Reviews and Reviewers

I love to get reviews posted on Goodreads and Amazon on my books, because then I know people actually read them. I'm always eager to know what people actually thought about them.

The first bad review I got really hurt. In fact, I got several early on with Uncut Diamonds. Ouch, ouch and ouch. They don't bother me now. In fact, sometimes I like to just go and look at them again: "hated it." "losey book." They make me smile. I think it's funny that someone found my book so horrible and even funnier that they felt such strong enough emotions to go to the trouble to post their two-word negative response.

I could spend hours scanning reviews on Goodreads and Amazon. Not on my books. I don't have enough of them to take hours, minutes maybe. I just like to read reviews. Some are gushing wonders, others horrible slams-- all for the same book!

One thing it shows is that there a whole lot of readers out there and they don't all like the same thing. It also shows that the more people are reading a certain book, the more reviews it will get of both good and bad variety.

Writers love getting reviews, especially glowing, five-star reviews. One of the very best ways to love an author is to post a review!

What could a YA paranormal writer possibly like about literary women's fiction?

Sometimes we writers can limit ourselves in thinking who our demographic might be. I never really thought those who enjoy and write in the YA paranormal genre would get my books.

But when Kerri Cuevas, paranormal author, offered to do a review for my blog tour, I thought sure, why not. If her review is critical, I can take it. I'm a professional, right?

Have you ever had second thoughts about allowing certain readers to review your ARC? And to participate in a blog tour? Any fear of "what if they don't like it?" 

If you want to know what Kerri thought about House of Diamonds, just click on her blog to find out.

Best Time to Read

You know the feeling, right? It's Thanksgiving Day and the table is loaded with all the classic favorites as well as some new dishes you just have to try.

By the end of the day you're too full to do anything but nap, watch movies, wake up and go for a walk, nap some more, and then go to bed and read a book. After helping with the clean up, of course.

If you're anything like me and I hope you're not or I feel bad for you, you will be too stuffed from Thanksgiving dinner and the day- after leftovers to do much besides curl up and read.

Mason Canyon's book review blog, Thoughts in Progress, is a must-stop. She always has great ideas of good books, and sometimes freebies for lucky winners.

I'm visiting Mason's blog today to talk about House of Diamonds,  with two free print copies to give away. So come on by, if you're not too full.

2 Days before Thanksgiving and I'm in Africa

The Fabulosity Wendy is extending her feature on House of Diamonds to another day. Yay! She asked me some interesting questions and posted her interview on Fabulosity Reads.

Thanks, Wendy, for your support. Those of you looking for book reviewers, she is willing to do reviews in a variety of genres. Guidelines are on her blog.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in the US. Many thanks to my wonderful blogging friends for your support, friendship, comments, and general awesomeness!

I'll see you Friday with another visit on my House of Diamonds tour-- the wonderful Mason Canyon, who has two print copies to give away.

What's Hot and Not so Hot about House of Diamonds

Something I love about blogging is meeting people from all over the world. Wendy of Fabulosity Reads originally hails from South Africa (so of course she would attract my attention, it's where my two giraffes are from). She currently lives in Nigeria.

Not sure how Wendy will like House of Diamonds as it's not the usual genre she reviews. For those of you looking for book blog reviewers, Wendy is a good one. She is fair and honest, telling what she does and does not like about a particular book.

Yikes, I'm just a bit nervous! Go here to see the verdict.

The two Karens

My blogging friend Karen Walker and I are the same age, we both enjoy memoir, and we live in the Western United States. We have even spoken on the phone and one of these days we must get together in person because I just know we'd have lots to talk about.

Today Karen reviews House of Diamonds at her blog Following the Whispers. Come by and say hi!

And don't forget the special from WiDo Publishing running throughout the end of the year. Order your copy of House of Diamonds from the website and you will also get a free print copy of Uncut Diamonds.

Have any of you had an opportunity to meet a blogging friend in person? Maybe if I got out more, I would too.

HOUSE OF DIAMONDS available at last!!

Today is the ebook launch for House of Diamonds! Print copies come out November 22. With a special deal for the holidays-- Anyone preordering House of Diamonds from the WiDo Publishing website will also get Uncut Diamonds, absolutely free. Two books for the price of one!

Charmalot from and then my heart smiled is kicking off my launch and blog tour. Please come and share the joy!  Charmalot, known in real life as Jordan McMakin, earned her B.A. in English from Western Washington University, and was previously a bookstore manager, children's book buyer, and freelance editor. She interned at Puffin Books and Viking Books for Young Readers, and was an editorial assistant at Disney*Hyperion Books in New York City.

