Wednesday Writerly Ways~Oops, Was it Something I Said

I sure hope so.  I know I've been absent from this blog hop for a while but an email this morning got me thinking.

I read all emails and comments with a grain of salt. Some emails and reviews are hopelessly hostile while others are good. Both are helpful and I'll tell you why. Comments to this blog are harder to judge, but it is still in the mix as feedback.

I always use me as an example. Zombie Apocalypse: Redemption has a 1-star rating. Not my proudest achievement. I finally got around to reading the reviews. The email was a follow up to the review. A friend emailed me with concern on how I felt about it.Yes, I'm slow and late to the party. Mainly because right now, I just have bigger fish to fry in my skillet of life in general. Yes, it stings a bit from my author point of view, but it is still one of my best sellers in fiction.

The comments, you don't have to go to Amazon. I'll post them here.

Nothing Personal

By John C. Brewer on February 8, 2013

Format: Paperback

I wish indie authors would take the time to have their work properly edited at the very least. Here we have a 152 page book (which is really short) self-published, on sale for $7.99 and the first two pages alone have enough grammatical errors to receive a failing grade in an English class. I applaud any author's attempt to get their work out there, and hope this author continues, but if English is not your native language you need to spend a few hundred bucks on a professional editor so people can see how creative you are and experience the magic of your story instead of being distracted by poor editing.

 

Thought I was going crazy..................

By Peggy B on May 31, 2012

Format: Kindle Edition

Okay, so one line reads - "The guard outside the lab had said something about a world class The only thing he could the amount would be gym and track in silo #2." Huh??? I re-read it twice, three times, rubbed my eyes, shook my head to clear out the cobwebs and read it again. I am not making this up - this is exactly how it appears in the book (along with hundreds of similar lines). WTF - does this guy not proof read???? And, to top it off, sometimes the characters "talk" like hillbillies with a lot of "what do ya want"s and "is that how ya"s and "outta"s and sometimes not. I would not have given it even 1 star but apparently Amazon reviews won't let you give any thing no stars.
I support the "independent" writer and I don't expect everyone to be Stephen King but, come on, throw the reader a bone and at least make a stab at proof-reading - okay?

 

Good or bad? I don't know.

By Misselaineous on November 28, 2011

Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase

I have no idea if this is a good story or not. Between bad grammar and lack of syntax, there were the continuity issues, so I'm lost. Then there are the quotation marks in lieu of apostrophes. It"s driving me crazy. When I grammar/spell checked this review, it caught every one of the author"s errors. (It even caught my purposeful ones.) I must say I admire anyone for putting their "stuff" out there, but PLEASE, edit first. I had a writing teacher in college who said no matter how bright, funny, or insightful you are, if you can't speak or write properly, no one will ever know. I read this on my Kindle, so I'm using Kindle locations vice pages. So here are a few of the errors I've found...
Location 222: "Of course, they could have put a transmitter on her car or tracked her by satellite. minute, old girl. She was letting tendencies run away with her mind." I'm still not sure what this means even though I read it like 5 times
Location 233: "Whoa, wait a her paranoid." Huh?
Location 260: "There were six bedrooms upstairs. Their grandmother had twelve and raised all of them in the house." Did Grandma have 12 kids or 12 bedrooms, this house or another one?
Location 265: "She peered into the refrigerator and saw the box of specimens still waiting. Warning to the general attacks, and anyone who was bitten was to go directly to their nearest hospital." Continuity is totally lacking here, and elsewhere. I mean, the very next location is a newspaper article, I think?
Location 307: "How her mentor had asked her opinion, sent her samples, and how she"d gotten specimens from her cousin of victims." I had to read this sentence 4 times to make out the meaning.Was her cousin a victim?
I'm not sure I'll finish this one.

Really bad right?  I make no bones of having formatting issues with Kindle. It shows up fine with the proofreading before publishing but in the downloaded copy, it's a mess.

 It all depends on your point of view too.

My stance is a love it or leave it one, and not without some measure of gratitude. Gratitude? Yes, gratitude. I'll tell you why. The person took the time to write a comment. Some rather lengthy ones at that. And yes, I could come back with some scathing comments and excuses of my own, but I refrain. I know it needs work but I'm not able to do it right now.

