Bon weekend, everyone! In case you haven’t read my November newsletter, it’s posted here for your convenience. Enjoy! Enter the giveaways! Bonne chance!
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Author
Bon weekend, everyone! In case you haven’t read my November newsletter, it’s posted here for your convenience. Enjoy! Enter the giveaways! Bonne chance!
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If it’s Friday, it must be France …
How was your week? Our Women’s Fiction Fans Summer Party on Tuesday evening was an enormous success. We were blown away! And we’re so grateful to all of our enthusiastic readers who joined in the fun. We can’t begin to thank you enough!
Congratulations to all of the winners. Books, bags and macarons! Those were just some of the sought after prizes!
If you haven’t had an opportunity to join our group, just go to this page and click on “joined”. It’s as easy as that! The aim of this friendly group of authors and readers is to share thoughts and comments about books or simply reading in general … or anything else that’s on your mind. Ask us questions, enter our giveaways, enjoy our special events and, by all means, please invite your friends!
Right now I’m awaiting the final sign off on the manuscript for Drawing Lessons. We are eager to have the book available on Net Galley for everyone who is interested in writing a review. Stay tuned! I will let you know the minute it is there.
In the meantime, Drawing Lessons can be pre-ordered right here. This just means that the day the book is published, you will receive your copy. Great service! And thanks!
I’m also working on my July newsletter tonight, so with all that going on, I’m going to leave you with a few of my favourite shots from May and June in the south of France. Enjoy! Profitez!
Villefranche-sur-Mer ~ How many times am I going to take a photo here? Year after year, the view is simply too irresistible.
It was hot, hot, hot! There were few breezes through the narrow streets in the towns and villages of Provence. Shutters were closed to keep the cool inside. The cicadas hummed.
The little yellow house with the blue shutters. I’m writing about one now. 🙂
Chilled rosé (extra special because it comes from a friend’s vineyard ~ Jean-Marc Espinasse, husband of the delightful Kristin) + delicious nougat + strawberries so sweet they taste like candy.
A favourite shot ~ on one of my daily walks to the marché. Can’t you almost taste the colours?
The Women’s Travel Network’s 12-day tour of the south of France, based on my Love in Provence series. Sixteen fabulous women who made each day an absolute pleasure.
Ten days with two BFFs ~ 4 in Antibes and 6 in St. Remy. Girls’ getaway. Friendship is priceless.
The garden behind the 12thC former monastery and asylum of Saint-Paul de Mausole. Vincent van Gogh spent May 1889 to May 1890 here, one of his most productive periods. Van Gogh and this setting also feature in my new novel. This is truly a peaceful, spiritual place.
The delicate beauty of poppies is symbolic in Drawing Lessons. I wanted to take photos for marketing and graphics for the new novel. The poppy season was almost over but then we got lucky and voilà!
I hope you have an excellent few days planned. Bon weekend!
I can’t write.
I can’t write paragraphs about a book.
I don’t know what to write.
I’m afraid of what people will think of my review.
I’m an author and don’t want a backlash on my own books.
I don’t have the time.
I can’t write – I bet if you can read, you can write.
I can’t write paragraphs about a book – Good News, Amazon accepts one sentence reviews now as do many other sites.
I don’t know what to write – Ah! Quick Question – Why did you like or Dislike the book? Got an answer? Then you have a starting place.
I’m afraid of what people will think of my review – Facing fears is part of life, it is hard, but I bet you’ve faced much harder challenges. Authors LOVE reviews, other readers also like to read them to see if they agree or disagree. Every reader will get something different from their experience. An honest review from someone who genuinely read the book IS REALLY APPRECIATED.
I’m an author and don’t want a backlash on my own books – This one STOPS TOO MANY AUTHORS from writing book reviews and it shouldn’t. In fact if you are an author, one way to hone your writing skills is to READ, READ, READ and from this you will be noting what works, what doesn’t and you will have all the skill sets to write a review. IF YOU WRITE WITH HONESTY AND COMPASSION I can’t see an author would want revenge or to be labelled a TROLL, these are far and few amongst the millions of authors who GENUINELY WANT A REVIEW.
I don’t have the time – time is what you make of it and those who have this as their reply probably won’t have time to read this post, so we’ll say no more.
So BE BRAVE – make a promise that the next book you read you will write a review.
Not sure which star rating to use? Read more here
Goodreads Ratings
Amazon Ratings
Finding yourself in a loop of reviewing friend’s books, just so they review yours? Review swaps are never a good idea, they become shallow and very obvious to other readers and you will only end up feeling guilty if you can’t be honest. Draw a line, perhaps explain that you don’t wish to review books for friends and you won’t ask them to review yours in turn unless either party truly wishes to read the book. But that no one should feel obliged to review as a swap. You can still support them by buying a copy of their work, this way their reviews will be from REAL readers who have found and bought their books and in the long term will be the reading audience of tomorrow.
Check out my simple book review templates, written to encourage those NEW to reviewing who need to boost their confidence.
There is NO SELL BY Date on writing a review – read a book a while a go that you ALWAYS MEANT TO WRITE A REVIEW FOR? Feeling guilty that you didn’t write a review at the time? No Problemo! Write this in the opening line “I read this book a while ago.” An author will be SO pleased to get an honest review that they won’t mind if there was a time delay on your side.
Go. Go forth and review.
As an author AND an avid reader, I thank you for this, Rosie!
And to support Rosie’s post, here’s one from Barb Taub (on her always entertaining website) announcing that August is “Write An Amazon Review Month”.
Before I became an author, I had never written a book review. Now, it’s an automatic part of my reading routine. How about you, dear blog readers? How do you feel about writing reviews?
We’re looking forward to chatting with you!
Looking to win a library of great books? Don’t miss this very special Facebook party.
On July 12th I’m joining seven other bestselling authors for a summer party with you. Since this is a virtual, world-wide event, park yourself in a comfy chair and wear whatever you please. You could be just waking up or you might be thinking about putting on your pjs. Stop by at 2 – 4 PM Eastern Daylight Time or 7 – 9 PM Eastern Daylight Time or both times … why not? You’ll have more chances to win great prizes! We chose those two time slots to allow readers in many time zones to participate.
Come along to chat and mingle with some of the finest women fiction authors working today:
USA Today bestseller Bette Lee Crosby weaves heartwarming stories with a Southern flair;
Experience the delightful and quirky characters in the inspiring stories by Christine Nolfi;
Visit with Barbara Hinske, awarded “Best in Women’s Fiction” by BookBub;
Grace Greene enthralls readers in two genres—Women’s Fiction and Romantic Suspense;
Chat with Andrea Hurst, the captivating author of the Madrona Island Trilogy and a highly regarded literary agent;
Award-winner Dete Meserve writes uplifting stories, and also works as a film and television producer;
And Ashley Farley, the award-winning author of stories about women facing real-life issues.
To join in the festivities, please accept your invitation to the July 12th Facebook party here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1554639554841535/
© 2020 by Patricia Sands. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to use short quotes provided a link back to this page and proper attribution is given to me as the original author. All photographs on this site are copyright of Patricia Sands