Welcome to the round up of posts on Smorgasbord that you might have missed this week.
I hope all is well with you, I am sure that many of you in the UK and Ireland have been experiencing the benefits of Storm Ellen who seems like a very bad tempered individual. The wind has dropped marginally compared to the last four days and one benefit of our unpredictable weather for the last three weeks is that I have not had to water the pots once..
There are worst things however than too much water and I hope that the current California bush fires are soon brought under control. It is devastating the area and over 770,000 acres have already been destroyed. With everything else happening on top of Covid 19, it is another blow to the health and safety of millions.
Book reviews and other marketing observations.
I continue to make some tweaks to both the main Cafe and Bookstore and the new Children’s Cafe and one of the prime objectives is to increase reviews for the books on the shelves.
I spend a lot of hours a week checking the main sites of Amazon US and UK and Goodreads to find recent reviews for books.. and this usually includes a visit to the author’s Twitter account to check if they have shared news of a new review. I have a few observations to share with you.
I will start with Twitter
A great many authors who are on Twitter are not taking advantage of their Pinned Tweet to promote their books along with an Amazon link to buy them. The pinned tweet allows you to expand your profile and market either your books or blog, and it offers anyone visiting your Twitter account to check you out, something to retweet.
For example, if you have just 10 visitors to your account per day and they have an average of 10,000 followers, your book or books when retweeted is reaching 100,000 people. Of course not everyone of those 100,000 is going to pay attention to the tweet but 100 might and be interested enough to follow you and to head over to Amazon to check your books out.
Also is someone shares your pinned tweet it is a good idea to reciprocate, and usually they are good people to follow.
Amazon Author Pages
Amazon will create an author account on alternate country sites but they don’t fill in all the details. New authors particularly need to make sure they are adding their bios and photos to the account. Also new books need to be captured and added to the author pages as that is not always automatic either.
Goodreads
Although owned by Amazon, Goodreads does offer a place where all your reviews globally can be added by readers irrespective of how they came by the book… bought, a gift, borrowed from a library. I notice that a number of author’s have their books listed but do not have an author page, or do not have all their books listed.
Writing reviews
One of the very interesting observations is that those who review other people’s books receive more reviews themselves. One of the reasons for that is the writing community we belong to across blogging and social media. It is not just tit for tat reviewing, but an appreciation that an author takes the time to support and promote other authors within the community and encourages people to explore their own books and reviews. A review is also an opportunity to showcase your writing skills, even if it is short and to the point.
In the new series for the Children’s Cafe that you will find below, I am asking you to send me the link for any children’s book you have reviewed on your blog or posted to Amazon or Goodreads.. I will promote both the author of the book and also you in the post. I hope this will encourage more reviews for these books that are so important in igniting the imagination of children.
Using a blog to share excerpts from past books.
Whilst there are some restrictions on sharing all of a book, there is no issue usually with sharing a decent size excerpt of books on your blog with one of the top reviews. This is particularly relevant for older books and the first books in a series. Not only does it give a reader an opportunity to see you in action but promotes the later books in the series too.
Even though I serialise all my older books I still find that readers buy the books if they don’t want to wait 16 weeks or so to read it all, and they also very kindly review on Goodreads which is not dependent on the book being bought.
It is important to share on your social media of course so that people can head over to read it.
Responding to comments.
I know I am banging that drum again, but there are some very good reasons why interacting with someone who has taken the time and trouble to comment on a book promotion does result in sales and in reviews.
- People buy people first…if they have made a connection with you they are more likely to head over to look at your other books.
- It has an accumulative effect and over a number of promotions I see the level of comments increasing. This does not just apply to the single author promotions but to the multiple author updates or special features. And it does help the other authors in the promotion when it is shared as it reaches a much wider audience.
I have created a Pdf of my Book Marketing series which covers all of the above and also a step by step guide to setting up your blog to make it easier for readers to buy your books and review them.. just email me on sally.cronin@moyhill.com if you would like a copy.
Back to the week in hand.…Here are some posts from the contributors to the blog that you I can recommend you reading.
D.G Kaye shares the life, love and work of Mexican artist Frido Kahlo who was born before her time. A tumultuous life and marriage and an extraordinary talent..Love and Life of Mexican Artist Frido Kahlo
Carol Taylor looks at food labelling and also contaminants that have resulted in mass recalls in recent months. Food Labelling and Contaminants by Carol Taylor
Now time for posts on Smorgasbord this week.
William Price King – Josh Groban Part Five
A – Z of Food ‘P’ for Pancakes, Paella, Pomelo, Pate, Pease Pudding and A Poke Bowl.
