Anna's Adornments Is My Monday Stop

As my virtual book tour winds down, I'm stopping at Anna's Adornments. Anna is a creative artist and it is lovely to have her host my tour for Sounds of Murder.

New Book Blogger--My Sunday Stop

Check out my stop at Glynis' New Book Blogger today. Wow! My little cozy mystery Sounds of Murder is sure getting around.

(graphic from http://glitteruniverse.com)

Third Stop--"Grab a Book From Our Stack"

As the the train pulls into the station at the third stop on my virtual book tour for Sounds of Murder (my cozy mystery), we find ourselves at Grab a Book From Our Stack. Let's stop a while and have a chat with Karen Zemek, who is an author herself.

Second Stop--Lola's Diner

Second stop on the "Sounds of Murder" virtual book tour--Lola's Diner. And about time! I need a cup of coffee and some of Lola's pie. Won't you join me?

First Stop--Lori's Reading Corner

My virtual book tour for my cozy mystery Sounds of Murder is on its way--and here we are at our first stop--Lori's Reading Corner. Why not drop by and visit with Lori--and with me.

Come Join Me on My Virtual Book Tour!

I'm packing my virtual bags and donning my virtual traveling clothes! Why? Because I'm leaving on a virtual jet plane to travel around the blogosphere next week to visit six fantastic blogger friends who are hosting my virtual book tour for my cozy mystery Sounds of Murder.

I leave on Wednesday and make my first stop at Lori's Reading Corner. Lori's site is devoted to books and book reviews so it's a great place to start my tour promoting my book.

On Thursday, I fly over to Lola's Diner to visit my blogger and real-life friend Lola. Lola and I met last year, along with several other bloggers from the west Chicago suburbs. Lola is a warm, open-minded gal who tells it like it is, and I couldn't be happier to visit her diner to chat with her massive group of followers.

Friday, I wend my way over to see Karen at Grab a Book From Our Stack. Karen has several blogs, one of her primary ones being devoted to her super popular book about her father, My Funny Dad Harry. I know Karen will have some great questions for me because she's an author too.

On Saturday, something a little different. New Book Blogger will be featuring a review of Sounds of Murder. So, I'll drop by there to see Glynis and I hope you will too.

On Sunday, I'll be taking a break--all that traveling requires some down time.

Monday will find me flying over to visit Anna at Anna's Adornments. I always enjoy visiting Anna's Etsy site because she is marvelously creative--both with her art work and her blog posts. She will no doubt have some intriguing questions to ask me about creativity and the writing process.

My final stop on Tuesday is to visit the only man on my tour--Chris Johnson. I'm so delighted that there actually is a man on my tour, as cozy mysteries tend to be the preference of women. Chris, however, is a wonderfully warm and gregarious gentleman and I am thoroughly delighted to end my virtual book tour at his blog.

I'll keep you updated each day--both here at Subjective Soup and at my other blog Communication Exchange--about the various stops on my virtual book tour. Here's a chance to meet some new bloggers and visit some new blog territory. Why not come along for the ride? The ticket price is really low--it's free!

Will you join me on my tour?

(photo from www.bama.co.uk)

The Serendipity of Facebook

The horrors of Facebook! Predators! Scams! Wasted hours! Yes, I know it all. But, every once in a while, something wonderful happens on Facebook. I discovered one of these wonderful, serendipitous moments the other day, when I was friended by a former student of mine. I tend to accept "friending" requests from most people who seem to find me via other Facebook chums I know. Maybe that's not very smart, but that's what I do.

This is what happened. I received a request on Facebook from someone whose name I didn't recognize and I accepted it. I quickly received back a reply from a woman who had been one of my students at the very first school where I taught. I'm still not certain how she found me because my last name has changed. Her last name is also not the same as it was when she was a young college student and I was a fledgling college instructor. But when she wrote to me I absolutely remembered her. As a student, she was full of enthusiasm, charm, and talent.

Now, here after forty or so years--we are in touch again. The serendipity of Facebook.

Have you experienced the serendipity of Facebook?

(graphic from www.scientificamerican.com)

Support Your Favorite Author

My writing buddy Diane alerted me to this great post from Killer Characters. These cozy authors tell their readers some specific ways that they can support their favorite authors--beyond, of course, buying and reading their books.

Here are their suggestions:

"Write and post a review (even a short "I really enjoyed this book! Can't wait for the next book in the series." works well) on Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com, and/or Goodreads.

