Curse Bearer is Officially Out of the Bag
Many different people have referred to the process of creating books and movies like this: A book is never actually "released." It just eventually escapes.
Now, I have to admit, for as long as I have been working on my current release,Curse Bearer, I know I'll never feel entirely sure I have done everything I possibly could have to sharpen the book. But the fact is, if I was allowed to rework everything I possibly could, I would rewrite the book over and over for my entire life, and it would never come out. There is a great lesson to be learned in calling something done and allowing it to be what it is at that point.
The reviews from my advance readers are coming in, and most of those reviews are from writers. I'm amassing a pile of solid, four-star reviews with a couple of fives thrown in. At first, the four stars were giving me heart palpitations, but the more I read them, the more at peace I am. The points that my reviewers have cited in withholding my final star are completely valid and legitimate. One reviewer spoke of an occasional inconsistency of voice, which I completely get--my voice has changed over the past five years of writing, but not every word of Curse Bearer has, so I suspect those passages that don't quite ring are probably the moments that this particular reviewer is talking about--remnants of the original manuscript. I am more at peace now with the imperfections of the work and am looking forward to writing the next two books that wind the series up and tell the rest of Danae's story in my current voice. It's my hope that I will be able to continue to grow and make each installment of the series more powerful as I grow in my writing. I've come a long way in five years...I can only imagine what will happen in the years to come.
Now that the book is out, I wanted to be sure to make you all aware of the giveaway I am doing on October 1st and 2nd. All you need to do is go to my facebook pages, either my personal page or my author page, and find the post where I have shared the link to Amazon for the book. If you share my link and add your own message when you share it, encouraging your friends to check out Curse Bearer, then I will enter your name into a drawing for a signed copy of the book. I would really love to get some sales going on Amazon. Although I have already done a healthy pile of direct sales, the Amazon sales are what make me visible to people I don't know. So enter the drawing and encourage your friends to as well.
The other little reminder I will throw out there...second to sales, reviews are an author's best friend. If you read a book and have a reaction to it you want to share, support that author by posting an online review. Most of us can't afford to cheat and buy reviews like many of the NY Times best seller authors do...we have to do things the old fashioned way. (Eye roll. I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I bought reviews.) Feedback is the artist's MiracleGrow, in my opinion.
It's been a whirlwind, between the Kickstarter Campaign, the last minute details, the nail biting--but it's all extremely fulfilling as well. I hope, if you choose to purchase my work, that it brings you some measure of wonder and joy.
Now, I have to admit, for as long as I have been working on my current release,Curse Bearer, I know I'll never feel entirely sure I have done everything I possibly could have to sharpen the book. But the fact is, if I was allowed to rework everything I possibly could, I would rewrite the book over and over for my entire life, and it would never come out. There is a great lesson to be learned in calling something done and allowing it to be what it is at that point.
Now that the book is out, I wanted to be sure to make you all aware of the giveaway I am doing on October 1st and 2nd. All you need to do is go to my facebook pages, either my personal page or my author page, and find the post where I have shared the link to Amazon for the book. If you share my link and add your own message when you share it, encouraging your friends to check out Curse Bearer, then I will enter your name into a drawing for a signed copy of the book. I would really love to get some sales going on Amazon. Although I have already done a healthy pile of direct sales, the Amazon sales are what make me visible to people I don't know. So enter the drawing and encourage your friends to as well.
The other little reminder I will throw out there...second to sales, reviews are an author's best friend. If you read a book and have a reaction to it you want to share, support that author by posting an online review. Most of us can't afford to cheat and buy reviews like many of the NY Times best seller authors do...we have to do things the old fashioned way. (Eye roll. I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I bought reviews.) Feedback is the artist's MiracleGrow, in my opinion.
It's been a whirlwind, between the Kickstarter Campaign, the last minute details, the nail biting--but it's all extremely fulfilling as well. I hope, if you choose to purchase my work, that it brings you some measure of wonder and joy.
That's about all you can do, is write the book, push it out there and move on to the next one. That's what builds readers. As a reader, I'm comfortable knowing the first book is always the rocky one. My mom and I never judge a series until we've read the first two or three, because it takes that long for the author to settle into a groove. Lots of times the first book will be loaded with sex, and the other books won't have any.
ReplyDeleteFunny--explicit content to cover up for a lack of other, more plot relevant action? Ah, well, you pretty much have a guarantee there won't be any "on screen" sex in what I write. I'm very golden age of Hollywood in that regard. :)
DeleteCurse Bearer does contain loads of wonder and joy. Oh, and moments of sheer terror. I have loved Danae for years, have I told you that? ;)
ReplyDeleteI know it must be as frustrating for you to get those 4-star reviews as it was for me to have an agent reject my ms by saying he gave my writing a "B." I'm thinking, OK, now tell me what I have to do to get an "A." I've already had two great mentors and a passel of critique partners help me with that ms...but even crit partners and mentors can only take us so far.
Becky, you did a great job -- your book is published! I trust the next one will be worthy of many 5-star reviews.