Forever ME Nominated for Best YA Novel of 2013!

One of the great surprises of being a writer is when you see one of your friends get recognized for their work. Naturally you are excited for them, because it shows their quality of storytelling has reached someone and inspired them in a way that it merits being publicly awarded or acknowledged. What's even more exciting when you find out attention has been called to your work as well!

Such was the case for me yesterday. My long time personal friend and fellow author, M.E. Franco announced her book, "Where Will You Run" was nominated for an award with the eFestival of Words Virtual Book Fair, recognizing the best in Indie writing for 2013. She provided a link, like you do when you want people to know, you're not just talking out of your bee-hind. So I looked and sure enough there she was! (Not that I ever would have doubted her word.) So I see the list of nominees and to my happiness I see more author friends being called to attention too. Michelle Muto, For "The Haunting Season" in Horror, (A great book that I loved reading this year.) Muto is also up for best YA for "Don't Fear The Reaper" another favorite novel of mine.

So it was great seeing my friends and their works getting noticed, because without a doubt they all deserve it. They work very hard at their craft and do not slack at all. But then something astounding happened. As I was looking at the YA category I saw MY name and MY book, "Forever ME"....what? Wait? Is that possible? Sure enough it was....Now mind you I didn't even know this organization existed and how I got nominated is a complete mystery to me, but I am grateful, and humbled by it.

When I was in the theatre, I belonged to an organization that competed over 100 theaters against one another and I was privileged to be nominated as an actor many times, but I always wanted to win as a playwright. Because It meant more to me to have my writing acknowledged than it did my acting. Several of my plays were up for an award but sadly I never got one.  I used to think If I could just get that damn award, I would be vindicated as a writer. But my business partner pointed out to me, "You are vindicated every time an audience comes back and pays to see a show you've written. They know it's your show, your name is on the program. When you hear the laughter, that's your award, the applause, that's your award."  He was right!

So this time, I can truly be happy with just being nominated, I don't need to win to know, someone out there believes in my writing. Thank you who ever it was who made this possible for my friends and I and I promise to keep writing the best books I can!

Good Luck to all the fellow nominees, I am honored to be mentioned among you!

So You Are A Star!

So your are a star? The Hudson Brothers wrote this amazing cool tune and it hit #21 in Billboard back in 1974.  Now that you are a star, what happens when you're only a one star?  What I'm referring to is the dreaded one star review for your books.

If you're a author, indie or traditional, and you've been published, then chances are you have received your first one star review. They suck don't they. I know this subject has been written about in plenty of blogs already and the rules of engagement when it comes to this very prickly subject. However my blog today is to toss my two cents in and support my amazing friends who are authors and know the sick feeling in the pit of their stomachs when they see that single digit hanging over their name and title of the book.

The consensus is DO NOT EVER reply to a reviewer unless you say thank you.
Even that may not be a good idea. Engaging with someone who's not favorable on your prose
usually will lead to even more bad words and hurt feelings. Understand the person who wrote it,
is stating an opinion, regardless if it's on or not.  Our initial reaction of course is to strike back when someone bashes your book, because it's hard to not feel like it's a personal attack on you.

Example of  mean and petty review: What a piece of garbage! This writer (if you call them that) has no business writing emails let alone a book. They should personally apologize to every person who wasted their time reading this blob of #$%^, and I think they owe everyone a refund since they can't get back the hours spent reading this mindless junk. The plot sucked, there's no way this would ever happen, blah blah blah...
Okay you get it...right.  That's not a review...that's just ranting and what they are saying is really more about them not your book.

Example of negative review.
Writer XYZ's, new novel, 123 is a story about a group of words being strung together to tell a story. While I loved the concept, I didn't feel any personal attachment to the numbers. However that being said, I can see how appealing this story will be to readers who enjoy numbers. While this book wasn't for me, I would think there are many others out there that will love 123 by XYZ.

Maybe that review was a bit Disney, but my point is you can not like a book without trashing the work and the writer.

Recently an indie friend addressed this on her FB and the way she summed it up really helped me to see it in a different light. Your book is a PRODUCT not a child. Even though you do have a very personal attachment to it, it's no different than a movie, song or sporting event. Now I absolutely am NOT a fan of sports. I get annoyed when I hear people going crazy over a touchdown, but my total dislike for sports does not affect the industry in the least. And I have to think all the people who scream at touchdowns and how happy it makes them to enjoy their love for sports. Who am I to rain on their parade? It's not for me so I don't join in. I feel no loss and am happy to seek something that makes me cheer and scream.

I always console my writer friends in the fact that every one gets one star reviews. Even Stephen King. Just because you get a one star review doesn't automatically reduce you to a failure, it may be something very constructive that can help you avoid a future problem in your writing.

When that bad boy one star shows up in future, think about when it came from.
Did it come from a reviewer who doesn't read your genre?
Make certain when you ask bloggers to consider your work that they read what you write about.
If it was a random reader, well there can be a hundred reasons why they didn't like it.
Taking the time to actually post a review means the person who posts it had a real reaction to your work, good or bad.  You can upset people sometimes with subjects you never dreamed would cause someone to go postal on you. If a child or animal is killed in your story....some people will react with extreme responses.
And then there are some people you cannot please. Next time the one star shows up, see what they are saying about other books they reviewed. If they're hating on everyone...then really it's not you it's them. If you are there only 1 star review...chances are they weren't mean or petty.

You're not a failure, you're a star, because you wrote a book, and you dared to publish and put yourself out there. That in itself is an accomplishment! No one ever said it was going to be a yellow brick road to OZ.
I finish this off with a line that a published playwright tells me all the time.

Writing ain't for sissies! So toughen up put your armor on and keep writing!