And The Reviews Are Rolling In…
Fear.
Fear is at the heart of any gamble.
What is the source of the fear ? If I take (or paraphrase) the views of Eckhart Tolle (just started listening to his teachings), my personal fear comes from potential failure the damaging of the ego in its means to be “correct”, or “right”. After seven months of publishing Blue Summer and three months of publishing Gruff Ending , I was getting concerned about not getting any reviews and having minimal sales. The latter, I’m not so worried about truthfully - this is fun for me - but the former…well, let’s just say I don’t want to be wasting the reader’s time. Within this, that is where the fear resides for me. After all, time is fleeting.
As a result - madness takes it toll as I, as an author, wait for some form of response from the void that is the Internet.
I understand a lot is going on in the world too, that has marginalized my self-serving ego for “likes” and response. In truth , it’s probably a bad time to start down the road of self-publishing. The pandemic put some time back on the books for me to do things like writing, but there is also the civil unrest and the Presidential election (both, in themselves, a review and commentary of our Nation) that I perceive has taken a toll on readership.
Then again, as the Amazon self-publishing world constantly tells us through their websites and webinars, marketing of books is key. The success of marketing depends on who you ask, of course. I’ve sat through many webinars with authors such as Alerong Kong (Godfather of Lit RPG), Steven Konkoly , Shayne Silvers , among others. All, to an extent, to a gamble at various stages - to put their own money and reputation on the line. To buy into the marketing strategy, because the feedback from the populace simply wasn’t happening.
So in the vein of the Critical Role theme, I took a chance and rolled the dice. Maybe not to the extent that some of my mentors have done, but a gamble all the same.
In preparation for Halloween, JES Campbell commissioned 100 copies of Gruff Ending (on Kindle) to be given (for free) to random GOODREADS subscribers. We had over 371 readers apply for the giveaway (very overwhelming). Simultaneously, we did the same for Blue Summer through Amazon. While not as overwhelming (13) , we did do this for a shorter period of time (3 days) and I think that was a driver in overall responses for Kindle copies.
The results are in.
_______________________________________________
On Amazon, JES Campbell got their first review for Blue Summer :
5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting concept
Reviewed in the United States on November 5, 2020
I wasn't sure about this book, but am so glad I chose to read it. The storyline is really good. I loved Tempt and Hester. Could have used a bit more editing, but didn't detract from the book. Will be reading the next one for sure.
________________________________________________
On GOODREADS …..
Gruff Ending : A Pair of Normal Girls Mystery (#2)
by
J.E.S. Campbell (Goodreads Author)
4.67 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 2020 — 2 editions
I’m discounting my own review for Gruff Ending where I gave it 4 stars. The average from readers has been 5.0 stars.
_________________________________________________
Thanks all who have provided comments and ratings ! We take your input seriously. Looking forward to entertaining you in the future.
- “S”
Five Miles Downrange:
Still writing Conscription (Parts 1 , 2, 3, and 4, can be seen in the links provided) and the next Pair of Normal Girls novel (working title : Angry Sun, Proper Moon) as well as a series of short stories (working title : An Unkindness of Ravens). Anonymous’ post on AMAZON has me seriously contacting my latest reviewer for Blue Summer to see where he is on his work. If you want to be involved with future works by JES Campbell, drop us a line at JESCAMPBELL@fivemilesdownrange.net. We are working on gettin books out in 2021 and looking for BETA testers.
