Tuesday, December 3, 2019

HOW TO SAVE THE LIFE OF AN AUTHOR




By Linda Lee Greene, Author & Artist



It is a fact that “Muse,” that mysterious and severe task-master chains authors to their writing instruments for weeks, or months, and sometimes years at a time. They aren’t allowed to eat, or brush their teeth, or bathe, or sleep. They almost never get to see other human beings. Muse makes them ignore the ring of the doorbell and the phone, and pull the drapes and close the blinds. Nothing, nothing, nothing must get in the way of scratching down those precious lines. At long last the book is done—finished—complete! And authors wait; they wait; they wait for feedback from readers, feedback that is the lifeblood of writers, that keeps them motivated, that keeps them sane, that rescues their self-esteem, and that very well might save their lives!

Accumulating reader reviews of books is a huge hurdle for authors, and the truth is that without reviews, books don’t stand a chance of reaching a wide audience, even though they might be very worthwhile reads. Nowadays, by way of cyberspace, something like 4,500 new books per day hit the bookseller market, a large percentage of that number written and self-published by highly talented and fearless authors. The crushing heap of competition they are under demands that many good reviews on Amazon and/or Goodreads is the best, and perhaps, the only way they can crawl out from under the pile and receive the notice they deserve.

A lot of readers would like to post reviews but feel intimidated by the process. You’re in luck. You can write something as simple as “I loved it!” or “This is one of the best books I’ve ever read!” or “I couldn’t put it down!” If you didn’t like the book, explain the reason in the review because that’s information the author needs to be a better writer.

Please support authors by posting reviews of their books, especially at Amazon.com. All you have to do is go to Amazon and type in the name of the book. When the correct page comes up, click onto the space on the right indicating the number of current reviews. The reviews page comes up. You will see a series of five stars on the left side of the page. Click onto the star that corresponds with your rating of the book. The fifth star on the right indicates the highest rating. A dialog box in which to type your review is directly below the stars. And below that, a box shows in which to title your review. When you have done all these things, click “submit” at the bottom of the page. And wallah—you’ve helped to save the life of a hard-working and lonely author!



My latest novel, A CHANCE AT THE MOON is at https://www.amazon.com/CHANCE-AT-MOON-Betrayal-Murder-ebook/dp/B07Z44YN9X/.  Reviews are welcome.



Image: BOOKWORM  – Watercolor painting by Linda Lee Greene



Learn more about multi-award-winning, Ohio author Linda Lee Greene at http://booksbylindaleegreene.gallery-llgreene.com/, and at her online art gallery at www.gallery-llgreene.com. She is on social media at the following:

















4 comments:

  1. Great post, Linda! I couldn't have agreed with you more! Cheers and wishing you many, many book reviews!

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    1. Thank you for reading and commenting, Sharon Ledwith.

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  2. Vital information for those readers who want to support authors!

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    1. Gina Briganti, I do so appreciate your taking the time to read and comment. Thanks.

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