CrossReads, A New Online Community Causes Christian Readers to Rejoice

MCCORDSVILLE, IN, February 01, 2013 (Press-News.org) There's a new website opening that combines the joy of reading with the fellowship of an inspired Christian community. CrossReads, a new website/forum is dedicated to bringing Christian readers and authors together in a thriving, fun, community-type atmosphere designed to uplift and inspire everyone involved.

CrossReads will debut the week of February 12, 2013.

"One of the most difficult challenges any author faces is finding readers who love what they write," Staci Stallings, one of the CrossReads founders, said. "Unfortunately, the same is true for readers. Combing through a million titles, not to mention free books, discounts, lists and lists. It gets to the point of who do you trust, how do you decide, and where do you spend your hard-earned dollars and valuable time?"

With the explosion of titles due to the emergence of eBooks with industry leaders like Amazon and Barnes & Noble, readers now have millions of titles at their fingertips. Christian readers are at a particular disadvantage as many of the new entrants on the scene are secular writers, and Christian titles are often a side offering at book sites if they are specifically offered at all.

"Readers can now get many quality books at a low cost and authors are able to publish easier and at a more affordable rate due to the decreased printing costs," Shelley Hitz, cofounder of CrossReads, said. "Availability is no longer a problem."

The problem now is figuring out what is worthwhile and what is not.

That's where CrossReads comes in.

At CrossReads, readers can fellowship with other readers in general and in specific genres. So if you are in love with Christian romance, you can talk with other readers who love it too and can recommend books and authors. If you just loved that scene from the last Christian mystery you read, you can ask the book's author how they came up with that spine-tingling setting.

In the past there have been websites and places to help readers sort through their choices such as GoodReads and pages on Facebook. While some of these options were dedicated to Christian books, many were not, and the ones that were lumped all Christian books together in a hodge-podge of titles.

"One of the things I have been most amazed by is the breadth of choices out there for Christian readers," Stallings said. "There are Christian fantasies and thrillers, Christian romance and mysteries, Christian historicals and women's fiction, and that's just the fiction side of things. You can also read an endless array of nonfiction--real life stories, Bible studies, spiritual growth, and memoirs. The possibilities and selection is endless!"

However, CrossReads isn't just a list of Christian books. It literally gives readers the chance to meet and get to know Christian authors--who don't just have books for sale. They will be posting about contests and giveaways, review opportunities, free books, first chapters, book clubs, their blogs, and much, much more.

"The world of Christianity on the 'net is incredibly vast and varied," Stallings said. "There are a million ways to 'go to the well' and get filled up. Everyone decries the Internet as this soul-sucking, family-destroying phenomenon. But if you know where to go and how to use it, there has never been a better, easier, faster way to connect with fill-you-up, help-you-through, pray-with-you, and rejoice-with-you Christian people in the history of the world. It's time to make that potential a reality."

CrossReads aims to provide readers and community members with a place to be encouraged, inspired, and uplifted--every day in many, many ways every single day! So if you're a Christian, if you're a reader, if you're someone who could really use a little inspiration in your day, come on over to CrossReads. Join the community of believers and learn the power of what St. Paul called "encouraging each other daily" here: http://www.CrossReads.com