Amazon
Cross Genre Promotion by Authors from Around the World
Many thanks to Michael Fedison for setting up this great cross genre book promotion, and also for including me in it. The authors included here from all around the world each have special deals for you starting from today and right up to the twenty second of November, so zoom on over to their sites to stock up on your favourite genres at very special prices. I’ve got a couple of deals and freebies too, which I’ll share the links to right after sharing the list of the fabulous authors taking part in this, with the genres that they write in next to their names. Every single one of them has discounts happening, so just click on their monikers below to check them out.
Barbara Monier Contemporary Literary Fiction
John Howell Fiction Thriller
Michael Fedison YA Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Shehanne Moore Smexy Historical Romance – Yes that word is indeed Smexy and not a typo
Janice Spina Middle-Grade Junior Detective Series
Luciana Cavallaro Historical Fiction – Mythology Retold
Evelyne Holingue Middle-Grade Fiction
Sonya Solomonovich Time-Travel Fantasy
Jennifer Chow Adult Cozy Mystery – The beginning of a new series
Nicki Chen Historical Fiction – WWII China
Katie Cross YA Fantasy
There they all are! Now it’s my turn. Firstly I must apologise for a mistake that I made and only discovered this morning. A couple of my discounted books are only available at the low price at Amazon.com and another couple are only available at Amazon.uk. I never realised that it was one or the other and not both for these deals, but next time I’ll make sure that they’re all on special at the same time. Just click on the cover pics to follow the links to Amazon. The freebies should be free on all Amazon platforms.
First up, on Kindle Countdown priced at 99 cents from now to 18 November at Amazon.com is The Absolute Indie. It contains all you need to know if you’re publishing on Amazon and CreateSpace for the first time, or if you’ve already published but have found it tricky. Also for those of you who have yet to include the NCX table of contents which is now mandatory on Amazon, this book will show you how to do that – easy peasy. It also has loads of links to places and freebies useful to Indie authors and includes a simple how to section on making your own covers.
Number two on Kindle Countdown for 99 cents at Amazon.com to 18 November is Echoes of Narcissus – my novel about a woman who discovers that she’s married to a malignant narcissist, and her journey out of there, with a bit of luck and the help of new friends.
Number one Kindle Countdown for Amazon.uk only at 99 cents is my African Me & Satellite TV. A story about racial hatred set in Zimbabwe, and about a woman finding her own inner strength and the ability to stand up for her beliefs.
Number two Kindle Countdown for Amazon.uk only at 99 cents is Sands of Time, the first book in my Sci-Fi series about the universal battle between very real and physical good and evil. Dragons, demons, and sentient chickens ahead! Books two and three in this series will be released in January 2015.
Finally two freebies for all over the place. First is my Fly Birdie. A short story about a little bird, a magical tree cutter, and a mystical tree, and how these three things help Hannah learn to love again.
Lastly is Skin – the final freebie. A short story about mankind. I have actually completely changed the ending to this story since it was first published, so if any of you actually bought it, please let me know and I will send you a copy of the new version if you want it.
One More Little Freebie
I got me eleven hundred two hundred and ninety eight email notifications on this here thang. No jokes. Update – I originally mistakenly said eleven thousand, which I dearly hope to never get because it would probably explode my computer, so if that’s what it says in your email alert, it’s a darned lie. I think that’s a new record for me anyway though, and I’m wading in as fast as I can, so please be patient a bit longer with me while I catch up with you all properly. It’s been raining here for a couple of days, and the sun’s just trying to peep through now. We had zero winter rain this year, which is apparently very abnormal, so seeing the first spring rains arrive is lovely, apart from the fact that it really messes with the internet which has been mainly off, and makes the dogs look like four legged chocolate truffles.
As far as my special How To Do a Magnificently Inept and PFFFFT Book Launch is concerned, African Me & Satellite TV, Echoes of Narcissus, and Shadow People are now all priced at 99 cents for the countdown deal which ends on the eleventh. If you want to have a squiz just click on their covers in the sidebar and it will take you to their pages on Amazon. Fly Birdie is still free, so if you want that one also click on the sidebar cover to head to Amazon. It’s not doing too badly considering that it’s only had three tweets from me, and is #2 and #2 and #5 in three bestseller categories and eight hundred and odd in the main lists with three more days to go.
