A Writer’s Anxiety

Whenever I finish writing a book, and then the edits and submit it to the publisher, there isn’t much else to do but wait. The next phase is the excitement I feel when I get the news the book will be published on such and such a date, and I receive copies for distribution.

That means, someone buys and reads the book. There are four words that send chills up my spine and causes the little hairs on the back of my neck to stand at attention. They are: “I read your book.”

The anxiety is real. Just because I love what I wrote, doesn’t mean others will too. It hardly ever works that way. There will be one or two readers who will give you a mediocre or even a bad review, mixed in with all the great and excellent reviews. It’s human nature to dwell on the negative ones and dismiss the positive ones.

We do that with personnel evaluations, don’t we. The supervisor fills your evaluation with wonderful superlatives, but has a suggestion to work on, something less than flattering. Despite all the wonderful things he has to say, we disregard them and focus on the thing we need to work on.

Such was the case when I sent my book off to Zoe’ who organized a five-day book tour for Fan Mail. I was excited to receive honest reviews, but at the same time, I fretted, What if I receive a bad review or even a mediocre review? I mean, after all, there are no guarantees, right?

But in the five days of the tour, I received nothing but praise ranging from “solid writing” to “wonderful storyline” to “I loved the characters” to “it made me laugh and cry and worry.”

Like this one from Penfoldlayla (her blog name). There are others just as glowing. I received a review from a friend and former colleague who has read each of my books. Bill wrote, “Ok. Fan Mail is now history. Like each of your books, it’s an A+, maybe an A++. Now, where can I send the review?”

Music to my ears- truly.

Ros, who I never met face-to-face, but who has read each of my books, wrote, “I can’t tell you how much I have loved this series. It’s gripped me for the very first book. I’ve been scared to turn the page, because it’s made me mad, I’ve cried, I’ve smiled, and laughed, so thank you Joseph. I’m hoping there’s another one in the wings. A must read and a wow!”

An author, any author, lives off of reviews. This graphic explains it completely:

It is a bit tongue-in-cheek. Okay, maybe a lot tongue-in-cheek, but you get the point. Reviews help sell books, because they convince other readers to give the book a read. So please, leave a review on Amazon or Barnes & Noble and Goodreads. Like the graphic says, you’ll get a free unicorn, and who doesn’t like unicorns?

Here is the link to the rest of the reviews from Zoe’s blog tour of Fan Mail. I hope you enjoy them and perhaps, cause you to click on Amazon to purchase a book, or leave a review, or both!

http://zooloosbooktours.co.uk/and-thats-a-wrap-of-fan-mail-by-joseph-lewis

As always, thanks for following me on my writing journey. I’d love to hear your thoughts so please use the section below to leave a comment. For your convenience, the link to Fan Mail is below.

Fan Mail – New Release! A Maxy Award Finalist! Eric Hoffer Award Nominee! Literary Titan Silver Book Award!

A barrage of threatening letters, a car bomb, and a heart attack rip apart what was once a close-knit family of adopted brothers. Randy and Bobby, along with fellow band member and best friend, Danny, receive fan mail that turns menacing. They ignore it, but to their detriment. The sender turns up the heat. Violence upends their world. It rocks the relationship between the boys and ripples through their family, nearly killing their dad.

As these boys turn on each other, adopted brother Brian flashes back to that event in Arizona where he nearly lost his life saving his brothers. The scars on his face and arms healed, but not his heart.

Would he once again have to put himself in harm’s way to save them? And if faced with that choice, will he?

https://amzn.to/3eNgSdS