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How do I write a review?
If you read the book and find that you like it, I would very much appreciate it if you would write a short, positive review of it.
You will find several different venues for writing book reviews listed below:
The most easy and accessable place to do this is on the Amazon.com website. To write a review on Amazon, you don't have to have any particular credentials. You don't even have to be a good writer. As long as you can write sentences in English without using profanity, your review will be published on the website. However, you do need to establish an account with Amazon.com and create a"Public Name". This is a quick,easy process (described below.) If this venue doesn't suit your style, scroll own the page to see some other ideas.
Writing a review on Amazon.com
1) You may use the following links to go to the product page for these books.
*See the instructions at the bottom of the page if the (above) links don't work.
Book One -To Color the Wind: The Wolf Head Amulet: http://www.amazon.com/Book-Color-Wind-Pocket-Amulet/dp/1449557546/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1283630764&sr=1-9
For Kindle edition:http://www.amazon.com/Wolf-Head-Amulet-Color-ebook/dp/B003X09XX4/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1283630764&sr=1-4
Book 2 - To Color the Wind: The Golden Stag http://www.amazon.com/Book-Color-Wind-Pocket-Golden/dp/1449559077/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1283630764&sr=1-2
For Kindle edition:http://www.amazon.com/Golden-Stag-Color-Wind-ebook/dp/B003X09XY8/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1279899303&sr=1-3
Book 3 - To Color the Wind: King's Capture http://www.amazon.com/Book-Color-Wind-Kings-Capture/dp/1449559751/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1283630764&sr=1-10
For Kindle edition: http://www.amazon.com/Kings-Capture-Color-Wind-ebook/dp/B003X09XZ2/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1283630764&sr=1-6
2) When you get to the linked web page,you will see a hyperlink underneath the title that will either say something like "4 customer reviews" or "be the first to review this book".
3)Click on the hyperlink.
4) If you already have an Amazon.com account, and have reviewed books or products on Amazon before, skip to step 7). If not, this hyperlink will bring you to a page where Amazon asks you to sign into your Amazon account.
5) If you have an Amazon account, please sign into your Amazon Account and proceed to step 6). If you have not purchased anything form Amazon before, you will have to create an account.
When you make your first purchase (of any item) on Amazon.com, the website automatically steps you through the process of creating an account. (This is very quick and simple. Please know that Amazon is one of the most secure sites on the internet. Your information is safe as it can be with them.) If you have never purchased anything from Amazon before, you will see a page telling you that you have to have purchased an item from Amazon and then wait 24 hours after the purchase before you can write a review. Fortunately, Amazon.com sells everything from Books to Baby formula, so you can always find something useful on Amazon. Some items are also very inexpensive -even when you add on the shipping cost - so you may find items you will want to continue to purchase through Amazon.com.
6) Next you will be asked to create a public name. Creating a "Public Name" is a little less obvious, but still easy. To create your "Public Name, just click on the blue "Visit you profile" link. This will bring you to the next page where you can click the "Create Profile" (yellow) button. If you are just creating an Amazon account today, you can still create your "Amazon Profile" that will let you write a review later.
This name can be anything(e.g. "AvidReader", "Big John", "NetSurfer"...) however, it is recommended that your Review ID not include any part of your real name, because that can earn you spam from all over the world! Also think of a password for your Amazon profile (this will be different from your Amazon account password. MAKE SURE YOU WRITE DOWN YOUR ACCOUNT NAME, PUBLIC NAME AND PASSWORDs! You will need them later. If you have more than one email account - be sure to note which email account you have used as a log-in for your new Amazon.com account.)
7) If you are creating your account and Profile today, you will have to wait until you have activated your account (24 hours after you have bought something) before you can review a book. So come back to this website when your account is active and link on the link for the approriate book (each link really is different!). This will bring you to a page where you can log into your account . Enter your email address and password. (Yes, you should have a password in the system now. If not, you can click "Forgot your Password?" and Amazon will send you a link to take care of it - but this is time consuming, so it is better to have your password written down.) Then click on the yellow "Sign in Using our Secure Server" button.
