Monday, March 25, 2013

No, I'm Sorry, But...That's NOT Okay



The book business is entirely subjective, but, even though, as a reader, I know a writer can’t possibly please everyone, as an author, I still strive to do so. I know I'll never achieve this and it typically doesn’t bother me all that much.  This past week, however, was a bit different.


I’m finishing up my current book tour, grateful for all the positive reviews, but today, I had to gird myself for a possible bad one.  Now, I’m not sure what or even if this blogger will post.  I’m hopeful she won’t actually, because, according to her Goodreads updates and the tweets she directed at me, she stopped reading just shy of the fifty yard line, probably throwing my book against the proverbial wall before deleting it from her TBR list.


I know exactly the point at which she stopped reading, the most pivotal scene in the entire book.  Many reviewers have described my novel as a rollercoaster ride.  Well, that scene is THE big drop, and a real doozy, too, the one that makes you gasp and scream  

Thing is, that scene is the reason I wrote the book in the first place, asking the question: What could make a genuinely good man commit a violent crime, something unspeakable?  Because, on a personal level, I really, really needed to understand. 


It’s like Bud White, Russell Crowe’s character in LA Confidential.  He’s this muscly, tough-guy cop who hates men that abuse women.  After all, when Bud was a child, his father tied him to a radiator and forced him to watch as he beat Bud’s mother to death.  But then later, Bud himself is pushed over the edge and beats his girlfriend, becoming the very thing he despises most in this world.

I needed to understand how that was possible, how a man could go against everything he stands for.  And I needed to know how he manages to live with that choice. 

But this reviewer, whom I asked to join my tour based on the books she's read and her past reviews, got to that pivotal scene and…that was it.  She couldn’t take it.  The hero had overstepped, gone over to the dark side.  And, apparently, she wasn’t interested in his redemption. 


I found this confusing, because, among countless other erotic novels, she read and awarded 5 stars to Consequences, a book about a man who rufies and kidnaps a woman, then forces her to submit to him, body and soul.  But it’s okay because, for whatever reason, she kind of likes it and even marries him.  *rolls eyes*  

So why the double standard when, in my book, it doesn’t go anywhere near that far, and, what does happen, only happens once, and by mistake, too?  I’ll tell you why.  Because my victim didn’t like it.  She wasn’t into it.  That’s why. 


My novel is not erotic BDSM and is not meant to appeal to those who are into that whole she-didn’t-have-a-choice-but-she-liked-it-anyway sort of thing.  So I’m disillusioned, because this reviewer, who, I might add, has considerable influence, knew this was a psychological thriller with this type of undertone, and she signed on for the tour.  Yet now, she won’t follow through.

I think it’s fine to hate a book, including mine.  God knows, I hate many books I’ve tried to read.  But I also don’t think it’s fair to review a book if you haven’t actually read it all the way through.  I bought a book over the weekend that several romance bloggers were raving about, but I ended up returning it a few hours later because I felt the writing was poor, and, to be honest, it was boring.  It just wasn’t for me


But still, I would never, ever think to judge that book publicly, to rate or review it, since I hadn’t actually read much of it.  I’ve had this happen to me once before on Goodreads, and worse? I just saw it happen again recently to a friend, as well.  That pissed me off.

It’s not fair.  And it’s not cool.


This is the author’s life and work, his or her blood, sweat, and tears, not to mention their reputation, and some reviewers are trashing it WITHOUT having even read it to the end.

I’m sorry, but…I’m not okay with that.  Are you?   

___________________________

Post script:  The blogger did not review my book, which greatly relieves me.  Also, this post is my opinion solely on reviewing and rating without having actually finished the book.  However, I do think it's fine to say publicly that you couldn't get through it for whatever reason.  Everyone is entitled to their opinion. 



Monday, March 18, 2013

Top Ten Movie Blogfest!




This is a list of my top ten favorite movies, ones I continue to watch over and over again.



 Why?  It’s smart, very old Hollywood, Kevin Spacey is awesome, and it has a young Russell Crowe

#9 - Gladiator


Why?  Well-plotted, scripted, and acted.  And again, Russell Crowe when he still looked good.



Why?  Written by Aaron Sorkin.  Need I say more?



Why?  Very Original, Arnold is badass,and I kinda dig a young Michael Biehn

#6 – The Pianist


Why?  Incredibly moving, wonderful music, well-acted & scripted.  And, duh!  Adrien Brody!

