Tag: Reviews

Rewind, Upcoming

June Rewind

Jonas Lee

It’s that time to look back and see just how well I’ve done in the month of June. This was possibly my busiest month of the year to date just because of softball, vacation and non-writer work I’ve been consumed with. I am looking forward to July as far as my creative productivity goes but will miss my girls from softball after State Tournament is over next week. That aside, I issued an option for readers to take part in the last book of the Carter Gabel series. I’m looking for (9) beta readers to help in the fall to decide the outcome of the book and so far I have (5) of the spots filled. Please let me know if you want in on it!

Without further ado, the stats:

WRITING

  • Blog Posts – 10
  • Fiction Writing – 3150 words

BOOKS

  • Finished:
    • by C.L. Coffey [only $.99]
    • by S.R. Carillo
    • by Nick Jones [free on Amazon]
  • Still Reading:
    • by John Ajvide Lindqvist
    • by James Schannep

YOUTUBE

Interview with Mariana Llanos

GOODREADS STATS

A Time to Reap

  • Ratings – 69
  • Reviews – 51
  • Average – 4.10

A Time to Live

  • Ratings – 15
  • Reviews – 11
  • Average – 4.80

AMAZON STATS

A Time to Reap

  • Reviews – 35
  • Average – 4.50

A Time to Live

  • Reviews – 12
  • Average – 5.0

FANS / FOLLOWERS

WHAT PEOPLE HAVE SAID:

“This Story Had Me Laughing Out Loud!” – Margaret Dowdy

“It is really an impressive book, and it leaves you wanting and waiting for more.” – E.G. Gomez

“…it was thrilling and you simply can’t put it down.” – Doms

“What I really loved about the book was the authors understanding of characterisation” – Lizzy Baldwin

“Writing was strong, pace was good, and the plot was complex and didn’t unravel quickly at all.” Cianna Reider from Nerd Girl Reviews

THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO:

July 5th – Interview with Lizzy Baldwin

July 15th – Interview with Nina Soden

Awkward Author Debut

Backward Author Debut

On a side note, I’ve officially changed my domain. It is now http://www.JLFiction.com so please bookmark it and shoot me a message somewhere on social media. Everything is linked on this post. Come help my numbers grow in July!! I want to thank everyone and anyone who follows or interacts with me. It means a ton to have people out there enjoying what I do.

The Next 1000 Miles

How to (not)Handle a Review

Jonas Lee

Truth be told, got a bad review last night, well, more like a rating. No comments, just a punchy 1-star. Bad reviews come with the job. People will have their opinions, everyone is not going to feel the same way about your novel. The difference in my mind comes down to a spectrum of readers.

The White:

These are people who have a penchant for reading, love all books and will generally give a 5-star to anything the sun touches. Mostly, these people will be family and close friends. A few new authors will remain in this category to not rock the boat and greatly upset the reads from other authors they take under their wing.

The Broad Spectrum:

This is where most people fall. They will go from their gut, rate it as the felt it while reading, and give some honest words. These people will range things between the 2 & 5-star areas. If you have gotten a 2-star review, they are horrid. It’s kinda like someone poisoned the tines of a fork and stabbed you. They are usually your audience and missed the mark in their opinion (you just hope they don’t influence too many other opinions in the process). Most of these people will give you their honest feedback as long as it’s anonymous, as far as the Internet is concerned.

The Dark:

Here we go. The trolls, the elitists, the high-brows and the jealous. Most of these people are out for very limited reasons and none of them are artistic, helpful or worthwhile. Generally, they will try and get under your skin, get a smidgen of your spotlight, feel jealous of your success, or want to flex some sort of superiority. Not all of these people will give you 1-stars, but you know them once you see them. They spout and boast their opinions in paragraphs, not sentences. Usually, your efforts are made to feel stale, ridiculous, labor-some, boring or a slew of other identifiers.

To note, I love opinions. I look for them everyday and even if they aren’t great, I appreciate the forwardness of admitting the lack of enjoyment my work may have brought someone. In other words, constructive criticism is always welcome. I’m not doing this to pout cause of one bad review or another.

And the rating, granted, it didn’t have a review with it. Just a lone 1-star out there, tarnishing the others. No big whoop, laugh that one off is how it generally goes. Yet, the fact that I knew the person made me go WTF? Okay, well, still hoping for some opinion, time passes and then I get this:

IMG_0414

Hmm, well… That about does it. Stranger – glad you had your fun, ignore and go about my day. Acquaintance – that’s nice, well, when you publish your own book, let me know how well that guide treated you. Oh, and here was my recommendation back:

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Go out there, be better than me… after you stop laughing 😉

The Next 1000 Miles

I’m Starving!

Jonas Lee

I feel like there is some sort of review diet going on? A fast of all things tasty and wonderful? Please don’t give me up for lent! I swear, I’m low calorie entertainment and I don’t think I’m too addictive.

If, by chance, this is a lent thing, please keep me in mind for when it’s over. I haven’t had a sale or review in about ten days. I’m withering away. Don’t be afraid to tell others, they don’t know me well enough to give me up just yet.

FEED ME, pretty please.

Pretend to FEED ME

I’ll be doing this in the meantime…

TyrionImpatient

 

The Next 1000 Miles

What to Get Your Author for Xmas

Jonas Lee

Hint #1: It’s Free!!

