Tag: reviews

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Help, help: Posting reviews…

Elodie

All my books

I hate asking for things. And I’m not very good at asking people for help. And right now my dog has snow fever (which granted has nothing to do with the topic at hand but I thought I should share 🙂 Luckily he’s cute and sweet.)

I know a lot of people have read my books and I’m oh so so grateful for it. I’m still amazed and cross my fingers to always be amazed by it. I’m still very nervous about it too but somehow I think that might go hand in hand. (excuse me while I try to make sure my dog doesn’t get attacked by my cat for barking – Peter the Cat doesn’t have a lot of noise tolerance).

Where was I?

For people to discover new books or new authors, reviews are still important. Maybe not because people read them but because there’s something the e-retailers seem to have in their magical algorithm that helps boost those books in front of more people. (The dog stopped barking for a second…he got distracted but he suddenly remembered that really I need to give him my undivided attention).

I know it takes time. But even two sentences can help. Even if you haven’t purchased my book (because you got it for reviewing on your blog on Netgalley, or you got it through a contest), you can still review it on Amazon for example.

You can find all my books on my Amazon author page (around the world). If you click on the link, it will take you to your amazon…

http://smarturl.it/ElodieAuthorAmazon

And if you’re not reviewing my book, because it was a long time ago and you don’t remember or don’t feel comfortable doing so for whatever reason, don’t hesitate to review an other author’s book 🙂

(now, Plato the Dog and Peter the Cat are all calm…chilling out and napping. Hmm, I can’t nap. I have to go cook…)

THANK YOU!

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Self-Publishing: R is for Reviews

Elodie

RReviews are so important for authors, being on Twitter, on Goodreads, on blogs and especially on online retailers for many reasons – here are just a few:

  • Before a release, it amps the anticipation, might bring a buzz.
  • it really helps the visibility of books on online retailers. There are algorithms that are used on Amazon for example which could make your book show up in their ‘also recommended’.
  • Reviews can drive sales (and not only good reviews…)
  • Readers might be more inclined to read a book if they know people have already read it.
  • Certain advertising  or reviewing sites are only considering books with a certain number of reviews.

Thank you, thank you so much for everyone who’s taken the time to review my books. THANK YOU ❤

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Join me tomorrow for S…

selfpub logo

Self-pub corner

#Selfpub corner – Netgalley, yay or nay?

Elodie

#Selfpub corner button

It’s Friday on my side of the world…which means it’s time for #Selfpub Corner…

Topic of the week: Netgalley, yay or nay?

Every month, I will be asking a YAY or NAY question to selfpub authors.

Today, Elizabeth Briggs, author of MORE THAN MUSIC and Jennifer Ellision, author of THREATS OF SKY AND SEA as well as SISTERS OF WIND AND FLAME  agreed to play along.

We are looking at Netgalley and our own experience with it. I will be explaining the different ways of gathering reviews as well as the different ways to get your book listed on Netgalley next week.

Thanks again Liz and Jen!

Elizabeth Briggs . Netgalley

Ellision

 

Netgalley Elodie

 Hope this was helpful!

Let me know in the comments, and do not hesitate to ask me any questions 🙂

Next week’s topic: Netgalley, blog tours, Goodreads: how does one gather reviews?

Observations, personal, reading, revising, writing

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder…

Elodie

                                                                                                  Source: guidetomenhattan.com via Rachel on Pinterest

When one thinks about artists in the spotlight, very rarely will the word “writer” come up. And sure, J.K. Rowling, Stephen King and others do not grace the pages of US Weekly or People Magazine every week. TV channels may not discuss their latest book at length like they may do with the latest performance of whatever actor…but writers like any other artists put their souls out there.

Reviews.

They´re everywhere.

You cannot entirely hide from them.

                                                                                                                                      Source: xkcd.com via Michael on Pinterest

They come from within, from our wonderful critique partners, our great beta-readers. Then, from agents, possible editors and then from the readers themselves.

After reading this post by Shannon (if you haven´t read it, you definitely take a look :D, I´ll wait) and a comment by Christa on my post from last week, it hit me both as a writer and as a reader: Not everyone will like my work. Not everyone likes the books I could not put down. Of course we know it but there is a moment where it seems to become more real.