#5 – The Departed


Why?  Shocking!  Very Smart and incredibly well-plotted.  Plus, Leo was awesome!

#4 - Inception


Why?  Because, damn!  Talk about well-plotted.  Who could possibly think up that $hit?



Why?  A great thrill ride!  Robert Ludlum at his best!

#2 – Forrest Gump


Why?  Very smart and well-written, not to mention Tom Hanks' performance.  Wow!



Why?  Uh, hello!  It’s Jane Austen, man!  And Matthew Macfadyen is yummy.

Honorable Mention – A Perfect Murder


Why?  Michael Douglas as the bad guy and Viggo Mortensen is scrumptious!
And it’s a great revenge story gone wrong, and you know how I love those!

What're your favorite flicks?




Wednesday, March 13, 2013

National Wormhole Day Bloghop



In honor of Albert Einstein’s 134th birthday,
Stephen Tremp, Laura Eno, and Luanne Smith are hosting the
National Wormhole Day Bloghop. 

Here’s the lowdown:

What would you do or where would you go if you could traverse a wormhole through space or time just once? One safe, round trip passage. Would you go back in time and talk some sense into a younger you? Go five years into the future and bring back the Wall Street Journal? See just how the heck the Great Pyramids of Giza were really built? View what the other side of the universe looks like? Kill Hitler?

Tell the world, in 100 words more or less, what you would do if you had a two-way ticket to traverse a wormhole. 

Considering all the financial suffering my family has experienced in the last five years, I should either go back in time and invest in Google or Apple, or go forward and see what stock is super hot, ‘cause damn, college is freakin’ expensive. 

But all I really want to do is go back twenty-eight years, five months, and eighteen days and tell myself that, at eighteen years of age, I am strong enough to raise my daughter, that I can do it on my own and don’t need my parents permission or assistance, that her father and I will have the strongest, most loving marriage ever, that even though it might be selfless to let her go so she might have a better life with the adoptive parents I’d chosen for her, what her father and I have to offer is what is best.

If only…




Monday, March 11, 2013

On Tour Today: CARRIE BUTLER, author of STRENGTH, Offers Marketing Tips


It’s my great pleasure today to my have pub-sister, Carrie Butler, over during her blog tour.
So, take it away, Carrie…

Marketing Voodoo - Selling the Experience, Not the Product

Back in college, I had a harsh marketing professor. He had a voice like a megaphone, loved to single students out, and rarely admitted he was wrong. But you know what? His lessons stuck with me.

"We're not just selling features," he'd always bark. "We're selling benefits."
One day, he had us go around and try to pitch whatever writing utensil we'd used to take notes on his lecture. Right there. On the spot.

Of course, the first unlucky few floundered about, grasping for a quick summarization. "Well, it's a Papermate mechanical pencil. I found it in the hall. It says it's, uh, one-point-zero millime—"

"Next!"

As he went around the classroom, the lesson became glaringly apparent. He was waiting for us to sell the benefits over the features—the experience over the product. "This isn't just a pen," I declared when he called on me, thrusting my cheap-o clicky pen into the air. "It's a statement."

He rubbed his chin. "How so?"

"It was handcrafted in India," I lied. "Eighteen-karat gold clip, refillable cartridge, polished... uh, barrel. Do you know what this pen says about me? It says I have good taste. It says I'm a professional who's willing to invest in her career. It says... I'm just a little more successful than you are."

Plus, it says I love BS-ing people. That pen cost me ninety-nine cents.

Now, mind you, the exercise was just for fun—and we all had a good laugh about it—but it does beg the question: Are you selling benefits or features?

What do you love about your book? Is it the fact that it's a 389-page paranormal romance that's making strides in the new adult category? Of course not. You love the way it made you feel the first time you daydreamed about it. You love how your heart raced alongside your characters' as the scenes unraveled. So, what if you started pitching it that way?

Don't spam-tweet us that your book is available on Amazon for $3.99. Invite us in to experience your world. Give us a teaser. Share a reviewer's first impression. Take my fabulous host, for example:

“Thompson writes cinematographic scenes of violence that contrast perfectly w/ those of tenderness & love.” 5 stars http://ow.ly/hj8V9 

Doesn't that make you want to read THE MISTAKEN? If I didn't already own two copies, I'd check that link out!

