The Secret Blog

Final post to the Secret Blog

2009-07-04T15:10:56-04:00

Yes, you read correctly -- this is the final post to the Secret Blog. Recently, all my attention has been on writing, and on my book Island of Fog, and I've been repeating these posts over at UnearthlyTales.com. Well, quite honestly I feel like I've run the course with the Secret Blog. It was an experiment, and I enjoyed it while it lasted, but I think you'll agree that I've run out of things to say that are in any way related to Enid Blyton! I think there's only one thing worse than not having a blog, and that's having a blog that is hardly ever updated.

So this post is the last. However, this is NOT the end of EnidBlyton.net. Quite the opposite, in fact. I have plans to do some decorating on the main site, but more importantly, in the near future I'll be adding quite a bit of new content. You all know of Heather's Blyton Pages, right? Well, Heather has decided that she's not doing it justice; like me, lack of time is a big problem! So, between us, we've decided to merge the contents of her site with EnidBlyton.net. I personally don't want to lose her distinctive site design, but maybe I can somehow incorporate that into my own site. In any case it will be great to import all those photos, and all that information about artists!

There's no great hurry on this, but let me know your thoughts before I do anything. One thing is certain: the domain heathersblytonpages.com will not vanish, and I'll try to retain page filenames too, so any links to Heather's pages will continue to "go somewhere" instead of becoming dead links.

Finally -- a call to anyone interested in picking up where the Secret Blog left off. My blog over at UnearthlyTales.com can now be subscribed to via Atom/Rss feed reader, or via simple email notification. It's all about writing, of course, and almost nothing about Enid Blyton! You can either go to the "Subscribe" page, or follow the "quick subscribe" link that you'll find in your latest EnidBlyton.net update notification.

Thanks, all, for your support and interest, and don't worry, EnidBlyton.net is still going strong with a pretty consistent 1100 visitors a day!

Thumbs up from Piers Anthony

2009-06-07T15:14:22-04:00

A few weeks ago I sent an email to Piers Anthony, the successful sci-fi/fantasy author best known for his magical Xanth series. A quick potted history: I started reading Piers Anthony's books way back in 1986, when I was sixteen and actively looking for a new author to "collect." I found book #9 of his Xanth series, Golem in the Gears, which at the time was the latest. Today there are 34 books and more to come! For the next ten years I was hooked on Xanth and anything else by the author, including his Incarnations of Immortality, Bio of a Space Tyrant, and Adept series, plus many one-off novels like Shade of the Tree, Macroscope, and Total Recall (the novelization of the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie). To date, Piers has 139 books to his name.

Around 1995 or so, having collected many of his books available at the time, I somehow moved on. 1995 was when I met Vanessa, so maybe I had other things on my mind! (We were married the following year.) Anyway, somehow or another my Piers Anthony collection, along with many other books, sidled away to make room for other things. I don't even know where those books went, which now seems a great shame. At some point in the last few years I "reconnected" with Piers Anthony, but have yet to re-build my collection. I've started, and those original Xanth books are fantastic to re-read... but I have yet to acquire and read many of the later ones.

To get to my point, when I finished Island of Fog and self-published it, I always planned to send the book to Piers on the off-chance that he might a) find time to read it, and b) like it enough to mention it in his monthly column. So, a few weeks ago I emailed him (via his website) to ask if it would be okay to send it. I don't like to assume anything; I'm sure he gets whole slews of books sent to him for review.

Piers kindly said yes, by all means send it. He was frank and honest in his response, as I would expect, saying that he would read just enough to "get its measure" and if it was "hopelessly amateur" he'd let me know. I like that he didn't dress up his words with flowery politeness; I don't want to be patted on the head and told "your book is very good, now run along." I want to be told the truth, so frankness is important.

So I sent my book in the mail and went about my business, carrying (as usual) the nagging doubt that my book is just not good enough for the professional market. Even though I've had positive reviews so far, including one from a professional editor and several from smart people who I specifically requested should be brutally honest rather than polite, for me the ultimate test was sending the book to a successful author who has had many New York Times Bestsellers.

