Jim Devitt's Blog, page 12
May 27, 2012
Lonely Life? Not as a Writer
Writer.
Lonely?That word looks so lonely. Every author has heard the proverbial, “Writing is the loneliest profession.”
Really.
We spend countless hours in front of the keyboard, with our imaginary and sometimes not so imaginary friends.
Think about it, if you write 750 words per hour (a decent clip, about what I average when I’m rolling) that means in the best case scenario, that’s 133 hours for a 100,000 word novel. In other words if you wrote for a solid five hours per day, it would work out to roughly 27 days—month and a week if you believe in weekends.
Is that realistic? Of course not, there’s research, the internet, life, and let’s not forget social media. Think about it, if you could discipline yourself to do nothing but type words on the computer in the form of a novel for five hours per day, your WIP could be finished in one month. Raise your hand if that’s you!
Now, before you jump down my throat, of course I realize there are revisions, editing, layout, formatting, cover art and the rest. BUT, imagine for a second, that you actually pump out a first draft in a month. Crazy, I know.
I’m rambling a bit today, this has nothing to do with the lonely writer. In a way it does, because it wouldn’t be so lonely if you could write a book a month. But, let’s cool the jets for a second and see where this all leads.
We all write—books are just one of the things that we do. I look at my career and I see that I’ve written my whole life. My first “professional” written piece was an essay on why I wanted to be the batboy for the Seattle Mariners. I won. Hmm, writing wasn’t so lonely back then.
One struggling afternoon of perfecting my 500-word essay and bam—Million Dollar Athlete’s Ya’ll. Seriously, it was anything but lonely after that. I could tell you some stories about those days. Oh, wait, that’s what we do.
In college, grad school and even post college, I was writing all the time. Mainly boring research stuff, but that thrust me into the national spotlight, presenting at conferences, doing radio and TV interviews and I even earned some coin. Definitely—not lonely.
Today, writing has evolved into a career. Yeah, I know, before you jump down my throat again, I still have my day job.
Thanks to fellow IU contributor JD Mader’s inspiration, I’ve jumped into the freelance world. I’m writing a few gigs here and there, building the portfolio. In the past month, that experience has led me to a conclusion—we have a gift. Most people can’t do what we do. I’m not saying that in a egotistical way, it’s just plain true. The masses can’t put experiences, feelings or products into the primary way we communicate, the written word.
It may not be for everyone, but if you are struggling to make ends meet, go ask your dry cleaner, day care center or doctors office, “Do you know what’s a hashtag—or a Pinterest.” There are opportunities all around us.
While I’m out working my “real” job, I’m promoting my writing and social media knowledge. Get some free business cards from VistaPrint and talk to the businesses you use every day. For a few hundred bucks, you can set up the neighborhood business with stuff they only hear about and have no idea how to go about doing.
I just finished working with a nonprofit, setting up a social media platform, the stuff we do every day, Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and so on. They just ran an online donation campaign and brought in $90,000 in ONE DAY! It’s crazy.
We have the ability to touch individual’s lives—to help others. We can translate feelings or mission statements into the written word. We can create something from nothing.
Maybe my WIP isn’t as far along as I want it to be, but the alternative isn’t so bad. Just this week, Brooks and Mader each shared with me examples of where they touched someones life without even knowing. Sometimes, we don’t realize it. I can guarantee you one thing, though. If you are writing—you’re making a difference to someone.
It doesn’t feel so lonely anymore.
This post was originally published at Indies Unlimited on April 21st, 2012
Lonely?That word looks so lonely. Every author has heard the proverbial, “Writing is the loneliest profession.”Really.
We spend countless hours in front of the keyboard, with our imaginary and sometimes not so imaginary friends.
Think about it, if you write 750 words per hour (a decent clip, about what I average when I’m rolling) that means in the best case scenario, that’s 133 hours for a 100,000 word novel. In other words if you wrote for a solid five hours per day, it would work out to roughly 27 days—month and a week if you believe in weekends.
Is that realistic? Of course not, there’s research, the internet, life, and let’s not forget social media. Think about it, if you could discipline yourself to do nothing but type words on the computer in the form of a novel for five hours per day, your WIP could be finished in one month. Raise your hand if that’s you!
Now, before you jump down my throat, of course I realize there are revisions, editing, layout, formatting, cover art and the rest. BUT, imagine for a second, that you actually pump out a first draft in a month. Crazy, I know.
