L.T. Marshall's Blog, page 31
February 18, 2019
Bloggers And Book Reviews
I wasn’t intending writing a second blog post today but the past day or so I am repeatedly seeing posts on my social media about bloggers. There is a vast amount of you talking about the fact bloggers are not viable book reviewers. Since when?
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I have no idea where this started, or what was said as I cannot find the source and no one seems to actually know where it came from. I have asked around. I do feel however as an author and a reader I want to add my voice to the crowd and make my stance on this matter clear.
Bloggers are a valuable source of not only honest book reviews, but often a good basis to find new books I may never have come upon alone.
I remember a month or two back, a publisher on twitter made a very scathing statement about the validity of bloggers in the book community and met the anger of many authors and bloggers side by side, including me. That post lasted days and the outrage could be felt through the community.
I am saddened to find that this has happened again and bloggers should not have to keep justifying their existence.
As I said in previous blog posts – Bloggers do a very important job for my books. I started out as a no-one and through the voices of small bloggers I found my feet. I found my fan base and it grows still due to the fact some of those fans blog their reviews. They find more ground to travel because of bloggers.
The reviews are refreshing with their honesty, and I would happily work alongside bloggers every day of the week. The process is enjoyable.
I don’t know who first stated their reviews were invalid but I want to tell you that the majority of authors, readers and even publishing houses disagree.
You have a very important role and I can vouch for your usefulness to my books.
I may not always like certain personalities in the blogger world but I respect their profession and would still read their reviews and buy books based on them. I still do. We may never interact again but I admire their skill in book reviewing and their voices in the community. I harbour no ill will to anyone.
Even with recent drama and such I still maintain bloggers are a huge valuable part of this community and have a huge amount of worth. I am pleased to see even the big name publishers agree. Without you, there is no me.
Exposure is exposure.
Your reviews are often thorough, less pompous and far more honest than many paid critics on media platforms. Some of my favourite bloggers have a completely different perspective on some books I have read and find reading them quite an eye opening experience. Some of you have so much passion for the books within your reviews that even if it is not something I would have normally read, you make me want to.
Do not be disheartened by this.
Keep doing what you are doing.
You are valued by those of us who matter. Your followers are not just readers, but authors and other bloggers too.
I spend my days chatting to key bloggers I have read and followed for a while, they add smiles to my day and are always so eager to help. These are my friends, part of the community I love.
If a blog review is not valid, then does that mean reader reviews aren’t either? On Amazon, Goodreads, iTunes? If that’s true why do publishing houses and authors alike try to get as many of them as we can?
Because they are valuable, and valid…….. there is no argument in that.
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My Copies Of Just Rose!!
I received my copies of Just Rose today and I am so in love with the finished product.
This is a relaunch of the book after a long haul from memory box, to publisher, to indie release and now under the loving care of Pict publishing.
I was so excited to unbox these beauties and will be organising some sort of giveaway in the near future to properly celebrate the fact she is finally done and out there for all to share.
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She symbolises a long journey for me really, a great mark of achievement, as she was the first book I wrote when I came back to writing. After years of being told that a dyslexic writer would never get anywhere. Here I am.
She was the book at 15 I penned on paper, typed on my first PC at 16 and was offered publishing for at 17 via one of the big 5 publishers. I stupidly thought that getting an offer was easy, considering I only posted this manuscript to 3 places and got positive responses from all 3. I was very blind to the realities of publishing and realise how stupid turning down that offer was.
I ran off and joined a girl band instead, as all clever, sane, smart girls do and abandoned the 5 novels I had written in my early teens to gather dust while I had myself an adventurous life. I can’t complain – it has fuelled every book I have written in the last two years.
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Two years ago I decided to revisit Just Rose (named ‘Thorns of a Rose’ back then) when I came across the original in my memory box. Pages and pages of innocent writing from an obviously very young girl. A girl with no real insight to the complexity of love and relationships.
