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Thursday, April 2, 2015

The all important star rating system.

                                  Reviews are  critical for self-publishers.


                      A very abbreviated story on how this book came about. 

So, I wrote a book. Then, I spent two years getting it ready for other people to read. I spent hours and hours and hours writing and rewriting and reviewing and editing. Many people helped me. Test readers, editors, my husband, kids, co-workers, etc. Then I decided to send it off to a publisher. I researched how to do that. With help I formatted, and checked, and double checked, and triple checked. With help I found just the right publisher that fit the description of my book. I  submitted it and then I waited.....with baited breath, to hear something. I knew it most likely would not get published by the first publisher, even though the book fits their description, exactly. I held out hope. But, I felt I was sitting around waiting when all I wanted to do was share my story. Then, the rejection from the publisher, that I was fairly sure was coming, came. I decided to self-publish. I had to research how to do that. With help I spent hours reformatting. I made sure it was ready to read, for real, because an official publisher was not going to help me. Okay, so I was finally ready to upload my book. Oh wait, I had to do a cover. Ack, how to you do a cover? Once I got that figured out I was finally ready to go. Then comes the waiting, with baited breath, for the all important reviews. 

Before publishing, about 15 people read it. 10 of them knew me. I heard good things. But now it is published and strangers will be honest. Brutally honest. That will be good. But here is what the star rating will mean to me:

5 stars - that is FANTASTIC!!!!
4 stars - cool.
3 stars - I can work on that.
2 stars - be specific. Constructive criticism please.
1 stars - I sure hope not!


I will eventually talk about the test readers, and the editors, the kids, and my spouse who all helped. It takes a village to write a book. Click here to purchase my book. 
Click below to find me on Facebook.

Perseverance

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