Sandy Appleyard's Blog

After recently submitting my newest novel The Man with the Black Belt to Readers’ Favorite for a review, and then, weeks later, submitting a book from my backlist To Hide in Holly Springs, the results were mystifying.  If you’ve ever been confused about book review results, read on.

Since my first book was self-published back in 2010, I’ve always struggled with getting book reviews.  Trust me, I’ve tried everything, even putting a book on perma-free.  The first romantic suspense/police procedural novel I published, The Wife of a Lesser Man, has been permanently free for as long as I can remember.  It gets hundreds of downloads per month, too.  But does it get reviews?  Nope.  Hardly ever.  Not even bad reviews.

I’ve used paid review services before, like Clarion, which I had great success in with The Wheels of Change.  That book still does fairly well, and I’d love to use that service again, but unfortunately, the price has risen, and I can no longer afford it.

To get To Hide in Holly Springs professionally edited, it cost me over $1500.00USD, and in order to pay for that, I chose to pull money from an RSP.  The Man with the Black Belt was NOT professionally edited.  If that makes you pass on reading it, that’s fine. But one thing I’ll tell you is that most readers cannot tell the difference in any of my books.

Point of fact:  The Man with the Black Belt, again, not professionally edited, received a five star review from Readers’ Favorite.  Mere weeks later, I submitted To Hide in Holly Springs, professionally edited (I saw all the edits via Track Changes in Word, and I approved them myself.  So I know it was well edited), received three stars from Readers’ Favorite, and the reviewer cited bad editing as the reason for the poor review.  Explain that.

As a self-published author who works full-time and has a mortgage and two kids, like many other authors, I can’t afford many of the accoutrements of self-publishing.  Everything from cover design, promotion of all types, website design, even much of the editing, is done by me.  If that turns readers away, that’s fine.  I’ve tried to make a living with my writing, but the competition is fierce, and I’m not gambling away any more of my money.  I love writing and doing all the things that make me a self-published author, so I’ll keep doing it no matter what.  It makes me happy.  It makes my readers happy.  At the end of the day that’s what counts.

Review services are expensive.  Editing is expensive.  When I put money out for editing and then pay for a review for the reviewer to turn around and tell me it wasn’t edited, it’s a slap in the face.

 

You have your book completed, edited, and ready to go.  To promote it and get reviews, you want to save it in PDF format, so you can send it to beta readers, book reviewers, and your friends who can’t wait until it’s published to read it (or are too cheap to buy a copy themselves….sorry to say, but they’re out there!).  So you Google free PDF convert sites…and BAM!  There are plenty….

For PDF, mobi and epub formats

This warning applies to all convert sites.  Many don’t just convert Word documents to PDF, but to Mobi (so it can be read on a Kindle reader or app) and various other formats.  In my case, I wanted to convert a few of my books to epub, mobi, and pdf, so readers had a choice when downloading my book.  At the time, I was offering a free book as a thank you for signing up to my newsletter (a great idea, by the way, it works!).

Beware of free PDF convert sites

Months later, I Google one of my books, just to see if it still being offered on ibooks, Kobo, and various other distributors, since I want to place some of my work in KDP Select for a time, and low and behold….

Pirated!

Not only have my books been pirated, but the slimy websites are using them in a phishing scheme.  Unbelievable!

Protect Yourself

DO NOT USE any of the free PDF convert sites, plain and simple.  If you need to convert to pdf, most updated Microsoft Office software offers pdf conversion.  Simply select from the drop-down menu when you’re in the ‘Save As’ screen.  To convert to all other formats, I recommend uploading your book to Smashwords.  It’s free and simple and takes ten minutes to do.  This platform enables you to publish your book and download it in all formats for free (for authors; readers must pay, of course), as many times as you want.  If you don’t want to publish your book on Smashwords, simply click on ‘unpublish’.  You can still download your book in all formats even if it is unpublished.

Please SHARE this message with all your author friends.  We need to stick together!

 

Sounds like an easy enough question, but I suppose every author has a different answer.  For me, I get asked it often enough, I thought I would answer it here.  My response may surprise you.

What is it like to write a book?

