February 2018 - Jo Linsdell - A passion for books, blogging, and marketing

Wednesday, 28 February 2018

Book Review: Fred Wants to Play By Janna de Lathouder & Anne Schneider

Disclosure: I got sent a free copy of this book via Net Galley.

This book counts towards the A to Z Reading Challenge (Kidlit version) and Beat The Backlist.

It’s quiet time and Fred knows he is supposed to keep still, but keeping still isn’t easy for Fred. A bouncy feeling makes him want to play. Fred feels all alone until he meets Scott. Fred and Scott know how hard it is to keep the colorful feelings inside. Can these two friends help the other fish join in the fun?

An positive book about friendship and children who are just a little bit more

energetic than others. For big and small readers ages 4 and up.

http://amzn.to/2ol8tAW

Tuesday, 27 February 2018

I Got Book Mail!

Jo Linsdell 07:00:00

I love it when I get book mail. Well this week I got sent a parcel with not 1, but 3 books in it! Thanks to MX Publishing for this awesome package. I'm really looking forward to getting started with these.

Watch the unboxing:

Want to send me a copy of your book? Drop me an email with info about your book.

Monday, 26 February 2018

Goodreads Monday: Mayan Mendacity by L.J.M. Owen

Jo Linsdell 07:00:00

Goodreads Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren’s Page Turners. To take part, you simply choose a random book from your TBR and show it off. Don’t forget to check out Lauren’s Goodreads Monday blog post to share your Monday selections.

This week I picked Mayan Mendacity by L.J.M. Owen.

Dr Elizabeth Pimms has a new puzzle.

What is the story behind the tiny skeletons discovered on a Guatemalan island? And how do they relate to an ancient Mayan queen?

The bones, along with other remains, are a gift for Elizabeth. But soon the giver reveals his true nature. An enraged colleague then questions Elizabeth’s family history. Elizabeth seeks DNA evidence to put all skeletons to rest.

A pregnant enemy, a crystal skull, a New York foodie, and an intruder in Elizabeth’s phrenic library variously aid or interrupt Elizabeth’s attempts to solve mysteries both ancient and personal.

With archaeological intrigue, forensic insight and cosy comfort, Mayan Mendacity takes readers back into the world of Dr Pimms, Intermillennial Sleuth. Really cold cases.

Sunday, 25 February 2018

2018 Challenges Update: Progress Report for This Week

Jo Linsdell 07:00:00

I set myself some goals at the start of this year (see http://www.jolinsdell.com/2018/01/2018-my-plans-for-year-ahead.html). Here's a summary of how I'm doing:

Reading

I've managed to read books for both the A to Z Reading Challenge (adult and kid lit versions) and Beat The List. Still a bit behind schedule but not doing too bad. Great seeing my Net Galley ratio improve.

Writing

Still failing at my goal to write everyday. Just too much going on at the moment. April will be my catch up month. I plan to dedicate the whole month just to my writing projects.

Book Cover Designs

I've been working on some new designs and will be adding them to the site soon.

Publishing

365 Days of Quotes For Writers released on 17th January, which was a great start to the year, but I'm still working on getting Shadow (KOSMOS Episode 8) finished, and editing my YA thriller Do You LIKE Me? I still need to finish edits on my non fiction From Idea To Published Book too.

Freelance Writing

I haven't had enough time to dedicate to this yet. This year has been pretty hectic so far and I know I have a lot on my calendar for the next couple of months, so I'm not too optimistic about this goal at the moment. Hopefully I'll be able to find some time to dedicate to this soon.

Blogging

I'm doing really well with my blogging goals at the moment. I've also been experimenting with new ways to drive more traffic and increase engagement.

Promo Day

Plans for this years event continue to come together. I've confirmed most presenters now and have most of the info regarding each webinar. I also have some donations for giveaways during the event and some special offers for all attendees.

If you'd like to know more about sponsoring the event or promoting your books/services click here. Also get in touch if you'd like to donate a prize for the giveaways and/or offer a discount or special offer for attendees. Visit http://www.promoday.net/ and register. It's free!

A Healthier Me

The struggle is real. My kids have brought home every virus doing the rounds over the past few weeks. I'm holding up surprisingly well though. I also now have dates for my hospital visits regarding my cyst, so not doing too badly.

Saturday, 24 February 2018

Weekly Recap: What I've Been Up To This Week

Jo Linsdell 07:00:00

Despite my kids getting ill continuously with every virus doing the rounds, this week has actually been really productive, both from a work and personal point of view. I still can't believe how much I managed to get done. I've even managed to set up some guest features for March on various sites. If you want to feature me on your site please get in touch. I'm always open to doing interviews, guest posts, book showcases, and even LIVE social media chats.

I also got contacted by some authors and publishers this week about reviewing their books. One package already arrived in the post from MX Publishing (super fast delivery!), and contained not one, but three books! I'll be sharing the unboxing video for that soon.

I review various genres, but I would love to review some more children's books, so if you'd like to send me a review copy of your book please get in touch. I'm happy to work with both publishers and self published authors.

