Write What Inspires You! ~ Donna M. McDine: #bookreviews

Showing posts with label #bookreviews. Show all posts

Monday, October 26, 2020

Book Highlight of the Week: The Slippery Art of Book Reviewing by Mayra Calvani and Anne K. Edwards

Welcome! Presenting Write What Inspires You! Book Highlight of the Week...

The Slippery Art of Book Reviewing

by Mayra Calvani & Anne K. Edwards

I am thrilled to share with you Mayra Calvani's guest post...

So You Want to Be a Reviewer?

Are you passionate about books? Do you have a talent for easily capturing the essence of a book after having read it? Do you often feel the desire to share your thoughts about a book with readers? If you answered "Yes" to these questions, then book reviewing can be one of the most satisfying, rewarding activities you'll ever undertake. In fact, book reviewing can become addictive.

I started reviewing in 1998. Back then, I wished someone had written a book with all there is to know about book reviewing. Sure, I found many articles on the web about the craft, which I read eagerly. But, I really wished I could have found everything in one volume. A sort of "user's manual"–a book that I would be able to come back to again and again and use as a reference, one that would reveal the secrets of the trade, the Dos and Don'ts, full of guidelines, tips and practical advice.

Though it may seem strange, there are hundreds of books on writing in general, and many on writing book reports, proposals, query letters and synopses, but practically none on writing reviews.

Like all fledgling reviewers, I made my share of amateurish mistakes, becoming all the more experienced and polished because of them. I, too, was guilty of the fledgling reviewer's disease–that of writing overly-positive reviews. Overwhelmed with enthusiasm, a good heart, and the desire to please everyone associated with the book, I often made the big mistake of forgetting the foremost person a reviewer must keep in mind–the reader. As I read and wrote more and more reviews, it soon became easy to tell a good review from a bad one, and to realize that a large number of reviewers, especially beginners, would profit from a bit of guidance, the things I learned from my mistakes.

The fact is, most people do read reviews to select their reading material. Reviews do have a positive or a negative influence on whether or not a person buys a book. Hence, reviewing is a serious responsibility, one reviewers shouldn't take lightly.

The aim of this book, therefore, is to offer some guidelines in a clear manner supported with targeted examples of how to write and publish thoughtful, well-written reviews no matter their length, type or genre, and to examine the essence of reviews within a broader spectrum.

This book was written not only with the aspiring reviewer in mind, but for the established reviewer who needs a bit of refreshing and also for anybody–be they author, publisher, reader, bookseller, librarian or publicist–who wants to become more informed about the value, purpose and effectiveness of reviews.

On a final note, the writing of this book has been a highly interesting, educational and thrilling ride into the slippery world of reviews for Anne K. Edwards and me. I hope you'll enjoy the journey and profit from it as much as we have.

So take out pen and paper, a highlighter, and get ready to write great reviews!

The Slippery Art of Book Reviewing Copyright © 2008. Mayra Calvani and Anne K. Edwards. All rights reserved by the authors. Please do not copy without permission.

Multi-genre author Mayra Calvani has been a reviewer for ten years. She's the author of the supernatural thrillers, Embraced by the Shadows and Dark Lullaby. A regular contributor to Blogcritics Magazine, she's also a member of Broad Universe, Authors Coalition, and The Society of Children's Books Writers and Illustrators.

Visit her website at: http://www.mayracalvani.com/.

For her children's books, visit http://www.mayrassecretbookcase.com/.

Mayra also keeps a blog, The Dark Phantom Review, where she posts reviews and author interviews.

To learn more about The Slippery Art of Book Reviewing, visit
http://www.slipperybookreview.wordpress.com/.

#bookreviews
#mayracalvani

#annekedwards

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Opt-in today to the Write What Inspires You! Newsletter and join parents, teachers, and colleagues who receive Donna’s newsletter and receive two FREE e-Books: “The Story Behind the Books” and “Marketing Tips”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Best wishes,

Donna M. McDine

Multi Award-winning Children's Author

Ignite curiosity in your child through reading!

