It won't be long before the only newspapers we have left will be clever creations like this Fairy Tale newspaper sold by the Etsy shop theFiligree.

Years ago, book reviews were printed only in publications read by professionals or if one was lucky in a newspaper’s book review section. When an author received a good review she might celebrate by popping the cork on a bottle of champagne or calling her mother. A bad review might lead to throwing pillows around the living room or placing a different sort of call to her mother.

Times have changed. Professional review publications are still around and so (at least for the moment) are newspapers. However, the internet has multiplied the number of opportunities to receive reviews be they good or bad. There are book bloggers, Amazon.com and something called Goodreads. The internet has also changed the way we as authors interact with the world and how we as authors interact with our fans. We are used to sharing our every emotion with the world and the most mundane events of our life via places like Facebook and Twitter. We write blogs where we can rant and rave about whatever annoys us. This internet thing can be a dangerous place for authors.

So no matter where you are in your writing career, here’s some tips to keep in mind.

1. Some people are not going to like your book. It seems impossible after all that you went through to finally get your book accepted for publication and then all the edits and tweaks your book went through, but it’s true, some people still won’t like it. Prepare yourself for this fact.

2. If you are having a hard time accepting the fact that there are people who won’t like your book, do yourself a favor and turn off your Google alerts, stay away from Goodreads and Amazon, and do not click on any links to reviews you accidentally stumble across on sites like Twitter and Facebook. Some of these reviews will be good, but some will be bad. It’s a fact of life.

3. If you’ve decided that you can handle reading bad reviews and you do not take the steps outlined in step 2, do not comment on any online reviews you find. Although it might seem polite to thank a blogger for a nice review, I think it might cheapen the review somehow to add your comment to the blog post. I also advise the no comment rule because you should absolutely under no circumstances comment on a bad review.

If you're determined to read bad reviews, invest in some good throwing pillows. A literary pillow case like this one by the Etsy shop BookFiend isn't a bad idea either.

4. Don’t react to a bad review. Okay, you’re human. You’re going to react to a bad review. Do it the old fashioned way. Throw pillows. Call your mother. Do your reacting away from your computer. If you need to, send an email to your close friends to vent. Don’t vent on Twitter, Facebook or your blog. These are public forums. The literary world may seem huge, but it’s amazing how small it gets when one of its member engages in bad behavior. You don’t want to be that person.

5. Write the next book. The publishing world moves so slowly that by the time a book comes out you should no longer be emotionally invested in it. You should be pouring your passion into your next book. It’s easier to ignore critical reviews if you accept the fact that once your book is out there in the world it is out of your hands. Cut the apron strings, and move on to the next project.

Book bloggers as you probably could have guessed are individuals who blog about books. They post book reviews,

Last year when I put out the request for "I Am Popular" pictures for the Popular book trailer, more than one book blogger helped me out.

interviews with authors and favorite book lists. Like other blogs, book blogs each have their own style and format. Many list review policies and the genres they prefer.

Of course, this description only scratches the surface of what book bloggers do. To an author, book bloggers are heroes. They champion authors. As a debut author, whose first novel came out from a small press, I was astounded at the outpouring of love and support I received from book bloggers. When I attended BEA last May, I met book bloggers who came to New York from all over the country. Many of them spent their own money to attend the conference.

In an era where print media is disappearing, at a time when most mainstream media pretty much ignores books with the possible exception of all but the biggest bestsellers, book bloggers are a tremendously powerful ally. Book bloggers rock.

I’m not naive. I know that not everyone (and that includes book bloggers) is going to like my book. That a book blogger would take the time to read and share their opinion of a book is an honor. For this reason, I’m glad to be a writer at a time when book bloggers exist. I think these hard-working, devoted and under-appreciated bloggers provide a tremendous service to the writing community.

Thank you, book bloggers everywhere.

I’m not going to dissect the article. You can read it for yourself and form  your own opinion. I’m only going to take issue with one teeny, tiny part of the article. The writer claims, “the purpose of literature is to elevate. Not to entertain,” and I wholeheartedly disagree.

