Goodreads Authors/Readers discussion

Have I got a deal for you - something for nothing ... no quid pro quo, no back scratch in return, you don't have to do anything for me. Any writer who wants to promote their work email me at AbsoluteAllen@comcast.net with info (links whatever). I've got over 4,000 friends on facebook I'm most of them are readers. I will pimp for others.

The cost: Nothing. You don't have to return the favor. If you happen to be one of the few who have read my work, liked it and want to mention it somewhere - cool, but I'm not here to swap favors. I know how difficult it is to promote and I've got a publisher works his butt off for me. Doing so as an independent must really suck. So let me know.

:)

JPA

Sounds like a really altruistic thing you're doing there, John. We need more people like you. I will be in touch via email in the next day or so.

Many thanks

:)

That's an offer and a half. A lot more too I guess.
Thanks.

1. I just realized the error in my msg - I blame lack of coffee at the time I typed it.

2. I get tired of talking about me and my friends will appreciate learning about others.

:)

I'll bite. Though I have no problems with back scratching and I rather enjoy helping out fellow authors.

Just a question before I send an email: What info do you need?

Hey Lily ...

No hidden agenda. If you have something you'd like others to know about just email me info about it and/or links. I will do a nice job of passing it on.

As for scratching my back - if you ever read something by me and like it, feel free to tell someone. If you don't, that's fine. A lot of my friends never read my stuff.

:)

This sounds wonderful. I'm also active on facebook, so I'll send the link for that as well. Just in case it goes to the spam folder, my email is lily@lilyauthor.com. I'll send the email in about 15 minutes :)

I meant the no hidden agenda part, just to clarify ;)

I'll be looking ... there's a chance I may be elected to go grocery shopping shortly. If that happens I'll look for it when I get back.

Self-marketing does suck, majorly. I feel like I am going up to everyone in America, one person at a time, tapping them on the shoulder and saying, "Hey, would you like to read my book?"

My friends don't read my books either.

You have inspired me. I would love to do the same on the following websites as I finish them over the next several days. Though I may be promoting with some advertising space for authors in the future, I would love to list the books of fellow Goodread authors for free. Advice I've seen here has helped me tremendously. I have seen so many here willing to help one another, and I would like to pay it forward. I have no idea how well these websites will do, but I intend to give it my all and will likely be looking to you all for help and advice since I have never tried to do this before last year, when my first site was hacked and taken down.

The first sight carries all types of novels, and the second two are romance and paranormal romance. I am working on attaching a bookstore with links back to where the books are located, such as smash words and and amazon. I will also be putting up a fantasy website in the near future. I intend to ask fellow readers to do reviews for one another. If you would like me to list your book or books on any of these sites please let me know at Lenoraporch@yahoo.com

Kasi: Suck it does - in the beginning it was me, a stack of self-published books, and no takers. Half ability - half luck ... I gave away 200 copies and one went to a small publisher who signed me, told me to add ten chapters, hired a real editor and gave it an Alan M. Clark cover. Except for a couple of projects (done elsewhere) he's taken care of me.

Lenora: Glad I could inspire and hopefully we can both help others. Most of my promoting will be done on my facebook page and I belong to a couple of groups and I can twitter. I have a lot of people reading my comments out there.

:)

I've just emailed you, John. Hope you won't feel bombarded with all the links - I'm not expecting you to use them all. I'm also fairly active on facebook, though tend to be more active on my individual page than my books' pages!

If others help promote one or more of my books, I try to return the favor via my blog:
http://DuaneSimolke.Com

My posts also appear at Amazon and Goodreads. Also, I accept friend requests here at Goodreads.

John and Lenora, thank you! I've emailed book info to both of you.

Degranon: A Science Fiction Adventure. By Duane Simolke. One family gets caught in a battle between two oppressive worlds! “An incredible book.” –Rainbow Reviews.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50...

The Return of Innocence: A Fantasy Adventure. By Duane Simolke, with Toni Davis. Award-winning fantasy novel with humor, romance, and an accidental heroine. “Not your typical swashbuckler.” –Bob Medak, Allbooks Reviews.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37...

The Acorn Stories: West Texas Tales. "I found this book to be a perfect vacation companion," says A. Chandler, the #1 Amazon.Com Reviewer. “A lush tangle of small-town life branches out in this engrossing collection of short stories.” -Kirkus. $3 US for eBook. http://duanesimolke.blogspot.com/2009...

The Acorn Gathering. From a scandal-rocked town in West Texas to the Blackfeet Indian reservation in Montana, these short stories take readers to surprising places in America and the human heart. Edited by Duane Simolke. Available as a free eBook, but all royalties from the paperback edition go to the fight against cancer! http://tagreviews.blogspot.com/

Kate: Just got the email. It hasn't been bad and I'm doing people in the order I get them. Also I want to space the promos so it doesn't get to be too much for those reading them and also gives writers individual attention.

FYI: Pace is important when pimping. I don't dive bomb and run. Sometimes the best promotion is just being one of the gang. :)

John, post your FB profile and I'll add you :)

Here it is. I'm very friendly:

http://www.facebook.com/absoluteallen

Thanks! I sent a friend's request.

Thanks John. Makes perfect sense to me :-)

let me go look

Thanks John !

John,
I may just take you up on your kind offer.

Thank you.

Wow John - I'm such a believer in authors helping authors. I'd definitely promo you back again. I'll be in touch.
Sue

Hey Sue ... send the email and I'll do what I can.

:)

John

John wrote: "Have I got a deal for you - something for nothing ... no quid pro quo, no back scratch in return, you don't have to do anything for me. Any writer who wants to promote their work email me at Absolu..."

