Book Review: Raising Abel

I was lucky enough to find Raising Abel by Carolyn Nash when it was offered as a free ebook. Being a mother of three kids, the cover and title intrigued me. I downloaded it to my Kindle and started reading. Right away, I couldn't put it down.

It was one of those "stay up late until you finish it no matter what" type of books.

What really hooked me was that it is a true story. The hook was further cemented by the Prologue. Trust me. Just read it and try not to get hooked.

It's about a woman who thinks she is a little odd--she's middle aged and single and doesn't have a lot of friends. Eventually she fosters a child, Abel, and her life is changed forever. Abel is a special child, and he has special challenges. But through it all this woman sticks with it and makes both of their lives better.

I was so inspired by this woman. And I was so saddened by Abel's situation, at least until he met his foster mother.

I loved her writing. She had such an authentic voice. In true stories, sometimes there is too much or too little--I felt she gave us just enough. The imagry painted a vivid picture of the surroundings as well as the emotions.

This is definitely worth purchasing. Check out the author's blog at Raising a Traumatized Child.

Book Review: Guerrilla Marketing for Writers

There are a few books you should have in your marketing library to refer to again and again, and this is one of them.

Guerrilla Marketing for Writers by Jay Conrad Levinson, Rick Frishman and Michael Larsen is a great resource for writers.

It really drives home the message that many authors are missing today--market like an animal and plan on doing most of it yourself. Whether you self-publish or are accepted by a traditional publisher, no one else will market your book for you. This book will help to motivate you into being guerrilla intensive.

In it are useful lists of what you need to know, but what I like is there are also real-life stories that illustrate what the authors are trying to say.

Another aspect I like is that the book focuses on marketing tactics that are not only effective, but FREE. And that is something I think most authors will appreciate.

Book Review: 1001 Ways to Market Your Books

If you are an author or aspiring author, then you need to know John Kremer.

His website, e-newsletter, and book 1001 Ways to Market Your Books, are all great tools available to help authors market their books.

The format of the book is probably my favorite feature. He separates each marketing idea into sections, and so you can flip through the book and read a few tips at a time. It really makes it easy to digest the book little by little and implement the ideas effectively.

Marketing is overwhelming, and so making each marketing idea separate and digestible is really key.Each topic is covered well; he goes in-depth so authors will understand and be able to do the task themselves.

The book itself is quite thick, and it is so chalk-full of information, I would definitely recommend buying a copy to refer to again and again.

Here are a few tips he lists:

Write a letter to the editor.
Make a free offer.
Sell to corporations.
Tips for Obtaining Interviews
Ways to Use Your Website to Market Itself

Book Review: The Author's Guide to Building an Online Platform

 

Stephanie Chandler wanted to be an author, but she wasn't sure where to begin. So in 2003, she quit her job and opened a bookstore. Not the conventional way to start a book, but Chandler wanted to know the business from the inside out.

Today she has a book The Author's Guide to Building an Online Platform, a website BusinessInfoGuide.com, and years of experience in the industry.

In her book, she offers interesting insight that authors should read; times have changed and so has book selling. Gone are the days of bookstore signings, as she says in her book: "this is probably one of the least effective ways to market a book" as the average number of books sold at a book signing is only eight books.

Instead she points authors to where they should be focusing their marketing efforts, most especially the Internet. She offers practical advice on how to set up a website and how to become an "expert" in your field. In this case, the book will probably be more useful to nonfiction writers than to fiction writers. The end of her book also includes several interviews with authors and how they got published.

Check out a great info sheet on the book and the author here.