I’m rambling a bit today, this has nothing to do with the lonely writer. In a way it does, because it wouldn’t be so lonely if you could write a book a month. But, let’s cool the jets for a second and see where this all leads.
We all write—books are just one of the things that we do. I look at my career and I see that I’ve written my whole life. My first “professional” written piece was an essay on why I wanted to be the batboy for the Seattle Mariners. I won. Hmm, writing wasn’t so lonely back then.
One struggling afternoon of perfecting my 500-word essay and bam—Million Dollar Athlete’s Ya’ll. Seriously, it was anything but lonely after that. I could tell you some stories about those days. Oh, wait, that’s what we do.
In college, grad school and even post college, I was writing all the time. Mainly boring research stuff, but that thrust me into the national spotlight, presenting at conferences, doing radio and TV interviews and I even earned some coin. Definitely—not lonely.
Today, writing has evolved into a career. Yeah, I know, before you jump down my throat again, I still have my day job.
Thanks to fellow IU contributor JD Mader’s inspiration, I’ve jumped into the freelance world. I’m writing a few gigs here and there, building the portfolio. In the past month, that experience has led me to a conclusion—we have a gift. Most people can’t do what we do. I’m not saying that in a egotistical way, it’s just plain true. The masses can’t put experiences, feelings or products into the primary way we communicate, the written word.
It may not be for everyone, but if you are struggling to make ends meet, go ask your dry cleaner, day care center or doctors office, “Do you know what’s a hashtag—or a Pinterest.” There are opportunities all around us.
While I’m out working my “real” job, I’m promoting my writing and social media knowledge. Get some free business cards from VistaPrint and talk to the businesses you use every day. For a few hundred bucks, you can set up the neighborhood business with stuff they only hear about and have no idea how to go about doing.
I just finished working with a nonprofit, setting up a social media platform, the stuff we do every day, Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and so on. They just ran an online donation campaign and brought in $90,000 in ONE DAY! It’s crazy.
We have the ability to touch individual’s lives—to help others. We can translate feelings or mission statements into the written word. We can create something from nothing.
Maybe my WIP isn’t as far along as I want it to be, but the alternative isn’t so bad. Just this week, Brooks and Mader each shared with me examples of where they touched someones life without even knowing. Sometimes, we don’t realize it. I can guarantee you one thing, though. If you are writing—you’re making a difference to someone.
It doesn’t feel so lonely anymore.
This post was originally published at Indies Unlimited on April 21st, 2012
Writer.Lonely?That word looks so lonely. Every author has...
Writer.
Lonely?That word looks so lonely. Every author has heard the proverbial, “Writing is the loneliest profession.”
Really.
We spend countless hours in front of the keyboard, with our imaginary and sometimes not so imaginary friends.
Think about it, if you write 750 words per hour (a decent clip, about what I average when I’m rolling) that means in the best case scenario, that’s 133 hours for a 100,000 word novel. In other words if you wrote for a solid five hours per day, it would work out to roughly 27 days—month and a week if you believe in weekends.
Is that realistic? Of course not, there’s research, the internet, life, and let’s not forget social media. Think about it, if you could discipline yourself to do nothing but type words on the computer in the form of a novel for five hours per day, your WIP could be finished in one month. Raise your hand if that’s you!
Now, before you jump down my throat, of course I realize there are revisions, editing, layout, formatting, cover art and the rest. BUT, imagine for a second, that you actually pump out a first draft in a month. Crazy, I know.
I’m rambling a bit today, this has nothing to do with the lonely writer. In a way it does, because it wouldn’t be so lonely if you could write a book a month. But, let’s cool the jets for a second and see where this all leads.
We all write—books are just one of the things that we do. I look at my career and I see that I’ve written my whole life. My first “professional” written piece was an essay on why I wanted to be the batboy for the Seattle Mariners. I won. Hmm, writing wasn’t so lonely back then.
One struggling afternoon of perfecting my 500-word essay and bam—Million Dollar Athlete’s Ya’ll. Seriously, it was anything but lonely after that. I could tell you some stories about those days. Oh, wait, that’s what we do.
In college, grad school and even post college, I was writing all the time. Mainly boring research stuff, but that thrust me into the national spotlight, presenting at conferences, doing radio and TV interviews and I even earned some coin. Definitely—not lonely.
Today, writing has evolved into a career. Yeah, I know, before you jump down my throat again, I still have my day job.