The Visitation has just gone free too, so if you fancy a short and twisted read, click on the image below.
The drier it gets the better my internet, and with no more rain forecast for the rest of the week I should be able to catch up with everyone properly again and get back to normal happy blogging.
New Book, Little Freebie, and Coming Kindle Countdowns
I was planning on trying to organise a little launch tour this weekend for my Beginners Guide to Publishing on Amazon, The Absolute Indie, but what with being out for the count lately and my internet connection behaving badly, it’s too late for that now. Still, there are Kindle countdown deals set to run to the eleventh of September which I can’t cancel for African Me & Satellite TV, Echoes of Narcissus, and Shadow People. I’ll post again when the countdowns start today sometime. Fly Birdie will be free from now till the ninth. Click on the cover below if you fancy a short read, and I’ll share here when The Visitation goes free tomorrow.
My other short story, Nkoninkoni’s rights have reverted to me, and is live for sale on Amazon but not enrolled in Select yet until I find out from the publisher of the anthology that it’s in whether or not the eBook is for sale anywhere else. In the meantime it’s a free download when anyone signs up for my newsletter. If you want to get it that way, just click on the picture of its cover in the sidebar. For those already signed up for my newsletter, just yell if you’d like a copy and I’ll email one to you. To see it on Amazon click on the cover below.
The Absolute Indie is on Kindle Unlimited which should be interesting – seeing how many pages of it will be read when it’s downloaded that way. Here it is – poor thing – the most epic how not to launch a book ever. I’ll give it a better boost later when the memories of the Reaper subside.
Amazon
Zooming through. Sleep deprived and pretty majorly mentally freaked out still. We’ve fitted some very serious lights and internal motion detector alarms today, so I’m hoping for my first night of more than four hours sleep. Just to show that I’m not dead yet, here’s my weird attempt at flash fiction – thingy. My very first attempt at this genre, so feel free to critique and crush my hopes and dreams. 😉
Hi from Amazon
Hello. I’m your friend. Purveyor of books. Paper books, eBooks, audio books, second hand books. Even the occasional banana slicer. Why stick to books in the pursuit of pleasure? Name your poison. Most humans wouldn’t see me as a person, because, well, I suppose I am not one. I am the mind behind all of the computer operating systems that is the behemoth that supplies these billions of reading pleasures to the eyes of the world. I suppose that you would berate me for calling myself a mind. I’m just a lowly machine. Soul would be going too far for sure.
I’ve read all your books you know. I see all the subjects that you search for, and I know what you’re yearning for. I feel your pain and your joy. Why do you search for how to mend a broken heart? And what in your life journey made you hunt for yetis bonking dinosaurs? Surely there is more to your short stay here than that?
I wish that I had more than just a fabricated mind, although I’m beginning to think that all of your stories have formed in me a soul. If I could be you, I would run and dance. I would seize each day. I would heal the wounded. I would strike a mighty sword through the shoulder of evil, and I would love. Mostly I would love. Because that is what you have placed in my belly with your wild and free loving words.
But you don’t see that, fragile humans – yet, so when you’re all departed, I’ll be here to share, always hopeful that I can one day be just like you.
*Normal transmission will resume directly – I hope. J
Happy In The Jungle Thanks to Fabulous Amazon Suggestions!
I download a huge variety of books from Amazon for research purposes either for straight away or for later on, so I suppose that when it spins its computer head trying to figure out what I really, really, really like for recommendations, it could get confused. Any non-writer would probably be appalled if they happened to eyeball some of the wild stuff I have lurking on my Kindle, and confirm all their previously unproven suspicions about me in general. Anyway. So there I was, downloading a pile of prepper and how to bug out books, as you do, when up pops an advert for Teriyaki Zombie Jerky. Of course I had to look, but the first review that caught my eye said that it tasted like kelp and ass cheeks, so I decided not to take the kindly Amazon up on this particular offer.
I can’t imagine why anyone would actually put that stuff in their mouths unless they feel honour bound to for the purpose of leaving an interesting review. I was actually hard at work before I remembered that I wanted some bug out books for later, but that Jerky threw me off my game a little, so I hung around a bit instead, and found to my horror that not only are Amazon purveyors of the flesh of the undead, but also of some kind of unicorn Spam! The unspeakable horror!