I rewrote, revamped and changed many of the characters names and personalities, while still keeping the original plot in tact.
I had grown so much from that book. The influences of my difficult life in childhood shone through the pages in a rather alarming way and made me realise that my thought process, and what I believed in men was acceptable, had done a complete 360 turn around.
I reinvented Rob. Made him a hero worthy of Rose.
I also highlighted the mental health awareness in this book with a much more delicate hand than my former 15 year old self.
More importantly, Just Rose was based in the small highland village where I spent my teens. A real small town cosy community and made the book so much more special now that I live back in the central area of Scotland. It really does capture a part of my life.
So then Rose was picked up by the first publisher I posted to and spent a good 9-10 months under their care before I decided I wanted her back with my Carrero series, as they were killing it under the care of Pict. I got her back and the book was treated as a new manuscript all over again. New editing, proof reading and cover redesign. Although the image is the same as the original it was revamped by the talented Sarah Marie.
So here it is…shiny, new and PINK!!!! Well I have to contrast my Carrero Series and indulge in the other side of my girly.
A book that took 20 years to come to fruition. Grew as I did and symbolised the reinvention of myself and the return to a passion I had once tossed aside.
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The Blurb – Just Rose
The unexpected death of Rose’s beloved aunt ends up being a driving force in her uneventful life. She gives up her lonely, unfulfilled big city existence for the country home and life from cherished childhood memories.
But can it live up to them?
All she wants is to find her place in the world; the happiness and independence she has been searching for. With her little dog Muffin by her side and a much needed new friend, it does seem possible – until an encounter with the handsome local Laird of the Munro Estate sends her spiralling from young professional woman to hormonal bundle of goo.
Their chemistry is undeniable, but with him not seemingly on the market, this might not be the place for her after all.
Thrust into the world of country living, will Rose ever find true love?
In this roller coaster of emotions and a whole lot of country charm, one thing is for sure: Rose is certainly not going to be bored anymore!
Buy the book –
mybook.to/JustRoseLTMarshall
Love the look of this book? Why not join our informal blog tour by clicking here!!!
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February 15, 2019
10 Writing Tips In 10 Days For February.
The last couple of weeks I have been sharing my ten tips for ten days on writing. The likes and shares were phenomenal so I decided to collate them together in one place should you want to use them x
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Do you have any tips for new writers?
Comment and let us know what you have found helps you with your craft.
February 13, 2019
Join Our Informal Blog Tour
We are having ourselves a celebratory blog tour to really send my book ‘Just Rose’ into the bookworld with a bang. She was relaunched in January, and the start of February saw her free promo sky rocket her to the top 125 in the entire UK kindle store, top 15 for 2 big categories and top 50 for one of the biggest in my genre.
The download numbers were awesome and the feedback from the book has been great.
This was not a new book, it had been previously with a publisher and we eventually parted ways as we were not a good fit. I have never given this book the love it deserved as it had so many odd feelings attached to it’s journey for me.
I now aim to let all that go and let this book become as beloved as my series books.
We are putting together an informal blog tour and looking for bloggers all over to join in in the last week of March 2019. We also want Bookstagrammers, Twitter contributors, Facebook book pages and general book lovers who want to join in and post for #JustRose.
You don’t need to review the book, you can participate with an extract or just a promo post. The point is that this is an informal tour, so we are flexible on dates and posts and coming together to have ourselves a happy little book share. I want the smaller people to have the opportunity to join a tour, maybe for the first time. Of course, everyone is welcome.
I have never actually used or been on a blog tour so this is exciting for me. Suggested as a way to celebrate the relaunch.
If you wish to take part, email me using the form here (enquiries must be in by mid day 1st march 2019 )
Over 18 year olds only.
Enquiry form
Those wishing to review will be sent an Ebook at the end of the day on March 1st, so you have a month to read and review. If you do not want to review you will be sent an extract along with the usual press pack to display instead.
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Want to know more about the book?