And then, I remembered that old saying “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”…readers bring their own baggage, past and taste to the books they read just like writers laugh or cry words on paper.

Getting published is really putting yourself out there, in the big big, sometimes scary world. There is no “Dealing with reviews for dummies”.

I checked one of my favorite books on Goodreads.com, The Ripening Seed by Colette and it has quite a bit of bad reviews. At the beginning I got a bit distracted thinking how is it possible? Can´t people see the art? The beauty of her words? The cynical look at the bourgeoisie world while still going through the motions of growing up? There are also great reviews of this story but usually the eye has a tendency to focus on the negative. But all the negative reviews of the world will not take away the feeling of awe I had while reading my mother´s copy of this book as a teenager or the flutters in my heart as I reread it years later. What should matter to me the most is how I felt about something.

As writers, we owe it to ourselves to go the extra-step, the scary step in our writing (like I mentioned in my Monday post last week) but then we´re standing out there naked. And let´s face it, being naked in front of possibly millions of people reading your words is SCARY.
So, I think we also need to protect ourselves once our words are out there. We need to have a safe place we can go to and need to know that yes we may be awkward in dealing with all this but what is important is that at the end of the day, we remember that we had the courage to go in the big scary world, that some did love our words and that, sometimes as a reader and as a writer, it is ok to just do that:

….as long as we walk with our heads high the next day and continue to be happy with our tastes as readers and proud of our words as writers.

Oh and if I ever get published and start freaking out, can someone remind me of this post? 😀

Looking forward to reading your thoughts on this!

reading, ya

Class of 2011: YA Superlatives blogfest – Best in Show

Elodie

Katy Upperman, Jessica Love, Tracey Neithercott and Alison Miller had the great idea to organize the  CLASS OF 2011: YA SUPERLATIVES BLOGFEST! Don´t hesitate to check their blogs for all the links…

For this feature “Best in show”, I am proud to introduce: A Beautiful Dark by Jocelyn Davies, The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater, Die for Me by Amy Plum, The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter, Tangled Tides by Karen Amanda Hooper, Passion by Lauren Kate, The Duff by Kody Keplinger…

 

Favorite Cover – A Beautiful Dark

Cutest Couple – Sean and Puck from The Scorpio Races, I mean they´re just adorable and when he kisses her wrist awwww….

Most Likely to Make You Miss Your Bedtime (The book you just couldn’t put down!):  I did miss my bedtime many many times because of several books (YA and non YA). For this one, I chose the latest read which caused my hubby to turn around several times grunting at me: The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter.

Best Repeat Performance (Your favorite sequel or follow-up.):  Passion by Lauren Kate. Even though I am a tad disappointed with this sequel, I gotta love the time travel…

Romance Most Worthy of an Ice Bath: Kate and Vincent from Die For Me (with a runner-up: Treygan and Yara from Tangled Tides). Kate and Vincent have that all forbidden love going on while Treygan and Yara, well, let´s put it that way: they may not kiss right away but they still put the heat on 🙂

Pair Most Likely to Stay Best Friends Till They’re 80: Again, Sean and Puck. They understand each other with a look and they have the same goals in life.

Breakout Novel (Favorite Book by a Debut Author): Here it is a toss-up between Die for me by Amy Plum and Tangled Tides by Karen Amanda Hooper (I reduced it to 2 which is quite amazing if you ask me :-)). I really enjoyed the characters in Die for Me including the secondary ones, it made me laugh and I loved that it was set in Paris… Tangled Tides just made dive into a different world and one it was hard to leave when the book ended.

Best Old-Timer (Your favorite read of the year, published BEFORE 2011.): The DUFF by Kody Keplinger…

Most Pleasant Surprise (The best book you didn’t think you’d like, but totally did.): The Goddess Test. I read some negative reviews about it and I have to say I did not expect an exact re-telling of the Greek mythology.  Maybe, that´s what allowed me to let myself really enjoy this book. Even though certain parts made me go “whaaat?”, my most common reactions ended up with “awww”

Most Creative Use of a Love Triangle: Tangled Tides…I don´t want to give any spoilers but let´s just say it was refreshing!