Let me re-word that.  What is it like to finish a book…many authors start projects and never finish them.  And it’s just like anything else in life; you have a great idea in mind, but it just doesn’t pan out.  There are a couple of unfinished manuscripts on my hard drive, I’ll admit.  But for the other twenty two, I can easily say that they were all wonderful experiences.

Instead of using cliches like ‘writing, to me, is like breathing‘, I’ll say that for me, to start and finish a book is setting a goal and meeting it.  Everything in between is just working towards that goal and achieving it.  After the first two or three, when I felt I had the hang of it, writing books became a part of me.

Where do you get your ideas?

Strangely enough, book ideas come to me during odd times.  Like when I’m taking a shower or exercising, or sometimes as I’m drifting off to sleep or waking up.

How do you avoid leaving your current work when a new book idea arises?

That was a tough one in the beginning.  Because, as a new writer, I found that new ideas were like diarrhea (pardon the image); they would shoot out of me all the time.  But to harness that, I simply wrote the book ideas down in as much detail as possible, clearing them from my mind.  After a while, I started recording book ideas in the notes app on my phone, and then when I had time, I would transfer them onto a Word document for later.

Have you ever worked on two books at the same time?

Yes, on two separate occasions.  When I wrote ‘Don’t Mess with Daddy’s Girl‘ and ‘21 Days for Liza‘, they were done together.  While I was writing Daddy’s Girl, it was during the time when I read Fifty Shades of Grey for the first time, and I desperately wanted to take a stab at erotic romance.  Enter Liza.

The second instance was when I wrote ‘The Wheels of Change‘ and ‘She Only Speaks to Butterflies‘.  Both novels have nothing in common.  Wheels is a tightly-wound thriller, with lots of twists and surprises, and at that time when I was right in the middle of it, it was Halloween.  We had taken our girls to our local Fire Station, which was made into a makeshift haunted house.  I’ll never forget that day.  There was this little girl who was so terrified to go into the haunted house, but this huge, burly fireman squatted down to her level, and spoke so tenderly to her that it almost brought tears to my eyes.  Suddenly, a book idea spilled into my mind like it was being fed to me from some higher, spiritual place, and I just had to write that book.

Have you finished a book recently?

Yes!  Just a week ago I finished a book that took about eight months to write.  It was an idea I had years ago in my back pocket, but I had to do some research and finish off some other projects before starting it.  This book is the longest, deepest, most heartfelt story I’ve ever written.  And I love it.  It’s called ‘The Man with the Black Belt‘, and I’ll tell you more about it in a later post.

What will you work on next?

It’s time to take a short break from writing fiction.  The next will be a self-help book for other writers who have an idea in mind for a book, but just can’t seem to find the time or discipline themselves enough to write it.  The title isn’t finalized yet, so stay tuned!

Would you like to read my work for free?  Simply subscribe to my newsletter, and you’ll receive a full length copy of Misunderstood, the first in one of my contemporary romance series, as a thank you.  Enjoy!

Recently, I switched from a Weebly to a WordPress site.  Since launching my site in 2010, I have personally changed the theme and site builder countless times.  However, this was my first attempt at migrating my WordPress site.  I do not recommend it.  In fact, I would strongly suggest that unless you are a developer or are having a developer do it, that you NEVER migrate your WordPress site.

It started with a simple idea, and then the hell began…

After doing research on how to switch from one site builder to another (because I was certain many things had changed since the last time I did it), I found a simple article on common things that WordPress users do to build their new website without interrupting their live site.  And then how to migrate the WordPress site into your public_html file, utilizing your web host files.

It’s frightening how many articles exist on how to switch from Weebly to WordPress, and how easy it is to do, including how to set up a temporary domain (sub domain in a sub folder ie. sandyappleyard.com/subdomain). However, the one that I unfortunately read stated to simply call your web host provider once your new site is complete.  My web host provider, while very apt and helpful, could not get my website up and running immediately….

It took a day and a half

Yes, folks.  A day and a half to migrate my Weebly site to WordPress.  Countless conversations and tests later, it is finally working.  I still don’t know if it is running 100% correctly though. Only time will tell.

