Dawn Brookes

Author

Book Reviews

An author’s take on reviews

Bad Reviews: Do they make or break authors?

I’ve recently come across a number of posts by authors on social media feeling hurt by negative reviews. The temptation is to want to hit back, have the reviews removed (not going to happen), or be reassured by others that the reviewer is the enemy which is not the case. 

When I received my first one-star review, like so many authors before me, I was devastated. How can someone dismiss my work out of hand when it took months and months to create something decent enough to put out there? It turns out, quite easily in fact because mostly it’s not personal. It was amazing how, in spite of loads of positive reviews, all I could see was that one-star – I read it over and over – it was almost like self-mutilation. Many authors respond in the same way because we are seemingly programmed to focus on the negatives!

I have since realised that bad reviews are quite acceptable and the one and two star reviewer is entitled to his/her opinion, after all that’s what the review process is all about. Not only that, but when I got things in perspective, I realised I had arrived as an author. Every author has one-star reviews at some point.

The reality is that not everyone is going to like your book. Once an author puts their work out there, its in the public domain and someone, somewhere is not going to like it. Some reviewers will be just plain rude about it. 

Since that first low star review, I have developed a thicker skin in terms of reviews but if the reviewer offers any useful nuggets of information as to why they didn’t like the book rather than comments like, ‘utter drivel’, I will try to improve the next book. 

Thankfully, the good reviews far outweigh the bad which means that the majority of readers enjoy my work and I assume that’s the same for other authors. On balance, if someone has taken the time to write a review, I am pleased they felt strongly enough about the book to do so, no matter what the star rating. I have read books that are bestsellers with hundreds of five star reviews and hated them so why shouldn’t someone be entitled to dislike mine?

There are trolls out there, and some unscrupulous competitors or friends of competitors who might leave a poor review because they misguidedly believe it helps their own or a friend’s book but these people are few and far between, and pretty obvious. It only takes a minute to look at their reviews and discover that all books in the genre receive one-star reviews except for one! 

Some reviewers are just plain negative with a reviewing average of one to two stars, perhaps they have exacting standards or perhaps they are unhappy people, who knows? Whatever the reason, it’s not my problem and I will go on seeking to improve my craft.

I have occasionally discovered a flaw in my writing if a consistent theme pops up in the lower star reviews, this makes them helpful. I would be distrusting of any book that only has high star, good reviews because it’s just not possible to please everybody.

When I see a one-star review these days, it’s less of a dagger through the heart and more of a sigh moment, sometimes I have to laugh at the comments! One thing I never do is to respond or engage with the reviewer. Firstly because it would look like sour grapes and secondly, it could also seem like I’m stalking reviewers. Neither do I contact Amazon or other platforms and request the review be removed. Why should it be? I think the only time I would do this is if the review was in breach of Amazon’s terms and conditions. 

Instead of focusing on the negatives, we need to read all the positive reviews of our books and realise that the majority of readers appreciate and enjoy our work. This is what motivates me to write more and to put my work out there for criticism and for praise. 

Don’t let bad reviews break you, let them make you a better author and a stronger person.

Dawn Brookes is author of the Rachel Prince Mystery series and the Hurry up Nurse series of memoirs.

Making a Living as an Author! It all began with a broken foot!

Genuine Thanks to Readers 

First of all, if anyone had told me when I published my first memoir as an indie author in August 2016 that I would sell more than a couple of hundred copies I would have been excited at the prospect. Three years on and I have sold over 25,000 books, mostly in the past year. I have my readers to thank for this and I am truly grateful.

I’ve moved over to using the term indie rather than self-published because I think it more realistically reflects the independent author as a complete business person. Many indie authors don’t sell more than a couple of hundred books but before we mock, many traditionally published authors sell fewer than 5,000 copies of a book and bearing in mind they receive pennies rather than pounds for each book sold, the majority would struggle to earn a living.

My Journey began with a broken foot!

