Tag Archives: bestselling books

Books That Really Make You Think Aren’t Always Bestsellers

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By African American Author Denise Turney

young happy woman listening to audio book using smartphone in park
Photo by Charlotte May on Pexels.com

Books that really make you think aren’t always New York Times best sellers. In fact, if you’ve loved reading books for years, you’ve stumbled across lesser-known books that have had a deep impact on you. And it doesn’t take a long time to realize that you’re treating yourself to a powerful experience. You know how easily a masterful writer can pull you into a story, leaving you changed.

Powerful Books That Make You Think

Whether it’s an autobiography, memoir, book of poetry or great work of fiction, powerful books are easy to connect to. You come to love major and minor characters, refusing to put a book down because you have to know what’s going to happen to the protagonist.

Before you know it, your defenses are down. You don’t even think about becoming defensive after a character with a struggle similar to yours enters the story. It’s as if the challenge is no longer yours, as if it all belongs to the character and, in that, you’re set free.

Instead of becoming defensive as you examine a personal challenge through the eyes of a book character, you keep reading, enjoying the work that’s entertaining and enlightening. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, Moby Dick, Go Tell It On The Mountain, To Kill A Mockingbird, Stamped From The Beginning, Awaken The Giant Within and The 5 Love Languages are books that have left a deep imprint on readers.

Deep Heart and Mind Work

Even more, these books have stood the test of time. Other books like Edgar Allen Poe’s, The Raven; Ann Petry’s, The Street and Sylvia Plath’s, The Bell Jar, leave a deep psychological imprint because of how the author exposes their own insecurities in their writing. You might feel sad for characters in the books, or you might feel a kinship with these characters.

Books that make you think offer the gift that strengthens your awareness that you belong. Even if you’ve only been reading books for a few months, you may be surprised at how much you have learned. Better yet, you may be surprised at how much you’ve grown since you started reading books.

diverse books that make you think

It’s part of the reason why books keep attracting new readers. Discover a new book and you can’t wait to share the story with friends. Good books offer:

  • Empathy or the ability to see a situation through someone else’s eyes
  • Deeper understanding of yourself
  • Better choices for ways out of struggle, failure or conflict
  • Appreciation for deep, life experiences
  • Early virtual abilities to travel to new places using your imagination
  • Stirring up of courage
  • Sharper inner vision
  • Hope in a time of trouble
  • Stories that help you heal
  • Pathway to understand different personalities
  • Insight into what could be driving you, a relative or a friend
  • Entertainment that excites, leaving lasting good memories

World of Books at Local Bookstores

If you’re looking for added impact while reading, consider listening to audio books. Why? Audio books engage more of your senses. With audiobooks, you can stimulate your visual and hearing as well as your emotional senses. You can also enjoy a good story while you’re driving, riding a train, in-flight or cleaning your home.

You might be surprised how many hidden gems are at bookstores near you. Local bookstores carry out-of-print and backlist books that you might not otherwise find. These local retailers invest in the communities their stores are located in, getting involved in youth events, literacy initiatives and social causes.

It’s easy to feel at home at these local retailers. Many local store owners are okay with you sitting on the floor, surrounding by a pile of manuscripts, reading a few pages from several of the titles. The Book Worm in Cranbury, New Jersey and Rare and Classics in Trenton, New Jersey are two local retailers that really make it easy to relax into a good story.

In fact, you might not be able to enjoy a similar experience at any other retailer. On the other hand, you could explore books to read online. But you might not find the best rare gems even at the largest online book retailers. And you certainly wouldn’t get that down-home feeling while you’re sourcing for new titles.

Also, whether you’re reading Love Pour Over Me, Long Walk Up or The Matter Is Life, open-up to receive what good books offer. You might find a long-awaited healing as you continue reading these and other good books.

This must be done to achieve book writing success

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By Denise Turney
Your new book is scheduled to hit the market in three months. Last night, you sat at your kitchen table reviewing the final page proofs, before shipping the manuscript off to your publisher with a few final changes. You’re excited, full of enthusiasm.

When your book publisher ask you about steps you’re going to take to get the word about your new book – the one you hope turns into a bestselling novel –  you rattle off a laundry list of activities, everything from attending book festivals to speaking at public events to upgrading your website to scheduling interviews. Fortunately, you won’t have to leave the comforts of your home to find and schedule dozens of the above events.

Follow through is more important than you think

Yet, scheduling book events (starting something) isn’t enough. If you hope to achieve success as a book writer, you have to follow through. It’s not enough just to add an event like a book conference or book signing to your schedule.