Thanks to fellow IU contributor JD Mader’s inspiration, I’ve jumped into the freelance world. I’m writing a few gigs here and there, building the portfolio. In the past month, that experience has led me to a conclusion—we have a gift. Most people can’t do what we do. I’m not saying that in a egotistical way, it’s just plain true. The masses can’t put experiences, feelings or products into the primary way we communicate, the written word.
It may not be for everyone, but if you are struggling to make ends meet, go ask your dry cleaner, day care center or doctors office, “Do you know what’s a hashtag—or a Pinterest.” There are opportunities all around us.
While I’m out working my “real” job, I’m promoting my writing and social media knowledge. Get some free business cards from VistaPrint and talk to the businesses you use every day. For a few hundred bucks, you can set up the neighborhood business with stuff they only hear about and have no idea how to go about doing.
I just finished working with a nonprofit, setting up a social media platform, the stuff we do every day, Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and so on. They just ran an online donation campaign and brought in $90,000 in ONE DAY! It’s crazy.
We have the ability to touch individual’s lives—to help others. We can translate feelings or mission statements into the written word. We can create something from nothing.
Maybe my WIP isn’t as far along as I want it to be, but the alternative isn’t so bad. Just this week, Brooks and Mader each shared with me examples of where they touched someones life without even knowing. Sometimes, we don’t realize it. I can guarantee you one thing, though. If you are writing—you’re making a difference to someone.
It doesn’t feel so lonely anymore.
This post was originally published at Indies Unlimited on April 21st, 2012
Lonely?That word looks so lonely. Every author has heard the proverbial, “Writing is the loneliest profession.”Really.
We spend countless hours in front of the keyboard, with our imaginary and sometimes not so imaginary friends.
Think about it, if you write 750 words per hour (a decent clip, about what I average when I’m rolling) that means in the best case scenario, that’s 133 hours for a 100,000 word novel. In other words if you wrote for a solid five hours per day, it would work out to roughly 27 days—month and a week if you believe in weekends.
Is that realistic? Of course not, there’s research, the internet, life, and let’s not forget social media. Think about it, if you could discipline yourself to do nothing but type words on the computer in the form of a novel for five hours per day, your WIP could be finished in one month. Raise your hand if that’s you!
Now, before you jump down my throat, of course I realize there are revisions, editing, layout, formatting, cover art and the rest. BUT, imagine for a second, that you actually pump out a first draft in a month. Crazy, I know.
I’m rambling a bit today, this has nothing to do with the lonely writer. In a way it does, because it wouldn’t be so lonely if you could write a book a month. But, let’s cool the jets for a second and see where this all leads.
We all write—books are just one of the things that we do. I look at my career and I see that I’ve written my whole life. My first “professional” written piece was an essay on why I wanted to be the batboy for the Seattle Mariners. I won. Hmm, writing wasn’t so lonely back then.
One struggling afternoon of perfecting my 500-word essay and bam—Million Dollar Athlete’s Ya’ll. Seriously, it was anything but lonely after that. I could tell you some stories about those days. Oh, wait, that’s what we do.
In college, grad school and even post college, I was writing all the time. Mainly boring research stuff, but that thrust me into the national spotlight, presenting at conferences, doing radio and TV interviews and I even earned some coin. Definitely—not lonely.
Today, writing has evolved into a career. Yeah, I know, before you jump down my throat again, I still have my day job.
Thanks to fellow IU contributor JD Mader’s inspiration, I’ve jumped into the freelance world. I’m writing a few gigs here and there, building the portfolio. In the past month, that experience has led me to a conclusion—we have a gift. Most people can’t do what we do. I’m not saying that in a egotistical way, it’s just plain true. The masses can’t put experiences, feelings or products into the primary way we communicate, the written word.
It may not be for everyone, but if you are struggling to make ends meet, go ask your dry cleaner, day care center or doctors office, “Do you know what’s a hashtag—or a Pinterest.” There are opportunities all around us.
While I’m out working my “real” job, I’m promoting my writing and social media knowledge. Get some free business cards from VistaPrint and talk to the businesses you use every day. For a few hundred bucks, you can set up the neighborhood business with stuff they only hear about and have no idea how to go about doing.
I just finished working with a nonprofit, setting up a social media platform, the stuff we do every day, Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and so on. They just ran an online donation campaign and brought in $90,000 in ONE DAY! It’s crazy.
We have the ability to touch individual’s lives—to help others. We can translate feelings or mission statements into the written word. We can create something from nothing.
