The Reviews Quandry

     Authors live for positive reviews. We ask for them, beg for them, plead for them, and usually don't get them. Way back in beginning of my publishing career nine years ago, I could depend on a few relatives and some fellow writers posting some kind words for my books.  But, Amazon banned reviews from relatives and the trading of reviews between authors even though I have one child that never gave my books more than four stars and another who always wrote a very balanced review. As for my mom, she said my books were good but never posted anything about them. I think she didn't even tell her friends. Supportive she was not. Frankly, I am relieved I don' trade reviews with authors I know anymore. I once gave only four stars, and that person is still mad at me. If I'd been entirely honest, their book was three stars at the most.
     Since I write for small presses, neither them nor I can afford to send out hundreds of free copies in order to garner a handful of reviews as big New York publishers do.  To give an idea of how many books must be read to get a bunch of reviews, I did a KDP with one of my best. Ten-thousand copies were given away for free in a few weeks. How many reviews did I get?  Forty.  I have also done the contest thing, giving away one free soft cover copy which then has to be mailed. I always enclose a friendly note asking the winner to drop a review for me on Goodreads or Amazon if they enjoy the book, As far as I know, none ever has, leading me to believe they didn't enjoy the book or never read it in the first place.
     For a while there, a myth prevailed that if a book could get ten reviews, not as easy as it sounds, Amazon would promote it more heavily.  More recently, some claim if you can get fifty reviews, they will make your book a part of their permanent catalog. I doubt both. If mine manage to get more than ten reviews, it is usually because a controversy has ensued. One of my books, The Convent Rose, was trolled badly the second it was released by a person who didn't even have the name of the hero right and intentionally garbled  the plot to make it seem foolish. Fans I didn't know I had came forth to defend it. Likewise, when Ashy Affair was released missing half its pages (the e-book only), a publishing error, not mine, it was badly attacked. Though I contacted each reviewer and told them to ask for a corrected free copy, only two did. The others didn't take their bad reviews down. Slowly, those who read the entire book got it up to four stars. Controversy--a hard and hurtful way to get reviews.
      The difficulty of getting reviews for indie or small press authors has created a whole new industry.  The author shells out money for a company to put up an e-copy of the book free for a length of time in return for a fair review. Net Galley is one such business. I have no quarrel with them, but they are expensive to have a book up for a month. One of my publishers purchases space and prorates its authors for a week or two if they want to participate. I've done this several times and reaped two to four reviews from total strangers who rewarded me with four or five stars--and best of all vowed to read more of my books. However, this effort usually stalls out at no more than four reviews that come to twelve dollars apiece paid to the company, not the reviewer. Recently, I tried another, paying $125 for a month of exposure, ten reviews guaranteed or your money back.  So far, zilch reviews. Might be taking them up on that refund. Sure hope they aren't a scam.
     Often, when I am signing or trying to hawk my books on Authors Rows or at arts and crafts fairs, people do come up to me and tell me how much they liked a particular title or series. Some of these folks I know, some not. I always ask them to post their kind words in a much needed review. Few do. Most people seem to have a phobia developed in grade school and connected to writing book reports. I did have a person who said they couldn't post a review online for all to see but sent me a five page, hand-written  book report. It was lovely.  I still have it.  But, it did me no good as I can't post it myself. Really, the review need only be a few lines, what you loved or didn't love about the book. I keep the latter in mind when writing my next book. I listen to my readers.
      My new historical came out last week, Lady Flora's Rescue. So far, not one review. Nope, I do not expect even my fans to drop everything and read it immediately, but please do so in the future and give me what I need most--a few encouraging words.