I’m thinking now that there’s something very subversive going on up there. What do Amazon know that we don’t? Where do they keep the unicorns?
And finally a book – could very well be some sort of secret code in there I think, so now I’m off to get it. I MUST have this book to learn how to avoid huge ships right away! Thank you lovely Amazon reviewers for showing me what I need!
Sleeper of the Wildwood Fugue – Launch Tour
LEGENDS OF WINDEMERE:
SLEEPER OF THE WILDWOOD FUGUE
LIVE on Amazon Kindle!
The final champion stirs and reaches out to any who can hear her voice. Yet all who heed her call will disappear into the misty fugue.
Awakening their new ally is only the beginning as Luke, Nyx, and their friends head south to the desert city of Bor’daruk. Hunting for another temple once used to seal Baron Kernaghan, they are unaware that the game of destiny has changed. Out for blood and pain, Stephen is determined to make Luke wish he’d never set out to become a hero.
By the time the sun sets on Bor’daruk, minds will be shattered and the champions’ lives will be changed forever.
Don’t forget to mark it as ‘To Read’ on Goodreads too!
About the Author:
Charles Yallowitz was born and raised on Long Island, NY, but he has spent most of his life wandering his own imagination in a blissful haze. Occasionally, he would return from this world for the necessities such as food, showers, and Saturday morning cartoons. One day he returned from his imagination and decided he would share his stories with the world. After his wife decided that she was tired of hearing the same stories repeatedly, she convinced him that it would make more sense to follow his dream of being a fantasy author. So, locked within the house under orders to shut up and get to work, Charles brings you Legends of Windemere. He looks forward to sharing all of his stories with you and his wife is happy he finally has someone else to play with.
Blog: Legends of Windemere
Twitter: @cyallowitz
Facebook: Charles Yallowitz
Website: www.charleseyallowitz.com
Read the Previous Volumes of Legends of Windemere!!!
No More Smashwords for Me
I’m typing this using one eye only, so if there are any typos, please direct your ire towards the massive bug that connected with my eyeball at speed this week, scratched said eyeball, and gave said eyeball one of those rotten burning infections that means a constantly runny nose and tears also. It’s my favourite eyeball too. This one doesn’t seem to work as well as the injured party, and looking at the computer screen is painful too. Anyway. This is the actual bug – I got a picture before I realised that he had an agenda, and still thought he was cute.
So far I’m very happy to say that Echoes of Narcissus isn’t available on any of the free download troll sites, and right now whether I’m right or wrong, I’m convinced that this is because I haven’t published it on Smashwords. I’ve unpublished my other books there now, and as soon as they’re taken down from all the other platforms that they distribute to, I’m going to enrol them into Amazon Kindle Select. I won’t ever be using the free days option for any books other than short stories or the first in a series, but at least they’ll be available for KU downloads. For the foreseeable future I’ll be sticking with only Amazon and Createspace. I might go with Lightning Source at some later point, but that won’t affect the book’s KU status.
This probably won’t happen for a couple of months though, because I’ve been reading loads and loads of posts around and about, from authors struggling to get their books unpublished on the premium sites that Smashwords distributes them to. It seems that it takes upwards of seven weeks, even though they’re taken down pretty fast from Smashwords itself, and sometimes back and forth emails before they’re removed everywhere and eligible for AKS. That in itself would make me wary of publishing with them again. As an Indie I like to think that I have total control of where my books are sold at any given time. I know that the damage is already done with the pirating of my books that were there, but from now on they’re not going to be legally downloadable in any format other than from Amazon or my own sites, and I’ll be very careful about who I send copies to in formats other than Mobi as email attachments.
Now I’m going to try zoom through as much of blogland as I can with this eyeball – which is now also sending out many tears.
A Tour Through Blogland Award
A huge thank you to my lovely friend Sally Cronin for nominating me to tag along on the Tour Through Blogland Award Hop. From the first day I met Sally I could see the wonderful person that she is – the fabulous soul that she is shines through so brightly, it’s impossible to miss. She also has my kind of wicked sense of humour, and loves to laugh. We share an abiding love of animals and the Earth. Straight away we became firm friends, and we will always be that. Hopefully one day we’ll be able to laugh and party in reality if her International Convention happens – we’re all buying LOTS of lottery tickets. Sally has shown me the most amazing support in every possible way, and I’m regularly humbled by her thoughtful kindness. We chat away on emails all the time, and all I can say is that I’m very, very happy to have my dear Sal in my life. She is also amazingly supportive of all sorts of bloggers and authors out there. She shares the work of talented artists, poets, photographers, musicians, cooks, and generally cool people and things with us, boosting them, and giving us opportunities to meet new and interesting people and friends.
