Waiting for…
the first review to land is almost as bad as waiting for a submission reply. Cold Blooded has been out for a couple of weeks and by now somebody has to have read it. (Right?) This release is a little different for me because I did something I normally don’t do and that is re-read it after it released.
Gasp!
Afterward I realized how light on sexoring it is. That’s gonna be a problem for somebody. lol. So, I sit here watching and waiting for the first review. Hoping people enjoy the action and forgive the hasty romance.
Reviews are subjective and for the most part, I enjoy the good ones and ignore the bad, but still, somehow that first one sets the tone for the ones to come. Here’s hoping reviewers show me some love.
(And please, totally ignore the fact that when I should be writing or editing or revising, I’m Googling my titles to see if any new reviews have popped up. Ignore it. Really.)
Thank you Dee, for saying exactly what I feel. With my first release I searched my name, my title, both together and bits of them between ** just to see if something came up. I did that all the time until I saw the okays on fictionwise. Then, I had to stop looking. LoL Trying to curb my ocd for searching was hard. But eventually I got it under control.
Then my second released. Right now I am resisting the urge to google the title and my name. Don’t know how long that will last since I have another release coming next week. The double whammy is going to break through my resistance and the google hunt will be on.
I was totally fine with the reviewer reviews coming out. It was the readers that made me want to find some way to please them all, and that, as most of us are aware of, is utterly impossible.
Thanks again for sharing this post, it really hit home with me.
Christa
At last with submission replies there’s some sort of deadline – usually. You figure they have to get back to you at some point, right? Seems like with reviews there’s no telling. At least that’s what I keep telling myself after two months of utter silence on any reviews for my book. Shhh…let me live in my nice fantasy where hearing nothing is totally a good thing. ;^)
This is a great post, I stumbled across your story while looking for free songs. Thanks for sharing, I’ll be sure to return regularly.
Christa, I always try to remind myself that for the most part, readers who bother to comment on review sites fall into one of three categories: they LOVED the book, they HATED the book, they commented on the book because it’s what they live to do. Reader reviews also take into a number of factors that are totally out of your control sometimes too (e.g. pricing of a book). I look at them for trends, but I would curl into a ball and cry if I paid too much attention to them individually.
Sara, this might help. My Christmas story, Upon A Falling Star, released in December. I received a 5 star review for it in…wait for it…AUGUST of the following year. O.o
Thanks for stopping by Raymond! I hope you continue to find something of interest to you!