Book Reviews: Your Opinion Matters

Every author loves a review. That's a fact. Good, bad, ugly, awesome, they all count towards the fact that someone read their work. Sure an ugly review isn't a joy to read like a five star would be, but an author usually has a pretty thick skin by the time a book is published, whether independently or traditionally. Why? Well, we go through a lot of rejection internally; edit after edit. But we also see rejection via the publishing process. First there is the hope that this one will get noticed by an agent or publishing house and 'it will happen'! That is a rarity. So you add the rejection letters to your pile and decide to go it alone.

Now - after adding your book to Createspace and amazon kdp - you have self-published and need to get the word out. That's another blog altogether...

So now you've marketed yourself to the best of your knowledge, and if you're lucky you can spend a few hundred dollars on advertising through other blogs and social media. Whatever the outcome, people have some idea you have written something.

Now you plead and beg and offer freebies for honest reviews. That will take time. That will likely peter out within a few weeks and you may have managed 5-10 reviews via favours and freebies. Beyond this exercise, it is my experience that roughly 1-2% of readers actually bother to review a book. And of that 2%, 50% is not going to be glowing.

Now, on to the reader/reviewer. Authors love you unconditionally. You read our book. You might have even paid the $0.99 we discounted the ebook at to boost awareness and sales, but you read it and that is paramount.

Did you love it or hate it? If you loved it our marketing paid off and you picked up the book because the genre is your fav and  the book descriptions were spot on. If you hated it then we've either disappointed our target audience (which is rare - this usually results in a 2-3 star rating with explanation), or you don't like the genre and picked up the book to what: torture yourself? 1 star ratings are usually that.  I would never read a book that didn't interest me from the get-go. If the description tells you: "She enters a psychiatric hospital" and you have an aversion to reading about mental health issues; you don't buy the book. You don't take a free copy. You won't like it. So there can be unfair reviews. Be mindful of the books you read, and if you realize it's not the book for you, ask yourself if it's fair to rate or review it. As thick a skin as an author may have, they are still human, and feel pain. 1 star reviews are painful. I've seen more replies to hateful reviews that argue the reviewer shouldn't have bothered reading a book they knew they would hate. Negativity for the sake of negativity actually irritates other reviewers and potential readers.

That being said, even bad publicity is publicity. Even lousy reviews can prompt sales. It's weird but true. So all I'm saying is, if you read the jacket of the book and are unsure if it is right for you and read it anyways, don't blame the author or the genre they are catering to and leave a scathing review. They didn't 'trick' you into reading it, and you could have stopped at any time. Be kind, and if you can, be helpful. Remember, the reviewer is an important part of an author's life; you have the power to  build a writer up and even help steer them in their pursuits, but you can also help tear them down. Honest reviews are important, but if you hated a book because it's not something you would normally read, maybe skip the review and rating, and save your energy for something positive.

Happy reading and reviewing!

Michael Poeltl's newest book of Multi-genre Short Stories has received 4.3/5 stars.

Reviews and Previews of Short Story Anthology

Book Trilogies End. But Sometimes the Author will Revisit it in a Short Story

Life, spelled out in a name, is the official - 'what happens after The Judas Syndrome Trilogy' has been told - story.

Spoiler Alert

It’s a difficult thing to leave a trilogy alone. Some readers want to be left to ponder the character’s prospects, while others want more! This is how I imagine Fan-Fiction took off. In this story Poeltl offer a brief yet surprising look into the events following Revelation; the third book in the wildly popular post-apocalyptic trilogy; The Judas Syndrome. 

This short story stars the only character to have endured all three books – at least in Poeltl's versions – and one of the strongest characters he's ever written. Left with a small band of survivors, Sara contemplates her past, while hoping to prevent a future which has taken her completely by surprise. 

Her son; dead and gone, and his father long dead, Sara contemplates her own mortality and what purpose she could serve in this aftermath. Upon pondering these hard questions, she is alerted that her son's friend and prodigy; Daniel, may be in trouble as he carries on Leif's teachings to the survivor's of Earl's vicious attack on their base. Homeless and hopeless, these newly displaced refugees could be capable of anything, including placing blame on her son and surviving disciples.

This short story and thirteen others unrelated to the trilogy can be found in the Waning Metaphorically anthology of short stories and flash fiction. 

Not every story is meant to be a novel - read a Short Story.

Not every story is meant to be a novel, and with so many stories circling an author’s head at any given time, a short story is sometimes the best format in which to package it. Bang for your buck! Condensed story-telling.

This collection of shorts and flash fiction features fourteen multi-genre stories offering the reader a range of opportunities to slip away while on their commute, a day at the beach, or their lunch break. Short stories offer real-time entertainment in a world that demands instant gratification.

Waning Metaphorically is intended to excite the reader’s emotions and asks them to question, always. The stories within should inspire introspection on a number of topics and leave the reader more curious about their own points of view while, at times, agreeing with the authors.

It is recommended the stories are read in the order they are presented, but then, order is just another’s perception of how things ought to be.

Life is a Metaphor. A metaphor is a symbol. A symbol is a sign. Watch for the signs.

Books on Your Commute Can Take You Further Than Your Stop

Every commuter has that one person they can’t stop staring at, or the reverse. Both are kind of creepy, so stop staring! Immerse yourself in a book. Even if the book is only going to act as cover for the staring. If that’s the case it might as well be an attractive book. One that might make others start noticing you, in a good way. A book immediately makes a person more interesting, you immediately have layers. Instant intellect. Perhaps in time, the object of your affection will return your looks with a renewed sense of interest and a happily ever after is suddenly possible.

