We are four readers who got fed up with how hard is to find good Catholic fiction that features authentic Church teaching, themes and characters. When we did manage to find a good story it was usually something written fifty years ago or in a genre that wasn’t always our favorite.
But we love books and we love reading. So we kept searching.
And we found dozens of hidden worlds, indie authors, small presses and magazines. Despite the lack of advertising, imagination and art are alive and well in our parishes. We started Catholic Reads with the aim of putting authentic Catholic fiction into people’s hands. We want our nation and our world to have the chance to see what the Church’s imagination has to offer.
Four of us, M.S. Ocampo, T.S. Sloan, Lori Wilson, and A.R.K. Watson, decided we could do more to change things than just write and advertise our own stories. We started this company because we loved reading and we wanted to put some of the amazing books we found into the hands of hungry readers. Together we started Catholic Reads.
We will help both Catholic authors and readers through 2 ways:
1. Our Library of Reviews
Each week we will publish a review of a book written by a Catholic or that explores themes in common with Catholicism.
- We will clearly list the themes explored and whether or not the author is openly Catholic. This way readers looking for books exploring specific themes will be able to find them using our tag cloud in the right hand side bar.
- Because we are independent we will be able to review books from multiple Catholic presses.
- Indie Authors can gain credibility with readers who know we will vet everybook for quality and an accurate portrayal of the Catholic faith.
- You can find new books under the Reviews tab, sorted according to genre.
2. Our Email Blast of Books on Sale
Subscribers will receive a weekly email alerting them to sales on the books we review.
- Readers on a budget can grow their own Catholic library
- Catholic authors get a chance to find new readers.
- 1st round of sales starts on our official launch day, July 1st 2017
We are providing these services for free so please be sure to share, subscribe and follow, as our only form of advertising at this time is word of mouth. Anyone interested in helping fund us can contact us through our Contact Us page.
If you are a reader with a book recommendation for us please send it to us through our “Contact Us” page.
Authors interested in finding out how to get their books reviewed or on the email list can find our submission guidelines on the “Submit a Book” page.
I cannot wait to help you find your next adventure and see where Catholic Reads will take us all. I hope that together, authors and readers can turn the page on the current state of religious publishing, and usher in a new Golden Age of Catholic fiction.
Your Editor in Chief,
A.R.K. Watson
Hi A. R. K. and Catholic Reads Group,
I would love to support this organization. Please subscribe me to your list, and I will tweet and share your posts with my other media resources.
God bless,
Ann Frailey
Thank you so much Ann! All you have to do to subscribe is click the “Find me Cheap Books!” button at the top of the home page and then enter your email list.
Right now we are just reaching out to author groups and accuring a list of books and products to offer readers. Once we have a substantial list of choices to offer them we will start reaching out to readers. I will let you know when we will start doing so. Do you want me to let you know through email or the CWG facebook group?
Your links are broken. I cannot subscribe to the email list or follow the link to the books on sale. 🙁
Thank you for letting us know June!
I think I’ve fixed the links and I’ve made posts on the Reviews pages to clarify that our reviews will appear on July 1st 2017 when we officially launch.
You can subscribe to our mailing list early however we won’t have a list of books on sale until our launch on July 1st.
Thank you for your comment. I hope this makes things easier.