Tag: reviews

Reviews & Reviewing

    Guy Pace

Reviews & Reviewing

Reviews | Guy L. PaceI’m involved in a round-robin review group for Christian writers on Goodreads. I love writing and reading. Reviewing other’s work is a challenge.

I don’t mind getting reviews from others, be they readers or writers. I learn from them no matter how critical they might get. But, writing a review of someone else’s work … that can be a minefield.

Fortunately, the folks involved in the round-robin are honest and direct, and give good reviews.

I wrote a couple of reviews so far and they were honest, constructive reviews of stories that I liked. They aren’t my normal reading fare, but it never hurts to explore new material. I posted the reviews, then crawled into a corner until the authors responded positively to the comments.

Whew!

More Reviews

I’m well into another book that I’m enjoying and will review it soon. In addition, I have some new reviews for Sudden Mission, both on Amazon and Goodreads. In this next round, I hope to see more reviews of Nasty Leftovers. This round-robin works out well, and my reviews are increasing.

Granted, the new reviews are by other authors and not my target audience (teens). But, getting teens to review on Amazon or anywhere else is very difficult. I used a little meme on Facebook a couple of times to prod folks to review.

Reviewing | Guy L. PaceThe rules are simple, if not completely accurate today. I know Amazon has changed some of their rules for reviews. For example, they usually do not accept reviews of books by friends of the author, or family members. How they figure that out is beyond me.

The Rules

As for Rule #1, that is true. But, if you buy the book and review it, you get a “verified purchase” tag on your review. That might impact the “algorithms.”

Rule #4, though, is the most important. Authors need reviews. More reviews move a book’s status in the rankings on Amazon. They make the title more visible to other readers. They help other readers make decisions on what to choose to read.

Sure, not all reviews or ratings are five-star. Not everyone likes the same thing. My books aren’t everyone’s favorite genre. But, a review is a review and I appreciate every single one I get.

Hurts

Some comments in reviews can inflict pain in the author. That’s part of growing a thick skin–which we need to survive. No one is perfect, no author writes a perfect book. Accepting that and moving on is important.

I try to keep that in mind as I review other author’s work. No, the book isn’t my cup of tea. Maybe the book needs an editor. Maybe there are issues with the story. But, I can address that with constructive, positive comments. I made the mistake of being too blunt and critical in a review once. It hurt a relationship. That’s the minefield I mentioned earlier.

Care. You write and you read. The only way this business can get better is if we all care and comment positively and constructively.

Keep reading.

Keep writing.

 

 

 

Series End

    Guy Pace

Carolina Dawn | Guy L. PaceWednesday, Carolina Dawn releases and this represents the series end for Spirit Missions. Those who pre-ordered will see them in their e-readers, and the print editions ship from the printer then.

For me, Spirit Missions started in 2012 with some wild ideas and the result was Sudden Mission. The series name didn’t come about until after Nasty Leftovers and I knew there would be a third novel. It has been fun, exciting, and hard work and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Thanks

I want to take a moment and thank all my readers and supporters. Without your support and reviews, it wouldn’t be possible. Keep that in mind. Without reviews, authors and their work languish in obscurity. Even just a star rating–if nothing else–is very welcome.

Now, I move on to other projects. I plan to try more short fiction and a more adult Christian-themed novel. I might release a combined edition of Spirit Missions, with all three novels, and the two related short stories under one cover. We’ll see how it works out.

Journey

It’s hard to believe that almost six years ago, I sat down to my computer and started this journey. I learned so much about writing, editing, publishing, covers, and marketing. I’m still learning. Honestly, I don’t think the learning will stop. It seems something new crops up all the time.

Early on, I learned about book trailers. I took mine down shortly after Booktrope closed their doors. I recently put the trailers for the first two books back up on YouTube. Links are in the book pages. I’ll have a trailer for Carolina Dawn out soon.

Keep an eye on my Events page, too. Things are starting to come together. I’ll add events as they get scheduled.

