I thought this was really cool! How does your book fit in this DNA?
I found this graphic here (where it is a bigger size): http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2012/08/30/teaching-with-tablets/#more-38248
and also here (and it’s enormous!): http://mashable.com/2012/08/26/reading-stats-infographic/
That is a question most people think they know. I know I did for fifteen years, and my answer was “no”. But I was WRONG! I had been an author all along but had dismissed that idea because I couldn’t see it. It would have been helpful for someone to ask me a few questions. One of my policies is, if I see a need for it but don’t see it online, I make it. So here you go!
What makes a good beginning for a book? This is undeniably the crucial part of the book where the author’s talent needs to shine and he or she needs to draw you in so that you’ll bother reading the rest of the book. I usually know whether or not I want to read the rest of the book by the end of the first chapter. So what makes a good beginning?
The author blog-in is coming up. To get your choice of days, please sign up now. Feel free to share the page with your author friends too. Spread the word and widen our audience about our wonderful books!
All the information is here: https://katepolicani.com/author-blog-in/
Starting August 1st, my downloads on Smashwords of my free ebook, The Silver Collar have shot up by over 1,000 downloads! This means that somewhere, my book was listed in a spot that people saw and clicked. But where?
I posted it on four different book-posting sites in July:
There’s just too much more that interests them. Even when I cut off all TV and other electronic stimulus, they prefer to do other things. They prefer to write books rather than read them. They have a mountain of books to choose from and I buy more all the time. I can make them listen to me read to them if I force them, or I can bribe them to read with something they want. The second only works temporarily if at all.
Unless.
If there is a book they see and want and I go get it for them, they read it right away. Sometimes they read it over and over again. This happens sporadically and I can’t seem to force it.
I wonder if this might have something to do with the amount of information available to them and an instinctive need to filter it. Does that make sense?
What do you think? Do you have the same issues? What do you do about it?
I’ve said it before and I felt it deserved its own post: The free sample is the best free advertising an author can get!
Since posting it, I’ve given away 376 download copies of my fantasy short story, The Silver Collar on Smashwords, and had 692 reads on Wattpad. This doesn’t include all the other places I’ve posted it. I haven’t been able to make it free on Amazon yet, partially because people are still buying it! I don’t understand that, but OK.
I’m also currently working on Horarium, a sci-fi short story, and posting on Wattpad as I go. I’m enjoying this kind of work and reaching readers along the way.
My hubby had a fabulous idea about the freebie, too. (He has lots of those) After my free story, I include information for the reader to find my other works. I even included an excerpt from my upcoming book at the end of the story.
Here is my list of places I’ve posted The Silver Collar:
http://www.getfreeebooks.com/?page_id=81
http://www.globusz.com/aut_reg.php
http://www.free-ebooks.net/submissionForm.php
http://www.getfreeebooks.com/?page_id=81
http://www.feedbooks.com/help/self-pub-howto
http://ebookdirectory.com/cgi-bin/addurl.cgi
Do you have a freebie? How has it worked out for you?
I’m not re-blogging for the blog-in because today is my day to be re-blogged! I’ll take this opportunity to thank all the friends who participated and viewed all the wonderful books. Also I’d like to invite you to sign up for Author Blog-in II coming in August. Just email me at katepolicani@gmail.com with the word Author Blog-in in the subject line to get on the list at https://katepolicani.com/author-blog-in/.
If you’re still interested, I still have slots for the Author Blog-in! All genres are welcome. If you were unsure about it because you didn’t quite understand here is a different explanation:
Write a post about your book.
Schedule it for July 6th, the first day of the Blog-in.
Everyone will re-blog your post on their sites on your day.
Then you re-blog the other authors’ posts on their days.
I’ll put all the info for all the bloggers on the page at https://katepolicani.com/author-blog-in/,
The second book in the Amputeddy series is here! This book explores the life and trials of children with amputations as well as the differences between arm and leg amputations and prostheses. I’m so glad to be able to make the ebook free and donate any proceeds from the print book to the Amputeddy program at Harborview Medical Center.
Download the free ebook here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/168842
Buy the print book here: Coming soon!
So some things are working for me as an author, and some aren’t. Here they are:
Things that didn’t work/aren’t working:
A little about book reviews and getting them: I sent out requests for review of The Lustre to 11 different bloggers in March and recieved 2 replies, one a yes and one a no. It isn’t easy to even get a reply, let alone a review. (Don’t feel bad if you email 3 and don’t get any response.)
