Welcome to the round up of posts that you might have missed on Smorgasbord this week.
Ireland is back in level 5 lockdown until December 1st, and then depending on progress, we might be let out again for Christmas, although not entirely sure that allowing more interaction will not result in another upsurge in January. I wonder if they will extend the restrictions until the New Year and have just chosen the 1st December to keep us hopeful?
I do feel very sorry for the small businesses who have spent time and money putting in social distancing measures and were only just gaining ground after the last lockdown. At this time of year especially, most will be relying on the seasonal trade and I just hope that they will come through it. Some are offering their products on Amazon for example and it would be great to think that people will choose to buy local.
We have not really come out of lockdown as I go out just once a week for fresh produce and since June I have been for a trim to the hairdressers twice. I was just working myself up to making a new appointment for this week when the restrictions were announced. So I trimmed the front and David trimmed the back in the garden. I did tip him of course.
Last week I shared some good news stories and this week I thought you might like this photograph that demonstrates not just the connection we have with wild animals but that some have a sense of fun. This whale enjoys playing with the tourist boats by pushing them around his patch of the ocean. I would love to have been a passenger.
Gray Whale Plays Pushing Tourists’ by Joseph Cheires – Baja California, Mexico
My thanks to William Price King and D.G. Kaye this week for their musical and humorous contributions.. and to you for dropping by and liking, commenting and sharing..
Welcome to the round up of posts that you might have missed on Smorgasbord this week.
So here we are all again and how quickly time flies when you are enjoying yourself…I say that without a trace of sarcasm honestly… if it were not for the blog and for the daily visits from all of you I think I would have found the last 8 months very difficult.
Not that there are not things that need to be done! – I have not got anymore housework done that I do normally (which is not a great deal). There is the matter of the short story collection due out in November to finish, two novels, a large tapestry of an elephant and her baby, the summer clothes as yet unworn to be put away back in their winter quarters, and winter clothes to be ironed and put back on hangers. I will leave the sequin jacket and dancing shoes where they are as we won’t be doing any partying anytime soon…although a quick shuffle around the dining room is not out of the question to the right music.
I do have 35 books awaiting reading and reviewing and I am trying to do that in a timely fashion. I know that at the end of the month I will be heading off to Amazon again to buy another ten or twelve that have been recommended by others here or I have spotted on others’ blogs. One of the downsides of promoting authors and reading through their reviews to showcase but I am not complaining, just my TBR like most of yours.
I have also been doing some updated research on a number of health conditions and despite the Covid – 19 focus on getting a vaccine and treatments, there are still some interesting advances in other areas of medical research.. I will be putting together a new Health in the News in November.
The author spotlight ends tomorrow, but I went through my files and unearthed some author interviews from 2015 onwards for authors who are very much a part of my community and I will be repeating those on Sundays up to the end of the year. I have updated with their current books and reviews and I hope you will enjoy again after all this time.
I hope you have enjoyed the week as much as I have and my thanks as always to the contributors who take time and a great deal of thought to put together interesting and entertaining posts.. this week William Price Kingshares part three of theBarbra Streisandstory and you can find William’s own posts and also very kindly a selection of Smorgasbord’s on his Blog– IMPROVISATION– William Price King on Tumblr
Also this week D.G. Kaye, Debby Gies shares her wisdom on narcissism in the family and some of the reasons behind this insidious and damaging mental issue. Also thanks to my guest Jane Sturgeon for her entertaining life changing moment…
And a special thank you to author Judith Barrowwho has kindly set up a directory on her blog to share posts from Smorgasbord.. a huge honour thanks Judith Judith Barrow Blog
Thank you for supporting all of us and it is much appreciated.
Welcome to the round up of posts on Smorgasbord you might have missed this week.
Well what a week.. from the headlines to the weather it has been one rollercoaster of a ride with nobody quite sure where the ride is going to end.. even those holding the reins!
Thankfully things around our virtual world seem to be maintaining normality however I would like to mention two people who are firm favourites here with guest posts and their books.
Mary Smith and Sue Vincentwere due to meet up in the last few weeks in Scotland but for both of them shock medical news has become a priority for the present. Both of them have posted about their diagnosis and I link to them here. Unfortunately due to Covid restrictions they cannot enjoy the level of physical support so necessary during their treatment. Both are wonderfully strong and resilient, but you can never have too many friends, even in the virtual world on your side. If you too are friends with them please head over to keep in touch and let them know we are there now and as they continue to blog during their treatment. Two amazing women.
