Author Jennifer Eifrig has posted an interview of me. She asked some more unique questions than some I've had, and so you get some unique answers than perhaps you've heard from previous interviews with me. I think she did a great job, and am thankful for providing the opportunity.
Check out her interview with me and post comments on her site. You can here as well. Thanks for checking it out.
Monday, October 22, 2012
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Devil's Hit List Excerpt Frank Creed
I'm kicking off the Splashdown Books Blog Tour for October's new release, Devil's Hit List: Book Three of THE UNDERGROUND by Frank Creed. Book one is Flashpoint, published in October 2009, and book two is War of Attrition published in October 2010. After two years, readers get to hop on board for another exciting ride through the cyber-punk world of Frank Creed. Here is the blurb:The One State has contracted the Ash Corporation to produce virtual-e, a brainwave technology chip so highly addictive that it's eventually fatal.
The chip is used in the hottest new entertainment product that will hook any who experience it.
Calamity Kid and his crew fight the production of virtual-e and get backing from the Body of Christ to run an operation to keep the chip from being marketed in North America.
But how far can the underground heroes get when the global government and a megacorporation work together?
Today, we have an excerpt from the new novel to wet your appetite. Enjoy.
The train grunted and chugged out of our way. We strolled the pedestrian walkway across the tracks, a crude asphalt footpath, and then the sidewalk toward Main Street. Specialty shops lined the street and we took our time scanning their windows, giving other walkers a good head start. By the time we’d made it to a pottery shop, the block was empty of travellers.
“By the way,” said e-girl, “Serene got the Body Surfers’ cell back up and running. I finally have some hack support.”
“That’s good.” We passed a fabric store and a small antique seller. I thought I heard something.
“You know, Lethe likes you.”
“Uh-huh. I like her too.”
“Hello? I know! You told me the first time you saw her!”
Hurried footsteps sounded behind us and I ignored my sister. “Not right now, okay?”
“What ever.”
Two sets fell, paced to catch up with us by the next corner. I looked to e-girl. She still gazed in the store windows with no idea at all about our tail.
My electro-magnetic sense displayed something like an old photo-negative, and I did a slow blink to check my mind’s eye. With dark jackets and lip piercings they matched the loitering guys I’d recorded at the station—the image was not clear enough to tell if they were the same guys.
If these jokers were who I suspected, it would be better to lose them while there were still only two. Near the first block’s end, the Spirit spoke to me in the Word. Then Joshua and all Israel with him turned around and attacked Debir.
I turned around. “Wait here,” I told my sister, and walked back at them. They were now only five meters away so I closed quickly with big strides.
One was nearly as short as I. His big friend stood a bit over two meters. They stopped and muttered to each other, unsure of what to do. They stepped under the awning of a confectioner, and tried to hang out by its front door.
I stopped alongside them.
Draw. Both pistols obeyed my thought. They left their bicep holsters and sprang down coat sleeves to my ready hands. I snugged one under the ear of the short ganger, pointed the other at the tall one, and namedropped, keeping my voice low, to assure their compliance. “Tailing the Calamity Kid is not a prime career move. Tell me why I should not shoot you.”
The tall one hesitated before speaking. “’Cause then you won’t have security at your meet with Toad.”
I growled and pushed the short ganger into the tall one. Backing toward e-girl I said, “Thanks for your concern, but we’re safer without you drawing attention to us. Stay here or I will shoot you. And tranq rounds leave a mean headache.”
With another thought I holstered my pistols, holding my arms out so they could watch them disappear. Snagging e-girl’s arm, I led her across the street.
She kept sneaking peeks at me from her eyes’ corners.
Frank Creed's Links:Homepage: http://frankcreed.com/
Blog: http://blog.frankcreed.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/frankcreed
Twitter: https://twitter.com/frankcreed
Devil's Hit List Amazon link (print): http://www.amazon.com/Devils-Hit-List-Frank-Creed/dp/1927154316
Devil's Hit List Amazon link (kindle): http://tinyurl.com/92j7amx
Join the Lost Genre Guild: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lost_genre_guild/
My publisher has other great Christian spec-fic: http://www.splashdownbooks.com/
Blog Tour Links:
| R. L. Copple | http://blog.rlcopple.com |
| Ryan Grabow | http://www.egrabow.com/rm.php?e=Prime |
| Grace Bridges | http://grace.splashdownbooks.com |
| Caprice Hokstad | http://caprice.splashdownbooks.com/ |
| Diane M. Graham | http://dianemgraham.com/blog/ |
| Travis Perry | http://travissbigidea.blogspot.com/ |
| Jennifer Rodgers | http://jfrogers.blogspot.com/ |
| Greg Mitchell | http://www.thecomingevil.blogspot.com/ |
| Paul Baines | http://www.pabaines.com |
| Keven Newsome | http://www.kevennewsome.com |
| Kat Heckenbach | http://www.katheckenbach.com/ |
| Timothy Hicks | http://fantasythyme.blogspot.com/ |
| Robynn Tolbert | http://ranunculusturtle.blogspot.com/ |
| Fred Warren | http://frederation.wordpress.com/ |
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
What's the Name of Your World?
