How to Get the Most Out of GoodReads

I love GoodReads. Not because I'm a writer - but because I'm a reader. Reading was and is my first love. Being caught up in a great story inspired me to dream of writing great stories myself.

Of all the sites out there for readers, nothing rivals GoodReads. However, many people join GoodReads, rate a few books, and forget about it, not understanding that the site is a tool for readers, not just a place to review books. Using GoodReads properly will help you find better books and find more enjoyment in them. It's easier to share what you're reading with friends and get fantastic spot-on book recommendations. It's a playground and a virtual book-loving heaven for bibliophiles!

So how do you use it "properly"?

Top Five Ways to Get the Most Out of GoodReads

1) Rate and Review
Everyone rates and reviews a few books, but what you really want to do is rate (review if you have time) every book you've read. This is important as GoodReads then recommends books based on those ratings. Automatically - just click on "recommendations" and there will be tons of them, all targeted to you. But the only way that GoodReads will yield the kind of results that will help you find the next book you want to read is if you rated enough books in the first place!

2) Giveaways
Under the "Explore" pull down menu is a wealth of GoodReads goodness, but one of the best things, especially for those of us looking for a risk-free way to try out new authors, is GoodReads giveaways! With a simple click,

What's Happening? A LOT!

First off, the long-awaited print version of Barefoot Girls will be available within the next few weeks! For those of you who prefer the heft of a book in your hand, you'll finally be able to get it in the format you prefer.

Personally, I'm still a paper-book girl. Even though my husband has been sucked over to the alternate universe of ebooks, I'm hard to sway. Let's face it, I'm a late adopter, not an early adopter. You probably won't be able to drag me away from my paper books until they stop printing them!

The other piece of news is.....
(drum roll, please)
My short story collection, Earth and Air, is on sale now in ebook stores! Woo hoo!

This collection contains one of my favorite short stories ever, the title piece, and I really think readers will love it, particularly if you love darker spookier fiction (well, there's a comic story at the end that leaves you laughing, or at least I hope it will).

The cover is at the top of this post and the description is as follows:

A handsome singing gypsy who has the power to make girls sleep, sometimes forever, decides to rest from his journeys in an old Victorian house in suburbia with two mesmerized sisters. A broken jukebox leads a girl into uncharted territory, a wilderness in the back of a bar where the colorful neon lights of a working jukebox beckon and where she learns terrible things from a dragon-like woman breathing fire in the dark. A thirty-something career woman trying to rediscover her purpose on an island retreat is attacked in the still of the night by a neighbor whose greatest wish is for her to leave.

Tara McTiernan's stories resemble twisted modern fairy tales, full of real-life magic and Grimm-like darkness. Containing three unforgettable short works, Earth and Air, like her novel Barefoot Girls, illuminates and explores the lives of women with rare eloquence, keen insight, and a sharp wit.

By the way, the last part of that description was a combination of all the wonderful reviews I've received so far for Barefoot Girls, so, no, I couldn't write something like that about myself.

Very exciting times!

Hittin' the Beach - On Book Blogs!

Love the beach? Then you'll adore this week's book tour stops for Barefoot Girls! 

As you know, my novel definitely qualifies as a beach read (see my post whats-beach-read-anyway.html for details). As you might not know...I love the beach. One of my favorite places in the world! There is no sound more relaxing to me than the sound of waves crashing on the shore rhythmically, and I live for the feel of cool salt air washing over sun-warmed skin and the gritty tickle of sand between toes, the sight of a jaunty parade of colorful beach umbrellas lining the shore and children running and playing in the waves, the sweet childish pleasure of a sno-cone or Italian ice, and the comforting memory-filled scent of Coppertone in the air. 

This week, two book bloggers who obviously love the beach, too (as you can see if you visit their sites), are hosting virtual book blog tour events on their blogs. Be sure to check them out and get a little taste of sun and surf along with great book suggestions and many fascinating conversations in the comment sections of their posts.

