Royalties, ratings and reviews

I self-published my book nearly three weeks ago now and I feel like my life has taken a fall down a rabbit hole. Since then, all other projects and interests have been shelved and my life consists of book signings (yes, I have been asked a few times!), trying to get Book Two ready for publishing so that I don’t keep people waiting too long, and avoiding Amazon.

I have to say right now, that I never envisaged myself getting rich because of my writing, but there is something rather exciting about looking at the royalty reports and seeing the figure go up by another pound. I haven’t earned any money for six years, and to be finally able to contribute to the household budget, even in a small way is a heady experience. I felt like throwing a party when it inched past the £50 mark. (Don’t worry Mr Taxman, I won’t be needing to consult with you just yet!)

Then there are the star ratings. Dare any of my friends give me anything less than five? Obviously, I don’t want that, as I am a perfectionist, but I also want people to be honest with me. Although, I have to ask the question. What does five stars mean anyway? Is it a Torville and Dean contender, or just an acknowledgement that I didn’t fall on my backside? Nevertheless, I log in hoping to see those lovely, shiny tributes to my hard work glittering like diamonds in the internet ether.

Of course, the real temptation is the reviews. I have only ever written one bad review online, and that was for a book that was poorly written and plagiarised. I was angry enough at the perfidy to vent quite vociferously about it. I think I was especially peeved as they copied a book I happen to love. Otherwise, I tend to keep my opinions fairly quiet. Very rarely does a book grip me so much that I just have to post my admiration publicly, but now I am starting to think that I should be dishing out my praises more often.

I am not a CS Lewis or a Louise Cooper. I know my books will likely never rank among the great and glorious titles of historic literature, and I am okay with that. I just want to know that my story was well-written, or a pleasant diversion. Maybe parts of it were touching or even shocking. More than anything, I want it to be enjoyable.

So, this is a shout out not only to my friends and family, but to anyone who has spent a pleasant few hours in another world. Please let us know, even if, in your opinion, it only deserves three or four stars. Write a short review saying why you liked it, so that people who are not necessarily concerned about the next Booker prize winner might give it a go. I won’t be upset and delete you from my FB friends list if I get less than five stars, I promise. I just want to know that it didn’t suck.

In turn, I will make an effort to do the same for anything that grabs my attention in future, especially if it’s a relatively unknown author. For all I know, they are sat in front of their laptop right now, refreshing their Amazon page and hoping desperately for a word of encouragement to give them the impetus to get on with the next story.

Perhaps after I've posted this, I should just take one more look…