C. M. Skiera's Blog

#SaturdayScenes is a writing event that occurs weekly on Google+ (G+). Dreamed up by  John Ward , the leader of the 20,678-member Writer's Discussion Group , Saturday Scenes is a hashtag-connected collection of writers from all over G+ sharing excerpts of their work. Since May 2014, this event has featured well over a hundred indie writers (145 and counting on the G+ group) and countless scenes from all genres of writing. In its May 3rd debut weekend, #saturdayscenes crashed the G+ top 10 trending list , camping out with such other heavy-hitters like #kentuckyderby, #MayweatherMaidana, #TheAmazingSpiderman2, #JustinBieber, and, of course, #Caturday. There are no rules, other than to use the hashtag #saturdayscenes . Reveal your latest never-before-seen passage, or share something from an already-published work. Post your poetry or prose. Share fiction or non-fiction. Saturday scenes is about sharing your work with the G+ world (and beyond). By posting your writing p...

So you want to know how to convince people to read and review your self-published book? Here's my secret: Ask nicely. Okay, now that I've shared my genius strategy, I'll provide you a bit more detail. Why should you listen to me? I've sent requests to hundreds of reviewers and have refined my approach and found better acceptance rates as a result. This is not rocket science, but having a plan can make your soliciting more efficient. By being polite, friendly, professional, patient, and informative, you may not only obtain a book review, but may also receive valuable advice, build a network, gain a fan, or even discover a friend. If this sounds like simple common sense, understand that an army of bridge-burning self-published authors have come before you, alienating reviewers en masse. Their legacy has left you, today's indie author, an uphill battle in finding reviewers. In their mad scramble to success, many self-publishers forgot to treat people how they...