Ramblings for January: eBooks, Reviews, and the Question of Romance

Just a quick note here to let you all know I’m still alive. Unlike this time last winter, when I was fat and pregnant, I’m not getting many opportunities to be online.

A couple updates.

One, I finally have an eReader. A Kindle Fire, to be specific. Which means that soon I’ll be able to accept eBook copies for review. Right now on the Kindle, I’m reading Rutger Klamor’s Z Strain and Dalya Moon’s Practice Cake. I’m liking it. It’s different from print copy, of course, but still good (in my head, I sound like Stitch from Lilo & Stitch: broken, but still good. Yeah, still good.) I don’t know if I’ll ever prefer it to print copy, though- but I’m pretty happy about the doors it has opened so far.

Two, I’m changing my format for my book review blog to simply publish my Goodreads reviews. They’ll be less formal, and probably even shorter, and they won’t include synopses or summaries (because everyone who reads them on Goodreads already knows the synopsis of each book listed.) I figure we live in a hurried age: brevity has value. It’s also more fun to write about the books I read when I’m not worried about sticking to a formula or doing the plot justice in my descriptions. After all, I’m not writing these to convince you to read the books (well, often I am, but…), I’m writing them to generate conversations about the books after you’ve read them.

That said, I’ve scheduled posts for Blackbird for everyday this week. Check them out.

I’m also wondering if I should abandon Blackbird and post my reviews here instead, since it’s not exactly like I’m overwhelming you with content- but that could change. What do you think?

Another thing I want to touch on because it’s on my mind: as readers and writers, how important is romance in your stories? I’m curious because I’ve never been a Romance Reader, exactly, but lately I’ve appreciated romance when it appears in other genres. A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness might have been the first time I recognized this, and more recently, Awaken by Katie Kacvinsky. Neither book is solely romantic by design, but the relationships within aid the story in ways that might not have been possible otherwise. Two of the stories I’ve edited for our April catalog are romantic, too, and they’re both completely awesome (I can’t wait until they’re illustrated and out there for all of you.) Now I’m finding myself looking for romance in non-Romance books. Sometimes I’m disappointed when this element isn’t there, even though there’s no reason for me to expect it. And I’m not talking sappy love stories, I’m talking complicated, multifaceted, often doomed tentative relationships. Or a hint of them.

What do you think about romance in non-Romance genres? There’s next to none in my own writing. I’m wondering if I should add some, which actually isn’t half as simple as it sounds, and would require almost a total rewrite of most of my stuff. Which I’m fine with, because I’m a perpetual re-writer.

How to Get Book Bloggers to Review Your Book: Guest Post by Author Dalya Moon

I’d like to welcome author Dalya Moon, who was kind enough to write a guest post for Bunny Ears & Bat Wings. Below, she offers tips on how to get your book into the hands of book review bloggers; a very important skill for self-publishers and traditionally published authors alike!

 

10 tips for getting your self-published book reviewed by book bloggers

1. Contact book bloggers before your book launch and offer Advance Review Copies. It’s more exciting to read a book before it’s officially out, isn’t it?

2. Be organized; be your own PR agency. Come up with a system that helps you remember who you’ve contacted: spreadsheet, email address book, whatever works, but stick to it.

3. Read every blogger’s Review Policy.  It’s there to help you. Most will have a clearly marked page with their review policy, or if not, something on their contact page. If they don’t like to read your genre, or ebooks, don’t bother them. About 70% of bloggers I surveyed didn’t want self-published books and/or ebooks. I focused on the 30% who did.

4. Address bloggers by name. Unaddressed emails are not only rude, but imply you didn’t check their review policy.

5. Sell it! After a brief introduction, include a carefully-crafted blurb, as well as the genre, word count, and page count. (Page count is word count divided by 250.) Include your book’s release date and your website/blog address, where they can see the book cover. (The cover is very important.) Send out twenty of these emails. If you don’t get any positive responses within a week, work on your letter before you send out more.