I am still in the middle of getting my next release ship shape… longer than I intended as I have been, like most of you lacking in some focus on the creative side in the last few months. I have however begun to apply myself more and I am scheduling a couple of weeks ahead at the moment which gives me some breathing room. I am so grateful for William Price King, Debby Gies, Carol Taylor and Silvia Todesco for their weekly and monthly contributions and whilst I am not accepting individual guest posts at the moment, I hope to do so in the New Year.
If you are an author in the Cafe and Bookstore it would help me enormously if you could let me know as soon as you have a date for any new releases so I can include in the Cafe Updates in a timely fashion. Either on pre-order or available is fine.
My intention is to increase my reading time which is as important to me as writing.. and hopefully you should see more book reviews each week on a more consistent basis. I have just ambitiously added another 10 books to my TBR and looking forward to some great reading.
Thank you very much for all the support you give every week and it is much appreciated as it keeps me motivated. Just heading into my 9th year of blogging and 8th year as Smorgasbord Blog Magazine.. doesn’t time fly when you are having fun….
It is 20 years since I wrote Just an Odd Job Girl and to celebrate I am giving away FREE Ebook copies and sharing the background to the real odd jobs that litter my career. This I am 14 and start my first paid job.
Welcome to the weekly round up with posts you might have missed on Smorgasbord.
I hope that you are all well and thanks for dropping in today. I am taking full advantage of the sunshine this weekend as the nights are drawing in and the temperatures are already dropping. Still grateful for the quick blast and a good book.
As in most places our infections are on the rise which in not unexpected after the restrictions were lifted. Although here in Ireland the government has been very cautious about moving through the various stages. There are still clusters in the major cities such as Dublin and Cork. We are grateful for our rural location and without the influx of visitors this summer (despite the devastating effect on small businesses) we have been relatively free of infections. All we can do is continue to be careful and stay positive.
I hope the posts this week will have kept your spirits up and this week William Price King,Carol Taylorand Silvia Todesco provided us with great jazz entertainment and wonderful recipes to ensure we don’t waste away in isolation.
Colin Guest joined us last Sunday to share his life changing moment which resulted in him meeting his lovely wife and finding great happiness.
My thanks to you for all your support during the week….
Welcome to the weekly round up with posts you might have missed on Smorgasbord.
Thanks for taking time to drop by and I hope you are having a good weekend. Things are much the same here so nothing new to report. I am however in full writing mode so spending a little less time on social media except for topping and tailing the day.
A warm welcome back to William Price King after his summer break and I am sure you will enjoy his first post in the new season.
Carol Taylor was also here with her A- Z and this week she has some amazing foods, methods and recipes beginning with the letter ‘Q’.
The first guest in the new Author Spotlight last Sunday was Harmony Kent who shared her remarkable and challenging journey to being the person she is today.
Coming up tomorrow – D.G. Kaye shares how her ingenuity and perseverance landed her a fabulous job that was career and life changing.
I hope that you enjoy the posts from the week and as always thank you for your support that keeps me motivated.. Sally.
Cholesterol plays a vital role in a number of key functions within the bodyyet it has been demonized and come under attack for the last twenty years. For the majority of the population, heart disease and coronary heart disease is lifestyle related and can be reversed by making changes to diet and lifestyle.
Thanks very much for dropping in today and I hope you have enjoyed catching up with the posts.. and that you will join me again next week.. thanks Sally.
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
Welcome to the round up with post you might have missed on Smorgasbord this week.
I hope everybody is doing well.. I am sure that like me you are watching the headlines and keeping up do date with not just your own country’s progress with the pandemic but also on a worldwide basis. At this point all we can do is remain safe and avoid covidiots that seem to think social distancing and masks do not apply to them.
On a positive note...I have made a few tweaks to new book releases from August 26th that I hope will increase exposure for the authors concerned. If you are already in the Cafe and Bookstore you new book announcement will be added to the Cafe Updates on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays. I hope that the fact that there are four authors in the post, it will generate more views for your new book. Over a period of a couple of weeks they usually generate an average of 150 views and multiple shares on Twitter and Facebook.
If you are a new author to the Cafe and Bookstore I will post the usual introductory promotion with bio etc.
This is the latest way to share your work and I now have some wonderful stories of defining moments in the lives of authors in the Cafe and Bookstore. It would be wonderful to share your stories too so perhaps you could read the post and read my story so you can see how it will look. The series begins the last Sunday of August and I am now booking for the second week in October.. Look forward to hearing from you.
If you missed them here are some posts from my contributors this week that you might like to head over and read.