The journey began in 2016 when I finished a memoir that I’d been writing for a couple of years. I broke my foot in three places while at work and ended up being unable to drive for eight weeks. Having worked in the NHS for around thirty-nine years, I was not used to sitting around and my friends all worked. I remembered the story I had started on the laptop and despite losing a large chunk of it when a hard drive was destroyed, I picked it up again to pass the time. The rest, they say, is history!

I published the memoir and went on a cruise to the Mediterranean. Naivety reigned supreme at the time, and after selling a dozen or so copies to friends and family, I realised there was more to being an author than I had ever imagined. I assumed that after all the hard work, I would put the book out there and the whole world would realise it was a bestseller! Not quite, but you get the picture.

Reinventing Myself

I had given decades of my life to the health service, and the time had come to do something I had always wanted to do – write. I was about to embark upon a steep learning curve because being an author – traditionally published or indie – involves so much more than writing. 

Still, the first task is to write something that others might want to read and then to keep writing and this is what I did. In 2016 I produced the first memoir and then in 2017, a second memoir, and a couple of children’s books. 

Last year, I wrote my first novel, the first in a cosy mystery series with a second published later in the year and a third earlier this year.

In addition to this, I wrote two more children’s books. Danny the Caterpillar and Gerry the One-Eared Cat are among my favourite children’s books….

My children’s book listings can be found here.

Learning Curve

Whilst Amazon has opened up a new and exciting world for the author who wants to maintain control of their creative work, with over 5 million books on the platform it is a monumental task to get a book noticed. One has to delve into research and marketing to find out what is required to make a book get noticed.

To sell books, firstly the book needs to be worth reading and then an author or publisher must learn a multitude of other things. 

Skipping over the steps involved in writing and producing a high quality book such as drafts, editing, beta readers, professional editing and proofreading, there follows many other factors required in order to sell books and keep them visible.

Reviews

The bane of many an author’s life is the need for reviews. Reviews are required for social proof and they may also be responsible for triggering Amazon’s algorithm among other things in order to make books more visible.

When I buy a product, I check the reviews beforehand and like to see at least twenty or thirty reviews to inform my purchasing decision. They don’t all have to be five star, in fact, if they are I am suspicious that they may not be genuine. You get the picture? People who buy books are the same, they want to see that other readers have enjoyed the book, of course not everyone is going to enjoy a book, so the first thing an author needs to develop is a thick skin. It is devastating when that first 1 star review comes in, but as long as the majority of people like the book, its easier to live with the negative reviews. That said, its hard to get reviews in the first place.

Numerous sources suggest that only 1% of purchasers review a book on Amazon and less than this if the book is offered for free. A new author therefore needs to sell 100 books at least to get 1 review. I never reviewed books until I became an author because I didn’t understand the importance, I now review the majority of books I read, and I read a lot.

If you read a book and enjoy it, please leave an honest review for the author, if you don’t enjoy it, please remember there’s a person at the other end of the spectrum and at least try to say one positive thing if you can. I used to teach on a post-graduate course and I gave a feedback sandwich: starting with the good, adding in the areas for improvement and ending with more good! The feedback was still honest!

Marketing

Blood, sweat and tears have gone into producing the initial manuscript and getting the book out there, so be patient with the new author (and the not so new)! I think every author is guilty of the “buy my book” syndrome, particularly when it comes to social media. This is mainly down to over-enthusiasm and can also come from desperation!

Social media is a free platform and authors, I’m ashamed to say, myself included, can get a bit carried away. If they don’t learn they will either lose their Facebook friends, or develop a lot of other author friends who are in the same boat but are never going to buy their books!

I have now separated my social media into business and personal. I do still post the occasional ‘good news’ story or special offer but I don’t want my friends to get ‘heartsink’ whenever I post anything! I have a Facebook page dedicated to my work as an author for those genuinely interested in my writing, and here, I would still rather engage with readers than constantly market to them.