Maybe my WIP isn’t as far along as I want it to be, but the alternative isn’t so bad. Just this week, Brooks and Mader each shared with me examples of where they touched someones life without even knowing. Sometimes, we don’t realize it. I can guarantee you one thing, though. If you are writing—you’re making a difference to someone.
It doesn’t feel so lonely anymore.
This post was originally published at Indies Unlimited on April 21st, 2012
May 8, 2012
Nice reference letter from a client
Hi All,
I know I've been quiet lately. Lot's going on. I wanted to share with you a letter I received from a non-profit that I worked with on a recent fundraising campaign.
As I've grown in the indie publishing world, I've gotten more involved with social media. This has led to various freelance projects and helping others with developing platforms. Social media is a constant maze that changes almost daily.
In this recent project, I worked with two non-profits to help them set up a social media program and then launch a fundraising campaign. It was a very rewarding project and we were able to help them raise enough money to receive a dollar for dollar match by the WK Kellogg Foundation.
Some nice props from the Southern Partners FundI just received this letter in the mail today. It made my day!
Thanks to Linda and her team for helping make this a truly successful experience.
If you are interested in learning more about working with social media please leave a comment below and I'll be happy to discuss with you.
I know I've been quiet lately. Lot's going on. I wanted to share with you a letter I received from a non-profit that I worked with on a recent fundraising campaign.
As I've grown in the indie publishing world, I've gotten more involved with social media. This has led to various freelance projects and helping others with developing platforms. Social media is a constant maze that changes almost daily.
In this recent project, I worked with two non-profits to help them set up a social media program and then launch a fundraising campaign. It was a very rewarding project and we were able to help them raise enough money to receive a dollar for dollar match by the WK Kellogg Foundation.
Some nice props from the Southern Partners FundI just received this letter in the mail today. It made my day!Thanks to Linda and her team for helping make this a truly successful experience.
If you are interested in learning more about working with social media please leave a comment below and I'll be happy to discuss with you.
March 30, 2012
Amazon Categories and how to become a Bestseller
Bestselling Author … Bestselling Novel … sounds good doesn't it? A few weeks ago, I posted about reviews and their impact on ratings and readers. You can see that post here. Today, I want to discuss the elusive BESTSELLER.This article was originally posted in Indies Unlimited a few weeks ago. Since then, several authors have followed these steps and created a bestseller for themselves in the matter of days.
When you have achieved bestseller status, it is yours for life. No one can take it away. Conveniently, Amazon changes the rankings hourly. Now, many of you might look at that as a negative but all you need is for your book to hit #1 just one time, and even if it drops out after an hour, you've just achieved "bestseller" status.
As with anything in our indie publishing world, you have to know the system before you play the game. First, when you uploaded and published your book, you picked five categories. These have nothing to do with how Amazon ranks your book—they're used in keyword searches for someone browsing topics.
The "category path" is how Amazon determines the rankings. The main ranking that we are used to seeing is the "Paid in Kindle Store." This ranking includes everything from newspapers to games and even Kindle accessories. You can see how important it is to categorize optimally. Why would you want to go up against The New York Times Kindle Edition that has been in the top 100 for almost four years?
So how do you maximize the benefit of Amazon Rankings? Let's break it down. When looking at my Teen/YA novel, The Card, I had multiple options on how to categorize. Below is a breakdown of the each category I considered and the number of books in that category. For example, I had the choice of placing it in the Kindle eBook category of:
Fiction 439,673Sports 17,914Mystery & Detective 56,072
Not much of a choice. Notice the huge number of books in each category. Being a rookie at this, I picked the best categories and away I went.I kept an eye on the rankings and I was frustrated by the fact that my book was showing up at #89 in one of my categories, but when I checked the rankings of similar books (Mike Lupica and Tim Green), mine was nowhere in sight. That was because I wasn't categorized the same way as others in my genre. I showed up higher ranked in the larger, more general category, but was not included in the more specific category.I checked out their category string and I found the following for one of Mike Lupica's baseball books.
Fiction439,673Childrens' Fiction41,315Sports & Activities2,293AND
Children's eBooks58,949Sports & Activities3,372Sports1,079Baseball216
Clearly, the chance for me to hit #1 in the more specific category is much better than the larger, more general, category. I checked my Amazon Bookshelf and the category that I wanted was not available.
Here's the golden nugget in this post. You can have Amazon link you with a non-default string!