Debby Gies interviews Adele Marie Park about her childhood on the island of
Rousay part of the Orkney Isles where she encountered tales Finn Folk,
Selkies and mermaids.. Adele has just released her latest book, Sea Dragon – Wisp II and shares what is coming next. As always Debby’s questions are tailored to her guest and the interview makes for interesting reading.D.G Kaye interviews Adele Marie Park
Carol Taylor with her Saturday Snippets with posts ranging from Bees and their importance to our environment, Lemon Meringue Pie, National Afternoon Tea Week, Music from Jimi Hendrix, Rooftop farms, removing hooks from shark’s mouths and respect for those who died during the holocaust.. As you can see a varied and interesting post.. please head over. Saturday Snippets with Carol Taylor
Time to catch up with the posts from the week here on Smorgasbord.. thank you for all your support and also to Debby Gies and Silvia Todescofor their wonderful contributions this week. William Price King is back with a brand new Music Column on September 1st.
Welcome to the round up of posts that you might have missed this week on Smorgasbord.
It is finally a lovely sunny day and I intend to take full advantage and be out in the garden most of the day.
I have finally given myself a very good talking to and put into action a long overdue plan this week. It involves books and reviews and my unsuccessful efforts to whittle my TBR list down effectively. I was only reading at night and it was five pages and then lights out so to speak. Something needed to be done.
I now have a mandatory reading hour in the afternoon either in the garden or in our sitting room if the weather is not warm enough. I have finished two books this week instead of the usual one, and I feel far less guilty about the books sitting their so patiently waiting for my attention.
I am delighted that the new Children’s Cafe and Bookstore is going well with 5 new authors joining and you will meet them in promotions over the next week. One of the problems for children’s authors, especially with picture books for younger children, is getting reviews. In part because many children’s books are given as gifts and parents may feel that there is no where for them to share a review if they have not bought from Amazon or other book sellers online.
This is why it is important to have a Goodreads author page as a Children’s author so that reviews can be posted worldwide and without having been bought.
Having said that, if the parents or grandparents don’t know that they can put a review on Goodreads, it is not as useful as it might be.
If you are an author of children’s books could I suggest that at the back of your books you put a short note asking for reviews and providing the link to https://www.goodreads.com/ and explaining that it is also a wonderful resource for other children’s books, often at special prices.
In the coming weeks I am going to be putting together some specific children’s book promotions to encourage reviews and it would be great if you help spread the word. This includes a children’s review watering hole…where even if the books are not in the Children’s Cafe and Bookstore, reviews can be shared and I will add the blurb and the links to the books. The promotion post for this new series is scheduled for Tuesday at 18.00 UK time.
I cannot imagine my life without books and my love of reading began at age four. It is such an important skill to have in life and children’s authors deserve all the support we can give them.
And on the subject of reviews...I was delighted this afternoon to receive a wonderful 5* review from Marjorie Mallon for Life’s Rich Tapestry..If you have time I would be so pleased if you would head over and read in full..thanks Sally.
Here are the posts from the weekand as always a huge thank you to the guest writers for their amazing contributions.. this week William Price King and Carol Taylor. And to you for dropping in, liking, commenting and sharing the posts, the support is very much appreciated.
Welcome to the round up of posts you might have missed this week on Smorgasbord.
Another week has flown by, and like many of you, I have avoided reading the headlines and news stories on a daily basis. I am usually an upbeat positive person when it comes to life in general, but even I have to ration my exposure to the constant stream of negativity.
Thankfully our community of writers do share the positive aspects of life, and here are three posts I would like to draw your attention to if you missed.
Each month D.G. Kaye, Debby Gies participates in the #WATWB – We are the World Blogfest spreading positive news about people and events. This month an inspiring woman in the UK has been collecting an item usually scrunched up and thrown away. Her project is Keeping the Homeless a Little Warmer: D.G. Kaye WATWB – We are the World Blogfest – Keeping the Homeless a Little Warmer
Carol Taylor shares amazing recycling projects including this week The bad and the good in the story of plastic.. and on Tuesdays she has been sharing some of the positive outcomes of our recent isolation. In this post you can enjoy the wisdom of a wonderful man called Sadhguru, and a video of abandoned places being reclaimed by nature. Sobering thought and Nature’s resilience
Retired teacher and author, Pete Springer shares the inspiring story of a former pupil of his, Samy Awwad, who at the age of only 16 has already created an incredible reputation as a champion for millions of children around the world whose lives can be saved by vaccinations. A wonderful post that I recommend you head over to read: An Impressive Young Man
Before I share the posts from the week… here is the promotion for the new Author Spotlightbeginning in September.. along with my story of a life changing moment in my life that set me on a different path after just one date! I have already received some amazing stories and I am looking forward to sharing this new series.