After a few days, he wrote:

Dear Keith Robinson,

This is to let you know that I received Island of Fog on May 30, 2009. I was jammed at the moment, clearing my decks for my long June Column and Survey update, so didn't start reading until yesterday.

Now I'm through the first 7 chapters, and have to say that this is an interesting, well-written story. I will surely finish it and review it in my next -- July -- column. I had not expected to find twelve year old children exciting, but these are. Thanks for showing me this, and more anon.

Piers Anthony

Of course I beamed, printed off the email, and shoved it under Nessa's nose to prove how brilliant I am. I tried to be nonchalant and humble, but it didn't really come off. Anyway, after a few more days I received a new email:

Now I have finished reading Island of Fog. I love it! The story is interesting throughout, and builds nicely to a reasonable explanation for all mysteries. Normally I don't find children's fiction all that interesting; this was an exception.

This is a clean copy, but I did spot a few typos.

[three typos listed]

Congratulations on a fine juvenile novel.

Piers Anthony

It was particularly decent of him to take the time to list those three typos. Every typo I correct in my manuscript makes it that much cleaner.

I asked if I could quote him for promotional and general bragging purposes, and he said yes -- hence this post. I'm also very much looking forward to a mention in his long monthly column on his website. But most of all, I like the idea of having a "blurb" on the book cover, a quote something like:

"... interesting, well-written ... builds nicely to a reasonable explanation for all mysteries ... Normally I don't find children's fiction all that interesting; this was an exception ... I love it!" -- Piers Anthony

It amuses me that Piers said he doesn't find juvenile fiction all that interesting, when the entire Xanth series probably suits juveniles and young adults more than anyone else. He may argue that the series is written for adults, judging by all the Carry On-style naughtiness! -- but, as well as adult characters, there are plenty of young central characters as well, including 12-year-old Dor and 3-year-old Ivy. So the target audience of the series is curious in that respect -- perhaps for adults who like to guffaw, or juveniles who like to read "adult" material disguised as innocent fantasy. For me it's a lorra lorra fun with some very serious moments. Many of the earlier books have remained firmly stuck in my mind.

Going off on a tangent a little, Piers mentioned in his June column that he was re-reading and editing some of his old manuscripts for re-publishing. Even books by successful authors can go out of print (look at Enid Blyton!) but in this day and age it's not too difficult to get those books back into print. While his Xanth books, and others, continue to be published "traditionally," Piers is self-publishing many of his old books as well as new ones. I've gotta check those out!

Something that sets Piers Anthony apart from other authors is the way he includes a chapter-long Author's Note in the back of each book, at least with his Xanth series, in which he thanks readers for ideas and proceeds to sum up important events in his life since the last book. I always loved these Author's Notes, and often found myself reading them before the novel itself! I always wanted to do that myself -- assuming I was successful enough for anyone to care what was going on in my life. Maybe one day... but if and when an Author's Note appears in the back of my book, blame Piers Anthony for inspiring me. In fact, blame Piers Anthony for making me like fantasy in the first place -- because I find most high fantasy incredibly tedious. I liked the Lord of the Rings movies, but could never read the books. I read Terry Brooks' original Sword of Shannara trilogy around the same time as I started Xanth, and while Terry Brooks is an excellent author, by the time I was through I felt that I'd read enough "serious fantasy" to last me a lifetime. Xanth appeals to me because it's light-hearted -- and full of puns.

Meanwhile... I've begun work on the second book in the Island of Fog trilogy. I've named it, but want to check out the title to make sure it's not been used recently. If it has, I may feel a need to alter it slightly. In any case I've written a chapter summary of the entire book and, once I've mulled over a few major plot points, I'll start writing very soon.

Website interruption

2009-05-21T09:10:08-04:00

This is just a quick post to explain what happened with the site over the last couple of days. For the last year I've been moving websites from one server (Modwest) to another (HostGator). Modwest has become increasingly slow and troublesome over the last year and yesterday they had major hardware problems that resulted in many of my sites being offline ALL DAY. As I write this, more than 24 hours after the hardware issue started, there are still a couple of sites not working.