Back from Down Under

     I left for my bucket list trip to Australia at the end of November without giving this blog a thought, but the journey did give me something to talk about other than writing. If you want a day to day account, friend me on Facebook. My husband took lots of great pictures, too. I'm not even going to pretend that my royalties paid for this trip. The cost was paid off monthly since last year and worth every penny from Enhanced Tourist Class on the plane which gave me extra leg room and great snacks plus a glass of sparkling wine to start the journey to watching the penguin parade and hand-feeding kangaroos.
     I was able to establish the Aussie character when a big six-footer reclined his seat into my lap for the eighteen-hour flight. Around two a.m., I desperately needed the restroom and found I was trapped. Afraid I would wet myself, I began shouting, "I can't get out!" and probably woke up half the plane including the guy in front of me who finally put up his seat, let me go, waited until I got back, and fully reclined again. Little did he know women my age need the bathroom every two hours. Each time I tapped him, he good-naturedly let me out again, then resumed his position. When I needed some food around six a.m. to take some meds, the staff provided me with a ham and cheese empanada. He put up his chair so I could get my tray out--and asked for the same. Honestly, very nice but not overly sensitive people. I have to say always willing to help and give directions as we found throughout our trip. Give up a seat on a crowded tram, nope, but share a table with you in a crowded restaurant--no worries. Sit yourself down.
     I did gather information for a Sinners book I plan to call The Aussie Sinner. Yes, there are Australian Rules Football players in the NFL, mostly kickers, but I want mine to play a different position if I can ever figure out what that is. Must get a copy of Aussie Football for Dummies soon, though I viewed several Footy games on the Footy Channel while recuperating from the day's activities. Only thing the games seem to have in common is having a ball of the same shape. Fun to watch as these very fit young men play in shorts with no padding flat out for their quarters, throwing themselves into piles to rip out the ball and sending it flying with a kick to the other end of the field. Our Melbourne guide, Peter, gave me lots of details on the sport as the game originated in that city which has nine teams of its own. I do need to give him a credit when the story comes out, probably in late 2020 so don't hold your breath.
     Meanwhile, The Heart of a Sinner is now up for pre-sale on Amazon and will be released on January ninth. This came as complete surprise to me as it hadn't been given a release date before I took off for the Land of Oz. That should tide you over along with Dream for a Sinner which I left nearly finished in order to take my trip. I do love to write, but traveling is even better. Here's a cover for you. Now I have to get back to cookie baking and present wrapping, both, like Dream, sorely neglected while I dined on kangaroo and flirted with platypuses. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to one and all!

TRR Fall Contest Answer

     It's that time of the year for The Romance Reviews Fall Contest. I have donated an autographed copy of Goals for a Sinner, the first in my long running Sinners Sports romances (how appropriate for football season) that has now grown to nine books with a tenth, Heart of a Sinner, coming out early next year. It will be up for grabs on November 2nd by answering a multiple choice question about the book.  Drum roll: the answer is D.  The festivities continue for the entire month with lots of other prizes. Check it out at http://www.theromancereviews.com.

The Deep, Deep POV

     Writing has its fads just like any other industry. For a while it was the Hero's Journey where each character had to have both an inner and outer reason for everything they did. Authors scurried to assign these motivations on charts before they wrote. For me, these things are revealed gradually and naturally as a book evolves and don't need to be spelled out. Trying too hard to do this actually damages the story.
     The latest is Deep POV (point of view). Only two characters are allowed to have any POV at all, especially in romance, only his and hers. A tree cannot fall in the woods if one of them is not present to remark upon it. A description of a smile experienced by the heroine might gush on for a full paragraph. Gone is the setting of a scene with description unless seen through his or her eyes. Otherwise, it is dubbed ambiguous. Who is seeing this? Well, my guess would be the folks in the next paragraph without having to add, she observed, said, etc.--"What a cloudy, miserable day."
     Every action must be propped up by several paragraphs of emotions. How did she feel about walking down that hall from one room to another? What did she see along the way? You know, sometimes, a walk down a hall is just a shortcut to the next scene, not a epic journey. Describing the tile underfoot, the vase of flowers, the doors passed simply slows the action to a crawl unless you are describing that passage for the first time as having some relevance.
     The reasoning behind all this is to intensify the experience for the reader and make them identify more strongly with the primary characters. If writing an intense romance, fine. If writing a story you want to be fast, light and fun, hauling along all these emotions slows it down to a crawl. Yes, your character should have feelings and motivations, just not doled out by the ton or repeated a dozen times.It has also been my personal observation that when people have sex, they surely have physical reactions, but if their minds are on their emotions, it is pretty bad sex as in "When will this be over?"
     I recently asked several people if they preferred deep POV. Heck no, they said. I skip all that stuff to get on with the story. All genres other than romance allow many characters to have a POV, the villain, the person about to get whacked on the next page of a Jeffery Deaver novel (big fan of his complex plots here). To me multiple POVs add to the story--but not all on the same page or at the same time. Give them their own chapter or scene and they work out just fine as long as there is a page break to set them apart.
      Okay, rant over. Simply tired of being told there is only one way to write and deep POV is it--for now.
     

