Two reviews for "Samuel Blackwood" and some meta on reviewers

[erestor]

Lieutenant Samuel Blackwood (deceased) has been reviewed by two more online rec sites, and hey, they liked my book! Both raised some points of criticism which are well justified, and it's great they took the time to give constructive criticism. My hints about the sexual orientation of Daniel were probably really too subtle for some - just because I

Comments

[naurring]

If a reader tells me that s/he read the book in bed, with a mug of hot chocolate while it was raining outside, I'm one happy Emma.Lol. You know what? I did exactly that. Minus the hot chocolate

[erestor]

Considering how thin the book is it is probably really expensive, if you think about how you can get 500 pages books for 8€ or something.I sell for EUR 6, I'm a discounter! :-D

[erestor]

They are lovely reviews, and I enjoyed reading them a lot. It's so good to see people actually taking the time to have a look at my work, not just copy my blurb for a review... *cough* And as the cherry on top they pointed out a problem I wasn't aware of before. I'm happy! :)

Self published is very expensive, but sometimes that's the only way you can get out what is a unique and special book, and yours is more than worth it!

Aw, thanks so much. :-D Both me and "Amandine" put a lot of work and love into it; it's great to know that people who paid that money enjoyed what they got for it.

About that review: I initially considered to contact Logophilos for a possible review, but then I read their conditions and realised it would be pointless. While their terms are no doubt necessary to keep things running smoothly, they make my book unacceptable for them. It's not an e-book, a *.pdf file doesn't tell anything about the illustrations or the feel of the book.

which is less than positive, but possibly seems worse to me than to anyone

[erestor]

Hi Ann

I fully agree; for a novel, an electronic version is ideal and saves the authors a lot of money. Things are a bit different if there are illustrations. I've sent you a mail from emma at emmacollingwood.com (gmail and hotmail tend to file my mails under spam...)

Thank you!

[erestor]

My provider had some maintenance downtime last night. I had no access to my mailbox and mails might still take a couple of hours to arrive. But I've sent you the chapters now. Thanks again!

[erestor]

That would be great, thanks so much! I think the ones I had on my list already reviewed your book. I have to check if there might be one or two where I haven't seen "Captain's Surrender" yet. My biggest problem is that the book is not available through amazon.co.uk or amazon.com. For my novel, I might switch to Lulu.

that's the effect of the initial 'don't criticize my baby!

Hehe, oh yes, and who wouldn't growl! That's a perfectly normal first reaction, isn't it? I mean, who'd sit there, read a review for the first time and then clap hand and cheer: "yay! Somebody doesn't like what I did! And wheeee! They think it's too expensive!" Sometimes it takes a while to get the good out of a review. And sometimes a reviewer might change her/his mind after re-reading a book.

I do admit that I was a bit surprised to think that Peter and Josh's relationship was stereotypical - obviously I don't read enough slash or yaoi.It is the nature of slash that (femslash aside) it deals with two men. And it is the nature of any relationship that

[erestor]

Being on amazon would be fantastic; I did sell quite a few books on amazon Germany, but my life would be so much easier if I could sell on amazon US or UK as well. Selling through my own shop is great, and you have the additional benefit of the direct contact with the readers, but it's also a lot, lot, lot of work.

*G* I've been ignoring word-count in 'Secrets' but I've upped the heat level a little, so hopefully that will encourage any publishers to let me get away with another 30,000 words ;)

Hah, that's very good to hear! Can't wait for Secrets. Though I'm still sitting here and waiting, while Swiss customs seem to hold my latest amazon order hostage... >:(

Is it going to be illustrated too?

Yes! :-D And they are fantastic illustrations! lineae has outdone herself once more. I wish I could find a way to include the illustrations in a pdf file without them losing their quality (and without blowing the file up to a ridiculous size!) PSCL wouldn't be a problem to send out for reviews as a pdf, it's not a "Penny Dreadful", after all, but

[naurring]

There, review is posted. Sadly enough I've always been better at pointing out what I didn't like than at saying what I did like, so that part is pretty short.

[erestor]

Thank you! :D *mwuah*

I shall blame any drop in sales on you. :P

[erestor]

PS: I chose the format for very selfish reasons - its what I can read best. ;) I also use it in fanfic, and nobody ever told me it's annoying. But I'll change it for the novel. :)

PPS: Heeh! "Too short!" I agree that I should have introduced the Leigh/Meadows bit better - it's mentioned in the blurb that they'll be the main pairing, so I somewhat didn't expect the reader to be surprised, especially as I placed hints. But they were too subtle. If there should be a "second edition" (AHAHAHA!), I'll probably rewrite some bits and pieces there.

Still don't think this would have been enough material for a novel. *is stubborn*

[naurring]

Still don't think this would have been enough material for a novel. *is stubborn*

Perhaps not for a LOTR length novel, but perhaps for something longer than 80 pages. :P

I chose the format for very selfish reasons - its what I can read best. ;)

I think it's a great format for online things, but not for real books. Thought long about why, and perhaps it's because of the pixelated, slightly blurry quality of a screen, which makes it more difficult to focus on things than a book does and where empty lines between the paragraphs make it easier to focus on the writing. It's certainly not 'annoying' for your fanfics.

Or perhaps it's just because I'm simply so used to books being in another format. :P