Monday, November 5, 2012

An Artist Needs Feedback

For those of you who know me, this post may appear to be entirely out of character.  I have lived most of my life bearing little concern for what people think of me, or what I do.  And then I wrote a book.

To this point, sales of Blood of Two have been as expected.  As I peruse the reports, numbers from the different outlets are beginning to come in and they are good, not great, but good.  What I am lacking is reviews.  Currently, Blood of Two has three reviews on Amazon.  As a percentage of books sold, this is a very low number of reviews.  This is where my personality takes an about face.  I want to know what you think.  Make that, I NEED to know what you think.

I have received feedback from those close to me, and even a handful of people that I don't know.  Overall the feedback has been good.  Most importantly, I have heard a few comments about how the story could be improved.  And that is what feedback is all about.

While positive reviews and feedback is awesome and extremely encouraging, the negative feedback is just as important.  When someone has something not so complementary about Blood of Two, I carefully weigh the criticism.  Is it personal taste, or is it something that I can use to improve the next project?

There is not much I can do about someone's taste in books.  There are multiple genre's out there and varying styles of authors.  If you didn't like Blood of Two because it's just not for you, then it's just not for you.  However, if you didn't like the book because there was not enough swords in the neck, or the imagery wasn't clear, then if I feel like there is validity to your argument; I can improve the next book utilizing your input.  We both win.  You get a book that is more enjoyable to you, and I get a book that sells.

Here's the other part.  I won't walk up to you and ask what you thought of the book.  Why?  This puts you in an awkward position.  Do you tell me the truth, or just tell me it was great and change the subject?  Right or wrong, this is how I am.  If you read my book and see me on a regular basis and never mention it, I can assume you didn't like it.  I'm curious.  I want to know why.  But, I won't ask.  I don't want to put you on the spot.  Just realize, no matter what you thought of the book, I NEED to know.

An artist needs feedback.  No matter the medium; paints, photography, words, chalk, or yarn.  An artist needs feedback.

To improve.

Shameless plug:
Blood of Two, book one in the Drums of Rallinwar series, by C. Hollis Gunter is available at most e-book outlets including: Barnes and Noble, Amazon, iTunes, and Smashwords.

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