Our First Review

Crimson Melodies News

Our second set of proof copies for the print version of Eyes of the Seer are expected to arrive on monday, December 12th. If we like them (and we should!) there will be an announcement on how/where you can buy it. Stay tuned!

For the holidays, if you're looking for a unique gift idea for someone who likes poetry, check out our Etsy shop. We're currently updating it with our latest visual poems. Orders ship from the Philadelphia area via First-Class USPS. CrimsonMelodies on Etsy

Reviews are important. Reviews are the force that spur more sales because any review, positive or negative, is a chance to make someone else curious enough to purchase your story. It's the new "word of mouth" and there really isn't any substitute for it. Marketing and publicity are really just flags being waved at potential readers to get them to the places where they can buy your book. Reviews are what can convince them to make that final click to buy.

Good reviews, not necessarily positive ones, are honest reviews. The best kind of reviews are ones that are honest and thoughtful. Every reviews is, at its simplest, feedback. And they are priceless because of all the little things they can tell you about how your work was received and perceived, albeit when listened to carefully.

Our first review falls both in and outside any of the above because it is the kind of review you dream about. It's encouragement, validation, empowerment, and, for lack of a better phrase, kicks ass. Why? Because it reflects success. Not just in making a sale, or in keeping a reader interested enough not only to finish the book and to review it, but success that our vision of what we wanted to create was exactly what we created.

From Amazon.com: 4 stars

I originally got this book because I read Dawes' Hunting on Halloween novela and it really intrigued me. This book proved to be equally intriguing and mysterious.

The basic concept of the book is that Dr. Peter Dawes, an overall great guy who is a compassionate doctor, becomes a vampire by choice. It turns out he has an extra-sensory gift of "sight" – basically a psychic sense that works to his advantage. He becomes an expert with swords and knives and turns out to be a completely heartless, ruthless killer of both humans and vampires. He's lost his humanity completely, until he meets Monica, a "watcher", who we find out later, was sent to "save" him.

I won't give away any more. I found this book to be extremely well-written and edited, great use of the English language with plenty of character development and descriptive scenes. I will say, the book is a bit disturbing with all the violence, and if you are looking for a love story, keep searching because you won't find any of it here. Perhaps in the sequels that follow the book (I plan on reading) there might be some romance. I suspect men will enjoy this book more than women. I love anything vampire, especially the violent ones, so I enjoyed this. If I had to "compare" the vamps in this book, I would say they are somewhat parallel the ones on the True Blood series on HBO.

I think, perhaps, the most disturbing part of this book is that the author named the main character after himself, as if writing an autobiography or story about himself. Things that make you go, "hmmm"……

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Really, a dream. There wasn't anything missed. Yes, the vampires are dark and violent. Yes, we worked incredibly hard on the writing and editing (and are stoked to hear that it really was as good as we hoped/thought/crossed-our-fingers it was to someone other than ourselves). Yes, it isn't a love story, but there are elements and possibilities of one in a future book. Yes, the main character is listed as the author, and we want it to make you go "hmmm……"

That four star review is worth more to us than a million 5 star versions of "I love it, where's the next one?" (Believe me, we've gotten plenty of those through all the edits and versions EotS has been through.) We want people to like what we're doing, and to come back to us looking for more of exactly that, but to put our stuff through its paces in the meantime. This review means we did exactly what we set out to do – we told a story of dark decadence that, if it's your thing, will make you want to read the next one.

We're so stoked about this that we're trying to figure out how to thank the reviewer. It wasn't a solicited review (and we're so glad to see that what we thought would work did indeed work – someone read one of our free short-stories and it lead them to buy the book). If you happen to be that person, thank you!! This review made our year.

Our goals for next year just got even higher, and we've got projects that have roll-out dates and everything. But just as important as our commitment to our work and future publications, we want to find more people who like it under our umbrella. Because, odds are, they're our kind of people – the ones who promise they don't bite hard, and who we promise that we don't bite much. Or vice versa. We're flexible.

As always, thanks for reading.

~Jesi

Coming Soon: Crimson Melodies is looking to the new year with a few ideas. Short-story anthologies, an ezine, and the next installment of The Vampire Flynn Trilogy are on our plate. Curious? Might want to contribute? Keep an eye out for updates!