Angel's Forever Home ~ March 2019 ~ Mascot Books ~ 2019 Purple Dragonfly Honorable Mention Picture Books Six and Older

Dee and Deb Off They Go Kindergarten First Day Jitters ~ December 2015 ~ Guardian Angel Publishing, Inc. ~ 2016 Purple Dragonfly Honorable Mention Picture Books Five and Under and Story Monster Approved

A Sandy Grave ~ January 2014 ~ Guardian Angel Publishing, Inc. ~ 2014 Purple Dragonfly 1st Place Picture Books 6+, Story Monster Approved, Beach Book Festival Honorable Mention 2014 and Reader's Favorite Five Star Review

Powder Monkey ~ May 2013 ~ Guardian Angel Publishing, Inc. ~ 2015 Purple Dragonfly Book Award Historical Fiction 1st Place, Story Monster Approved and Reader's Favorite Five Star Review

Hockey Agony ~ January 2013 ~ Guardian Angel Publishing, Inc. ~ 2015 Purple Dragonfly Book Award Honorable Mention Picture Books 6+, New England Book Festival Honorable Mention 2014, Story Monster Approved and Reader's Favorite Five Star Review

The Golden Pathway ~ August 2010 ~ Guardian Angel Publishing, Inc. ~ Literary Classics Silver Award and Seal of Approval, Readers Favorite 2012 International Book Awards Honorable Mention and Dan Poynter's Global e-Book Awards Finalist

Wednesday, August 19, 2020

Book Reviews Make the Heart Soar of Authors

As any author will tell you, when their book receives a review and it's shared throughout social media it truly makes their heart soar with pride.

I had three of those moments in one evening when I read the book reviews by the Children's Bookshelf of three of my children's books...

A Sandy Grave

childrens_bookshelf

"About some girls who go to the beach and find that a dead whale has washed ashore. Biologists and police are there along with lifeguards investigating cause of death and preventing poachers from stealing the whales teeth. One of the girls notices a few men bury a bag near the whale and she thinks they seem suspicious. After the girls come back to see what they buried they realize the men are poachers and have already stolen some teeth just then police arrive and arrest the poachers and they thank the girls for having a keen eye. Perfect for first or second grade teachers, this book has a Lexile Measure of 500L - 600L, it’s only 23 pages long and only 11 pages of text. Can be used easily in a classroom lesson or for homework. It can sometimes be difficult to find good reading materials that have the right balance of age appropriate illustrations, interesting story and suitable book length. This book hits all of those points very well."

Angel's Forever Home

childrens_bookshelf

“A sweet story about a dog named Angel who was injured badly in an earthquake. Angel is concerned that she might have troubles finding a family because she’s injured. It’s not long before a loving family decides to adopt her and when they take her to the vet they discover she needs to have her leg amputated. It’s ok though because now she isn’t in any more pain and she now has a forever home where she is loved. This story illustrates the universal need for love and empathy and also brings awareness to the importance of adopting animals if possible. They have souls and emotions and all they need is for someone to give them a chance. I read this to my students on the projector and they enjoyed it. After we talked about how adopting dogs is a great thing to do and it turns out a handful of my students have rescues.”

Dee and Deb Off They Go Kindergarten First Day Jitters

childrens_bookshelf

"Super cute book about the first day of school. Two sisters go to school and are put into different classes. After experiencing some first day anxiety Dee makes a new friend and realizes school is pretty great. This book is a perfect bedtime read especially useful to ease the first day worries your little one might be experiencing. The illustrations are very professional and age appropriate too. Definitely an excellent choice for your next trip to the bookstore."

Thank you to Children's Bookshelf for their interest, time and heartfelt book reviews. We are filled with deep gratitude and joy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Best wishes,

Donna M. McDine

Multi Award-winning Children's Author

Ignite curiosity in your child through reading!

Angel's Forever Home ~ March 2019 ~ Mascot Books ~ 2019 Purple Dragonfly Honorable Mention Picture Books Six and Older

Powder Monkey ~ May 2013 ~ Guardian Angel Publishing, Inc. ~ 2015 Purple Dragonfly Book Award Historical Fiction 1st Place, Story Monster Approved and Reader's Favorite Five Star Review

Monday, March 2, 2020

Media Kits - Where to Begin by Donna McDine, Award-winning Children's Author

Where Does One Begin in Creating a Media Kit?

By Donna McDine

Media Kit? Why would I need a media kit, I’m not even published yet? To be quite honest with you it’s never too soon to start. To begin now will make it much simpler to add to as you move forward in your writing career. The essential components in creating your media kit are:

About the Author or Writer (Bio): This one pager consists of your current bio, education, current work-in-progress, and contact information (email, blog and website addresses). After you become published update your bio to reflect each success.

Appearances: Appearances may include volunteer reader at your local library and/or school visits and later on as you become published you will be known as the local children’s author, which then will open up doors to school visits.

Interviews (online and in-person): Before I became published - myself and fellow aspiring writers interviewed each other for our blogs to get our names out there. It’s fun and simple. Contact a fellow writer and exchange questions and there you have your first finished interview. I continue to incorporate this practice in my marketing tool box.