World building is one of the funner things a fantasy or science fiction writer (to a lesser degree) gets to do. At least from my perspective, it offers me the freedom to design the very laws of nature to create a unique experience. So I thought I would let you in on how I developed the world of The Reality Chronicles.
There are two basic types of world builders. There are those who plan out the whole world, how it operates, functions, land masses, seas, forest, mountain ranges, language of people, etc., before they ever lay a word to page. Then there are others who start out with a very minimal idea of the world, and it grows and develops as they write. In truth, very few writers are totally one way or the other. Most of us will find ourselves somewhere between those two poles. But most writers will lean to one side of the fence. Even that can change from one novel to another, depending on how dependent the plot is on how the world is designed. I would designate the two types as pre-planners and organic-planners.
I fall more into the organic world builder. I find out more about the world as the story progresses. That is true of novels like Mind Game, which is more a traditional novel plot, but even more true of the Reality Chronicles, which started out as a short story, three more short stories, another short story added to it. Then a novel sequel to those. Then a third novel. Then went back to the first book and added ten more short stories. Because of the way it grew from that one short story, the world naturally grew with it as I added more and more.
The task in doing it this way, is to keep it consistent. Adding onto it as you go, it is easy to forget some detail that what you are adding that would contradict what you've done before. That requires keeping a good database of what you've added or defined, so any proposed additions or changes can be checked against what's gone before. But even someone who plans it all out before hand will find themselves making mid-story adjustments as characters and plots develop.
But when it comes to the Reality Chronicles series, two of the common questions I get is first, does the world have a name? And two, is it modern or medieval?
To the first question, that is no, the world as a whole doesn't have a name. This is counter to a lot of fantasy where the whole area or world will usually be called something. For sure, people like to have names for things. But when I wrote the first short story for this world, I didn't bother deciding whether it was in our world's history or an alternate world. I didn't name the town it was in. It was just about the story of a kid in a small, primitive town with a strange steam house. The story was meant to be an allegory of the Last Judgment. Figuring out the name of the town or where it was or the world it was in beyond the little bit you get in the first story wasn't critical to the story.
But then I added on four more short stories to that one. Sisko traveled to new places and towns, which I did give names to. Those first five stories gave a bare sketch of the world and how it operated. But by the time I had finished those, I had a good idea of how magic worked in that world, that it was an alternate reality from our own Earth, and the rules of how the ring worked, mostly, and what it even represented. But there was still a lot left undefined as those five stories become my first published novella, Infinite Realities.
Including I never gave Sisko's home town a name. That didn't come until I wrote the full novel sequel, Transforming Realities, currently listed as Reality's Ascent. When Sisko decides they should return to his hometown, I figured it was time to give the place a name. That's when I gave it the name Reol. When I added the other ten short stories to Infinite Realities and Splashdown Books published it as Reality's Dawn, I went back and added mentions of the hometown into the previous stories I'd written where appropriate, as well as using it in the newer stories. But if you read the original novella, you'll never see the name of Sisko's hometown.
The development of the political aspects of the world resulted in a city-state type governments. So a king in the Reality's world is king over a city and its surrounding territory. There is no king over all the land. And whether a city had a king or not depended upon the city, and how they set up their governments. You'll find some very much like a traditional kingship, and others more “democratically” organized. Sometimes this is mentioned, other times just assumed if it doesn't play into the story.
Because of that, the people tend to focus upon their own world, their own towns, and don't think in “big picture” ways. Because there is no overarching governmental structure, or developed sense of geography, no one saw a reason to give their whole world a name. At least, not one that was commonly used by most everyone. Theoretically, individual places might have a name for the whole world.
In the third book, Reality's Fire, the world grew again. Our characters headed west, across the forest, into a less “Christian” section of the world. New cities and mountain ranges and deserts are added, and a sea, an island called Pluto, and new races including a group who live in the caves of the north called Burrowers. When Transforming Realities was first published, I came out with my first map that I had visualized as I wrote the stories of the adventures. The third book added to it.
By the time I added the extra ten stories to Infinite Realities to create what had eventually became Reality's Dawn, I had already written two rough drafts of a new series in that world, which I've tentatively called, “The Dragons' Dying Fields.” These stories have greatly expanded not only the geography of the world, but its history and even how that world is connected with our own, as well as other alternate realities. Knowing that as I wrote the ten new stories gave me the ability to not only help introduce characters that appeared later on, like Joel, and fill out the stories of the characters better that were only alluded to before, but I was able to foreshadow what was to come in the next two books and the future new series.
One thing that never changed, however, is the world as a whole never received a name. In the first book of the new series, I play on that as well a bit, because the characters have no concept of a country or names of anything beyond a forest or mountain range.
When it comes to the feel of the world alluded to in the second asked question, I wanted to give it enough of a historical basis that it was grounded in some type of familiar reality, but change things up a bit. Being an alternate world gave me the freedom to do that. I focused on it having a medieval feel to the world, but there are more modern things about it. Primarily, I used common English we are used to hearing, without worrying about whether it sounded too modern or not. I did limit it some in that regard, but I wanted the language to connect with the readers instead of attempting to stick to an Earth-like language during the medieval times. Being an alternate world gave me the freedom to do this, though I know some will balk at it.