If you want the perfect category string that isn't a default in your KDP publishing dashboard, you can have them create it for you manually.
Here's what you need to do:
1. Visit kdp.amazon.com and log into your KDP account. 2. Click the "Actions" button for the title you'd like to update, then click "Edit book details." 3. Scroll down to the "Target Your Book to Customers" section and click "Add categories." 4. Choose the categories on the right side of the screen, then click "Remove category." 5. Scroll down the category list on the left side of the screen, and choose the last category - "NON-CLASSIFIABLE." 6. Click on "Save." 7. Scroll down the page and click "Save and Continue." 8. You'll then be directed to the "Rights & Pricing" section. Check the box at the bottom of the screen to accept the Terms & Conditions, then click "Save and Publish."
I know that this sounds scary, marking your book as "non-classifiable" but have no fear, it works.After you have done this, email kdp-support@amazon.com with the exact path of the categories you wish to add and they will add the categories for your book. For example, after following the above steps, I emailed Amazon with the correct paths as seen below, asking them to set my categories as: Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Children's eBooks > Sports & Activities > Sports > Baseball Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Children's eBooks > Mysteries, Espionage, & Detectives
Be sure to include your ASIN (Amazon ISBN type of number)
As I mentioned before, this post ran previously. From that post, David Antrobus, author of Dissolute Kinship: A 9/11 Roadtrip, followed the above steps. He was sitting at 100,000+ in the paid Kindle list with no categories showing before the change. Although he had initially set up categories, they were broad, default categories. His new categories catapulted him to #4 and ultimately #1 in his new found category string.
Here's David's comment from the Indies Unlimited post:
David Antrobus says:
March 27, 2012 at 8:44 pm (Edit) Okay, Jim's post went live March 17. This is ten days later. I can't say I worked feverishly on this for those ten days but I did have a few go arounds with a helpful bunch of customer service people at Amazon, and Jim guided me the rest of the way.
But here's the thing: it worked!
Noticing how I'd gone from #4 to #2 in my new category string, today I bit the bullet and started doing the shameless skirt-lifting and sultry pouting we apparently must do, and with the help of many of you Indies Unlimited people in particular, we sold enough copies to get that sucker to a #1 spot in the Kindle version of its category and an equally incredible (to me) #16 in the overall Books department for Books > Travel > United States > States > New York
That's almost unbelievable to me. And proof that Jim's technique really works. Awesome stuff.
It takes a little work, but once you do it, it can be very rewarding. The Card spent nearly all of January and most of February ranked #1 in my category. Good luck and I'll be looking for your #1 Bestseller!
March 26, 2012
Feedback on the ABNA from a fan!
I had to share this comment from a fan of The Card which appeared on Goodreads.com in response to my last blog post on the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. You can see the original post that she was referring to at this link.Pasted directly from Goodreads ... by Moira:I did not find myself distracted by cliches, and I definitely didn't find the characters to be stereotypes, so in that sense I disagree with the reviewers. I think you may have been hindered by the fact that they only read an excerpt, because I think the character development, particularly Van's discovery of his own internal strength, is the strongest aspect of the book, though it may be more subtle. Regardless of the outcome, congrats on your strong reviews and the consideration for this award, not too shabby for your first book! I am really looking forward to the sequel!
With fans like these, who needs contests? Thanks so much for your feedback Moira.
March 21, 2012
Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Quarterfinals
My run in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award is over.Am I disappointed? Not really. I knew going in that the judging criteria forthis part was my weakest link.
The "Excerpt" portion was limited to just 5,000words and with The Card that included the development of the characters for anongoing series. No excuses, it should have—and could have—been better. I wentinto this with eyes-wide-open knowing that I should have done a better job withthis portion. I was hopeful that I might squeak by, but alas, it didn't happen. "Amazon ExpertReviewers" conducted the judging, which included one Amazon editor and oneAmazon "Expert" reviewer. The Amazon "Expert" Reviewer is a status achieved bywriting reviews for books listed on Amazon.
After reading the reviews, I was:
1) Really encouraged at the response
2) Wondering what it took to get into thequarterfinals.
Here's what they had to say:
ABNA Expert Reviewer #1
What is the strongest aspect of this excerpt? I think many kids, especially boys will relate to thisbook. It supplies the reader with a dream that many of us had as youngsters. Istill have a secret fantasy to be a batboy for a major league team. A timelesstheme with a futuristic twist. Love stories set in Seattle and the Northwest. What aspect needs the most work? Maybe get to the action a little quicker. Kids haveshort attention spans and if you don't get to them right away they may not readfurther. What is your overall opinion of this excerpt? I think this excerpt has a lot of potential.Interesting subject matter and likable characters. I would like to read more ofthis story.
