Snowy's Christmas Blog Tour Week 9

Time for another stop on the Snowy's Christmas blog tour. This week I am visiting with the lovely Sandy Fussell, at Stories are Light, talking about Christmas stories, and what makes them special. We'd love to see you there.

If you’ve missed any of the other tour stops, you can find them at:
Week One: 4 October Deescribe Writing Blog
Week Two: 11 October Write and Read With Dale
Week three: 18 October Alphabet Soup Blog
Week Four: 25 October Let’s Have Words
Week Five: 1 November Sally Murphy’s Writing for Children Blog (you’re here)
Week Six: 8 November Aussiereviews Blog
Week Seven: 15 November Samantha Hughes’ Blog
Week Eight: 22 November Robyn Opie’s Writing Children’s Books Blog
Week Nine: 29 November Stories are Light
Week Ten: 6 December The Aussie Christmas Blog
Week Eleven: 13 December Tales I Tell

Snowy's Christmas Blog Tour: Week Six

Welcome to week 6 of the Snowy’s Christmas blog tour, which stops here today. In previous stops we’ve talked about the inspiration behind the book, and the writing and illustration process. Today, since the tour is stopping here at a blog devoted to reviews, I thought I might chat a little about reviews and what is like when the reviewer (that’s usually me) becomes the reviewed (when I’m the author).

Firstly, a little about me as a reviewer. I own and manage website Aussiereviews, also writing the bulk of the reviews you’ll find there. My reviews are aimed primarily at parents, teachers and readers, being not heavily academic or analytical. My reviews are also generally positive. I have an unofficial policy that if I strongly dislike a book for any reason then I simply don’t review it, rather than posting a damning review. My reasoning for this is that I simply don’t have time to review every book that comes my way, so I would rather focus on the good ones. Having said that, if I see deficits in an otherwise good book, I am prepared to mention them. I have no desire to mislead potential readers, who are the intended audience of my reviews.

So, being an active reviewer, how does it feel for me to be reviewed by other people? Honestly? Great. As well as the reviews starting to come in for Snowy’s Christmas, I’ve also had a swag of reviews this year for my other new release, Pearl Verses the World. Most of the reviews have been positive, and it feels wonderful to know that people love my book. As a reviewer myself, I know that the reviewer is not writing the review for me, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t benefit from the affirmation.

But what about if the review is negative? That’s harder. So far, Snowy has had only positive reviews, but Pearl Verses the World had one review which was a real shocker. It was a print review, so I can’t link to it, but it basically said the book was depressing, unrealistic and shouldn’t be read. The reviewer, in spite of having the book in front of them, also managed to misname the author. To be honest, though, I was probably only mildly annoyed. After all, I’d been lucky enough to get lots of really outstanding reviews for the same book, so I figured that this one reviewer was having a bad day. Or maybe, just maybe, that book was just not a good fit for that reviewer. After all, not every book will be loved by every reader. And as an author it is unrealistic to think that every reviewer will feel the same about your book.

Which leads me to my next point – how I respond to reviews. Established review etiquette is that the author/illustrator/publisher should not respond to reviews – that includes trying to answer the reviewer’s opinions, as well as simply thanking the reviewer. The reasoning is that this breaks down the professional remove between reviewer and reviewed. I actually agree with this wisdom – to a point.

Pre the internet, that remove was supported by the fact the reviewer and the reviewed would not cross paths terribly often – apart from, of course, industry functions, conferences and the like. However, in the new internet age, everyone is closer to everyone else. Through social networking, especially, reviewers, authors, editors, publishers, publicists rub shoulders on a daily basis. In this world, it seems almost silly to pretend that the review process does not exist. As a reviewer, I do regularly receive emails and messages from people thanking me for reviews. I don’t expect them, but I understand why people send them. To date, I’ve only had one email from an author complaining about my review. This was difficult, especially as I felt that the author had misinterpreted my review, but I did respond politely to this email. I might add here that it is because of this close contact through social networking and so on that I don’t accept review copies directly from authors. By insisting that books come from publishers I am able to maintain some distance between myself and the author until after I have written the review.

