Tag Archive for: 2017

What Can You Do to Help Out Your Favorite Authors?

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by Sparkle Abbey
A portion of this blog was originally published in April of 2013. 

 It’s the beginning of a new year, and most people are making resolutions or setting goals for 2017. We are definitely in the goal setting camp. Setting goals gives us a clearer picture of what we want for the year, or next 3 years. It drives us forward with focus and keeps us organized, and most importantly, keeps us accountable.

 Something else we do each year is to make a concerted effort to support our fellow authors who have new releases. For us that means spreading the word about their awesome books on social media or posting a review. 


As we were discussing our goals for 2017, we thought this would be a great time to remind us all how we can actively support our favorite authors.

Let them know what you think. 

  • Write the author a quick email or letter telling them how much you liked their story. Writing fiction is itself is a solitary pursuit but ultimately we writers put ourselves and our work out there for the world to see. You can’t imagine how much someone taking the time to comment means to us. 

Share via bookstore sites.

Depending on where you buy your books, you can help readers find your favorite authors books by providing quick feedback.

There are a couple of things you can do for the paperback and/or Kindle versions.

    1. “Like” a good review that you agree with.
    2. If you read the book and enjoyed it, post a short (even 1 or 2 sentences) review on either the paperback or Kindle version about specifically what you liked about the book. (One review goes both places, unlike the tags and ‘like’).

There are a couple of things you can do for the paperback and/or Nook versions.

    1. Click that you found a good review “Helpful.”
    2. And again, if you read the book and liked it, post a short (even 1 or 2 sentences) review on either the paperback or Nook version about specifically what you liked about the book. 

If you’re a member of Indie Bound for independent book stores, add your favorite authors’ books to your “Wish List” or your book lists on the Indie Bound website at http://www.indiebound.org/ 

 You can also link to your friends and tell your friends about the books. 

Spread the news via Social Media

Tell your friends about their book. 

  • Share with friends and family via Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, blogs or word-of-mouth.


A sample Tweet might be (This one is more than 140 characters, but Twitter will shorten the link for you): 

 Great fun read: Raiders of the Lost Bark #book #mystery
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/sparkle-abbey 

 or  www.amazon.com/Raiders-Lost-Bark-Pampered-Mysteries/dp/1611946778

 If you’re currently reading the book, you can always tag it as a #FridayReads.
A sample Facebook post could be something as simple as: Check out my friend Sparkle Abbey’s book, Downton Tabby, at your favorite bookstore or visit their website at www.sparkleabbey.com

 If you’re a member of Goodreads, check out your favorite author’s Author Profile and click on “Become a Fan.” For instance our Author Profile page looks like this: Sparkle Abbey: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5283557.Sparkle_Abbey 

 If you’ve read the book, you can also rate the book and add a review. Much like Amazon, you can also “Like” positive reviews

 Another great help is to visit review sites or book-related blogs and comment if you have the time. For instance, we’ve been featured on our very own Dru’s Musings, The Mystery Gazette, Cozy Chicks, and Seekerville.

 Whether you do one thing or all of the above, showing your support and sharing your love of books with others truly makes a difference.
Are there are ways to support your favorite authors that we didn’t mention? Leave a comment and tell us about it!


Sparkle Abbey is the pseudonym of two mystery authors (Mary Lee Woods and Anita Carter). They are friends and neighbors as well as co-writers of the Pampered Pets Mystery Series. The pen name was created by combining the names of their rescue pets–Sparkle (Mary Lee’s cat) and Abbey (Anita’s dog). If you want to make sure you’re up on all the Sparkle Abbey news, stop by their website and sign up for updates at sparkleabbey.com.

Everything That is Not An Elephant

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by J.M. Phillippe

I am notoriously bad at remembering the source of stories, so I can’t remember where I heard this story first. I have been using it, and telling this particular version of it, for as long as I can remember. This is the version I tell:

There was a master sculptor and an apprentice sculptor, and one day the Master set a huge block of marble down in front of the Apprentice.

“Apprentice,” he said, “I want you to carve me an elephant.”

“But Master,” said the Apprentice, “I don’t know how to carve an elephant.”

“It’s simple,” the Master replied. “Simply start by carving away everything that is NOT an elephant.”

The moral, I tell people, just in case they have missed it, is that sometimes the best way to figure out what we are is to start by carving away everything we are not.

(When I looked up the story to try to find the origins, I found many versions, several attributed to Michelangelo about carving “David” by carving away everything that was not “David”. In some ways that’s an even more apt analogy than the version I tell, but I’ll stick with mine because I like elephants and not everyone wants to try to carve out themselves as a Greek version of the perfect man.) 
I break out this story whenever people talk about mistakes. “Feedback, not failure” was a popular motto at one of my old jobs. Every time we find a way toward a goal that doesn’t work, and every time we carve away some part of ourselves that is “not an elephant”, we get closer and closer to success, and to finding who we really are. Mistakes, for better or for worse, shape us.
Most people will be starting the new year with a list of resolutions. In therapy, I prefer to use the word “intention” because it doesn’t have that same “do or fail” feeling to it. While resolutions often feel like a destination, intentions are about the journey. Intentions make room for all that wonderful feedback that will come from finding all the attempts at change that don’t work.
Here is my other grand piece of advice: motivation will fail you. Trust structure. If you want to change your life, reshape your day, and build into that day space for the habits that will lead to change. Start with one habit a week — eating breakfast, going to bed an hour earlier, stretching. Keep in mind that your day is already filled with those things you currently think of as bad habits, so you will have to replace an old habit with a new one if you want to actually change. Sleeping instead of more time on social media. Exercise instead of that extra hour of TV a day. If you want to know what changes you actually will be able to make, start with a list of things you are willing to give up in your current routine. Carve away everything that is not part of the kind of day you want to have. Fill the space with your elephant of choice. And be prepared for finding lots and lots of ways that replacing “bad” habits doesn’t work, until you finally find the way that does work (personalized to you). 
For the record, none of this is as simple as it seems. Change always seems simple to someone who has mastered it, and terrifyingly difficult to the apprentices just starting out. And it seems like every turn of a new year makes apprentices of us all. 
Happy carving everyone!
***
J.M. Phillippe is the author of Perfect Likeness and the short story The Sight. She has lived in the deserts of California, the suburbs of Seattle, and the mad rush of New York City. She works as a family therapist in Brooklyn, New York and spends her free-time decorating her tiny apartment to her cat Oscar Wilde’s liking, drinking cider at her favorite British-style pub, and training to be the next Karate Kid, one wax-on at a time.