However, that doesn't mean I didn't do any research to keep it “real” in other respects. When I had a reference to toilets, I asked, “Did they have toilets back then, and if so, how did they operate?” So I researched it, and discovered yes they did, but usually only the rich had them. Common folk had a “spot” in a secluded area and used leaves for wiping. But often toilets were nothing more than a bench with a hole cut in it, and flies buzzing all around as you did your business. Not very sanitary. Castles were often better off, where toilets were on upper floors, and the disposed of mess dropped all the way to the ground so it stayed as far away from the seat as possible.
In another story, I wanted to use a dentist. Did they have dentist back then? Yes, though they were mostly crude and involved pulling teeth out more than anything. I took some liberties that in this world in that they'd developed the ability to use tools to “tap” the cavity corruption out of the tooth (to Sisko, it felt like pounding), and packed it with a substance that would keep it from getting worse, a primitive filling material. So you see a more modern type of dentistry than what actually existed in our medieval history, though Sisko no doubt would label it as torture, not healing.
Though I hadn't decided in the first story whether it was an alternate world or not, early on I decided it wasn't our Earth, and even though it had a parallel history, there would be some significant divergences in progress and abilities and historical facts. Enough real history to keep the reader grounded in a world, but enough differences to say, “We're not on Earth anymore, Todo.”
What I liked about that approach is the ability to just focus on the story, without worrying about getting a bunch of historical facts “just right.” Yet enough I could make some allusions and analogies to our world.
So that tells a lot of the story how the Reality Chronicles world developed and grew. You'll be reading more and getting into a lot more history and worlds within Sisko's world in the near future, when the first book of the new series comes out.
How did your world(s) develop?
There are two basic types of world builders. There are those who plan out the whole world, how it operates, functions, land masses, seas, forest, mountain ranges, language of people, etc., before they ever lay a word to page. Then there are others who start out with a very minimal idea of the world, and it grows and develops as they write. In truth, very few writers are totally one way or the other. Most of us will find ourselves somewhere between those two poles. But most writers will lean to one side of the fence. Even that can change from one novel to another, depending on how dependent the plot is on how the world is designed. I would designate the two types as pre-planners and organic-planners.
I fall more into the organic world builder. I find out more about the world as the story progresses. That is true of novels like Mind Game, which is more a traditional novel plot, but even more true of the Reality Chronicles, which started out as a short story, three more short stories, another short story added to it. Then a novel sequel to those. Then a third novel. Then went back to the first book and added ten more short stories. Because of the way it grew from that one short story, the world naturally grew with it as I added more and more.
The task in doing it this way, is to keep it consistent. Adding onto it as you go, it is easy to forget some detail that what you are adding that would contradict what you've done before. That requires keeping a good database of what you've added or defined, so any proposed additions or changes can be checked against what's gone before. But even someone who plans it all out before hand will find themselves making mid-story adjustments as characters and plots develop.
But when it comes to the Reality Chronicles series, two of the common questions I get is first, does the world have a name? And two, is it modern or medieval?
To the first question, that is no, the world as a whole doesn't have a name. This is counter to a lot of fantasy where the whole area or world will usually be called something. For sure, people like to have names for things. But when I wrote the first short story for this world, I didn't bother deciding whether it was in our world's history or an alternate world. I didn't name the town it was in. It was just about the story of a kid in a small, primitive town with a strange steam house. The story was meant to be an allegory of the Last Judgment. Figuring out the name of the town or where it was or the world it was in beyond the little bit you get in the first story wasn't critical to the story.
But then I added on four more short stories to that one. Sisko traveled to new places and towns, which I did give names to. Those first five stories gave a bare sketch of the world and how it operated. But by the time I had finished those, I had a good idea of how magic worked in that world, that it was an alternate reality from our own Earth, and the rules of how the ring worked, mostly, and what it even represented. But there was still a lot left undefined as those five stories become my first published novella, Infinite Realities.
Including I never gave Sisko's home town a name. That didn't come until I wrote the full novel sequel, Transforming Realities, currently listed as Reality's Ascent. When Sisko decides they should return to his hometown, I figured it was time to give the place a name. That's when I gave it the name Reol. When I added the other ten short stories to Infinite Realities and Splashdown Books published it as Reality's Dawn, I went back and added mentions of the hometown into the previous stories I'd written where appropriate, as well as using it in the newer stories. But if you read the original novella, you'll never see the name of Sisko's hometown.
The development of the political aspects of the world resulted in a city-state type governments. So a king in the Reality's world is king over a city and its surrounding territory. There is no king over all the land. And whether a city had a king or not depended upon the city, and how they set up their governments. You'll find some very much like a traditional kingship, and others more “democratically” organized. Sometimes this is mentioned, other times just assumed if it doesn't play into the story.
Because of that, the people tend to focus upon their own world, their own towns, and don't think in “big picture” ways. Because there is no overarching governmental structure, or developed sense of geography, no one saw a reason to give their whole world a name. At least, not one that was commonly used by most everyone. Theoretically, individual places might have a name for the whole world.
In the third book, Reality's Fire, the world grew again. Our characters headed west, across the forest, into a less “Christian” section of the world. New cities and mountain ranges and deserts are added, and a sea, an island called Pluto, and new races including a group who live in the caves of the north called Burrowers. When Transforming Realities was first published, I came out with my first map that I had visualized as I wrote the stories of the adventures. The third book added to it.
