I’m Looking for Book Reviewers

November 17, 2016 Kara HartzLeave a comment

I posted a little while back about my single Goodreads rating, and how nice it was to see a stranger enjoyed my stories. Over at Smashwords I also had this nice four star review:

“What a terrific tale. A lovely sense of mystery, awe and a little humour. My only suggestion is to change the title of the story, it gave away a little too much. Thanks for a great read.”

I’ve since removed my books from Smashwords to use other distributors, so I can’t link to that one. The wisdom in the self-publishing world seems to be that reviews are important, and these are all I’ve got so far. To remedy that, I’m asking anyone who has enjoyed my stories to consider posting a review somewhere. (Amazon would be great, but if you like another site, that’s great too.)

If you haven’t read my stories, but like the sound of them, and would like a free review copy, I’d like to make that happen. Leave a comment with some contact information, and what format you’d prefer your ebook in, and I’ll get one to you. For now, this is an open ended offer – if you stumble on this post months (or years?) from now and want to take me up on this. Go for it.

For the curious here are the books in question:

An astrobiology team discovers a planet with disturbingly familiar aliens.
A middle manager finds out who has been stealing office supplies but knows no one will believe him.
A cleaning robot is much too efficient.
A little boy is desperate to acquire superpowers.
A military robot fights to deliver vital information before time runs out.
A translator under pressure makes a fatal mistake.

Love Thy Enemy: In a post-apocalyptic America where various factions are vying for control of what’s left, Jose finds himself in love with a girl from the wrong camp. How much can they really trust each other?

The Way Home: Margaret learns a secret about her new husband’s past that is difficult to understand.

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Five Stars – an Uplifting Surprise

June 1, 2016 Kara HartzLeave a comment

I’m new to the ebook selling game, but I understand that getting reviews can be tough. I’ve heard of many shady practices, buying reviews, sock puppet accounts, etc. that desperate authors have used to try to get around this problem. Maybe I will never be a bestseller, but my ethics are important to me, so I decided early on, that I wouldn’t worry too much about chasing reviews. For my own sanity and peace of mind mainly.

Still, my one nice review on Smashwords from a stranger made me very happy. (Eye of the Beholder is no longer available there, so I won’t link). And just the other day, I logged into Goodreads to mark ‘Revisionary’ by Jim Hines as finished. (A great series – start at the beginning though with ‘Libromancer‘ – you won’t regret it) To my happy surprise, someone had given my ‘Eye of the Beholder’ short story collection five stars.

I know this isn’t world shaking news, but for a little insecure writer who second guesses all her stories, and all her decisions about when to send those stories out into the world, even tiny encouragements mean a lot. Someone out there, not related to me read my work, and found enjoyment in it. It’s huge to me.

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Book Review Continued

June 29, 2007 Kara Hartz1 Comment

We covered the lesson on “Teachability” this week from the book “Talent is Never Enough” by John C. Maxwell.

Now this is one area I don’t feel like I need much help on. I love learning, and am almost always open to suggestion for improvement. The book warns that pride is an enemy of teachability, but I have little to no pride. I could probably stand to work more on pride than teachability actually. Basically being teachable is being open to growth, and no one should ever be done growing.

I though I was fairly comfortable on the computer until I opened my Etsy shop. Then I had to learn about online marketing, about blogs, and HTML, banners. . . well, all kinds of stuff I didn’t know or care about a year ago. And its been fun, because I love to learn. Finally I found a personality trait I have that should serve me well.

I have to share some quotes from the book that really gave me the giggles. Maxwell gives a list of quote that supposedly came from real employee evaluations. My goal is to never be one of these people. I’m just going to give a few of my favorites – there are a bunch:

“Works well when under constant supervision and when cornered like a rat.”

“When she opens her mouth, it seems that it is only to change feet.”

“He sets low personal standards and consistently fails to achieve them.”

“If you see two people talking and one looks bored, he’s the other one.”

And my personal favorite, “This young lady had delusions of adequacy.”