Book vs Film: Me Before You

Book vs Film: Me Before You

Jo Linsdell   07:00:00

If you've been following my blog posts you'll know that I loved the whole Me Before You series of books. 

In case you missed them you can find my book reviews of each book here: Me Before You, After You, and Still Me.

When I had just finished reading the first book, Me Before You, they showed the film version on the TV. Obviously I had to watch it. 

Book VS Film

Watch the video to see what I thought of the film adaption of what has become one of my favourite books. 

 

The film of Me Before You was directed by Thea Sharrock and won the 43rd People's Choice Awards for Favourite Dramatic Movie in 2016

The cast:

Louisa Clark: Emilia Clarke

William Traynor: Sam Claflin

Camilla Traynor: Janet McTeer (in my opinion the the best casting choice of all the characters)

Stephen Traynor: Charles Dance

Katrina Clark: Jenna Coleman

Patrick: Matthew Lewis

Nathan Steve Peacocke 

You might also like: Book Series I'm Obsessed With: Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan

I'd love to hear what you thought of the Me Before You book series and the film adaption. Which characters do you think were cast well? What did they get right/wrong in the film adaption in your opinion?

Enjoy this post? Feel free to share on social media by using the super-easy share buttons below.

Book Review: Still Me by Jojo Moyes

Book Review: Still Me by Jojo Moyes

Jo Linsdell   07:00:00

Why I loved Still Me by Jojo Moyes

You can find my reviews of the previous books in this series here: 

Me Before You

After You

Louisa Clark arrives in New York ready to start a new life, confident that she can embrace this new adventure and keep her relationship with Ambulance Sam alive across several thousand miles. She has been hired by the superrich Gopniks—Leonard and his unhappy, much younger second wife, Agnes—and finds herself amid a never-ending array of household staff and hangers-on. But Lou is determined to get the most out of the experience and throws herself into her job and this very privileged New York life. 

As Lou tries to keep the two sides of her world together, she finds herself carrying secrets—not all her own—that cause a catastrophic change in her circumstances. And when matters come to a head, she has to ask herself Who is Louisa Clark? And how do you reconcile a heart that lives in two places?

Some of my favourite quotes:

“Books are what teach you about life. Books teach you empathy. But you can’t buy books if you barely got enough to make rent. So that library is a vital resource! You shut a library, Louisa, you don’t just shut down a building, you shut down hope.” 

“I had a choice. I was Louisa Clark from New York or Louisa Clark from Stortfold. Or there might be a whole other Louisa I hadn’t yet met. The key was making sure that anyone you allowed to walk beside you didn’t get to decide which you were, and pin you down like a butterfly in a case. The key was to know that you could always somehow find a way to reinvent yourself again.” 

“I thought about how you’re shaped so much by the people who surround you, and how careful you have to be in choosing them for this exact reason, and then I thought, despite all that, in the end maybe you have to lose them all in order to truly find yourself.” 

“There is a great consolation in simply doing something you love.” 

“It's almost impossible to feel crap after eating a really great spaghetti bolognese.” 

“I felt something rise inside me then, a feeling of joy and anticipation so great that it seemed as if this world had briefly stopped turning, like there was just me and the universe and a million good things that could happen if you only hung on in there.” 

Amazon 

Book Depository

Goodreads

You might also like: Book Review: On The Same Page by Penelope Janu

Are you a book blogger? Join the Bookish Blog Hops group on Facebook to connect with other book bloggers. A great community offering support and events to help you grow traffic to your book blog and generate more brand awareness.

Join now

Mock Up Websites: Free Sites For Creating Great Mock Ups

Mock Up Websites: Free Sites For Creating Great Mock Ups

Jo Linsdell   07:00:00

Mock Up Websites

Mock ups are a great tool for creating graphic content for your blog or for your social media posts. 

Images go down well. 

In blog posts images help break up the text, and add more interest to the article. Adding an image to your blog posts also gives readers something they can pin to their Pinterest boards. 