By the time I added the extra ten stories to Infinite Realities to create what had eventually became Reality's Dawn, I had already written two rough drafts of a new series in that world, which I've tentatively called, “The Dragons' Dying Fields.” These stories have greatly expanded not only the geography of the world, but its history and even how that world is connected with our own, as well as other alternate realities. Knowing that as I wrote the ten new stories gave me the ability to not only help introduce characters that appeared later on, like Joel, and fill out the stories of the characters better that were only alluded to before, but I was able to foreshadow what was to come in the next two books and the future new series.
One thing that never changed, however, is the world as a whole never received a name. In the first book of the new series, I play on that as well a bit, because the characters have no concept of a country or names of anything beyond a forest or mountain range.
When it comes to the feel of the world alluded to in the second asked question, I wanted to give it enough of a historical basis that it was grounded in some type of familiar reality, but change things up a bit. Being an alternate world gave me the freedom to do that. I focused on it having a medieval feel to the world, but there are more modern things about it. Primarily, I used common English we are used to hearing, without worrying about whether it sounded too modern or not. I did limit it some in that regard, but I wanted the language to connect with the readers instead of attempting to stick to an Earth-like language during the medieval times. Being an alternate world gave me the freedom to do this, though I know some will balk at it.
However, that doesn't mean I didn't do any research to keep it “real” in other respects. When I had a reference to toilets, I asked, “Did they have toilets back then, and if so, how did they operate?” So I researched it, and discovered yes they did, but usually only the rich had them. Common folk had a “spot” in a secluded area and used leaves for wiping. But often toilets were nothing more than a bench with a hole cut in it, and flies buzzing all around as you did your business. Not very sanitary. Castles were often better off, where toilets were on upper floors, and the disposed of mess dropped all the way to the ground so it stayed as far away from the seat as possible.
In another story, I wanted to use a dentist. Did they have dentist back then? Yes, though they were mostly crude and involved pulling teeth out more than anything. I took some liberties that in this world in that they'd developed the ability to use tools to “tap” the cavity corruption out of the tooth (to Sisko, it felt like pounding), and packed it with a substance that would keep it from getting worse, a primitive filling material. So you see a more modern type of dentistry than what actually existed in our medieval history, though Sisko no doubt would label it as torture, not healing.
Though I hadn't decided in the first story whether it was an alternate world or not, early on I decided it wasn't our Earth, and even though it had a parallel history, there would be some significant divergences in progress and abilities and historical facts. Enough real history to keep the reader grounded in a world, but enough differences to say, “We're not on Earth anymore, Todo.”
What I liked about that approach is the ability to just focus on the story, without worrying about getting a bunch of historical facts “just right.” Yet enough I could make some allusions and analogies to our world.
So that tells a lot of the story how the Reality Chronicles world developed and grew. You'll be reading more and getting into a lot more history and worlds within Sisko's world in the near future, when the first book of the new series comes out.
How did your world(s) develop?
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Hero Game Now in Print!
That's right. The ebook I published a few months back, I've finally come around to getting into print. I've got my copy...how about you?From the back of the book:
Being virtual superheroes gives Jeremy, Mickey, and Bridget all of the glory with none of the danger. Using Zori's virtual engine, the trio can become any number of superheroes to right the wrongs on Earth.
But Jeremy hadn't counted on Lorian arriving in the Solar System, the brother of the alien Jeremy helped kill to save Zori. With revenge on Lorian's mind and the invasion of Earth in his plans, the super trio find the odds stacked against them. Earth's armies are defenseless before a virtual fleet they can't kill. The three superheroes are all that stand in the way of Lorian enslaving Earth before retaking Zori. It will take more than super powers to save Earth and Zori again.
To read more about it, go to the book's web page.
As of this writing, there are two places you can buy it. Either at CreateSpace or Amazon. It should be appearing at other outlets like Barnes and Noble as time goes by. The ebooks, however, are already available at most places.
If you get a copy and read it, I appreciate any reviews people can offer. Word of mouth is my best advertising. Thank you.
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Interview: Seeking Unseen by Kat Heckenbach
Today we have a treat for our readers. Kat Heckenbach's new title, book 2 of her The Toch Island Chronicles, Seeking Unseen has just been released this month. For the Splashdown launch party, I'm kicking off the blog tour to feature her and the two books, Finding Angel and Seeking Unseen. Here's her interview:Did you always want to be a writer?
Well, yes and no. I actually grew up wanting to be an artist. I drew all the time and was very good. But, when I got to college (after deciding I'd like to teach art), I lost some of my interest in it. I had some phenomenal science teachers at the community college and ended up changing my major from Art Education to Biology. I never really went into science as far as work. I ended up teaching and tutoring (mostly math) until I had my son. Then I became a stay at home mom and eventually started homeschooling. Then, a couple of years ago I was overcome with the desire to write. I love reading Young Adult fiction--became completely addicted to the Harry Potter books and movies and Cornelia Funke's InkHeart series--and decided one day I just had to give it a try. Memories came streaming back that showed me it was a desire I'd always had. I read all the time from the time I was very young, but never thought I could do what those authors do, so I pushed the idea out of my head for so long. But, I suddenly remembered sitting on my bed when I was in high school trying desperately to start a novel. I also remembered writing fourteen-page notes to my friends all the time, which should have been a clue that I like writing :). And I always got A's on my papers and essays. I just think I was so focused on my art and never had the self-confidence in writing. I didn't think I was interesting enough to come up with any grande and creative ideas. And, I was too young back then. I didn't have enough life experience. Now, I've been through a lot and all of that comes out in my writing.
