Sheryl Sorrentino

Showing Tag: "book" (Show all posts)

“Trolls” on Goodreads?

Posted by Sheryl Sorrentino on Saturday, October 15, 2016,

Who are these faceless, photo-less “members” who have seemingly joined Goodreads for the sole purpose of panning books with one- and two-star ratings? I've been slogging along at this writing game for over five years now, with five titles on Goodreads and another in the works. Lately, I’ve begun seeing new rankings popping up on my Goodreads pages almost daily.

At first, I was excited. I thought, “Maybe I’ve finally broken through! Maybe people are finally starting to notice m...


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Astor Place Vintage: A Well-Crafted Collision of Feminism's First and Third Waves

Posted by Sheryl Sorrentino on Tuesday, October 15, 2013,

I was recently contacted, out of the blue, by a traditionally-published author for an honest review of her latest novel (tell me, how cool is that?). Although I already had the book on my Goodreads "To Read" shelf, I was afraid I might hate it. And then what? Unlike some, I would never trash a novel after being asked to review it. But at the same time, I couldn't very well accept a free copy and then not post a review--at least not without telling the author why I didn't enjoy her book enou...


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“Make It ‘Til You Fake It”

Posted by Sheryl Sorrentino on Friday, May 10, 2013,

You read that correctly. I hate self-promotion, and I especially loathe that stupid saying, “Fake it until you make it.” Who came up with this, anyway? “Fake” is the antithesis of everything I strive to be, namely authentic, genuine, and real. As far as I am concerned, you gotta get the goods before you can put up a “For Sale” sign.

Besides which, while you’re so busy “faking it,” how are you going to learn what you need to know to offer something of value? That comes from b...


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Don’t Judge a Book by its (Stock Photo) Cover

Posted by Sheryl Sorrentino on Saturday, April 13, 2013,

Anyone who has self-published knows the agony of relying on stock photography for the “perfect cover.” There is no such thing. But we self-pubbers understand that (unless money is no object) it doesn’t make economic sense to commission an artist or photographer to custom-design a cover. Royalty-free stock photography is licensed for a small, one-time fee that allows an author commercial use of up to 500,000 copies. (To give you an idea, many so-called “best-sellers” sell only about ...


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What the Self-Publishing World Needs

Posted by Sheryl Sorrentino on Saturday, October 27, 2012,

I came across this article in HuffPost Books yesterday while perusing Facebook (thank you, Glenda Bixler, for posting!): "Are Self-Publishing Authors Killing the Publishing Industry?" http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10.... Its author, Melissa Foster, argues that we self-published types are “devaluing the written word” by selling our books so cheaply ($.99 to free as e-books), relying on “gimmicks” to gain sales, and having “mismanaged expectations.”

Allow me to offer the self-p...


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What's With the Pseudonym?

Posted by Sheryl Sorrentino on Friday, October 19, 2012,
I recently reached out to media trying to pitch a by-lined article (that’s an article placed in a print or Internet outlet where credit is given to the author, along with a nice “plug” about his or her book). I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised that virtually no one answered (they never do), but I was surprised by the one response I did get:

“O why the pseudonym. If YOU have something to say, say it. Otherwise shut up.”

Ouch! The original message was riddled with typos and mis...

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On Growing Wings and Learning to Walk

Posted by Sheryl Sorrentino on Thursday, October 4, 2012,
The Floater is two months old today. I would have likened the release of my latest book to pushing a baby bird out of the nest. Perhaps in the best of worlds, this would be true—I’d give it a little shove, and it would fly away on ever-strengthening wings. (Unless it’s weak or ill-conceived, in which case, I’d watch in horror as it floundered, then crashed to the ground.)

But I now see why launching a book is often compared to the birth of a baby. You force this thing—this newly lib...

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On Giving Bad Reviews

Posted by Sheryl Sorrentino on Friday, September 28, 2012,
And by “bad,” I don’t mean poorly-written (that’s a subject for another day). I mean those scathing one- and two-star reviews some people post when they didn’t enjoy a book for whatever reason. Now, I have no problem stating my case if I don't like a particular book. But when faced with the pesky dilemma of whether to imprint an already negative review with fewer than three stars, I have recently found myself unable to do it. Having been on the receiving end of a few such critiques,...