Awards and Publishing Credits: This may be blank for now, but create the page with this heading and you can fill in your information as you go along. Your publishing credits include no-pay, low-pay, and paying markets both online and print.

Media Releases: Even without publishing credits you can create a media release about upcoming interviews and book reviews on your blog and of course tying in with interviews make sure you write up a media release about your personal interviews. It’s important you send out your media release to your network and post on media release sites such as www.prlog.com.

Book Reviews: Yes, even if you don’t have a book published yet do not forget this important part for when you do so you can place excerpts of book reviews for easy reference.

Some of your pages will be blank for now, but you will be surprised how quickly they will fill up. All of my pages started out blank and are now filling up. The saying from the movie The Field of Dreams… “Build it and they will come” is true for your media kit too. The intention and creation of blank titled pages will bring it to fruition. Oh and yes, working at your writing craft is essential too.

Feel free to email me privately at donna@donnamcdine.com. You may also view my media kits at http://donnamcdine.com/mediakit.html.

If you have any questions I’d be happy to help.

#mediakits

#interviews

#authorvisits

#donnamcdine

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Best wishes,
Donna M. McDine
Multi Award-winning Children's Author
Ignite curiosity in your child through reading!

Angel's Forever Home ~ March 2019 ~ Mascot Books ~ 2019 Purple Dragonfly Honorable Mention Picture Books Six and Older

Dee and Deb Off They Go Kindergarten First Day Jitters ~ December 2015 ~ Guardian Angel Publishing, Inc. ~ 2016 Purple Dragonfly Honorable Mention Picture Books Five and Under and Story Monster Approved

A Sandy Grave ~ January 2014 ~ Guardian Angel Publishing, Inc. ~ 2014 Purple Dragonfly 1st Place Picture Books 6+, Story Monster Approved, Beach Book Festival Honorable Mention 2014 and Reader's Favorite Five Star Review

Powder Monkey ~ May 2013 ~ Guardian Angel Publishing, Inc. ~ 2015 Purple Dragonfly Book Award Historical Fiction 1st Place, Story Monster Approved and Reader's Favorite Five Star Review

Hockey Agony ~ January 2013 ~ Guardian Angel Publishing, Inc. ~ 2015 Purple Dragonfly Book Award Honorable Mention Picture Books 6+, New England Book Festival Honorable Mention 2014, Story Monster Approved and Reader's Favorite Five Star Review

The Golden Pathway ~ August 2010 ~ Guardian Angel Publishing, Inc. ~ Literary Classics Silver Award and Seal of Approval, Readers Favorite 2012 International Book Awards Honorable Mention and Dan Poynter's Global e-Book Awards Finalist

Monday, February 3, 2020

Write What Inspires You! Blog Themes with Award-winning Children's Author, Donna McDine

I am delighted to be kicking off the week of February 9, 2020 my weekly blog themes for Write What Inspires You!

As with my Energy Serenity Reiki Services practice, focus continues to be my theme of 2020, rather than allowing distractions to sway me from blogging and visiting blogs on a regular basis. I've missed the personal connection with visitors and visiting colleagues in the industry.

I've created three weekly post themes....

Mondays = Marketing and Inspiration

Monday's I will focus on marketing tips or what inspires me to write.

Wednesdays = Feature of the Week: Book Reviews, Recommended Books or Author or Illustrator Interviews.

If you are an author or illustrator and would like to be featured at Write What Inspires You! please feel free to leave a comment or email me at donna@donnamcdine.com. Not only will your interview be featured right here, I will feature your interview in my Write What Inspires You! Newsletter and throughout my social media channels.

Fridays = Where My Writing Muse Takes Me

Friday's may be a glimpse into the world of one of my six children's books, a literary calendar book fans focus or what sparks my muse at the given moment.

I look forward to lively engagement.

Thank you for your time and interest!

#donnamcdine
#authorinterviews
#bookreviews
#awardwinningchildrensauthor
#writingmuse

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Best wishes,
Donna M. McDine
Multi Award-winning Children's Author
Ignite curiosity in your child through reading!

