Another #AchievementUnlocked!

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achievement-unlocked

And this one is just in time for Indie Author Day and Virtual Fantasy Con!!

Today, my dear friends, I am celebrating a first-time achievement, one that puts my right up there with such luminaries as JRR Tolkien, Stephen King and JK Rowling!

Today I am the happy recipient of….

<drum-roll>

… my first 1-star review 😛

I am so chuffed and proud to have finally “made it”! 🙂

Why is this cause for celebration? Because it’s a highly useful thing. First, the reviewer is and illiterate with ADHD. Their complaint was “The description of the book made me believe this was an historical mystery that takes place in Rome.” Because, y’know, when the book’s blurb says “Murder in Absentia is set in a fantasy world. The city of Egretia borrows elements from a thousand years of ancient Roman culture”, it’s obviously not clear enough.

But the true bonus in this review is twofold:

First, it gives legitimacy to the novel. Some readers look at the bad reviews first, and a book without any looks suspect. So while I am proud to say that out of 65 reviews to date 17 have been 4-star reviews (and 46 have been 5-star), this kind of review does show that the reviews, in general, are real. (And that, apparently, I’ve written a smashing novel 😉

Second, it helps other readers (especially clueless ones who can’t read a book’s blurb) find out if the book if for them. No book is ever for all readers. Even Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings has about 40,000 one-star reviews on Goodreads (people who thought it was a craptacular snooze-fest, and felt the need to tell the word about it). So this kind of highlighting of the fantasy aspects will help me reach the readers who like the blend of Rome and Fantasy. My niche, my tribe.

That’s it for now. I will be blogging at length soon(-ish) about how to deal with criticism in general. That article will go a bit deeper into reviews and critiques, but you can expect the same tongue-in-cheek atmosphere as the above.

Lastly, I’d like to remind you that  Indie Author Day is this Saturday, and that Virtual Fantasy Con is next week. Those are both online events on Facebook – you can drop in any time, and discover great new authors and books (and judging by my 4.6 star average for reviews, I qualify 😉

13 Comments

  1. I’m sorry you got a 1-star review. Kind of. I’m also super excited I’m not the only one to whom this has happened. I had a reviewer claim my book was ‘smut on parade’. She only read 3 pages of the 3 book bundle but apparently it was all sex, sex, sex. I’m still trying to find the sex. Maybe she just has sex on the brain and is a prude? Now to figure out how to get 65 reviews for one book! My highest is 35 and I’m pretty chuffed about that 🙂

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      1. Fingers are crossed! I keep telling people that I want an honest review and if they hate it say so. Alas, thus far, no luck with a 1.

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  3. Can’t help but feel that the one star review was a troll.

    Away each to their own. We love your book so yep they can sit in the dislike room by themselves as we have a party in the like room

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  5. ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL! Your review of the review was hilarious and on point! There is always an audience that has no idea or clue about why they read a particular book or wake up every morning. Thanks for the laugh, that is not easy for a guy who lost part of a lung a week ago! Thanks, I needed a good laugh!

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