Anytime you can get someone to comment, IT IS A GOOD THING. It's worth its weight in gold.Whether they liked it or didn't like it is for the most part irrelevant. Of course we'd all like glowing reviews, would we? That isn't always the case.

I've consider striking a chord with a reader a positive thing with readers where they feel compelled to comment. Is that a bad thing? One even took the time to spell/grammar check it for the review. Now that thorough. Time is everyone's most valuable commodity. That in itself earns my respect and a closer look. I won't make excuses. The book has some problems. Little did I know that I was suffering small TIAs during the writing and editing of this book. That only showed up in the MRI following my big stroke.

I've mentioned several times about comments to this blog being negative, but that also is a point of view thing.  Recently, real life has stopped me commenting on a lot of blogs that I usually do. For two months or more. With the juggling act I'm doing now, time is platinum. The best I can do is read the blog posts and sometimes comment. What do I feel the need to comment on. A blog that really twists my mind and makes me think. A momentary pause in what is happening around me. It has to make me take the time to give feedback.

My feedback-Sometimes it's a support thing, in gratitude for commenting so often on my blog, and the other times its because of a strong emotional response to either agree or disagree. The last is the greatest to me as a blog writer. It proves that I can touch people where they live.  The "Oops, was it something I said?" You betcha! Not really an oops because I did it on purpose...writer that I am.

As a blogger, I write what is in me to write. As a writer, I do the same. Comments and emails are always good feedback even the negative ones.

The one good thing of being the age that I am now is that I can audit a college class for free each semester. When I heal enough and after my husband dies, I may just do that for an English grammar refresher. I'd be going into it with fresh eyes having forgotten or misplaced most of it anyhow. It can only be a positive step forward, right? Death, for me, is the absence of learning.

Keep writing and loving the Lord.

Friday Fun ~Television

Is anyone else bummed about the new episode season being over? I am thoroughly.

At least two of the series I started watching this year dies an untimely death.

After 10 episodes, Last Resort was canceled. While a bit far fetched it was a character driven story line. I'll have to admit the writers knowing the show was about to be canceled they tied up most of the loose ends.

What was even quicker than that was the canceling of Zero Hour after only THREE episodes. Just when the watchers were starting to get interested the station yanks them. Far be it you put anything on television that actually makes the viewers think.

Scandal ended the season with the inevitable cliff-hanger of
the Navy spy guy being caught by Olivia. How long did he expect to keep his secret a secret from someone like Olivia Pope? But him trying to kill her...it just ain't gonna happen. If the mole isn't the mole, who is? No real surprises in the cliff hanger.

The Walking Dead settled one problem but opened up a future antagonist. Andrea, the hapless in love original character, died. I did like the way they portrayed the scene. The face down in the prison was sort of anti climatic. Now what is Rick going to do with all those people living in the prison?

Red Widow is a new series that shows promise. But I expect it to fall
by the wayside also. It's another high concept show.

Arrow keeps getting better and better. Is it my imagination or with the more people who knows who he is the more complex the dynamic become? Oliver Queen may just decide that living on his island is preferable to being home.

1600 Penn is still as stupid as ever. The big question is who will Becca chose to be baby daddy. The show is good for a laugh or two.

Another series I started watching was The Following. I know, I know, but I find it intriguing from a writer's stand point.Each episode is set up like individual chapters in a book that the villain is writing with an FBI agent as the main character. It's like a spider's web intricately connected and planned. How big this web is, is anybody's guess.

Now, just waiting for Fall or just stop watching television again.

Friday Fun~ What I Have Been Reading

I've been behind on my reading lately. There's only so much time I can spend during my day actually reading a book. Reading has fallen by the wayside with my therapy routine, husband's care, and writing...not to mention the seemingly fifty other things I do during the day. Most evenings I carry my book or e-reader to bed with me and fall asleep without finishing a page. Gone are the days I could kick back in the tub and read. I could, but getting out of the tub would be a royal pain. I know I've tried it. I guess reading in the tub will be postponed until I get my step-in tub. <sigh>

Mostly, I've been reading chapter edits from Compuserve Books & Writer's forum, and books about stroke recovery. Neither of them I'll review here. But I want to touch on  two gems I've run across. Some of the books are self-published and well written, or traditionally published.