Tell us about your relationship with your publisher Splashdown. Any surprises as you’ve worked with them?
The whole experience has been one surprise after another! I had no idea what to expect from working with a small publisher. But it’s been awesome. Grace Bridges is wonderful, and the whole group of authors work really well together as a team. We brainstorm back cover blurbs and such for each other, and everyone is respectful of each other’s suggestions. I will admit, I love the creative pow-wows Grace and I have when it comes to cover art. We seem to totally connect most of the time and it’s ridiculously fun. Those moments of, “What if we….?” followed by, “Oh, yes, that’s brilliant!” happen a lot—in both directions. There have been far too many for me to doubt I’m in the right place.
Kat Heckenbach grew up in the small town of Riverview, Florida, where she spent most of her time either drawing or sitting in her "reading tree" with her nose buried in a fantasy novel...except for the hours pretending her back yard was an enchanted forest that could only be reached through the secret passage in her closet...She never could give up on the idea that maybe she really was magic, mistakenly placed in a world not her own...but as the years passed, and no elves or fairies carted her away...she realized she was just going to have to create the life of her fantasies.
Now she shares that life with her husband and two kids. Ok, maybe "share" isn't the right word--more like lives that life in her writing and tries her best to be normal the rest of the time...
Kat is a graduate of the University of Tampa, Magna Cum Laude, B.S. in Biology. She spent several years teaching, but never in a traditional classroom—everything from Art to Algebra II—and now homeschools her children.
Author Website: http://www.katheckenbach.com/
Toch Island ChroniclesBook 1: Finding Angel (Sept. 2011)
ISBN: 978-1927154137
Book 2: Seeking Unseen (Sept. 2012)
ISBN: 978-1927154298
Visit the other blogs in the tour:
| Grace Bridges | http://grace.splashdownbooks.com |
| R. L. Copple | http://blog.rlcopple.com |
| Ryan Grabow | http://www.egrabow.com/rm.php?e=Prime |
| Diane M. Graham | http://dianemgraham.com/blog/ |
| Travis Perry | http://travissbigidea.blogspot.com/ |
| Paul Baines | http://www.pabaines.com |
| Caprice Hokstad | http://caprice.splashdownbooks.com/ |
| Keven Newsome | http://www.kevennewsome.com |
| Greg Mitchell | http://www.thecomingevil.blogspot.com/ |
| Robynn Tolbert | http://ranunculusturtle.blogspot.com/ |
| Frank Creed | http://blog.frankcreed.com/ |
| Fred Warren | http://frederation.wordpress.com/ |
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
How to Identify and Write Honest Reviews
Often when viewing a product I'm thinking about buying, I will read the product reviews by users that often accompany online retail sales pages. When I find a product that doesn't have many or any reviews, I'm hesitant to buy it, feeling like I'm going to be the guinea pig for the product. On most products, it seems such reviews are generally helpful in making a decision to buy something or keep looking.
But when it comes to books, the situation changes dramatically. The reason is somewhat obvious. Items like underwear, clocks, record albums (in most cases), and the like are produced by a company. Said company usually produces a lot of products and doesn't have the manpower or extra cash to get their best friends and family to go post positive reviews on the 1000 different items they sell. The few who actually pay someone to do so risk making that obvious and losing credibility. So most companies are content to let the users of the products make their honest comments. Maybe doing clean up on any particularly damaging complaints, especially if they are a small company with limited product lines.
But authors who do most of their own promotion, whether they are self-published or traditionally published, usually have a handful of product to sell, and usually have family and friends who want to see them succeed with their books. So they are willing and ready to go to bat for the author by posting positive reviews, no matter the actual quality of the book. You don't tend to find that dynamic as often in other product lines like you do with books. This tends to stuff a book's review list with overly positive reviews by people who are as wishful thinking as the author is on the sellability of the book.
Also some authors—because it is their one and only book or series to date and they fear its failure will doom their long-term success—are willing to take the more shady routes to get their book to sell. Some create multiple email accounts and Amazon accounts to pretend to be other people and give rave reviews to the their own books. Others will pay a review company to do essentially the same thing, often without reading anything more than the blurb. Using key words like "page turner" and "couldn't put it down" give the reader the impression they've read it and it was good, when it may not be the case.
Because of these differences, the value of books reviews on these sites tend to be diluted, and honest reviews get buried in the list of 1 or 5 star reviews. So I have two questions for my readers.
When buying a book, do you use the reviews as one element in your buying decision?
If not, would you if you trusted that the reviews were mostly honest?
My guess is, out of those who answered no to the first question, a majority would answer yes to the second. In other words, the main reason you don't read reviews to help make your decision is that you generally don't trust them to give honest opinions. And the ones that are honest are hard to find. That said, there are elements of an honest review that enable you to spot them in a list of fluff or attacks. Likewise, if you are writing a review, there are some items you want to include if you want your review to be accepted as honest.
