“Psst – Hey mister, you want a five-star review?” My guest post with Victoria Dougherty…

By Victoria Dougherty:

Thank God for Indie Publishing – it is my opinion that we are far better off with it than without it. Is there a wider range of quality – undoubtedly. There are authors who are amateur, don’t properly edit their work, and put out a shoddy product. But I think that for the practiced reader, those are pretty easy to spot. All you have to do is have a look inside the book and read a page or two – which Amazon is very generous about. By and large, the real stinkers sink pretty quickly, too.

And you know, even if they don’t and there’s a market for the work… so be it.

(click on the banner to read on)

 

12 Things That Will Get your Book review request turned down – The Writer’s Shack

How to approach book bloggers to ask for a review: 

The DOs and DON’Ts.

As the owner of a site that blogs about books, I am constantly bombarded by book review requests – 99% of which I promptly refuse.

Why?

There are two major reasons I refuse requests. 

Click on Riley’s photo to continue:

 

Lads and Lassies, there be spammers amongst us – and they be on Goodreads…

Click on the cover to rate the book and join the fight!

Recently, our own Travis Luedke brought it to our attention that a certain “gentleman” by the name of Andrew Domonkos has been spamming the tar out of Goodreads, and had set up some sock-puppet accounts to assist him in doing so. (For those of you who don’t know, a “sock-puppet” is a fictitious account created to amass a large amount of voting and rating power on any given subject or book.)

So, I went and had a look-see at Messr. Domonkos, and lemme tell you, this guy is spreading muck in every corner of Goodreads. Not only has he created over 100 fake accounts, he has also run wild and given 1-star ratings to many, many books on Listopia.

Quite a number of authors want to have this idiot removed from Goodreads and his IP address blocked. If you feel strongly about this (and remember, if your book is listed on Goodreads, you’re fair game), then please click on the cover above, and join the conversation. 

And if you want to read about more of Domonkos’ exploits, you can see Travis’ article by clicking on his banner:

Savvy Writers & e-Books online addresses the ag-old question – How the heck do you get book reviews?

Click on the image to read it!

 

My pal Shannon McRoberts has author Tina Frisco as her guest, with a compelling article on Fear, Love, and Gratitude…:)

Click on Shannon’s logo to read 

My buddy, author and blogger Emma Snow, reviews the paranormal romance “Obsidian (Lux #1)” by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Click on Emma’s Logo to read it!

 

My brother Steve Ramirez with an amusing – and only too true – article on the dreaded “one-star” reviewer…:)

Trolls Among Us | Glass Highway | Steven Ramirez.

Orangeberry Book Tours has a halloween-themed promotional event you might want to check out…:)

Click on the cover to go to the event

Thanks to my friend Peggy Williams for sending out word on this…

This is what the event includes – from the actual Orangeberry page. 

1. Each author who signs up will receive – 3 blog stops (may or may not be consecutively) per book which will include 1 book feature and 2 author interviews (Halloween edition).

– 1 TwitterView (you can change this to a Twitter Blast).

– Event hashtag is #OBTreat

***This author interview is a Halloween edition so if you’ve signed up for other Orangeberry book tours, you will still need to answer at least 20 interview questions.

2. Giveaways are not compulsory but if you would like to do this, do let me know. My email is pandorapoikilos@gmail.com

3. There will also be a Kindle Fire giveaway so there will be a participating fee of $5per book.

4. The purpose of this marketing campaign is to increase awareness for your book and cannot guarantee increased positive book reviews. Additionally, increased book sales and other marketing results will differ from book to book.

5. This event is open to ALL authors and genres but please indicate the rating for your book accurately.

I now have a page listing Book Reviewers on my site

Goodreads

Home Page

Along with the cover artist, book reviewers are folks who authors – and readers – simply can’t do without. They are the ones who take it on the chin by reading something which might be  senseless, bordering on the illiterate, confusing, or just downright lousy. Regardless, they plow through  it, so the author can get more publicity, and the reader can tell which way to run.

These are some of the friends who I’ve been fortunate to make on Goodreads. The ones that take that hit, and furnish us with the Review.

1. Soma Rostam – http://insomnia-of-books.blogspot.com/

2. Lisa Boggs – http://modokkerbookpicks.blogspot.com/?zx=def5311d2987966f

3. Aurora Martinez – http://aurorathenerd.blogspot.com/