Rebecca Dutton's book is the one I'm reading now. Rebecca pops in here from time to time. My Last Degree is a compelling look at a occupational therapist's stroke recovery. The shoe on the other foot as it were. It's one thing to know what you know, but quite different when you experience it like she's had to. After I had my stroke, Rebecca's was the first stroke survivors blog I read. She's like me. She'll squeeze a penny until it screams for mercy.

Mark Ittleman's book, The Teaching of Talking has been an invaluable help in assisting me with my own recovery. He is also part of the Stroke Survivor Tattler's group. I read this book before I noticed it was him in the online group.  No, that's not the only reason I joined.

His "Ittle Principles" broke it down to basic information that even I, a nonspeech therapist, could understand and go, "Ah ha!" Now there are some parts that are strictly for therapists, all in all, it helped me understand how to recover my speaking skills beyond the hospital based therapy involved.

As you can tell both books deal with stroke recovery. These two were the best out of the twenty I've read or reading so far. I got anotherbook in the mail from Amazon today, "How to Conquer the World with One Hand...and an ATTITUDE" by Paul Berger. I'm looking forward to reading it.

Remember to balance work and play for a better you.

Reviews of Zombie Apocalypse: Redemption and Another

I was doing a weekly search of my author's names, genres, and main characters, and came across some reviews for my fiction book Zombie Apocalypse: Redemption that were posted to the web only one did I realize was posted.

Guarding your work against piracy is an ongoing vigilance in today's cyber-friendly world. I continually and routinely do searches which is no mean feat considering a search under J. L. Murphey provides 558,000 hits. Now all these hits are not me so I rifle through them searching for any note that shouldn't be there. Not that I'm seriously worried about piracy, but it could happen.

Back to the reviews. The first one I knew about. It was a nonhorror reader who was surprised by the novel. HERE

The second was one I found during my search. Many have marked this novel to be read but I've seen few actually come across with a review so this one took me by surprise. This one was from a zombie fan. HERE To say I was pleased is an under statement.

To convert a nonhorror reader to zombie fiction is awesome. To get praise like this from a horror aficionado is even more so.

On another note, my nonfiction is selling well. Are You a Survivalist or a Prepper? just earned out a double digit and triple digit royalty check. If you haven't heard of it that's because of me...I promoted while writing it and had a stroke after it was published. It was poor planning on my part if you could plan a stroke. 

In the book I mention that a couponer. Yeah, one of THOSE people. But the book is about a more common sense approach to being both. In today's economy, you have to be a savvy shopper using any means, the legal ones, at your disposal. I ran across this video on Wednesday that sort of sums up my philosophy on being a couponer. HERE Pretty interesting stuff.

So have you searched for yourself on the web lately?

Keep writing and loving the Lord.

Tuesday Tumbling Term

re·view  (r-vy)
v. re·viewed, re·view·ing, re·views
v.tr.
1. To look over, study, or examine again.
2. To consider retrospectively; look back on.
3. To examine with an eye to criticism or correction: reviewed the research findings.
4. To write or give a critical report on (a new work or performance, for example).
5. Law To reexamine (an action or determination) judicially, especially in a higher court, in order to correct possible errors.
6. To subject to a formal inspection, especially a military inspection.
v.intr.
7. Law A judicial reexamination, especially by a higher court, of an action or determination.
8. A musical show consisting of often satirical skits, songs, and dances; a revue.

Now as a writer and author, we are mostly concerned with 1-4 definitions of this word.

Which is better no review or a bad review? We all want reviewer to say wonderful things about our baby, don't we? Any review is free publicity, right? Wrong. But what if it isn't good? I've been an indie author for almost two years now and I can say, to me, a bad review is worse sometimes. As my momma used to say, "Opinions are like a$$hole. Everyone has one."  Some things to think about when leaving a review or comment...