6. Know the formats; have the formats handy. You could send them a coupon for Smashwords (if your book is on there), where they can download the format of their choice. I’ve tried that, but I do prefer the more personal touch of emailing the file. I use Calibre to convert to the popular formats.

7. Tweet and blog about it. By simply stating that I have review copies, I’ve had some reviewers contact me.

8. Be patient and let go. Many bloggers have a policy that just because they receive a book, it doesn’t guarantee a review. I haven’t yet “followed up” with a blogger, because it doesn’t seem right to bug someone who’s doing me a favor by investing hours of their time, for free. When they post the review, they will usually email you to let you know. That is the appropriate time to follow up by thanking them.

9. Contact LOTS of book bloggers, because this part is a numbers game. After the first few reviewers accepted my book, I wanted to stop emailing. It sucks, like making cold calls, to send these queries, and it’s tempting to quit. Don’t pin all your hopes on a couple of potential reviews. You may have to send 100 emails to get 40 prospects, which trickles down to 25 reviews, only 6 of which get cross-posted onto Amazon or Goodreads. See how the numbers work?

10. Make sure your book is on Amazon, Goodreads, and other review sites soon. This is the sticky-icky part. As a self-publisher, you are NOT able to load up your book to Amazon for pre-orders before a launch date. Some reviewers post on their blogs, and also on Amazon, but your book has to be on Amazon for this! What if you sent them an advance copy? What I’ve done with my recent book is uploaded it to Amazon (where it takes 2 days before going live), and let it sit there quietly until my “official” launch. If anyone has any better ideas, let me know. Seriously.

To get you started, here are some lists of book bloggers:

http://bookbloggerdirectory.wordpress.com/

http://www.stepbystepselfpublishing.net/reviewer-list.html

http://www.simon-royle.com/indie-reviewers/

http://hampton-networks.com/

Dalya Moon writes novels that are called “sweet” and “light-hearted.”  She may have to one day murder someone (on the page) to be taken seriously, but for now she’s happy to not be taken seriously at all.  She is the author of Charlie Woodchuck is a Minor Niner and Practice Cake.

Back! and Having Fun with a Coyote

Image by Naomi A. via Flickr

I thought I’d get the “new baby” chaos under control before I took on other endeavors, then promptly realized that I will never have such a thing under complete control… and that’s okay. I don’t think it’d be normal to attain serene control as a new parent. Sense of adventure? Certainly. Control? Not a chance.

It reminds me of when my husband and I would discuss waiting to have children until we were ready, financially and otherwise. Everyone without children of their own nodded in agreement; everyone with kids laughed and said, “If you wait for that, you’ll never do it.” And now I understand. Regardless of how much we prepare, we can never be totally ready for kids… We learn what we need to know from them, so how could we be ready before we have them? Parenthood is a journey for both parent and child. We can pretend to be the leaders in that journey but we are only fooling ourselves.

And life should be a journey. I’d feel cheated if I could prepare for what’s ahead with a trip to Babies ‘R’ Us and call it a night. I am sleep-deprived and super busy, but I can think of no better reason to be.

Despite huge lifestyle changes, I have managed to sneak in some reading time here and there.

My latest reading adventure lay with a persnickety coyote named Charlie. Shreve Stockton’s “The Daily Coyote” began with a few photos of an orphaned coyote pup in Wyoming, then escalated to a blog and developed into a book that chronicles Charlie’s first year. Stockton does more than capture the beautiful animal on camera; she grows with Charlie and describes the lessons she learns in the process, both the difficult ones and the more rewarding ones.  The book is a must for any animal-lover, but I recommend it for everyone else as well.  It’s a story of self-improvement and openness, of dedication and love, and Stockton’s honesty in telling it can teach us all a little about life.

Also, her descriptions and photos of Ten Sleep, Wyoming make me itch to get away from suburbia and learn to self-sustain and live off that beautiful land.