This morning, I got a three-star review for BAND GEEK. That isn't too bad, but the reader did have some hurtful things to say about my work. She felt that my basic story -- bad boy grows close to misfit girl -- was "stereotypical" (as Josh would say, it's not a cliche, it's a classic).
She went on to say that she didn't think that my story is memorable and that a week from now, she'd mainly remember the cover (hey, at least she liked something, right?). But what I find interesting is that this woman, who says that she wasn't moved by my work, wrote the longest review I've ever seen! Seriously, it goes on and on for about eight paragraphs and is easily 1000 words. She wrote a freakin' thesis explaining why my book is mediocre ... so obviously, it did mean something to her, right?
Anyway, I don't agree with most of her criticisms, but one thing she does nail me for is typos. I've had a few readers complain about this (though most have not), so I've decided to hire a professional editor to help me put together my next book. I'm willing to own up to my mistakes and clearly I need an extra professional eye to catch typos and help me with formatting. I really worked hard to make BAND GEEK as clean as possible and had several people read it over for me, but I obviously need more help. I'm not embarassed to admit this; writers who are published by big houses have editors go through their books, so why shouldn't I? If all goes well and she does a good job, I may hire her to fix up BAND GEEK, too. Then I can promote both books at once.
I'm still proud of BAND GEEK, especially since it's my first novel. I love my story, even if it doesn't appeal to everyone's tastes and am using this experience to make my second novel even better. I don't see mistakes as a bad thing; I'm just keeping track so I can learn from them. Meantime, I'm glad that so many people are enjoying BAND GEEK.
Please read and review REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD. Every critique helps!
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