ABNA Expert Reviewer #2
What is the strongest aspect of this excerpt? The set-up is realistic, the pace well-modulated, andthe details keep it fresh and interesting. The card dad gives Van, which isobviously going to pump up the plot, already has a highly-charged shimmer toit,but subtly so. What aspect needs the most work? There are a few cliches interspersed throughout thescript that could be cut or changed, such as Van's heart pounding against thewalls of his chest, the National Anthem bringing a lump to his throat. Theydon't compromise the quality of the excerpt, but they distract. What is your overall opinion of this excerpt? Combines a thriller with a coming-of-age, which is appealing.The author's environment feels authentic, the characters are animated and havedimension. I have a small concern about it dipping into stereotype andpredictability, i.e. the goofy sidekick friend, the love interest, the hiddenmicrochip or piece of technology that will change or destroy the world, allobvious characters. I am interested in continuing on with the story and see howthis plays out. In order to keep it fresh, the characters will have to emergewith original traits and actions, and the story needs to have some twists thatkeep the reader off-kilter.
So for those of you that have read The Card, you candecide for yourself whether the reviews hit home or not.
Personally, I have to agree with them.
In the end, this has been a great experience, and Iwas happy to make it into the top 20% with my debut novel. As I grow as anauthor, I'll eliminate the weak links. The sequel starts off with a bang anddoesn't let up from there. Maybe one day soon, I'll post the first chapter togive you a taste of what's to come.
For now, I thank you all for the support you havegiven me in helping make The Card, a #1 bestselling novel on the KindleBestseller list.Please take a moment to let me know your thoughts on the above reviews in thecomments section below.
March 20, 2012
The Card in the King County Library!
Thanks to David Whiteley, four copies of The Card are now available at the King County Library! Check out this picture from Whiteley.
March 19, 2012
The Card at Cover Art Review
The cover art for The Card is posted for reviews and comments at the site, Cover Art Review. Head over there to give your input on the work that Melissa Garcia-Devitt and Marsha Rollinger did in creating the first Van Stone Novel look.
March 10, 2012
Have Others Promote Your Book - How to Get Reviews
Reviews are more important than just getting feedback about your book. It's common knowledge that Amazon figures reviews in their ranking system. So the more reviews you have, the better ranked your book could be.
Please stay with me until the end of the post where I'll divulge a super million dollar secret for book promotions (I'm not selling anything, just in case this sounded like an infomercial.) Okay, maybe not a million dollars, but it sure helps.Reviews are one of the best methods to generate buzz about your book, without you being the one shouting from the rooftops. We've all spent countless conversations begging our friends and relatives to "post a review, please!" It's frustrating and many times, a fruitless endeavor. So, how do we go about getting reviews?
First, let me say NEVER PAY FOR A REVIEW. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to shout. Countless entities out there can't wait to take your money. Don't go there. So, where do you go?Book Blog Reviewers—your best friend in the world. Book Bloggers love to read books and make recommendations based on those books. Imagine reaching millions of readers. They are not paid to do this, they do it for fun, which leads to a timing drawback which I'll address later. They can literally change the success of your book and put you in the fast lane.
Here's how it works, once you've identified an appropriate book blogger, you look under "submission requirements" or "review policy" and find out what format they'll take and what they are willing to review.However, that doesn't help us find them, does it? Here's a little secret *looking side to side, whispering*
Google Custom Search - Book Blog Search Engine
Bam, there ya go. Click on that baby and away you go; type in your category, and out pops thousands of book review sites that would be happy to review your genre. Follow these few steps and you'll be on your way:1. Research - take the time to find out that their site is interested in your type of novel. They will spell it out for you in the policy section.
2. Don't mass email them. Pick out something of note in each site that you visit and comment on it in your email. They want to know that you really looked at their site and are interested in their opinion. Use their real name in the email, not the blog name.
3. Be patient - I alluded to this above. Some of the more prestigious ones that you run across may have a waiting list of months. Make sure you are okay with this before you go through the trouble of asking for a review. Most will spell this out in the "policy" section.
