Reviews -- The Blessing and Bane of a Writer's Existence by Vonnie Davis

I'm a proud owner of a Kindle so, no, I'm not enamored of the smell and feel of books. Having packed thirty-one boxes of books to move from one state to another kind of ended my love affair with short and heavy tomes. Not to say Calvin and I are book hoarders, but we still had books from college and those we read at bedtime to the kids. Yeah, it was time for me to switch to something lighter.

So when I shop online for eBooks, I read reviews. I notice the number of reviews, but it's not a deal breaker. I read three of the top reviews and two of the lower ones and make my decision to click or not click.

Reviews can make or break a writer's sales.

Or so we tell ourselves.

I've been blessed with many good reviews ... and not so blessed by bad. Some of them I deserved and learned from. A well-written bad review can spur a writer to do better next time. After all, I'm not a perfect writer. Weaknesses abound. I mean, I'd like to think I'm like Mic Jagger, getting better with age but, sadly, I'm not.

 I do have a tendency to end the book on a sudden note. As a reader, I like a quick start, a quick ending, and I don't need my hand held with a bridge from one scene to another. But that's me. As a writer, I have to consider my readers and give them the long drawn out, emotion-filled ending they seem to want. If I don't, I'll get reviews like "That's it? Really? After this romance you want to end it on a dime? Really? You ruined this book for me!"

Then there was the reader who claimed I'd made my heroine weepy. "She cried sixty-five times." What did the reader do? Keep a tally? Even I would have noticed sixty-five crying spells. I had a review of another book where the reader said, "I can't stand stories where infertility is magically healed." What? Never once did I say the heroine could not have children. She'd lost two babies because of an abusive husband who beat her.

I dislike it when a reader attacks the author instead of the book. I've been called dumb, uneducated, untalented, too lazy to do research (oh, if only she could see my research files), over-sexed *cough* ... okay, we'll gloss over that one.

My editor was thrilled there were three-hundred and fifty requests for BEARING IT ALL through NetGalley before its release. She actually believed I'd get that number of reviews. The first two that came in were two-stars. Ouch. Sales skidded.

Several said I stretched the bounds of believability--it was a paranormal, y'all. Bear-shifters done my way. Did I get three-hundred and fifty reviews? No. Three-hundred? I wish. Two-hundred? Can a grown woman cry here? Last week, the book just got it's sixtieth review. I nearly dropped to my knees in gratitude.

Free reads does not guarantee happy readers. It seems to bring out their snarky side. Do I review every book I read? Only if I can leave a good to average one. I know the effort that goes into writing a book. It's not in my nature to bash another writer. If a book was a "did not finish" for me, I'm not reviewing it--and I do this for two reasons. I don't want to hurt another person's feelings and it can be career suicide for me to leave a bad review for another. The writer's posse or fan club may gang up on me and leave a bazillion one-star reviews. While it doesn't seem fair we can be battered in reviews, but cannot express our true feelings without fear of reprisal, it is becoming more and more the nature of the business. And that saddens me.

 

 

THE SIXTY REVIEW WONDER

 

http://amzn.com/B00TCI2A5E

Just When I'm a Member of a SEAL Team, My Bear-Shifters Pull Me Back!

I'm nearing the halfway mark of my first book about wounded SEALs. I've mentally and emotionally become part of their team. Thanks to reading several books, online research and speaking to a couple Special Forces dudes, I'm gaining a grasp of how they think. These men, who proudly wear the Trident, are a breed of their own. Real, flesh and blood heroes.

Two days ago, the manager of digital marketing at Random House Loveswept emailed me. Nook has reached out to us with the opportunity to feature A HIGHLANDER'S OBSESSION in their "Fall for Romance" fall sale low-price merchandising. To take advantage of this opportunity we are dropping the price to 99¢ 10/13 – 10/20. 

 

We'll get really nice support from BN for this promo. This should also be a nice lead-in to BEARING IT ALL.

 

 

I honestly had to stop for a minute and think, which book is this? I wrote five last year. Bear-shifters. Right. So, I stepped out of my SEAL team and into my make believe group of kilt-wearing hunks who can also shift into bears. Order Link: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-highlanders-obsession-vonnie-davis/1120641392?ean=9780804179300

 

 

All this will hopefully help the release of book 3 of the "Highlander's Beloved" series, BEARING IT ALL, which releases on October 27th. A small get-away cabin, a blizzard, a French agent fleeing for her life, a hunk in a kilt, and a bear who tends to break the shifting rules.

 

 

SALES LINKS:

http://amzn.com/B00TCI2A5E

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bearing-it-all-vonnie-davis/1121772576?ean=9780553394658

 

On release day of BEARING IT ALL, I'll be hosting a Facebook release party from 11 am (Eastern time) to 9 pm with several other authors. You're all invited. Please come. Authors, girl talk, man candy, prizes and laughter...

 

 

I've Got Some Spare Time!

What a shock! I'm writing my post six days early, instead of my usual night before. My time is rather calm right now. You see, I wrote six books last year, and some of them aren't selling all that great. Just as well. By the time I got to the last book in each series, I could barely speak a coherent sentence, much less write one. Calvin would lead me to bed and I'd sleep for two days solid.