To say I'm annoyed is an understatement. Worse, I have clients who are annoyed -- not with me, thankfully, because my clients are a nice bunch of people and they understand that downtime happens from time to time. Still, yesterday morning around 10am U.S. Eastern time I decided to move EnidBlyton.net to the new server. I knew there would be some work involved, but I figured it has to be done sometime anyway. In fact I'd already done some of this work, so I had the site moved and running by 11.15am (although people in other parts of the world wouldn't have seen it online until later).

Meanwhile, Modwest was still down, so I couldn't access the server and was unable to retrieve all the up to date messages from the Message Board and Talk About Blyton databases (which are stored online)... until 8.30am this morning. Now everything is back online, although I see that some of my sites at Modwest are STILL down. Their status report says they're 76% through rebooting everything, after going all night on it!

I used to swear by Modwest, but now their reliability sucks. Fingers crossed, now EnidBlyton.net will, like the Enid Blyton Society website, enjoy a more reliable hosting environment and faster page loads.

Down Home Days

2009-05-04T09:58:58-04:00

So there I was on Friday night, loading up the van in torrential rain and thinking, "Well, better that it rains NOW than tomorrow morning!" Saturday morning was, of course, the planned annual Down Home Days in downtown Chickamauga, Georgia, which last year was attended by 12,000 people milling about the streets. Chickamauga is a very small town, basically a few roads with gift stores, so this street festival thing is a pretty big deal -- various small boutiques and booths, plenty of hot dog vendors, fire truck tug-o'-wars, the procession of colorful wagons, and bands playing throughout the day and into the night. And I had a tent of my own, from which I could promote my new book, Island of Fog.

Trouble is, the weathermen had predicted rain on Saturday. It came early, that Friday night, and I was hopeful those big thunderclouds would just dump their load and be done with it. Well, they dumped their load all right, and I had to back the van right up to the front door to load it up.

Saturday morning was dry! Hurrah! Around 8.20am, Nessa and I went into town and set up our tent and table. We were done by 9am, and ready for action...

I like how Nessa created the "fog" with some white netting over a silvery tablecloth. Laying the books underneath was very clever and fits right into the book's gloomy setting! Throughout the day the banners drew lots of curious looks, and it was almost funny how many people slowed and stopped as they read the blurb. In my last post I mentioned a cotton candy (candy floss) machine, which we were going to rent so we could give out free "fog on a stick," but we found out that the nearby food vendors probably would have kicked up a stink about it, so in the end we decided not to bother.

Anyway, after we got set up, we sat back and watched others feverishly getting ready, then Nessa went off and got us some breakfast. As we sat there eating, thinking "this is gonna be all right," the rain started. Just before 10am it started hammering down; the thunder boomed and the lightning flashed, and we had to cover everything up to protect against driving rain. In seconds we were soaked, despite the tent. The tent, being a cheap one, wasn't angled steep enough to allow water to run off; instead it collected on all four sides and the fabric was in serious danger of collapsing under the weight, so I had to keep poking at it to tip the water off. The rain went on and on, for two hours. A couple of vendors gave up, put all their stuff away, and drove off. According to weather.com (via Nessa's Blackberry) it was supposed to be an 80% chance of rain all day... and then 100% chance of rain in the morning only... and then 60% chance of thunderstorms all afternoon... and then 100% chance of scattered showers throughout the day... and the temperature ranged from 60-75 F. Basically the weather reports were worthless. All we knew was that it was raining RIGHT NOW!

Just after 12pm it finally stopped. So far not a single member of the public had showed up -- they, of course, had far more sense. But around 1pm people started arriving, and the grey sky started brightening a little. It never turned blue, and there were more slight drizzles throughout the day, but the storms were over. By mid-afternoon it was busy, and continued to get busier as the day went on.

During this time I got talking to an author across the road, K. D. Pitner (or Kathy), who was selling her own book. At some point we exchanged books, and throughout the day we each sold about the same amount (she sold seven, I sold six). I'm not really sure what I expected to sell, but I'm okay with six. More would have been nice, and there were certainly quite a few "interested" people who said they'd be back later just before they left. Unfortunately that never happened. Or maybe it did, but I left at around 6pm and for all I know some of these people were there all night. But by early evening the crowd had "changed" -- the shoppers had gone, and now it was time to watch the bands play on the huge stage that had been erected. I figured nobody was going to be buying books now!