4. Be Polite - Don't email them every week asking for your review. They'll get to it and most will notify you when it's posted. Many will post to Amazon, Smashwords, Goodreads and B&N, not just on their blog site.
Here's and example of an email that I wrote to a potential book blogger, feel free to copy it and use it for yourself:
Hi Chrystal,I am so glad that I found your blog. I love what you are doing for the young adult population. It's great to find someone that not only does blog reviews, but does so with a real passion for books. It is apparent that you love what you do. I have recently completed a first-in-a-series Young Adult mystery/suspense novel. I've included a brief summary and bio, and I would be honored if you would choose it for a review. Thank you for your interest, Jim (and then the synopsis and bio would follow which included a picture of the cover)
Once they agree to review, get them the book in whatever format they request. Of course, they do not promise a great review, just an honest review. I have had wonderful experiences with book bloggers and consider some of them friends now. Meanwhile, I've developed a database of outlets for when my next novel comes out.
If anyone would be interested, I would love to share my spreadsheet with you that is comprised of over 100 different YA blog reviewers. Please contact me in the comment section. One thing though, you will get it in the raw form, with all my notes and stuff.
Okay, now for the super secret thing I found. Here's the million dollar take-away. Hopefully it's new to you as well, otherwise, I'll look like a fool. There's this site…http://www.tomoson.comThis is a hidden treasure. Once you sign up, you can fill out a promotion where you specify exactly who you want to review your book, genre, age group, even left handed bloggers if you want. You can fine-tune it to the number of Twitter and Facebook followers the reviewer has and even specify an Alexa ranking. Once your "promotion" is approved, bloggers COME TO YOU to review your book. You can choose who you want to send it to and then you wait for your review, which you can specify when, one, two or three weeks out. It is a gold mine for getting reviews. I've just recently found out about this and have my first promotion under review by the staff, waiting of it to go live. Imagine having 50 blog reviewers contacting me to review my book. I know—Crazy!
Good luck with both methods of review generation. As in any type of promotion, it takes time. While you're waiting for your reviews—KEEP WRITING!* * * * *Jim Devitt is a Contributing Author for Indies Unlimited. The author of the #1 Kindle Bestselling novel, THE CARD, has recently moved on to the second round in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award competition. A version of this post appeared at Indies Unlimited on March 3, 2012
February 28, 2012
Finding books for younger teens - How do Parents find age appropriate novels
Iwrite Teen and Young Adult novels. That poses an interesting problem. At whatage do kids have carte blanche access to the traditional (funny—traditional— ina new world of eBooks) methods of getting the word out about books for teensand YA. Obviously, the upper end of that age range is not an issue. Olderteenagers can and will download books all day long.
Thereal question is how do you access the younger audience? Who are thegatekeepers for the 12, 13, 14 year-olds out there? Maybe I'm the one out oftouch, and if so, please let me know because I sure do want to reach the kidsthat should be reading my books. Withthis in mind, I looked into what was available out in the cyber world. There'sno better place to start than a fantastic site that reviewed THE CARD, way backin the beginning.
www.bookdads.com
The mission at BookDads.com is to highlight books,which show fatherhood in a positive light. Some of the content they bring toyou includes:* Authorspotlights and interviews* Advice andresources for dads to help promote reading to their children* Parentingresources for dads* Bookreviews
www.twinparenthood.com
The premiere site for parents of twins. Agreat resource for just about everything associated with having twins.Articles, giveaways and an unbelievable support group of other parents withtwins. One of the most active portions of their site is the forum, whichcontains a constant and ever-changing discussion of all things twins.
http://www.commonsensemedia.org
The nation's leading independent nonprofitadvocating for kids. This site is dedicated to improving the lives of kids andfamilies by providing trustworthy information and education. They review allthings media—books, movies, video games and more. The also offer resources forunderstanding your children and what they are going through at all ages. Anexcellent and vital resource to understanding your kid and what the media worldmeans to him.
www.parentreviewers.com
This number one global community of reviewersconnects Moms and Dads who enjoy reviewing cool products. The site is chockfull of reviews on books, gifts, merchandise, food and tons of giveaways.
These are just a few of the tip sites thathelp busy parents understand what's appropriate for their children. Our kidsare growing at light speed and it is very difficult to know about every newfad, gadget, or social media site that hits the mainstream every day.
With a little help from these folks, youshould have an easier time finding age appropriate material to help stimulateyour child's love for reading, writing and learning.
If you know of other sites that you would like to mention, please leave them in the comments section for others to see.
