I have been quiet, haven't I? It's been four weeks exactly since Blood Song was released. What a month! It's attracted over 100 ratings on Goodreads and nearly half of them are 5 star reviews. THANK YOU ALL!
There have been some roastings, too, and I've been bracing myself for those. You can't please everyone, right? The upside is that every criticism the book has received has been something I did deliberately that turned out wasn't to a particular reader's taste. It was my intention to make Zeraphina a little bratty--real teenagers are often bratty. I deliberately eshewed complex world building because I find it tedious. It was my worst fear that I would bore my readers, as I loathe being bored. And no one's complained of anything of the sort!
One criticism that I spotted this morning is that Blood Song is somehow "un-Australian". I find that rather amusing! I'm not entirely sure, but I think they mean it's not literary enough, compared to other Australian fantasy novels. If it was my style I'd write like Melina Marchetta or Margo Lanagan, but clearly it's not. Who wants to read a copycat author anyway?
Haters gonna hate and all that. I'm backing off Goodreads a bit, though the following technique has helped a little: reading negative reviews of my favourite books by authors I adore. There's something reassuring about knowing that even the books I and so many others love attract negative reviews.
Two awesome things:
I got my first honest-to-gods fanmail the other day. I think she was using her dad's email account. SO LOVELY. And I hope it's not patronising to say so, ut pretty cute too.
Blood Song is being made available in Large Print and Braille editions, which I think is pretty damn cool!
More soon! Let me know what you think of Blood Song if you've read it this month, or where you've seen it in the wild.
And did I announce it officially? Blood Storm, book two, will be out August next year. Huzzzaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!
There have been some roastings, too, and I've been bracing myself for those. You can't please everyone, right? The upside is that every criticism the book has received has been something I did deliberately that turned out wasn't to a particular reader's taste. It was my intention to make Zeraphina a little bratty--real teenagers are often bratty. I deliberately eshewed complex world building because I find it tedious. It was my worst fear that I would bore my readers, as I loathe being bored. And no one's complained of anything of the sort!
One criticism that I spotted this morning is that Blood Song is somehow "un-Australian". I find that rather amusing! I'm not entirely sure, but I think they mean it's not literary enough, compared to other Australian fantasy novels. If it was my style I'd write like Melina Marchetta or Margo Lanagan, but clearly it's not. Who wants to read a copycat author anyway?
Haters gonna hate and all that. I'm backing off Goodreads a bit, though the following technique has helped a little: reading negative reviews of my favourite books by authors I adore. There's something reassuring about knowing that even the books I and so many others love attract negative reviews.
Two awesome things:
I got my first honest-to-gods fanmail the other day. I think she was using her dad's email account. SO LOVELY. And I hope it's not patronising to say so, ut pretty cute too.
Blood Song is being made available in Large Print and Braille editions, which I think is pretty damn cool!
More soon! Let me know what you think of Blood Song if you've read it this month, or where you've seen it in the wild.
And did I announce it officially? Blood Storm, book two, will be out August next year. Huzzzaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!
Hi Rhiannon,
ReplyDeleteI absolutely adored Blood Song! It was just about perfect :-D I was one of the ones that posted a glowing review on Goodreads, and then posted it on my facebook page, which prompted alot of people to move it from their maybe list to their definately read list. And as to the negative reviews, you cant please everyone, and its no use trying to please everyone, because you'll just end up going mad! Better to get a thrill from the knowledge that many more people have loved your book than not.
It was reminiscent of my favourite author's (Juliet Marillier) books, with advenure and romance, absolutely loved Blood Song. Super excited about Blood Storm!!!!
Shannon :-)
I loved that the world building took a back seat to the plot and characters. As much as I love fantasy, I really don't need three pages to describe a single tree!
ReplyDeleteBlood Song is such an awesome book, and I've glad other people agree! Can't wait for Book 2!
Haha, I love your way of dealing with negative reviews by reading negative reviews of authors you love. Great idea!
ReplyDeleteWhere is the best place online to purchase a copy of Blood Song you live in the U.S. and are extremely impatient?
I've been following your blog for a long while now and it has been pretty amazing to witness your evolution from writing your story to publication. Congratulations!
Hi Amy
ReplyDeleteBlood Song is available (hard copy and epub) from Random House at http://www.randomhouse.com.au/Default.aspx?Page=SearchResults&word=Blood+Song
I can totally understand the need to brag about this, I mean you've written a book and people love it! Heck I would have wanted to jump up and down and tell every one I saw about it ;)
ReplyDeleteI've started reading my copy and so far it's been great!
oh i love blood song and am so proud of it :)
ReplyDeletealso, not being a huge fantasy reader, it was PERFECT for me.
congrats again on having blood song out in the wild and doing so spectacularly <3
Thank you all. I can't wait until Blood Storm is released and I hope you all enjoy it as much as the first
ReplyDelete