 

The Reviewer
While most people are hesitant about writing a review of any kind, they are not opposed to reading them. People tend to look at stars or symbols when choosing books. Personally, I tend to read the reviews, and then review the reviewer. If they consistently write bad reviews, then why are they reviewing in the first place? What it boils down to is attention. What does it say about someone who leaves consistent bad reviews...they have a really sad life when they have to cut someone down to feel better.

If the reviewer has given a mixture of review, I tend to pay more attention. They know their own mind and they are a fair judge of what is right. So in short, grade the reviewer or source.

What Does It All Mean
So what do bad reviews say about you as a writer? Possibly nothing and possibly everything. If the review is about formatting, you may want to redo it. If the review focuses on what is wrong with the book, they probably do it consistently. So take these with a grain of salt and consider the source.

If they are known for balanced in their reviews. I'll consider these more heavily weighted reviews than those that are not. If they say it's bad then it probably is and needs more editing.

My Way
I prefer the tempered approach of reviewing that isn't always given. I learned this method with customer service auditing. Everything is not all bad nor all good. Everything has strong and weak points. For example, if the story is good but the grammar is bad, then I'll say so. By the same token, God forbid, the story is bad and the grammar is excellent my review will be balanced. Although that's the main reason I read is for the story. Now if is totally stinky, I won't review it. Personally, I hate the star rating system. It's too confining and an easy out for laziness.

I always make a point of writing a review of what I read, that's just me. I don't expect everyone to have this standard. Though, it would be nice from a writer's stand point. It's an affirmation and acknowledgement of someone's effort. If writing was easy everyone would do it. Some writers slave at their writing for decades before they publish, or at least a couple months of sweat and furrowed brow to produce a book. Comments would be nice, but the fact is many don't. From over 1,000 book sales I might receive 1 review. So if everyone goes by my standard, my novels must be really stinky or only read by non-reviewers.

So what do you think of reviews and reviewers?

Keep writing and loving the Lord.

Review for Zombie Apocalypse: Redemption

Just thought I'd give y'all a heads up. Terry Callister over at Books and Novels to Read gave Zombie Apocalypse: Redemption a 5 out of 5! What a nice way to end the year.

Keep writing and loving the Lord

Bad Review and Wondering

I did my monthly search for my novels through the various sites they are listed through today. I found a one star review for "Zombie Apocalypse: Redemption." Now normally this would not bother me...it is after all just one person's opinion. This reviewers comments were about syntax and the use of quotation marks instead of apostrophes. She talked about a lack of continuity. About the author's right to put things out there without editing.

This really got under my skin. I painstakingly edit my work. I may miss a few things here and there, but really what this reviewer was talking about isn't what I wrote. She cited text which when I look back at the original PDF file before conversion to MOBI...it isn't the same. I actually bought a copy of the Kindle version and she is right...it is all messed up. It reads like an illiterate person wrote it.

Whole sections of text and words are moved down or up several lines which makes what you are reading nonsense! I am irritated beyond belief! All the apostrophes are now quotation marks. It looks like trash. Now, I know I'm not perfect, but this is outrageous to me. Has anyone else had this problem with this books?

I've gone so far as to download the rest of my books onto my Kindle to read. God, please don't let them all be like this. But I've heard from others on my other books and none of these style issues were mentioned so I think I'm safe. I want to say thank you to Misselaineous "misc." for pointing these errors out to me.

Now the question I have is...if I pull the Kindle version and redo it...will the results be the same again?

Reviews & the Indie Author

Today I'm decompressing after a very long week of terror, worry, and just running flat out at full tilt. I posted a little blurb about my husband earlier in the week. Nothing like making applesauce and lemonade as a career choice.My launch of "mr. Goodbar Goes to the Hospital" is delayed for a week while I do this. I've been catching up on blog reading, 600 plus emails, social marketing, and forgetting about tweets past. I just can't juggle that fast.

In my emails today, I found two-five star reviews on Smashwords for my nonfiction pamphlet, "The Author Business: a practical guide to the business of being a self-published author." I was thrilled. It really spurred me on to completing the full length book. This got me thinking about reviews we get as authors. What do they mean to us?

Just plain and simple... it is an affirmation of what you wrote is worthy of being read by others. While these reviews were great, I wondered about what the other 1,000+ people who downloaded this book thought. The same goes for all my books. "Escape from Second Eden" has received two reviews on Smashwords and one on Amazon, and that's out of several hundred copies sold! The others which have sold close to 1,000 copies combined...nothing.

