thoughtful reviews – Becoming Extraordinary

I feel like I’m writing advertising for a furniture store close-out, but in fact it is time for this author to act like a marketer. My first book, x0 could use more exposure and reviews. It’s not a book for everybody. Woven into a plot about two telepathic women are stories about Nigeria, facts about the oil business and an imagined website that explains to the reader how telepathy really works in the strange world of x0. Some people have really loved it and you might be one of them.

These reviews on Goodreads capture the novel well. Give them a look and if you think this is a story you might enjoy, please go to smashwords.com where you can download x0 in many formats all for free by using the code FT88E when you check out. It’s that simple.

Would you prefer a free paperback copy instead? I make these available to reviewers. Kindly drop me a line at lola.zeitman@gmail.com and let me know who your are, where you normally post your reviews, and where you want the book sent. If you do frequently review novels, your book will go out the next day.

Or come like my Facebook page Number 46. Ascending and talk to me there.

Finally, there are free t-shirts involved! I will send the new x0 shirt shown here (sizes S through XXL) as a thank you to anyone who posts a review of x0 at two of any of the following: Amazon, Goodreads, Library Thing, Smashwords, or your blog. I am looking for honest reviews, and trust that you are articulate and basically kind but cannot be influenced for the price of a free shirt. It will be my thanks you to you for reading the book, no matter how you feel about it. Once you have posted the reviews, contact me at gmail or on facebook and let me know your size and your address.

I hope to hear from you!

Like most independent writers who have decided to not go the traditional publishing route, I am always looking for effective ways to promote my three novels. I don’t have training in advertising, and in truth I would much rather write than sell. However, if I am going to spend some time trying to get folks to read my books, I would like that time to be as productive as possible.

So far, my best results seem to have come from advertising and doing give-aways on Goodreads.com. After about six months of steady effort, I am happy to see that I now have 77 ratings and 43 reviews (mostly good), and over 2700 different people have selected one or more of my books to go on their shelf of books to be read.

I have been promoting x0 for the longest, and so not surprisingly it has the most reviews and most would-be readers. It’s true that some ratings appear to be random from people who have just joined the site and haven’t read my books and I have no idea why someone would do that. (These people seem to grab about 50 random books all on the same day and often give them all the same rating, be it three stars or five.)

Others, however, have taken the trouble to provide thoughtful reviews with both compliments and criticisms and their efforts are greatly appreciated by this author and hopefully by the possible readers who they help inform.

Check here for news on z2 out in paperback and here for news on y1 making it to the semi-finals of a contest.