Please help us welcome Mia Kerick to TNA today in the continuation of our month long blogiversary celebration. Thanks so much to Mia for her kind words and for the great giveaway she’s offering today. Check out the Rafflecopter widget below for details, and good luck!
The Novel Approach Reviews has supported me as I found my way in my career as a writer, for which I am profoundly appreciative. Over the past several years, The Novel Approach has spotlighted and reviewed my books, and through this site I have offered guest posts and raffles. With the help of this blog, I’ve connected with, and engaged, readers. The blog’s staff has shown true generosity by covering virtually all of my novels, giving me—as a new author—a chance. As a more experienced author, my interactions at The Novel Approach have given me a voice. And a voice is crucial to every writer writer.
Thank you, Lisa Horan, and all of your reviewers.
And so, this post is dedicated to AWESOME book bloggers and reviewers, without whom authors would truly be lost.
Ever look into getting a Kirkus Review for your book? I have, on several occasions. For a mere $575 (and a 4-6 week wait) you can get one, too. However, many new authors struggle to make this sum with all of their book’s sales combined, so obtaining a Kirkus Review is unfeasible.
But you can get an outstanding review that you can publicize on Facebook and Twitter—one that will be posted on Goodreads and (most likely) Amazon—through a seasoned book blogger. And do you know how much you will be required to invest in this critically important service, for which you do not have to wait 4-6 weeks? I’m so glad you asked: all you have to spend is some time to get your novel’s materials in order—your book cover, an intriguing excerpt, the author bio, a book blurb, and, if you so choose, the writing of a guest post and a raffle prize. This is really quite a deal.
Reviews translate into exposure, which translates into sales—so these energetic, detail-oriented, thoughtful, and dependable bloggers are helping us do what we need to do most (beyond arranging a thorough proofread) and that is to sell our books.
The Novel Approach, as well as other review blogs, do not bat an eye with regard to the publisher I use, or if I have used a publisher at all. In fact, with book bloggers, my story is graded on the same curve as are the stories of authors who have big publishers, self-publishers, small indie publishers, and unknown publishers. In this way, my written word stands a chance to shine as brightly as any other author’s book.
Book blogs provide an opportunity get to know my audience in a personal environment through a grass roots approach. Using my own words in a guest post, I can connect with readers, and through the comments section I can converse with them. And I have “met” many of my awesome readers through the book blogs I have visited. I have gained loyal readers who feel as if they know me—who do actually know me—thanks to the service that blogs provide. So, The Novel Approach is a matchmaker of sorts, connecting readers and writers, which is critical to authors’ success and readers’ satisfaction.
“’Something truly magical happened.’ That’s how Amanda Hocking describes the impact book bloggers had on sales of her self-published paranormal romances. Over the next couple of months, her Kindle sales amounted to around 600 eBooks. Not bad for a newbie, but not enough for the 26-year-old to quit her day job. Whoosh! Into the fast lane.
Then she discovered and tapped into the world of book bloggers. Her sales took a gigantic swerve into the fast lane, tallying 164,000 books sold by the end of 2010.” (quotation from The Blog for Writers “The Book Deal” by Alan Rinzler)
Book bloggers put the power of the review into the hands of the reading public rather than into the hands of big companies. And book review blogs provide access to readers for all authors—it’s a level playing field here. The Novel Approach Reviews, like other book blogs, spells opportunity for authors, and today, on their Fifth Blogiversary, I say thank you.
The Giveaway
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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About the Books
Strutting his stuff on the catwalk in black patent leather pumps and a snug orange tuxedo as this year’s Miss (ter) Harvest Moon feels so very right to Chance César, and yet he knows it should feel so very wrong.
As far back as he can remember, Chance has been “caught between genders.” (It’s quite a touchy subject; so don’t ask him about it.) However, he does not question his sexual orientation. Chance has no doubt about his gayness—he is very much out of the closet at his rural New Hampshire high school, where the other students avoid the kid they refer to as “girl-boy.”
But at the local Harvest Moon Festival, when Chance, the Pumpkin Pageant Queen, meets Jasper Donahue, the Pumpkin Carving King, sparks fly. So Chance sets out, with the help of his BFF, Emily, to make “Jazz” Donahue his man.
An article in an online women’s magazine, Ten Scientifically Proven Ways to Make a Man Fall in Love with You (with a bonus love spell thrown in for good measure), becomes the basis of their strategy to capture Jazz’s heart.
Quirky, comical, definitely flamboyant, and with an inner core of poignancy, Love Spell celebrates the diversity of a gender-fluid teen.
The characters are memorable and the dialogue is consistently bright and believable, featuring authentic-sounding teenspeak. The author even defines Chance’s invented vocabulary words (such as “Randatorbs” and “Dooza-palooza”) in a back-of-the-book glossary for readers who can’t keep up.
*****
High school senior Lanny Keating has it all. A three-sport athlete at Lauserville High School looking at a college football scholarship, with a supportive family, stellar grades, boy band good looks… until the fateful day when it all falls apart.
Seventeen-year-old Trevor Ladd has always been a publicly declared zero and the high school badboy. Abandoned by his mother and sexually abused by his legal guardian, Trevor sets his sights on mere survival.
Lanny seeks out Trevor’s companionship to avoid his shattered home life. Unwilling to share their personal experiences of pain, the boys explore ways to escape, leading them into sexual experimentation, and the abuse of illegal drugs and alcohol. Their mutual suffering creates a lasting bond of friendship and love.
When the time finally comes to get clean and sober, or flunk out of high school, only one of the boys will graduate, while the other spirals downward into addiction.
Will Lanny and Trevor find the strength to battle their demons of mind-altering substances as well as emotional vulnerability?
Clean takes the reader on a gritty trip into the real and raw world of teenage substance abuse.
The Novel Approach Reviews 
Thank you for the post. A review for that price is mind boggling.
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