As a book reviewer, I am getting lots and lots of requests, even though my list is so long. I’ve amended my review policy and have said “no” to some books I didn’t think I could enjoy enough to give a good review. I still have enough time to reply to everyone, but I can see where an established reviewer would have a hard time.
Along the lines of the “Ly” check, here are some other writing exercises I am currently inflicting on my novel:
Whee Doggies is it taking a long time! The end of the school year rush makes for slow work, but at least I don’t lose my place! (When I’ve changed the word, it doesn’t show up in the find anymore so I know right where I left off!)
In case your clicking finger is broken and you didn’t go to The “Ly” check, I use Word’s “Find” tool and input each word, combing through the entire manuscript for the offenders. I found with these teeny words it helps a lot to type a space before and after the word in the “find” box. That weeds out the combination of letters in other words such as “this“, “came”, and others.
What kind of information do you actually jot down while reading?When I’m just reading “for fun” I jot down quotes I love. I try to review everything with at least a few sentences so I remember that I’ve already read it and what it was about. When someone smart suggested the quick review, I resisted because I didn’t want to include work in my fun. After a few grudging mini-reviews, though I realized how valuable those few sentences were. I began texting them to email after every book. I assign them to a “win” or “fail” category based on whether I liked it or even read the entire book.
Here is the one for Divergent by Veronica Roth in the “win” category: “Imaginative and fascinating. I love her characters and their inner examination of bravery, loyalty, and selflessness.”
This is the mini-review for Fires of Winter by Johanna Lindsey in the “fail” category: “I don’t like stories about girls who hate being girls. No sympathy.”
When I’m planning on reviewing the book for my blog, I take more notes.
Names: I write down all the names I can so that I spell them right and can keep track of characters. I hate going back through the book to try to be sure I spelled the characters’ name right. I don’t normally discuss all the characters, but I want those names handy when I do.
Places: If the places aren’t a name I will remember, I jot these down too. Normally I don’t need it for real locations.
Things I liked: I like to make note as I go along so I don’t forget the notable things. I’m pretty good at remembering, but as I get older my memory gets less and less reliable. Writing it down a few times also helps me formulate how I’ll describe it in the review.
Problems: This is the most valuable part of the review. It hurts, but any problems in the work are learning experiences for me, my blog readers, and the writers of the book. The single biggest learning experience so far is to get your book edited by someone else. Yes, the dead horse is enduring another beating. I was so depressed about the numerous spelling, punctuation, and even word usage errors in books I was reviewing that I made it a rule for review that you name your editor. It DOES make a difference. FACT: I just got some helpful corrections from an awesome blogger/writer friend on The Silver Collar, which I didn’t have edited. I read and reread it but still missed that in a story of only 12,000 words. (People didn’t volunteer any corrections either. I had to ask.)
How about you? What do you note while you are reading?
I’m learning a lot more about what makes a book “readable” or not. This is completely unrelated to the plot, characters, and themes. You can excel in all of these things and still not have a readable book. What makes a book “readable” for you?
Here is what turns a book from a “nice read” to a “fantastic read”, for me:
Were you wondering about that word at the top of my page?
Amputeddy is a creation of Jean Boelter and myself from way back in 1988. I made a bear for her with a left-leg amputation like hers. Yes, my aunt Jean lost her leg to a tumor when she was just five years old. The idea took off as she showed her bear to her other amputee friends. We devised the name together and then she began looking in to manufacturing the bears. At first they were all hand-sewn by family members.
In 2005 I co-wrote three books with my dear aunt Jean. These were designed to go with the bears and be another, less expensive way to help children with amputations come to terms with their new challenges, and also help children to relate to adults in their lives with amputations. These bears and the books have really made a big difference in people’s lives.
Aunt Jean passed away in 2010 from cancer. She is missed very much by many people. I dedicated my first book to her, and modeled a character after her in my next book.
I’m reprinting the Amputeddy books (now that I know how to do that)! It is a slow process, since the original files seem to have been lost. I am scanning them in one page at a time and learning how to format a picture book on CreateSpace and in ebook form.
I have a CreateSpace link, though it isn’t yet active, and some more information here: https://katepolicani.com/amputeddy-books/
Be like Lorenzo: patronize an artist like me!
Kate Policani 