I think the purpose of literature is to entertain. Maybe it’s the purpose of some books to elevate, but a book that was written with the sole purpose of elevating sounds like a book I have a no desire to read. I don’t know about you, but when I’m trying to decide which book to read next, I’m not asking myself which one I think will do the most to elevate me. I’m thinking about which one I think I’ll enjoy the most. When, I read a work of fiction, I want to be entertained.

That’s why kids should read books – to be entertained. It’s teachers just like the one that wrote that Daily News article who turn kids off of reading. I’ve been a lifelong reader, but I haven’t always seen eye to eye with my reading and English teachers, who seemed determined to get me to ditch my books in favor of the ones they wanted me to read. I realize now, this wasn’t even a question of literary merit. I was reading books that were challenging and full of literary merit, but they just weren’t the books my teachers wanted me to read. I don’t mean this as a rant against teachers because I know there are lots of teacher out there who understand this. Those are the good teachers, thankfully, I had plenty of those.

I majored in English in college, which was probably a mistake. For one thing, career prospects for someone with a B.A. in English are pretty slim, for another majoring in English is enough to test the faith of any book lover. College English classes are, for the most part (there were a few exceptions, thank you Dr. H. Bruce Franklin) not about the enjoyment of books but about the dissection of books. Dissecting books is along the lines of reading elevating literature. It isn’t fun. If you are young and planning your college career and you like books and are considering majoring in English, I urge you to reconsider. Major in math or science or business instead. Well, maybe not business.

I used to work in the children’s department of a busy public library, this means that I got to help all those kids whose teachers had given them reading assignments that were designed to elevate or drive children’s librarians crazy or whatever. The kids who were regular readers and regular library users usually were able to find books no problem. It was the other kids, the struggling readers, who had more difficulty. Some kids are not fast readers, and being given assignment that requires them to read an entire book in 2 or 3 weeks can be frightening. These kids would gravitate to books like the Goosebumps series or graphic novels about superheroes, which often didn’t fit the requirements of the assignment. Time and again, when I helped these kids find books, one of the suggestions would be a book by Walter Dean Myers, because his books tend to be shorter in length and accessible and enjoyable. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying books. That’s the real purpose of books.

A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine who is way more tech savvy than me, sent me a link to a post by Evo Terra that explained why authors should create a Google+ page for their book. It was one of those things that I sort of mentally filed away, and said I would get to when I had a few spare minutes. I managed to squeeze it in last week.

I need to make it very clear that I am not a tech savvy person, and that if things are not idiot-proof I will likely find a way to mess it up. I should probably also point out that my computer is dinosaur-like in its capabilities so everything I do takes about 5 times longer than it takes the average person.

In order to create a Google+ page you need to have a Google+ profile already set up. So, basically that means setting up an account in your name. By the way, Google+ is a social networking site kind of like Facebook. When it first came out everyone thought it would immediately replace Facebook. That has yet to happen, and may never happen. All the same, I listened to all my more technologically advanced friends and set up a profile. For awhile there I was good about updating it, but then things kind of fell by the wayside. Anyway, with my resolution to be a better social networker I’m trying to stay on top of things.

If you scroll down on your Google+ home page there is a link on the sidebar on the right hand side that says Create a Google+ Page. Click on that. Then you are given a choice of categories. For a book page you should select the Arts, Entertainment and Sports Category.

Where it asked for a title, I entered Popular, which also not coincidentally, is my book’s title. So far, easy peasy, right?

Next it asked for a website. Instead of putting in a direct link to my website: alissagrosso.com, I decided to link to the specific page in my website with information on Popular, which happens to be alissagrosso.com/books/popular. Okay, so far so good.

Next it wanted me to select a category. This was where I told Google+ that this page was a book.

After that it was time to enter a 10 word tagline, I went with a short and sweet description of my book, “A high school popularity novel with an unexpected twist.”

Next it was time to add some media to my page. I added some photos both of the book cover and related photos of the book, a shot of me holding up an “I am Popular” sign for my book trailer. A picture of Popular on display in a bookstore window. Some pictures of me holding up Popular at different book signings.

On the video tab I uploaded my book trailer, naturally.

The about tab allowed me to include a little bit more information than that 10 word tagline and even allowed me to include some links so I linked to this website and my Twitter account.

Speaking of links there is also a section on the Google+ page for adding related links. I added my publisher as well as some groups I belong to. I’m probably going to add the different buy links for Popular as well, but with my dinosaur computer being extra sluggish, I decided to take a break for a little bit.

