The First Official Review Of Earthman Jack vs. The Secret Army!

Kirkus Reviews is one of the biggest publishing industry trade magazines there is.  Originally established in 1932 by book reviewer Virginia Kirkus, it is one of the industry mainstays in the publishing world.  In short, people who work in the “book business” pay a lot of attention to it.  We’re talking people like agents, publishers, book distributors, librarians, ect.

One of the reasons it’s taken me so long to bring Earthman Jack vs. The Secret Army to the public is because trade publications like Kirkus require substantial lead time to review books.  We’re talking anywhere from 4 to 6 months of lead time.  This makes sense, since they get a ton of books that they have to read and then write reviews for.  Kirkus is a publication that only does advanced reviews for books before they are published, so I had to make sure they got a copy of The Secret Army before it hit the shelves.

In addition to this, Kirkus’s reviews are syndicated across pretty much all book databases.  This means that one review from Kirkus will show up prominently on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and pretty much any other catalog that lists books for sale.  Wholesale sites run by Ingram and Baker & Taylor also post syndicated Kirkus reviews, so that booksellers and librarians can see if a book is getting positive press before they decide to order any copies.  As is plain to see, getting a good review from Kirkus is pretty important.

There is no guarantee that Kirkus will like your book, though.  So it’s a real crap shoot to see if the “industry” will respond as well to it as the fans do.  Luckily, Kirkus really liked Earthman Jack vs. The Secret Army.  In fact, you can check out their full review here:

Kirkus reviews Earthman Jack vs. The Secret Army

Pretty positive, right?  I especially liked the line at the end:  “A veritable carnival of geeky sci-fi delights.”  Honestly, you couldn’t ask for a better quote.

But here’s some really cool news…

Kirkus gets a lot of indy book submissions.  Like, A LOT.  And every season they select a small number of indy titles to be featured in their publication, which is sent out to over 5,000 industry professionals.  In fact, I’m told that less than 10% of indy book submissions sent into Kirkus get chosen to be featured in their print editions.

Well, Kirkus has selected Earthman Jack vs. The Secret Army to be one of the reviews they are going to feature.

I got an email the other day saying the editors of Kirkus’s Indy section selected the book to be featured in the fall issue.  This was obviously a huge surprise, because the main reason I submitted the book to Kirkus was to get their review featured in the Ingram and Baker & Taylor catalogs.  But this was a great honor, even if it was unexpected!  In a way, I feel like I won a contest.  In another way, I feel like this is the first step to getting the Earthman Jack series recognized by the publishing industry.

So a good review, plus a featured position in one of the publishing industry’s biggest publications, all before the book is even released.  Frankly, I think Earthman Jack vs. The Secret Army is off to a good start!

Let me know what you think of the review in the comments.

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