Oh, I take that back...I did receive an awesome review from Thomas Wilson on "Zombie Apocalypse: Redemption."

All of these have had review copies sent out. I know I'm probably just impatient. None of these reviewers do this for a living. It's their time and their dime. I understand it can take months to even hear back from some. I know I'm not the only author in town touting their book.

This past week I broke down and bought a WiFi Kindle. Yes, another huge step for this old dinosaur being brought into the 21st century kicking and screaming. It was lighter to stick in my purse with a small reading light than a book at the hospital. As I was searching Amazon and Smashwords for possible downloads to pass the time, I was amazed at how I chose what I wanted to read. I've had tons of people ask me to buy their books or recommended books over the past year and my first thought was to look them up which I did. But I'm the educated shopper. I rarely buy on impulse, but after much thought and consideration. I tend to look at all the factors and know that I'm not alone.

The deciding factors on my purchases...

1) I already knew recommendations from others were the top of my list to look at. Word of mouth advertising is the best. The key is getting your book noticed so it can be a word of mouth thing.

 2) Reviews by others who had read the work.
I found myself reading all the reviews other readers had posted.  Now, I take EVERYTHING I read with grains of salt. Everyone has an opinion...good, bad, or indifferent. I remember the movie "Mystic River." It got rave reviews, a great cast, interesting plot line, but in my mind it wasn't worth the price of the admission ticket at the theater. I know others will argue this point with me until the cows come home, but that's beside the fact...it is my opinion. Isn't that what reviews basically are? Opinions?

3) How much it would cost.
 Money is a big issue with me these days as an semi-retired person and mounting medical bills.  Now, with that in mind, I'm not opposed to spending $7-15 for a actual physical book. I got a copy of the "Taste of Home Annual Cookbook" in the mail yesterday and contemplating the $30 cover price. But this is a nonfiction with value so probably not a great example. But a downloaded copy, I found myself biased by price which surprised me. As an author, I know how much work, time, creativity, and talent goes into producing a book for sale. Part of my mind focused on these items while my pocketbook screamed at paying $9.99 no matter how great the reviews were. I also know I'm not alone in the money crunch. There are millions of us out there.

I know I've said it before, but please if you've read one of my books, feedback is always welcomed. Even if it's a stinky review. I'd rather have a stinky review pointing out the bad points than none at all. That's one of the true downsides of this business of being an indie author...lack of feedback. If the book is truly stinky, it shouldn't be on the market...say seven out of ten say it's stinky. People read genres and they read authors.

I tend to look at things in ratios. It's the financial/marketing side of my brain working. Even if 1 out of 100 posted a review of my books, I'd have about twelve reviews so far not three. Maybe in my mind this ratio is overly optimistic at 1 out of 100. Maybe it should be 1 out of a 1,000? That's closer to the norm where this author is concerned. I guess in today's world where everyone is voicing their opinions about everything else...I figured I'd get a better response. I hold people up to the same standard I hold myself to...if I read it, I post a review. Am I wrong?


So how would you, as an author, react to a bad review? 

So in spite of it all, I...
keep writing and loving the Lord.

It's a Red Letter Day

Today in my email I found notification of two reviews! I thought I'd share again. The Red Letter is me posting twice in one day.

This one from fellow author Thomas Wilson, via GoodReads.com, who was one of my helpful eyes before publishing...BTW Thanks Thomas!

Thomas Wilson rated it

I don't usually read Horror books and read this as a favor to the author. It scared the hell out of me reading in during the day with the lights on! I thoroughly enjoyed the book besides the uneasy feeling of of it being scary. I would definitely read any other books by this Author!!

And this one from my facebook account for "Who Stole Baby Ruth" from Vivian Frank.

Vivian wrote: "I personally found "Who Stole Baby Ruth?" delightful and very clever. Recommend it for all ages!!!"

Wohoooo! I'm on a roll two in one day...now if only the sales would improve, I'd spend all my time writing. This made my day! How was yours?

Keep writing and loving the Lord.