thoughtfulSo I am in a really fascinating position right now. Like, really fascinating. See, I have two relatively new books on the shelves, one as myself, one under the pen name of "Mira Grant." One is urban fantasy, one is a science fiction medical thriller with horror elements. Both of them are in their primary visibility windows, those periods of time where the majority of books will get the majority of their reviews. Book reviews will continue to come in probably forever—even out of print books get the occasional newly-written review, as they're discovered by new readers, and that's awesome—but otherwise, it's a literal application of the old "penny in the pot" fable. (Short form: If a couple puts a penny in a pot for every time they make love during their first year together, and takes a penny out of the pot for every time they make love after the first year, they'll never run out of pennies. No, I'm not saying this really happens, so please don't tell me how many pennies you've spent.)
Because most of your reviews come in during the first few months of release, it makes sense that the majority of your "extreme" reviews would come in during this window. By "extreme" reviews, I mean...
"This book causes spontaneous orgasm and cures cancer and did my laundry and bought me flowers!"
...and...
"This book kills puppies and causes pandemic flu and its publication means that the terrorists have already won!"
It's fun! It's insane! It's like a roller coaster inside your head, one that goes from "dude, I'm awesome" to "dude, I should be recycled into Soylent Green to protect the English language from my foul attacks" like sixteen times a day. And you can't get off the ride, because the ride operator is a total jerk and refuses to release the brakes. And maybe you shouldn't have eaten all that cotton candy before you started. And maybe this amusement park sucks.
Finding balance between the peaks and valleys of the coaster is really hard. I have to watch the curve, and throw away the things that go too far in either direction. I'm pretty sure my books neither cure cancer nor kill puppies. Crying myself to sleep because someone says I caused the death of the dinosaurs with my prose isn't going to do anybody any good, and neither is declaring myself to be a golden god of love. But wow, can it be difficult to hold on to a sense of perspective when it seems like I'm being hit from every possible side, all at the same time.
Live by the compliment, die by the criticism.
Stay sane by the Diet Dr Pepper.
May 4 2010, 19:15:39 UTC 7 years ago
May 6 2010, 02:00:12 UTC 7 years ago
May 6 2010, 13:05:06 UTC 7 years ago
May 6 2010, 13:18:00 UTC 7 years ago
May 6 2010, 15:09:59 UTC 7 years ago
Thank you.
May 6 2010, 15:09:41 UTC 7 years ago