Rod Raglin
This blog will touch on the experiences I have as a writer (not to be mistaken for my experience as a writer, i.e. how many books I've written, etc); the pleasure and the pain, the joy and the grief, the satisfaction and the frustration, the magic and the reality - have I left anything out, oh yeah, the rejection, rejection and more rejection, the humiliation and the embarrassment, the jealousy and the resentment - that pretty much covers it, except for why I do it which perhaps I'll realize along the way. Are you totally confused? Good, let's begin.
Rethinking reviewing new, self-published authors
Okay, remember when I made that commitment to review unknown, self-published authors. Well, I’m adding a corollary to it.
If, after three chapters, the book is causing me severe cerebral stress manifesting in physical symptoms such as clenched teeth, muttering under my breath and the onset of clinical depression at having to resume reading it, I will abandon it and write a review accordingly.
I do the same with best sellers so why should a newbie get preferential treatment? Besides, we all know that what is indicative in the first three chapters will be repeated throughout the rest of the book.
If you’re not all right with this, well, too bad.
Okay, one more thing. If I slam Michael Ondaatje why shouldn’t I slam John Doe? Does it help anyone if I send an unfavorable review to the author, they look at it, then redirect it to trash? They could think “what does he know?”, which is a valid point, and not consider any of my suggestions to improve their writing. It is, after all, just one person’s opinion.
But what about the prospective reader ready to slap down $2.99 (or more) on this e-book on the strength of twenty glowing reviews? Do I have an obligation to forewarn them? Reviews are for readers.
So my review gets buried and nobody benefits - including me.
I don’t think so.
New policy. I review your book, you get my honest opinion – posted, everywhere.
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My new novels, FOREST – Love, Loss, Legend and The BIG PICTURE – A Camera, A Young Woman, An Uncompromising Ethic (now in paperback) are available on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU and at https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/raglin
Read Reviews https://readersfavorite.com:book-review:39014
Visit my publisher’s website for excerpts from, and buy links to, my three novels, Spirit Bear, Eagleridge Bluffs, and Not Wonder More – Mad Maggie and the Mystery of the Ancients. http://www.devinedestinies.com/?route=product%2Fauthor&author_id=92
More of my original photographs can be viewed, purchased, and shipped to you as GREETING CARDS; matted, laminated, mounted, framed, or canvas PRINTS; and POSTERS. Go to: http://www.redbubble.com/people/rodraglin
View my flickr photostream at https://www.flickr.com/photos/78791029@N04/
Or, My YouTube channel if you prefer photo videos accompanied by classical music
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsQVBxJZ7eXkvZmxCm2wRYA
