Verified Purchase Review Group

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book reviews, books, reading, review group

I’ve got a great little reading/review group going.  You may even want to join and add your own book?  If you’re interested, here’s what you do and don’t have to do:

1.  You don’t have to worry about getting my name right.  I’m not so far up my own chocolate whizz-way to care whether you call me Steve or even Mr Turner.  If you join, sooner or later you’ll figure out what my name is.

2.  You don’t have to send me a long-drawn out flattering request, praising my literary skills and comparing me to JK Rowling (even though I don’t write Fantasy).  However, you can if you like of course – I’ll frame it and put it on the wall.

3.  If you join you do have to read the group’s description.  By doing this you’ll find out what we’re about, and it saves me having to go over it all again.  However, if my description has you scratching your head, I can give you instructions via private messaging and send you some Hedrin shampoo.

4.  At the moment you do have to read books that are not in your favourite genre, simply because I am at the stage where people are still joining.  When enough people have joined, I will be able to separate books by genre.  Don’t complain – I have to do it as well.

5.  You do have to buy a book (they are always $0.99 / £0.99) before you read it.  There are no free copies.

6.  You do have to stick to deadlines for buying and reviewing, and post your reviews on Amazon and Goodreads (deadline to add your $0.99/£0.99 book to the July/August thread is 8pm UK time on July 28th).

Still interested?  Well…  all you have to do to join is click on this link:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/verifiedreviews/

Engaging With Readers

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books, readers, reading, reviewers

Countless times I have read the same thing – I as a self-published author must engage with readers.

This is common sense, and it does not take the brains of a rocket scientist to work out that it’s readers who will buy my books.  However, the way to go about this procedure is usually left tantalisingly out of reach just around the corner.  I’ve yet to read about a genuine strategy that doesn’t cost the earth and promises to connect authors with readers.

Here is another issue self-published authors face:  When it seems the whole world population has written a book or twelve, how does one actually go about finding readers that are not authors? 

We as Indie authors have a tricky problem in that our books are not usually on the shelves of large bookstores for the reading public to peruse.  Therefore we tend to have to part with money in order to advertise our books and hopefully get them to stand out above the rest.  I’ve tried this in the past, and much money has to be parted with in order to make a few sales.  It’s not economically viable.  Then I know I will be bombarded with emails ad infinitum to sign up for this or that promotional package, all costing an arm or a leg.

You need reviews, because reviews help sell your books … say the many writing advisors.  To further add to the depressing picture, the few bloggers I’ve come across who are just readers are usually swamped with books and are not interested in reading and reviewing any more, even if the book is free.  They have ‘book overload’.

You need to be active on social media… also say the sagacious.  I am so active it’s taking over my writing time, but again, it’s authors I am connecting with who are all trying to find the same pot of gold as I am … those dastardly elusive readers.

So… here’s what I’m going to do.  I’m going to be pro-active and make the readers come to me, in droves.  Dear reader, all you have to do in the comments below is please leave an email address or a link to your website if you are open to submissions.  Oh, and perhaps you’d also better say which genre you prefer to read.  I can then begin engaging with you in the way I’m supposed to.   Simple isn’t it?  Why didn’t I think of this before?

I’m holding out my 18 contemporary fiction (women’s fiction/ suspense and darkly humorous) books and standing well back, so that I’m not knocked over by the rush …

 

Book Review: I Promised Not to Tell, by Cheryl B. Evans

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biography, books, life events, reading

I was interested to read this book, as my husband has a similar situation now occurring in his family; his adopted brother has decided to go through a male to female transition at the age of 52.  His 88 year old mother will never come to terms with it, and continues to regard him as male.

Mrs  Evans’ son Jordan was born a girl, but knew at a very early age that he felt male inside.  One paragraph stood out where Jordan’s teacher asked the schoolchildren to line up – boys in one line and girls in the other, and Jordan stood in the middle.

I cannot begin to really understand the trauma of finding out your body is in a gender that your brain does not associate with.  Jordan was a typical tomboy, happy playing with other boys and dressing as a boy. The anguish started at puberty, when he could no longer hide his female body.  However, he has a very understanding mother and father who did their best to accommodate Jordan’s early transition starting when he was 13 years of age.  Unfortunately, his sister Mariah took some time to come to terms with it.

We learn from the book that there are many suicides amongst transgender teenagers, who are desperately unhappy at their plight when puberty strikes.  We also learn of the various treatments available to transgender people to help them to transition to their preferred gender.  It is quite informative although a relatively short read, but my only quibble is that I thought the price was a little too high at £6.42.

I will give this book 5 stars because of the authenticity of the information – from the author’s own experience of raising a transgender child.  I’m not sure how our own family drama is going to pan out; I rather think that 52 is a little late, but hey, so long as there’s a happy outcome in the end that’s all that matters.

 

The Joy of Reading

Tags

books, reading

On the BBC News app recently was an article about an 86 year old lady Ursula Shepherd, who lives in Devon and is learning to read with tutors from LearnDevon, which encompasses adult and community learning courses run by Devon County Council.   She is coming along in leaps and bounds, and her goal is to be able to go to the library and pick out a book to read.  Ursula says that as a schoolgirl in the 1930’s, her teachers did not really care if she was educated or not.

I am so pleased that Ursula is finally discovering the joy of reading.  I taught both my sons to read before they went to school, as my mother did for me.  As a child I would walk with my father to our local library once a week, where I would search for the latest Enid Blyton book or one of the Nancy Drew mysteries that I hadn’t yet read.  A good part of my childhood was spent with my nose in a book, and I could lose myself totally in the story. It got me out of having babysitters by the age of 8, as Mum trusted me and knew that I’d still be sitting reading when she came home from work.  As soon as she returned from her job at 2.30pm I’d run out to knock for friends, safe in the knowledge that she was home and available if I got into any trouble.

How difficult it must have been for Ursula all her life being unable to read.  How could she understand food labels in supermarkets, instructions, or even fill out a simple form?  She would have always needed to ask somebody to do these things for her, now hopefully she will soon be able to do these things for herself.

Yes, Ursula has missed out on a lot, but it just proves that you are never too old to learn to read and enjoy a good book.