I’m excited to add L.K. Hill to the list of authors being interviewed. She’s another of the authors in the 18 author omnibus box set of mysteries and thrillers titled Dead Silent.
To read the interview, just click here, or you can go to the interview page.
On sale January 19, 2021, Dead Silent is available now for pre-order at the super low price of .99 cents!
With audiobooks becoming more popular, its not just the authors who make enjoying books possible, the talent pool now must included talented voice actors who bring the written story to life.
One such talented voice actor is professional narrator Todd Menesses. I had the good fortune of having narrate one of my stories, Friends in Low Places, the first of five books in the Capital City Character series.
Todd was recently gracious enough to give up some of his time to be interviewed. To read that interview click here.
Greta Boris is the author of the Seven Deadly Sins mystery series. Ordinary women. Unexpected Evil. A series of standalone novels of psychological suspense that exposes the dark side of sunny Southern California.
She’s a popular conference speaker and the Amazon Kindle bestselling nonfiction author of The Wine and Chocolate Workout – Sip, Savor, and Strengthen for a Healthier Life. And co-author with Megan Haskell of PUBLISH: Take Charge of Your Author Career.
Click Here to read the interview.
Ms. Boris is one of the eighteen authors in the mystery thriller box set Deadly Silent, due for release on January 21, 2021.
To pre-order a copy for just .99 cents click here!
Check out the latest author interview! Posted on the Interview page is my interview with mystery writer Tom Fowler, the creator of the C.T. Ferguson Mystery Series!
Tom is a contributor to the upcoming Dead Silent Box Set, set to be released on January 21, 2021. He is one of 18 authors in the collection. Write now, Dead Silent is available for pre-order for an incredible price of just .99 cents! Eighteen best selling authors in one box set, all for less than a dollar.
If you’d like to check out one of his books before then, pick up a copy of The Reluctant Detective, the first in his C.T. Ferguson Mystery series.
To read the interview, click here or go to the Interview Page.
Take a moment and check out my latest author interview with British author Steven Moore!
Steven is one of the 18 authors in the upcoming Deadly Silent Omnibus Box Set. He is also the author of the Hiram Kane Action Thriller series!
To read the interview click here or go to the Interview page and find the link to the Steven Moore interview.
I was lucky to score an interview with British thriller writer J.D. Weston, author of the Best Selling Stone Cold thriller series! To read the interview and learn more about J.D. Weston, just go to the interview on the interview page of this site.
Also, check out Weston’s upcoming release, Black Blood, The Frankie Black Files!
If you enjoy the interview and want to learn more about Mr. Weston, click here to go to his author website.
Once an author sends the work out into the world for others to read, purchase, and hopefully enjoy, there beloved story is in many ways at the mercy of the cold, cruel world out there.
To many authors, the worst thing that can happen is that nobody reads their stories. Some might say a bad review is the worst thing that can happen. I’d argue at least someone read your story and it evoked enough of an emotional response the reader felt compelled to write and post a review.
Why are reviews so important? I can promise you its not so the author gets their ego stroked. Nothing stings like a critical review of your defenseless baby and the positive ones, well, from the author’s perspective reviews should all be positive ones right?
Reviews are important because they are social proof!
Proof that somebody else:
Reviews are the only factor in a potential reader’s decision to buy a book or borrow it on KU, but they are important and authors crave reviews – even if they may not want to read them.
In the back of nearly every ebook you’ll find a request to leave a positive and honest review on a variety of platforms:
Periodically, I get comments from readers who tell me they loved one of my stories. I love these emails. The reader took the time to dig up my email address and send me a nice note. I always send a thank you and ask as politely as I know how if the reader would post a positive review.
Then comes the response. The reader informs me politely, they don’t know what to put in a review and that’s why they don’t leave reviews.
If you talk to even just a handful of authors, they will all tell a similar story.
If you’ve ever felt this way as a reader, you loved, or even just liked, a book and would write a review if you had a few pointers on how to do so, here are some suggestions and tips on how to leave a good (meaning a well constructed) review.
Use Keywords:
Keywords are terms used to help search engines find things. Use two or three key words, if possible in your review. For example, if writing a wonderful 5-star review of The Predator and The Prey, you would want to work in keywords like:
These descriptive terms help the reader know the genre or type of story they would be reading if they purchase or borrow the book.
Review Length:
Amazon, the king of ebook retailers, HATES short reviews. In fact, it is very suspicious of them and will often remove them, sometimes even penalizing the author and/or the publisher in some way. Amazon’s thinking is these are false reviews. One thing Amazon takes dead serious is reviews.
Everyone who takes the time to write and post a review wants the review to be approved and posted. I know I do.
Reviews need to be long enough to be helpful but not too long!
Reviews should be between 100 to 450 words in length. 100 words is long enough to make Amazon happy AND give a potential reader enough information for the review to be helpful. Anything over 450 words and the reader of the review might get bored or the reviewer might reveal too much of the plot.
Note: In the case of non-fiction, especially technical works, longer reviews are acceptable.
Don’t include spoilers!
If for some reason you, as the reviewer feel absolutely compelled to include a spoiler and give away the ending or a key plot twist, POST A SPOILER WARNING! This way, the reader of the review can decide whether or not to continue.
Some hints to get started:
A word about Advanced Reading Copies – ARCs:
It is NOT okay to pay individuals for reviews. Amazon in particular and other ebook/book retailers frown on this practice.
It is OKAY to give readers copy of books for free prior to the book going on sale so the reader can write a review. Stating this makes Amazon in particular happy as well as the other retailers.
Besides, stating you got an ARC means you were cool enough for an author to give you a copy to read and review!
A final thought.
I love five-star reviews! I need them to sell my books. But I will settle for an honest review – so long as it’s fair.
One of my non-fiction books got a one-star review early in its retail life and it absolutely killed the sales momentum. It took me two months to get Amazon to remove it.
The book was on strategy and tactics for basketball coaches. In a previous life I was a very successful varsity basketball coach, winning nearly 500 games in 22 season, averaging 22 wins a year.
The author of the one-star review was a coach who had never beaten me in the years we were in the same district. The review was nothing more than sour grapes on his part and was patently untrue and unfair.
When posting a review with 1 or 2 stars, especially if the book has just been launched and doesn’t have many reviews, you will kill any momentum the book has.
So think about it before you hit submit. Is the book truly so bad you need to destroy any chance the author has of success? If the answer is yes, go ahead and hit submit.
Just be certain its a fair review.
I recently had the opportunity to interview author Dan Petrosini, author of the Luca Mystery series! To read the entire interview, you can click here to go to the permanently posted interview or wait and read it in the July 14th issue of The Inspector’s Report.
If you’re a fan of crime noir, mysteries, or thrillers, you’ll want to take the time to read the interview.
As I consider ideas for Sully #8 and Sully #9 I find myself interested in learning what the readers of the Sullivan stories think about the characters. There is only one way to find out and that’s to ask those who read the stories.
Thus, the need for a poll to get feedback on what readers think about the characters who fill the Sully ‘verse.
To participate in the poll, please click here.
Sort of. I’m used to hitting the button on KDP’s Author Dashboard and in 72 hours Amazon is ready to sell your latest Kindle or paperback.
The same isn’t true with Audiobook distribution. It can take up to 45 days for all 43 audiobook retailers to have a new title listed and for sale.
How do you promote the launch of a title when it’s spread out over 45 days and guess who is usually the last retailer to go live with your new audiobook? Amazon.
As I type Friends in Low Places – Audiobook edition, is available from:
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