So drop by Jordan's blog because she is awesome and it will make your heart smile. And if you don't follow her blog already you should, you really really should. And you should buy House of Diamonds because you'll love it!

Ins and Outs of Reviewing Books Online

Today I am featured on Fabulosity Reads, an awesome blog that does -- of all things-- book reviews! Please stop by and say hi to me and my host, the lovely blue-haired Wendy of South Africa!

I hope you will chime in on the discussion about reviewing books online. Should you or shouldn't you? How tough can you be and still keep friends? How nice can you be and still maintain credibility as a reviewer? And as an author, are you ready to have your book reviewed?

See you there!

Brilliant Writers are not always Brilliant

Following is my Goodreads review on South of Broad by Pat Conroy, which I gave 2 stars. Just so you know, I don't make a habit of advertising when I read a disappointing book, and never when it's a debut author or a friend. But sometimes we all need to be reminded that the bestsellers out there aren't necessarily the best books. And that rich and famous authors like Pat Conroy can put out a stinker same as the rest of us nameless newbies toiling away in our back bedrooms, wondering if we will ever get good enough for publication.

"After reading The Prince of Tides, my first and only Conroy novel, I had great hopes for this one. It disappointed me. There were some serious problems-- shallow character development, contrived scenes, many things alluded to but never explored like the brother's suicide and the evil stalker guy's drowning. How do you take a villain and solve the problem by having him drown off scene in a hurricane? So much better in The Prince of Tides where the heroic brother lets the tiger into the house and thus destroys the stalker/villain. My recommendation is to read the prologue and forget the rest. The prologue is pure brilliance, the rest of the book is a weak follow up."

 An interesting note about Goodreads reviews: Many of the reviews on this book had similar complaints as mine (and much more thorough and cleverly written)-- written by ordinary readers, not professional reviewers. In fact, the professionals gave South of Broad glowing reviews. Sometimes you wonder if these media people even read the books they review? Or do they just look at the author and say, "Oh yeah, he's good, here's my canned bit of praise for the back of the book"?

Have you ever read an acclaimed, bestselling book that got stellar reviews only to say "HUH?"

Love to Read? Join Goodreads!

I joined Goodreads a few years ago but didn't keep up my account. At the time it seemed like too much trouble, and I wasn't reading much then. (I go through phases, sometimes consuming a book a day and other times going all year without finishing a single one.)

Recently I hit a frantic reading pace, and when I got a Goodreads friend request from a new acquaintance, I said yes, started following her reviews and filled out my own long-neglected list. It was fun. Here was a place to record everything I read, all the books from ages past, and the ones I want to read.

So for anyone out there who isn't yet on Goodreads-- here's the link to my home page. I will happily be your first friend. Or if you're already a member, let's connect and share books and reviews.

If you are a published author who has not yet set up a Goodreads profile page, get busy! It's easy-- one more place to get your mug out there. AND--They now offer this really awesome widget, where visitors to your site can add your book with one click. After a lot of experimentation, I think I've got it. Check it out, yo.

The widgets to add my books to your list are under the twitter thingy on my sidebar. They're looking a bit lonely and neglected right now but hopefully will have many smiling faces showing up soon :) What I don't like about these widgets is that anyone who added a book previously on their Goodreads list, has to redo it here for it to show up. Fix that soon will ya Goodreads people? Because I like to see the pretty faces.
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Goodreads is awesome! Books rock! We should read more books!

Writer Blogger Support Rocks it!

I know I said I wouldn't post until the contest ended but I've never gone this long between posts and I'm going through withdrawal!! Plus I just have to say a big THANK YOU to all who have shown your support for the Pay it Forward contests  by tweeting, posting, commenting and/or following! I LOVE this writing/blogging community! And here's an award passed on to me from Christine Danek, at Christine's Journey for all the Journey Support. (What a sweetheart! And if you haven't read her Warrant post yet from today then get over there and read it. It's so clever!) I'm passing this award to all of you who support me and everyone else on our writing journeys.

It doesn't matter if we're published or unpublished, agented or seeking representation, selling our books or struggling to get the word out, with a finished project or just starting out on the journey of writer. It's a fabulous road to take and I only wish this blogging community had been around early on in my career. I know I would have made a lot more progress faster. As it is, so many years passed from when I started writing for publication until I published my first book, that now I feel pressured to make up for lost time. I'm obsessed to write more and more. (Massive guilt when not writing.) But that pressure doesn't stop me from blogging because here is where I feel all the support I need to keep going.