My advice

Yes, you can migrate your WordPress site into your public_html file by copying it from your subdirectory, as many articles, including the one that my web host provider sent to me said, but it is certainly not a cut and dry operation.  The best advice I can give you is to utilize the ‘Coming Soon’ feature, and have your website down temporarily while you build it.  DO NOT use a temporary subdomain. Yes, it’s still down time, but it will save you a lot of frustration and fear in the long run.

‘A’ for Effort

Please do not misunderstand.  My web host provider, Bluehost, is wonderful, and I highly recommend them.  But they are not entirely equipped to deal with web site development, which an operation like this can possibly call for.  So many things can go wrong.

For example, here is a list of some of the things that went wrong:

site files would not copy to the public_html file
old (Weebly) home page was still appearing in the new WordPress set up (locked out)
404 error for entire site
404 error for all but home page
permalinks mismatched; could not share any pages to social media
site kept flip-flopping from old home page to new, with 404 errors on all other pages
could not view site unless in incognito window (ctrl+shift+n)

This is just to give you a taste of the hell that can be created.  Whether this was a theme issue, or something else, I don’t know. I know that the theme I’m using (Nectar) is compatible with up to WordPress version 4.8 and the version I’m working on is 4.9.  But if it’s an out of date theme, why is it still available and with so many sales?  And it comes with regular updates?  Also, there is a message that says the PHP language for this theme is out of date, but Bluehost said not to worry about it.  Who knows….

Last, please be wary of all the articles that say how easy and common it is to perform the above.  It may be easy and common for web developers, but not for average people like myself.  Perhaps it’s a ploy to get website owners to try and do crazy things themselves so they’ll spend more money undoing all the wrong; I don’t know. But I learned my lesson the hard way, and I sure don’t want anyone else to have to experience this.  Hence this long-winded post that I hope was at least somewhat helpful to someone out there who is simply trying to make their site look better, like me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh…..blurbs are so hard to do!  Any writer knows how difficult it can be to place strategic, juicy details about your masterpiece, without giving away too much, into a tiny paragraph….arggghhhh!!!

And the worst part is that unless you’ve had someone beta read your manuscript, cover to cover, it’s difficult to have someone gauge how effective your blurb is…and you certainly can’t ask anyone to write one for you, unless you’re fortunate to be able to afford one of those expensive reviews like Kirkus or Clarion.

Not me!

Help me with my blurb, please!

When I create a blurb, I usually create two, because historically, I reveal too much with my first one.  It’s taken me two days to compose these blurbs, and I have one vote (I won’t reveal for which one), so I need more votes.

Please review and tell me which one (or neither of them) would compel you to pick up this book.  Or maybe even a combination of the two?

The cover is of course, above.

Blurb 1:

A person can be loved by many for one reason, yet hated by many for another.  Born into a Native Indian family, Sam Corrolla grows up in a community with racists.  When their neighbour, Mr. Seamington, finds unfounded fault in Sam, the boy learns the shocking truth about what lengths people will go to out of prejudice.

With a keen interest in karate, Sam joins a dojo with his older brothers, and the discipline soon becomes a love of his.  Some of his peers can’t accept Sam’s unmistakable prowess, and the boy finds himself in a life-altering situation.

Becky, among many females, finds Sam exotic with his caramel skin and long, ebony hair, unbeknownst to him. After winning Sam over in a deplorable manner, the young man is suddenly inserted into a new life; one that he wouldn’t have dreamed he would be living.

When tragic loss sweeps over Sam, he is forced to go against the one he loves, in order to save the only thing he has ever loved.

Inspired by a true story, The Man with a Black Belt is about personal triumph and tragedy, learning that love can conquer all, that dreams can be reality if your heart is true, and even the toughest hearts can be softened.

Blurb 2:

A person can be loved by many for one reason, yet hated by many for another.  All Sam Corrolla ever wants is to be a black belt, everything else is secondary.  Being the typical boy next door, Sam is thoughtful, caring and quiet.  But he is hated by some for the one thing that he can’t change about himself.

Being picked on and ostracized is something Sam grows to accept, until the cross that he has to bear becomes too large, and someone wants him dead.