Paid marketing is actually the best route for getting a book seen by more people and Amazon, Facebook and others offer marketing platforms to authors. As the majority of indies sell more eBooks than paperbacks, I had to learn not to overspend and discovered terms like Return on Investment (ROI) to make advertising pay.

Results

Up to the end of May 2019, I have sold in excess of 25,000 books and have finally moved into profit during the 2018-2019 tax year. 

Over the past two months I have had over half a million page reads through kindle unlimited and over 2.5m since 2016.

For a full list of my books, please visit my Amazon author page.

What Next?

I continue to publish my books as audiobooks in addition to print and eBook, and Killer Cruise is currently in production. A Cruise to Murder and Deadly Cruise are already available as audiobooks. If you’ve never listened to an audiobook, you can try any one of mine for FREE for 28 days by joining audible. If you find it’s not for you, just cancel before the 28 days are up.

I am working on the fourth book in the Rachel Prince Mystery series, Dying to Cruise will be launched in the summer of 2019. I am also working on a third memoir. 

Last month, I was approached by a small publisher with reference to producing a further memoir and negotiations are still underway.

I think I can safely say that although I still have much to learn, I have reinvented myself as an author following a successful nursing career that spanned four decades.

Writing a Memoir

By Dawn Brookes, bestselling author of  Hurry up Nurse: memoirs of nurse training in the 1970s.

Dawn Brookes, author

Recently I gave a talk at a local church to an interesting group of people, most of whom could write great memoirs if they had a mind to. We all have a story to tell, so if you’ve ever considered writing your own memoir but don’t know where to start, read on…

Memoir or Autobiography

First of all you need to decide whether their focus is on your whole life story (an autobiography) or on one aspect of your life, bringing in themes, memories and anecdotes that highlight that theme (a memoir). To be honest, unless you’re famous or writing for posterity, a memoir is likely to be more readable that an autobiography! Having said that, who knows?

Reasons for Writing

People have different reasons for writing a memoir or autobiography, some of which are listed below:

  • Personal–writing for posterity, family
  • As branding –e.g. running a business
  • Teach something
  • Publishing–writing to publish

You don’t have to be famous, but it helps!

This was a screenshot of the top 17 books listed in the bestseller list of Amazon’s memoir/biography section at the time I prepared my talk. Spot the famous people! That said, there are some who weren’t well-known prior to writing their biography or memoir.

When you niche down, it makes a difference as shown in this screenshot of the bestsellers in nursing category where two of my books feature in the top 18! If I’d taken a screenshot of the US Amazon store, niching down, my book would be top, where it has been for the past 16 months, but hey, that’s just showing off!

My point is, you can do well within your area of expertise if you’re writing a memoir. This only matters if you’re considering publishing of course. When I started writing my first memoir, it was more about getting my memories written down for posterity.

Niches

Here are just a few niches where memoirs are popular, but the list is not exhaustive:

  • Career–e.g. Medical/Nursing – think Adam Kay, Jennifer Worth, Monica Dickens; lawyer; teacher; train driving; councillor; vicar, sport etc
  • War –WWI; WWII; Gulf wars; Afghanistan etc
  • Conflict–Ireland; Spain etc
  • Romantic–love story; loved & lost; cross-cultural etc
  • Rags to Riches –e.g. Cliff Richard
  • Addiction–ex addict; child of addict etc
  • Difficult background to happiness, profession, faith etc
  • Wealthy background to poverty, mental health issues, addiction etc
  • Ordinary but have a story to tell
  • Different viewpoint –war from German perspective, 
  • Religious–missionary etc
  • Travel–travel memoir
  • Pet stories
  • Worked somewhere of national interest or for famous person etc
Nursing Memoirs

Even within those niches you can niche down again e.g. historical account. This image from the UK Amazon store shows bestsellers listed under biographical history.