You might decide to use a mock up like I did in this interview with book blogger Megan from Ginger Mom and the Kindle Quest where I used it to showcase the blog I was featuring in the post. 

Or you might want to use them in a more subtle way like I do in the blog posts for Promo Day where they feature as a background to the graphics. Check out this example of the post 2019 Webinar: Book Blogging 101 with Jo Linsdell. 

On social media, posts with images tend to stand out more than just plain text on the newsfeeds. Mock ups are a good way to create easy graphics for sharing. 

On some mock up sites you can upload the images you want to use from your computer. On others you can insert the url of the webpage you want to feature on the mock up screen and it will automatically create the image for you.

There are plenty of different types of mock ups available. You can find mock ups for computers, laptops, ipads, tablets, smartphones, and even book covers and more.

Whilst there are a lot of sites that offer an endless variety of options at a variety of price ranges, there are plenty of sites that offer some free mock ups too.

Check out these 8 free sites for creating great mock ups:

www.smartmockups.com

www.magicmockups.com

www.mockupsjar.com

www.photofunia.com

www.mockdrop.io

www.placeit.net/

www.adazing.com/cover-mocks

https://diybookcovers.com/3Dmockups/

To get even more use out of your mock ups you can upload the images to graphic creation sites like www.Canva.com and edit them into branded graphics by adding your logo to the image, adding overlays, or text. The possibilities are endless!

You might also like: 60 Blog Post Ideas For Book Bloggers

Want to discuss more ideas for marketing and branding? 

Book a virtual coaching session now

Exploring CTA's: Different Types of Calls To Action To Use in Your Blog Posts

Exploring CTA's: Different Types of Calls To Action To Use in Your Blog Posts

Jo Linsdell   07:00:00

Exploring CTA's

Effective Call's To Action, or CTA's, guide your visitors to take action. This makes them a super important element both on websites and blogs, and on social media. 

Whenever you put together a post you should have a why. What is your reason for posting it? What action do you want people to take when they read it? 

That's your CTA.

Different Types of Calls To Action To Use in Your Blog Posts

Lead Generation- If you're blogging for business your main goal is to turn  your visitors into leads. You're after paying customers/clients. An example of this kind of CTA is the one I use at the end of this post for my coaching services.

Form Submission- I have an example of this type of CTA in the footer of my website. It's an invite to follow my blog posts. In this case the CTA is to "Subscribe Now". Visitors insert their name and email address in the form and get my future blog posts delivered to them. This particular type of CTA is a great way to keep potential leads in the loop. 

"More" Buttons- I have a lot of these on my homepage. These CTA's are great for when you offer a short teaser and want people to click through to "Find Out More". A lot of blogs use this type of call to action on their homepage. Variations include; read more, learn more, find out more, etc... This is a great way to make sure the individual post gets credited with it's own traffic and not just the homepage. 

You might also like: Why Taking A Break From Work Is Good For You

Social Sharing- This is one of the easiest CTA's. Social media is a powerful tool for spreading the word about your content, products, and services. Adding social share buttons to your blog offers visitors a low commitment way to engage with your brand. 

Lead Nurturing- This is the process of developing relationships with visitors and turning them from potential leads to paying customers by offering them something to entice them. Examples of this type of call to action could be a free download or free trial. 

The Closer- This is your hard sales pitch. This type of CTA calls for immediate action e.g. "Buy Now" 

When it comes to CTA's it's best not to over do it. A cluttered blog will not get results. Instead it's best to focus on just a few, clear, call's to action per page. 

Keep it simple and to the point. Be as specific as possible. 

Also think about the placement of your CTA's. Depending on the type of CTA you might want to position it in a different location of your website. Homepage, footer, end of blog post, mid blog post, side bar...

You might also want to experiment with different formats for your CTA's e.g. text, button, graphic, etc...

What types of CTA's do you find get the best results on your own blog? 

You might also like: Blogging Terms New Bloggers Should Know

Looking for help with your blog? Struggling to come up with ideas, or need help with your branding, SEO, or website design? I can help! 

Book your virtual coaching session now