First Visions Tour Stop

Hello and welcome! Today, as part of the First Visions tour, I'm sharing my review of the book and also have a guest post from the author, Heather Topham Wood. Heather is talking about Twitter, and shares thoughts on good ways to promote books on Twitter.



How to Promote a Book on Twitter (Without Being an Annoying Spammer)

I’m sure you’ve come across a few irksome authors on Twitter: They start following you. You’re pleased to see you have a fellow writer following you and decide to follow back. Within seconds, your email inbox chimes letting you know Mr. Author has sent you a direct message on Twitter. Mr. Author invites you to download a free excerpt, use this coupon for a discount off his novel or purchase his novel on Amazon and write a review. Say what? I don’t even kiss on the first date, buddy and now I’m expected to spend my hard-earned cash on some random writer who follows me on Twitter?

Not the best social media strategy in my opinion. Five gazillion Tweets a day about how your book is complete awesomeness isn’t going to win you many fans as well. However, Twitter doesn’t have to be a complete waste of an author’s time. Here are a couple quick tips:

1) Make what you say count. You only have 140 characters, so make the most of them. Don’t overstuff each Tweet with too many hashtags, instead only stick with a maximum two. And definitely don’t continue send out a string of Tweets to complete a single thought.

2) Use Twitter to promote book giveaways. If you’re having a giveaway, you may require participants to follow you on Twitter or Tweet about the giveaway to enter. This is a great way to build more followers and bring more attention to your book.

3) Develop good Twitter relationships with other authors. Retweet their posts and follow each one back. Reply back if a user comments on one of your Tweets.

4) Schedule your Tweets. This can build your audience since international users may not be seeing your Tweets. I use Twuffer, but there are a ton of apps available.

You really need to keep up with all social media platforms. Create connections on Facebook, LinkedIn, Goodreads and Pinterest to reach as many readers as possible. Don’t only post about your book. Share the love by commenting on other authors’ posts or even taking the time to share reviews on their novels.  

First Visions
By Heather Topham Wood
Second Sight Book One


blurb
Two years ago, 21-year-old Kate Edwards became deathly ill and slipped into a coma. While unconscious, she crept into the mind of a missing boy and awoke with the knowledge of his location. Friends and family were skeptical and wary of her new ability to see into the minds of others. Their fears prompted Kate to keep her psychic powers a secret. Feeling alienated, she dropped out of college and spent most of her days holed up at her mother's home.
Now another child has been abducted. Police detective Jared Corbett seeks out Kate for her help in solving the case. Reluctantly, Kate agrees and they must work together to bring 8-year-old Cori Preston home to her family. Although attracted to one another, Jared has a girlfriend with ties to the abduction case and Kate is sarcastic and guarded since her coma. With visions she can't control and an uncontrollable attraction to the detective, she wonders if she can leave the past behind and finally stop hiding from the world. Otherwise, Cori may be lost forever.


EXCERPT:

