New vs Old Authors

 I had an interesting conversation lately. It started with an observation by a friend about science fiction authors (well known ones) coming to the end of their careers. I wasn’t aware that writers were even capable of retiring unless they were dead. They write until they croak. In some cases someone will take over and continue writing for them.

Needless to say, that didn’t sit that well with me. I’m a Golden Girl.

This led to another conversation about age and publishing. I was told, by a person who dabbled at writing, that publishing a book was a young person’s game, especially fiction. Apparently there are some that believe that if you’ve crossed the big 5-0, then the books you write are memoirs or historical topics.

They didn't think they could craft a book that would appeal to younger readers. Or they didn’t think they could write characters younger than they were. Or they thought the environments they would write in would be too dated. Or they weren’t computer savvy enough to write an eBook. Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

Now on the other end of the spectrum are those that think they’re not old enough to write a book. They believe they don’t have enough experience. Or they haven’t been around long enough to be taken seriously. 

I did a little research. Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein completed that manuscript before she was 21. Stephen King is currently 73 and he has a book set to come out in 2021. 

What this tells me, is that age doesn’t matter. This is just a reason that some use not to get that book

out. Another thing they allow to hold them back. I heard someone say that out there somewhere is a reader with a hole in their soul that is the shape of your book.

You have that story inside you. Write it. Someone will love it as much as you do. 

Don’t let ageism stop you.

Your Book In Review

In books as in movies, book reviews are important. As I do my research I am discovering the importance of reviews.

At present, when I publish I’m putting my novel out into the world. I can tweet it. I can put it on my Facebook page, but reviews will give it extra gloss and credibility. Reviewers will tell everyone what they think of your book (good, bad or indifferent). Their network of readers can spread news of your book wider than you can by yourself.

So how do you find someone to review your book? That is easier than you think. Or rather, finding them is easy. Getting them to review your book? That may be a little trickier. But first, how to find them.

My first Google search was for Book Review Sites. That yielded 700 + million links. Had to narrow that down. I needed to find reviewers for my particular book. As Shadow Point falls under Paranormal Romance, I did a second search for Paranormal Romance Book Review Sites . That dropped my search results down to about a million which is reasonable in the world of searches.

Now for the work. You need to go to each of these sites. Find out exactly what type of PR books they review. For example if they only review vampire/shape-shifter types of stories, then my Supernatural Crime story isn't going to interest them too much.

Most of these sites have a ‘Request a Review’ contact page. They tell you exactly what kind of information they need before they consider your book. It may seem strict, but it is necessary for many of them. There are only so many hours in a day. There are thousands of authors looking for reviews and you've just joined the queue.

Patience is going to be a major requirement. It will take time for these reviewers to get around to reading your book even if they've accepted it. You are looking at a wait time of up to 4 months in some cases. If they don’t like it, they may not review it at all and they are under no obligation to tell you that.  

As Authors, the idea of getting your book reviewed by the New York Times is like winning the Pulitzer for journalists. It means you've arrived in the world of books and publishing. It’s a wonderful dream. But may be a bit unrealistic. Do I want to be on the NYT Best Seller list? Of course I do. But it’s not my only dream. To have my book read around the world and moderately successful would make me just as happy.

On a side note, I've run into the question of paying someone to review my book. I considered the option. But my decision is not to go that route. The primary reason behind my decision is that it doesn't seem honest. A good review for a bad book is not the type of reputation I want. That is what I want. An honest review. A honest good review would be great.

So, since Shadow Point is still in the editing phase, I am making a list of the reviewer sites I think would be interested in reading and reviewing my book. As of today, I've bookmarked about 23 sites and plan to continue searching for more Review sites. Does it seem like a lot of sites? Maybe it is, but the more exposure, the better. That along with the hope that the good reviews will outweigh the bad.

The Path to Publishing

Compared to the critique process, I'm finding another part of the writing/publishing world a maze. The world of self-publishing is a broad and busy minefield of options and choices.

The Path

Years ago, I like many tried the traditional publishing route. I sent manuscripts out to publishers I thought would like my stories. A few rejections and my belief in my writing took a beating. Oddly enough I kept writing.

Then the world of literary agents opened up. People who would take my novel and go head to head with publishers and all their minions to get my book out there. They were a busy bunch, but there were a lot of them. I figured my chances were better at avoiding the slush pile. A few hundred query letters later with my latest works and I got more rejections.

Yet, I kept writing. I turned my skills to writing Fanfiction for a while. I must have learned something from all those rejections as I started to develop a small fanbase for those stories. My trampled ego began to recover.

Vanity Press

Yeah this was well named and I considered doing this at one point. However, I was in a constant state of broke. I couldn't afford the number of copies I would need along with the fact I had a full time job that wouldn't allow me to go haunt the local bookstores. In addition, my chances of success were low.

Self-Publishing

This is the world I'm currently exploring. The internet has exploded with options and opportunities. At first glance it seems pretty encouraging. The pitfalls on the other hand are equally daunting as the advantages.

There are so many options that trying to find the best one for me is hard. If you don't believe me, just do a quick search on 'self-publishing' and look at the total of results.

So you, fair reader get to follow me on my path of publishing research. Even though I'm still in the 2^nd revision of Shadow Point, waiting until I'm done to start this process would be a bad idea.