Best of Summer 2013


Welcome to the Best of Summer Blog Hop!


 This will be my first blog hop as a soon-to-be childern's author and I find myself just as excited for this blog hop as I have for any other I've participated in. I can't thank the peeps over at Mother Daughter Book Reviews and Youth Literature Reviews for hosting this blog hop. I didn't realize how hard it would be to find such an hop until I started writing.  With that being said, I hope you'll take the time to hop to the rest of the blogs listed on the linky thing below. I'm sure you'll find some excellent reads for your kids and fun prizes along the way. Also don't forget to enter via the rafflecopter form at the end to be entered to win a $10 gift certicate to Amazon.  
I will be the first to admit I'm not sure what to write about for this blog hop.  While I'm no longer read children's books as much as I probably should, I do have three children ranging from ten to seventeen and the kiddos are all reading on their own now.  I have noticed however what the kids read now is nowhere close to the Ramona Quimby and Sweet Valley High books I read as kid.  So when I sat down to write this, I thought it might be interesting to see what each one of my kids love to read and have them nominate their favorite book of the summer.  I'll even throw in mine!




Becki's Favorite:  The Cay by Theodore Taylor.  I read this book for the first time many moons ago in my third grade class. (Thanks Mr. Hoyt!)  It had everything from natural disasters to the unabiding love that can occur between humans. I fell in love with this story and am currently reading the sequel to it - Timothy of the Cay.  I don't know how it slipped my notice that the author had written a follow novel.







Michael's Favorite: Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger.  This is a  book my seventeen year old read in school before summer let out and he's actually read it again over the summer. Evidently he loves the main character, Holden Callfield. And to quote my son, "Holden  is waayyyy out there. A physiologist would have a field day with him."




Gabrielle's Favorite: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third  Wheel.   My middle child is twelve and she loves graphic novels and all the Diary of the Wimpy Kids series. This one is her favorite because of the story plot and the drawings inside of it. *scratches head*  To me it looks like a notebook that a kid has doddled all over but what do I know?






Penelope's Favorite:  Amulet: the Stonekeeper by Kazu Kibuishi.  She says it's full of adventure and surprises. But absolutely hates how it ends....it's a cliff hanger!  This too is a graphic novel, but only one of the series that my ten year old loves to read.  She also loves to read Geramino Stilton and Thea Stilton books, along with Baby Mouse books.



So now that we've mentioned which books we love to read over the summer, why don't you give us a suggestion for a new book or series to start out our fall season.  Simply use the rafflecopter form below to enter.  On Sept 7th I'll draw a winner of the $10  Gift Certificate to Amazon.



Back to School Giveaway Hop: 8/19 - 8/24

©Becki Gylberte All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, locations, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, or have been used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, locales, or events is entirely coincidental. No portion of this work may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the author.

Super Book Blast: How to Get Good Reviews on Amazon (Giveaway)

Today I have the pleasure of featuring a new book by a Theo Rogers on my site.  As a writer, I recognize the importance of the internet company giant, Amazon.  So this book looks like it might have some sound strategies on how to make the most of your product's time on Amazon with Good Reviews.  So why not check it out?  I even get to feature an excerpt from it. Sound advice.  Oh, and before I forget,  Mr. Rogers is giving away a  $100 Amazon Gift Card! :D 
                                 Becki




Blurb:
How To Get Good Reviews On Amazon is a simple, no-nonsense guide that teaches exactly what it says it does. Based on both psychological science and thousands of hours of conversation with some of Amazon’s top reviewers, it takes you behind the scenes into the reviewing subculture that has grown up on Amazon’s website. It gives you a deep, insider’s knowledge of how the top reviewers think and operate. It not only shows you what to do: it takes you inside the reviewers’ heads so that you can see for yourself both how these techniques work and why they’re so effective.

Lessons include:

· A simple, four-part formula for writing emails that get your work reviewed.

· Three things never to say when communicating with reviewers!

· How to pick reviewers who are more likely to give you a good review.

· How to reduce the chance that a reviewer you contact will post a bad review – even if it turns out they don’t like your work!

· How people get caught out when receiving reviews from friends and family.


This book teaches an honest, straightforward approach that works. It works because it’s not based gimmicks or tricks but on a real understanding of how Amazon reviewers operate: most of all on what they expect from authors and other sellers. If you want to know how to talk to Amazon reviewers in a way that will make them respect you as a professional and see you as the kind of seller they actually want to help, this is the book for you.



Excerpt

One of the most fundamental ideas in this booklet is that there’s a definite reviewing subculture that has grown up on Amazon’s website. Like any culture, it has its own particular values and mores: its own ideas about what’s right and what’s wrong. When we come to the issue of shill reviews, we collide headlong with the values of the reviewing culture. As you might expect, most reviewers see shills – and the sellers who use them – as very, very wrong.

Because this section is all about values, I think it’s important to stress that I’m writing here as your guide to Amazon’s reviewing subculture. I’m not writing as a missionary on its behalf.

Simply put, I believe that your journey through the Amazon Jungle will be smoother, easier, and more successful if along the way you’re respectful of the values of the natives who dwell there. For that reason, I’m going to lay out for you some of the more commonly held tenants: the basic beliefs that most of the natives would hold to. It’s not for me to tell you whether you should embrace these values to the core of your being and make them your own. I’m just telling you that as a matter of pure pragmatism, you are going to make trouble for yourself if you ignore them.   


 About the Author:


Theo Rogers combines years of coalface experience on Amazon's website with formal training and qualifications in a range of business and social science disciplines. He's spent literally thousands of hours talking with Amazon reviewers, getting inside their heads, and learning what makes them tick. He's spent almost as many hours observing the carnage that so often takes place on Amazon's forums. In the process he's developed a deep insider's knowledge of the reviewing subculture that's grown up on Amazon's website.

He's also seen a lot of authors and other would-be sellers make the same mistakes in their dealings with that subculture - over and over again.

As a result of his experiences, Theo has come to believe that yes, there is a simple formula that works: a way of dealing with reviewers that's honest, powerful, and extremely effective at winning reviewers over, getting them on your side, and making them actually want to help you.



Find Theo on the web:

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