TOO SENSITIVE OR NOT TOO SENSITIVE?-THAT IS THE QUESTION

So, I wrote a book.

It’s been said, “write what you know”. That advice can be tricky. If you write about a serial killer, maybe you shouldn’t follow that advice. What if you’re writing about an ancient Egyptian Pharaoh? Is it wrong to try to get inside their head and create a character with which you have no cultural or physical connection?

I’m working up to a point.

A few years back, I wrote a detective short story. I wanted my main character to be unique. He had to avoid being the stereotypical private eye. Even more, I wanted him to be someone that could be underestimated. It would be that characteristic that he could use to his advantage. I had just finished watching Game of Thrones and was impressed by the Peter Dinklage’s portrayal of Tyrion. Here was a character that defied expectations and went on to become a leader (spoiler alert).

I knew a had an image for my detective, Fix Larson.

From the outset, I knew that I had to be careful and make his character as true to life as possible. Fix could not be a stereotype of a person with dwarfism. So, I put in many hours of research. I studied the forms of dwarfism, their symptoms, their challenges, everything I could find. I read blogs and watched posts from people in the Little Person community. Then, I sought out people with dwarfism and asked them to beta read my novel to make sure I got things correct. And I’m glad that I did. For the most part, my portrayal was spot on. However, one awesome reader pointed out some nuances that I got wrong.

I got the novel completed and edited. Then, I sent it to my agent.

That’s where I hit my first wall.

More in my next post.

Please feel free to comment. Also, check out my writer advice posts on TikTok at @jensenjames06

WHAT ABOUT BOOK REVIEWS?

Books live and die by them. Authors both love and hate them. Yes, we’re talking about the book review. A review is simply when a writer or reader decides to praise or pan a book based on their subjective opinion of what they read. And that’s what it is, an opinion. And as my dad always colorfully stated it, “Opinons are like ass*****, everybody has one”.

Being a bookseller as well as a writer, I write reviews. I have a Twitter account just for reviews (@mini_bookreview). Although, I’m woefully behind on posting reviews there. Writing has been taking a front seat this year. Still, I do use that Twitter account to re-tweet other authors, publishers, and bookstores. Occasionally, I’ll have a short review posted in the bookseller review space in the San Diego Union Tribune newspaper.

Unlike some book reviewers, I don’t post bad reviews. As I mentioned at the start, a review is an opinion. Granted, it may be a learned opinion, but an opinion none the less. As such, I refuse to trash a writer’s work just because it didn’t fit my needs or expectations. There are too many good books to say good things about. So, I stay on the positive side. When I post a review, I tag the author as well as their publisher.

Now, remember, I’m a writer as well. So, I long to get a good review on what i’ve written. Don’t believe any author that says a bad review doesn’t affect them. Unless you’re an AI program, you care about what readers think about what you’ve written. Since I’ve only published two short stories in anthologies, my exposure to reviews is limited. Thankfully, I have not received a bad review. However, I’m sure when my novel finally gets published, there will be folks who don’t like it. They might not like it enough that they’ll even take time to write a bad review. It’s part of the game.

What I can’t abide are two types of reviews:

• THE HATCHET JOB REVIEW: This is the type of review where a person goes after an author simply because they don’t like them or what they’re writing about. Often, you can tell they haven’t even read the whole book. They’re just pissed at the world and want to take it out on a writer. You’ll often find them lurking in the shadows of Amazon or it’s subsidiary, Goodreads. They’ll toss out a 1 star review and state they wish that they could give it a negative 4 stars. Take these reviews with a grain of salt.

• THE MAMA REVIEW: This is the type of review that you would expect one’s mother to write. It has nothing to say except that the writing is the best thing out there and everyone should buy one for themselves and all of their friends and relatives. I dislike this kind of review because I can’t trust it. If the reviewer has the same last name as the author, beware. I get it. Everyone wants to help out their friend or family member get good reviews. But, if you’re not being honest, the reader that takes your advice and finds it was a whitewash, they’re going to be pissed at you and the writer. So much for more sales.

Listen, their are two important things that you can do for an author. First, buy their book. That’s right. Don’t ask them for a comp copy unless you’re a professional reviewer. Most writers are doing it for money. Yeah, we love the writing. However, we all want to get paid. The easiest and least expensive thing that you can do for a writer is to read their book and post a well-reasoned and honest review. It will make the writer believe that they’ve not wasted their time and it might get them some extra sales. And like I mentioned above, tag their publisher in the review as well. If their self-published, hashtag the genre in which they write.

So, please take the time to give writers some feedback. It means a lot. However, like your mama said, “If you can’t say something good about someone, keep your mouth shut.

Thanks for reading.

ANGELS AND DEMONS

As well as being a writer, I’m also a bookseller. More specifically, I’m a bookseller at an Indie Bookstore. As such, I abhor what Amazon has done to small businesses, particularly small bookstores. Profit margins are razor-thin for any small business. For bookstores, that margin runs the average of 30-45 % on a good day. Since Amazon has little overhead and can afford to slash book prices in order to gather more Prime customers, they can dominate the market. There’s hardly a day goes by that a customer doesn’t ask if we will match an Amazon price.

Now, with the explosion of online publishing, anyone and their grandpa can publish a book and sell it a dozen different ways. Granted, that means there’s a lot of crap out there. Agents, editors, and publishers have always acted like a filter. True, crap still got published. However, there was some level of professionalism. Also, there was a lot of cookie cutter stories and an industry that didn’t pay much attention to writers that wanted to experiment with the written word. For that matter, they also didn’t pay much attention to when readers wanted to read something fresh and different. If it didn’t meet the established mold, it wasn’t going to hit the big box bookshelves.

A lot of those types of writers and readers flocked to places like Amazon when it started it’s publishing division. Here, they found a place that would print just about anything. Additionally, writers were actually making some money. A lucky few were even making good money.

But there’s a catch.

There’s an ocean of content out there now. Writers have to spend as much time promoting themselves as they do actually creating. Gathering followers and garnering “likes” has become a part of the whole writing process. We’ll do anything to get the reader’s attention.

That’s where I come to my dilemma. As a bookseller, I hate Amazon. As a writer, I want readers. I have an agent. I’ve been published in two anthologies and they are on sale in the bookstore where I work. I’m working on a novel that I hope will be picked up by a traditional publisher. However, I also want to reach more readers. There are so many stories and characters that I want to get out there.

So, I went down to the crossroads and did a little deal with the devil. The crossroads is called Kindle Vella. It’s a place where I can submit a serialized story. It allows me to experiment with a character and hopefully get some reader feedback. I try to sooth my conscience by telling myself that such a work wouldn’t be carried by a bookstore anyway.

Still, I feel a little dirty.

BTW, you can find the story here: https://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella/episode/B09J38Q784

Thanks for reading.