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The Vulnerable Side of a Writer's Life

Posted by Sheryl Sorrentino on Friday, September 7, 2012,
Okay, The Floater has been out for over a month, and I am into full marketing (ahem, hawking) mode. I hired a publicist to run a two-week media campaign, and I’ve gotten several “nibbles.” (And you’d be amazed just how thrilling it is to get any expression of interest from an online newspaper, blogger or review site—even if it means giving books away for free! You’d think I was actually generating sales!) I feel like a job applicant who emailed her resume to over a thousand people...
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Should You Flirt on Facebook?

Posted by Sheryl Sorrentino on Friday, August 31, 2012,

As my circle of Facebook friends has expanded (a direct result of my book marketing efforts), I sometimes face the lure of online flirting. And as a hormonally-unstable 50-year-old fighting a losing battle with menopause, I can personally attest that its pull can be irresistible. But should I do it?

Don’t tell me Facebook flirting is “harmless.” Obviously, it means something to somebody, or there wouldn't be so much advice out there counseling how to do it well. Online flirting is far f...


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The High Price of Passion

Posted by Sheryl Sorrentino on Saturday, July 7, 2012,
Not too long ago, I fantasized about eliminating the workaday pressures of practicing law, and instead living off my fiction writing. Boy, was I in for a rude awakening! I don’t care how good a writer you are, how committed, or how relatively successful. Chances are, you’re not going to single-handedly support a family on the vagaries of the literary marketplace.

Sure, you might get lucky and sell a few hundred copies of your title, or even get picked up by a publisher. If you’re really...

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Why I Write What I Do

Posted by Sheryl Sorrentino on Saturday, June 30, 2012,
Oh, I can feel those labor pains. The Floater is in head-down position, and I’m at six centimeters. Just one reader left, whose feedback I await with bated breath. But the comments I've received from test readers thus far have proven invaluable. I am excited—and scared! My baby is about to be born, and somehow, I sense that her emergence will, like the birth of a new family member, change my life in unimaginable ways big and small.

At this juncture, I cannot help but take stock of my fir...

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Back to the Drawing Board . . .

Posted by Sheryl Sorrentino on Saturday, June 16, 2012,
Because I believe so strongly in my third novel, The Floater, and want to see it take off once it’s finally launched, I did something different this time around—I invited four people whose opinions I trust to read a proof copy and give me feedback on the story itself. By now—nearly a year after the launch of my first novel, Later With Myself: The Misadventures of Millie Moskowitz, I trust that my writing is respectable (if not brilliant). But I’ve come a long way since releasing LWM; ...

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To Critique or Not to Critique? That’s a Good Question.

Posted by Sheryl Sorrentino on Tuesday, February 28, 2012,

A few years ago, before I’d completed my first novel, Later With Myself, I was fortunate enough to have coffee with a traditionally-published novelist. A real, honest-to-goodness author who’d managed to land an agent through a Connection (see “The Elusive Elements of Success,” below) via her writers’ group. These were the first words out of her mouth—even before “Double decaf latte, please”: “You should know, I have a personal policy never to review aspiring writers’ manus...


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Sheryl Sorrentino: Real Fiction for Real Women™


Sheryl Sorrentino is a practicing attorney by day who unexpectedly discovered her passion for writing after learning of a long-deceased half-brother in 2007. She is the author of five novels (Later With Myself: The Misadventures of Millie Moskowitz; An Unexpected Exile; The Floater; Stage Daughter and Stop & Frisk) with a sixth (Smarter Than That) slated for release Spring of 2017. She lives with her husband and teenage daughter in the San Francisco Bay Area. You can learn more about Sheryl Sorrentino by visiting her Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/sheryl.sorrentino#!/pages/Sheryl-Sorrentino/249323025094995. Follow Sheryl on Twitter at @SherylSorrentin.

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