Reviews with TLC

Newsletter Ninja 2: If You Give a Reader a Cookie : Supercharge Your Author Mailing List With the Perfect Reader Magnet by Tammi Labrecque expands on the section in her book, Newsletter Ninja 1, on reader magnets, aka giveaways. I really wanted to read this book before plunging into setting up my newsletter signup list as I'd decided to offer a short story as a giveaway. I guess I wanted reassurance about my choice of short story, at least in an abstract way, and that's what I got - reassurance in an abstract way. I  perhaps enjoyed the chapter on organic versus nonorganic subscribers more than I should have, but I liked the way she unraveled something I'd had a problem with in Newsletter Ninja 1 (perhaps a bit of my own bias there). Overall, I think Newsletter Ninja 2 is helpful to authors looking to set up a newsletter signup for a newsletter mailing list, especially those wishing to offer a giveaway, though I'm not sure how much of it will apply specifically to m...

The Bookstore Sisters: A Short Story by Alice Hoffman hit a few nerves for me causing my guard to go up initially. When relaxed into the story, I really enjoyed it. I finished it wanting more yet feeling satisfied at the same time. Hoffman tells the story of two estranged sisters from the point of view of the sister who moved away and left her sister to deal with the family bookstore. The Bookstore Sisters is a story of loss, miscommunication, love, family, and community that reminded me that sometimes the story we tell ourselves isn't the whole story. Check back soon for my thoughts on other books I'm reading including: Newsletter Ninja 2: If You Give a Reader a Cookie  by Tammi Labrecque My Life  by Bill Clinton We Should All Be Feminists: A Guided Journal  by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie The Collected Poems of Elizabeth Barrett Browning Reviews will be posted as I finish these books. Disclosure: This blog contains affiliate links meaning if you click on those links and ...

Newsletter Ninja: How to Become an Author Mailing List Expert by Tammi Labrecque is a short primer on strategies for creating effective newsletters that people actually want to receive, open, read, and interact with. I've been struggling for quite a while with finding the motivation to start an author newsletter, and Labreque helped me identify with where my hesitation stems from. I appreciated her injections of humor as well as the way she pointed out mistakes she'd made herself while offering the information in a clear, concise manner. As she points out several times, this is not a step-by-step instruction manual on setting up the myriad aspects of a newsletter and signup form. It addresses the approach to creating and maintaining an engaging newsletter. I've been living in fear of committing some of the mistakes she highlights in Newsletter Ninja , and that fear has caused me to procrastinate starting a newsletter. As I prepare to create my newsletter and set up sign-up...

The Relaxed Author: Take the Pressure off Your Art and Enjoy the Creative Journey by Joanna Penn & Mark Leslie Lefebvre wasn't exactly what I'd expected though I'm not sure what I expected. Penn and Lefebvre made some interesting points and provided some resources I want to explore further. Their insights based on their own experiences felt genuine and thought-provoking at times, but other times felt forced and stilted. Some of the advise felt useful in its simplicity while other advise felt needlessly complex. There were times that The Relaxed Author felt more like an advertisement for the authors' other works than an attempt to help other authors be more relaxed.  I really wanted to like this book more than I did.  I'm sure some authors will find The Relaxed Author beneficial, but for me there was little new in it to inspire or relax me. Check back soon for my thoughts on other books I'm reading including: My Life  by Bill Clinton We Should All Be Femin...