Have you written a book? Get the word out!

Tips to get your book noticed!

You may have just gotten your first book published and aren’t selling as many copies as you want. Well, do you want to hear the good news? There are ways to get your book noticed! I have listed several ways that can help get your book out to a larger audience. If you don’t want all that hard work and money you put into your book to go to waste then you are going to have to keep working on it. Just because you have achieved the first big step of getting published doesn’t mean your work is done. The following ideas are stepping stones and will help you get a wider audience for your book, get more copies of your book sold, but most importantly get the important words that you  want to share with the world out there for everyone to read. Sorry, but that hard work you put into writing your book is not yet over. Dig deep and find the last bit of motivation you need and maybe try out some of these ideas.

1.       Social Networking

a.       Facebook

                                                               i.      Create a fan page for your book then invite every facebook friend you know. Some may ignore it, but some will check it out. The best part is that some may then pass on the page to their friends and they will check it out. This could lead to a big branch of people checking out your fan page and potentially buying your book. I read a book not too long ago buy a local author and then sent the facebook page to a friend of mine. She immediately bought it. Word of mouth, or in this case through facebook, helps your book get noticed.  Facebook is free and an easy way to get your name out there.

b.      Twitter

                                                               i.      This account isn’t as necessary as facebook but can still be a helpful tool. It lets you post short sentences or phrases about what is going on with you, they are called tweets. This gives you the opportunity to get a lot of followers and tweet about your new book you just published, send out a link to your website, talk about the next book you are working on, etc. All once again for free.

2.       Write a blog and/or get a website

a.       Start a free blog, about you as an author and about your book.  You can upgrade for a decent price later if you want. You can even set up a way for people to buy your book right off your blog. Once you get your blog going you need to advertise it. This is where those social networking sites pay off even more.

3.       Contact your local newspapers

a.       Call up your local newspapers and tell them that you are a new writer and just got your book published, they may not write a story about you but you never know till you try. I know for a fact that your local paper likes getting news story ideas from the public, especially ones that shine some light on important people in the community, especially ones that may become a famous author some day. You never know. Give them your name, the title of your book, when it is going to or was published, your phone number, and most importantly ask if they want a copy. Instead of calling, you could type up a press release (make sure to proof read it carefully) and then send it out to all the local newspapers. This step is a must, you just don’t know until you try. I work at a newspaper and I will tell you that you have a shot at getting noticed this way.

4.       Contact your church/local university/library/ local bookstore

a.       It never hurts to try and set up a table at a local event to sell your book and do some signings. Look for events that specifically relate to your book and see if you can set up a booth there.

5.       Hold a contest to give away a free copy of your book.

a.       This takes some of your own personal money but everyone likes free stuff! It may generate more people to your blog/website, get people talking about your book more, and once again if the person that reads the book and enjoys it I’m sure they will spread the word to their friends. As an avid reader I am always giving reading suggestions to my friends.

6.       Email

a.       Send an email out to all of your friends and family with a picture of the book and a short description. Tell them where they can buy it and that if they like the book that they should pass it on to their friends.  This would be helpful in case you know people that don’t use facebook.

7.       Goodreads.com

a.       Promote your book on goodreads.com. You can post books you like, what you are currently reading, hold contests, and people write reviews on this site. Reviews are always helpful when starting out as a new author.

8.       Reviews

a.       Last but not least, if someone tells you they like your book you should encourage them to give their opinion about the book by reviewing it on amazon. There is also some information on the amazon website that gives you some advice on getting reviews for your book. Reviews are always good. I personally almost always read the reviews before buying a new book by an author I’m not very familiar with and I know that some of my friends do the same. Also, check out review blogs, sometimes they are looking for new authors to review their books. 

Keep in mind that you will need some money in your budget to promote your book, but hopefully in the long run it will pay off. Either way, I know you want more people to read that amazing book you spent so much time writing. Take a chance and try out these suggestions. Let me know how well it works out for you in the comments below. Good Luck!

September New Releases

Here is a list of all the books that are coming out in September that I want to check out.

September 3, 2012
Zoo
by: James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge


James Patterson's novels are hit or miss.
I'm hoping this one is a hit.

September 11, 2012

This Is How You Lose  Her

by: Junot Diaz

  I read one of  his books before 

and had a love/hate realationship. 

I want to take another stab at this author.

September 18, 2012

The Raven Boys

by: Maggie Stiefvater

Shiver was okay and I loved 

The Scorpio Races by this author so 

I guess I'm hoping for the best with this new one.

September 27, 2012

The Casual Vacancy

by: J. K. Rowling

I don't think I even need to say why

I am waiting for this book to come out.