Escape with a Good Book (Link: http://www.escapewithdollycas.com/2012/06/12/special-guest-tara-mctiernan) hosted me yesterday and, wow, was that a fun mini-beach-vacation-getaway! Such great comments and stories about readers' relationships with their mothers and friends...it was truly inspiring. Lori (Dollycas) is also running a giveaway of a free ebook of Barefoot Girls for the next twelve days, so if you want a chance at a copy, don't forget to enter!

Kathleen at Jersey Girl Book Reviews (Link: http://jerseygirlbookreviews.blogspot.com/) is hosting me this Friday and I am psyched! Her book blog is also fantastic, well-written, and very beach-themed with lots of photos and beautiful images of the shore. Can't wait to see how the event goes and hope you can drop by and join in the conversation. 

What a fun week! Now I'm really dying to go to the beach....Ash, honey? Can we? Pretty please?

Who's Talking Trash About Chick Lit?

The short answer: lots of people. And it pisses me off.

What got me thinking on this was an internet surfing session a few days ago when I stumbled on a great post on Jennifer Weiner's blog, her keynote address about blogging at a recent blogging expo. In it she talked about her battle to defend her writing and her genre: chick lit, which is also sometimes called women's contemporary fiction (though that is a more generalized term). Let's face it: chick lit is often made fun of, the words said with a sneer. But as Jen pointed out: 

"As anyone who’s taken a women’s studies class will tell you, as long as there’s a woman writing about her own life, there’s someone – sometimes a man, sometimes another woman -- to tell her that what she’s written is unworthy, unimportant, beneath notice, that it’s not real literature and not worth taking seriously."

Link the the whole post here: http://jenniferweiner.blogspot.com/2012/06/let-me-start-by-saying-that-i-know-im.html

 That is the issue with some people's crappy attitude about chick lit: it dismisses women, says that our silly little problems aren't important. It's insulting and the people who have to start standing up against it are women, because all too often it's a woman doing the sneering. And if we sneer at each other, aren't we validating the argument that is being made against us?

Case in point: after reading Jen's post, I Googled Jen's earlier post

Girl-Shaped Shadows – Free Ebook Copies!

One of my favorite short stories, Girl-Shaped Shadows, one I wrote about eight years ago and had the pleasure of seeing published in a literary magazine (Eureka Literary Magazine to be specific) is now on sale in your favorite ebook store!

Priced at the appropriate short story rate of 99 cents, (I still can’t get over the fact that people are selling full-length novels at this ridiculous price – novels take years to write! YEARS! Hours and weeks and months of hard labor! For 99 cents? That’s less than a candy bar made in a factory that makes thousands of candy bars an hour! Okay, rant over.) I’m hoping that this book will give readers a bite-size version of my fiction for those who love shorts.

If you’re interested in reviewing the ebook (honestly, of course) on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, or any other ebook store where it is being sold, I will happily give you a FREE copy to read, review, and hopefully enjoy. Just email me at tara.mctiernan77@gmail.com and I’ll send you a coupon from Smashwords so that you can download a free copy. Please let me know where you intend to review the book in your email.

What’s it about?

Here’s the official product description:

Eleven-year old Isobel and her guardian and aunt, Marmalee, do everything they can to avoid the sunlight – fearful of skin cancer and suntans – yet they find themselves unavoidably drawn to the beach near their home in Connecticut one sunny June day by the very people they abhor most: the Normals. The lure? The gorgeous Mrs. Johnson, her aunt’s new love-interest. The problem? Isobel’s nemesis and object of obsession: Mrs. Johnson’s daughter Chloe.

Things take a surprising turn on this brilliant burning day by the sea when Chloe abandons her best friend, Hilary, for Isobel, her new best friend. Are things what they seem? Could Isobel’s wildest fantasy be coming true? Or is some darker truth about to be revealed?

Why are you giving it away for free?

Reviews are very important to a lot of people when deciding whether to purchase an ebook. In fact, they’re probably important to you.

How long will this free offer go on?

As soon as I think there are enough reviews out there, the offer will be officially over and will be announced as such here on the blog, so get your fresh hot copies now, while the getting is good!