This is very cool John. I have a publisher who's helping, but there is still so much to do. Awaken the Highland Warrior, my paranormal romantic suspense, is my first release in this series and I've overwhelmed. www.anitaclenney.com. I would LOVE any mentions. How do I contact you?

Thank you so much John; that is so nice of you. I will send you a link to my book, "Sophie Paraskova," in the next few days. Thanks again.

I am new to Goodreads, but if everyone is as friendly as you, John, it is going to be a great place to visit! I am going to get my info for my two books together and send it to you.

Thanks!

Thanks John and Lenora
I have just send you both an e-mail

John I have also adding you on my FB

:)

Thanks again both of you

John...I too would like to congratulate you on extending this offer to fellow goodreads authors...Those who have elected to go the Indie route certainly need all the help they can get and your willingness to provide it speaks volumes about your character...On one small point, I would like to say that...as an individual who has being posting a good deal about trying to build a network of authors who can work together to help each other promote their works and the genres they love in general...I have no hidden agenda...I was first motivated to do this after becoming increasingly disaffected with the tone of many of the posts I'd read across the site in which fans and many authors as well seemed to be engaged in games of intellectual one-upmanship by trashing the works of other writers in a way that made me want to stop being a member of goodreads. Instead of simply quiting, I thought that it might be better to work to make a more co-operative environment...as least amongs those who were willing to participate...it saddens me to think that this intention might be construed as self-serving or holding some hidden agenda.
Again, I commend you for offering to help other authors garner a measure of attention.

John,
thanks for the beautiful spririt of your offer.
i would love to participate too. may i email you?
thanks again for the inspiring way of doing things. (a Tao?)
cheers,
Dan

John,
I sent you an email and once again would like to thank you. This is a beautiful act of kindness and is much appreciated.

Thanks for your offer.

Atarah L. Poling

John wrote: "Have I got a deal for you - something for nothing ... no quid pro quo, no back scratch in return, you don't have to do anything for me. Any writer who wants to promote their work email me at Absolu..."

Thanks, who do I send it to? I am trying to get Over her dead body ready for publication. The grammatical editing has been done but if you see something we missed go ahead and tweak it. I just want to make sure the book has the punch to sell itself. Keep in mind it is a sequel to a book you probably didn't read. I want to have it publisher ready by the end of may.

Karen Vaughan
karenv_2003@hotmail.com

Wow. What author does not need this kind of help! Super cool.

Soul Born
Kevin James Breaux

Hi Everyone and the offer is still open. For those who have emailed me and I haven't responded back, during the week I'm swamped with my day job and I've got a publisher emailing me with a To Do List (not complaining - he works pretty hard for me) and I've got to get some writing done. Over the weekend I'll be looking at the project and try to figure out what I'm doing. I'm trying to understand the best way to promote others. I believe spacing is important on some sites (like facebook), because I like to do the friendly non-pimp stuff too. If people think your interest is just to push your writing it bothers some and that's not my goal.

As for underline purpose - I've wondered about this too. A little inside info: A few years back I had a novel (mine) I was pimping and I discovered Myspace. Back then it was a great site to pimp (ok more like spam) a lot of people. I collected people for that purpose. People meant numbers and I sold a lot of books (for a complete unknown) ...

Then one Sunday afternoon - unexpectedly - my wife had a seizure ... told me she loved me ... and died at the hospital less than an hour later. After the funeral I fell apart, stopped writing, stayed drunk and hid from the world for the next 10 months. Two things helped me survive: a publisher (who is also my friend) nagging me to write and the people I collected on Myspace. Bottom line - I put the importance of selling stories on a lower shelf. Yeah, I like it when someone reads whatever I've done, but I don't push it as much as I used to.

Note: Sorry ... I ramble a lot. FYI: Eventually I did write again, sold to two publishers, cut down on the alcohol and agreed to dinner with a reader on a trip to a convention in Toronto (drove from Texas). She's sleeping in the next room.

If anyone is still reading this - sorry for getting off track. Send your stuff and I'll do what I can.

:)

John

Well that sucks John. It's always good to ramble on sometimes ;). I understand the seizure thing for I myself have seizures. Sad to hear that. Again thanx for your kindness.

Rambling is my strong point.

Just wondering before I bother you. Is this only for print books or e-books as well? It is a very nice thing you are doing. Also I am very sorry about the loss of your wife.

C.L. ...

Thank you and email me what you want people to know about.

:)

What an incredible story, John. Very sad too, to hear about what happened to your wife but you seem to have turned the negativity into positivity. Good on you :-)

OMG, John, I'm so sorry. The wife of my husband's best friend died almost like that recently, and she wasn't very old.

Please take care of yourself.

Darlene Underdahl

Hi John,
Thanks for your kind offer. I will send you an email with my book info.
It was good to read your story-a story of despair turning into hope. I'm so glad that your life is back on track.
Delyse

As in most things, I'm late to the party, but would love to participate.

Sorry about your loss. Glad you're living again though.

Thanks Gloria - I had no choice and am doing what I should.

John thanks for sharing your story, it is very inspiring and encouraging! Thanks for your generous and kind offer to help others! I will be e-mailing over my links shortly.

Thanks again and blessings John!

Thank You, Deborah. I check my email daily and try to promote as many people as possible - everyone's work will be mentioned several times (no limit). BTW: I'm getting a lot of different stuff to pimp, which is great. Although I write horror I love promoting (and reading) everything.

I'm rambling again ... time for DWTS

:)

John

I sent you the links to my 2 novels and would like to thank you once again for your offer. I just read the story about your wife; it's so sad and I extend my condolences.

Thank you, John. It's a pleasure to meet authors like you.