An Indie Writer's Pain: Gettting Book Reviews

Kay's Book Reviews:

Indie writers can envy writers, like Kevin Hearne, who are published by the corporate big boys. For example, here he's getting a review of his book Hammered, the third novel in his Iron Druid series, and he didn't ask me for a review. -- We won't talk about the almost a hundred reviewers I queried with little results, and no this isn't sour grapes. Just an observation. 

Actually Hearne dismayed me when I first started reading. The opening didn't sparkle like his previous books ... until I hit his ode to salad spinners. This bit after he'd finished turning Asgard, the plane of the Norse gods, on its ear. More important, he doesn't dwell on his genius bit of humor but jumps right back into the plot of avoiding god-generated disasters and making Thor pay for his centuries of cruelty and entitled attitude.

Yeah, I admit my envy of humorous writers since I'm incapable of writing funny. Oh, I understand the basic structure of juxtaposing two incompatibilities. Like the forgetful rabbi making the "sign of the cross" with the punch line: spectacles, testicles, watch and cigars. I'm condemned to spending my life being an appreciative audience for others. Books that do humor well while keeping the plot moving ... fast, should be cherished.

Yeah, this book isn't as funny as the others, but more important, it's more than competently written. The lives of the main characters and major secondary characters continue to develop and the loose ends are tied just enough to leave some dangling hooks to pull you into the next set of books. Let's hope Atticus  O'Sullivan continues his Brer Rabbit conniving for many books to come. 

Bonus Review:

The NYC son has a fascination for old for old cover art. I benefited by rereading Alan Garner's The Weirdstone of Brisingamen in the 0.25 Ace edition, yellow pages and all. I had forgotten what a great chase it was. 

Just as Tolkein marked fantasy tropes, I think Alan Garner set off a bunch of his own. Of course, he used tropes himself -- wise old wizard and kids landing in an adventure when they are removed from their normal lives.  It's what you do with the trope that matter. I found Garner's mine escapes more exciting than Tolkein's.

Grumbling About My Writing Lessons:

Time.  Where does it go. Of course, I had my critique meeting last week ... and my old man's second eye surgery. Even though I was told, not too gently, I need to add more back story to my new Half-Elven novella, I've been spending enormous amounts of time looking for book reviews.  

Yes, it is a long, involved process.  I blame the book reviewers for being too interesting.  First, I have to go to their websites to see what they do.  Then, most of them suck me into reading a couple reviews, sometimes more. There are some really good books out there ... even those written by indie writers.

Want to try reading some new writers without breaking your wallet? You might visit: The 99-cent-Book Network run by the Indie Book Collective. Contrary to popular opinion, you don't need a reader to download an e-book ... even on Amazon.

Before I go any further, I must share a link on Why Books Don't Sell from MuseInks. Since I'm one of the thousands who have an abysmal Amazon ranking, I thought I'd share this before I proceed.

Getting ready to draft a new novel? I used to do it every fall, and I bet many of you with children do the same as soon as the school bell rings. C. A. Marshall revealed a simplified way to check on your plot development: The Nine Grid Plan. I printed it off since I could even understand it ... unlike the snowflake method so many people swear at. 

Trivia:

Gotta crow ... even if you aren't interested.
Richard Hayes who reviewed Taking Vengeance at What I Wrote said:
Theodoratus' Half-elven "...is a new approach to the Elven legend which is really refreshing." 

Does Writing Openings Paralyze You?

My Book Review [aka Comments]:

Okay, I know about the importance of a book's opening sentence, paragraph and chapters.  They perform the important hooking function of luring the reader deeper into the book, but oh, is it sweatful.  That and the cover and book blurb are major selling points when you look at a book on the rack.  Yeah, Nora Roberts' The Search hooked me with the first chapter and the  blurb about rescue dogs.  I picked it up because rescue dogs interest me even though I'm a cat person. In short, Roberts lured me out of my reading zone.

Then, reality set in.  The book's almost 500 words long, long enough to be a pain in the butt if you try to read it in less than a week.  But, that wasn't the reason I found myself skimming the book half-way through.  I felt the thriller [suspense novel ?] got bogged down in the detail.  

Still, there's a lot to like, especially if you're a romance reader. [I'm not.]  Still, I liked Roberts lip-lock scenes in this book.  They weren't all sugary and weak-kneed but kept a fair amount of heat between two interesting adults.  If you want to read a book about a survivor,  The Search will give you a good read ... provided you are trying to kill lots of free time.  I'll even grant that you might like to read romances.

Bonus Review:

Sins Out of School  [a Dorothy Martin mystery] by Jeanne M. Dams ... starts with the premise: what can go wrong when a teacher takes on a substitute assignment. [We'll pause while teachers shudder.]  In this case, it's a murder. The book is a nice, if somewhat predictable, cozy mystery about an sleuth who's an American living in Britain.  Again, I guess my definition of fantasy stretches to this book since I can't quite accept that such places ever existed except in never-never Britain.

Lessons in My Reading:

Slow but sure does it.  Still haven't done much on the book review front, but I did discover a blog about the Five Best Ebook Stores at Lifehacker. In short, the places where your ebook should be.  They list these ebook stores: Google ebooks, Project Gutenberg, Kobo, B&N Nook, and Amazon Kindle.  WolfSinger Press took care of the Kobo, B&N, and Amazon for Taking Vengeance. 

Ugh.  I have more research to do for Cavern Between Worlds since I self-published it.  It's up on Smashwords which includes Kobo.  The rest will have to wait until I start charging for the book in August.  [Just like that, there's another item added to my to-do list.] --  One bit of information for self-publishers:  you can set your book up for Pub It [B&N] and Kindle [Amazon] on Smashwords.

Yeah, the book review requests keep going to the back burner, mostly because I'm really concentrating on writing new stuff so I can publish something else, maybe.  I'm trying write more pointed scenes in the draft rather have my characters drift around in an interesting situation. Found Kathryn Craft's blog about Critique Speak at the Blood Red Pencil quite pertinent.  The goal is to present sharp, crisp scenes that intrigue my critiquers the first time around.

There's another reason for the slowness in the review process -- time.  Finding places to submit your review means you have to read several possibilities to make sure they review your genre.  Then, there's no guarantee you'll get reviewed once you get added to their queue.  Still, I image much of my not-so-free time on the web will be spent going through my lists.  The two best lists I've found stress indie books:  Simon Royke's the Indie Book Reviewer and the Reviewer List.  I'm hoping for two reviews from 100 cold calls.

Trivia:

Okay, in spite of complaining about how busy I am, we're going to see the last Harry Potter.  I expect a grand spectacle after a nice lunch.  No, I'm not all sad that Harry Potter's ending.  I enjoyed reading the books, but often the movies did a better job telling a story.  

My recommendation:  all writers should read to marvel at the world J. K. Rowling created.  Her writing would make an anthropologist proud.