A new series for authors in the Cafe and Bookstore and I share my Life Changing Moment.
In this new series I am inviting authors in the Cafe to share what they consider to be a defining moment in their lives that resulted in a major positive change.
Here are a few examples, and I am sure you will have plenty to add:
Meeting a stranger with surprising consequences
Accepting an invitation that took you out of your comfort zone
Being fired from a job or resigning without another job lined up that turned out to be an opportunity.
Taking a wrong turn on a journey and discovering something about yourself.
Being in the wrong place at the right time when an opportunity presented itself.
Overcoming a challenging situation such as a failed relationship and finding happiness.
Taking part in a charity challenge such as a parachute jump and how it conquered a fear.
Accidentally walking through the wrong door and finding an uplifting experience
Moving to a new country and feeling immediately at home.
You can choose to stick to the facts or can write a fiction story that has ‘A Life Changing Moment’ as its theme.
If you follow the link beneath the image you can read my story and the post is an example of how your own will look.
As always my thanks to guests and contributors who make blogging such a pleasure and to you for dropping in, commenting and sharing…here are the posts from the week.
Welcome to the round up of posts you might have missed this week on Smorgasbord.
It has been a very mixed week as far as the weather is concerned. However, I was in and out more times than a cat, grabbing the odd ten minutes of sunshine here and there. It can change in a second with rain in the back garden and sunshine still in the front. There are a lot worse places to live, particularly during a pandemic as it is easier to avoid 5 million people than it is 65 million. Especially when there is more rural space.
Apart from my daily ins and outs, I also had my first hair appointment this week. I go to a family owned hairdresser and they certainly have gone to a lot of trouble and expense to prepare the salon for clients. I was wearing my own mask, but had my temperature checked once I was allowed in. A young assistant was kept busy disinfecting chairs, basins and stations between customers, and we all wore disposable gowns and the same with the towels. Thank goodness that despite the rule about no tea or coffee, and no magazines, we could still chat and it was great to catch up with my stylist Sam and her experiences over the last four months.
It feels great to have some shape back into my hair and if I can bring myself to put on some makeup on the next sunny day, I might get a new profile photo done… don’t hold your breath on either event …!
Now to the week….
I am very aware that I don’t get around to as many blogs as I would like on a daily basis and as I plan to get down to finishing the new book I am writing in August.. I thought it would be a good time to get the new Posts from Your Archives up and running. With the added bonus that I get to browse your blog archives from the last six months and catch up on all your great posts.
Since this series began in January 2018 there have been over 900Posts from Your Archiveswhere bloggers have taken the opportunity to share posts to a new audience… mine.
The topics have ranged from travel, childhood, recipes, history and the most recent series was on any aspect about family.
In this series I will be sharing posts from the first six months of 2020
It is an opportunity to showcase your writing skill to my readers and also to share on my social media. Which combined is around the 46,000 mark. If you are an author your books will be mentioned too, along with their buy links and your other social media contacts.
So what is different about this series?
This time,rather than you send me two links to posts from your blog archives, all I need you to do is give me permission to dive in myselfand find two posts to share here on Smorgasbord.
Rather than a set topic, I will select posts at random across a number of subjects from the first six months of 2020.
As I will be promoting your books as part of the post along with all your information and links so I will not be sharing direct marketing or self- promotional posts in the series.
If you are an author I am sure you will have a page on your blog with the details, and an ‘about page’ with your profile and social media links (always a good idea anyway). I will get everything that I need.
As a blogger I would assume that you have an ‘about page’ a profile photo and your links to social media.
Previous participants are very welcome to take part again.
N.B – To get the maximum benefit from your archive posts, the only thing I ask is that you respond to comments individually.. thank you.
To show how your post will look when featured… please head over to the post with an example from the Friends and Family archive posts earlier in the year. Jacquie Biggar with the story of her grandson and his brave approach to his Type I diabetes.
William Price King is on his summer break which is a very busy time and his is offline, but I will be sharing some previous artists and every other week a Summer Music Festival… no mud, or portaloos…just good music. Some from William’s column and some from my own playlists. William sends his best wishes and apologises for not being able to respond to your comments.
This week Carol Taylor cooks up a storm as she showcases the letter ‘M’ in food and culinary terms…and there are plenty of books on show to overload your TBR’s
I am in the last three weeks of the series Meet the Authors in the Cafe and Bookstore and hopefully all your details will then be up to date… if you are in the cafe and have not yet been featured.. don’t worry everyone will be included..
![Who's That in the Cat Pajamas? (The Dolcey Series Book 1) by [Sojourner McConnell, Ellie Barrett]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41w8218v4sL.jpg)
