Have You Heard: The Truth about Amazon Reviews: How to Write an Au...

This blog post, by Melissa Sugar at her site HAVE YOU HEARD for the AtoZChallenge on R-Day, is an excellent commentary on the practice of submitting book reviews. Please hop on over to her site and read:

The Truth about Amazon Reviews: How to Write an Authentic Review

Have You Heard: The Truth about Amazon Reviews: How to Write an Au...: Do Amazon Reviews Really Help Authors' Sales R - Reviews The number one thing to remember is that it’s simple. You don’t have t...

http://www.melissasugarwrites.com/2016/04/the-truth-about-amazon-reviews-how-to.html

 

 

 

A is for APRIL A-TO-Z CHALLENGE MONTH #AtoZChallenge

What is the April A to Z Challenge?

 

The brainchild of Arlee Bird, at Tossing it Out, the A to Z Challenge is posting every day in April except Sundays (we get those off for good behavior.) And since there are 26 days, that matches the 26 letters of the alphabet. On April 1, blog about something that begins with the letter “A.” April 2 is “B,” April 4 is “C,” and so on. You can use a theme for the month or go random – just as long as it matches the letter of the alphabet for the day.


For this year's challenge, my theme is The Fun in Writing. Each of my 26 posts for April is aimed at illustrating fun parts of an author's day. A writer doesn't only write. Creating a story or an essay requires research, revision, editing, and lots of coffee and chocolate. For me, the chocolate part keeps me going like an energizer hare (although, between hair touch-ups, a more appropriate analogy might be old grey mare!)

*****   *****   *****

One of the most fun things a writer can do is to participate in the annual April A to Z Challenge. You will accomplish a valuable goal. And, as a blogger, you encounter a new writing technique.

By blocking your inner editor, you allow thoughts to rise from your subconscious. You have a plethora of information stored in your mind that has been accumulating since before you were aware of thought processes. Allowing thoughts to flow freely onto the page/computer screen is comparable to opening a water faucet. If you stop in mid-stream, starting to write again becomes more difficult. Thoughts that only started to surface may sink and be lost forever.

As long as you don't obstruct the stream of words, more will come.

This means not editing while you are writing the first draft of your blog post, essay, short story, or novel. The story is in your head. Let it flow onto the page.

 

BUT ... BUT ... aren’t you supposed to

Edit! Edit! Edit!

Isn’t writing all about editing!?

Yes, ULTIMATELY.

But you can’t edit what’s in your head. You need to see it on paper!

 

Writing 26 posts for the month of April is a terrific way to begin writing faster, and an excellent method for developing a new habit, one that will serve you well throughout your writing career.

 

If you want to be a writer, you must write . . . regularly.

The best way to do that is to discover

The Fun in Writing

 

Davy Crochet having fun with April A to Z Blogging Challenge

 

 

THE MYSTERY OF "PAYING IT FORWARD"

 

There should be no mystery in the concept of “Paying It Forward”! 

When someone gives us a leg-up, helping us in our writing careers, it only makes sense to pay forward the favor or compliment. As favors come full-circle, everyone benefits with plenty of satisfaction and success for everyone. 

           

The Makiki Community Library in Honolulu generously allows our Sisters in Crime/Hawaii group to hold monthly meetings at the library. As a way to show support for the library’s generosity, many of the SinC/HI members are also members of the library and donate their published books to the library for the public to enjoy. 

Sisters in Crime, Inc., the national organization, "Pays It Forward" with its “We Love Libraries” contest. They present winning libraries around the country with grants to purchase books for their library. With encouragement from SinC/Hawaii, Makiki Library entered the contest and became a lucky winner, a satisfying example of how “Paying It Forward” came full circle.
 

           

"Paying It Forward" can be as easy as offering a heartfelt “mahalo” or “thank you” to someone who offers advice or a compliment. Recently, I received all the chocolate candy I could eat in two hours (during a Sisters in Crime/Hawaii meeting!) after performing the simple task of showing interest in a fellow writer’s WIP.

             

Hawai'i-based Mystery Author Toby Neal recently demonstrated “Paying It Forward” when Amazon contacted her about participating in their new program. As the author of the Lei Crime series, she is one of only a select group of authors asked to launch a Kindle World. https://kindleworlds.amazon.com/ 

To Pay-It-Forward, Toby invited some of her author friends to share in the world of Hawaiian Islands Detective Lei Texeira by contributing stories for publication to her Lei Crime Series Kindle World. Not everyone was prepared to accept her generous offer at this time, but it was a privilege to be asked and to know the offer still stands. 

