Beltane: a season of fertility and fire, a time to welcome new life into the earth. A good time to contact spirits or interact with the Fae.
After the rigours of the last few weeks I am absolutely convinced that releasing a new book is akin to passing through fire. Or at very least, virtual fire. I seem to have spent most of my time tweeting, googling, goodreading, facebooking and linking in. Even my dreams – or nightmares – have been seen through the prism of my laptop or iPad screen.
Why? I have been chasing the writer’s holy grail: reviews. In a world where there are thousands of books, how else are readers to choose what to read? And without the right number of reviews (rumoured to be at least fifty) you are not going to kick on with those all important Amazon search algorithms.
Of course hunting down reviews is a potentially risky business because even when you ask… or suggest… that bloggers and other opinion formers review the book you cannot, quite rightly, influence what they say. With my first novel, The Cheesemaker’s House, I had my (only) one star review early on so I got it out of the way. With The Faerie Tree I’m still waiting. No fewer than three stars anywhere. Yet.
Of course there are reviews which are downright irritating and it just isn’t the done thing (again, quite rightly) to reply. Top of my list are the people who spell the main characters’ names wrong; I know reviewers are busy people but if they have skim-read a book they ought to admit to it. I subscribe to the Alliance of Independent Authors’ Ethical Author code (for more information see here: http://allianceindependentauthors.org/ethical-author/) and part of that is about being open and transparent when I review other people’s books. I would love all reviewers to do the same.
On the upside, there are reviewers you just want to pick up and hug. Like the one who completely got the fact that part of my reason for writing the book was to give people who suffer from depression a positive portrayal. Like the one on Goodreads who realised the book wasn’t really their thing but gave it three stars anyway because it was well written. Like the reviews that just make me laugh.
Some of that laughter could just be relief. Until a book is out there you never really know how it will be received. Overall, it’s doing really well; 4 ½ stars on Amazon and 4.1 on Goodreads. People are generally gripped by it – one reader in South Africa finished it by torchlight during a power cut. They are enjoying the characters, their relationships, their stories.
But I am learning, too. Of course it’s too late to change The Faerie Tree now but there is a significant minority who are finding one of the main characters irritating – have I got that wrong? And others feel the resolution of the mystery is too obscure… or even completely lacking. Should I have spelt it out a little more? All useful things to consider as I complete the first draft of my next offering and begin the editing process.
But, being Beltane, I have lifted my eyes from the screen and ventured out into sunshine in the natural world. Where better to go than the fairy tree wood in Hampshire where the story began? And to thank the faeries, elves and pixies who live there for their very large contribution to the success of their book.
The Faerie Tree is available as an ebook or paperback from Amazon, Kobo, Waterstones and to order from all major bookstores. Find out more at http://janecable.com/the-book/4588312168 .