8) This will bring you to a page where they verify that you are at least 13 years old, and ask you to give the item a star rating (5 stars =best 11 star= bad). Further down thepage, they give you the option of either submitting a written review or uploading a video review. (Written review is the default so you if you are going to upload a video you have to click the "video" circle. If you are entering a written review you can ignore this step.) .
9) Below this is a text box labeled "Type your review in the space below".Place your cursor in the text box provided and start writing your review (or copy and paste your review from a previously written document.)
10) Below the review text box is a text box where you can enter "meta tags". Meta tags are short descriptions of an item that are entered into Amazon's data base to help people find items they of interest using Amazon's search engines. Examples of some useful meta tags for hte "To Color the Wind" books might be: "Fantasy fiction", "Young Adult Fiction", "Girl fiction", "Auras", "Clairvoyance", "Moody", "atmospheric", - or whatever you think describes the book. (If you find this step daunting, just skip it.)
11) Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the yellow "Preview your review" button. This will show you your review. Edit the review if necessary.
12) If you are satisfied with your review, scroll to the bottom of the page and click the yellow "Publish your review" button.
If you are interested in doing more to help promote this book on Amazon.com, know that it also helps the book's "visibility" on Amazon.com if you buy this book at the same time as you buy another book. Amazon search engines have a feature: "People who bought this book also bought____" that shows customers a list of books that people who bought the book they are attempting to order also bought.
This tool would be especially effective if the other book you buy is somehow related to my book - such as another work of fantasy fiction or "Young Adult -Chic Lit", or another book set in the Middle Ages or in Central Asia. This is by no means a requirement, but if you are going to buy another book of that description anyway...
The Library Thing
http://www.librarything.com/
This is combination online-catalog application/research tool/social media is a great website for anyone who loves books. Regular membership to this site is free (authors and booksellers pay a small fee). Membership gives you access to online software that helps you to catalog and share books in your personal collection (ie "your Library") and discover great new books. On this site, you can read and write book reviews, join book-interest chat rooms, recommend books to other members and receive recommendations for books you might like based on the books you listed in your library. See the instructions on the website for details.
Fantasy/SciFi Fan Blogs/Chat rooms/Websites
Fantasy and SciFi fans have a strong presence on the web. Many fan sites provide space for reader reviews, and most of these sites have fairly easy requirements for submitting a review to their sites. Some sites will even allow you to include links to commercial sites where readers can buy books. (Such as the links provided at the bottom of the home page on this site.) However, most do have some guideline and procedures you should follow, so please do inquire about the proper procedure and follow the web master's directions. If you have trouble finding a site's guidelines, most sites have a "contact us" link that allows you to email the web master with questions.
"Social Media": Facebook/ Twitter/ Windows Live/ etc.
Online networking is booming, and new venues are opening all the time. These networking services provide spaces for people to share information with friends and like-minded individuals in a quick, casual, no-pressure way. To post messages on these networking services, you first need to join the site and set up a network. Your network may include just a few friends, or you can open your site to everyone with a particular profile (such as "book readers", "Fantasy readers", "Chicago Cubs Fans", etc.) Many site give you the option to keep part of your site exclusive to a close circle of friends, while leaving other parts of your site open to a broader network of like-minded individuals. Find an online networking service that suits your communication style and security comfort level, then follow that service's guidelines to post a short review of this book, or any other information you feel like sharing.
Local Newspapers
Local newspaper often contain features where readers can review books, movies, restaurants, etc.
The guidelines for submitting these reviews vary from paper to paper, but most papers post contact information for submission guidelines at the bottom of the column where the reader reviews appear. If your paper doesn't post this information, you can look up the paper's general phone number online or in your local phone book and ask to speak with the editor of the reader review feature (or his/her assistant) or whoever can supply you with the submission guidelines for that paper.
Do you know a book critic, author or educator who might enjoy the To Color the Wind books and be willing to write a review?