Toby describes Kindle Worlds on her web page as: “a wonderful new place on the Amazon site where any writer can develop stories within an established World of known characters.” You can visit Toby at her web site here: http://tobyneal.net/

             

I will be posting “Pay It Forward” stories here on the first and third Monday of each month beginning in September. If you want to share one of your own stories, please contact me at my email address. 

           

 

SinC/Hawaii: A Group of Sisters & Misters!

Sisters in Crime/Hawaii, a group of readers and authors, will participate as exhibitors at the Hawaii Book and Music Festival next week-end, May 18-19, 2013, on the grounds of Honolulu Hale. At our booth, local members will offer information about our organization and promote Sisters in Crime, both SinC, Inc. the International Organization http://www.sistersincrime.org/ and the SinC/Hawaii Chapter http://sisters-in-crimehawaii.blogspot.com/p/home.html. Member authors will display their published novels and have books available for purchase.

Honolulu Arts Beat, a popular Hawaii blog site, lists the participating SinC/Hawaii authors and their books. You can visit the site at: http://www.honoluluartsbeat.com/Honolulu_Arts_Beat/Book_%26_Music_Fest.html 

The Hawaii Book and Music Festival website lists all of the authors who will appear at the Author Pavilions on Saturday May 18 and Sunday May 19. The website for listings, times, and site map is: http://hawaiibookandmusicfestival.com/

 

 

Sisters in Crime/Hawaii has been invited to present a panel discussion at the Author Pavilion Mauka on Saturday, May 18 at 1 p.m.  The panel discussion topic is “Why Do Men Join Sisters in Crime?” It will be a lively 55 minutes with time for audience questions.

 

Please join authors Ray Pace, Laurie Hanan, Gene Parola, and Gail Baugniet at

Hawaii Book and Music Festival and learn why Sisters in Crime/Hawaii is

a group of Sisters and Misters!

 

 

 

Liebster Blog Award 2013!

Recently, my friend Sandra Nikolai nominated me for the Liebster award. Sandra is the author of False Impressions, her first mystery novel in a series featuring Megan Scott and Michael Elliott. Thank you for the nomination, Sandra!

 

As required of the Liebster nominee, I have pasted the Liebster award in my blog post and will provide a link back to the nominator's blog. In my case, it is  Sandra Nikolai

 

Next I am to answer the 11 questions asked by the person who nominated me, Sandra Nikolai, then compose 11 new questions and nominate 11 more friends to join in the party. The idea is to have fun and introduce new people to your blog site. Sounds like a win-win situation to me! 

Here are the 11 questions Sandra posed for her 11 lucky Nominees, along with my responses:

1. Are you a morning person?

Yes, I am awake by 6, just takes awhile to get oriented enough to make coffee! However, I am also a night person. It is the in-between hours that are not always so productive.

2. What inspires you to blog?

Questionnaires like this one are inspiring. I also like to talk about things related to my home state Wisconsin) and adopted home state (Hawaii.) 

3. What is your current or next WIP about?

My current WIP is the third novel in my Pepper Bibeau mystery series. The story is set in Hawaii. I did much of the initial research several years ago when I visited The Big Island, specifically with a novel in mind. I participated in NaNoWriMo for the first time in 2012 and used that research material as the basis for writing this first draft.  

4. What is the one thing you’d like to do but haven’t had the opportunity?

Study the stars. When I moved to Hawaii, it seemed inevitable that I would become an amateur astronomer. But after settling in Honolulu, I quickly learned one thing it had in common was any major city was too much artificial light to see stars.  

5. Name one of your favorite fictional characters and explain your choice.

Huckleberry Finn has always been one of my favorite characters. To me, his name represents independence. I often dreamed of floating down the mighty Mis’isip, stopping to visit towns along the way, and living a thoroughly carefree life.  

6. What is your pet peeve?

Sudden unnecessary noises, like a slamming door or squealing automobile tires. 

7. What would be your ideal holiday getaway?

A spa retreat with no set schedule - I could choice what I wanted to do when I wanted to do it.

8. Who/what did you want to be when you grew up?

Connie Stevens in the television show ‘Hawaiian Eye’. She was talented, independent, beautiful, and always smiling! What more could a girl ask for? 

9. What is your biggest regret?

Aside from not being Connie Stevens? No regrets. The mistakes and misfires only make the successes stand out that much more vividly.  

10. Name two of your favorite cities in the world.

Paris and Bruge (It’s in Belgium . . . that’s a line from the movie, In Bruge.) 

