Sandy Appleyard's Blog, page 27

Why is Fifty Shades of Grey so Addictive?

Have you been hooked?

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This thought occurs to me at 2:00a.m. My bedtime passed officially five hours ago and as I sit on my bed in my flannel pyjamas, reading the very addictive Fifty Shades of Grey and listening to my snoring husband next to me, it comes to me.

E. L. James masters three very seductive (pun intended) things in her story:

Compelling, steamy sex scenes

This goes without saying. I’ve never read anything like this. I’d be willing to bet that the univer...

Book Review: 50 Shades of Grey-Book 1

Never have I read a book so quickly as I did with 50 Shades of Grey. It was the most intriguing romance I’ve ever read to date. E.L. James has a unique knack for one thing: character development. The entire story was about two main characters and how well their chemistry unites them.

Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele are complete opposites. Christian is a type A personality, a millionaire, a control freak and drop dead gorgeous. Anastasia is a confident, intelligent, independent yet inexperi...

The Importance of Choosing a Good Web Host Provider

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Being the technically illiterate person I am, I thought that by being able to create my own website, including transferring of domain name and all, that I’d be able to handle any problems that would come with it, especially since WordPress is just about the easiest website to use…not so much.

It began with my ‘upload media’, ‘tags’ and ‘links’ buttons not working. Then I realized my website was severely in need of a new look, so I changed my theme, thinking that wou...

Should You Help Promote a Book You Haven’t Read?

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As I go through my retweets from fellow authors, this thought occurs to me:

Is it the same thing as retweeting a blog post you haven’t read? Hmmmmm…….

I suppose reading a blog and reading an entire book are two completely different things. But do either hurt your reputation if you promote them without having read them?

I think when you retweet a blog you haven’t read, and it’s not a great post, it can impact your reputation. This is especially true if the post is offens...

5 Things to Avoid Doing if you Want to be Successful on Twitter

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My last post was a summary of things you should do to get lots of returns on Twitter. Here’s my take on things you shouldn’t do:

Ignore someone who retweets you.

If someone retweets you, a simple thank you is nice (a retweet is better), even if it’s a tweeter who you have absolutely nothing in common with, who isn’t even following you. If they retweet you, they did you a favour. You should recognize that.

Not reciprocating when someone continuously r...

Book Review-The Lady of the Rivers-Philippa Gregory

The quote on the cover of this book reads “The queen of royal fiction”. Philippa Gregory does not disappoint. I’ve read nearly all of Gregory’s work and can honestly say that every book is a masterpiece. Nearly every sentence is poetic, and although it was difficult, I managed to choose one favourite excerpt from this book. Please enjoy:

“A man and a woman can love each other so deeply that their hearts beat as if they were one heart, and yet, at the same time, know that they are utterly hopel...

5 Easy Steps to Get Massive Retweets on Twitter

I’ve been on Twitter actively since April. Never have I received more retweets than when I began using one simple rule:

DO NOT THANK FOR RETWEETS!

When I say this, I’m saying literally, DO NOT thank, but do something very simple and productive instead:

RECIPROCATE!!!

DO NOT hit ‘reply’ at the end of the other person’s retweet. Hit their profile and pick the most compelling and recent tweet of theirs and RETWEET IT!!

Here’s how:

1. Try to find a direct tweet (ie. not a retweet). So in my case, most...

How to Tweet Your Book-5 Easy Steps

We all know how to tweet, but do we all know how to tweet a book? It sounds pretty simple, but I have a few little tricks to share.

1. Select excerpts or favorite lines in your book, copy and paste them into a Word document.

What I also recommend is actually going through your book in chunks, and choosing specific pieces that you think are catchy (without having to read the before part to understand), that will draw your reader’s attention.

The first time I did this, I chose about ten. Save t...

The 20th Christmas Without Dad

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Why am I writing this post? Not to depress you, but to remind you that we’ve all lost.

There are some who dread the thought of Christmas, because it reminds them of those who can’t be with them during the holidays. I spent many years feeling this way. But what I realized over time is that things get better. While it is healthy to remember those who are with us in spirit, it’s even more important to celebrate those who are here now.

I’ve also learned tha...

My Free Kindle Promotion is Over….Now What? Volume 1

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I asked myself the same question. Even after having 1580 downloads of my book BLESSED and BETRAYED, I was on a high that quickly plummeted as sales netted zero the minute the promotion ended.

So, what do you do? Keep promoting! Here’s a list of the things I did:

Set up Hootsuite to tweet every 30 or 60 minutes. Experiment with tweets and see if they net you sales. Change them up! Don’t use the same tweets over and over again. Save some in drafts and alternate.

Keep blo...