Reading progress

We finally made some progress with the kidlit version of the A to Z Reading Challenge this week, and made a nice dent in my TBR backlist on Net Galley. I'll be posting the full reviews for these separately soon but here's a some quick summary reviews:

http://amzn.to/2EXDhBj

http://amzn.to/2F2u2jd

http://amzn.to/2ELLwkK

In other news...

That moment when your favourite author gives you an awesome shout out on his Facebook page...

This is right up there with that time Neil Gaiman tweeted me. Total fan girl moment over here :)

Friday, 23 February 2018

Help Me Pick My New Author Photo

Jo Linsdell 12:43:00

I took some new photo's this morning and need your help to pick which one I should use as my new author pic. Please vote in the comments with the number of the photo you like best.

Book Review: Everything We Keep By Kerry Lonsdale

Jo Linsdell 07:00:00

Disclosure: I got sent a free copy of this book via Net Galley.

This book counts towards the A to Z Reading Challenge and Beat The Backlist.

An Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestseller.

A luminous debut with unexpected twists, Everything We Keep explores the devastation of loss, the euphoria of finding love again, and the pulse-racing repercussions of discovering the truth about the ones we hold dear and the lengths they will go to protect us.

Sous chef Aimee Tierney has the perfect recipe for the perfect life: marry her childhood sweetheart, raise a family, and buy out her parents’ restaurant. But when her fiancé, James Donato, vanishes in a boating accident, her well-baked future is swept out to sea. Instead of walking down the aisle on their wedding day, Aimee is at James’s funeral—a funeral that leaves her more unsettled than at peace.

As Aimee struggles to reconstruct her life, she delves deeper into James’s disappearance. What she uncovers is an ocean of secrets that make her question everything about the life they built together. And just below the surface is a truth that may set Aimee free…or shatter her forever.

http://amzn.to/2CxOHqd

Thursday, 22 February 2018

Booktastic Link It Up Thursday #1

Jo Linsdell 07:00:00

Welcome to the very first Booktastic Link It Up Thursday!

Every Thursday I'll be hosting this link up here on the blog to connect book bloggers and hopefully discover some awesome new reads along the way.

A few guidelines:

Please link up any posts you have, past or present, about books, reading, and literacy. This link party is all about sharing about books. Joining in is easy; just click “Add your link…” and copy/paste the URL of a blog post (not your homepage). Blog posts ONLY please. Other types of links will be deleted.

Follow me on any social media of your choice (I'm JoLinsdell everywhere). Of course, I would love it if you subscribed to my newest posts ;)

If you would be kind to post a link back somewhere on your post or blog.

Why join the link up?

Linking up to parties and leaving comments on other posts is a proven way to increase traffic to your blog and grow your blog’s followers!

Please grab the Booktastic Link It Up Thursday button and share it somewhere on your blog (sidebar, post, bottom, etc.) and please share about this party with any book-lovers you know.

Come and join in Booktastic Link It Up Thursday at www.JoLinsdell.com (hosted by @jolinsdell) #LinkUp #Books #BookBloggers

Let's grow this party!

Click to tweet:

Come and join in Booktastic Link It Up Thursday at www.JoLinsdell.com (hosted by @jolinsdell) #LinkUp #Books #BookBloggers

Everyone works hard on their posts and loves visits/comments/pins from others. Please visit AND comment on at least one other linked post if not more.

Now on to the party!

Wednesday, 21 February 2018

New at Bookish Blog Hops

Jo Linsdell 13:42:00

As some of you already know, I run a Facebook group called Bookish Blog Hops over at https://www.facebook.com/groups/127759384464964/. The main role of this group is for organising Bookish Blog Hops so we can all collaborate together sharing our love of books, and help drive traffic to our sites whilst also creating quality backlinks (which in turn will help our sites rank better in search engine algorithms). It's a fun way to network with other blog bloggers and support each other.

As there is often a gap between one blog hop and another, I decided to add some new features to the group starting from this month.

For the Authors in the group

As there are lots of authors in the group, I decided set up a thread where they can post for support/request hosting. This is to make sure we don't get posts in the group that might distract from our main purpose. I will do a post like this once a month.

If you are an author with a book to promote you may use ONLY the support thread to comment about your book, where bloggers can sign up to host you, etc...

The bloggers in the group then try to support these authors if and when they can by hosting them on their blogs/social media channels.

Just a way to make it easier for us all to support our little internet family.

Example graphic for the Author support thread.

For book bloggers

Everyone in the group is a book blogger and so I obviously wanted to give some space to help each other and so, I will also be doing weekly support threads for bloggers to give us all another way to support each other and increase traffic and comments on our blogs.

Example graphic for the book blogger support thread.

The Next Bookish Blog Hop

I'm going to be very busy over the next few months, and so decided to organise our next blog hop for the summer. This also gives us more time to get organised and will hopefully mean more people will be able to participate both as hosts, and by answering each question for the posts. My Bookish Summer will be a month long blog hop taking place from 1st-31st July 2018.