An interesting experience, and definitely not the wash-out it tried to be in the morning. But in future I'll probably stick to book fairs. I was very pleased with my banners though -- they turned out great, and the 6 x 4 hanging behind me did a great job keeping my box of books dry.

As usual for this sort of event, Lily had to have her face painted. And, also as usual, there were many, many kids walking about with baggies full of water... and a goldfish. Nessa succumbed to Lily's pestering and bought her one too, so I spent many hours baby-sitting a goldfish before we packed up and left. That goldfish, which Lily imaginatively named Nemo, is now in her room, settling into a new 10 gallon tank. Heck, we planned to get her a goldfish or two at some point anyway...

First delivery of books

2009-04-30T08:08:57-04:00

Yesterday was a very exciting day for me, because the UPS van turned up with my first delivery of 50 Island of Fog books. I was out at the time; Nessa and I had a few errands to run, and we were also shopping for bits and pieces for our "booth" at this weekend's Down Home Days street festival. But Nessa's mom phoned to tell me they'd arrived, and I was pleased as Punch. I wasn't expecting them quite so early, and had planned to set up my booth with a load of leaflets containing a long excerpt from the fourth chapter -- not ideal, but better than nothing. But now the books have arrived, so I can actually take those along with me (although the leaflets will come in handy too).

I have to admit that the arrival of the first box of books is what I've always dreamed about. Well, sort of. My dreamy-dream has always been to have that box arrive courtesy of some big traditional publishing house like Scholastic, and not a self-publishing print shop. Still, it's a good feeling to see myself "in print" and in such quantity! And I have to say, so far I've been very impressed with CreateSpace.com. The quality of the three proofs and these first 50 "real" books is extremely good, and the speedy service has surprised me. They claim that orders of up to 100 books will arrive within 15 business days, but I ordered these on Friday 24th April and they arrived on Wednesday 30th April. Now that's fast!

By coincidence, I'd also ordered some TuffGard jiffy mailers (the ones CreateSpace use to deliver my proofs), and these turned up on the same day as the books, delivered by the same UPS van. So not only do I have the books, but I have jiffy mailers to send them out in! Also, since I approved the proof last week, Amazon has been slowly updating my listing, and this now seems to be finalized: Buy from Amazon.com

My booth on Saturday is starting to take shape, at least theoretically. I have a 10 ft square tent/canopy and a 5 ft table. Nessa bought some fine white "netting" that she's going to lay out in some way to make it look like fog, on top of which I'll stand a 2 ft tall wooden lighthouse that I found by chance in a shop. (A lighthouse features quite prominently in the story.) Nessa also had the bright idea of renting a cotton candy (or candy floss) machine; we plan to give away small helpings of "fog" throughout the day. Oh, and this morning I should, hopefully, be able to pick up my two banners, which are 6 x 4 ft (to hang on the side of the tent) and 5 x 1 ft (to hang on the front of the table).

I'll post pictures of the booth after the event. In the meantime, all those who wanted to order a copy of the book can now do so, either directly from me, or from Amazon, or from CreateSpace -- just go to UnearthlyTales.com for information.

Island of Fog now published and available to buy!

2009-04-25T10:21:29-04:00

It's here at last! I received my third and final proof yesterday and was very happy with it, so I went ahead and pressed the "Approve" button. The book went on sale immediately at CreateSpace and will be available on Amazon within 15 days. But in the meantime I ordered 50 copies for my own stock, and these will be with me shortly (again, they typically state within 15 days for order deliveries). Anyway, if you want to, feel free to order a copy now, and I'll start shipping out the moment the books arrive.

It's all very exciting, for me anyway! On May 2nd there's a local annual shindig known as Down Home Days, a sort of craft fair street festival type thing. I got myself a "booth" (a 12 ft space) and am arranging a tent and all that good stuff to set up in. I've ordered a couple of large banners, one 6 x 4 ft and the other 5 x 1 ft, showing the book cover and some blurb. Of course, I doubt I'll actually have the books in time... so instead I'll hand out some specially-prepared pamphlets containing the entire first chapter and some ordering information. Since these will be free give-aways, this might actually be a better way to sell the book as those who are not sure can take it home and digest it before shelling out some money. Still, it would be nice to have the actual books as well. It's vaguely possible they'll be here on time, but I won't hold my breath.

