Jessica Ferguson

Author, Writing Coach, Speaker

IWSG: Reviews–Gotta Love ’em!

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IWSG is the brainchild of our awesome Alex J. Cavanaugh. If you want to become a part of this group, check out our website. I should say, check out our beautiful, informative website. Lots to see and learn there! We’re also on Facebook now. Exciting!

Today, let’s talk about reviews … or should I say, let’s whine about reviews. Actually, I don’t want to talk or whine… I want you to explain them to me. Aren’t reviews a little like voting? Can a bad review cancel out a good one? Does each review stand alone? No doubt, they all confuse me.

I’ve really enjoyed the reviews I’ve received on my novella, The Last Daughter. I have thirty of them. I know it takes time to figure out what to say, so I appreciate everyone (yes, everyone) who took the time to write one.

It thrills me to think thirty people actually read my book … and I have friends who read it that don’t review. Ever notice how weird friends act around you before they read your book? Like … they’re scared it’s going to be crummy and they won’t know what to say to you. I understand that. I’ve felt that way too. And then there are friends who buy it, read it … don’t tell you until afterwards. I understand that too. Better to protect friendships. (I knew a guy who sent his friends detailed critiques of their published books. Ouch!)

I guess my biggest complaint about reviews is when someone writes that there are huge gaps in the story, that it didn’t make sense. That hurts. Especially when I worked hard to create/construct a story that makes sense. I want to know where those gaps are. 

A couple of people stated The Last Daughter was a horrible story. For one person, that wasn’t strong enough. S/he said, “Horrible. Horrible. Horrible.” I guess three horribles makes it worse than horrible. Point taken. Stories that have to do with abuse aren’t for everyone. Yeah, it gets a little dark but you read worse in the newspaper.

Oddly, these reviews haven’t bothered me. Seriously, they haven’t, but they have confused me. Were there gaps because of a glitch in the epublishing, the formatting? Couldn’t a reader tell if that happened? Or did I seriously screw up some transitions?

One review that had me really confused was the one that said, “I really enjoyed the book which moved along at a nice pace. The one thing I never like in any novel is when the female allows a man to have the upper hand, as this one did with her ex boyfriend. She should never have allowed him back into her life.”

Ex boyfriend? What ex-boyfriend?  She didn’t have one. Still, I’m glad she liked my story and thought I had good pacing. That’s important.

I did get some excellent reviews. Believe it or not, not all of them came from family and friends. Some of the “fun” ones are HERE.

30 Reviews

5 star:
 (13)
4 star:
 (10)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star: 
 
  (3)

   




Share with me: how do you feel about reviews? Do you learn anything from them? (I’ll be paying closer attention to transitions–just in case!) Some of my friends say they never read them. Really?  C’mon, never?

 

Book Release – TODAY!

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Today my book is up on Amazon. I didn’t schedule any blog tours, and in fact, I haven’t even announced it on Facebook yet. I have trouble promoting myself. Maybe I should pretend this book belongs to someone else. I can always sing someone else’s praises.

If you haven’t read Alex Cavanaugh’s guest post on maintaining momentum, scroll down to the previous post and read it. My problem is … I don’t have a lot of momentum to maintain!

So I’m telling my followers here … if you purchase The Last Daughter, I hope you’ll review it on Amazon, tweet about it, talk about it on GoodReads. Even if you don’t like it, I hope you’ll review it. It’s the silence that’s the killer–not the bad reviews.

This is an exciting day. Very different from holding a print book in my hands, but fun just the same. Celebrate with me.

Hearts, Hearths & Holidays – AVAILABLE!

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My short story, A Child Was Born,  published in the Seasons of Love anthology series called Hearts, Hearths & Holidays is now AVAILABLE! Thank you, Cajunflair Publishing!

Okay, I’m excited. In fact, I think I’m more excited about this short story than I was when my first, my one and only book, came out way back in 1996. The difference? By the time I sold my book, received the contract and signed it, revised according to editorial suggestions, prepared the fact sheet, waited … waited … waited … the excitement had ended. And remember, I wrote it, moved to another state, sold it, moved to another town, revised it, moved. It came out while I lived in Lake Charles, Louisiana where I had my first speaking engagement and my first book signing.  Book signings are scary. No, for me they’re traumatic. I feel as if I’m sitting on hind legs waiting for someone to toss me a doggie treat.  Yes, I signed my book with friends. Still, not fun. Maybe it’s just me. A down side to selling category romance back then was that the books were only in stores for a few weeks–then they were gone forever. Now, of course, all books are going digital.

Writing my short story, A Child Was Born, was fun. I love my characters. I love all the little girls–even the ones with no names. I’m proud of it. I’m not saying it couldn’t be better. In my mind, I keep thinking of things I should have added, fleshed out, even things I should change. I suppose that’s the way it is with all writers; we always second guess ourselves and have a difficult time letting go.

If you decide to purchase our Christmas anthology, you can get it from Barnes and Noble or from Amazon. In the near future, it will be available in print. Look it over. Check out the other authors–they have track records!