Making it Interesting

People want to engage with an author’s story and the book needs to be worth reading. This is just as true if you are only writing for family, the story still needs to resonate. People are more likely to engage with stories that are gritty; painful, true stories; relatable e.g. medical nursing (most people experience the health sector at some time); about abuse although this might be difficult to write; insider secrets; pet stories. Whatever the theme, if some aspects of the above are included, you are more likely to grab peoples’ attention!

Make it Unique

In one way, there is nothing new under the sun, but in another, your story is unique and you need to bring that originality throughout. Mindmap the memories associated with your story and choose carefully what to include and what not to include. Choose with care how much detail to go into if you’re considering publishing. Initially you will write a whole lot more than you need.

There are some things you need to be cautious of and these include:

  • Identifying people
  • Venting your anger at an individual or workplace
  • Defamation of character
  • Glossing over the surface
  • Too much detail
  • Not enough detail
Hurry up Nurse memoirs

My memoirs are about my work as a nurse and therefore it was important for me to protect the confidentiality of those involved, particularly patients. In most circumstances, changing a name isn’t enough in such cases so I had to change names, times, places and sometimes, gender in order to protect people from being identifiable. This doesn’t alter the truth of the content and you will need to state that you have done this at the beginning.

This also works if you do need to talk about someone who has hurt you or damaged a work environment if these things are a necessary part of your story.

Some tips you might want to consider:

  • Change characteristics e.g. gender, time, place, details
  • Get release forms signed if using real names
  • Ask friends if they are happy for you to use their names or a pseudonym
  • Include disclaimer at the front of the book
  • Don’t hide the bad bits but disguise the people responsible

Show don’t Tell

Contemporary fiction writers use a ‘show, don’t tell’ way of telling a story and such skills are just as important when writing a memoir. Take a look at the example below:

Tell:

‘The night sister walked onto the ward and told me to join her for the ward round.’

Show:

‘The loud clopping sound of heels reverberating off the marble floor outside the ward filled me with dread. As the night sister rapidly approached, the knot in my stomach told me it was time for the ward round.’

Likewise, as with writing fiction, a memoir is made more interesting by the inclusion of dialogue; description with good use of adjectives; conflict; tension; anecdotes; emotion and pacing. I read lots of memoirs, biographies and autobiographies and the better ones use all of those elements.

You also need to be real. People like you to be honest, show vulnerability, and personality. If you like humour, use it, include jokes and funny stories. Swearing will put some people off, but if that’s you, it will make the story more real to use your potty mouth. Also build the narrative, adding tension as the story progresses.

Mistakes to Avoid

  • Poor structure
  • Too much detail
  • Being a show-off/arrogant (for some this will work, but for most, it won’t)
  • Being superficial
  • Missing your topic, theme
  • Unrelateable
  • Hiding your mistakes (don’t pretend to be perfect)

Tips for Producing Your Memoir

  • Introduction
  • Sections/chapters relevant to your topic
  • Chapters named or numbered
  • Keep chapters similar lengths (not always possible but aim to do this)
  • Conclusion
  • Choose a catchy title
  • Get a good book cover (particularly if publishing)
  • Get an editor/proofreader (vital, even if self-publishing)
  • Word count 40,000 –90,000 words

Conclusion

Medical biography

This short article might give you a start, but is not exhaustive by any means. You never know where it might lead to, I have re-invented myself in my fifties and now write children’s books and cosy mysteries.

If you do decide to write a memoir, autobiography, I’d be interested to hear how it goes for you. Thank you for reading this article.

Plotter, Pantser or Planter

Plotter, Pantser or Planter?

You may have heard the term plotter and probably pantser and I’ve been mulling these writing styles over in my head and while doing so I’ve come up with a combination of the two, planter! What on earth is she talking about? All will become clear…

Plotters

In terms of writing, a plotter is a person who sits down and outlines a plot of their story following a structured approach. This approach will most likely drill down to chapter headings and a rough outline of the contents of each chapter ending with a finale. 