When tragedy hits, Sam learns about love from places he would never expect to learn it from, and support blooms from one shocking source.  Sam’s life is suddenly changed forever.

…

Go ahead, pick away!  Tell me what you would change from either blurb, or which one would make you want to read this book.

If you would like to know when this book will be published, go ahead and subscribe to my newsletter.  You even get a free book

We’ve heard them all, especially the big ones: ‘I’m going to quit smoking’, ‘I’m going to lose weight‘, or my personal favourite: ‘I’m going to call that someone I haven’t spoken to in (blank) years‘.  But I can honestly say that I’ve never said any of the above before, nor made any other personal vows to myself or to my family during the holidays.  And here’s why...

I don’t believe in New Year’s Resolutions

In my life, timing has been everything.  The bible, and later, of course, the Byrds, had it right with ‘to everything there is a time…a time to be born and a time to die, a time to weep and a time to laugh…’, and I think it’s foolish to either put pressure on ourselves to push a personal goal ahead for the New Year, or the latter, leave it to sit until next year.

If it’s time to make a change in your life, no matter how big or small, it should be done in due course, and when it’s right to do it.  We should be making decisions and goals all year round, not just pushing them off so we can make it a New Year’s Resolution.

Righting the wrongs, straightening the disorganized, making afresh something that has been stagnant for too long…these should be things that are done when they need to be done.

Change should be done all year round

When I want to change something in my life, I think it over until it feels right, or move on, but I don’t put things off until New Year’s Eve, I do them when the time is right.

How many New Year’s Resolutions actually stick?

There are many people who have vowed they would do things in the New Year to no avail.  Why?  Because they weren’t ready, didn’t think their goals through, or they made an unattainable goal just for the sake of making a resolution.

Be realistic, make sure you have what you need to reach that goal, and furthermore, hold yourself accountable.  You’ll feel so much better when you make it there, and you’ll have better confidence to achieve more in the long run.  Make changes in your life for the better all year round.  In my opinion, that is the key to a happy, healthy life.

Happy New Year!

 

 

[image error]It was December 22nd, and I’d been delaying and delaying writing the last chapter of my latest book.  Difficult, it is, finishing a novel that you’ve been working on for months.  Typing ‘The End’ is akin to reading the last page of the best story you’ve ever read.

Writing has been a lot different in the last two years for me.  It used to be a full-time thing, but now I’ve had to come up with inventive ways to find time to write.  Funnily enough, it isn’t difficult.  Once I get to write, even ten minutes worth of stuff, I find it so rewarding that I can still do it, and I can do it just as well.

Every book still feels like a huge accomplishment.  Every moment spent creating is still like a moment of blessing; a moment to myself, just for me.  Especially with this book; the longest, deepest, most dramatic prose I’ve ever written.

After twenty two books, one might think that I’ve written everything I can think of.  Not so.  However, I will take a break from writing fiction with my next book.  The next one will be of the self-help genre.  So stay tuned.

 

Eleven years ago I took a break from corporate life to raise my children.  Approximately ten years ago I decided to do something I’d always wanted to do: write a book.  The practice became addictive, and then I learned how to publish, promote and blog.  To be perfectly honest, I loved every bit of it and I still do.  I fell in love with the written word, and it has become a lifelong love.

Nearly twelve years later, I have written and self-published countless books in both fiction and non-fict...

The first review this book received was from a book editor, which was infuriating!

I’ll admit it, when I used to be a regular book reviewer, I had an agenda. But the truth is

Many reviewers have an agenda

Let’s face it. It’s free advertising. Reviewers are editors, writers like me, website developers, the list goes on and on.

Perusing many of the reviews I’ve received over the years, I can surmise that at least 25% of them are free advertising for someone else’s work.

The first review I recei...

I decided to do an experiment to see if I can tap into the Amazon Prime member market, so…

If you’re an Amazon Prime member, check out these books:

(click on the images to learn more)

Book One in a three novel series:

Layla Dixon never dreamed of being a small town girl. Living in New York City is the only life she ever wanted. Until something happened one September afternoon that only Tasha Dixon’s teddy bear knows about.

But while Layla sets her plan in motion, hiding what scant evidence sh...