Review or mention the book on your Facebook page, blog, or Twitter. Feel free to include a book cover image (you can copy one from the author website or an online bookstore site.)

Ask your local library to order the book. It's a good idea to have the book's ISBN number with you when you make the request. You can find the book's ISBN number on the book's Amazon or Barnes and Noble page online.

Recommend the book to your book club.

Order extra copies as gifts for friends and family.

Sign up for newsletters and purchase the author's next book. "

I endorse all of their suggestions, particularly the first one about writing a review on Amazon. I have heard that most books don't get noticed until they have at least 50 reviews on Amazon. At the present time, I have eight reviews for my cozy mystery Sounds of Murder on Amazon--so I have a ways to go. Even a one-sentence review would be helpful.

So, readers--and authors (we should all stick together)--support your favorite author. Buy their book. Read it. Then, take that next step.

(graphic from www.sodahead.com)

Rock Star Renee

Never having been much interested in rock music (even when I was a teenager), but always more inspired by classical music, I am intrigued when a musician from one genre makes the leap to the other. For example, Sting has delved into his classical roots and, of course, The Beatles found some of their ideas in the works of the masters. I'm sure some of my commenters will alert me to others.

Now comes Renee Fleming, opera singer extraordinaire, whose most recent album plops her down firmly in the land of rock and roll. Just yesterday, CBS' Sunday Morning did a profile on Ms. Fleming and her foray into the land of music of the young. Her album Dark Hope, released in June of this year, features covers of songs by Leonard Cohen, Band of Horses, Jefferson Airplane and others. I know many bloggers like to post tunes from their favorite musicians on Mondays, so I thought you might enjoy seeing a sample of this interesting conflagration of musical types in one beautiful package. Here is Endlessly by Renee Fleming.

I've Lost My Inner "Girlie"

Two events recently have made me consider my innate femininity--sort of my inner "girlie" quotient. Both concern movies.

Last week I found myself attending the action, adventure, macho thriller Inception, starring Leonardo di Caprio. Typically I avoid such movies because I dread the loud noises involved in the mandatory gun fights, chase scenes, and car crashes. However, I was pleasantly surprised with the film and found myself engaged with its intricate plot and unusual themes.

About the same time, I noticed the forthcoming Eat, Pray, Love with Julia Roberts. This movie-version of Elizabeth Gilbert's best-selling autobiographical travelogue opened yesterday to mixed reviews. Usually, my girlie self would rush to such a movie. However, I had already read the book and had thoroughly hated it. I figured I was in the minority--that most real women probably adored this paean to a woman's pursuit of happiness.

At a recent trip to my gym, I discovered that one of my gym buddies, Vicki, had also read Eat, Pray, Love and had found it to be--in her words--"self-indulgent." "Yup!" I said to her, "That's the perfect word to describe this book." My gosh, wouldn't it be wonderful if all of us could take a year off to travel to Italy, India, and Indonesia to "find ourselves" without worrying about any family obligations such as spouses, children, elderly parents, etc. I know, I know. Gilbert was writing about her adventures and wrote a best-seller--so her indulgence doesn't really count. But come on.

Indulging in one's fantasies for an entire year is a luxury and doesn't provide the grist for much of a movie--let alone a novel. I want a movie with a plot. I want there to be a conflict or a problem for my hero or heroine to solve and I want major dilemmas along the way. I guess that makes me more macho in my movie tastes now than girlie, doesn't it?

What do you think? Inception? Or Eat, Pray, Love? Macho or girlie?

(photos from www.zazzle.com and www.filmofilia.com and www.yorkblog.com)

Understanding Amazon's Sales' Ranking Metric

As an author whose book (Sounds of Murder) is listed on Amazon.com (along with my two other academic books for which I get no royalties), I find Amazon’s sales' ranking method and accompanying graph, both amazing and confusing. It’s a regularly updated data point that tells me (and every other Amazon author) our book’s exact sales' ranking not only by the month, week, and day--but also hourly!

For example, last week my book jumped from a ranking of somewhere around 1,600,000 to a ranking of around 230,000 about 4:00 one afternoon. Since that high, it has gradually dropped. That’s an amazingly precise reporting of sales' information, don’t you think? Well, actually, it’s not very helpful data for authors as it turns out. It might be great for readers to know which books are in Amazon’s Top Ten or even Top Twenty--but does any reader really care about Amazon’s Top 300,000?