One, an honest review answers the question, "Is this book worth my money and time to buy and read?" While an entertaining review is a plus, the reason people read reviews is to help them decide if the book they are examining is one they'll enjoy reading. People generally don't like plunking down hard earned money to read books they don't like. If the reviewer answers that question, then the review will be perceived as helpful. If the reviewer has other motives, that will tend to emerge from the writing, and the reader will more likely ignore the review.
Two, an honest review contains both positives and negatives. It is rare that a book will not have any positives or negatives. Few books deserve to get totally glowing reviews with no negatives, or all negatives with no positives. Readers innately know this. So if a review has no negative, or likewise, no positives, those types tend to get discounted and ignored. For a review to be read and used, it should contain both positive and negative points.
Three, an honest reviewer rarely gives out 5 or 1 star reviews. Like extreme positive gushing reviews and angry sounding rants, books given 5 or 1 stars tend to be discounted. The exceptions to that rule are when a reviewer usually doesn't give out 5 or 1 stars, then it means something when they do; or if a book is really so good that the reviewer is ready to rank it with the classics; or there are thirty or more reviews and the bulk of them are 1s or 5s. Sure, getting that 5-star review makes the author feel good. But whether the reviewer is being honest or not, the reader, if they see 5 stars and a glowing review, will likely figure the author's mom or another friend/family member wrote it and dismiss it as too biased.
My rating system on 5 stars is: 1 equals, "I couldn't make it through the first chapter or two, it was so bad"; 2 equals, "Not that great, it has some redeeming values and I appreciate what the author was doing, but overall, too many negative issues to make it work for me"; 3 equals, "Though it had some problems, overall the story was worth reading, recommend"; 4 equals, "I really liked this book. Some issues here and there, but really worth my time to read it and I would highly recommend it"; and 5 equals, "Wow, just wow! This book knocked my socks off and I would rank it with the all time greats in publishing history!" If a reviewer marks every book a 5 that they review, then the ranking doesn't mean anything. Especially if "every" equals one or two reviews.
Four, an honest review avoids using marketing catch phrases like, "page-turner," "couldn't put it down," "stayed up late to finish the book," "threw the book across the room," "reading it was like watching paint dry," etc. Even if true, using those types of trite phrases will tend to make the review read more like marketing text. The moment it sounds like a sales pitch to the reader, that's the moment they discredit it.
Five, an honest review gives a brief, spoiler-free summary of the book. This not only indicates that the reviewer read it and know the basic character names and plot, but allows the reader to see the gist of the story from another person's eyes than the publisher's. Reviewers who haven't read the book will generally not give much, if any, of a summary beyond what can be found in the blurb. But don't make this too long. One or two paragraphs should be all you need. A review is much more than regurgitating the plot and saying whether you did or didn't like it.
Six, an honest review gives an opinion on the main elements of the story: plot, pacing, characterization, settings, writing style, grammar and typo issues (readability), what stood out to the reviewer as good or bad about it. The more a review casts a critical eye to the various elements of the story, the more honest and authentic the review will ring to the reader. If all a reader gets is, "it was a great story," the more likely the reader will assume that the review isn't worth factoring into their decision.
Seven, an honest review gives an opinion on what kinds of readers will and won't enjoy the book in question. Even if the reviewer indicates he or she didn't care for the book, saying who will or won't like a book lets readers know the reviewer is trying to be objective. Even the negative can help. Warning men who like action novels that a specific book isn't action/plot driven can be a service to the reader, whether or not the reviewer is glad or not that it is or isn't present.
Eight, an honest reviewer personalizes his or her review. Such a review relates not only the technical aspects and how well the author did or didn't pull them off, but any aspects that spoke to the reviewer personally, made a difference in how the reviewer views an issue, people, problem, or other life experience. When the reviewer answer the question, "What did I take away from this story?" it shows the reader that he or she interacted with the story, digested it, and gave it thought. An insincere review isn't likely to provide such feedback.
The next time you read reviews to decide whether to buy a book, consider the above guidelines as a means to spot the more helpful and honest reviews. Likewise, if you wish to write a review on a book, give consideration to those elements, and you're more likely to get readers to give due consideration to your review in their buying decision.
But when it comes to books, the situation changes dramatically. The reason is somewhat obvious. Items like underwear, clocks, record albums (in most cases), and the like are produced by a company. Said company usually produces a lot of products and doesn't have the manpower or extra cash to get their best friends and family to go post positive reviews on the 1000 different items they sell. The few who actually pay someone to do so risk making that obvious and losing credibility. So most companies are content to let the users of the products make their honest comments. Maybe doing clean up on any particularly damaging complaints, especially if they are a small company with limited product lines.
But authors who do most of their own promotion, whether they are self-published or traditionally published, usually have a handful of product to sell, and usually have family and friends who want to see them succeed with their books. So they are willing and ready to go to bat for the author by posting positive reviews, no matter the actual quality of the book. You don't tend to find that dynamic as often in other product lines like you do with books. This tends to stuff a book's review list with overly positive reviews by people who are as wishful thinking as the author is on the sellability of the book.
