Book feedback and the craft of writing

When I published Dragon Badge on Kindle Direct and CreateSpace, it was because I loved the story and desperately wanted to share it with people. Every writer knows what it is like to build a scene and work out a bit of dialogue that has your ego busting at the seams. You say, “Wow, this is really good. I can’t wait to share it with everyone I know.” I shared a separate work-in-progress novel with several non-writers who love to read. These beta readers are work colleagues who were probably surprised when I actually dropped a 600 page manuscript on each of their desks and said, “tell me what you think.” That work-in-progress is similar in some ways to Dragon Badge, in that it contains cop characters, but the main characters were bikers, runaways, priests, and vampires. These beta readers loved it. I pitched the book at a writing conference (OWFI 2012) and was two for two on sample requests. During the conference I almost pitched a different book, because every agent, editor, and writer that did presentations said they were not interested in vampire books. I felt good that my vampire tale was original enough to hook them.

Thus far I am very happy with my self-publishing experience. I have learned about eBook and CreateSpace formatting, found a great place to buy book covers, read many books on writing, editing, and marketing. But the key element that will help me improve my craft are book reviews. A lot of people love Dragon Badge. Scores of people I know personally have approached me and complemented the book, while asking if there will be another (there will, I am working on it now). The real test has been the impartial reviewers. My first three star review was like a punch in the gut, even though I have thick skin, tons of confidence, and understand not everyone will like it. Yet, I pay attention to the reviews and have done some serious soul searching on what I need to do to improve the next book.

In high school I had a choir director who always said it was important to sing loud, put yourself out there, and hear your mistakes. Publishing a book has the same result. While I understand it is foolish to write to the critics, this does not mean their comments are not valuable. In fact, they are probably the most valuable part of this entire adventure. All I want to do is write the best book I can. I love writing and most of the time it loves me back.