May 15 2008

Stuff You Might Not Know About Dear Author

By Jane • Book Reviews • • Tags:

I wanted to put up a post pimping the Brenda Novak Diabetes Auction and our small contribution and decided to do a summary post on some features here at Dear Author in anticipation of my next Tuesday post. If you have a question that you want to ask about Dear Author, blogging, my reading habits, etc., feel free to ask.

1. On Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, we post two reviews a day. You’ll for sure get one book review on Friday (and sometimes two) and one on Saturday. We review books we hope we’ll like which is why our grades weigh heavily in the C and above level.

2. Tuesday morning we post a letter of opinion. This is generally authored by me (Jane) and it reflects whatever issues regarding romance (generally) are on my mind during the past few weeks.

3. Friday morning we post our First Sale feature. This “First Sale” letter features the stories of the road to publication by new and established authors. I am trying to book well in advance and am currently scheduling posts for August and beyond.

4. Saturday morning we post queries or first pages of works in progress where authors can get feedback on their work. This is controversial because the feedback and critique given is often from readers and readers point of view. Use this at your own risk.

5. Sunday morning we post an article about the ebook industry, ebook technology, or internet related features. Sunday is the only day we do not post a book review. I actually struggle with this post alot so suggestions on topics are always welcome.

6. Dear Author started in April 2006 and in the month of April 2008, we have the following statistics:

(this you may want to know for bidding on us in the Diabetes Auction for the ad space. Click for a bigger graphic).

7. We do not do ads, generally. We’ve given one away to Colleen Gleason, the winner of the DA BWAHA tournament. I’m not going to say that we’ll never ever do ads, but it is unlikely unless it is for contests and charity events.

8. We have a FAQ page where you can see our grading metric. Basically, I think anything above a B- is worth my money and time. Anything at a C+ and under, I’m glad I didn’t have to buy it.

9. If you want to send us your book, there is no guarantee that we are going to read it, BUT you are more likely to have someone read it if a) you send the book, b) you send a link to an excerpt and c) you send a good blurb.

10. Nearly everyday, I post some “industry news” which is a post about news around the internet that pertains to publishing or some other tidbit I find interesting and I think that the readership will find interesting. Some of the items I do on a regular basis are publishing deals that might interest the romance reader and summary of bestseller lists. You can see the headlines of the industry news in the sidebar to the right.

11. I try to do a new poll every day or every other day on a romance related issue. Look on the right sidebar.

12. You can subscribe to DearAuthor and gets the posts you want in your inbox (i.e., the preference page allows you to choose to only get reviews only if you want).

13. You can email me anytime about anything. I try to answer every email.

14. We only do giveaways for books we really love because it is kind of a labor for me and I don’t want to be doing it every week (although it kind of seems like that this past month).

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