The Physical Toll of Writing

      A somewhat jealous fellow writer constantly asked me how I "cranked" out several full-length books a year. What was my secret? First of all, I don't crank out anything. It takes me three or four months to write a book. Secondly, there is no secret.  I spend four hours each day writing-with social media turned off-and try to achieve one-thousand words at a sitting, which I usually do. I take a break halfway through, walk around, watch Jeopardy, have a snack. I don't write at night as I have a hard time sleeping if I do since the imagination is hard to turn off. Just TV and reading for me in the evening, or going out for a lecture, movie, or play.  But if I keep at it, by the end of three months, I have a 90,000 word book. Of course, I then do a rewrite and will have to do two or three edits after that. It works for me. Others will set a different schedule.
     I began this routine in 2004 at the age of 57 when I started to write in earnest after retiring from a career as a librarian. Now, fourteen years later, I have twenty-three books in print and two more in the works. I have also developed back and hip problems and have difficulty walking. On the way home from a long road trip, one of my favorite things to do, I failed to keep another rule to stop every two hours and walk around. Usually, my consumption of tea and coffee on these trips demand these stops for restroom purposes, but this time I skipped those because I had no thermos with me. I ended up with blood clots in one leg, not the serious DVT ones, but several superficial blots on my leg and some tenderness and pain. Three months on a blood thinner dissolved the clots, but the pain persisted. Why?
      My GP didn't know. My orthopedist said some arthritis of the spine that can't be helped and a hip going bad from age, but he didn't want to operate yet. Desperate for a solution, I hobbled on over to a chiropractor hoping for some help. He placed the blame squarely on the amount of time I spend on a computer writing. I admit, I'd rather be writing than do most other things, the reason why I set aside mornings for errands and chores or nothing would get done around the house. I do try to do water aerobics twice a week but will slough this off if I am deeply in my writing groove. It's not a good idea to ignore exercise no matter how much you hate it (though I do like water aerobics and swimming but not much else).
     I think writers are naturally sedentary. They exercise their imaginations rather than their legs and biceps. My best intentions to get up and stretch usually fall by the wayside, though I do find myself circling my neck when it tightens up from staring at a screen too long. End result of all this is I am being stretched and pummeled by a chiropractor--and it does hurt during and afterwards so I sit writing packed with ice bags on my back and thighs. I am not going to give up writing when my typing fingers, brain, and highly active imagination are still good. I have an excellent incentive--a long planned trip to Australia, bucket list epic, and would rather not be pushed around in a wheelchair.
     So, in addition to having shared my "secret" to "cranking" out books which is basically place butt in chair and write every day, I do caution other writers. Don't skip whatever exercise routine you have. Do get up and stretch. Don't write eight hours a day unless you are really driven (four is plenty), and try to stay healthy.

Web Site Woes

     Eight years ago when my first book was published, I was told by nearly everyone that I absolutely had to have a web site. This included my publisher who of course would not help develop or pay for it. Now, I grew up in a time when people were still making punch cards to enable a huge computers to play Bolero. I did more or less master Word because I needed it to write my novels, and I also came to enjoy e-mail and Facebook--but web sites, I had no idea how to go about them, and they were expensive to set up. At that time, I had a friend who was jumping on the band wagon to be a web site developer and web master. She offered to put together my site for $350, which, believe me, was a bargain. I told her what I wanted on the site, wrote tons of copy for it, supplied pictures, etc. In the end, I was happy with my simple site www.lynnshurr.com. She also did updates and other maintenance for the site for very little money. In January, she broke the news that she was out of the web site business that, like e-publishing, was reaping small rewards. I was on my own.
      Fortunately, my computer literate son agreed to do my updates which aren't very frequent. Easy, he said, just use html. The only part of that I understand is that the L stands for a language I do not understand. Then, a week ago came the annual demand for the renewal of my domain name and hosting from the provider. No problem, I thought, until I noted how much the fees had gone up and received notice that they'd detected malware on the site which they could fix for yet another $90 in virus protection. I had two knowledgeable people go into the site. Neither could find anything wrong.I responded saying as much, and immediately get another notice that they can prove I have malware but it is buried very deep. So, twenty minutes later, the helpful person on the other end shows me some code that he says is the malware--frankly I wouldn't know. So, how do I get it off? Pay them  the $90. I inform them that in the diminishing e-pub market, that plus the domain name and hosting comes to half of my royalties for last year and maybe is not worth it.
      Okay, they can remove it for one set fee--but my web site is old and needs to be migrated to a new and safer platform. Great. After much discussion, I ended up with a discount if I renewed for three years, and the malware would be removed, but still over $200.  And I must now navigate the migration of the web site with which they will help me.. I suffered through several migrations at my place of work. They are never easy or pleasant, but this one must be faced in the next few days. Mostly, I am fearful of losing all the work I did for the first web site--though I might update my out of date picture of me-or maybe I will choose to be that younger age forever. All in all, I know I am not cut out to deal with this and yet I must. Another learning curve, sigh. They seem to get more treacherous all the time.

