Sunday, January 20, 2013

Listopia and "The Clearing"

Goodreads is one of those great resources for writers (and readers) that I have yet to take full advantage of. Mostly, it's a lack of time to really investigate the website. I keep telling myself, "After the next book, after the next book," but I keep adding things to my list of things to do, so it's getting more and more unlikely that I will ever get around to figuring out how to fully put that site to use. I do know two things at the moment:
1. You can add me on Goodreads, which you should do if you're on there. If you're not on there and you read, you should be on there.
2. They have this thing called Listopia that allows you to put books on lists and/or vote for books on lists. This is really good for two things:

  • you're a reader and you're looking for something to read
  • you're a writer and you want your books to get more visibility
The problem, then, is that there are a LOT of lists. I mean, there are really a lot of lists. I've been told by many people that I need to get my books on some lists, but it's one of those tasks where I go over there and look and blink a lot while being overwhelmed by the sheer bulk of the number of lists involved and I can't figure out which list to start with.

However, I did stumble across one list that seems pretty perfect for Shadow Spinner: the list for Best Serial Novel.
So here's the favor I have to ask: If you have read any of Shadow Spinner (you can see all of the parts listed to the right), please go over and vote for it. It would also really help if you could leave a rating for the parts you've read. All of these little things can be a great help to us poor writerly folk.

Oh, and if you really want to help me out, if you see a list that would be good for either Spinner or The House on the Corner (or "Christmas on the Corner"), please feel free to add them to the list and give them a vote. If you let me know that you've added anything to a list, I'll make sure to mention it.

And, now, for the big NEWS of the day, today is the FREE! release of "Part Thirteen: The Clearing"! It will be FREE! today, Monday, January 21, and tomorrow, Tuesday, January 22.

This chapter of Shadow Spinner marks a turning point for Tib, so, if you've been following along, and you should be following along since I give them away for FREE! as often as I can, you'll want to know what's happening since Michael... um, well, just in case you're not quite caught up, I'll not say what happened in part 12.

Speaking of Part Twelve: The Gash in the Floor, it is also FREE! today. Other FREE! parts today are
Part Seven: The Moth and the Shadow
Part Six: The Man with No Eyes
Part Five: The Police Car and
Part Four: The Cop
That's nearly half of the parts available for FREE! this time around.

Also, don't forget about The Great Chocolate Contest! The prize is a box of the absolute best chocolate in the entire world (that I've ever tasted). You don't want to miss out on that!
There might also be an extra special prize added to the chocolate. I should (hopefully) know about that one by the end of the week.

Now, go pick up "The Clearing" and get to reading!

13 comments:

  1. I'll go vote for your series!
    I had no idea about lists until someone else mentioned them. Now both are at the top of Best Space Opera, and they do get noticed by more people that way.

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  2. Happy to go vote for you for Best Serial Novel.

    Also, an extra special prize? The pot keeps getting sweeter. Guess I'd better bring my A game for this contest!

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  3. This is especially helpful since I've still learning how to navigate it. Added a cool button to my blog over the weekend, too. See on on the Goodreads! :)

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  4. I'm on Goodreads. Sometimes I actually remember that I'm on Goodreads.

    Headed out to get my copy of The Clearing...

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  5. Goodreads totally overwhelms me sometimes but I do love it. I had no idea about the lists/voting etc until the other week. Think it's awesome! I will go check Shadow Spinner out!

    <3

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  6. I generally use Goodreads to put up my book reviews. Although I used to have that only for myself, I have sorta changed that in the past year or so to basically be a book blog. In conflicted about that part though. Anyway, I don't so the social aspect very much. Maybe I should.

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  7. Like you, and apparently most commenters judging by my skimming, I keep intending to get more onto Goodreads but it's way down on my list of priorities. To get an idea how far down:

    I've created two t-shirts rather than go onto Goodreads.

    It's safe to say I am not putting my whole entire heart into pushing my writing. On the other hand, did Gandhi write books? He did not. Did Gandhi promote his social justice causes using t-shirts? He DID. Did I have trouble figuring out how to spell Gandhi for those sentences? I DID. Am I correct about Gandhi? PROBABLY.

    Do I like rhetorical questions? I do not. Do I sound like Brett Favre at a press conference. IN MY HEAD I DO.

    I voted up all of Shadow Spinner on Goodreads. That's my good deed for the day.

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  8. Alex: Yeah, I need to sit down at some point and find some lists.

    ABftS: Yes, and extra special prize! Briane Pagel has stated his intention to win, so, yeah, that A game is what should be brought.

    David: Bah on your button! I don't know how to do buttons!

    M.J.: Yea!

    Mia: I really love being able to keep track of my books. Glad to have you aboard!

    Rusty: And I always read your book reviews, so that's good!

    Briane: Bah! I need to get on the t-shirt thing! I need to split myself in two. Thanks for the vote!

    Michael: And thank you, too!

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  9. Those lists are overwhelming. I have yet to take full advantage of goodreads...so much out there and lately I've been hooked on pinterest. I'm such a visual person and I just love all the pictures.

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  10. Rebecca: See, when I already don't have time for the things I'm doing, I actively avoid new things. Like twitter, tumblr, and pinterest.

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  11. Thanks for the post. I know I don't take full advantage of Goodreads...at all. I get on it about once or twice a month. But I've wondered about the lists there.

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  12. Kami: The lists, if used properly, seem to really increase the visibility of your books. I really need to invest some time into figuring them out.

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