Chattip Yang is a junior at Appleton High School West who offers her review here of this New York Times Notable Book of 2020. Jeffrey Selingo’s new book, Who Gets In and Why: A Year Inside College Admissions, has important information about how to get into college. As a junior in high school I thought I should be preparing to take the SAT/ACT but I learned the tests… [Read More]
Book reviews can be enormously helpful to an author. Those who decide what new titles to order for a bookstore or the library often consult reviews first. Readers, too, may be persuaded to pick up a book based on what they read in a review. And we’ve all heard the urban legend that you need to have 50 or some magic number of reviews on… [Read More]
Social media gives us new ways to connect with others and pursue our interests, which can include following our favorite authors, publishers, and bookstores. While it may seem an unlikely place, Instagram is one of these platforms with a rather large book-loving community. Recently, I became the new admin behind the Swenson Book Development Instagram account, but of course, there are many others in the… [Read More]
I feel anger when I look at the cover of the new graphic novel adaption of Kindred, originally written by Octavia Butler in 1979. The cover shows two wrists bound, and the colors are red, beige, brown and black. The uplifted arms are brown, the handcuffs are black, and the hand grasping one wrist is beige. The title, Kindred, in red burns upwards from the… [Read More]
Not every book gets a starred review from Kirkus. Whether it’s a review from a literary critic or the crank on Amazon, negative reviews hurt. They hurt a lot more than you’d think and in ways you can’t always imagine. But how do you react to the pain inflicted from a negative assessment of your book? What do you do with your feelings? It’s increasingly… [Read More]
During these cold winter months I love to curl up with a book and escape to other worlds between the pages. I bet you do, too. Finding more time to enjoy reading for pleasure is the best gift you can give yourself this year. When I think about the books I’ve read during the last year there are some which stayed with me a long… [Read More]
August is reading month and if you’re looking for something to take to the beach or enjoy at the cabin, consider these current titles the team at Swenson Book Development LLC is reading now. Samantha Kolb: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas Alanna Rieser: The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway Mother… [Read More]
The world is coming to an end. At least, that’s what it feels like. In contemporary fiction, apocalyptic stories have captured the attention of young adult readers. Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games, Rick Yancey’s The 5th Wave, and Veronica Roth’s Divergent series—these novels found millions of fans and have become immortalized on the silver screen. But why? One answer that comes to mind involves the stories… [Read More]
If you are a writer, you have likely been asked this question. Perhaps more than once. Before you answer, recognize the question is loaded like a gun and it could go off and hurt you. These requests from some authors contain two unjustified assumptions: one, you plan to read it, and two, you will write something nice about it. Caveat emptor – Buyer beware. More… [Read More]
It is the author’s responsibility to seek endorsements for their books and publishers expect you to get them. Blurbs – often only a few words or phrase of praise from a high profile author, celebrity, or expert – appear on a book’s cover or dust jacket flaps. Blurbs are also used in query letters to agents, on tip sheets to booksellers, in marketing materials and… [Read More]