For example, if you schedule radio interviews, you can draft at least five sample questions to give to radio  hosts, making their job easier. You can also create a media page about your books at your website, so newspaper, radio and television interviewers can grab quick information about you to include in articles and interviews they do on you. And, of course, be sure to send the hosts your media kit.

What to do as interview dates get closer

One week before your interviews, contact radio hosts and let them know that you are ready for the interviews. Include the dates and times of the interviews in your correspondence to hosts. This way, hosts can reach out to you should the dates or times of interviews have changed.

Most importantly, show up for interviews at least 3 to 5 minutes early. Some hosts may ask you to show up 10 minutes early. Get in the habit of showing up for interviews late or not showing up at all, and you might earn yourself a bad reputation. Years from now, that reputation could make it very hard for you to land interviews which, in turn, could impact you ability to generate book sales.

Thank you for reading my blog. To learn what happens to Raymond, Brenda and the other characters in my new book, Love Pour Over Me, hop over to Amazon.com, B&N.com, Ebookit.com, or any other online or offline bookseller and get your copy of Love Pour Over Me today. And again I say – Thank You! Consider Love.

Great books open up new worlds

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Great books open up new worlds, in ways that, perhaps, few other things do. Think about it? How many times have you felt down, picked up a great book, started reading it and, before you knew it — you started feeling better? How many times have you felt like throwing in the towel, read a series of inspirational poems or quotes, then lifted your head and advanced forward?

In a nutshell, great books leave us changed. They stir up deep, rich emotions in us, causing us to shift in ways we don’t consciously understand.

No wonder billions of people read books. They do more than teach, so much more, starting early in our lives, when we’re kids. And considering early books, aren’t those the stories that stay wish you, that you still remember as if you read them yesterday?

Thank you for reading my blog. To learn what happens to Raymond, Brenda and the other characters in Love Pour Over Me, hop over to Amazon.com, B&N.com, Ebookit.com and get your copy of Love Pour Over Me today. And again I say – Thank You! Consider Love.

Readers Grab Prizes and Giveaways on Book Blog Tours

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By Denise Turney

Book blog tours are becoming increasingly popular. Not only are they effective at building traffic for blog owners, they are effective at introducing readers to new authors. In fact, book blog tours are known for introducing avid book readers to writers who have been writing intriguing stories for decades but who, until now, they had gone unaware of.

Book Blogs Surface Bestsellers

And if you absolutely love to read, you probably want to get your hands on the best books. You might even want to be amongst the first people to read new books that go on to become bestsellers worldwide. Book blog tours can help you to do this.

A good way to find book blogs is to check out directories like the Book Blog Directory at http://directory.kaysbookshelf.com. [As a tip, if you own a book blog you can also submit your blog to the directory to gain additional exposure.]

Look for blogs that offer prizes and giveaways. For example, you might be able to win a free ebook reader, discount coupons to retail websites like Barnes & Noble or Amazon.com or you might win a gift card to an offline retailer. While on a blog tour I gave away two free copies of my new book, Love Pour Over Me, at each tour stop.

When you participate in book blog tours as a reader, you also might win a free autographed print copy of an author’s latest novel or you could win a mug, tote bag or umbrella that has a cool writing quote printed on it. Yes!  You absolutely can grab these rewards by simply visiting and participating in book blog tours.

Book Blog Author Questions and Answers

While on the tours, post questions to authors. It’s a great way to learn more about what inspires writers to create stories in certain genres, towns, time periods, etc. At the end of blog tours, visit the authors’ official websites to find out more about them and their books. Also, participate in contests and submit your name for book giveaways. Who knows? As previously noted, you might grab the chance to win the next bestseller first.

Should you attend online radio book tours, remember to ask authors questions when the hosts open the telephone lines. If you connect to online radio book tours via a chat room, post your questions to authors in the chat room. As the author of six published books, I gotta tell you – authors love hearing from readers, so post and ask questions!

By attending book blog tours you can save time, gas money and energy. If you attend two or more blog tours in a month, you can connect with several writers a year. You can also win free books, prizes and giveaways!

Thank you for reading my blog. To learn what happens to Raymond, Brenda and the other characters in Love Pour Over Me, hop over to Amazon.com, B&N.com, Ebookit.com and get your copy of Love Pour Over Me today. And again I say – Thank You! Even if you choose not to purchase your copy of Love Pour Over Me today, I encourage you to “consider Love.”