Again, thanks. Enjoy!

Keep writing.

 

Building Anticipation

    Guy Pace

Building Anticipation

Anticipation | Guy L. PaceSometime in the next couple of weeks, you’ll see the final cover for Carolina Dawn. With this little post today I hope to build your anticipation for the cover, and the book.

Recently, Scott Deyett, my cover guy, sent a mockup of the cover for Carolina Dawn. It is awesome! The final, high-resolution images should be even more so. I sent Scott the page count for the book, and the ISBN and price bar code for the print version. So, now he has what he needs to correctly make the cover fit around the printed copy. The e-book cover image is just the front of the print cover, so that’s easy.

When the final cover is in, I will run a cover reveal. It will knock your sock off.

It is slowly coming together.

First Readers

The first readers, my wife and J. C. Wing of Wing Family Editing, think Carolina Dawn is pretty good. No brag. Just fact.

I will be putting our some advanced reader copies (ARCs) in the near future for some people who will read it and post up advanced reviews. I’ll post those in the blog as they come in.

The current planning date for Carolina Dawn‘s release is February 14, 2018.

Sometime around the first of February, both the e-book and print edition will on pre-sale or pre-order, so you can lock in your copy.

Keep reading.

Keep writing.

 

Briefly

    Guy Pace

Just Briefly

I’ll be brief today. I’m getting ready for a reading/signing at Auntie’s Bookstore in downtown Spokane, WA, on Sept. 15, 7 pm. I hope lots of folks in Spokane and the surrounding area come to hear!

From Sept. 21-25, I’ll be at the Montana Book Festival in Missoula, MT. They’re still putting the schedule together. If you plan to attend, or will be in the Missoula area during that time, please check in and look me up! The schedule on the link above should be firmed up in the next week.

Both Sudden Mission and Nasty Leftovers (as reported in the previous post) are available in print now. You can even order print copies from Amazon (see the links). The print copies are not via CreateSpace, but Ingram, so shipping might take a couple more days. For some reason, Amazon isn’t showing the cover image for Sudden Mission, but it may show up soon.

There is a new review of Sudden Mission on Amazon by an old Madras High School friend. She was a couple of years behind me and married one of my classmates. I attended a combined reunion this summer and had a lot of fun catching up with old friends.

Any time authors or artists can get ratings or reviews is a blessing. Today’s market is so crammed with content and content providers, it is hard to get noticed any other way. So, when you read something put up a star rating if you can. Good or bad, it all counts and it all helps.

Subscribing to this blog is a good thing. Really. I don’t share your email or info with anyone else. You get updates and posts right away and won’t miss anything. I may use the mailing list in the future for contests and giveaways. If you are already subscribed, great! Thanks. Share the information with friends and family. The more subscribers, the more we’ll use this for fun stuff.

So, that’s everything, briefly.

Keep writing.

 

Short and Sweet

    Guy Pace

Short and Sweet

There is a new review of Nasty Leftovers online. Laura, a high school student, posted up a review today. She also reviewed Sudden Mission last week. She is in the age range of the books’ target markets, so these are important reviews. See what she has to say. I am so glad she liked both books.

I’m busy getting some other events and activities going. Check the Events page to see the new entries. I will also try to set up something in the Seattle area soon. An event coming in a couple of weeks is a visit to a middle school in Southern Idaho. It’s a career day and I’ll talk about writing and publishing. What is special is that two of my grand-nephews attend this school.

Another event is part of “teen week” at Barnes & Noble in Spokane Valley. This is a promotional event that takes place just as schools close for the summer. The bookstore sets up events for teens to get them involved in reading for the summer. Since it is Barnes & Noble, I’ll be on a panel or two with some local and some “a-list” young adult writers. This should be interesting.

I also need to knuckle down and get some writing done. Life, travel, grandchildren all conspire to keep me away from the keyboard. I’m working on it, though.

Keep writing.