Answer: A Review

It may not seem like much, but to Indies, it’s almost better than currency. A review or a rating on places like Amazon, GoodReads, a blog or any venue of social media is like seeing the storm clouds part and sun shinning directly on us. As an Indie, my name is not out there; I can’t get into chain book stores; and I have a fan base that consists mainly of friends and family for the moment. The only thing that will help me continue my passion is having more people interested.

Think of a new restaurant that’s opened in your town. If you went there and the food was somewhere between good and great, would you tell others? If you don’t, how will they know? Same goes for books on an almost secret society scale. There are so many to choose from, no one will ever see them without guidance or persistence. We need our readers help or we’ll surely wither away.

So, for Christmas, rate the books you’ve read. Save a writer!

A Time to Reap, The Next 1000 Miles

Reviews = Life

Jonas Lee

Well, I was a part of two different Giveaways that concluded yesterday. The first was the AEC Stellar Event. A bunch of authors pitched in and there was fun and prizes galore. No punch and pie though… virtually maybe…

Secondly, Goodreads has a Giveaway program for authors to submit their books for fans to click on and register to receive a free hard-copy version of the book. No need to purchase or commit to anything, just straight up enter and move along.

Now, if you don’t already know, Goodreads is like a Social Media site for book lovers. You can catalog all your reads, rate them, find ones to add into a “To-Read” category and bunch of other options. Additionally, you can join/create reading groups, enter your favorite books into Listopia and harness your favorite quotes from authors.

Authors love this site and can equally dislike it. Mainly, we have no power here, the readers do. We are at their mercy, which is good as long as you have a strong fan-base or a wonderful book. For newcomers like myself, I drifted in a sea of wanting to get people to notice my novel and at least add it to their “To-Read” pile. Low and behold, the Giveaway was completely worth it.

I went from having my book out there for almost two months with a generous 68 wanting to read it to having now 395 glorious souls looking at the chance in just under a week. My sincere hope is that, somewhere down the line, at least a small percentage of these folks will choose to pick up my book.

Exciting times are ahead. Thank to everyone who has ever clicked a like, read through a post or picked up a copy. You are making my dreams a reality!

A Time to Reap (The Legend of Carter Gabel, #1)
606 people entered.
2 people won.

The Next 1000 Miles

Your Fan-Size is So Big (part 2)

Jonas Lee

How else can you persuade people to follow you on your journey? The most you should ever really be is yourself. It’s the easiest thing in the world and most satisfying when you actually have fans. Have people who want to follow you for you or your work.

That said think of these items:

  • Giveaways
    • On Goodreads, I went from 60 to 115 adding my book in four days
    • Nothing is free, so don’t go in thinking you can have hundreds of fans without giving away a few free copies now and again. It’s promotional and those that don’t win, still might buy.
  • Review Groups
    • There are other Indie authors out there looking for reviews and notice too. Find them and offer a book swap for reviews. Those without the time won’t but you’ll catch some that will want to.
  • Book Clubs
    • Find local ones. Find them on Goodreads. Find them on Google +. See who would be interested and if it’s a last ditch effort, offer digital copies.
  • Local Resources
    • Local bookstores, libraries, businesses. See who would accept your book on consignment or if there is a local paper to read your book. If you’re doing YA work, contact High School librarians. See if your local library would want to host a Q&A.
  • Social Media
    • Try to hunt out groups in your genre. Genre-related author groups are great, but you’re looking for fans not colleagues. See what groups are chatting about, join in, find out more. Then down the road, you’ll know what people are looking for and it just might be what you’ve written.

Granted these options are not totally free. But beyond shipping charges and the cost of any paperbacks, it’s the next best thing. And yes, I know I didn’t keep this short and sweet like part 1. Still, I included bullet points and that has to count for something.

 

 

A Time to Reap, The Next 1000 Miles

Oh, So You Like Gangbangs?

Jonas Lee

Sorry, no porn here, but while you’re reading, let’s talk about the poor unfortunate souls known as Reviewers. As an author, especially since I’m an Indie author, reviews are my major form of credibility and advertising.

One site that I was directed to The Indie View. It’s a site that post links to reviewers that are accepting books in various formats and genres and also a place for want-to-be reviewers to go and sign up to get books. Now, this is a great tool for each person.

Authors will hopefully find a reviewer or two, readers will get free books to read and contribute in helping an author step into the light. That’s the general premise.

Here’s the issue: authors will have to search, hunt, and peck through dozens upon dozens of sites. Mostly, to try and find out if the reviewer is looking for their genre, if they’re accepting reviews and the time commitment. I’ve come across sites that were taken down, no longer reviewing, and no longer accepting more than anything. Other sites have such a backlog, they can’t possibly accept all books and because of such, will not respond to let you know if they are even interested. So, for author’s it has promise, but the payout is not really there in my opinion.

For reviewers…oh, I hope you don’t go in thinking “I wonder if I’ll get many books…” because you will. Books will coming flying at you in such rapid speed and succession, you won’t know what the hell you got yourself into. I hope you have lots of free time and can devour a book in a day. If not, they will get crammed in your cram-hole until you have to deactivate your account.

Hint: set up a review email, don’t use your personal one unless you like sorting.

In the spirit of letting those reviewers rest, and to save myself time (let’s be honest), up until the end of the week, anyone wanting an eBook of A Time to Reap that reads this blog, just email me at JL.Fiction@outlook.com and use the subject line Gang Up on Jonas Lee. Tell me your format of preference and I’ll send you a copy in expectation of a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads. Deal?

This is only going out to my folks on WordPress, no other social media at this time. So, take advantage, read some reviews and lets help each other out!