I'm grateful to Lori Forbis for posting a thoughtful review of A Family Forever at her blog, The Road Not Chosen. As I've said before, the reviews that tickle me the most tend to be those in which the blogger admits to liking my book in spite of a strong predisposition not to like it. Lori's review appears to fall into that category.
Thanks also to Joy for posting a review at Blog Collective. I liked what she wrote, especially this part:
I was interested to see if an inspirational could hold my interest strictly as a novel or whether the Christianity was so much a part of it that t couldn’t be ignored. Could the romance trump Jesus for a non-believer reader?
I found it could, mostly.
I'm glad you thought so, Joy, because my purpose in writing A Family Forever was not to convert anyone, but simply to tell the best story I could. You might be interested to know that my all-time favorite musical is Fiddler on the Roof. A good story is a good story, period. I'm delighted that you liked my book and I'm indebted to you for blogging about it.
Nienke Hinton has posted both a book review and a short interview with me. I guess she liked A Family Forever pretty well, because she said in her e-mail to me that she was off to buy my first book. Thanks a million, Nienke. You are one classy lady.
I'm grateful to Angel over at The Writing Playground for blogging about my book. She liked it, and appears quite interested in the way I've conned her and other bloggers into helping me promote it. Thanks, Angel. When this promotional push is over, I'll blog about the results.
Nancy S. Brandt has also reviewed my book, and she makes some interesting comments about Love Inspired books and authors. I chuckled when I read that Nancy didn't curl up on the sofa with my book, but took it to the Y with her:
I finished it while walking on the treadmill and I probably looked like a loon as I kept grinning at the end of the book.I'm pleased that you liked it, Nancy. Thanks a bunch for blogging.
I've been offline most of the week, so I'm scrambling to catch up here. If you have blogged about my book this past week and haven't been mentioned yet, please let me know. I promised you all a shout-out, and I don't want to miss anyone.
2 comments:
I was wondering if you've caught any more flack for promoting your book through your blog, or if that little tempest in a teapot had settled down?
I'm very curious to see how your sales are affected through this promotion. Would you (or have you in the past) share with us how your publisher usually goes about advertising your book?
Lori, when people come to a blog looking for a fight, refusing to engage is the best way to get rid of them. After a couple of days, they tend to lose interest.
About the Free Books for Bloggers experiment--surely it will sell a few books, but I'll never know just how many. I'm just focusing on (1) getting my name and my book's title (and cover image) in front of as many people as possible, and (2) getting people to talk about the book.
My publisher, Steeple Hill Books, is part of the mighty Harlequin empire, and they do a huge amount of promotion. Rather than promoting individual authors and (category romance) books, however, they tend to advertise the lines. That works out great for new authors and those who aren't big names. For example, people who have never heard of Brenda Coulter will see my book and buy it simply because it's a "Love Inspired."
Steeple Hill does direct-mail ads, magazine ads, and even television spots for Love Inspired books. As a matter of fact, my Finding Hope was pictured in a TV commercial with two other books.
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