Covers Uncovered

     I missed doing my monthly post by one day thanks to having two contracts for new books come in  on the same week and edits for those books at two different presses arriving on the same day. It's a good problem to have, but I've done little but edits for two weeks. Lady Flora's Rescue, an 18th century romp, will be out in January or sooner.  No date set for the latest Sinners book, The Heart of a Sinner. Neither have covers as yet.Which brings me to this month's topic, Covers Uncovered.
     I have a "friend" who constantly corners me at social events and introduces me as Lynn, who writes those dirty books with naked men on the cover. Please note, she has never read even one of my books, but simply judges them by their covers--none of which have a naked man. At a library event, I marched to the stacks, pulled one of my books, the 1920's historical, Queen of the Mardi Gras  Ball, and placed it in her hands. Great story with low sexual content, I told her. The cover has a Flapper wearing a red dress. She told me she only read murder mysteries. I countered that by saying there was a murder in the book. Did she read it? Nope, took it to the desk and returned it. Tired of all this, when she started her dubious introductions again, I told her companion, "Don't listen to her. She's never read one of my books and has no idea what they are about."  Repeated several times, she finally stopped her salacious introductions.
     Currently, I have twenty-three books in print. I decided to count up what kind of covers I've been given--authors have less to say about this than you think unless they are self-published and design their own. The tally came to this: 3 shirtless men, 6 sexy guys with all their clothes on, 3 couples, clothed, 7 women, clothed, 3 with miscellaneous items (flowers, a necklace, etc.), and 1 horse. Though I hate to admit it, the sexy guys covers do sell the best except in my conservative home area where readers always go for the flapper, the necklace, or the horse. I you are writing romance, go for the sexy guy.
     When I received the cover for A Place Apart which takes place in coastal Maine and features a wounded warrior with PTSD, the cover artist presented me with a man in a red hunting cap staring into the woods. I did protest: 1. no man with PTSD is going to call attention to himself by wearing a red cap and 2. the scene is the coast of Maine, not the deep woods. She said she'd checked recent best-sellers' covers and concluded the solitary man worked best.  Yes, in the proper setting. I dove in and found a better stock photo to use which she accepted cheerfully (some don't), and she photo-shopped the wonderful Portuguese water dog who plays a major role in the story to sit by his side. Between the two of us, we got it right. A Place Apart is selling very nicely, though I think it might be because of the dog.
     Another publisher recently sent out a notice that they'd been getting criticized for "old-fashioned" covers. I'm not sure what that means, but we aren't to have as much input is my guess. Personally, I hate dark colors and always go for bright if I get a choice. On the cover of Sister of a Sinner, I did get the dress changed from black to red, much more eye-catching.I prefer to work with cover artists who give me choices and don't get snitty over a requested change. In one case, the artist did a wonderful cover first time out, but her second for me did not hit the mark, not even close. First one, the hero looked evil, second try, way too young, finally compromised on another on the third try, still not my favorite cover by far. I also got a lecture that she was paid with a small percentage of my sales and since I was a nobody that wouldn't come to much. Needless to say, we haven't worked together since.
     So, I await my two new covers. Obviously, one will be new-fashioned. No idea what the other will be like as that publisher seems to switch the cover artists fairly often.  We'll just have to wait and see. I'll post them when I get them.