Thoughts On 'A Reading Challenge,' October Cancer Month, and bonus Haiku

 

When I set my Goodreads challenge to read and review 71 books between October 22, 2015 and October 22, 2016, I saw no problem in reaching the goal. Reading is a large part of my life, never a chore or a drain on my time and energy. If anything, I should feel guilty for reading while the laundry awaits. But Stephen King gave all authors the green light by saying we should write for four hours and read for four hours every day. Thanks, guy!

The Importance of Book Reviews

 

Book reviews are helpful to authors but are especially important for readers. A review can help a reader decide whether a book will be worth their allotted reading time. It can also raise their awareness of a story that will thoroughly entertain them. Your review can save another reader from thinking, "It wasn't at all what I expected."

 

Setting goals gets me a lot farther than not setting them. Although my bar for 2017 won't be quite as high, I'll never stop reading and reviewing books. 

 

Book #71 of my 71-Books Goal for 2016

 

During the Makiki Community Library 40th Anniversary Celebration in September, a local author introduced herself to members of the Sisters in Crime/Hawaii Chapter. We were holding discussions on various writing topics over a two-day period. Janet attended a couple of the sessions. During open forum, she shared her experience about being diagnosed with terminal cancer -- twenty-five years ago. She told us about the short memoir she had published on Amazon as an e-Book. After hearing about her ordeal, along with everything she is doing now to enjoy life to the fullest, I couldn't wait to read the book. My 5-Star review follows.

 

 

SURVIVING "TERMINAL CANCER"
by
Janet R. Shaw

 

The amount of information included in this short book is amazing. The author shares her experiences, from the time her doctor informs her that she has terminal breast cancer and will soon die, through the emotional upheaval to the life-saving decisions she made on her own. I purchased the book after meeting Janet at the Makiki Community Library 40th Anniversary celebration in September. She didn't stay long because she didn't want to lose her spot in the community pool where she swims on a regular basis.

Nothing overtly supernatural presents itself in the author's story of SURVIVING "TERMINAL" CANCER, but she gives readers enough information to form their own opinion as to whether there is a miracle involved.

 

 

Pink hibiscus smiles
Greetings on my autumn walk
 Honolulu style


 

 

 

October

is

Breast Cancer Awareness month

 

Why not treat yourself to Janet's book today!

 

 *****     *****     *****

Link to my Goodreads Challenge list and Janet's book:

https://www.goodreads.com/challenges/show/3890-2016-reading-challenge

 

 

 

 

Congratulations: Goodreads WINNERS of Blood Red Homicide!

Today I want to thank all of the Goodreads members who participated in the Goodreads Giveaway contest for my latest Pepper Bibeau mystery, BLOOD RED HOMICIDE.

 This year, I published two mystery novels in the series. NESHOTO JUNCTION HOMICIDE came out in January and is dedicated to my father, who would have celebrated his 100th birthday that month. BLOOD RED HOMICIDE was published in June to celebrate the 100th anniversary of my mother's birth. I am especially pleased with the amount of interest taken in the printed copy of these to books honoring my parents.

NESHOTO JUNCTION HOMICIDE is set in my old stomping grounds. The title reflects an ancient name applied to the area where two meandering rivers meet before flowing gently into the Great Lakes' fresh waters of Lake Michigan

The Goodreads Giveaway contest ran from July 19 to August 9. These dates encompassed most of the days I spent in my birth state of Wisconsin for a family reunion and lots of activities with family and friends. Who better to boost your confidence in this competitive world than those who know you best? One event of note was touring the Packers stadium and museum in Green Bay. My healthiest routine was raiding niece Nikki's raspberry patch for breakfast each morning!

Goodreads has chosen the winners of the three copies of BLOOD RED HOMICIDE offered in the giveaway. The winners have been announced and I want to congratulate each of the Goodreads members who displayed an interest in my work by participating in the contest!

CONGRATULATIONS to the WINNERS

who are:

 

SHERRY FRYMAN

 

KATHRYN FARRINGTON

 

LISA COBB SABATINI

 

 

 



Again, thank you to everyone who participated in the Goodreads Giveaway. To show my appreciation for your interest in reading BLOOD RED HOMICIDE, the kindle edition will be on sale for $.99 through Sunday, August 21, 2016. Just click on the cover to the right  >  >  >  >  >  >  >



THE SUBJECTIVE NATURE OF BOOK REVIEWS

Every story is appreciated from a different point of view, such as age range, life experience, and frame of mind. A novel you read in high school or college might appeal to you in a different way today. You may enjoy a story set in Florence more if you are anticipating a trip to Italy. A book having a subplot about alcoholism will carry a stronger message for someone with personal experience in that area. For these reasons, one person’s opinion of a novel will not necessarily mesh with that of another. 

Book reviews are subjective. They reflect the honest opinion of the reader composing the review. The opinion itself, therefore, cannot be considered invalid because someone disagrees with the review. 

With that thought in mind, I welcome your comments on the books I review.

The genre I most enjoy reading is Mystery, along with its many sub-genres, including: Hard-boiled, Traditional Cozy, Suspense, Thriller, and Police Procedural. Over the years, subgenres of these subgenres have sprung up. Within the Traditional Cozy, there are now Food Cozies and Cat Cozies; thrillers include Medical Thrillers and Psychological Thrillers. I describe my own novels as yet another sub-genre:

 

      “Soft-boiled mysteries can be murder!”

 

 

The mystery genre takes up a large portion of my book shelf. Figuratively speaking, that is, as my E-book collection now far outnumbers my paperback and hardcover collection.

 

Beginning Friday, October 2, 2015, my book reviews will include a mix of genres, representing classical, contemporary, traditional, self-published, fiction and non-fiction works.
 

