#WorldBookDay: Review an Author

Yes, that hashtag is trending on Twitter because...it's WORLD BOOK DAY!!!  I'm not going to tell you to read a book. If you read my blog, I'm going to assume you are a book reader. Instead, I'm going to appeal to you as a B List writer with a very quiet book. Not only for me, but for all the B Listers out there.

If you like a book, review it on Amazon. That's it. That's my plea. I'm not asking much. You may think, but I don't know HOW to write a book review. You're not a professional critic writing for a prolific rag. You're a consumer, a fan, and other consumers will go to your review for advice no matter who you are. And your review doesn't have to be Pulitzer Prize worthy. It doesn't have to be long. You don't have to sound like the smartest person in the world. It just has to be honest. Heartfelt. It only needs to be a paragraph, or even 2 sentences. I think the minimum amount of words is 20. You know how long 20 words is? Less than the first two sentences of this blog.

People find consumer reviews credible and relevant. They trust people who have already read the book. In Amazon's own words, "Good reviews on Amazon are particularly crucial for books by new authors and for niche books." And I will add again, small B list authors like myself.

These reviews help book sales, not only at Amazon, but everywhere. People go to Amazon for the reviews then buy the book at a local brick and mortar bookstore. 

Let's do a comparison, shall we? My novel, Never Eighteen came out at the same time as The Fault in Our Stars. Both are books about teenagers with cancer. Both are what people call "sick lit" or "weepies." I've had fans tell me they preferred mine to TFIOS (yes, I'm not lying). Never Eighteen has 83 reviews. TFIOS has over 35,000. Yes, I know, but it's John Green. That's the point. John Green doesn't need 35,000 reviews or even 1 review to sell books, but I could use a few more to get the word out about mine.

Take my 2nd book, Dissected. It has 15 reviews. Now, this is partially my fault it has such a low review count because when I released it life stuff kept me from marketing much. But, not the point. So a YA book similar with the same subject matter, cutting, by bigger names have anywhere from 220-400ish reviews. These are by Ellen Hopkins, Laurie Halse Anderson, etc. Don't get me wrong, I am in NO WAY comparing myself to these truly talented ladies. However, I think neither of them probably needs Amazon reviews to sell books.

So what I'm saying, if you truly love a book, or even like it, and it's probable that many people have not heard of it yet, give it a short review. Word of mouth is still the  most powerful form of publicity for writers and by writing a good review, you are essentially telling people, "read this book."

If you don't like a book, go ahead and review it as well if you want.  Authors should be used to bad reviews because everyone gets one and not everyone is going to like your book. Plus, as we say in the biz, no publicity is bad publicity. *cough* When I see a bad review, I like to compare. I like to look at what else the reviewer has read and see if we have the same tastes. For instance, if someone hated Jay Asher's 13 Reasons Why, I could go look at their other reviews and see what else they gave 1 or 2 stars. If it were more books that I loved, chances are, I wouldn't find their review relevant to my tastes (BTW, I LOVED 13 Reasons Why, and it was the 1st book I ever reviewed because I found it so amazing). Asher has 2,593 And I hope my review helped a little  I think I was one of the first 100 or so reviews.  This is what I wrote...

"I found out about this book on myspace. I read the synopsis, was intrigued by the premise, so I immediately went out and bought it. I couldn't put it down, finishing it in a day. This haunting and tragic tale about beautiful Hannah and her reasons to end her life will be a must read for teens for a very long time. Thanks Jay."

 HAHA...Myspace. See? Not hard. So seriously, do your favorite authors a favor a give them a review. They will appreciate you for it...

Oh, and just this moment, I decided that in honor of World Book Day, I'm offering Dissected free on Kindle tomorrow and Saturday on Amazon.com. Remember, if you download it for free, think about writing it a review. <3 br="">

Book Review: The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the first John Green book I’ve read, though I’ve wanted to read him for a long time. You know the phrase, so many books, so little time…anyway, I HAD to read it before I saw the movie, so it was time and here are my thoughts:

I thoroughly enjoyed the characters in this book. Green writes them very well, they are unique, and descriptive and you truly get a feel for what they are going through. Both sets of parents, Augustus’ and Hazel’s have just the right balance of strong, yet on-the-brink-of-breaking-down. I love that her father is the sensitive one. I think we often see fathers as being the strong and unemotional, but the truth is, they can be as vulnerable and expressive as their female counterparts.

I adored Hazel and Augustus and found their relationship sweet and affecting. I loved their silly banter, their quick wits, and sarcasm. They are actually much like me, which I liked. Couple things that bugged me, both of them had odd names. There are just not many Hazels and Augustus’ out there anymore. Their vocabulary both in dialogue and internally seemed WAY over their heads. I understand the wisdom of the dying youth, and the fact that these two are incredibly intelligent, but I still don’t think teenagers would talk and think the way they do at times. Sometimes yes. As often as they do? No. Also the calling each other by full names and first and middle names cute at first, but through the whole book, a little irritating. And the over use of “um.” Um? That’s just my ticky tacky stuff.

This brings me to Green’s writing skills, I think he is an amazing and beautiful writer. He makes putting words to paper look effortless and seamless, which, as a writer, I know it is not. It’s obvious he took a great amount of time to research the subject matters spoken of in this book , i.e. cancer, treatments, Amsterdam, and it felt like they mattered to him.