11. What are the best five words that would describe you?

Happy; Motivated (sporadically); Chocolate-addict; mystery-lover; Aloha  

 

Now, here are the 11 new questions I complied for 11 of my friends:

1. As a writer, do your male characters more often resemble Tom Cruise or Tom Hanks?

2. For the majority of the novels you read, do you prefer the print or ebook format?

3. If your latest novel were made into a screenplay, would your story be best served by hiring director Steven Spielberg or Ang Lee?

4. Knowing you must travel to the location for research, where would you set your next story?

5. Is sending a written letter via the postal service a thing of your past?

6. For 50% of the DVDs you rent or buy, what is the genre?

7. Would you walk a mile for an ice cream cone or reach for an apple in the refrigerator?

8. What is your favorite part of attending a carnival?

9. Most tempting: Banana Split or Hot Fudge Sundae?

10. Do you buy gifts for others that you would like to receive?

11. What is your current or next WIP about?       

 

And now, the list of Nominees I have chosed to accept this challenge:

A. Joyce Schneider @JoyceSchneider1 http://www.thecookandthecardiologist.com/thecookandthecardiologist.com/Embryo.html

B. Karin Kaufman @KarinKaufman http://www.karin-kaufman.blogspot.com/

C. Carole Sutton @cazutt http://casutton.tripod.com/cazutt/

D. Kenneth Hoss @KennHoss http://kenhoss.blogspot.com/

E. Elizabeth Wilder @eewilder http://www.virtual-zen.com/the_spruce_gum_box

F. Richard Weatherly @RichWeatherly43 http://richweatherly.wordpress.com/

G. Laurie Hanan @LaurieHanan http://westoftheequator.wordpress.com/

H. Stella Atrium @SAtrium http://stellaatrium.com/

I. Stacy Juba @stacyjuba http://stacyjuba.com/blog/

J. Cynthia Meyers-Hanson @Hanson8046 http://mchanson714.weebly.com/index.html

K. Alison Bruce @alisonebruce http://www.alisonbruce.ca/

 

Reviews: Proof Required When Told What to Think

Reading books and writing reviews are fun for me. My reviews are not, by any stretch of the imagination, professionally rendered. Like this blog post, all reflect my opinions about a book I enjoyed reading. If the story has merit and the author’s writing style appeals to me, I will submit a review with a five- or four star rating.

The following may deserve a “Get A Life” response: I love to read book reviews. Now that Amazon has made it so convenient to access reviews, I take pleasure in reading them. I don’t read all the reviews, mostly those with one- and two-stars because those are the most entertaining. What prompted me to write this article today is one review in particular I just read - for a novel I will not name. My comments are not directed at the author’s writing (that is not my point here) but at the reviewer’s remarks. More accurately, they address one remark in particular.

First, let me say that the novel in question received numerous four- and five-star reviews (deserved or undeserved - again not my point.) Second, the one- and two-star reviews often reveal more about the reviewer than the novel being reviewed. The one-star review remark that energized me to write about it? This: 

“I’ve downloaded a hundred books and never bothered to write a review but I HAD to for this one.” 

This one remark seems to encapsulate what so many authors are tweeting and facebooking and linkeding and pinteresting about. It drew my attention NOT BECAUSE this particular person did not like the novel and wrote a one-star review but BECAUSE this particular person read (or at least downloaded) ninety-nine other books and “never bothered to write a review” for any one of those books that offered pleasant reading or compelling thought for that reader. 

Voracious readers and book bloggers cannot write a review for every book they write. That is why they choose to write reviews for the books they do like. It is also fair to write an honest one-star review. But only writing a review when a novel so enrages the reader that it becomes a moral obligation to tell the world of the outrage? Wouldn’t that hurt the reader more than the author or the novel being reviewed? 

Unless there are thousands of people out there like me who leaf through page after page of good reviews looking for the more entertaining comments, then the main benefit of writing a one-star review is for the reviewer to vent an emotional reaction to a story the reader found lacking. But how does that affect the sale of the book? The following BEST-SELLER books (none the focus of this post) received numerous one- and two-star reviews: 

 

The Hunger Games - 8875 reviews - #11 Paid in Kindle Store; (overall 4.5-star rating)

No Easy Day - 478 reviews - #4 Paid in Kindle Store; (overall 4-star rating)

Twilight Book 1 - 5465 reviews - #834 Paid in Kindle Store; (overall 4-star rating)

Fifty Shades of Grey - 12,256 reviews - #2 Paid in Kindle Store; (overall 3-star rating) 

On the highway, a vehicle accident draws stares, cars slow and people gawk. When the traffic officer tells drivers, “Move on, there is nothing worth seeing here,” that only makes people look harder. After all, it is human nature to require proof of statements that tell us what to think or do. This same principle applies to one-star reviews. The reaction is “How can a novel be THAT BAD?” or “If this novel so incited the reviewer, I’ve got to check it out for myself.” 

