Featured Author Carol Graham and book Battered Hope

 

Comments in blocks [ ] are my own, rather than ( ) citations.

Author Carol Graham lives on the northwest coast of North America, and own and operates two jewelry stores. [How cool is that?] She’s also a health coach and travels extensively as an inspirational speaker. She’s an active blogger with two children, three grandchildren, and rescue dogs. [Thanks for that, all my dogs are rescues too. Please spay and neuter your pets!]

Battered Hope is her memoir. You can find it on Amazon: http://www.amzn.to/1wEwEsN.  She reveals that it took twenty years to write, as doing so brought forth so much pain and many difficult memories. Her daughter encouraged her to write it, and her daughter’s little dog gave her the final inspiration to write and publish. Read that story here: http://www.batteredhope.blogspot.ca/2013/12/the-miniature-dachshund-who-started-me.html. It was released at the end of 2013 and is available on Amazon and a variety of other book sites.

Carol is a resilient woman who endured traumatic events that would cause most others to roll over and quit [I can sympathize with this, after my own battle against cancer!], Through cancer, rape, marital abuse, jail, attempted suicide, the loss of a child [how sad!], and financial ruin, Carol came through these trials and is a stronger woman today. This is a story of hope, perseverance, and faith that reads like a fiction, but it’s not! It’s a TRUE account of her life!

 

 

Battered Hope is currently rated at 4.7*. One Amazon reviewer says, "I found her story one of triumph." Another states: "This well written book is not for the faint hearted. Carol Graham's harrowing story should be a lesson to us all - Once Bitten, Twice Shy!" Yet another 5* review by Marie Angele Abanga: "Battered, maybe tattered, but definitely not shattered hope!"

She says her only reason for writing this memoir was to encourage anyone going through trauma to overcome their challenges, to be a victor instead of a victim. This is the basis of her inspirational speeches, and audiences routinely come away inspired by her words.

Carol knew nothing of publishing when she first released her book. She interviewed quite a few publishers before finally settling on one. Unfortunately, the publisher she chose was not reputable, and she had to fight a difficult battle to break her contract with them [something a lot of us independent authors should keep in mind when choosing who to publish with]. She also paid them for marketing, which netted her exactly zip.

Now, she’s started her own marketing plan. She does give-aways on GoodReads, which often brings in more reviews. She also blogs regularly, but in doing so, only subtly mentions her book (rather than plugging on endlessly about it). Her advice, after spending her whole life in sales, is this: “The only way to sell anything is to sell yourself first.” [This is where I have my biggest issue; I can barely write a resume. Technically and grammatically, it’s perfect, but the content is not!]

You can find Carol at her blog: http://www.batteredhope.blogspot.com, on her Twitter @BatteredHope, on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carol.graham.90834776 and her Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Battered-Hope/60931182413550. You can also hook up with her at Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/batteredhope, Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+CarolGraham/posts, and LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/carol-graham/71/b2/446. Her GoodReads profile is: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/444146.Carol_Graham.

 

**Disclaimer: This is not an endorsement of the book in question, as I haven’t read it and cannot vouch for its contents.**