. (However, I’ll let the movie executives make the actual blockbuster movie trailer though.)
Also, while you’re here, I want to share a bit more information. Someone asked me to provide a 200-300 word excerpt from the book as part of an upcoming virtual book tour in August. How does an author take a book that’s about 30,000 words and pick only a glimpse of 200-300 words that will grab a reader’s attention? Well, I picked part of my first chapter because that is where Mrs. Williams’ original heartbreak began. You will have to read the book to see how that profound heartbreak was turned into surprising hope for the future… As the press release said, this book is a shining beacon of hope in a time of global uncertainty and unprecedented change.
Excerpt from Chapter 1: Black and Blue
The next thing I remember hearing is “Code Blue.” It was now pitch-black outside my ICU window at Cedars-Sinai Hospital. I don’t know what happened on that beautiful sunny morning after I opened my front door for the police officer. He was standing there in the last ray of sunshine I would see for quite some time. I guess I could look at the police report or medical records, but what’s the point. I really don’t want to be reminded of the single most horrific day in my entire life. What happened? Why was the police officer talking in slow motion?
Bill had been in Israel for thirty-three days. It was time for him to come back home. I had been expecting a phone call from him during his layover at Heathrow. Instead of Bill’s much anticipated call, I got that abominable knock at my front door!
Then I heard it again. “Code Blue.”
Everything went black. As I reflect on that disastrous day, everything was already black. My world had gone dark and void.
From what I’ve been told, I woke up the following morning with no recollection of the previous day. Apparently, those words my ears had refused to allow my mind to process were no less true just because I refused to hear them, let alone accept them.
My heart was broken. I was broken. Life as I once knew it no longer existed. There was no reason to go to the airport. Bill never boarded his connecting flight in London. The only thing at the airport now was his luggage, and there certainly wasn’t any reason for me to go claim that. Well, no reason that I knew of at the time.
For those who have already read the book, please consider leaving a review on Amazon. Positive reviews will help other potential buyers discover this book. Help me spread the message of John 3:16 (uniquely embedded in this story) around the globe by sharing this beacon of hope with others.