Keep On Keepin' On...

This has been an... interesting week. I found out yesterday that the copies of my book, ordered in August, haven't left Texas. They've been sitting in the post office for some time and no one saw fit to tell my publisher about it. This is not good. As mentioned in a previous post, I have a promotional event coming up. The plan had been to sell these copies at the event. It's now just a waiting game to see whether the problem is resolved in time for the books to be here by the 13th. Fingers crossed, folks.

I sent The Ferryman's Wife out for reviews this week. I have to say, I'm looking forward to hearing what people think. I was discussing this earlier with Silvia of Darkest Sins and Franny of  Dark Mind Booktours. There seems to be a culture amongst authors for writing extremely positive reviews. Now, please don't misunderstand me, I am all about Turning On The Positive Side. However, I cannot be bothered with this sycophantic, rave-reviewing trend, where people will give a book 5 stars, purely to impress the author. Criticism, if given properly, can be extremely valuable. It can help the writer progress, develop and take their skill to a new level. At the same time, it must be said, my own negative reviews tend to be the most entertaining. When I look back over some of the bad reviews I've given they always make me chuckle. If you fancy reading any of my book reviews you'll find them on Goodreads.

As far as I can tell, any time a trend starts, a backlash soon follows. So, if everyone only writes super-duper-positive(!) reviews, it'd only be a matter of time before a new wave of writers began looking for the negatives. The answer? I'm not sure I have one. In general, my attitude is all about being honest. What's the point in saying things that aren't true in a review, good or bad? In fact, what's the point in saying something that isn't true, period? Lying only ever leads to trouble in the end. Like I've already said, I'm not about dissing something for the sake of it, just as I'm not up for praising something that doesn't deserve it. Is it so impossible to find a happy balance? I'd like to think not.