Angel's Forever Home ~ March 2019 ~ Mascot Books ~ 2019 Purple Dragonfly Honorable Mention Picture Books Six and Older

Dee and Deb Off They Go Kindergarten First Day Jitters ~ December 2015 ~ Guardian Angel Publishing, Inc. ~ 2016 Purple Dragonfly Honorable Mention Picture Books Five and Under and Story Monster Approved

A Sandy Grave ~ January 2014 ~ Guardian Angel Publishing, Inc. ~ 2014 Purple Dragonfly 1st Place Picture Books 6+, Story Monster Approved, Beach Book Festival Honorable Mention 2014 and Reader's Favorite Five Star Review

Powder Monkey ~ May 2013 ~ Guardian Angel Publishing, Inc. ~ 2015 Purple Dragonfly Book Award Historical Fiction 1st Place, Story Monster Approved and Reader's Favorite Five Star Review

Hockey Agony ~ January 2013 ~ Guardian Angel Publishing, Inc. ~ 2015 Purple Dragonfly Book Award Honorable Mention Picture Books 6+, New England Book Festival Honorable Mention 2014, Story Monster Approved and Reader's Favorite Five Star Review

The Golden Pathway ~ August 2010 ~ Guardian Angel Publishing, Inc. ~ Literary Classics Silver Award and Seal of Approval, Readers Favorite 2012 International Book Awards Honorable Mention and Dan Poynter's Global e-Book Awards Finalist

Wednesday, December 18, 2019

Guest Post: It Isn't About Book Sales: It's About Career Building by Carolyn Howard-Johnson

I am elated to host multi award-wining author, Carolyn Howard-Johnson with her guest post... It Isn't About Book Sales: It's About Career Building.

I first met Carolyn early on in my writing career ten plus years ago and we remain connected. I look forward to the day when our schedules coincide and we can meet in person!

Be sure to check out the special offer by Carolyn and her publisher. Details at the end of the article.

Without further ado, I present Carolyn's article....

It Isn't About Book Sales: It's About Career Building

By Carolyn Howard-Johnson

Adapted from the multi award-winning flagship book in the HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers, The Frugal Book Promoter, Third Edition

In a writer's world sharing is sometimes as important as the creative aspect of building a book. The trouble is sharing—for many—translates into selling books. Of course, we all want to do that, but we tend to lose sight of the fact that we will eventually sell a whole lot more books and, in doing so, share with a whole lot more people, if we concentrate on building our careers. Indeed, for some authors with nonfiction books based on their businesses and professions, the whole purpose of the book is to increase credibility and exposure for themselves and careers.

What many authors think of when they think of book sales is the kind of hardsell that most would rather eschew. When they decide to do it anyway because they know they should, they may skip learning something about marketing first and their efforts backfire on them. I have a motto: “Never say, buy my book.” Keep reading for better ways to market your book and yourself.

Here's the surprise. Marketing—marketing anything—isn't about selling. Marketing a book is about finding the people who will benefit and appreciate what the author has to share and then letting those people know how they will benefit (or avoid problems) by reading it. There is a lot of writing that goes along with that process and that's what we like to do. And there is real pleasure in seeing our marketing efforts succeed and seeing our careers build as we do more of it and learn more about it. Here are some ideas for giving-sharing kinds of marketing from my Frugal Book Promoter now in its third edition thanks to Modern History Press. Each idea may be used as a part of a launch campaign or to nudge exposure for books that have been around a while.

§ Meet new readers by running a contest on your website, on Twitter, or in your newsletter. Use your books for prizes or get cross-promotion benefits by asking other authors to share their books; many will donate one to you in trade for the exposure. Watch the 99 Cent Stores for suitable favors to go with them.

Hint: Any promotion you do including a contest is more powerful when you call on your friends to tell their blog visitors or Facebook pals about it.

Barter your books or your services for exposure on other authors’ websites. Other authors tend to understand your need to build your career and to sell your books. You'll make long lasting friends doing it.
Offer classes in writing to your local high school, college, or library system. Students can become valued friends and fellow writers. Publicizing the classes is easy and free and helps build your author-name recognition. When appropriate, use your own book as suggested reading. Use your teaching experience in your media kit to show you have presentation skills. You can even write a textbook for the classes you teach. My The Frugal Book Promoter was inspired and written for my first class a UCLA.
Send notes to your friends and readers asking them to recommend your book to others. Or offer them a perk like free shipping, gift wrap, or small gift if they purchase your book for a friend. That’s an ideal way to use those contact lists—the ones I show you how to build in The Frugal Book Promoter—and to let personal friends share in your exciting publishing adventure.
Some of your reviews (both others’ reviews of your book and reviews you’ve written about others’ books) can be networking experiences. Read that word "networking" as "making friends who want to work with you." Check the guidelines for the free review service blog I started to help fellow authors extend the life of their favorite reviews. It's at TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com.
Connect and reconnect. Subscribe to new blogs and newsletters to get new ideas, new opinions. Start reading the ones you once subscribed to again. Join a writers’ group or organization related to the subject of your book. Offer to help them with guest articles and blogs. Enter their contests. Communicate on their forums.
When you ship signed copies of your book, include a coupon for the purchase of another copy for a friend—signed and dedicated—or for one of your other books. Some distributors insert fliers or coupons into your books when they ship them for a small fee.
Adjust the idea above to a cross-promotional effort with a friend who writes in the same genre as you. She puts a coupon for your book in her shipments; you do the same for her in yours.
Be sure your Amazon buy pages amplify the effects of their logarithms and utilized the benefits they offer through AuthorCentral.
Explore the opportunities for speaking on cruise ships. Many have cut back on the number of speakers they use, but your area of expertise may be perfect for one of them. I tried it, but found ship politics a drawback. Still many authors like Allyn Evans who holds top honors in Toastmasters and Erica Miner have used these venues successfully. Do know, however, that you need a knockout platform including speaking credits.
I call reviews forever-reviews because they hang around forever. And because they are forever useful even when a book that is aging. In fact, I think they are so important to your career that I wrote an entire book on how to get them, how to manage them on places like Amazon, and how to utilize them…well, forever. It is, How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically: The ins and outs of using free reviews to build and sustain a writing career.