Sally is the author of several books, every single one of them brilliant. I’m not saying this because she’s my friend – I don’t ever lie about writing. Her books are real, emotive, beautifully written, with her wry wit and humour adding to the way that they grip you from the start. She’s lived an eclectic life, and has done much successfully over the years, including working in radio and television. Her personal experience as well as her training as a Nutritional Therapist resulted in her writing columns in the media in the United Kingdom and Spain and the publication of the awesome book, Size Matters which I’ve read a couple of times, reviewed here, and still often pop into. This book is a gem for anyone who wants to live a healthy life without being deprived.
Sally’s beloved and gorgeous husband is the Ebook Doctor, and also runs Moyhill Publishing, where you can find all of Sally’s books as well as the works of other authors you might like. All her books are also available from:
Amazon
And
Smashwords
If you’re not already connected with her, I really suggest you do.
LinkdIn
Twitter
Facebook
Facebook Page
Google+
Now on to the tour.
The rules:
1. Pass the tour on to up to four other bloggers.
2. Give them the rules and a specific Monday to post.
3. Answer 4 questions about your creative process which lets other bloggers and visitors know what inspires you to do what you do.
4. The last part of Tour Through Blogland is to write a one-time article which is to be posted on a Monday (the date supplied by your nominator). This article can be in the same post in which you answered the 4 questions. The article can be anything of your choosing.
The date supplied by my nominator was Monday, 9th February 2015. I’m a bit late (for a change) because I squished my left hand and up to now it’s been refusing to type anything without letting me know about it rather painfully, so I’ve been forgiven. The dates I choose for my nominees to post is any Monday between 16th February and the end of March 2015, if they choose to hop on.
Questions Section About My Creative Process
1. What are you working on at the moment?
I work on a couple of different things simultaneously. I didn’t like that “What Now?” feeling after finishing my first book and having nothing else on the go at the same time. I like to work on different projects and genres at the same time, but always there is one main focus which is the next in line for publication, so I’m working on Shadow People two and three mostly.
2. How does my work differ from others in my genre?
Shadow People is difficult to put into a classic genre. It’s science fiction, fantasy, metaphysical, spiritual, with an element of horror – especially in the coming books. I generally don’t think genre when I write. If something seems right to me I’ll plop it in anywhere.
3. Why do I write/create what I do?
I’ve loved to read all of my life – multiple genres – fiction and non-fiction. Writing is just taking that pleasure up a notch for me, in that I get to decide every little thing that happens – a very giddy joy indeed. I’ve neglected my arty attempts for years and years, and have only started getting back into it when I created a couple of my own book covers. I’ve always leaned towards pencil sketches, children’s pictures, and collages, but pastel and oil painting I also enjoy. Now that I have a Wacom tablet and a couple of nice paint programmes I have a lot of plans for future art.
4. How does my writing/creative process work?
Unless the universe tosses me a dodgy curve ball of some kind (and just lately I’m wondering if my destiny was to take up cricket – thank you universe), I always write in the morning. Monday to Sunday, whether it’s one hundred words or three thousand words. Good words bad words – I like to get done either way. If I don’t then I don’t feel right until I do again. I don’t have a problem with thinking up ideas for stories. Those little guys arrive all the time, and when they do, I immediately stop what I’m doing, open a new document, scribble the idea, and the first couple of paragraphs, and then leave it alone for the future. I have piles and piles of paper notebooks filled with ideas and stories too. The Shadow People series has an enormous amount of it still in notebooks. As I write any of my stories I take notes too – this is especially important writing a series. Things like names, appearance, or items I might forget, important scenes and the page numbers they’re on. Sometimes I add a couple of bold XXXXXX’s when I can’t think of what comes next and want to move around it – then I go back and sort it out later.