The blurb
(Contemporary Romance)
The unexpected death of Rose’s beloved aunt ends up being a driving force in her uneventful life. She gives up her lonely, unfulfilled big city existence for the country home and life from cherished childhood memories.
But can it live up to them?
All she wants is to find her place in the world; the happiness and independence she has been searching for. With her little dog Muffin by her side and a much needed new friend, it does seem possible – until an encounter with the handsome local Laird of the Munro Estate sends her spiralling from young professional woman to hormonal bundle of goo.
Their chemistry is undeniable, but with him not seemingly on the market, this might not be the place for her after all.
Thrust into the world of country living, will Rose ever find true love?
In this roller coaster of emotions and a whole lot of country charm, one thing is for sure: Rose is certainly not going to be bored anymore!
Get the book
getBook.at/JustRose
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February 12, 2019
Good Grief Goodreads!
I do not venture over to Goodreads very often, for I have heard it’s the place that authors go to die. Heard very many humourous jibes from fellow authors and after today I can see why.
So I am pretty useless with keeping up with my Goodreads profile and unless I get an email from them asking me to respond to a question, I do not really use it much. I try to occasionally update my books and what not’s but I only read actual Goodreads reviews when readers send me a personal link because they want to know they did read my book. Really, I am lazy and busy and I don’t read my Goodreads reviews very often at all.
I just find it better to not know the content of those reviews unless someone makes a point of asking me to read theirs.
I do however read Amazon and blog reviews, or when I am tagged on Instagram or book groups. There is far more respect I have found on other platforms.
It’s better for my self esteem! LOL
Today however, I was really amped to discover it’s romance week on there and as it’s my genre I decided to trawl it a bit and see what was cooking. Look at some books I want to read and have a nosy while updating my new buys.
Oh boy was that a mistake.
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I am horrified by the amount of reviewers who seem to have a popularity contest going on with the worst kind of scathing reviews.
Is that the norm?
Is that how it works?
The mean girls get the fans?
I have to say I put my ass in reverse, like it was on fire and scooted out of there pronto, before I was blinded by the stain of so much nasty.
Don’t get me wrong, a lot, in fact, an overwhelming majority on there are genuine reviewers and readers and some of the reviews warm the cockles of your heart, but the sour taste is definitely a hindrance.
Authors I respect and love have all been hit at least once or twice by the popular ‘hate reviews’ yes even me. GASP…I know. I actually expected more LMAO
I am lucky in that generally after an initial ‘WOW’ moment I tend to not dwell on bad reviews, it’s part of the writer life but I know many authors who fair very badly with such things.
Writers tend to be very anti social or anxious folks at the best of times and I can only imagine the hurt it could cause someone. Especially an introvert or socially awkward author who doesn’t mingle in support groups to get much needed reassurance that this happens.
I have heard the comical stories of how authors should never stray to ‘dreadreads’ ‘godsakesreads’ or ‘godawfulreads’ and now I can kind of see why.
Books are so personal and contain a piece of an authors heart and soul. It’s almost like ripping their child to shreds in front of their eyes for some.
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So to save my sanity in the future, I will continue to only visit reviews on Goodreads sent via links by readers who would love for me to read them. I do appreciate when you do that and for a long time it allowed me to live in a fantasy bubble of good reviews – let’s continue to do that shall we?
I do hope in the near future Goodreads Daddy, Amazon takes note of the kind of things being posted on their platform and tighten up the etiquette of review posting. There should be a report abuse button at the least so other readers can have extremely personal and nasty reviews monitored or removed.
Personal attacks are not cool.
If you are a writer and you do not venture onto social media into the many writer support groups with us, please do not feel saddened at these reviews. I honestly do not think they are personal, they do seem to be a trend in getting likes, and authors will tell you this happens to the best of us. It’s horrible that it is a ‘thing’ and maybe one day that will change.