Review: Shadow of Night by: Deborah Harkness

Shadow of Night (All Souls Trilogy) by: Deborah Harkness

Publisher: Viking Adult

592 pages

Genre: Romance/History/Fantasy

Summary: Shadow of Night begins literally right where A Discovery of Witches ended. Matthew and Diana are now in Elizabethan London in search of a witch to help Diana understand and use her powers. On their journey they run into obstacles including old friends, spies, alchemy, and more.  My summary ends there because I want to give nothing away.

Review: I have been waiting a year for this book to come out and when it finally did I immediately purchased it on my Sony reader at midnight.  The wait was worth it.

In the second book of this trilogy Harkness doesn’t disappoint, although it did take a little while till the book really captured my attention. It seemed interesting and fun to read at first. Trying to keep track of all the historical characters and Matthew’s past kept my focus at the beginning of the book. Then after a few chapters the story doesn’t seem to really move forward. I understand that it will take Diana a while to adjust to a whole new century, but Matthew and Diana’s life seems unadventurous at the beginning of the novel. I loved the pretty much non-stop adventure, mystery, and love in the first novel.  This slower beginning shouldn’t deter the reader from finishing the book because it gets so much better.

Matthew and Diana’s relationship grows in the novel as they face new challenges and work together to find solutions to their never ending problems with alchemy, witchcraft and the past. The new characters introduced in this novel are not only always entertaining but also hard to pinhole.

When you hit the sweet spot of the novel you won’t be able to put it down. The adventure starts to take hold and Diana finally finds a witch to help her discover who she is. Most importantly an unexpected character emerges that will add to the delight of this novel.

Above all, we get glimpses into what is going on in the present day with the Ashmole manuscript and the other characters we met in the first novel as well. My only real complaint of this novel is that I wish we would have gotten a few more glimpses of the present, but at least we got some.

The ending will leave you wanting more. I can’t believe I have to wait another year or more for the next book. Once again, like the first one, the book ends with a cliffhanger you wouldn’t believe. Even though I strongly agree that you should pick up this book and read it as soon as you can I would understand if you want to wait awhile so the ending isn’t so excruciating. J  Not quite as good as the first, but amazing all the same. Fans of A Discovery of Witches won’t be disappointed.

Rating: 4.5/5

Review: Rapture by: Lauren Kate

Rapture by: Lauren Kate

Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers

464 pages

Genre: Young Adult/Romance/Fantasy

Spoiler Alert! This review contains information from the first books in the Fallen series.

Summary: In the last book of the Fallen series, Daniel, Luce, and the rest of the fallen angels, along with some allies, are in a race against time to stop Lucifer before he erases everything from existence back to the beginning. Luce knows more about her past lives than ever before thanks to her trip through the announcers in the last book, and this helps their chance of saving the earth.

Review: I know there are a lot of people out there that love these books. The reason I picked up the first one a couple of years ago is because there were posters for it all over the library and bookstore. I gave in and read the first book and all the other ones after. Why did I put myself through this torture? Okay, torture may be a little too harsh of a word to use, but I can’t really tell you. I think it may be because I had never read books about fallen angels before and I was curious.

This book was better than the others, but this series should have ended a book earlier. The plot line just seems a little too repetitive, Daniel and Luce, Daniel and Luce, Daniel and Luce, past and present, past and present. This was the series’ main downfall, well that and the fact that the plot can be so confusing that I can’t even follow what is going on. I feel like that unless you have read the earlier books in the series recently (or maybe not even then) this book may be too confusing to follow. 

On a good note, this book did provide a new and exciting turn of events, except that it didn’t last long and it didn’t occur until the end, but it 

The big question is… do we finally find out what happened with Daniel and Luce from the beginning? I will tell you right now that you do get an answer. Searching for this answer is the only reason I kept reading this series. I will state that besides all the negative things I have said about this series I will give props for its conclusion. It is worth reading this last book just for the closure.

Rating: 2/5

Review: Demonglass by: Rachel Hawkins

Demonglass (A Hex Hall Novel) by: Rachel Hawkins

Publisher: Hyperion Book

384 pages

Genre: Young Adult/Romance/Fantasy

Spoiler Alert! This review contains information from the first book in the Hex Hall series.

Summary: After discovering she is a demon, Sophie must make a choice. Her powers are dangerous and she believes that the only way not to hurt anyone she loves is to go to London with her father for the Removal. All the while she is missing Archer Cross, her crush who also happens to work for the group trying to get rid of supernatural creatures, The Eye.

Review: The first book in this series, Hex Hall, wasn’t one of my favorites, but I have the need to finish a series once I start it so I went ahead and checked out the second book. I found Demonglass to be more attention grabbing and actually make me care a little bit more about these characters. Even though this still isn’t one of my favorite books it was a nice quick read and I will still read the next book.