I get you? What the hell was that supposed to mean? His comments were making her feel unsure and suddenly exposed. Quickly, she decided to change the subject. “Your aunt doesn’t have any abilities?”
“No, she just always felt there was more to the world than we could see. Most of her major life decisions are based on answers she receives during tarot card readings. Some of her ideas are pretty out there. But I learned from a young age how to take things with a grain of salt,” he explained.
“Is she local?”
“Not anymore. Kind of lives off the grid now. She met this guy from Maine and moved up there about five years ago. He makes these amazing homemade brooms and Aunt Lizzie helps him run his business.” He gave a fond smile as he thought about his aunt. “You should meet her one day, you’d love her.”
“She sounds cool. Although introductions might be a little awkward. How would you present me? As your psychic sidekick?”
Before he could reply, the waitress returned for their order. He ordered a grilled chicken sandwich and potato salad. Against her better judgment, she went for the cheese fries with a side of gravy.
Jared gave her an undisguised look of distaste once the waitress had left. “How can you eat that crap? Sounds disgusting.” As he let his gaze run over her body, she felt heat rise to her cheeks. “Why are you so thin? You should be a hundred pounds overweight if you eat that kind of stuff.”
Kate snorted. Jeez, she really needed to stop snorting in his presence, talk about one of the least attractive qualities. “I’m hardly thin, I saw your girlfriend. I look like Cartman from South Park next to her.”
“Ugh, girls with their weight issues,” he said and waved her off. “Want to show me that sketch now?”
She pulled the picture out of her purse and he examined it thoroughly. After a moment of thoughtful consideration, he remarked, “You did a good job, I have a few ideas of what type of car it may be. Looks like an older model Ford or Toyota sedan. You said about ten years old and dark green?”
She nodded and he continued, “I’ll work on getting printouts of models from around that time period. See if we can get an exact match.”
“I wish I could’ve seen the license plate, but it wasn’t visible from the angle he brought Cori out in. The garage was well-lit, but the rest of the house was dark. The layout of the house looked like a Cape Cod style, but honestly he dragged her through so quickly I couldn’t say for sure.” She sighed and then took a sip of her diet soda. She figured ordering the diet soda helped to cancel out the massive amounts of calories in the cheese fries.
“Do you have any idea of a timeframe? How long she was in the car for?”
“She was unconscious for part of the ride. She didn’t have a good sense of time, but I would say he was driving for no more than twenty minutes while she was awake. It was very dark in the house which makes me guess it could have been a lot later after he left the Prestons. Not sure if he went anywhere first before heading to his house. Maybe someone near Cori’s house will remember seeing that type of car. I can’t imagine too many of the Prestons’ neighbors drive a hoopdie like that.”
He leaned back and chewed on his thumb. “With the damage to the front, it would definitely stand out. Of course, I wish we knew more, but this has been extremely helpful, Kate. Thank you.”
Closely, she watched his movements as he patted her hand. It only lasted a second, but Kate felt the touch long after he pulled away. Suffering a loss for words, Kate was grateful for the interruption when his phone rang.
After answering, he put his hand over the receiver and addressed her. “I’m going to step outside and take this. It’s a call from another one of the detectives working on the case.” After her nod, he disappeared out of the diner. While she waited, she fidgeted and tried not to think about how right his hand felt on hers.
A couple of minutes later, he returned with an apologetic look on his face. “Sorry about that. He wanted to let me know that they’re organizing a search party for tonight. The plan is to comb a few wooded areas in town to look for Cori. We have other detectives going door to door with Cori’s picture to see if anyone has any information,” he explained solemnly. It was hard to not get drawn in by his intensity as he spoke about Cori.
As the food arrived at the table, she became convinced greasy food would help get rid of these butterflies she was feeling. She saturated the fries with the gravy. After shoving a forkful in her mouth, she closed her eyes and sighed. “These are heavenly.”
Jared gave her a dubious look while taking a bite of his sandwich. “I can see your arteries clogging right before my eyes.”
She held out her fork to him. “Go ahead and try them. You know you want to.”
He looked on the verge of denial, but eventually caved. “Fine, but I have a feeling I’ll be regretting it.”
She grinned as he took a large bite. He showed no reaction, but she giggled as he reached over and took another large forkful. “I can’t tell if I like it. I better taste some more in order to make a sound judgment.”
“Sounds like a plan,” she said. She grabbed a side dish plate and piled some on it. “Here, stop denying yourself. One serving of disco fries will not kill you.” Her grin could not seem to fade as she pushed the plate to his side of the table.
“So, that’s what these are called? Now that you have me addicted to them, I can blame you when I get too fat to chase anyone down,” he commented between bites. He cut his sandwich in half and held out a piece to her. “Wanna share?”
She took the sandwich from him and felt a jolt as their hands brushed. She was in big trouble and she knew it. More of this and she was going to ask him to procreate on the table right then and there. He returned her smile and seemed to also revel in the intimacy of the moment. She wished she could’ve thrown his phone against the wall when it rang again a second later. Kate felt embarrassed that she was weirding him out when she noticed how uncomfortable he suddenly looked.


Review Rating:  4 LIGHTNING BOLTS




Review:  Kate's life has changed. She's endured a bit of a rough time, and comes out of it with something she never imagined. She has abilities now, and many are skeptic about them, sometimes including Kate. 


First Visions grabbed my attention. It's a different than a lot of the psychic stories out there. Kate is a great main character, she's spunky, snarky, and fun. The internal and external conflict with Kate is well executed in this story, making for a page-turning read.  I was up pretty late at night reading, and had a few chills. I also kept telling myself "one more chapter" but that turned into more. 


I am intrigued and since this says Book one, I hope to see what more comes out of this author! Very enjoyable and compelling read. 







First Visions on B&N

Author bio  
Heather Topham Wood graduated from the College of New Jersey in 2005 and holds a bachelor's degree in English. Working full-time as a freelance writer for publications such as USA Today, Livestrong.com, Outlook by the Bay and Step in Style magazine, she writes fiction novels in her spare time. She resides in Trenton, New Jersey with her husband and two sons. Besides writing, Heather is a pop culture fanatic and has an obsession with supernatural novels and TV shows.
First Visions is the first book in the Second Sight series.

http://authorheather.wordpress.com

Http://twitter.com/woodtop255

There is a tour wide giveaway, so be sure to enter the contact via the Rafflecoptor, and be sure to leave comments! Thanks for stopping by!

a Rafflecopter giveaway