IWSG, Turn a 1-Star Amazon Review to Your Advantage and March 2016 Celestial Calendar

Hi everyone, as always thanks for stopping by! This week’s IWSG is brought to you by Alex Cavanaugh, Lauren Hennessey, Lisa Buie-Collard, Lidy, Christine Rains and Mary Aalgaard. Don’t forget to stop by their blogs and show some love! 

Turn a 1-Star Amazon Review to Your Advantage This is a concern of any writer. Amazon reviews mean everything to a writer. We love receiving them, except when they are 1- Star or 2 - Star. 

I received a 1 - Star a couple weeks ago for Salem’s Daughters that actually nailed what my book is all about: “Ghastly violence. No Heroes here. This is a horror story. Not my kind of book.” 

This, after the synopsis uses words like witches, possessed, killings, murders, curses, malevolent, deviltry and ghosts. Anyway, I decided to make lemonade from lemons and use it as a promotional tool. 

Example I used the following on Twitter and included an image of the book’s cover art with the Tweet: 

Best 1-Star Review Ever! Nailed it!! http://tinyurl.com/qeymcqc #paranormal #thriller #suspense Thx Amazon reviewer! 

Tip Use some of the 140 Twitter characters for cover image of your book rather than your book's title. 

Using Facebook and Twitter I had close to 50 downloads that weekend. Many Twitter followers felt the pain of 1-star reviews and Retweeted! Nothing earth shattering, I know. But I did use it to my advantage. 

Kindle Book Preview Kindle allows you to embed either code or a link into your sidebar so visitors can preview a segment of your book(s). Go to your Kindle Book Page, look toward the right for the work "EMBED" and copy and paste the code into an HTML gadget or the link into a an IMAGE gadget into your side bar. 

Easy! Check it out by clicking the top two Black Cat images of my right side bar for Salem's Daughters! I'm not going to keep both. I'll probably keep the link which is the one on top.

March 2016 Celestial Calendar 

March 8 Jupiter at Opposition The giant planet will be at its closest approach to Earth and it’s face will be fully illuminated by the sun. It will be brighter than at any other time of the year and will be visible all night long. This is the best time to view and photograph Jupiter and it’s moons. A medium-sized telescope should be able to show you some of the details of Jupiter’s cloud bands. A good pair of binoculars should allow you to see Jupiter’s four largest moons, appearing as bright dots on either side of the planet. 

March 9 Total Solar Eclipse A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon completely blocks the Sun, revealing the Sun’s beautiful outer atmosphere known as the corona. The totality will only be visible in parts of central Indonesia and the Pacific Ocean. A partial eclipse will be visible in most parts of Northern Australia and southeast Asia. 

March 20 March Equinox The March equinox occurs at 04:30 UTC. The sun will shine directly on the equator and there will be nearly identical amounts of day and night throughout the world. This is also the first day of Spring (vernal equinox) in the Northern hemisphere and the first day of fall (autumn equinox) in the Southern Hemisphere. 

Question Have you turned a bad review to your advantage? Checking out Jupiter next week? Do you have binoculars or a telescope or thinking of buying them? Do you have an option for visitors to preview a few chapters for free on your blog?

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