I made someone cry! I don’t remember ever making a complete stranger cry. However, a reader who finished Unforeseen Riot tells the world of Amazon that indeed I did. This made me gasp in surprise and with excitement. Not that I intend to make readers cry. I’m honestly just impressed that my words could speak to someone so strongly.
For what it’s worth, I also made people laugh, but I don’t take the full credit for that. The credit for that goes to Natasha, most likely – she is a pretty funny lady, which of course is why Mallory and I love her!
It is definitely eye-opening (to say the least) to read people’s reviews and occasionally read their reaction to the cover art. The cover art is typically only mentioned on Facebook, where I self-promote shamelessly and with almost reckless abandon. Seeing younger women call the cover of Unforeseen Riot “hot” makes me glad I invested in it. I invited all readers to review Unforeseen Riot, even if they didn’t like it. I think my skin is thick enough, but I’m almost certain the first two-star review (or lower, cringe) will ultimately mean I’m the one who’ll be crying
Don’t worry though; I’m not going to let it stop me. My characters won’t let me, even if I tried! It’s all part of the great learning curve of getting started in a new-ish job. I say “new-ish” because I’ve always written. It’s only now that I’m actively publishing and trying to sell books. Anyway, Unforeseen Riot is essentially my first “rodeo” as it were. I feel my brain is in constant overdrive to keep up with the vast amount of information I’m finding every day. Or I’m finding out about many different steps needed to be taken to make sure Inciting a Riot is just as successful as Unforeseen Riot. The learning curve mentioned earlier is percolating in my mind for its own blog post, but that will probably be two months down the line. My next post will be about a character or characters. They’re way more interesting, but I had to share about reviews because they are so important! Reviews are especially important for us little people just starting out.
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