Now, if you’re one being gawked at, a book is the perfect camouflage. At least, it can hide your face and thwart the efforts of the creepy guy eyeballing you from the next row. The less opportunity you give him to catch a glimpse, the more likely he’ll be to give up on you and move on to the next target.

Your commute can take you anywhere when you’re reading a book. Novels are great, but a collection of short stories are arguably the best choice for the commuter. Instant gratification. Whether you’re riding the bus or train for fifteen minutes or fifty, there is a short story for that!

Michael Poeltl has recently entered the world of the short story with his June release of Waning Metaphorically. This is a collection of fourteen stories. Some are twenty-five pages while one is just a paragraph. Hemmingway once wrote a short story in six words and claimed it was his masterpiece. “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” It takes you on an emotional ride and tells a much larger story of anticipation, loss and suffering as well as rebounding. In a short story you don’t have the space to fill in all the details, and when done well, you shouldn’t have to.

Poeltl’s new collection of multi-genre shorts was given an appealing cover design meant to resemble a sandwich board, listing each of the fourteen stories in chalkboard style fonts. Waning Metaphorically is available now in both paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.

For more on the author and the book visit http://www.mikepoeltl.com/Waning_Metaphorically.html

MichaelPoeltl has released a new collection of short stories and is the author of four novels, one children's novella, a collection of short stories and two educational children and young reader’s books.

Enter to Win New Anthology of Short Stories Today! Book Contest on Goodreads!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Waning Metaphorically

by Michael Poeltl

Giveaway ends July 20, 2015.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

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Short Stories and Their Relevance in Today's Market

So I've been asking a few writing and publishing groups on LinkedIn about their opinion of the short story.  I wanted to research this subject before committing to a published anthology of my own shorts and flash fiction. This post will cover a few things my research has unearthed, and from it you can draw your own conclusions on the short story's relevance.

There was a time when newspapers published serials. The greats like Charles Dickens and Poe were fond of these. Money was to be made as well! Then magazines became the popular medium to carry the short story. Buying shorts to include into a genre specific magazine was a major draw for readers.
Both have seemingly lost their punch. But the short story lives on.

Websites like Wattpad carry millions of short stories and serials from authors hoping to be discovered. No one is getting paid for these, but paying sites do still exist. Besides, writing short stories are meant to bring in an audience rather than make you money right?

Wrong. The short story is an art form. It won the Nobel Prize last year for literature. It's not playing second fiddle to novels, and never has. In fact the short has been experiencing a renaissance of sorts recently. Even the film industry has been picking up shorts because a 500 page and up novel is much more difficult to write into a script than a 20-80 page story.

Fan fiction is a great way to enter the short story market too. I wrote a short concerning a character in my trilogy, The Judas Syndrome, which told the story as seen through her eyes after book three had ended. I wrote it in just twelve pages.

The problem with selling your short stories one by one via Amazon and Smashwords is that many self-published authors are selling their novels for $0.99, and the majority of readers look for deals. Multiple consumer studies in 2013 and 2014 confirmed that readers won't spend the money for a short versus a full-length. So your short story, though every bit as good, if not better than a novel, only offers 20 to 80 pages of literary bliss while the novel is 200 and up.

The fix? Put your shorts and flash fiction into a collection. An anthology. Find the stories that share a common theme or genre and sell them as a package deal. Now you're attracting the larger audience to your works.

My own collection will be available very soon, and will be found in both paperback and ebook formats, entitled: Waning Metaphorically. Follow this blog or find me on Facebook and Twitter, Goodreads, linkedIn and Google+

Author Ideas 101 - Flash Fiction and Short Story Compilations

Whether you've written a few novels, or have yet to complete your first, you likely have a slush pile of unfinished, barely started or merely outlined story ideas. I propose that these incomplete thoughts are worthy of further consideration, and if not in the form you originally proposed them to yourself, than perhaps as a piece of flash fiction or a short story?

If you're anything like me, you have scenes and dialogues - that in a moment of inspiration - you had to jot down. Sometimes these moments turn into minutes or even hours. You may not be working on a story that will be suitable for this flash of genius, but if the scene has a beginning, middle and ending, or can be expanded upon, you might just have yourself a tidy little short, or work of flash fiction.

I have been surfing through my own pile of start-ups and see merit in each of them. Some are honestly a paragraph - a witty piece of banter between two people - where others are stories which developed on their own with no clear end in site. Revisiting them, I have managed to find an end in some, expanding on others to complete a piece of flash fiction, or simply edited a short story I had written years before.

My point is that these stories caught in moments of inspiration weren't for nothing. Inspiration brings life to any thought, and when we write that thought down it becomes a story. So why wait for the right novel to include your unique dialogue and character piece? Do something with them now!

I'm currently working on a number of stories from my slush pile; even one which features characters from my trilogy. A look at life for those I didn't kill off. Just 4-5,000 words. But enough to tickle anyone's interest who'd read the trilogy and wondered about a fourth book.

This practice can also be helpful in moments of writer's block. Revisit a train of thought you never completed. You know you have them in that folder marked 'Unfinished' on your desktop. People love a story they can finish quickly on a trip into work or and afternoon in the sun. A compilation of these stories just makes sense.

www.mikepoeltl.com