What authors want to know from Amazon is how many actual books they have sold. According to Dog Ear Publishing, Amazon’s sales' ranking metric provides some clues about just that--but nothing precise. For example, my book’s sudden rise from around 1,600,000 to around 230,000 indicates a weekly sale of about twelve books. But that’s just in general, across the board. As an author, I have no way to find out my exact sales from Amazon until Amazon reports those sales to my distributor and my distributor reports those sales to me--many, many months down the road.

In the meantime, however, I can be gratified that my book sold at least one copy during its meteoric rise from approximately 1,600,000 to approximately 230,000. What about you? Do you sell anything on Amazon? Do you pay attention to Amazon’s sales rankings?

(graphic from www.examiner.com)

Answers!

1. Je ne regrette rien. Famous song by French chanteuse Edith Piaf. "I regret nothing"

2. Alle Menschen werden Bruder. Famous line from German poet Schiller's work "An die Freude" which became the lyrics for Beethoven's final movement of the Ninth (Choral) Symphony--Ode to Joy: All men will become brothers

3. E pur si muove. Italian phrase that means "And yet it moves." Legend is that Galileo said this when forced to recant his belief that the earth moves around the sun.

4. Cogito ergo sum. Latin version of what was originally French--"Je pense, donc je suis." Philosopher Rene Descartes' theory--"I think, therefore I am."

5. Gnothi seauton. Greek--"Know thyself." Ascribed to Pythagoras or some other ancient Greek poets or philosophers--said to be inscribed in gold letters over the portico of the temple at Delphi.

Did you get them?

(graphic from www.seekinganswers.com)

Can You Translate?

1. Je ne regrette rien.

2. Alle Menschen werden Bruder.
3. E pur si muove.

4. Cogito ergo sum.

5. Gnothi seauton.

What is the language? What does the sentence mean in English and who said it? Can you do it without searching the Internet? Give it a try.

(graphic from http://www.thepowerpointtemplates.info/free-quotes-template/)

Lollapalooza

Is anyone attending Lollapalooza or the MGMT Aftershow at House of Blues tonight in Chicago?

Watch "The Choir"

BBC's fabulous documentary The Choir began its second season last night. My daughter and I watched it together and we are both totally devoted to this enchanting, uplifting salute to inspired teaching and motivated artists. The fact that the show has captured both me, an old retired schoolteacher--and my young, hip daughter is a tribute to how incredibly marvelous it is.

The show follows the exploits of choir director Garreth Malone, a likable British chap, as he attempts to bring music, culture, and most importantly--SINGING--to lower-class British schools and school children. The students are, almost to a one, totally opposed to the entire idea of group or any other kind of singing. However, Garreth has persuasive powers and the ability to communicate on his students' level.

In the first season, Garreth took his rag-tag mixed-gender group of singers to the International Choir Olympics in Beijing, China. This season he is focusing on just boys, trying to work his magic at an all-boys school in Lancaster, England. Here he battles apathy, peer pressure, lack of confidence, and the pervasive rap music preferences of the students to form a choir.

Every episode I watch of this delightful documentary just makes me beam with joy. Maybe it's because I spent my life as a teacher and I recognize what all teachers have to go through or maybe it's because I myself really love choral music, but whatever the reason--I know it's not just me who is totally taken with the show. My daughter is hooked too. You will be too if you watch just one episode.

Have you seen The Choir?

(photo from www.unreality.co.uk.com)

Just Need Two More Hosts

My virtual book tour for my cozy mystery Sounds of Murder is all set for the end of this month--just about. I have guest hosts lined up for five of the scheduled seven days of the tour. I still need blogger hosts for Saturday, August 28 and Sunday, August 29. If you would be willing to host my book tour on your blog on either of these days, please contact me in a comment. I will try to work a reciprocal arrangement that will be beneficial for both of us. Thanks!

(photo from www.fogtdal.blogspot.com)

Why My July Droppers Are Better Than Usual

My July Entrecard droppers are even more amazing than usual because I was out of town for a week during July and was unable to return drops during that time--yet, the following super supportive and reliable blogging friends continued to visit my blog even though I was unable to reciprocate. Thank you ever so much, my dear friends! You are truly wonderful! Please, everyone stop by their sites and pay homage to these great blogging buddies.

Urban Art Blog
Web Design Web
Rate T-shirts
Sparkle
T-Shirt Reviews
AsTheCrackerheadCrumbles
Business Blog
Singapore Playground
Art Shout!
Michelle's Menagerie