Also some authors—because it is their one and only book or series to date and they fear its failure will doom their long-term success—are willing to take the more shady routes to get their book to sell. Some create multiple email accounts and Amazon accounts to pretend to be other people and give rave reviews to the their own books. Others will pay a review company to do essentially the same thing, often without reading anything more than the blurb. Using key words like "page turner" and "couldn't put it down" give the reader the impression they've read it and it was good, when it may not be the case.
Because of these differences, the value of books reviews on these sites tend to be diluted, and honest reviews get buried in the list of 1 or 5 star reviews. So I have two questions for my readers.
When buying a book, do you use the reviews as one element in your buying decision?
If not, would you if you trusted that the reviews were mostly honest?
My guess is, out of those who answered no to the first question, a majority would answer yes to the second. In other words, the main reason you don't read reviews to help make your decision is that you generally don't trust them to give honest opinions. And the ones that are honest are hard to find. That said, there are elements of an honest review that enable you to spot them in a list of fluff or attacks. Likewise, if you are writing a review, there are some items you want to include if you want your review to be accepted as honest.
One, an honest review answers the question, "Is this book worth my money and time to buy and read?" While an entertaining review is a plus, the reason people read reviews is to help them decide if the book they are examining is one they'll enjoy reading. People generally don't like plunking down hard earned money to read books they don't like. If the reviewer answers that question, then the review will be perceived as helpful. If the reviewer has other motives, that will tend to emerge from the writing, and the reader will more likely ignore the review.
Two, an honest review contains both positives and negatives. It is rare that a book will not have any positives or negatives. Few books deserve to get totally glowing reviews with no negatives, or all negatives with no positives. Readers innately know this. So if a review has no negative, or likewise, no positives, those types tend to get discounted and ignored. For a review to be read and used, it should contain both positive and negative points.
Three, an honest reviewer rarely gives out 5 or 1 star reviews. Like extreme positive gushing reviews and angry sounding rants, books given 5 or 1 stars tend to be discounted. The exceptions to that rule are when a reviewer usually doesn't give out 5 or 1 stars, then it means something when they do; or if a book is really so good that the reviewer is ready to rank it with the classics; or there are thirty or more reviews and the bulk of them are 1s or 5s. Sure, getting that 5-star review makes the author feel good. But whether the reviewer is being honest or not, the reader, if they see 5 stars and a glowing review, will likely figure the author's mom or another friend/family member wrote it and dismiss it as too biased.
My rating system on 5 stars is: 1 equals, "I couldn't make it through the first chapter or two, it was so bad"; 2 equals, "Not that great, it has some redeeming values and I appreciate what the author was doing, but overall, too many negative issues to make it work for me"; 3 equals, "Though it had some problems, overall the story was worth reading, recommend"; 4 equals, "I really liked this book. Some issues here and there, but really worth my time to read it and I would highly recommend it"; and 5 equals, "Wow, just wow! This book knocked my socks off and I would rank it with the all time greats in publishing history!" If a reviewer marks every book a 5 that they review, then the ranking doesn't mean anything. Especially if "every" equals one or two reviews.
Four, an honest review avoids using marketing catch phrases like, "page-turner," "couldn't put it down," "stayed up late to finish the book," "threw the book across the room," "reading it was like watching paint dry," etc. Even if true, using those types of trite phrases will tend to make the review read more like marketing text. The moment it sounds like a sales pitch to the reader, that's the moment they discredit it.
Five, an honest review gives a brief, spoiler-free summary of the book. This not only indicates that the reviewer read it and know the basic character names and plot, but allows the reader to see the gist of the story from another person's eyes than the publisher's. Reviewers who haven't read the book will generally not give much, if any, of a summary beyond what can be found in the blurb. But don't make this too long. One or two paragraphs should be all you need. A review is much more than regurgitating the plot and saying whether you did or didn't like it.
Six, an honest review gives an opinion on the main elements of the story: plot, pacing, characterization, settings, writing style, grammar and typo issues (readability), what stood out to the reviewer as good or bad about it. The more a review casts a critical eye to the various elements of the story, the more honest and authentic the review will ring to the reader. If all a reader gets is, "it was a great story," the more likely the reader will assume that the review isn't worth factoring into their decision.
Seven, an honest review gives an opinion on what kinds of readers will and won't enjoy the book in question. Even if the reviewer indicates he or she didn't care for the book, saying who will or won't like a book lets readers know the reviewer is trying to be objective. Even the negative can help. Warning men who like action novels that a specific book isn't action/plot driven can be a service to the reader, whether or not the reviewer is glad or not that it is or isn't present.
Eight, an honest reviewer personalizes his or her review. Such a review relates not only the technical aspects and how well the author did or didn't pull them off, but any aspects that spoke to the reviewer personally, made a difference in how the reviewer views an issue, people, problem, or other life experience. When the reviewer answer the question, "What did I take away from this story?" it shows the reader that he or she interacted with the story, digested it, and gave it thought. An insincere review isn't likely to provide such feedback.
The next time you read reviews to decide whether to buy a book, consider the above guidelines as a means to spot the more helpful and honest reviews. Likewise, if you wish to write a review on a book, give consideration to those elements, and you're more likely to get readers to give due consideration to your review in their buying decision.
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Excerpt from Faith Awakened by Grace Bridges
Today we have a treat. As part of my publisher's blog tour, I'll be sharing an excerpt from her novel, Faith Awakened. The tour runs from 8/13 through 8/19/2012. Be sure to check out the other web sites as the week progresses to find more goodies about Faith Awakened.
