Why Reviews Matter

Authors often hector their readers for reviews, which seems strange.  What?  You have no idea if I even like your work or not, and you’re asking me for my opinion?  OK…here goes!  There actually is a method to this madness.  Reviews are important to an author.  I wrote my newsletter subscribers about the importance of reviews.  I thought it important enough to post here, as well.

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At the end of all my works, there’s a request for a review.  Reviews are, quite simply, your opinion as to whether you would recommend my work to another reader.  I have no doubt that there are some of you that would not recommend my work.  That’s fine–my kids don’t eat some of my cooking.

But if you do like what I have served up, please leave a review.  You don’t actually have to give your name in the Amazon system if you don’t want to.  I also won’t give you grief about your review.

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Why am I asking for reviews?  Am I that desperate for an ego-stroke?  Isn’t the royalty enough?  There are very prosaic reasons that authors want reviews.

1. Feedback Mechanism:  I need to know how my readers feel about my work. Do you want more of this and less of that?  If you don’t email me (by, for instance, replying to my newsletter) and you don’t write a review, how am I to know what you want?  Now, while I prefer that criticism is in email, and praise is in reviews, I really do want to know what you all like.
2. Promotional Eligibility:  Many promotional services (like Book Barbarian, InstaFreebie, and others) require a work to have at least 10 reviews, and a certain average rating, in order to make the work eligible for their particular megaphone.  There are other criteria, too, but without reviews, I’m shut out of those ways of promoting my work.
3. Industry Notice:  Industry awards are also dependent, at least in part, on reviews.  It would be nice to win an award.  I was nominated once for an award from the British Science Fiction Association, and I can’t describe the lift that gave me.

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“Bill, why are you bugging us?  Why not just pay to get a bunch of click farm critters to crank out a bunch of five star reviews?”
This is going to sound corny as hell, but here it is:  I want reviews of my work to be honest feedback by my readers.  The reason for this block of text is to inform you why I want reviews, to explain their importance, and to ask you for your honest feedback.  I know other authors have a lesser punctilio in their dealings with the indie ecosphere.  Me, I want to sleep at night knowing that I did everything with honor.

“OK, then, what about ARCs?  You ask for people to read copies of your book in advance of launch in exchange for a review.  How is that not ‘paying for a review’?”
Interesting question, and one I know is on people’s mind.  It all goes back to the idea of feedback.  ARCs or ARC-like behavior is an accepted practice amongst nearly all the arts.  How many movie commercials begin with the words “Critics rave about <movie x>”?  How can those critics rave about a movie that hasn’t been released yet?  Simple–they attended an advanced screening, the movie version of a ARC.

Here’s where I differ.  I cannot  control what is in your review, or whether it appears on the book page.  Sure, you get a free book.  I don’t penalize you if you don’t write a review.  I don’t penalize you if you write a thoughtful negative review.  You are under no pressure to even write a review, although I wish you would.

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I think I’ve beaten this dead horse enough, don’t you?  So, here’s a list of my works and their review links.  If you have read any of them, I am interested in your comments.  If you have not read them, please don’t write a review–that would be dishonest.

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The Paradisi Chronicles Stories

God’s Sandbox 
Nuking the Noomies
Live Wire
Eye of the Needle

The Family of Grifters Stories

The Longest Con
Ownership

The Legacy Fleet Stories

Gauss

You Must Write, Submit, & Save Everything

Without going into dreary details, I was suddenly presented (about 10 minutes ago) with an opportunity: did I have a space-based SF short story, size in the 2-3k range, that I was willing to submit?

I turned to my Writing Portfolio spreadsheet (uh, you catalog your stories, don’t you?) set the words column to look for under 3500, and shazaam!  Three good candidates.

I relate this because between now and the end of July, there is no possible way I could write at 2-3000 word story.  As it is, I will have trouble making my Riddled Space deadline of 31 July.  But because, back in July of 2015, I wrote “Command Decision” for a market called The “Gernsback Writing Contest”, got rejected, but never deleted it, I have something to get to the editor tomorrow.

In the writing business, you have to be able to strike when the iron is hot.  It helps if you have a backpack full of ammo, ready to rock and roll, instead of pouring your minie-balls there on the battlefield.

Write.  Write often.  Submit to markets.  Save ALL stories.

Exit Kidney Stone, Enter Riddled Space

Well, that was fun.  On 13 July, I underwent percutanaceous nephrolithotomy.  Which is a fancy way to say “we stuck a tube through your back, into your kidney, and took out a big honking kidney stone.”  Now big?  About the size of a stack of 10 US nickels.  22mm.  If I didn’t get it out, it would eventually kill the kidney.  We can’t have that.  So, it was under the knife, then a week-long carnival of pain meds, not-bad hospital food, some really good nurses, and an unhealthy obsession with the contents of the drainage tube.  I finally got the tube removed from my back yesterday, and it’s time to move on to other things.