Welcome to all the new followers! I haven't had a chance to visit your blogs yet but I will. And if you leave a comment then I will find you faster and go follow your blogs too! Since we have a long weekend coming up, I doubt if I'll hit the 250 mark on followers. But if I do, then there will be TWO winners for the Pay it Forward Contest. Two opportunities to have your first three chapters and query letter reviewed. Two chances to have me buy your book and review it on my blog. Or to win the Borders gift card. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed! And you can still enter! Rules --or how to get lots of points so you can win--are here.

Either way, I'm so excited for next week when I get to pick a winner! (Or two winners!)

Have a great weekend! I'll see you back on June 1 with the lucky winner announcement!!

I Support the Supportive Bookseller

Borders is the best indie bookseller that isn't indie. They have a policy of supporting local authors, whether published traditionally through a large or small press, or self-published. This means if you, the author, live near a Borders, you can call and ask to speak to the buyer. Give her a brief pitch and summary of your book, asking if she would mind carrying your title in the local section.

The answer will be "Bring it in so I can take a look." Take 5 copies and you'll most likely have a cash sale. Your local Borders will also be happy to schedule a signing. If you do well at the signing, selling 20 books or more, your title will automatically be logged into the Borders.com website and can then be ordered from any Borders brick and mortar store in the country.

I guarantee that, if you're with a small press, or without distribution, you won't get this kind of treatment from Barnes & Noble. And if you're self-published, your local Barnes & Noble won't even talk to you. But as soon as your book is listed with Amazon, then suddenly it shows up on B&N.com, linked from the Amazon site. That still doesn't mean it can be ordered in person from a B & N bookstore. It can't. They'll tell you to go home and get it online from B & N.com, which is another word for Amazon.com.

Where I live in the Salt Lake Valley, there are two indie bookstores and one chain indie. The chain indie will take books carried by a distributor. The indies will take them only on consignment. My publisher will not do consignment, therefore these two bookstores do not stock any of the books published by WiDo. Even though WiDo Publishing is out of Salt Lake City and has titles by authors who live here. I don't call that supportive, do you?

It seems to me that the indie bookseller should be supportive of the indie publisher. Right? Farm Girl is stocked in independent bookstores across the Great Plains states. Yet you can't order it from indiebound.org. It's not listed and doesn't show up in the search bar. If you don't live near one of the stores that carry Farm Girl, you'll have to order it from Amazon. Or from this website.

I am all for supporting the local independent bookstores. But why should I when they don't support me as a local author? My books have been well-reviewed, and Farm Girl does well at every store that carries it. (I'm pretty sure Uncut Diamonds will sell out in Ireland but that's neither here nor there.)

What reason do these local stores have for not doing business with my publishing company and stocking my books on a non-consignment basis? No rational reason that I can see, especially considering that it's stocked by a variety of other indies throughout the country. Just not here. Where I live. Where my children play. Where my husband and I sleep.(Godfather 2 throwback there lol.)

So when I want to buy a book, I drive past Barnes & Noble, I drive past Deseret Book (the local indie chain that said no to both my books), I drive 20 miles to get to Borders in Murray, Utah and there I spend money on books. When I was at the Orem (or was it Provo?), Utah Borders for a signing, I spent $40. If I'm traveling and I want to buy a book, I will seek out the Borders and give them my business.

I would love to support the independent bookseller but instead I support the supportive bookseller. That is Borders. Wherever you live, if there's a Borders, know this: they will support the local author. It's their nationwide policy. Long live Borders.

Here's what makes it all worthwhile....

So I wake up this morning and see this on my sidebar-- BOOK REVIEW-- UNCUT DIAMONDS. Barbara Scully, my 100th follower who won a copy of my novel, has read and reviewed it and liked it! Not only that but in a comment on one of my previous blog posts, she said that her mom read and loved it as well.

Please go to Barbara's lovely blog, From My Kitchen Table, and tell her thank you from me! (After reading the review of course, lol!)

I'm pretty sure neither of my two books currently out will ever make a bestseller list. (Although Farm Girl was the best selling title for several months in the local Red Cloud, NE book store. Does that count?) I'm pretty sure that I won't be making mortgage payments from my royalty checks. But what matters to me more than money is to hear from a reader like Barbara who says it's the kind of book she can wrap herself in and "I just love the main character Marcie McGill."

This kind of response makes it all worthwhile to me-- all the writing, revising, editing and rewriting, until finally miracle of miracles, I hold a book in my hands that scares me to death. What if people don't like it? What if they don't get it? What if, like one publisher who rejected it said, they think "the Seventies are boring. No one wants to read about them."

And who knew that my demographic would be Irish women lol? Or as Barbara herself said when she chose this as her prize, "I'm a child of the Seventies who loved the Osmonds, so of course Uncut Diamonds is my choice!"

Thanks, Barbara! You made my day!