You can recommend this series to him/her and maybe lend a copies of the books, mentioning that they might like to write a review of the series. You can also point him or her to this website, where he/she can find links to buy the books for themselves. Better yet, if you are an author, literary critic, or educator, click on the "contact us" link and email Barbara Glynn to find out how you can obtain reviewers' copies of the series.
If you would like to share your review with Barbara Glynn you can click on the "contact us" link (top left column on this page) to email a digital copy to her.
If your review was published in newspaper or magazine or posted on a website, it would be very helpful if you would include the name of the site/publication where the review appeared, the posting/publication date, volumne number (if applicable), the name of the section of the publication/site where the review appeared, and the name, pseudonym or byline you used for submitting the review.
*If you had trouble using the links to Amazon.com at the top of the page, please read below:
1) If the above links don't work, you just search for the book on Amazon.com, (Searching by "Barbara Glynn" tends to work best. for Barbara Glynn's books)
2) When the search engine brings up the book information, you will see a hyperlink underneath the title that will either say something like "4 customer reviews" or "be the first to review this book".
3) Click on the hyperlink. This will bring you to a page that will have a "button" on the top "Create your own review".
4) Click the "Create your own review" button.
5) If you already have an Amazon.com account, you can sign in here. (If you have an active Amazon.com account and have already created a "Public Name" and profile skip to step 8.) If not, you create an Amazon.com account before you sign-in. (This is very quick and simple. Please know that Amazon is one of the most secure sites on the internet. Your information is safe as it can be with them.) If you have never purchased anything from Amazon before, you will see a page telling you that you have to have purchased an item from Amazon and then wait 24 hours after the purchase before you can write a review. Fortunately, Amazon.com sells everything from Books to Baby formula, so you can always find something useful on Amazon. Some items are also very inexpensive -even when you add on the shipping cost - so you may find items you will want to continue to purchase through Amazon.com.
6) If you have never written a review on Amazon before, you will need to create a "Public Name" ID (pen name) before you start. This name can be anything(e.g. "AvidReader", "Big John", "NetSurfer"...) however, it is recommended that your Review ID not include any part of your real name, because that can earn you spam from all over the world! Also think of a password for your Amazon profile (this will be different from your Amazon account password. MAKE SURE YOU WRITE DOWN YOUR ACCOUNT NAME, PUBLIC NAME AND PASSWORDs! You will need them later. If you have more than one email account - be sure to note which email account you have used as a log-in for your new Amazon.com account.)
7) If you are creating your account and Profile today, you will have to wait until you have activated your account (24 hours after you have bought something) before you can review a book. So come back to this website when your account is active and link on the link for the approriate book (each link really is different!). This will bring you to a page where you can log into your account . Enter your email address and password. (Yes, you should have a password in the system now. If not, you can click "Forgot your Password?" and Amazon will send you a link to take care of it - but this is time consuming, so it is better to have your password written down.) Then click on the yellow "Sign in Using our Secure Server" button.
8) This will bring you to a page where they verify that you are at least 13 years old, and ask you to give the item a star rating (5 stars =best 11 star= bad). Further down thepage, they give you the option of either submitting a written review or uploading a video review. (Written review is the default so you if you are going to upload a video you have to click the "video" circle. If you are entering a written review you can ignore this step.) .
9) Below this is a text box labeled "Type your review in the space below".Place your cursor in the text box provided and start writing your review (or copy and paste your review from a previously written document.)
10) Below the review text box is a text box where you can enter "meta tags". Meta tags are short descriptions of an item that are entered into Amazon's data base to help people find items they of interest using Amazon's search engines. Examples of some useful meta tags for hte "To Color the Wind" books might be: "Fantasy fiction", "Young Adult Fiction", "Girl fiction", "Auras", "Clairvoyance", "Moody", "atmospheric", - or whatever you think describes the book. (If you find this step daunting, just skip it.)
11) Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the yellow "Preview your review" button. This will show you your review. Edit the review if necessary.
12) If you are satisfied with your review, scroll to the bottom of the page and click the yellow "Publish your review" button.
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