In my previous post, Ilsa left a kind message saying, "Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could ship a box of them over in time for the Enid Blyton day on May 9th? I bet they'd go like hot cakes there!" Gosh, what a fantastic idea! But a) I doubt I could get a box over there in time; b) I don't think I'd want to send a box anyway in case they didn't sell; c) this is assuming someone would be willing to handle them for me; and d) even though it's a children's (9-12) book, it doesn't exactly relate to Enid Blyton! But some flyers... Hmm, I wonder if Tony would mind... :-)

Years ago I set myself up with two bookstore owners in the local area, so I have a couple of good starting points for "readings and signings" and so on. Also, my niece is the acting President of the Walker County Chamber of Commerce, so it's pretty cool having someone so close who knows just about everybody. She's given me a list of middle grade teachers in the area, and is hooking me up with the manager of the local library. When I'm comfortable that everything is going okay, she's also going to organize a press release. Ah, it's so nice knowing influential people! (She also knows a guy in Congress and, through him, is currently obtaining tickets for a tour of the White House for when we all go to stay in Washington and Virginia in July. Maybe I'll drop some books on Obama's desk...)

Island of Fog PDF download now available

2009-04-16T10:58:22-04:00

I had a rotten few days in Florida recently. The beach was nice, and Lily had a blast, but both Lily and I brought a bug with us from home that meant more than a few visits to the toilet! Worse, sitting in a restaurant on the last day, I was suddenly overcome with nausea and put my burger down even before taking the first bite. Before I knew it, I was lightheaded and then wham! collapsed on the booth seat, out cold. I wasn't out for long, but long enough for Nessa to call 911 (which I canceled as soon as I woke up, as by then I inexplicably felt right as rain).

Anyway, the point is that I didn't feel up to complex tasks on my computer so didn't get to launch my book while I was away, which is what I had planned. Instead I waited until I got home. But of course then work took precedence and now here I am, nearly a week later already... *Sigh*

Today, April 16, the book is finally ready. I'm still waiting for a second proof printed copy (should be here in a few days) and when that arrives I can press the button that says "publish" and then it'll be available to buy in printed form. But in the meantime, the PDF version is available now for those who prefer to read on-screen or who don't trust their postal service to deliver.

So, without any further ado, please go here and grab a copy at only $7.95, a bargain considering it's 220-odd pages! And please let me know what you think by posting feedback and comments at www.unearthlytales.com. Thanks!

The printed book will cost a little more, plus there's shipping to take into consideration. This will be available shortly.

Finally, just a quick word to say that my site at UnearthlyTales.com is "where it's at" as far as the book is concerned. So far, all the posts on that site are basically copies of any Island of Fog-related posts on this Secret Blog. But over time I hope UnearthlyTales.com to grow, with news and information beyond simple blog posts. Plus, there will, I hope, be reader reviews pouring in from thousands of delighted readers... (well, one or two would be nice anyway!).

Proof book has arrived

2009-03-24T07:49:54-04:00

Exciting times! Yesterday, UPS delivered a proof copy of Island of Fog. I've been flicking through it with a big grin on my face, marveling at how real it is. CreateSpace's digital printers have done a great job and it's come out almost exactly as I expected and hoped. I say "almost" because there are one or two minor things I want to alter -- for instance the cover's color tint is supposed to be blue, but it's come out a little purple. It's not bad by any means, just not what I expected, and I think blue would be better. (I took a picture of it and posted it below, and it looks blue again, so clearly my screen is a little "off" color).

Also, although I purposefully chose "cream" (or off-white) pages as opposed to white, now I'm thinking they're a little too off-white. My name is also huge on the spine, so I want to reduce it a bit. My ego isn't THAT big.

But these are all cosmetic changes. The real question is: How does it read?

Well, as far as printing goes, it seems to be exactly as I intended, no problems at all. My margins are just right, the font size is fairly small (necessary to avoid higher printer costs), and everything is clear and nicely packaged. Like I said, CreateSpace has done a great job. It looks and feels like a real book and not some home-made jobbie! The bar code on the back makes it look "professional" too.