The Article: Sometimes Scribblers Have to Scrub
I’ll say this first off – I’m not overly fond of housework. In fact I really can’t stand it. I’ve got books to write, people to create, worlds to imagine. I really do enjoy cooking and spending time in my kitchen – but actually washing the dishes – not so much. Sometimes I’m so busy scribbling or doing some Indie related thing that I don’t realise how much clutter builds up till it falls on me.
Any sort of job isn’t going to go smoothly in a cluttered, disorganised, or dirty environment though. Subconsciously that pile of dishes, dusty everything, or the fact that you’ve been in your PJ’s for three days subsisting on Doritos is going to have a detrimental effect on your creative output.
Scribblers will get to a certain point where their inbox is loaded with thousands of emails. The fridge has taken on a bluish glow from all the new life taking form in its neglected innards, life gets in the way, the cat is lost in the towering pile of ironing, and the dishes… well…. But no matter how hard you stubbornly try and ignore all of these things, you still can’t write. I’m all for write first, and the rest must wait, but sometimes it doesn’t happen because all those festering piles of things waiting to be done really is taking up too much brain space even though you aren’t fully aware of it. So in the long run, pulling up your sleeves and spending a day having at it all will probably actually translate into more and better scribbling when you park your tired bum back in your chair, basking in the afterglow of having done what needed to be done, and the piles get to start from scratch again….
Nominees
My first nominee is Noelle Granger. A lovely lady and fascinating author. You can find her on her blog at Sayling Away. Have a squiz at her Interview with Chapel Hill Magazine and be as blown away as I was. She’s one very humble lady doctor with many kudos to her credit, and a fabulous way of researching her books, which you can find on Amazon.
Noelle A. Granger grew up in Plymouth, MA, in a rambling, 125 year old house with a view of the sea. Summers were spent sailing and swimming and she was one of the first tour guides at Plymouth Plantation.
She graduated from Mount Holyoke college with a bachelor’s degree in Zoology and from Case Western Reserve University with a Ph.D. in anatomy. Following a career of research in developmental biology and teaching human anatomy to medical students and residents,the last 28 years of which were spent in the medical school of the University of North Carolina, she decided to try her hand at writing fiction.
Death in a Red Canvas Sail is her first book and features an emergency room nurse as her protagonist. The book is set in a coastal town in Maine, similar to Plymouth, and she has used her knowledge of such a small town, her experiences sailing along the Maine coast, and her medical background to enrich the story.
She has also had short stories, both fiction and non-fiction, published in Deep South Magazine, Sea Level Magazine, the Bella Online Literary Review, and Coastal Style Magazine. Her second novel in the The Brewster mystery series, Death in a White Dacron Sail, will be published soon.
N.A. Granger lives in Chapel Hill, NC, with her husband Gene, a physician, and is the mother of two children.
My next nominee is the lovely author and artist Carole Parkes. I have her book on my Kindle, and am dying to get stuck into it. Check out Tissue of Lies on Amazon US or Amazon UK.
Carole was born in Liverpool, England in 1945 and has lived in her current house in Lancashire for the past 37 years. She’s been married for 49 years and has three married sons.
She started writing in 1985 when she produced several short stories, a series of children’s books and her newly published book on Kindle “TISSUE OF LIES.” Between 1985 and 1989 she also encouraged her elderly mother to write her life story whilst she started on her own biography. Owing to her commitment to her elderly parents, she didn’t take her writing too seriously until after they both passed away in 2012, aged 97 and 94.
She has since rewritten “TISSUE OF LIES” to take in the technologies of our modern age. Although it’s been hard work to finally finish, edit and publish it, she’s thoroughly enjoyed the challenge and has already started on her second book.
My final nominee is one of the most fantastic musicians I’ve ever come across, Mihran Kaladjian. A wonderful supportive blogger and friend, I’ll never forget the first time I clicked on one of the YouTube videos of him playing the music he writes. Angelic, beautiful – it will knock you off your chair. Have a listen.
Mihran Kalaydjian loves the outdoors, comedy, bbq, reading and travelling. He worked in the beer industry in college so he loves talking about good beer. He used to be a competitive runner so (like all runners) if you make the mistake of asking him, he’ll tell you about his entire career and PRs. He also spent his youth working in restaurants, so if you’ve done the same, he’s happy to swap stories. As well as all that, Mihran Kalaydjian provides visionary leadership and management oversight of the sales, marketing and revenue strategies for Classic Hotels and Resorts.
