• Welcome to the Fantasy Writing Forums. Register Now to join us!

Shameless Self-Appreciation Thread

Demesnedenoir

Myth Weaver
Small world moment...

So my brother-in-law calls today to tell me that he was at a store/restaurant establishment talking to the owner he knows, when a local lawyer and his wife show up and somehow start talking about books and reading... turns out this woman is a huge fantasy fan who’s reading my book, Eve of Snows, and loving it without any idea of it’s a local writer or anything. A friend of hers recommended it and she has zero connection to me... and yet, now she does. A book.

It’s one thing to know there are several thousand copies out there in the wild around the world, but to have one of those random readers run into a relative, the whole thing is still a little surreal.
 

Malik

Auror
The New Magic got a pretty kickass review in the Booklife Prize. It didn't make the semis, but I don't really care. It scored nearly a full point higher than Dragon's Trail, including racking up an 8/10 for prose. Being that Dragon's Trail only got a 6.5 overall and it went on to conquer the world, I'm pretty psyched right now.

Best of all, there's now an argument to be made--at least to myself--that I'm getting objectively better. It has definitely lit a fire under my ass to get Book III out the door. I'm working to get it done, completely done, by early 2020 and out in January 2021. Maybe sooner, depending on my editor's timelines and availability.

Anytime you want to sympathize with indie authors who go through the trade-pub wringer, or if you just get a crappy review and want to see how scathing the big guys can be, go back and read BookLife reviews. They're written by Publishers Weekly reviewers turned loose on the indie authors who have the stones to send their stuff up for mainstream critique.
 

A. E. Lowan

Forum Mom
Leadership
The New Magic got a pretty kickass review in the Booklife Prize. It didn't make the semis, but I don't really care. It scored nearly a full point higher than Dragon's Trail, including racking up an 8/10 for prose. Being that Dragon's Trail only got a 6.5 overall and it went on to conquer the world, I'm pretty psyched right now.

Best of all, there's now an argument to be made--at least to myself--that I'm getting objectively better. It has definitely lit a fire under my ass to get Book III out the door. I'm working to get it done, completely done, by early 2020 and out in January 2021. Maybe sooner, depending on my editor's timelines and availability.

Anytime you want to sympathize with indie authors who go through the trade-pub wringer, or if you just get a crappy review and want to see how scathing the big guys can be, go back and read BookLife reviews. They're written by Publishers Weekly reviewers turned loose on the indie authors who have the stones to send their stuff up for mainstream critique.
Second this. Booklife is absolutely awesome and totally legit. We had a great experience with them with Faerie Rising.
 

Malik

Auror
Second this. Booklife is absolutely awesome and totally legit.

For better or worse, Booklife is the best barometer I've found for how an indie novel might fare among mainstream reviewers. SPFBO and other indie-specific contests are, quite literally, amateur hour. Booklife is a quarter the cost of Kirkus, and there's zero bias.

The best part about it is that if they completely destroy your book--and don't get me wrong, they apparently love to--you can keep the review private and try again next year. It gives you an objective overview of your work, ranking you no shit against what "the big kids" are looking for, and there's no way to lose. Even if they hate your work, it tells you what to work on.
 

Demesnedenoir

Myth Weaver
Oh hell, just look at what Kirkus will do to NY Times best sellers, LOL. I’m sure the PW people are the same. If you get positives from these folks it means something. Now, lots of readers won’t know it means something, but it sure as hell does. My theory is that when the big boys like something, it’s at least fairly well written (unless its real world politics, history, or whatever, then lots of non writing factors can get a book destroyed) even if it’s not something I would like. So, as a reader I weight my interest a little bit when seeing positive reviews from Kirkus or Booklife/PW.

The New Magic got a pretty kickass review in the Booklife Prize. It didn't make the semis, but I don't really care. It scored nearly a full point higher than Dragon's Trail, including racking up an 8/10 for prose. Being that Dragon's Trail only got a 6.5 overall and it went on to conquer the world, I'm pretty psyched right now.

Best of all, there's now an argument to be made--at least to myself--that I'm getting objectively better. It has definitely lit a fire under my ass to get Book III out the door. I'm working to get it done, completely done, by early 2020 and out in January 2021. Maybe sooner, depending on my editor's timelines and availability.

Anytime you want to sympathize with indie authors who go through the trade-pub wringer, or if you just get a crappy review and want to see how scathing the big guys can be, go back and read BookLife reviews. They're written by Publishers Weekly reviewers turned loose on the indie authors who have the stones to send their stuff up for mainstream critique.
 

Demesnedenoir

Myth Weaver
Oh shoot, I don’t recall. Been a while. But if you give them your info and act like you might pay for one, you’ll start getting special offers, the best I’ve seen is $100 off. At the time I used Kirkus, Booklife was doing paid reviews.

I will also note my quibble with Booklife is the cutoff at 150k words, LOL. Thy also have a word count max on their contest that pisses me off.

How much do they normally charge?
 

Malik

Auror
Not cheap! I could run a few advertising campaigns for that.

It depends what you want to do in the long run. A good Kirkus review can get your foot in the door with bloggers and reviewers who will effectively promote your book for free, effectively forever. If you're willing to do the legwork, a glowing mainstream review can translate to far more sales than you'd get for the equivalent in ad campaigns. It just takes longer. Mainstream critical acclaim has been the lynchpin of my success so far.

The flipside of it is, they don't promise you a good review. If you spend the $400 and they hate it, well . . . yikes.

If you're following the typical indie model--find your formula, write fast, build a backlist, sell cheap, first one free--then mainstream reviews aren't worth the outlay. Definitely go for the shorter-term gains that you'll get with cheaper promos.

Man, I need to do a blog post.
 

Demesnedenoir

Myth Weaver
I’m going to take a guess and say this as well: If you are looking for a Featured Bookbub, I wager that a Positive Kirkus or Booklife review (in particular for a debut novelist) is going to carry weight between whether your book or a hundred others makes the BB Grade.

It depends what you want to do in the long run. A good Kirkus review can get your foot in the door with bloggers and reviewers who will effectively promote your book for free, effectively forever. If you're willing to do the legwork, a glowing mainstream review can translate to far more sales than you'd get for the equivalent in ad campaigns. It just takes longer. Mainstream critical acclaim has been the lynchpin of my success so far.

The flipside of it is, they don't promise you a good review. If you spend the $400 and they hate it, well . . . yikes.

If you're following the typical indie model--find your formula, write fast, build a backlist, sell cheap, first one free--then mainstream reviews aren't worth the outlay. Definitely go for the shorter-term gains that you'll get with cheaper promos.

Man, I need to do a blog post.
 
Top