Excerpt from Faith Awakened - Mariah All Alone
One morning in the early part of summer’s heat, the restlessness got to me a little more than usual and I decided to go for a long walk. Inquiring among the others and finding none to be similarly inclined, I set off alone for the hills beyond city limits. It was a long way, but at least up there the country was much as it had always been—it was pleasanter to be in than the town where I was always aware of its unnatural stillness. I stepped out briskly and was soon passing through an area that had once been termed industrial. The large square buildings were made for practicality and not style, so I was glad to get past them and out towards the open country. I walked at first on a broad expressway that cut through hills and bridged yawning gullies, but when this road turned away from the coast, I left it and crossed fields where long-haired sheep were still fending for themselves. One or two of them looked up placidly as I passed by, then went back to grazing. I was no danger for them.
After leaving them behind, I came across a dead sheep. Flies buzzed around the body. I wrinkled my nose and gave it a wide berth, but not before I noticed it lay in a pool of congealing blood. Can sheep get Ebola? I decided to ask Anna about it later.
I pondered many things as I walked along; when one is alone, thought processes tend to multiply. There was, after all, more than plenty of time to reflect.
Sighing, I admitted to myself that I was not happy. It was not for any kind of physical lack, that much was sure—in fact it seemed more than likely that I was now better off materially than I had ever been in my life during the Trouble. Then why could I not be content? I dug deeper and pressed myself to answer the question. Come on… there must be a reason. I moved my hand to stifle a yawn, then thought better of it. Who would see anyway? A worldwide disaster had all but ruined my own life. Manners no longer mattered at all.
Time slipped by, and the sun rose higher towards noonday as I tramped on. Eventually I came upon another once-busy highway that led up to a hilltop, where I left the road and struck through the bush on the steep slopes. Coming to a cliff’s edge, I squatted down with the sea spreading out below me. Even in the old days it had always been quiet up here—so it nearly felt normal and I could almost imagine none of the dying had ever happened. I knew the spot well from long-ago outings with family or friends, when we had travelled in cars and arrived fresh and lively to chase about and splash one another on the beach below. But now I was alone and miles away from all humanity—not that all humanity was very much these days.
Excerpt from Faith Awakened - Mariah All AloneOne morning in the early part of summer’s heat, the restlessness got to me a little more than usual and I decided to go for a long walk. Inquiring among the others and finding none to be similarly inclined, I set off alone for the hills beyond city limits. It was a long way, but at least up there the country was much as it had always been—it was pleasanter to be in than the town where I was always aware of its unnatural stillness. I stepped out briskly and was soon passing through an area that had once been termed industrial. The large square buildings were made for practicality and not style, so I was glad to get past them and out towards the open country. I walked at first on a broad expressway that cut through hills and bridged yawning gullies, but when this road turned away from the coast, I left it and crossed fields where long-haired sheep were still fending for themselves. One or two of them looked up placidly as I passed by, then went back to grazing. I was no danger for them.
After leaving them behind, I came across a dead sheep. Flies buzzed around the body. I wrinkled my nose and gave it a wide berth, but not before I noticed it lay in a pool of congealing blood. Can sheep get Ebola? I decided to ask Anna about it later.
I pondered many things as I walked along; when one is alone, thought processes tend to multiply. There was, after all, more than plenty of time to reflect.
Sighing, I admitted to myself that I was not happy. It was not for any kind of physical lack, that much was sure—in fact it seemed more than likely that I was now better off materially than I had ever been in my life during the Trouble. Then why could I not be content? I dug deeper and pressed myself to answer the question. Come on… there must be a reason. I moved my hand to stifle a yawn, then thought better of it. Who would see anyway? A worldwide disaster had all but ruined my own life. Manners no longer mattered at all.
Time slipped by, and the sun rose higher towards noonday as I tramped on. Eventually I came upon another once-busy highway that led up to a hilltop, where I left the road and struck through the bush on the steep slopes. Coming to a cliff’s edge, I squatted down with the sea spreading out below me. Even in the old days it had always been quiet up here—so it nearly felt normal and I could almost imagine none of the dying had ever happened. I knew the spot well from long-ago outings with family or friends, when we had travelled in cars and arrived fresh and lively to chase about and splash one another on the beach below. But now I was alone and miles away from all humanity—not that all humanity was very much these days.
 Find Grace:http://grace.splashdownbooks.com http://www.facebook.com/gracebridges1 http://pinterest.com/splashdown Info on Faith Awakened |
| Blog Tour Sites: R. L. Copple http://blog.rlcopple.com Kat Heckenbach http://www.katheckenbach.com/ Diane M. Graham http://dianemgraham.com/blog/ Travis Perry http://travissbigidea.blogspot.com/ Paul Baines http://www.pabaines.com Caprice Hokstad http://caprice.splashdownbooks.com/ Keven Newsome http://www.kevennewsome.com Robynn Tolbert http://ranunculusturtle.blogspot.com/ Frank Creed http://blog.frankcreed.com/ Fred Warren http://frederation.wordpress.com/ Ryan Grabow http://www.egrabow.com/rm.php?e=Prime Greg Mitchell http://www.thecomingevil.blogspot.com/ |
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