I am all for fair reviews though, so if you are in doubt about how to post a negative review, I wrote a helpful post a few months back I would like to share – Bad Review Etiquette
Bad reviews do not have to be overly negative and mean, be kind to one another x
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A New Day. A New Venture.
I am hoping the drama of the last couple of days is finally at rest and as a community we can now move on and continue to support one another. In the best way we know how. No one wants to keep rehashing the negativity and drama.
To move on from that I am so honoured to have been contacted and asked to join a really important website yesterday and would love to share it all with you. It is something close to my heart. I write about all forms of abuse in my books and advocate against more specifically – sexual, violent and childhood abuse. This will be something new and I will be writing a research piece for them on the effects of cyber-bullying in the near future.
It is still in the building stage but it seems this is an issue which hits our community more than people like to verbalise. That as a whole many people keep to themselves when something happens. I have always stood up and been a voice for those who feel they cannot and it gives me great pleasure to find like minded authors.
This is the site.
https://authorsuniteagainstbullies.blogspot.com/
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We have also set up a secret support group on Facebook, although there is a public one too for general conversation. The secret group is by invitation only, for anyone who has suffered at the hands of any kind of bullying in their lifetime. The aim is to create a safe haven for those affected by the isolation of real life or online abuse and find support. You will never be judged or attacked and we hope it will be a means to help those affected by such things, heal.
If you wish to be added to the group (we vet those asking to join for the safety of all) then please add me as a friend on Facebook and send me a pm.
https://www.facebook.com/LTMarshallCarrero It’s still in the first stages of creation so currently very few members.
I want to end this with wishing you all a good day. Let’s make this a better week and get back to what we love – Books!!
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February 11, 2019
A Message To Book Bloggers
In light of the recent events and the removal from groups by admin of any one of us speaking out I want to take this time to give a very important message to the blogger community. It’s been said that we no longer see you as worthy……….
This is actually how we feel about you all.
We authors adore you.We know the majority of you are supportive, warm people with integrity. We value everything you do for us. Without you there is no us, and vice versa.We know the work it involves and we appreciate you all the more for it. You rock.Your pictures rock, be they well staged, and complex, or simple and organic. They are all beautiful.Your reviews are the bomb. We respect those of you who do this with passion and compassion.Keep doing what you are doing in your own unique ways.Keep being the supportive community we have come to love.Some of my very best friends are book bloggers . I love reading the blogs I follow. You are part of my book life. Don’t let fear stop you from blogging about any damn thing you want.
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Defending my name.
It has been brought to my attention that certain bloggers took to their Facebook pages and implied I was lying about the ‘Bullying in the book community’ post.
I was happy to let it go and leave things alone, confident that Sophie was okay and nothing more was going to come from this. I thanked the community for having my back and those who were equally appalled…it was over and I made a lot of new friends. I blocked all that I felt would cause me further drama.
Then there was this –
I was shown Bloggers in this community who were part of the original thread trying to discredit me and shame those who have supported me. More than one, may I add. (this post is cropped to only the bits that matter, the other post is repetitive so only sharing this)
They even try to pass the buck to the YA community?!?!?!? For what exactly?
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I said I would not name and shame and I still won’t. I still stand by my words – I won’t allow an attack on individuals and lower myself to their level of petty.
Please do not ask me for names.
I am merely clearing my name of being called a liar and instigator of drama. As is my right. I am now the one feeling personally attacked for daring to highlight an issue so this is the only reason I am posting this here and have posted them on my FB profile for those who don’t read my blog..
You decide for yourself if this was bullying or banter. Harmless jokes.
If they excluded naming anyone, and it was not a personal attack, like they claim.
I already have been told I will be put in book exile and my books will never see the light of day for speaking out, so I guess the damage is already done.
So if you want to blog about my books send me an email LOL, I may need the help soon enough haha.
These are not my screenshots but I did blank out the names of anyone on the thread to protect identities and I got full permission to share these from the source. There are more of these but you get the jist. I have screenshots in duplicate so I know these are not forged and many have their own.