A story outline such as this is a requirement for submissions to agents and/or publishers and it is an approach many authors follow rigidly.

Pantser

The opposite to a plotter, the pantser sits down and writes, allowing their creativity to take over. There is no plan, the story develops itself on the hoof as the author writes. Authors who rebel against the traditional plotting already mentioned might swear by this approach arguing that the former inhibits their creative side. 

Some people argue that pantsing results in better stories while others say that it is damaging. Who’s right? Neither. It’s whatever works for the author or more importantly, the reader as he/she is the ultimate judge of whether it is working.

Planter 

In reality many authors use a combination of the two approaches and you can see what I’ve done here – creating one word from the two. I personally use a combination and when I was playing with this word initially it was a bit of fun. 

The more I think about it though, planting is what I do as an author. I have a seed of an idea, I start to write and for me as the story develops or the plant starts to grow, I start to structure my story by outlining chapters and what I want to include in those chapters. In my planter analogy this would consist of planning the next steps for the plant e.g. adding compost, fertiliser, re-potting and deciding where the plant will end up. 

The planter analogy even lends itself to the editing process where the plant or story is trimmed back, shaped, nurtured and turned into something beautiful.

Mystery Writer

As I am in the early stages of my writing career I wouldn’t presume to be an expert in anything but for now I am a Planter(a combination of pantser and plotter). I am discovering in my own writing life that when I plot out who my murderer is likely to be (usually a choice of two characters), as I weave the story, this changes and the murderer ends up being someone completely different to my initial one. The way I see it is that if I can’t guess who the murderer is it creates more of a challenge to the reader!

These are just my thoughts written down for consideration and for your information I used the Pantsermethod of writing for this short post, it is not meant to be a treatise on the subject! I hope my musings have been entertaining if not useful….

Wine Tasting

Wine Tasting

Posted on 1st February 2019 inCozy Mysteries, Cruising, Rachel Prince Backstory, Rachel Prince Behind the Scenes, Wine Tasting

Wine Tasting

Rachel Prince attends a wine tasting lesson in the book ‘Deadly Cruise.‘ I thought it would be fun to put together a summary of what she may have learned!

Introduction to Wine Tasting

In terms of fine dining, no drink plays nearly as important a role as wine. Top restaurants and cruise ships have their own sommeliers to advise guests with regard to the wines suitable for accompanying their food choices.

A good wine is an experience in its own right. Accordingly, wine tasting is growing in popularity as more people have opportunities to dine out and to take cruises. Many cruise lines offer wine tasting lessons on board ship with the ship’s own sommelier and visits to wine growing vineyards as part of a land-based tour. In particular, a vineyard tour offers a unique insight into the inner workings of wine growers.

Wine tasting provides an excellent opportunity to engage intensely with wine variants. By practising wine tasting you will learn which grape varieties and dishes can be combined. This helps you choose which wines are suitable for which occasion and what specialties you can serve with what wine. You will learn to sensitise your taste buds and your nose for the different flavors!

What is Wine Tasting?

When it comes to wine, tasting wine is not synonymous with drinking. Tasting comes from engaging and stimulating the senses including those of sight, smell and taste. Wine tasting is a skill needed to analyse wine to check it is suitable for serving and that there are no imperfections.

You will use the eye to check colour and clarity, the nose to check aromas and the mouth to detect flavors and textures. Tasting also involves the pleasure of recognising aromas, identifying flavours, assessing the style of the wine, and sometimes its vintage or origin.

As a result, tasting then becomes a journey in your memory, in time and in history.

Visual Examination

The glass is filled to one-third, and then the process of examining the dress of the wine. A sommelier might explain that visual examination provides information on the age of the wine, its concentration and its power.

In most cases, reds become lighter over time, with purple robes turning to ruby ​​and garnet. The intensity of the dress, which goes from strong to weak, gives information on the power of the wine.

Reflections reflect the age of the bottle, purple or pink raspberry reflections are the hallmarks of a young wine, while reflections of orange suggest an older wine, already well evolved.

