What is social proof? Authors who self-publish are running a business, and like any business these days an online presence is vital. If you don't have a website that can be found with a quick search, you don't exist in the public eye. Your website is proof that you are running a business, or in the author's case, have written a book. But to encourage a customer to buy your product or engage your services you need something called 'social proof'. Social proof is what tells customers that you and your product can be trusted. We can tell people about our books, or about our editing services, but it's what people who've read our book or used our editing services say about them that provides social proof that the book or the services are worth purchasing. Reviews are social proof for authors, and recommendations provide social proof for me as an editor. Social proof is everywhere Even Facebook pages have a way to rate them now; someone can visit your page and give you a 5 star review or a … [Read more...]
Sci fi Review: The Alien Element (Translocator Trilogy 2) by MG Herron
The Alien Element, book two in the Translocator Trilogy, is as good as the first in the series (The Auriga Project), a fast paced intriguing mystery set on two worlds millions of light worlds apart but accessible via a translocator (but only if used with the black diamond.) It deepens the mystery on earth and answers the primary questions regarding the mysterious god on the planet Eliana found herself on. Now back on earth Eliana is in the jungles of Mexico searching for links to the Mayan civilisation on the other planet. She has no desire to go back to the planet, until she finds something in the Mexican jungle that she simply has to compare with something in the abandoned stone city on Rakulo’s world. Her husband, Amon refuses to send her, however, and by the time he realises that he should have said yes, it’s too late to do it in a controlled fashion because she’s leapt through the rift that appeared in his lab and got there herself. In this book we have three … [Read more...]
An unexpected and humbling review.
I discovered this lovely review on Amazon. It made me wonder if I'm a better writer than I think I am. When you’re reading a sweet, tender story of romance, you don’t expect to be on pavements with holes in them, or at bus stops, or held in the routines of the morning’s commute, and you certainly don’t expect that setting to contribute to the story’s charm. That, however, is exactly what Tahlia Newland has achieved here. There are just two characters, each with a self-image that’s far from flattering. The girl thinks she has ‘thunder thighs’ and an expanding waistline and yet she ‘can't give up eating ice cream’. The man sees her as a goddess and himself as an ordinary mortal. He suspects she finds his bow tie unfashionable but to her, it’s cute. And so the story develops in this world of ‘rusty fences, cracked paths, faded paintwork and builders' rubble’. But it’s also a world which has ‘the fragrance of Jasmine in the warm air’ and it’s this juxtaposition of mundane everyday … [Read more...]
Blog Tour – last two days and wrap up
The last two days of the Lethal Inheritance blog tour are an interview at Romance Books that has some very good questions in it http://romancebookie.blogspot.com/2012/12/interview-with-tahlia-newland-lethal.html and an excerpt & giveaway at A bit of a Dash. You can read chapter one over there. http://abitofdash.blogspot.com.au/2012/12/lethal-inheritance-tour-excerpt-and.html Do pop over and give these wonderful bloggers a bit of support. Tour summary Overall, the tour was a highly successful venture not only because all the reviews were good and some downright excellent, but also because only 2 out of 22 didn't post. (I hope they will still do their reviews later) Authors are totally dependent on the good will of the bloggers who host them for tours, and I am very grateful to the bloggers who helped me out on this. The best reviews ( ie well written and informative) are numbers 1, 2, 3, 5, and 19. Number 19 is the best. If you haven't read it, please do. It's totally … [Read more...]
‘You Can’t Shatter Me’ blog tour Sept 1st to 11th
The blog tour for You Can't Shatter Me starts today/tomorrow depending on the where you live. Here's the list of participating blogs. I'll put links to their posts up here as soon as their posts go live. There's 8 reviews coming. I hope they all like the book! Some of them will be running giveaways in association with the event, so stayed tuned for your opportunity to win a free copy. 2nd How I see it – a fabulous review http://thereviewsofmar.blogspot.com/2012/09/tour-stop-you-cant-shatter-me-by-thalia.html 3rd– Pretty in Fiction, guest post - Why I wrote about bullying http://www.prettyinfiction.com/2012/09/blog-tour-guest-post-why-i-wrote-about.html 4th Cynthia Shepp – reviewhttp://cynthiashepp.wordpress.com/2012/09/04/you-cant-shatter-me-blog-tour-tahlia-newland/ 5th Urban Fantasy Reviews – review http://www.ufreviews.com/2012/09/you-cant-shatter-me-by-tahlia-newland.html 6th Bajan Rosa Books – … [Read more...]