I guess I’m among the minority that found the story just good and not earth-shattering. I liked it yes, I’m not sure I loved it. I’m not a big crier when I read, and I did not cry while reading this either. The only time I remember getting a little emotional is when Hazel spoke to her mom about not being a mom anymore. There are books that have resonated with me more.

However, as I said before, I liked the book, I loved the characters, John Green’s writing is impressive, the storyline, noble. I will read the other John Green books on my shelf. This would be a 3.5 for me, but Goodreads doesn't allow 3.5 so I'd rather up it than down it.

Do I recommend it? Yes. If you like books about cancer, books that make you cry, books like Deadline by Chris Crutcher, Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, The Pull of Gravity by Gae Polisner and any other of John Green’s books.


View all my reviews

A new writing space

I got rid of my old desk. There was nothing wrong with it really. It just took up too much room in my office and for some reason, I didn't like to write there. I bought a new desk. It's smaller. It has a built in book case. Since it's smaller I also bought ANOTHER book case. My books overflow, so now I have room on my desk and a new four shelf book case to store them (I've yet to put the book case together.

My only challenge is to keep my office clean and organized. It's where I keep my filing. I think however, if I start writing in there instead of my kitchen table, I'm more apt to file things more efficiently and keep it tidier. *fingers crossed*

So here is the new desk I built last night.

 

On the desk itself I've got pictures of my kids. I have a hand stamped Sylvia Plath plate that sits next to my "Writer's (paper) Block" and 1969 replica Ford Mustang that represents Never Eighteen. There's also mug one of my kids made that holds my pens, a stuffed monkey from the book kit, I Love Monkey by S. Kaufman and some other office supplies.

That first book shelf holds To Kill a Mockingbird, A River Runs Through It and Fahrenheit 451, some favorite books I've read.

The upper shelf holds some favorite books and some on my 'to be read' list. Divergent and Insurgent are up there. I've read the former, the latter is next on my list. Then I have of Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan, Paper Towns, and The Fault in are Stars by John Green, all signed by Green to me, all I've yet to read. On the other side are Catching Fire and Mockingbird and my friend Gae Polisner's Pull of Gravity.

On the very top is a vintage typewriter, sock monkey, a picture from my trip to NY with friends Tracy Walshaw, Gae Polisner, Lori Landau and Christine Beth Reish, and set of gel pens.

Yes, I think I can finally write in that room. At least I'm willing to give it a try. What do you think?

I hate John Green

Did that get your attention? 

I don't really hate him of course, I don't even know him. In fact, he seems like a really amazing guy and I have a pile of his books on my shelf, signed to me, I might add, waiting to be read (after I finish Divergent and read Catching Fire, yeah, I'm a little behind in my reading. Bite me)

So why do I mention John Green? Well, I was on Goodreads the other day *dun duh dun dun*, yeah, yeah, Goodreads doesn't bother me as much as it bothers other writers. Bad reviews don't make a dent in my skin anymore. They make me learn, laugh or say "Dafuq?"  I hardly go to Goodreads any more, only about once a week maybe, just to accept friend requests, check on my little book.

Anyway...

With many of my reviews, there seems to be a reoccurring theme: John Green's, The Fault in our Stars. I've not read it. It's one of the books that sits on my shelf, signed, waiting to be read. Yeah,I know they're all signed, but I bet yours doesn't say, Dear Megan, blah blah blah, Love, John Green. 

Why you ask does TFIOS pop up so frequently in my reviews? If you know anything about young adult literature, you know that his book is about teenagers with cancer. And if you read my blog, you've heard a million times that my book, Never Eighteen is about a teenager with cancer.

I don't mind being lumped into the same breath (sentence, keyboard stroke, whatever) as John Green, whether the review is flattering or not. Mostly, they are just stating that they like these kind of weepie books (sick lit as they're called now), and since they came out at the same time, many of the bloggers read them about the same time. 

I even had some bloggers say they liked mine better than Greens. Okay, one. Maybe it was one.

It was the last bad review I got that had me thinking (I really don't normally like to talk about my bad reviews, but I have a point here I think is interesting). "I’m sorry, but I think it was an awful version of John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars. I didn’t find anything different in its plot."
  
So, with that said, this is my train of thought. Number one, it's obviously not a "version" of Green's book because I've never read it. Which is really not my main point at all, here's my main point.

My publisher HAD to have known Green was coming out with a cancer book, right? Same time, right? Would it not have made more sense to put mine out BEFORE his than after? It's been a little over a year since NE has come out and this has never really crossed my mind. But all these book releases are announced in Publisher's Marketplace. If a big name is releasing, wouldn't you want your title to come out first if it's on the same subject matter?

I don't know. My mind was just wandering since reading that review.

Anyway, on to more important things. Which Green book should I read first?

Looking for Alaska
An Overabundance of Katherines
The Fault in our Stars
Will Grayson Will Grayon or
Paper Towns

What do you think?

Okay happy Friday here are my scribbles!!

Next Pandora Song: Born to Die by Lana del Rey

 
Book of the Week: Since we're talking about it. The Fault in our Stars, John Green

Netflix of the Week: A friend told me about a movie called The Horseman yesterday, and though I've not watched it yet, I trust his judgement and it's on my cue.

Quote of the Week: "You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty." ~ Gandhi