The Beauty of Bloggers and a New Review of Ghostly

In the last few days I have been reminded of the single, largest marketing tool an author has in her arsenal right now.....Bloggers!  I want to take a quick moment to let you know how grateful I am that you exist.  I sent out a casual request for a review of Ghostly, to see if I can get the sales to match those of Spellbound.  The reviewer replied that she was regrettably booked (haha, a pun!) until June, but with my permission she would farm out my request to 20 (!) of her contributing reviewers to see if anyone might like to tackle one or the other of my books.

The response has been nothing short of amazing!

I have received, in the expanse of barely one full day, more than seven responses.  And they keep coming.  In fact, as I write this, two more have popped up.  I am so excited.  And the best thing of all, they all want to read BOTH of my books and review them for all the regular review sites: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads and my very own facebook page.  I am overwhelmed with delight.

So, it's important to take this time to fully and thoroughly thank Angie from Books4tomorrow.  I am eternally grateful that bloggers exist and that they share their talent for reviewing with the world.  I am also grateful to Mera Sampson from Meras's YA Book List.  She wrote the following review, for which I am still glowing:

Ghostly by Samantha Combs Review

I have been a fan of Samantha Combs’ work since reading her debut novel, Spellbound. So it suffices to say that I had high expectations for her second published work, Ghostly. Ghostly is the tale of a high school freshman, lovingly nicknamed Juice by her small group of friends. After meeting Shane, a teenage ghost stuck in our world, her life completely changes. But only the story can tell whether the changes in Juice’s life are for better or for worse.

              

           I think it is safe to say that I loved Ghostly just as much as I loved Spellbound, if not more. Samantha Combs’ writing style is somewhat indescribable, but it would be wrong of me not to try. I could see her sitting at the kitchen table or on a comfortable sofa, slowly thinking up and telling her romantic paranormal tales for teens with a captivated audience soaking in her every word. The way she writes is recognizable and refreshing. She seems to have created a niche for herself and she is solid with the way she chooses to portray her characters. During the time I spent reading the galley Samantha so graciously provided to me, I was torn between who was right for Juice. But as I delved further into the story, the right person for her became evident to me.

                The addition of her unique group of friends was awesome. The story slowly progressed and Samantha managed to put the climax closer to the end, which ultimately worked brilliantly. As I read of the events occurring, my heart leaped out of my chest. At one point, I was holding back tears, and as I finished reading I felt that tingly sensation that only occurs in me in three instances. The first instance being after I try a ride at an amusement park, which is not often due to my fear of heights. The second being after I’ve gone through a tidal wave of different emotions. And finally, the third occurs after I’ve read an amazing and emotional book. I have to applaud Miss Combs on her ability to entrance me with her writing and her characters. I would love to have friends like Jett, Sixx, Creepshow, and even Shane, and the story had an absolutely powerful and perfect ending.

Point blank: Samantha Combs is an author that you should definitely look out for. Ghostly, as well as her first book Spellbound (which is to be the first in a trilogy), is a great read I would recommend to anyone, but especially to tweens, teens, and young adults.

You won’t regret reading it. Her stories are like a refreshing walk in the park. Even if you’re tired or sleepy, you wish her words would go on. 

If you haven't done so yet, check out my interview with the fabulous author just a few posts below!

Also, look out for the sequel to Spellbound entitled Everspell in January, and her fourth work Waterdancer at the end of summer 2012!

So, to all the bloggers out there, and I am certain I speak for at least every author I know, THANK YOU!  You make getting out there easy and we appreciate you more than you can know.


Here are the links to the two bloggers I have highlighted here:
http://merasyabooklist.blogspot.com/
http://www.bookstomorrow.blogspot.com/

Tweeting Benefits

I now have seen the light.  Today, one day after I started using Twitter, I have gone up 20% in my ranking on Amazon.  Now, I am no math whiz, so I called my father-in-law to do this math for me.  Here's the skinny:  yesterday, I ranked #240,580 paid in kindle store on SPELLBOUND.  This is before I went to dinner with the family for my husband's birthday which was on June 30th.  I wanted to tell my F in law.  Then I looked it up today to see if I dropped, which I had the day before yesterday, from #239 something.  It said that today, paid in kindle store ranking is....wait for it.......#78,860!    WHAT!  WHAT?  WHAT!

So I called my father in law 4 seconds later and demanded he do the math.  Apparently, this means I am in the top 11%.  WHAT!!!!!   In a day?  Only thing I am doing different, besides asking for reviews from my fave bloggers (none in yet, exercising patience, not my best trait), is I joined Twitter.  And am tweeting.  So, now count me as a breathless, drooling, faithful true believer.  I don't know if ANYONE ever reads this blog, but there has to now be irrefutable proof that SOMEONE is reading my tweets.  (Welcome to my world, GeeCarl...loved your talk on humor at the LA Writers Convention last September.  Read every one of your columns!)  So, hope all bear with me while I get the hang of the tweeting thing.  COUNT ME AS A TRUE CONVERT!  And thank you, every one of you who did buy Spellbound.  I wrote it for you, I wrote it for your daughters, I wrote it for everyone who has ever read a whole book on a delicious uninterrupted weekend day when they could read a whole book beginning to end because at the end of the day, the written word is like oxygen......it gets you high!

Bloggers!

I have learned something recently.  I have learned that bloggers are super friendly.  And that all they want to do is read your book!  I have been tentatively dipping my toe in the blogosphere (did I even spell that correctly?), joining some other blogging groups and trying to make some friends in the blogger world.  I feel a little bit like that little girl approaching the well-established circle of girls on the playground, not knowing if I'll be accepted or not, but taking a deep breath anyway, and tapping the shoulders of one of them and saying, "Hello, can I come in and play with you guys?"

The amazing thing is moments after being invited into the group, in this case the group is called Book Blogs, no less than four new friends sent me messages welcoming me!  And I don't want to sound like PollyAnna, but each new message made me blush with delight!  New friends!  People who want to play!  Girls who read the same things I write!  Yaaayyy!  Feel like I just found a beautiful pair of purple suede wedge pumps as I rush out of the store, stop and look, and THEY ARE IN MY SIZE!!!!!!  Like a dream come true!  (That actually happened to me one time and I still recount the story to my shoe-loving friends to gasps of "No!" and "Tell me you're not lying")

So, my new epiphany for the day is this:  Bloggers Rule.  Plain and simple.  Bloggers are Rock Stars.  Think on that for a while and I'll see you later.