As for the story itself... well, Nessa, my better and much smarter half, has put down her Stephen King book to give mine a read-through, and I've asked her to have a pen handy so she can mark any typos she might come across. This will be the first time I've let her near it, despite the fact that I've been pottering about with the manuscript since 2002. After she's done, I might read it through once more myself; just a scan read though, since I've read it a blue-million times already. I keep flicking through it and haven't yet come across any typos, but I did find a line in the first chapter that made me frown!

Overall I'm very pleased, but I'll be ordering a second proof anyway, to correct a few cosmetic things and no doubt a few typos that Nessa will find. After that I'll make it available to buy. I should think the "launch" date will be around April 10th, if not earlier. The PDF version will be available earlier than the printed book. In the meantime, those who want to pre-order will be able to do so shortly. Watch this space!

Island of Fog is published!

2009-03-17T17:33:59-04:00

Well, self-published anyway. Today I uploaded the manuscript and my cover design to CreateSpace.com and submitted it for publication. I'm just awaiting an email to say everything is present and correct, and then I'll be able to order a proof copy. As soon as that arrives, I'll drool on it and check it over, and assuming all is well, I'll press the button that says "Publish" so that it's available to the world. Then I just need to sit back and wait for the thousands of excellent reviews, the critical acclaim, and the offers by big publishing houses to print and market my book for me, and so on. :-p

Yes, well, we can dream, right? In the meantime I'll just be happy to see the thing in some printed form. The next step will be gathering reviews (with hopefully a few good ones) so I can have a bit more ammunition with which to sell it to literary agents, while enjoying the look and feel of an actual finished book on my shelf. I don't have delusions about selling thousands of copies, and I know the vast majority (95%?) of self-published authors sell less than 500, and I don't expect I'll be any different. But I've spent so long on the thing that I feel it's time for a little reward, and that reward is seeing it in print, with cream-colored pages and everything.

Once this itch is scratched, I can concentrate on actually selling the manuscript to an agent. It might take a few months, it might take a year, or even longer. But, in the meantime, hopefully I can get the book "out there" a bit.

The only reservation I have about self-publishing is that an agent might not want to work with a book that's already "out there." But I feel this is a small risk, and I've heard of a number of big sellers that started out by self-publishing. I think the potential rewards are worth the risk -- for instance the possibility of getting unexpected glowing praise from a professional reviewer!

Of course, there's an equal chance that it will receive very bad reviews and it will bomb. But as always, I would consider negative comments as a challenge to make it better. Any writer who expects nothing but praise is a fool and liable to get his feelings hurt. So I say, "bring it on" and help me figure out what's wrong.

All being well, Island of Fog will be available in the next week or so. It's 218 pages and will be available in paperback for $9.95. Stay tuned for links and more information!

How far does religious belief influence your decision?

2009-03-10T15:53:23-04:00

While putting together a website for a client recently, I had cause to scratch my head and wonder about something. I've often wondered a similar thing with regards to authors, so there's a connection to Enid Blyton here, albeit a loose one! Bear with me. And this post isn't designed to provoke a religious argument, just to satisfy a curiosity.

So here's the thing. When I put websites together, the client is responsible for supplying all the text. Depending on the "state" of the text, I then edit it for the website. Sometimes the edits are to correct typos, and sometimes the purpose is to add keywords and make the text more "relevant" to search engine queries. But occasionally I strip out bits that I think might be unnecessary, or that come across unprofessional.

Of course the final decision is the client's, but I've had ten years experience with this and have learned one or two things. For instance, having a blank page that says "Under construction" is SO 1990s and is worse than not having a page at all. It screams, "Look at me, I haven't updated this in AGES and just don't care." Leaving the unfinished page off the site is better -- at least then the site looks finished, even if the owner knows it's not. Also, saying "click on the links in the left hand menu to navigate the site" means one of two things: either the purpose of the left hand menu isn't obvious enough, or the owner believes his visitors are idiots.