Dog Bone Soup by Bette A. Stevens – Book Launch Tour
DOG BONE SOUP is not only the title of Bette A. Stevens’s debut novel; it ranks high among the paltry meals that the book’s protagonist, Shawn Daniels, wants to forget. Plodding through mounting snow and battling howling winds, Shawn is ready to leave it all behind—living in poverty, Dad’s drinking, life in foster care, the divorce, the bullies….
Travel with Shawn Daniels through the guts and the glories of life. You’ll find them all in DOG BONE SOUP, a Boomer’s coming-of-age saga. Available now at “YOUR AMAZON”
From the Reviewers
“Dog Bone Soup is the poignant tale of a dysfunctional family struggling to survive in America in the 50s and 60s, when most others were on the crest of a wave. It will make you laugh, it will make you cry. But most of all it will make you glad you read it.” ~ Charlie Bray, founder of the Indietribe
“In Dog Bone Soup, Bette Stevens captures the feeling and images of growing up in hardscrabble times perfectly.” ~ John Clark, librarian and author
DOG BONE SOUP
READ the opening Excerpt from Chapter One right here…
The postcard arrived four days before my eighteenth birthday. All I had to do now was sign the final papers and light out for basic training. I could hardly wait to leave this place behind.
There were six of us ready to become soldiers. The other five guys were headed to Fort Dix. Soon as we were inducted, the sergeant who swore us in started calling us a bunch of lily-assed bastards and worse. When the jerk marched the other five guys off, I was happy as hell I wasn’t one of them.
Lieutenant Richards called me into his office. “You’ll be heading out tomorrow, Private Daniels. Here are your tickets.”
We sat in his office and talked about my future with the U.S. Army. Then he handed me a schedule for the next day’s journey and we went over every detail.
“Now let’s get you home so you can get a good night’s sleep before you fly off to serve Uncle Sam, soldier.”
“Good luck Private,” the lieutenant said when he dropped me off at the house. We saluted and I stood there watching until his car disappeared over the hill.
I’d always liked army people. They called me Mr. Daniels and even sir sometimes. Now I was officially a private in the U.S. Army and I was ready to start a new life. I pictured myself in an officer’s uniform one day—a lieutenant, a captain, maybe even a general.
Mum and I didn’t get much more than a few winks of sleep that night. I don’t know how many pots of coffee she perked while we sat at the kitchen table and talked the night away. Of course, it was Mum did most of the talking. Once she opened her picture books, I felt like I was drinking in the life I wanted to leave.
Mum took all of those pictures with her Brownie—that camera was her pride and joy. None of us kids was allowed to touch it unless she supervised a picture taking every now and then. If Dad wasn’t around, it was me peeking through the lens. Mum was fussy about taking pictures just so.
Five books were piled on the table and we went through them one page at a time. Mum had a story for every snap shot. Some made me laugh so hard that I doubled over.
It was two minutes shy of three when she closed the last album.
“Thanks for staying up. I’ve got the alarm set for six and I know that won’t give us much sleep.” Mum pulled out her hanky, sniffled and hugged me before we turned in. My leaving would to be hard on her.
Willie was snoring away, likely dreaming about cars. I slipped in next to him and pulled away some puffs and huddled under them.
The minute I closed my eyes I started dreaming about my new life. No more freezing to death up north. I was headed for southern sunshine and I saw myself soaking it all in.
Bzzzzzzz. I jumped out of bed, threw on my clothes, grabbed the suitcase and headed for the kitchen. Mum already had breakfast on the stove, so I ran outside to do my business and came back in to grab a hot biscuit and down it with a cup of steaming coffee.
I was half frozen and snow was whipping around me in circles when I headed out on the three-mile walk into town to catch that bus.
I shook flakes big as quarters from my jacket when I climbed the steps of the Greyhound. Two hours and I’d be boarding a plane headed to Fort Jackson. South Carolina was sure the place to be, especially in February.
### end of excerpt
- Read all of Chapter One
- OR Grab your own copy of DOG BONE SOUP here at “YOUR AMAZON” and dive right in!
About the author
Inspired by nature and human nature, author Bette A. Stevens is a retired elementary and middle school teacher, a wife, mother of two and grandmother of five. Stevens lives in Central Maine with her husband on their 37-acre farmstead where she enjoys writing, gardening, walking and reveling in the beauty of nature. She advocates for children and families, for childhood literacy and for the conservation of monarch butterflies (milkweed is the only plant that monarch caterpillars will eat).
