The Critique Crap-tastrophe

By: Kimberly Hitchens is the founder and owner of Booknook.biz, an ebook production company that has produced more than 2,000 books for over 1,000 Indy authors and imprints.

Hi, Guys!

Sadly, this week I'm not only slammed, but I've managed to aggravate the Dreaded Frozen Shoulder again, so I can't handle a full-blown blog post.  But I've been saved (hallelujah!) through the good auspices of author G.L. Drummond, (not a Booknook.biz client), who blogs at "Feral Intensity."  This week, Gayla (G.L. Drummond) interrupted a multi-part series she was running on book marketing to discuss a particularly disturbing thread that we saw at the KDP Forums.  The thread itself is here:    CLICK HERE TO VIEW THREAD. 

Here's the thread the author started:

"Happily Annoucing Two Great Books! Opinions Wanted! "

...and this is her first post:

"Take a look and your opinions are welcome! The 1st, Tangled Hearts, is a wonderful romance. The 2nd, Skylark Blues, is a story about Air Force Basic Military Training. Everyone that has been in the military should read.
Waiting to hear your thoughts,"

About 8 or so pages later, when all of us were so gobsmacked by this author's incredibly rude and offensive retorts to the feedback she had requested, Gayla couldn't take it any longer, and decided to blog about it, for the same reason I'm pointing you newcomers to that blog:  Please, please, please:  if you're a new author, and you've posted your first book, sans the benefit of an editor, or beta readers, or a critique group, and the type of feeback that this woman received is the type of feedback that YOU receive:  whatever you do, don't react as this woman did.  Every single possible thing she did was wrong, culminating in this doozy to a forum full of authors, some of them top-sellers:

“Well, all of you are a waste of my time. I need to find a more intelligent group of real authors to have a sound discussion with.”

My Book is TOO Wonderful!  Nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah Nyah!

Gayla's blog posting about this is to be found here:   CLICK HERE to read the blog post.  I can't say what she said any better than she did--so I'm simply linking to her blog.  For those of you who are new authors, you may also find her series  on Book Marketing worthwhile.  (For those of you who were fans of the early Anita Blake, Vampire Executioner series, before it became so porn-tastic that it was no longer readable, you might also really like Gayla's book, "Arcane Solutions," which I thought was fun.)

Sorry to be so brief--but that's all the typing I have in me this Monday night, February 18th, 2013.  I hope I'll be far more fascinating next time, but in this instance, I think Gayla said everything I would have said--but better.  ;-)

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Thanks, and see you next time!

Funny Face Creative Commons image used by permission by Petr Kratochvil.  



From Crabwalk to Cakewalk

By Peg Brantley, Writer at Work, Stumbling Toward Publication

I didn't walk when the calendar said I should walk.

Other children my age, and younger, were doing the stumble-step baby thing garnering oohs and aahs, cheers and applause. Not me. Mothers were comparing their offspring's talented developments with pride, and not a little bit of competition. Not mine.

My mother took me to our doctor, certain he would discover something horribly wrong with me. After all, not only was I not walking, I hadn't crawled like other children. Apparently I had this crablike move that managed to get me from Point A to Point B quite nice, thank you very much.

Assured that she had a healthy child, my mom braved out my lack of progress the best she could. I sort of think she minimized her embarrassment by keeping me home alone most of the time, which may explain why I never became a social butterfly.

One day, I got up on my feet and decided to walk. That very same day, I ran. Even though I'm sure the relief she felt about the fact that she wouldn't have a seven year-old who maneuvered around on all fours while moving backward and looking at the ceiling was profound, I'm sure she had days when she wished I couldn't get in to as much trouble.

Earlier this month, I turned 57. (Had to do the math to come up with that one.) I'm hoping to have my first manuscript published in early April for my mom's birthday. She's not with us physically any longer, but she still inspires. And I'm pretty sure I'll hear a few oohs and aahs, cheers and applause from her direction.

We all get there in just the right time, I'm convinced.