Word Of Mouth, Enough Said: the self-published book

In my last post I covered the idea of not slaying other authors works because, inevitably our work (once published) will  evoke a visceral--good or bad--reaction in some readers. But, there are more reasons than just that to not vivisect an author on a public forum, so I thought I'd make it a little blog series about it.

 So off we go!

Into the land of self-published books...

Word of Mouth, Enough Said

Book reviews are a tricky thing.

Unless you love the book (3 to 5 stars), it's probably best not to post a written review. If you have a major issue with a book, send an email rant to your writing group that closes with a message reading something like "thanks for listing to my rant. It helped to quell my desire to post a bad review on goodreads and possibly end my career as an author before it even started."

My writing group received one such email, and it is safe to say, the three members who have not ventured into the land of said book that prompted the rant, will not be reading it. Word of mouth is publicity that can kill a book or it can be the much needed fertilizer in a dying pot.

The Idea of Free Time Terrifies Me

Some things feel like they take forever to accomplish, but then when they are so near, taking that last step makes you sweat between your shoulder blades and your stomach grab for your throat. Because it can't really be happening.

Graduating college is one of those things. Planning a wedding is another. Moving, yet another thing that takes two lifetimes in the span of a few weeks to accomplish, and yet the average person does each of these things several times before they die. In the writerly circle, finishing a manuscript, landing an agent and then selling a book each seem to take a life time to accomplish.

Humans perplex me, but alas, the tech to alter one's species has not been invented just yet so I'll deal.