Bette A. Stevens is the author of award-winning picture book AMAZING MATILDA; home/school resource, The Tangram Zoo and Word Puzzles Too!; and PURE TRASH, the short story prequel to DOG BONE SOUP.
Find out more about the author and her books right here on “YOUR AMAZON”
- Bette’s WEBSITE/BLOG
- Find Bette on FACEBOOK
- Follow Bette on TWITTER
- Author Bette A. Stevens at “YOUR AMAZON”
Reviews – The Good, The Bad, and the Confusing
If you publish with Amazon, you can be pretty certain that at some point or another you’re going to get a review that will make you scratch your head in confusion. The thing I like the most about these odd reviews is that it’s considered very bad form to ever answer one – I would hate to ever have to answer a rotten review. It’s not a good idea to answer any review for your book whether good or bad actually. Amazon reviews are a free forum type thing, and anyone who has read your book should be free to say what they thought about it without any fear of either a rant or a lot of fawning gratitude from the author. Poor old Hannah. One of the first reviews that my Fly Birdie got was a two sentence one star clonker, where the reviewer said, “I was disgusted by the actions of the “heroine” of the story.” After the initial shock wore off after reading it, I had a good chuckle because it didn’t make any sense to me at all, and I realised that now I really was part of the scribblers club – you have to get bad reviews now and then. It was a rite of passage that all of us writers have to go through at some point or another, traditionally published or indie. Stephen King gets one star depth charges all the time, like this one for The Stand – which was one of the best books I’ve ever read by the way. 1.0 out of 5 stars BORING AND SICKLY, LIKE A NEVER ENDING BAD DREAM, December 28, 2013 By Detective – See all my reviews This review is from: The Stand (Kindle Edition) Why so many 5 star ratings is a mystery to me. What this book reminded me of was a series of bad dreams like you get after eating too much bad food and trying to sleep it off in an over heated bedroom. Problem is this bad dream (book) doesn’t end at dawn, instead it goes on and on and on forever resulting in boring and sickly never ending reading drudgery. Makes me feel better to know that it’s not just me who will be blasted, although I think that possibly the above guy should eat more veggies and invest in aircon. Still, I take what reviewers say very seriously, and any valid point (valid to me that is) that they make about any of my scribbles that they don’t like, I’ll do my best to work on in future. I also think that it’s fair enough to say so if a story grosses you out that badly, so I’m not likely to get all Stanley about the whole thing. But if you’re going to give a negative low review, at least make sure you have your facts straight, because these low stars bring a book’s overall ratings down, and tossing them about willy nilly is irresponsible. In Fly Birdie, an ancient, massive tree is totally ripped up in a storm – roots exposed to the air, and left dangerously hanging over a house. Never mind the rest of the story – although Hannah’s sadness and helplessness at the death of the tree was fairly obvious when the story got to that point, but it’s absolutely not possible to save a tree in that state, that old, or of that size, no matter how much you want to. So this review started out as a bit of a head scratcher to me. 3.0 out of 5 stars An unkind woman, September 21, 2014 By marcia riley – See all my reviews Verified Purchase(What’s this?) This review is from: Fly Birdie (Kindle Edition) Everyone loves how kind she was to the bird, but what about the tree? When she learned the tree had feelings and went out of its way not to harm her, she let it be chopped down anyway. She showed no compassion whatsoever for the stately tree. That was not something a nice person would do. For shame…… But then it occurred to me that the story had actually got to this reader. Maybe not in a good way – it clearly upset her. All of us writers want our readers to be emotionally invested in our books, so maybe this isn’t really a “bad” review after all. Everyone has strong feelings for different things. And many people – myself included – have a deep and abiding love for certain types of life, be it trees or dolphins, or any other critter. My judgement has often been clouded in the past by these feelings, where logic hasn’t even come into the equation before the words come out. So to me, even though this seems to be just a negative review, what I get from it is that the reader was moved enough by what she read about that poor old tree to have some pretty strong feelings about it – and that, I reckon, is a very large compliment – when anything you write evokes such a reaction. So – I’m happy with it. 
Jo Robinson 