Please plan to join me on the lanai.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Any Publicity is Good Publicity

Amazon has this relatively new promotion (Jan. 2014) called Kindle First. Each month, four upcoming kindle releases are offered for $1.99. I always look forward to reading the synopsis of each novel, understandably biased as it is written by the book’s editor. My choice for June is The Fracking King: A Novel. I might have leaned more toward the mystery, Supreme Justice, except for two reasons. 

The first reason is that I’ve followed the news about fracking within the United States and look forward to reading the author’s treatment of this controversial practice. The second reason involves a “review” submitted by someone who believes the author of The Fracking King: A Novel should do more research due to the spelling of a word in the book’s title (for the record it is spelled correctly.) The comment has led to a “review discussion.” 

 

 

First, let me say it is not my idea of entertainment to read critical remarks or faint praise meant to discredit an author’s work. Having been on the receiving end, I know the potential damage such a review can cause to an author’s self-esteem or credibility. Low-star reviews offering no substantiating insight, however, reflect the mindset of the reviewer far more than they reveal the worth of the book being reviewed. 

A reviewer’s opinion falls under the heading of free speech, a constitutionally guaranteed inalienable right. Opinion connotes view, estimation, belief, judgment, attitude, and outlook. Opinion does not signify fact, absolute, dogma, or law. 

Granted, at times I have decided against purchasing a book when credibly written low-star reviews outnumbered axe grinding low-star reviews. On the other hand, a large number of high-star reviews suggests to me that the author has succeeded in reaching their target audience, something all authors aspire to and admire in others. In that case, my responsibility is to determine if the book targets my interests.

A high-star review has never convinced me to buy a book that didn’t interest me, and no low-star review will ever stop me from buying a book I want to read. Therefore, are reviews worth anything more than unlimited entertainment and insight into the human psyche? Definitely!

Reviews confirm that people are reading the book and sharing their opinions with others. Contrary to popular belief concerning the “word of mouth” theory, not everyone who hears an opinion agrees with it. Some people like to form an opinion based on their own criteria. Whether they ultimately agree with the “word of mouth” opinion or reach a different conclusion, one thing still holds true.

 

Any publicity is good publicity.

 

 

This is my opinion on book reviews and publicity. I would love to hear yours.

 

 

 

MARKETING THROUGH the SET-BACKS

 

It is the first Wednesday of the month and time for the Insecure Writers Support Group, a group of writers I've watched from afar for some months and finally joined last month. Insecurity doesn't always display itself surrounded by pink neon lights. It creeps up or jumps out of closets at the most inopportune time. Marketing brings it on for me.

Do you know what is harder than marketing a novel? Continuing to market a novel after you get a less-than-stellar book review or when someone points out a seemingly “fatal flaw” in your published story.

It doesn’t matter how expert I’ve become at rationalizing, I still wake up in the early morning hours trying to justify my work so I can confidently move forward again.



The difficulty of merging into
marketing mode again

It wouldn’t be so bad if I'd gained some traction with a time-tested marketing strategy. But doing the actual writing puts me so far into the brake-down lane that it is difficult to get back up to speed and merge into marketing mode again.

One area of social media that feels more like a game to me though is Pinterest. When I came across a suggestion (from Lori Sailiata on Google+  http://bit.ly/1i0kMr4 ) about using the picture boards to market my novels, a thought popped into my mind almost in the form of a dialogue bubble:

Soon I was having fun again, knowing the hours “wasted” gathering relevant photographs was actually strategic marketing time well-spent. Compiling the boards has also rekindled my interest in the characters and story plotlines, so my marketing is more focused on significant scenes. 

One of the new boards, for my novel DEADLY AS NATURE, is available for viewing on Pinterest: http://bit.ly/1fnJsYH 

How do you get past that “sinking feeling” after hitting a stumbling block in marketing?

". . . loved the novel," the mystery aficionado said.

One of the most rewarding areas of writing a novel, after the editing and formatting have culminated in the actual publishing process, is hearing from someone who "loved the book." Whether the comment -read that compliment - is heard in conversation, read in an email, or discovered in a review, it not only makes me feel good, it validates the hours of writing and research that went into the story’s creation. The warmth of those words spreads like the branches of a mighty Koa tree.

The reviews I have received are like little treasures in my pocket, or maybe even jewels in my pointy cardboard crown. Having a reader mention that descriptions “are detailed and colorful,” or that the novel is “filled with intriguing characters,” ramps up my energy and sends me straight to the word processor for an extended writing session on my latest Work-in-Progress. 

Another event I find rewarding is a book giveaway attached to an author interview. Recently, I had the wonderful opportunity of appearing on Laurie’s Non-paranormal Thoughts and Reviews:

http://lauries-interviews.blogspot.com/2012/12/deadly-as-nature-by-gail-m-baugniet_8.html

She arranged a giveaway for copies of my novel, DEADLY AS NATURE, in print and digital format. Laurie announced the winners today and I quickly arranged to have the digital copies sent out. That makes me want to head straight for the word processor again. 

Thank you to everyone who visited Laurie’s blog site during the weeks I was featured. To the winners, I extend a heartfelt Congratulations and Aloha; to Laurie, Mahalo Nui Loa. 

The first draft of the third novel in my Pepper Bibeau Mystery Series is complete, thanks to the incentive of NaNoWriMo and an additional drive at the beginning of December. Now that the holidays are concluded, and Valentine’s Day is a hazy dot on the horizon, it is time to revisit the manuscript. It’s not all fun and games, but with the excitement of contests and book reviews, it does often seem that way!

 

Working cover and title

of third Pepper Bibeau mystery

for NaNoWriMo

 

 

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.