So, if you take nothing else away from this post, remember that your readers are people—not numbers. They want to share the experience of that daydream. They want to connect with it on an emotional level. You just have to reach out to them. :)

About Strength


When college student Rena Collins finds herself nose-to-chest with the campus outcast, she’s stunned. Wallace Blake is everything she’s ever wanted in a man—except he can’t touch her. His uncontrollable strength, a so-called gift from his bloodline, makes every interaction dangerous. And with a secret, supernatural war brewing among his kind, there’s no time to work it out. To keep Wallace in her life, Rena will have to risk a whole lot more than her heart.

Where to buy:
KOBO | ITUNES BOOKSTORE | DIESEL | BAKER & TAYLOR

About the Author


Carrie daydreamed her way through college—until they thrust a marketing degree into her hands, slapped a summa cum laude seal on the corner, and booted her out into a less-than-stellar job market. Instead of panicking at the prospect of unemployment, she used her Midwestern logic to steer into the skid and point her life in the direction she really wanted to go: writing out those daydreams.

Where to find Carrie:
WEBSITE  |  BLOG  |  PUBLISHER  |  TWITTER  |  FACEBOOK  |  GOODREADS  |  GOOGLE+

Where to find Strength:






Thursday, March 7, 2013

Big Release Day: Carrie Butler's STRENGTH


I am SOOOO excited!!
Today is the Big Release Day for Carrie Butler’s
New Adult paranormal romance debut…


Title: Strength
Series: Mark of Nexus – Book 1
Publisher: Sapphire Star Publishing   
Category: New Adult (NA)
Genre: Paranormal Romance (PNR)
Release Date: March 07, 2013
Available atAmazonKindleBarnes and Noble, and Nook. More retailers will be added in the coming weeks, i.e. Sony Reader Store, iBookstore, Kobo, etc. Be sure to keep an eye on Carrie's Pinterest "Retailers" board. She updates it whenever STRENGTH pops up somewhere. :)

Here's the scoop:
When college student Rena Collins finds herself nose-to-chest with the campus outcast, her rumor-laced notions are shattered. Handsome, considerate, and seemingly sane, Wallace Blake doesn’t look like he spends his nights alone, screaming and banging on the walls of his dorm room. Hell, he doesn’t look like he spends his nights alone, period.

Too curious for her own good, Rena vows to uncover the truth behind Wallace’s madman reputation—and how two seconds of contact had left her with bruises. Of course, there are a few minor setbacks along the way: guilt, admiration, feelings of the warm and fuzzy variety…

Not to mention the unwanted attention of Wallace's powerful, supernaturally-gifted family.

They’re a bloodline divided by opposing ideals, two soon-to-be warring factions that live in secret among us. When Rena ends up caught in their crossfire, Wallace has no choice but to save her by using his powers. Now they’re really in trouble. With war on the horizon and Rena’s life in the balance, he needs to put some distance between them. But Rena won’t let go. If fighting is what it takes to prove her own strength and keep Wallace in her life, then that’s what she’ll do—even if it means risking a whole lot more than her heart.


Seriously, this book is so freaking awesome and Carrie is crazy talented!  The voice is unlike any I've ever read, and Rena, the protagonist, is one bad-ass chick, just like Carrie!  Make sure you enter Carrie's giveaway below.


Carrie daydreamed her way through college—until they thrust a marketing degree into her hands, slapped a summa cum laude seal on the corner, and booted her out into a less-than-stellar job market. Instead of panicking at the prospect of unemployment, she used her Midwestern logic to steer into the skid and point her life in the direction she really wanted to go: writing out those daydreams.

Where to find Carrie:
WEBSITE  |  BLOG  |  PUBLISHER  |  TWITTER  |  FACEBOOK  |  GOODREADS  |  GOOGLE+

Where to find Strength:





Wednesday, March 6, 2013

IWSG: Like a Yo-yo on a Roller Coaster



It’s the first Wednesday of the month, time for

I’ve been trying to be more upbeat lately with my IWSG posts, more supportive, more positive.  But this month, I’m finding that a bit more difficult.  I think it’s just me getting tired, like being at the midway point during a marathon. 

My whole life, it seems, has become all about my book, the weekly, daily, and minute-to-minute ups and downs of how it’s selling, being reviewed, or how it’s ranking.  Everyday, it’s something new, an excited reader or a position shift on an Amazon list.  Just something.