Chapter Three – My First Read Friend
The Colour of Life – The Rosary 1955 by Geoff Cronin
August 1985 100 degrees, Key Lime Pie and Adverts
Herbal Medicine – Horse Chestnut (Aesculus) -Circulatory System
#Western #Romance – Silverhills by Sandra Cox
#1920s #Familysaga – Telling Sonny by Elizabeth Gauffreau
Colleen Chesebro’s Weekly Tanka Challenge #Photoprompt– #HaikuSequence – Tracks
An opportunity to showcase Children’s book reviews that you have written for other authors
New Author on the Shelves -Age Group 8-10 – Saving Hascal’s Horrors by Laura Smith –
#Reviews -#Bears #Poetry Frank Prem, #Dogs #South Africa Patricia Furstenberg
#Epicfantasy HMS Lanternfish (The Lanternfish Series Book 2) by C.S. Boyack
#Westernhorror – Guns of Perdition – The Armageddon Showdown Book 1 by Jessica Bakkers
#Paranormal Roberta Eaton Cheadle, #Thriller Suzanne Burke, #Contemporary #Southern Claire Fullerton
#Fantasy #Thriller C.S. Boyack, #1920s Teagan Ríordáin Geneviene, #Dystopian Teri Polen
#Humour Mae Clair, #Adventure Audrey Driscoll, #Historical Apple Gidley
My Favourite Cookbooks by Darlene Foster
Twelve Questions #Blogshare by D.G. Kaye
-Stream of Consciousness Saturday #SOCS – John W. Howell
Meet Margie and Tony by Pete Springer
Host Sally Cronin – Funeral wishes, 2 second dogs and Benny’s dilemma
Thank you very much for dropping in today and also for the great support you give. I hope you will join me again next week.. thanks Sally.
Great Week, Sally, and I was delighted to be part of it. Thank you, again
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My pleasure John. and delighted to share your posts..xxx
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Exciting and fun collection of books, videos, and funny jokes. Have a wonderful weekend All!
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Thanks Christa.. you too..hugs
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Another great week. I get your point about a pinned Tweet. I need to do better on that score. I used to pin one whenever I had a sale or special offer than I’d forget to take it down – worse than not having one at all.
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I have gone to a general one for all my books at the moment as I was not practicing what I preach about book marketing! But it does help me to have pinned tweets to share as I try to do that when someone follows me or retweets for me… It has also resulted in me buying books because there was a direct link.. Enjoy the rest of the weekend.. our weather finally calmed down here..hugsxx
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The wind seems to have dropped. The forecast for tomorrow is patchy so in the bright patches I might get out to see what damage has been done in the garden.
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I did bring a few plants in that were drowning and luckily had sufficient bird seed plastic buckets to put them in to drain.. I hope this means we will get a lovely September…xx
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Pingback: Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – Weekly Round Up – 16th -22nd October – #Author’sCorner | Campbells World
Thank you for another great week, Sally! What wonderful news, and a great remembrance on little Sam too.
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Thanks Michael.. he would love the attention..xx
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Reblogged this on The Write Stuff and commented:
Check out the busy week at Sally Cronin’s Smorgasbord blog. Something for everybody this week, for sure! Great post! Pass it along, if you would, so others can enjoy it, too. Thanks, and thanks to Sally for putting it all together for us. 🙂
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Thanks for all the support Marcia.. I have enjoyed meeting Rabbit very much and my review will go out on Monday 31st… thanks for another lovely read… ♥
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Thanks for including me this week. Your post is an excellent reminder of many things. While my pinned tweet isn’t hurting me, it does appear time to update it.
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Thanks Craig and your support on Twitter, it does make a difference. Have a good week. x
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Thanks again for all you do Sal. And always thrilled to be part of the week. ❤ xx
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Looking forward to more cohorting in the future…hopefully with some tequila involved lol ♥♥
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Of course! That always makes it more fun! <3<3
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Thanks for all of the excellent advice and for producing a quality blog each day. It’s a stretch to look for positives of COVID, but I’m grateful for all the time to read and write.
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It is tough Pete especially the longer it goes on. At least yesterday showed an improvement in the US figures and hopefully that will continued. And I to have found extra time to read which has created a regular routine now that I will keep up.. Enjoy Sunday and the rest of the week.. hugsx
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Great round up Sally sharing with the #ABRSC on twitter. 🙂
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Thanks very much Marje.. have a good Sunday..hugs xx
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And you too Sally. Happy Sunday. hugs. xx
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Reblogged this on Judith Barrow and commented:
Such a lot to absorb this week on Sally’s “October” Weekly Round up
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Just catching up – and late as usual. An excellent post, Sally, with really useful advice, lots of laughs, tempting sites to check out, as well as some great looking books to find. Thank you. x
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Thank you Judith, glad you enjoyed. Hope your weather improving today as ours is.. Have a good week..hugs xx
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Indeed I did. And am thinking of putting a reviews with longer excerpts on my blog of the trilogy and prequel soon. Lovely today but promising gales on Tuesday. A writing day all day then, I think. xx
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A good idea Judith.. sometimes that slightly longer hook is all that is needed…I think I will have plenty of opportunity for writing days in the next week lol..xx
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Thank you for including me again this week, Sally and as always a great variety all in one week something for everyone Hugs xxx
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Always a pleasure to have you in the week Carol..hugs ♥
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Reblogged this on Retired? No one told me! and commented:
Sally’s jam-packed weekly roundup …You must watch the video of the seal it is great ..he is so cute xx
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Thank you for sharing Carol and for your contributions to the week..hugs x♥
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Some brilliant hints and tips from your social media observations, Sally. I better cruise around my various profiles this week and make sure they’re all up to scratch 🤗
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Thanks Jessica.. they looked pretty good on my browse through them.. hugsxx
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Thanks again for including me this week, Sally! And thank you for the tips about book promotion.
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My pleasure Liz.. I hope there will be another book to read soon…hugsxx
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I’m working on it!!
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Great xx
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