I have been a wife and mother for over twenty years. Now I am becoming my husband's lover, too.
We owe it all to my fellow bloggers who gave me the courage to come out to my husband as a spanko.
I do feel like this is a New Beginning for us.

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Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Blogging vs Writing Books

I began blogging ten years ago and discovered something unexpected and truly wonderful – a way to make friends at the age of nearly fifty. I was both dumbfounded and thrilled. We have a few friends we’ve grown up with. Many of us have college friends, but after school it seems most of our friends come from out work places. As I turned forty-nine those were the friends I had. I was content, they were nice people and we often talked of the weather, work and occasionally griped about our husbands and children.

Then blogging – wow! I found people my age I could talk to.  These people shared a major life interest of mine and they were willing to talk about it. I could talk about my marriage, my sex life, the fact that my beloved didn’t spank enough – everything! Blogging about these things and receiving comments kept me writing and blogging. It was the interaction that was wonderful. Commenters often agreed with me, sometimes they scolded me, they encouraged me to talk to Nick about things I was holding in. They guarded me, encouraged me, strengthened me and in addition told me I was a good writer, which lead me to my current position of being a sorta, kinda writer and loving every minute of it.

Writing books is such a joy for me, just as blogging is, but I can take longer with the books, work on it, craft it, polish it and hopefully after extensive edits and rewrites the story is presented the way I want it. But there is one way blogging has writing book beat all to hell – blogging has immediate feed back. Friends and sometimes new readers leave comments. You know right away if someone liked your post, agreed with it, disagreed with it or whatever – but you know.




I’ve been an avid reader most of my life, yet for more than fifty years it never once occurred to me to let the author know. Actually until I began writing I gave very little thought to the author, I’d read a book – love it! I might read it over and over and recommend it to a friend, often without knowing who wrote it. I think about that a lot now.

So is this post just a bald-faced attempted to get book reviews? I’ll answer that in a minute. Everyone likes to know if something they’ve created is well received. I’ve gotten some review on the last Cassie book and they have made my heart soar. But I fight the urge to try to find everyone who has read it and ask what they thought.

Did you like it?

Was it too long? Too short?

Did it flow well?

What was your favorite part?

Who was your favorite character?

Were there parts you didn’t understand?

Did I leave anything out?

What do you think of Lily?

And the scariest question of all – would you be willing to read at least one more?

People are buying the book and I’m thrilled about that, but are they liking it?

Back to my questions, is this a plea for reviews on Amazon – yes. But not necessarily just for me. If you read Stephen King or Mary Higgins Clark, while I’m sure they love getting reviews, they probably don’t need then like beginning writers do. If you read spanking fiction or books by authors you know I’m telling you we do need your reviews. It’s nearly impossible to promote a book (if anyone has ideas how we can, please share), reviews do help. Word of mouth helps too, but not many people want to tell folks in the real world what they’re read. Besides helping to promote, we really want to know if you liked the book.

Please consider leaving a review on Amazon for any book you enjoy, you can write a review under an anonymous name if you are uncomfortable using your real name (but probably only those who read spanking books will ever see it). And if it is for an author you know, never call them by their first name. Amazon thinks you’re their friend and sometimes won’t let you review the book. So for two of my favorite authors, Leigh Smith and Donna Steele I leave out the name or say Ms. Smith or Ms. Steele.

Okay off my soap box. Think about it. And we’ll just keep writing.

16 comments:

  1. Hi PK, I admit I don't review as often as perhaps I should. Now knowing how reviews help the author I will certainly try and post more reviews in the future.

    Hugs
    Roz

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    1. Even if it doesn't sell many books, a review is an amazing boost to the author ego!

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  2. Hi PK I'm in the middle of reading your latest book. I do review when finished books but not sure what to say exactly. I've tried pushing your books on fb not sure if its made any difference.
    Hugs Lindy

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    1. Thank you so much Lindy any help is greatly appreciated. Even one or two sentences can really help.

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  3. I read all the time. However I am so terribly guilty of not writing a review. For me it is time. It takes me some time to craft a review. I would love to do it. I feel a bit incompetent, however. If asked I make it a priority and focus on doing a fantastic job. I will try and do a better job when off work next time. I know it's important!

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    1. I'm the same way - I know how important reviews are and I still forget to do them sometime. But we'll take any help you can give us.

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  4. Thank you PK - it's so true. I never thought of leaving a review before I became a writer. When I see how many review some books received, I think I don't even know that many people - sometimes, I've only received three reviews but sold more copies than that.
    It's true about amazon. Ray and another friend is no longer able to write a review - amazon bans them.

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    1. I don't think they should be able to reject a review. If I read the book and I like it I should be able to review it whether I know the author or not. Oh well, I hope we can get more people to review us.

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  5. Anonymous7:00 PM

    PK,
    I love when you do both blogging and book writing and very soon, doing both will be so very easy!
    Meredith

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    1. Meredith - I just hope all my ideas don't abandon me once I retire. It's my worry.

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  6. Hey PK...color me guilty...I devour books but very rarely write a review. Think it's a mental block I have that I'm not good at writing. Will try to do better in the future. Thanks for the gentle kick in the tush. ;)

    Hugs and blessings...Cat

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    1. Just pretend you're telling a friend why they should read the book. But often I'm just as guilty as you at times.

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  7. making special friends through blogging is a gift I treasure most. I am just beginning your latest book and as I have said before it is like going home for a visit...I admit it is hard for me to write reviews...I will try...

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    1. I'm glad you're reading it Terps. Hope you like it. As for reviews, they can be one sentence long and still help.

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  8. Well for you, I will go and leave some reviews. Thanks for the reminder.

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    1. Bless your heart Blondie! I'm glad you like the books.

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