I stopped in at my local Christian bookstore a couple of weeks ago. I was expecting to hear gloom and doom from the owner (it's a small independent store) but to my amazement, he said business was UP. And that he was thinking of opening another store in a nearby town that was losing its Christian bookstore. I came away greatly encouraged!

Wow, that is so powerful! And so true. I see this idealism and focus in the kids at my church. They are our future and it's a good one!

I'll have to try this one! I've used PeopleBrowsr and TweetDeck. TweetDeck used to freeze all the time but they seem to have fixed that. I wish there were a decent app for the iPhone that let you manage groups. Haven't found one yet though.

These are great, Mike! Number 6 is a great one. I love to learn from mistakes as well as successes.

What incredible pictures! I especially like the one of Gail with the little girl. The child's gap-toothed smile says it all! and love the one of Gail and Mary in those bright clothes. Watching your tweets and seeing this pictures is such a powerful reminder of how blessed we are and our responsibilities. We complain about things that really don't matter. Thanks for sharing, Mike1

I've noticed as well that my kids prefer to send an email or a text message. If I leave a voicemail on their phones, they just call me back without listening to it. And when I listen to voicemail, I usually just listen long enough to know the gist of the message then delete it and call them back.

It's all media hype! and that 1 death, sad as it is, was a Mexican boy visiting the U.S. No Americans have died from it.

Buggies and candles. Gasp! Mike, that's a GREAT idea! I'll just become Amish! A brilliant solution for me. Oh, er, wait. That would mean I'd have to give up my MacBook. :-)

Okay, okay. I get that I'm an anachronism. Ahem, I'll be serious now. For me to fully convert, the books would have to be available at the library. I'm an avid library goer, though I realize it's shocking. I could never buy as many books as I read. Unless you want to instruct Ames to up my advance of course. :-) Hmm, should that be part of future negotiations?

We authors are always curious about how the tracking works. I've heard some outlets aren't counted at those places. True or false?

Great post, Mike! This may help pubs and authors negotiate more realistic advances which will be beneficial to all of us!

Fascinating! I'm not surprised such a high percentage are writers though. Your blog is constantly talked about among authors.