There are two things I really enjoy about this book. One, there are a lot of interesting creatures and people in Sophie’s drama filled life. Although some of the supernatural creatures are not new to the young adult supernatural fantasy novel there are a few things that are different. Not many of these books focus on demons and this book’s main character is a demon. Second, Sophie has a unique and witty personality and I enjoy the banter she has with the other characters. I would have to say that Sophie is a pretty good female heroine in a young adult novel. She is strong, becomes more mature as time goes on, and of course she is funny.

Luckily although this book doesn’t take a lot of mental energy to read, it does have some pretty exciting action. On the other hand, the one big twist in the book was completely easy to call in advance. This was disappointing. I know I read a lot and can easily foretell the plot twists in most novels but there is usually still a small surprising little something that happens, but not in this book.  I will however tell you that the ending does leave you with enough mystery to want to read the next book.

When and why you should read this book: Read this book if you read the first one. Read this book if you want an easy read. Read this book if you like young adult fantasy books with a lot of interesting supernatural creatures.

If you haven’t read the first book in this series I’m not sure I would say it is worth it to read this one. It was unique compared to other young adult fantasy novels, but nothing too exciting. I really enjoy reading young adult novels but this one just doesn’t stick to my mind as much as many others do. 

Also, you definitely need to read the first book in this series before reading this one. There is a quick recap of the events that occurred in the first book but not enough to be very helpful. 

Rating: 3/5

CHECK IT OUT!

I found this great website with hilarious "book confessions." You have to check it out. Although these are really funny they are also partially true. Okay, perhaps some of them are definitely true. :)  


http://bookfessions.tumblr.com/

Here is one from that website. Enjoy!

Library Loot #2

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!

My Library Loot
I hope to actually get around to reading all of the books I got from the library this time. Last time I got sidetracked because a new book I had been waiting for just came out. (Shadow of Night by: Deborah Harkness)

Wife 22 by: Melanie Gideon
I read about this book online on a must read summer reading list so I figured I would give it a try. 

The Calling by: Kelley Armstrong
I read the first book in this series because I enjoyed an earlier series by Kelley Armstrong and so I decided to go ahead and read the second one.

There but for the by: Ali Smith
This book has received great reviews and has been on my reading list for some time and it was finally at the library!

The DIY Bride Crafty Countdown by: Khris Cochran
My wedding is only 5 weeks away and although I have pretty much done all of my DIY projects I decided to check out this book anyway for any last minute helpful ideas.

Review: A Discovery of Witches by: Deborah Harkness

A Discovery of Witches (All Souls Trilogy) by: Deborah Harkness (2011)

Publisher: Viking Adult

592 pages

Genre: Romance/Vampires/Mystery

Summary: Diana Bishop, a witch that wishes she wasn’t who no longer practices magic and is also an established professor, gets her hands on a lost manuscript that deamons, witches, and vampires all want a piece of. Things start to get a little crazy with the discovery and Diana leans on Matthew Clairmont for help, a 1,500-year-old vampire. Diana’s life is turned upside down and she must figure out why this manuscript is so important and she must rely on Matthew to keep her safe until she decides to do something about being a witch.

Review: If you like vampire romances with some action and no teenage drama then this is the book for you. I instantly fell in love with this grown-up vampire (but so much more) love story. This review may seem a little vague at times but I want you take the time to read the book and uncover all the mysteries it has to offer by yourself.

Matthew Clairmont, the vampire love interest, has qualities just like every other vampire you read about or see in movies, but Harkness has managed to make Matthew a little more complex and the vampires in her novel a little more real. I can just picture these vampires living in our world unnoticed. Harkness’ little additions to vampires and vampire life in her novel are interesting and give the reader a little something different. I won’t give any away but let’s just say she uses the basic vampire stereotypes humorously.

Diana is no heartsick teenager. She is complex and a much credited professor. She has her moments of being childish, such as her refusal to use magic, but she also has some good reasons behind her actions. How Diana handles her relationship with Matthew is more appealing than the average teenage vampire love story. She stills shows those love struck qualities but on the mature end. I know Diana and Matthew’s relationship seems to progress a little quickly but given the circumstances I can’t say that I blame them.

The best part about this book is the amount of mystery and action that occurs. This is not just a love story about a witch and a vampire. This is about much more. My emotions ran high when reading this book. There are a few twists and turns that will keep your heart pounding. Also, this book takes some thought to read. The characters go into depth when talking about certain science and history subjects. Harkness makes it easy to follow what is being discussed but this book does take more brain power than the average vampire romance, but I would have to say that is a good thing.

Once you start reading this book I don’t guarantee that you will stop until you have read the last page. I know some people have called this book Twilight for adults, but it is better than that. If you liked Twilight you will probably like this book, but if you didn’t like Twilight you will still like this book.

Rating: 5/5