Like Riddled Space.  Yes!  The original novella, first written seven years ago is finally being fully fleshed out, and the other four novels in that universe are being written.  I have the first draft through the editor, and am working to get the final draft in by the end of the month.  Expect publication some time around late August.

I have a bunch of titles out, too.  One novella and two short stories are set in the Paradisi Chronicles open universe.  I also have one other novella, Ownership, set in the Family of Grifters universe.

I love all these tales.  All of them are fresh, new, and NOT recycled 3DN entries.  Well, I did write Live Wire for 3DN, but that was done deliberately, with the full intent of publishing it as soon as the contest was over and the winner selected.  I will put their reveals in separate posts over the next day or so, but in the meantime, I urge you to head over to their Amazon pages.  Here are the links (just click on the titles)

Paradisi Chronicles stories

Nuking the Noomies – The original story that was selected to lead the Chronicle Worlds: Paradisi anthology.  If you’ve not read that anthology, start with this one.
Live Wire – a novella set in the near future, where civil order is on the verge of breaking down, and 10 plutocrats are banding together to escape Earth. Some folks want on the ships, though, and are not above kidnapping to get their tickets.
Eye of the Needle – a short story that is a sequel to Live Wire (though written first).  A dangerous mission to secure an orbital cable, a headstrong woman, and the indulgent father who is bankrolling the mission all figure in this tale from the near future.

Family of Grifters stories

Ownership – The result of a bet that I couldn’t do a 3DN-style writing challenge over President’s Day Weekend, Ownership is a novella that explores who owns what, and who, and how our grifting crew can make changes to it.

 

Launch Schedule

Subject to change, of course!

Under the gentle prodding of other Indie authors, I have finally put together a launch schedule for the rest of the year.  All of these dates are subject to change, of course, and it’s always a good idea to sign up for my newsletter (http://SmartURL.it/BillsWorlds) to get all of the latest info.

Legacy World: Gauss has launched!

Who?  What?  When?  What is this, Bill?  You never call, you never write–I could be dead.
Well, I understand.  Truthfully, I’ve been writing my keister off, but not so much on the blog.  I really have to get better at this…   So, launch information first, and how I got here in another post.

Legacy Warrior: Gauss
A Novella set in the Legacy Fleet Universe

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Admiral Overton is crushing all new development at Bloemfontein Yards for all IDF ships that are built or overhauled there. His reasons seem reasonable, but nobody wants to get a ship that has been “Bloemed up”.
LT Zoe Fleischmann and her boss, Commander Brooks sidestep the Admiral to test Zoe’s Gaussian Funnel at the far distant Wolfram system. All goes well until the Admiral shows up in the middle of the test, orders it stopped, and orders the officers back to Earth.
Has Overton gone over to the Swarm? Zoe, Brooks, and the officers of the Malta must figure it out before Overton’s shuttle gets to Wolfram’s Q-Jump point and their careers are ruined. But how can an unarmed freighter hope to catch up to and stop an armed scout-class Admiral’s ship? Zoe has an idea. 

Special added bonus: The Science of Gauss, my standard science commentary on the various things I had to look up in order to make the plot work, is incorporated with this work.  That’s right–no need to perform a separate download to get the real lowdown on how Gauss came to be.

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Amazon order link for Gauss

The Longest Con is in PREORDER!

Oh, yeah, baby!  Finally!  My 2014 3DN novella, The Longest Con, is finally in Pre-Order at a special discount price of $1.49.

Covers By Christian

Let me have a moment here to stare at this wonderful Cover by Christian.  Mmmmm.  Damn, it looks good!

Let me say first that I appreciate everyone that has preordered this already, and thank everyone who is thinking of dropping a buck and a half on my work.  Please comment and review–I want to know what my audience thinks about my work.

Here’s the link to Amazon for the book.

NOTE: I will be sitting down Feb 18-20 to write another tale (NOT a sequel) set in the same universe, so yes, there will be more.

 

Technical Difficulties

There will be a short delay in the pre-order page for The Longest Con.  I plan to have it completed and submitted by Super Bowl kickoff (that would be Sunday, Feb 5)  I will be posting and hitting the email list with the link as soon as I get it.

Thank you for your patience.

PS–I had a glimpse of the next tale in the Family of Grifters universe.  NOT a sequel, or prequel, or any other kind of ‘quell.  Just another story, set in the same environment with the same protagonists.  Yeah.  This one will be fun!