The reason for this post is another "thing" that I've learned over the years: Don't include your religious beliefs in your business plan or mission statement unless your website is for a church or church-related organization. In this case the owner of the site wanted me to include a paragraph that read as follows:

[We are] a new and upcoming business in Northwest Georgia. We are committed to God in all we do, for he is the ultimate sacrifice. We are dedicated to our family and our customers. Our number one goal is customer satisfaction. We plan to have a large arrangement of portraits on this web page so you can see what we can do before you call us to do a job.

The way I see it, there are several things wrong here. First of all, the owner has been in business for four years, so it's time for him to stop calling himself "new" and start being "an old hand." Second, saying "we plan to have a large arrangement of portraits on this web page" is the same as saying "this page is still under construction." But the main thing wrong here is the religious statement. This is a fairly mild and innocent one as religious statements go, but I just don't see what it has to do with the price of fish. Is he suggesting that, because of his devotion to God, he'll be better at his job? His customer service will be far superior to someone who isn't religious?

This reminds me of a previous client who, at the original meeting, looked at me earnestly and said, "Please understand that my business doesn't belong to me. It belongs to God. Everything belongs to God, and I'm just His humble servant, so everything I do is for Him. I want my website to reflect that."

Now, I felt like saying, "Well, actually, it's not your website, it's God's, so you have no say in the matter. You'll get what you're given and be grateful about it." But of course I didn't say that; I was non-committal about the whole thing and just coughed into my cappuccino and sent frothy milk all over the place. The thing is, the owner wanted (and actually has) quotes from the Bible all over his site. And this is a shipping/freight company. I personally don't see the connection, and I can't understand how a man's very personal religious beliefs has anything to do with the business. It's the same with the photography site above. Yes, fine, he's religious and is dedicated to his family. But aren't we ALL dedicated to our families? Does being religious somehow heighten this dedication? I think not, personally. So do the owner's religious beliefs belong on a business website?

You might ask, "Well, why shouldn't they? Where's the harm?" A fair question. Well, for one thing it's bad in terms of search engine optimization. Any mention of something off-topic (especially repeated mention) is bound to draw the wrong crowd and water down any relevant keywords on the page. I once wrote "buy Enid Blyton books and audio books at Amazon" on my EnidBlyton.net home page, and found that I was getting all sorts of people arriving from Google demanding to know where the audio books were. Just that one use of the word "audio" allowed my site to come up under searches for "Enid Blyton audio books," which technically speaking is the "wrong crowd" for my site because I don't sell audio books and don't have any worthwhile links to them.

Likewise, mentioning God and religion on a business website might have the same detrimental effect. But the main question in my mind is: Is there any benefit to publicizing your religious beliefs on your business website? Does it matter one way or the other? Or does it actually harm your business in some way?

As a non-religious person, I might find it a little off-putting to arrive at a website and find that the owner is "preaching" on his home page. It's fine to have that personal stuff on the "About Us" page -- but on the home page, mixed in with the description of the business? Sorry, but I'd most likely go someplace else rather than risk dealing with a plumber or accountant or double-glazing salesman who might end up trying to convert me as part of the job.

Where I used to live in England, in what I would consider a largely "indifferent" area, I would expect a website containing declarations of love for the Lord to be met with a degree of scorn. But here in Georgia, USA, where I live now, the opposite might be true; the devout owner might be considered a very worthy gentleman indeed and certainly the sort of person you'd like to install your windows. Hence my question: Is there any benefit to publicizing religious beliefs on a business website? Does it make a difference to you, the customer, whether the business owner is a Christian or not?

On the subject of Blyton, and given that the author was obviously very religious, I find it amazing that she didn't allow religion to creep into her stories. There are a few novels I know of that were a little "preachy," but take the Famous Five for instance -- hardly a mention of God anywhere! I believe they snuck off to church one Sunday morning while on a hike together, and I know they went to church in other books, but it was very matter-of-fact. I like that. It would have turned me off if the Five had, for example, made out they were better than everyone else because they believed in God, and because they went to church every Sunday, and because they had "good wholesome Christian values." So kudos to Enid Blyton for not going down that road.

But again, a similar question: Does an author's religious beliefs, which might creep into his or her books, play any part in determining which authors you favor or steer clear of?