Special Offer: Carolyn and her new publisher, Modern History Press, are offering me, my subscribers and visitors a holiday special. Check it out at https://ModernHistoryPress.Com/frugal. Use the code GOFRUGAL to see the offer in all its spectacular glory! And Have a great holiday!

About the author: Carolyn Howard-Johnson has been promoting her own books and helping clients promote theirs for more than a decade. Her marketing plan for the second book in the HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers, The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success won the Next Generation Millennium Award for Marketing. The just-released third edition of The Frugal Book Promoter, published by Modern History Press, is New! Expanded! Updated! Her poetry, fiction and nonfiction books have been honored by the likes of Writer’s Digest, USA Book News Award, the Irwin Award, Dan Poynter’s Global Ebook Awards and more. Learn more about Carolyn and her books of fiction and poetry. Each of them helped her learn more about maximizing marketing efforts for different writers, different titles.

Learn more at: www.howtodoitfrugally.com and http://bit.ly/CarolynsAmznProfile

Have questions for Carolyn? Please feel free to engage with Carolyn and ask your away. Carolyn is delighted to engage with visitors!

Thank you for your time interest.

Wishing one and all a joyous holiday season and blessed New Year!

#howtodoitfrugally

#carolynhowardjohnson

#bookmarketing

#modernhistorypress

#HowtoGetGreatBookReviewsFrugallyandEthically

#bookreviews

Wednesday, March 27, 2019

How to Help an Indie Author with Book Reviews

Not sure how to help out your favorite indie author?

It's easy...

Buy Their Book
Write an Honest Review
Post the Review to various sites such as Amazon and Goodreads
Promote their book on social media

Interesting stats of what book reviews can do to help an author...

If you have purchased one of my books and are interested in leaving a 2-3 sentence review, please click on the below link...

The Golden Pathway

Powder Monkey

Hockey Agony

A Sandy Grave

Dee and Deb Off They Go Kindergarten First Day Jitters

Angel's Forever Home

Thank you with deep gratitude for your interest and time,
Donna

#Amazonreviews
#bookreviews
#childrensbooks
#picturebooks

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Best wishes,
Donna M. McDine
Multi Award-winning Children's Author
Ignite curiosity in your child through reading!
Connect with Donna McDine on Google+

Angel's Forever Home~ March 2019 ~ Mascot Books

Dee and Deb Off They Go Kindergarten First Day Jitters ~ December 2015 ~ Guardian Angel Publishing, Inc. ~ 2016 Purple Dragonfly Honorable Mention Picture Books Five and Under and Story Monster Approved

A Sandy Grave ~ January 2014 ~ Guardian Angel Publishing, Inc. ~ 2014 Purple Dragonfly 1st Place Picture Books 6+, Story Monster Approved, Beach Book Festival Honorable Mention 2014 and Reader's Favorite Five Star Review

Powder Monkey ~ May 2013 ~ Guardian Angel Publishing, Inc. ~ 2015 Purple Dragonfly Book Award Historical Fiction 1st Place, Story Monster Approved and Reader's Favorite Five Star Review

Hockey Agony ~ January 2013 ~ Guardian Angel Publishing, Inc. ~ 2015 Purple Dragonfly Book Award Honorable Mention Picture Books 6+, New England Book Festival Honorable Mention 2014, Story Monster Approved and Reader's Favorite Five Star Review

The Golden Pathway ~ August 2010 ~ Guardian Angel Publishing, Inc. ~ Literary Classics Silver Award and Seal of Approval, Readers Favorite 2012 International Book Awards Honorable Mention and Dan Poynter's Global e-Book Awards Finalist