And right along with these shifts, my mood soars or plummets.  I would liken it to a yo-yo on a roller coaster.  One minute I’m up and the next I’m down.  I take it all in, the reviewer progress reports on Facebook and Goodreads, the hourly rise and fall of my Amazon US ranking versus Amazon UK, and ugh, the reviews.  Most are good, but not all.  So even if I do get a good one, I let the not-so-good bring me down, only to pop back up when my title moves higher on a Top Rated list.



It’s never-ending and is seriously making my head spin.  And I cannot afford to be distracted or sidetracked right now.  I’m making huge progress on my next book, like two to four thousand words a day, so much that I have to take weekends off so my brain and psyche can recover from the emotional overload of writing this tale. 

It’s easy to just say, “Don’t look, don’t pay attention.”  But I know that won’t work for me.  Yet still, when I, all of a sudden, realize I haven’t checked some form of social media or Amazon in over eight hours, I realize how calm and focused I feel.  That should tell me something.  To stay away.  Don’t look.  So why do I continue to torture myself?  





Monday, March 4, 2013

BOOK LAUNCHES: M. Pax's BOOMTOWN CRAZE and Carrie Butler's STRENGTH...Plus a little something extra

Please join me in celebrating the release of  M. Pax's
BOOMTOWN CRAZE


A Grand New Age of Boom or Dust?

Boomtown Craze, Book 3 in the Backworlds series is here!

In the far future, humanity settles the stars, bioengineering its descendents to survive in a harsh universe.

To secure his future, Craze must propel his world into a more prosperous era. Only days away from the grand opening of his new and improved tavern, he is confronted by a loony Backworlder intent on mucking up his plans. Gaunt and trembling, she claims her spaceship is possessed. She also has a connection to the underworld that shakes loose the dark past of one of Craze’s closest friends. It all threatens to end Craze’s prosperity before it begins.

Meanwhile off world, Captain Talos works desperately to outwit the mercenary Jixes and lure them away from his and Craze’s budding prospects. The mind-control weapon Talos uses against them is wearing thin, and his next move may be his last.

Will Craze and Talos’s efforts bring about a grand new age of boom or damn them to forever struggle in the dust?

Ebook available at:

It will also be available in paperback from Amazon shortly.

Other Outlets can be found at http://mpaxauthor.com


M. Pax is a Browncoat and SG fan, she’s also slightly obsessed with Jane Austen. In the summers she docents as a star guide at Pine Mountain Observatory where the other astronomers now believe she has the most extensive collection of moon photos in existence. No fear, there will be more next summer. She lives in stunning Central Oregon with the Husband Unit and two lovely, spoiled cats.

Find M. Pax at:


From March 4 to March 22, folks can enter to win 1 set of signed Backworlds paperbacks, including The Backworlds, Stopover at the Backworlds’ Edge, and Boomtown Craze. Will only ship to US residents.

a Rafflecopter giveaway One of five free ebooks. All countries eligible. Enter the rafflecopter for a chance. a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congratulations, Mary!

__________________

And one more very important thing you CANNOT forget...


This Thursday, March 7th, is Carrie Butler’s launch of her debut
New Adult paranormal romance,
from Sapphire Star Publishing

Here's a small taste:

When college student Rena Collins finds herself nose-to-chest with the campus outcast, she’s stunned. Wallace Blake is everything she’s ever wanted in a man—except he can’t touch her. His uncontrollable strength, a so-called gift from his bloodline, makes every interaction dangerous. And with a secret, supernatural war brewing among his kind, there’s no time to work it out. To keep Wallace in her life, Rena will have to risk a whole lot more than her heart.


JOIN THE TOUR!


Check out her tour schedule here and enter the giveaway
for a chance to win an awesome prize package.




__________________

And one last thing…


My Partners In Crime Book Tour started March 1st and runs through the end of the month. 

The first review for my book posted here last Friday, and boy did it scare the bejeezus out of me.  Here was a reviewer who rarely reads and enjoys books in my genre, coming right out and saying she was “utterly convinced that [she] was going to absolutely hate this book.”   

YIKES!

But, while she did have a couple small criticisms, she said she was wrong, that she enjoyed the book, and was glad she read it, giving 4 out of 5 stars.   

WHEW!

On Saturday, an article I wrote for Writers and Authors about the marathon of publishing and marketing a book posted here, so drop by and leave me a comment.

And today, there should be a new review over at Reviews by T ammy and Kim, but it hadn’t posted by the time I scheduled here so I have no idea what they thought of The Mistaken.  I’m shaking in my boots!   

There should be posts up nearly every day this week and all through the month.  Just click here for the schedule if you’re interested.