My muse had fainted in a dead heat and I had fired my agent, who hadn't bothered to check my manuscript turn-in dates--one publisher against the other. I had thirteen days between books two of my Highlander bear-shifters and my firemen series. Who can write a 73,000 word book, per contract, in thirteen days? Not I! And books three of each series had to be turned in on the same day. I literally had a nervous breakdown in the doctor's office and was put on two antianxiety medicines.

But this old gal survived, drugs and all.

The quality of my firemen series, not so much.

Books two and three were never edited by my editor. I sent them in and my editor forwarded them onto production because my writing is just so fabulous. NOT!! I nearly died when I found out. Reading them was worse than having a root canal through my navel.

So, for now, I'm revamping my first book ever published, Storm's Interlude, and have a mere fifty pages yet to clean up. Then I'll set it aside before I read over it again. It's going in a self-published bundle with some other authors' first books. Here's the new cover:

Yesterday, Random House, the only publisher I'm writing for right now except for a few Indie published books, sent me my copy edits for book three of my Highlander Beloved Series, "Bearing It All."

At Loveswept, the big edits happen between you and your editor. Then the manuscript goes to the copy editor who pulls his big magnifying glass from his pocket and looks for every misplaced comma, wrong word choice, and goof in my Scottish burr. Then I go through another round of edits. The final round unless he demands I change something I feel strongly against--like remove chapter eight. I have two weeks to do this.

Once this is finished I'll have a choice to make. Read over Storm's story once more or keep writing the first book of my wounded warrior series. I've got one chapter written and approved by my editor. When we'd brainstormed over the phone, I wasn't sure I was on the same page as her. Thankfully I was. She loved it. Now I want to keep going. I can see the second chapter unfolding. "Eagle Ridge Ranch" series takes place in the Texas hill country where SEALs come to their former CO's ranch to heal and acclimate to life, back in the world, near a small town.

My editor at Random House called to ask that I write this series. Going from bear-shifters in the Highlands to ex-SEALs with PTSD is quite a leap emotionally. I'm not sure I can do it. I've read books by psychologists and sociologists, watched movies, seen American Sniper three times and wondered how can I turn all this pain into a romance? It'll be a challenge. Thank goodness my editor is giving me the time to do it. I'd kinda like to bring my muse back to life.

"Fatten up your heroine," she said.

I've just had the cover reveal for book three of my Highlander Beloved Series. The publisher decided to change its concept to reflect their opinion of market changes. The title was changed. In addition, I went through four sessions of edits. I'm used to one, maybe two rounds. So imagine my bruised ego as email after email arrived, all starting with "We're almost there..."

My problem was I didn't know where there was.

First off, I wanted the bear in this bear-shifter book to have more personality. I wanted my readers to fall in love with him as well as his hunky human counterpart. I made him comical, at times and moody, at others. He could go from a petulant cub to a stubborn teenager to an advice giving man. A few times, he even broke the shifting rules and shifted while the hero was asleep--and created a wee bit of mayhem.  He became attached emotionally to the heroine and referred to her as Family. Readers wouldn't understand that type of relationship, I was told.

I was told this was a childish idea and to delete this part of the bear's personality. I was allowed to keep a smidgen of it. In the process, I lost over three-thousand words.

Okay, so maybe the book did read better, stronger. But I missed my lovable bear. I justified it by telling myself, I was probably the only person who would see the humor in what I had written. I can be a tad off the wall, after all.

The next email told me to fatten up your heroine. BBW's are in. "Really? You mean I finally get to show a heavy woman is worthy of love too?" Yes, make her a size sixteen. I laughed. I haven't been a sixteen since my youngest was born forty years ago. I mean, I'd go without chocolate for three days to be a sixteen again!

I was told "high humor" like I write is out of style and to take most of it out. I began to show a little stress. A phone call was made and a compromise reached. I was pleased--and relieved.

Now, to make up for the word count I'd lost in deleting my bear's charming personality, I was told to insert two sex scenes (Pounds head on laptop). I struggle with sex on demand. Where would I put these scenes so they seemed natural and appropriate to the situation?

The irony was when my cover arrived. After diminishing the role of Magnus, the bear, look who was also included on the cover?

A Scottish hunter and a French secret agent find themselves on a collision course with danger—and irresistible desire—in Vonnie Davis’s new bear-shifting Highlander novel, perfect for fans of Jennifer Ashley and Shelly Laurenston. 
In the pine-dense mountains of the Scottish Highlands, shape-shifter Ronan Matheson is running free when a desperate woman parachutes out of the sky, directly onto his furry, powerful chest. Instead of clawing her to death, Ronan’s inner bear longs to keep her safe. Once he’s back in human form, Ronan is amused by the mysterious beauty’s fearless attitude—and tempted by her voluptous toned physique. But what could she possibly be doing in this isolated stretch of the Highlands?

French intelligence agent Anisa Brosseau never imagined she’d be on the CIA’s bad side—until she’s framed for treason and forced to flee in a stolen drone. Hiding out in a remote cabin, Anisa just needs some time to clear her name. What she doesn’t need is a brooding, muscle-bound Scot in a skimpy kilt to drive her crazy with lust. But when Anisa’s enemies come knocking on his door, Ronan calls on a secret inner weapon to protect his turf and the bonny lass he’s come to love.

http://amzn.com/B00TCI2A5E