What does a review mean to an indie author?
The answer is simple – everything.
One day you wake up with the crazy idea that you want to write a book. You feel you can do it. Or maybe, the idea isn’t born overnight. Maybe it takes years to crystallize. It doesn’t matter. The result is the same – you start writing. Sounds simple enough? I suppose it is. You try to write as often as you can – after work if you’re not too tired and don’t have to cook, clean or take care of your children. Early in the morning before anyone has got up. It’s quiet and nobody is offended that you’re typing away on the computer instead of having a conversation. On weekends, during holidays, at any time when your work and personal life are gracious enough not to interfere too much. Sometimes there is a span of a few days, weeks, maybe even months during which you can find no time to write. You end up forgetting a little bit of what you’ve already written. It doesn’t matter. You reread it and you burrow on. In the end, the day on which you put a final period, or a question mark or any other punctuation mark arrives. It feels a little bit like the moment after giving birth. I’m done! I don’t have to do it again unless I really want to. False! You’re not done. You have to proofread it – many times (until you actually start to resent your book); bother family and friends to proofread it too (until they start to resent you) and then format it for Kindle, CreateSpace and any other site that you want to publish it on. Easy for the computer-savvy, not so for everyone else.
Your book appears on Amazon! A big day for you and your family and friends, a regular day for everyone else. And then – silence, deafening and disheartening, interrupted only occasionally by the kindness of a reader who has found the time and the good will to post a review.
Thank you for your astute and very helpful reviews (and yes, I am writing a sequel. Hopefully, it will be published sooner rather than later).
One day you wake up with the crazy idea that you want to write a book. You feel you can do it. Or maybe, the idea isn’t born overnight. Maybe it takes years to crystallize. It doesn’t matter. The result is the same – you start writing. Sounds simple enough? I suppose it is. You try to write as often as you can – after work if you’re not too tired and don’t have to cook, clean or take care of your children. Early in the morning before anyone has got up. It’s quiet and nobody is offended that you’re typing away on the computer instead of having a conversation. On weekends, during holidays, at any time when your work and personal life are gracious enough not to interfere too much. Sometimes there is a span of a few days, weeks, maybe even months during which you can find no time to write. You end up forgetting a little bit of what you’ve already written. It doesn’t matter. You reread it and you burrow on. In the end, the day on which you put a final period, or a question mark or any other punctuation mark arrives. It feels a little bit like the moment after giving birth. I’m done! I don’t have to do it again unless I really want to. False! You’re not done. You have to proofread it – many times (until you actually start to resent your book); bother family and friends to proofread it too (until they start to resent you) and then format it for Kindle, CreateSpace and any other site that you want to publish it on. Easy for the computer-savvy, not so for everyone else.
Your book appears on Amazon! A big day for you and your family and friends, a regular day for everyone else. And then – silence, deafening and disheartening, interrupted only occasionally by the kindness of a reader who has found the time and the good will to post a review.
Thank you for your astute and very helpful reviews (and yes, I am writing a sequel. Hopefully, it will be published sooner rather than later).
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