You can see the Google+ page for Popular here.

Is a Google+ page for my book truly necessary? Who knows? It was relatively painless, even for me, and my philosophy is that it won’t hurt any.

I am grateful to A. S. King for this blurb and am truly honored by her kind words. In case you aren’t familiar with her and her work, she is a super-talented YA author. Her debut The Dust of 100 Dogs blew me away. Then she came out with Please Ignore Vera Deitz last year, and I was not at all surprised when it was awarded a Printz Honor. I just finished her latest, Everybody Sees the Ants. It’s one of those books you will want to stay up all night reading. It’s a serious book, that has all these laugh out loud funny parts and a wonderful collection of quirky characters.

So, in case you can’t tell. This blurb really, really means a lot to me.

That's me along with Keri Mikulski and Ellen Jensen Abbott as we ham it up with our books at the Collingswood Book Festival.

Hi, how have you been? I realized it’s been awhile since I posted anything, but I have a good excuse. (Don’t I always?) So, far October has been a crazy month and this week will be no exception.

Things started off with a bang with the awesome and amazing Collingswood Book Festival, where I had a great time hanging out with my fellow KidLit Authors Club Members.

The following day I fought my way through Iron Man traffic to get to the library volunteer luncheon. Though, as someone pointed out, they should have considered renaming this particular race the Tin Man, since the triathlon became a biathlon thanks to the Delaware River being too high.

After that I was off to State College, PA for the PA Library Association annual conference. In addition to getting to catch up with some of my favorite librarians, I also got to meet fellow authors Kieryn Nicolas and Carolyn Turgeon who were wonderful panel mates.

I got back home and had a couple of days to play catch up before I had to help my parents with their massively huge ginormous getting ready to move to Florida garage sale. They still have awhile to go before the big move and though they did sell a lot of things at the sale, they still have quite a bit of clearing out to do before they are ready to pack up and head south.

I’ve got another day of rest on my hands, but I’m already thinking ahead to some fun in store later this week. October 13 at 7 p.m., (that’s this Thursday evening) I’m excited to be visiting the Bradford County Library to talk about writing Popular and sign copies of my book.

On Saturday I’ll be taking part in the the 3rd Annual Bookfest in Wellsboro, PA. This all day event is held at the Wellsboro High School and features both new and used books. I’ll be bringing along some scratch off tickets. So, stop by to pick one and try your luck at winning a fun prize.

I hope you are having as much fun as I am this month!

Sure, most of these author copies are already earmarked for various giveaways, and will not be in my possession for very long, but it’s still nice to see, and of course if you want to try to win one of the books from this box, there are a few different opportunities on my giveaways page.

I also want to tip you off to another giveaway, where you can win a copy of Popular. This one is being hosted by Apocalypsie, Jill Hathaway. In case you were wondering the Apocalypsies are a group of debut children’s and young adult authors whose first books will be out in 2012. Jill’s debut novel Slide is due out in Winter 2012. Stop by Jill’s blog to meet another debut author and to get a chance at winning a copy of Popular.

That metal sculpture you see was made by the greatest boyfriend in the world (I might be slightly partial in these matters). Obviously he knows me pretty well, since like that statue, I usually have my face in a book, and of course it has taken up residence on a bookshelf where it feels right at home.

As if making me that awesome sculpture wasn’t enough, he went and got me a new iPod, as well. That could have something to do with the fact that he’s tired of hearing me complain about my broken one or tired of listening to the same mix CDs over and over again anytime I drive him somewhere.

My mother also made me a gift – a scrapbook chronicling my life up to this point, and speaking of books my sister gave me The Dead Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan – that didn’t come as much of a surprise since she called me en route to the book store to ask me what I wanted. I also wound up with some birthday cash that will likely go towards adding a few more books to my library.

Oh, and what would a birthday be without cake? If you want to know how old I am, you’re going to have to count those candles.

That said, the book doesn’t always have to be long, just good, and the tea might not even have to come in a cup. With the weather we have had lately in a glass with lots of ice will do just fine.

So, if you were to write your own version of this quote, how might it read?

You can’t get a blank something enough or another blank something else enough to suit me.