Finally, the brightness of the wine confirms these first indications, the wines becoming less and less brilliant with age. The information thus collected must be consistent with the label and following the tasting. Thus, lack of brilliance and ruby ​​reflections could be indicative of a wine defect.

Smell

The olfactory examination helps detect the volatile aromas present in the wine. It informs and completes the first assessment gathered by the visual examination. The smell of a wine indicates its evolution, quality and origin. Begin by holding the glass still as this enables you to detect intensity, finesse and aroma.

You will be able to detect the aroma of fruits, spices and other ingredients. Note the intensity while gently inhaling through the nose. Next you will need to shake the glass gently in order to agitate the wine. Agitation oxygenates it thereby intensifying the aromas and refines your analysis. After stirring, the wine will present a complexity of the aromas already detected.

Taste

Tasting is the final step and the most favoured. Tasting makes it possible to assess the indices already obtained from the first two steps and brings new elements in terms of texture and taste.

Specialists divide the tasting examination into three:

  • The first sensation or attack
  • followed by the mid-palate
  • and the finale.

Taste analysis:

There are four elementary tastes: sweet, salty, bitter and acid.

5 tips for getting the best out of a wine tasting experience

  1. Take your time. Great wines get better and better with age. A longer barrel maturity is therefore a special proof of their high quality in red wines. When it comes to wine tasting with a winemaker, an afternoon walk through the vineyards is a nice way to tune in to a wine tasting session in the early evening in peace.
  2. During wine tasting sessions several wines are tasted one after the other. Even if you do not drink from every tasting glass on offer, alcohol is accumulated during the course of such a test. This has an influence on the sensitivity of the sense of taste. After a certain number of wines, the tongue detects fewer differences. In this respect, it makes sense to make an appropriate pre-selection of the bottles to be tasted in advance with the winemaker. A professional wine taster will spit out the wine after tasting.
  3. Enjoy wine in community. Even if the wine tasting is primarily about increasing stocks in your own cellar, such a sample is always an experience in itself. This can also be shared and wine tasting together with good friends can increase your enjoyment of the experience.
  4. If visiting a vineyard as part of a cruise ship tour it is not always possible but where possible eat on site and stay overnight if you are not on a tour where a vehicle is provided.  Never drive after a wine tasting session. Staying overnight provides the advantage of eating in the same place during the evening. Of course it is advisable to visit a restaurant that also offers the previously tasted wines. In this way, their suitability as a companion to a good meal can be checked immediately putting your learning into practice.
  5. Many wine lovers find their favourite wine grower. They often order the same wine over the years. Such loyalty is of course honourable, however, it can shut out the experience to be gained from many other fascinating facets of the world of big and small wines.

Therefore, one should always maintain a certain enthusiasm and plunge again and again in to the varied tasting adventures provided by wine tasting with a new winemaker.

Rachel enjoyed her brief wine tasting lesson on board the fictional Coral Queen, and I hope you enjoyed taking this ‘behind the scenes’ look into what that might have involved. If you haven’t yet read ‘Deadly Cruise‘, you can purchase it by clicking on the links below:

Buy Now UK

Buy Now USA

Images except for the book cover courtesy of CCL from Pixabay with thanks.

Tears of Fire Book Review

Tears of Fire by Gordon Bickerstaff

This is another gritty and gripping political thriller from Gordon Bickerstaff.

This is the second book I have read in the series but works as a standalone if you haven’t read any of the others. Zoe is a ex SAS soldier and ferocious opponent with a softer side and her character makes the book compelling. In this book Zoe is being hunted by the very people she has saved from terror and they will do anything to capture and kill her.

The story features evil twin sisters who have a love for torture and will mete out suffering in any way they can. It is a well-woven plot that starts with a bang and then continues full throttle right through to the end. If you are a fan of thrillers and don’t mind some graphic violence then this book is a great read. Another page turner by a talented author.