Saturday, April 27, 2013

BOOK REVIEW: “Seventh Dimension – The Door: A Young Adult Fantasy” Five Stars from Readers' Favorite Reviewer Maria Beltran





Reviewed by Maria Beltran for Readers’ Favorite
Five Stars


Seventh Dimension - The Door: A Young Adult Fantasy by Lorilyn Roberts is a young adult fantasy novel about the adventures of Shale Snyder. Bullied at school and a product of a broken family, she finds herself in an unusual situation when she is transported to a garden paradise. She meets a donkey and a rabbit there who inform her that she is in the garden of the king himself. There is trouble in the garden, however, and Shale escapes to the seventh dimension together with a dog. More adventures await her in the amazing place where she finds herself. And in facing them, she is forced to look inside her heart. Hungry for love, will she finally find it here?

What is surprising about this young adult fantasy book is that although it is a fantasy story, it manages to deal with the issues that confront our young people today. Shale Snyder, the main character in the story, personifies many of the problematic young people in our present society. This makes her a real person to me. Because of her background, she longs for real love and she looks for it subconsciously. The talking animals make this story a fable and I can imagine that it will be an entertaining read for young people.

In Seventh Dimension - The Door, I think the author Lorilyn Roberts intends to give young and rejected kids some hope that they will find what they are looking for someday and hints where to find it. And the reader also gets the extra bonus of going through a very entertaining book that will surely tickle their imagination. There is no doubt that this book is a must-read for people of all ages.

FREE on Amazon Kindle and across the web.


Tuesday, March 19, 2013

BOOK MARKETING: HOW MUCH DIFFERENCE IN SALES DOES A GREAT BOOK COVER MAKE? by Lorilyn Roberts

Original cover on the left.   Lisa Vento designed the cover on the right

How much difference does a great book cover make when it comes to selling books? The one on the left is my original book cover of Seventh Dimension - The Door. I found the photograph at http://shutterstock.com and bought the license to use it. I then hired a professional to design the book cover. There is nothing wrong with my original cover on the left, but compared to the one on the right - what do you think?

How about some numbers to compare how many copies I sold of Seventh Dimension - The Door with the two different covers?  From October 2012 through February 2013, I sold 118 books. From March 1 through March 17, with the new book cover, I sold 374 books. Seventh Dimension - The Door reached number one in Christian Fantasy, Christian Futuristic, and Religious Science Fiction & Fantasy on Amazon (Kindle version). 


As you can see in the screenshot below, Amazon is now labeling Seventh Dimension - The Door a "#1 best seller." The only significant factor I can attribute the increase in sales to is the book cover. The number of reviews didn't change dramatically. I had three more reviews added in March (If you would like to review my book, let me know in the comments). 






Who is the miracle worker that designed my new book cover? Her name is Lisa Vento.  She was recommended to me by Jerry Jenkins. 

Why settle for a mediocre book cover when you can hire someone to design a great book cover? I had no idea that an excellent book cover made that much difference in sales, but it does.  If you would like to contact Lisa Vento or look at other book covers she has designed, her website is LisaVento.com