Reviews,
(oh, please, not the "R" word!)



I have said before that I am a babe in the woods when it comes to marketing my books. My royalties reflect that, (but they are improving, so maybe there's hope.) One thing I have learned is that reviews are the holy grail of sellers, on Amazon especially. (And almost all of us who write have books offered on Amazon. To be honest, it's not just books; I think Noah's ark is probably up on Amazon!)

 In all seriousness, reviews have always been there to help us decide which movies to  see, doctors to go to, (it was word of mouth before we had Angie's List), and so forth.  So it's no wonder we all wish that everyone who has bought our books would trot over  to Amazon and leave a review.

Good reviews fuel more sales, whether on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Goodreads. (I think Amazon has perks for those who generate lots of reviews.) The last movie I saw in a theater came about because I read reviews.


Now I have read about people who cheat to get lots of reviews. There will always be a few of those, sad to say. Those people are small minorities. Most of us are good folks wanting to do the right thing.

So I guess I am asking in a round-about way, please, anytime you read books, could you review them? Even if you didn't buy it off Amazon, you can still go there and leave an honest review. We authors would appreciate it.


(Logos used for diversity. My thanks to the companies...)

What Happened to the Time?

                                   Time flies when you're having fun!    

Recently I realized that over three months has passed since my last blog entry. Four holidays have gone by. The tree has been put up and taken down since then. Christmas vacation is but a fond memory. It is a new year. We have had snow flurries and surfing weather. And my latest novel has been out for over a month, for crying out loud.

It's time (pun intended) to fix this oversight.

Thomas Edison once said of his newly invented phonograph (and I am paraphrasing). 'I want this baby to grow up and support me in my old age.' That is what I like to say about my books. When I do most of my venues, I bring along more than books. I bring my Scentsy products, homemade rugs, and jellies. It usually takes all of those to pay the booth fee and a little more. I feel blessed when I sell more than three books.

This Saturday (January 16th) I was at the Birchwood Crane Days Festival. Been going there for some years, either as a vendor or a volunteer.

I am in here somewhere (out of picture actually).
Courtesy of Cleveland Daily Banner

It was rather chilly inside the gym of the old school, (I was between two of the doors.)  I set up everything and hoped that January was going to be a good month. To my surprise, I sold numerous books. Everything else sort of languished. You can't imagine what a wonderful boost that is to an author. It was a great day!

By the way, I am working on another novel. It is a fantasy about cats and dogs working together to save their human....