I'm grateful to the following Christian Fiction Blog Tour members for blogging about A Family Forever today:
When David Meigs over at The Curmudgeon's Rant received the copy I sent him to review, his wife snatched it out of his hands. Then his son grabbed it. Finally, patient David got his turn. His review is so glowing, you're going to think I paid him to post it. I might have, if I'd known he was going to use words like "masterfully written" and "exquisite drama". Who knew a guy would gush so much about a romance novel?
Gina Burgess has posted a gushy review, also, along with a short interview. And I am starting to like all this praise way too much.
Bless her dear heart, Michelle Pendergrass e-mailed last night to apologize for not posting a detailed review due to a death in her family, but she has posted a link to my blog and my book's page at Amazon. That was unnecessary, my friend. Anybody can see you have more important things to think about right now. Those of you who are praying people, please take a moment to remember Michelle and her family.
Christopher Well informs me that he's posted Part Two of an interview he began yesterday. I'm afraid to go over there and look because as I recall, he had e-mailed me some very tough questions which I had to answer late at night. All that was missing was a pair of handcuffs, a hard chair in an empty room, and a bright light in my face. (I'm surprised that a guy who writes crime novels didn't think of that, but I didn't want to mention it before now.)
And here's another guy gushing about my book: Novelist T.L. Hines concludes his review this way:
Even though Ms. Coulter's book lacks much of the classic supernatural/horror elements I love in stories, it really isn't lacking anything as a novel. Coulter's writing is tight and crisp--and downright playful at times. The story moves along at a brisk clip. And (this is a big one for me) I actually cared about/identified with the characters.
If the recent books I've read are any indication, inspirational romance is a diverse and, yes, enjoyable genre.
Just don't tell anyone I said that.
Whoops. Sorry, Tony--it just slipped out.
And going from gushy guys to goofy ones, Chris Mikesell can always coax a laugh out of me. I tried to give back as good as I got when answering his off-the-wall interview questions, but he had the last word, as always, and is now trying to start a rumor that my third novel will be titled--
No. Never mind.
There's a review up at faithfiction. I'm not sure whose blog that is, but it appears to belong to one of the CFBT members.
And lest you all think these bloggers were "allowed" to post only glowing reviews, check out this one at T.S. Beckett's blog. I know this fellow writer as Marvin, a gentleman who posts regularly on one of the message boards I frequent. Marvin didn't care for my book and he says so, very kindly. I appreciated his post.
12 comments:
Brenda,
You're right below The DaVinci Code, Anne Rice, and Harry Potter. Good grief. What kind of company are you keeping? :-)
Brenda, I'm here from Marianne Pearson. 'A Family Forever' sounds wonderful.
Thank you, Jean-Luc. I'm glad you stopped by and said hello.
Julana, I saw it go up to Number 4 this afternoon, but just a minute ago, I noticed it has dropped to Number 7. How can I compete with the Big Three? ;-)
Congratulations!
Love
bt
Thanks, Blue Thing. It's always nice to see you here.
Brenda,
Thank you for sharing your insights, your faith, and for being an inspiration. Today, you have made a new fan. Now, I have to go get your books and read! And actually start writing some of these tales that are always going on in my head!
Thank you!
Gayle
I an so pleased that the Alliance blog tour is going so well for you, my friend...you rock!
Thanks, Bonnie. You're such a doll.
And Gayle, you are very kind. Thanks for reading my blog.
Hey, Hadn't seen Blue in a spell. Hi, Blue.
Thank you, Marvin. I hated being alone in the "picky" department. ; )
Mir
Oh, and a good, solid blog tour does work. Look how it propelled A BRIDE MOST BEGRUDGING from a debut author. (That and a combination of word-of-mouth, no doubt.)
And look at your amazon change in one day:
#72,421 in Books
Yesterday: #475,177 in Books
Never underestimate a good blog blitz. I suspect the pre-blitz blog experiment softened the ground, too.
Baby, I hope you sell out your print run and people beg for more.
Mir
Thanks, Mir.
The Amazon ratings have little meaning for any except the blockbuster books because those numbers fluctuate wildly. For example, one day A Family Forever hit 26,000 (I think that was it; I could be wrong) and for a time (only a few hours, that I was aware of)it was listed as the third-best seller in all of series romance. But I didn't think that was worth bragging about here on the blog, and just as I expected, the rating began plummeting immediately.
That artificial success could have been created by as few as six people ordering books within an hour or two-- or one person ordering six books. (I wonder if my sister has an alibi for that day?)
Mir, you posted at 11:36 this morning and reported a rating of 72,421. I checked just now, almost three hours later, and it was 155,489, which means nobody's bought a book recently.
If anyone wants to do an experiment, order a book like mine (not a bestseller like Harry Potter), and take note of the rating. Then check back an hour later and see what kind of boost you gave it. I've done that, and the results are amazing.
We don't sell nearly as many books on Amazon as people imagine, so I always grin when my fellow romance writers worry about this stuff. According to RWA, only about 1% of romance readers EVER buy books online. And obviously, not all of those sales are going to Amazon. I have bought books from Amazon, but that's not my usual practice. However, I look at books on Amazon several times a week. I think a lot of us do that--check a book out on Amazon and then buy it elsewhere.
If anyone reading this has been meaning to order my book and would like to do it now and try this little experiment, I'd love it if you'd come back here and report on the ratings jump.
Interesting, cause even back when I was a romance buying wild-child, I used amazon a lot. One year, I spent nearly 2.5K with them in books. I was getting stuff in th email like every week. Sometimes, 2 and 3 times a week. My hubby started giving me the "What is going on ?" look. :)
I've since calmed down some.
I still principally use amazon. I love browsing, and it's so easy with the no shipping fee. I don't have to get dressed and be tempted by cookies and lattes.
And using my amazon.com visa, I got like $100.00 bucks in free books after having the card for 4 months. :D
Mir
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