Good or bad, Word of Mouth and Reviews sell books.

 

Week #2 of THE NEXT BIG THING



Merit Jewel Range

THE NEXT BIG THING is a fun blog event of 10 questions. Laurie Hanan, author of the Louise Golden Mysteries http://westoftheequator.wordpress.com/ invited me to participate in the questionnaire. The event began here in Hawaii with our good friend Toby Neal, author of The Lei Crime Series http://www.tobyneal.net/

Here’s the plan:

***Answer ten questions about a current Work In Progress. (See below for full list of questions) ***Tag five other writers and link their blogs so we can all hop over and read their answers. It’s that simple.

I’ve chosen to answer one question per week with a goal of publishing the second novel in my Pepper Bibeau mystery series at the time I post the final question and answer.

Here is Question #2 of The Next Big Thing:

TNBT: Where did the idea for your novel, DIFFERENT IN DEGREE, come from?

GAIL: The idea for my second novel began to blossom while I edited the manuscript for my first novel. In one scene of FOR EVERY ACTION, Insurance Investigator Pepper Bibeau makes this comparison:

In my experience, genealogy research mirrors insurance investigation. Both require an interpretation of facts to fill in the gaps.

After re-reading those lines several times, I decided the second novel would include some of Pepper’s family members. Though Pepper was born in Hawaii, she moved to Wisconsin after the death of her father, an Army-Air Force pilot who dies in a plane crash when Pepper is four years old.

The adage, write what you know, applies here. Wisconsin is my home state, and I am most familiar with the towns settled along the shores of Lake Michigan. My niece once owned a farmhouse that had an old summer kitchen attached to the main kitchen. The floor was unfinished, a rickety wooden work table graced the center of the space, and cobwebs decorated a black cook stove against the back wall.

The disrepair of the room created in my mind a perfect final resting place for family skeletons. That thought sparked the idea for my next novel. Could deceit and murder be far behind?

And now, five awesome writers whose work you want to watch:

1. Stella Baker (Mystery) www.stellabaker.com

2. Maureen Gerber (Mystery/Suspense) http://mhgerberbooks.blogspot.com/

3. Ellen Stockdale Wolfe (Author and Artist) http://stockdalewolfe.myexpose.com

4. Erik Hanberg on Amazon (Mystery)

5. Michele Drier (Mystery/) http://www.amazon.com/Michele-Drier/e/B005D2YC8G/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1 

The full questionnaire for THE NEXT BIG THING:

What is the title of your book?

Where did the idea for the book come from?

What genre would your book fall under?
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Is your book published or represented?
How long did it take you to write?
What other books within your genre would you compare it to?
Which authors inspired you to write this book?
Tell us anything else that might pique our interest in your book.

http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Orchids-Crime-Series-ebook/dp/B006FBDHG2/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1341460044&sr=1-2&keywords=Blood+Orchid

Funny Bones, Making Bones, Dem Bones

The National Book Award winners were announced on Wednesday and Jesmyn Ward won an award for her novel “Salvage the Bones” about a pregnant teen living on Mississippi’s gulf coast around the time of Hurricane Katrina. I immediately added the title to my TBR list. (Salvage The Bones: A Novel by Jesmyn Ward)

The reason for adding the book to my list wasn’t only because it had won this prestigious award or for my fascination with Hurricane Katrina. For years, books with the word ‘bones’ in the title have been like flashing neon signs for me. I’ve read most of Kathy Reichs’ Bones novels; after watching Seeley Booth race down an embankment to rescue ‘Bones’ from a car buried in gravel, how could I resist?

Before Temperance Brennan, though, I had already read several other books with the skeletal reference included within the title. Recently, I purchased an e-book without realizing a subliminal attraction was the specific word in its title: The Bones of the Kuhina Nui by Michael A Herr.

Unable to select an absolute favorite from the ‘Bones’ books I have read, I am listing my top choices - in no particular order.

Bone Cold by Erica Spindler
The Bone Collector by Jeffrey Deaver
The Bone Garden: A Novel by Tess Gerritsen
Winter’s Bone: A Novel by Daniel Woodrell
City of Bones by Michael Connelly
Bones by Max Allan Collins and Kathy Reichs
Bag of Bones by Stephen King
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg
Bones by Jan Burke

Do you have a favorite “Bones” book to recommend? Or a word that pops up often in your list of titles?