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This will be the last thing I have to post about this matter, I am so over it. I am not interested in the instigators, I have blocked all of them. I merely want us as a community to clamp down on this BS and not let fear silence us. Stop them trying to discredit those who witnessed something distasteful.
Many are afraid of backlash. Hell I will get it, I already have, but I don’t care.
STOP BULLYING PEOPLE.
PS – If you ever find yourself at the receiving end of internet targeting then there are websites there to help.
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Cyber Bullying UK Click Here
Cyber Bullying International Click Here
February 10, 2019
Thank you for your support
In the last few days following my blog on Bullying in the Book Community I have been inundated with private messages and new followers across all of my social media.
I did nothing that many have not done, and that was speak out when I see something I disagree with. Something harmful to another human.
The huge support I know Sophie has received has been shone my way too and I am so very grateful. It has mended my faith in just how awesome this community really is.
I was removed from a book group where one of the women who originally were part of the thread admins and I felt a need to block the people who are still defending their actions. I know my blocking will result in removal from several more now, but I do not really care. I am cutting negative out of my life in every way.
There is currently a ‘clean up’ in progress, back tracking, deleting of threads and such and I think everyone is trying to make it go away. I wish they would just hold their hands up as respected figureheads, say yes we were wrong, and apologise. For me I would maybe claw back a little respect for them, but instead it’s being covered and pushed away as ‘misconstrued.’
You can stop sending me screenshots, all who witnessed it and the other post in the other groups and subsequent related posts and comments. I have them in duplicate, due to the army of goodhearted bloggers and writers also appalled, but thank you so very much. I do appreciate that you would back me up in this way.
I won’t post them due to being no better than them posting Sophie’s link in the original thread that started all of this. When you name someone on something negative then many people will take it as a prompt to go battle on behalf of you. I do not want that and neither does Sophie. We have to be responsible for our words and influences and not add to the toxic that sometimes raises it’s head. We are influencers… our words can cause damage. My fan base as an author knows that I am an advocate against abuse in it’s many forms, it’s what I write about in my books.
We have to make better role models in our beautiful community.
I set up the #Ifakeit challenge as a way to positively combat this, rather than name and shame and set about a second attack of those in our book world. If you want to show you are against this behaviour – take the challenge, show your solidarity to the girl who was hurt by this. It’s a fun , supportive way to use your voice and will get no backlash. Tag me if you like – https://www.instagram.com/l.t.marshall/
I am completely fine, unscathed and in no need of anyone sticking up for me. I have been invited into new groups, have new followers and new friends from the posting of my blog.
The drama will die down, the posts will stop but many of us will not forget who was at the root. So much respect has been lost whether they know it or not. My inbox is brimming on many accounts which assures me, I will not end up in book exile for having compassion for someone else being targeted.
The opposite in fact. My blog post traffic grows by the day, as does my friends lists xxx
Keep being the awesome, supportive community I know you all can be x
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February 8, 2019
#IFakeIt – Take the challenge.
You are probably wondering what the title of this blog is all about, well it’s in consolidation to a very lovely blogger who shared her tips on achieving the most beautiful pictures by ‘faking’ certain props. I figured it would be a wonderful thing to share tips with everyone, the little things we fake or enhance to make those perfect pictures in all walks of life.
We are a nation of digital media and we all take pictures everyday for our social media platforms.
The challenge is to post a pic and share your #IFakeIt tip underneath. Use the hashtag so we can find one another.
I will go first.
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https://www.instagram.com/p/BkR93Y-hhzp/
I propped this book on a broom handle precariously that was stabbed into my garden flower pot. The daylight is about 4 LED torches aimed down as it was a very grey day in Scotland and had zero sun, we were using an umbrella too as it was raining and I still had to use the filter leveling to make it semi bright.
I love this picture even though it’s not the most artistic, it works for me.
Why not post your own silly tip or quick #IFakeIt post and see what hilarious things we do to make our favourite images.