As an author, I try to not respond to reviews of my own books, because of this etiquette - with the exception of reviews which appear as part of one of my blog tours. In this instance, I do thank the reviewer because, although the review copy has come from the publisher, the blog visit has usually been instigated by me.

So, to Snowy's Christmas. To date Snowy has had, as I’ve said, some wonderful reviews, from:

Dee White, who said “It’s a truly Australian Christmas story with Aussie animals and landscapes. The tale is beautifully told by Sally Murphy, and David Murphy’s bright, funny illustrations give the book extra bounce.” (You can read her full review HERE)

Rebecca Newman, who said “this is a great picture book for celebrating Christmas in the heat.” (You can read her full review HERE)

Dale Harcombe, who said “It’s lovely to see an Aussie Christmas book that reflects the wildlife, colour and landscape of Australia instead of snow etc.” (You can read her full review HERE)

Pat Pledger, who said “In her captivating story with an Australian setting, Sally Murphy has managed to capture the spirit and fun of Christmas, while exploring the theme of fitting in and finding your own niche in life.” (You can read her full review HERE)

Being reviewed can be confronting. But I suppose the best advice I can give any author is to remember that every review is only one person’s opinion. And every review, good or bad, is publicity for your book.

If you want to learn more about Snowy’s Christmas you can follow the rest of the Snowy’s Christmas blog tour at the following links. See you there:

Week One: 4 October Deescribe Writing Blog
Week Two: 11 October Write and Read With Dale
Week three: 18 October Alphabet Soup Blog
Week Four: 25 October Let’s Have Words
Week Five: 1 November Sally Murphy’s Writing for Children Blog (you’re here)
Week Six: 8 November Aussiereviews Blog
Week Seven: 15 November Samantha Hughes’ Blog
Week Eight: 22 November Robyn Opie’s Writing Children’s Books Blog
Week Nine: 29 November Stories are Light
Week Ten: 6 December The Aussie Christmas Blog
Week Eleven: 13 December Tales I Tell

Snowy's Christmas is available across Australia in bookstores, Kmart and Myer,a nd online from stores including Booktopia.

Blog Tour: Dale Harcombe

Today, Dale Harcombe visits this blog as part of her blog tour to promote her book, The Goanna Island Mystery. Dale is travelling the blogosphere talking about her book and about all aspects of being a writer. She has kindly agreed to answer some questions from me about being reviewed.

Welcome Dale.

1. Has Goanna Island been reviewed at all? If so, where?

The Goanna Island Mystery has been reviewed by fellow author Delwyne Stephens on the Aussiereviews site. One of Delwyne’s daughters was also going to send a review to Blake but I don’t know whether it actually ended up happening or not. There should be a review of The Goanna Island Mystery by Dee White probably next week in Pass It On newsletter

2. Can you tell us about your best and worst review experiences as a writer?

I’ll start with the worst first. Not that it was particularly bad, the reviewer did have positive things to say about Chasing after the Wind but towards the end of the review he said, 'Though the novel culminates in a very moving reconciliation( not necessarily the one reader might expect) the potential sprightliness of the story is defeated by its lack of subtlety.’ Of course, no matter how many good reviews, the book got and others were great, they were the words I remembered. Having recently re-read Chasing after the Wind myself, I’m not convinced that he's right, but then reading is a subjective thing. The irony is that the reviewer Stephen Matthews was the publisher who published Kaleidoscope my poetry collection several years later, in what had to be the quickest I have ever had a manuscript accepted for publication. Less than a week after sending it off to Stephen Matthews at Ginninderra Press, I had the acceptance letter in my hand. Kaleidoscope had some great reviews in Artlook, Studio magazine and one by fellow author Sophie Masson. Another great review of it by one Sally Murphy is on the Aussiereviews site.

The best report ever came not from a reviewer but from a family. One is from the girl who read the book and the other is from her mother. According to the mother, her daughter was given Chasing after the Wind as a present by a friend and instead of reading it at school during reading time as she originally intended ‘she grabbed it every spare moment she had. This was exciting stuff as it was the first book to really get her in’ her mother said. 'The other letter came from the girl herself, Kimberly and she said.’ To say that I liked the book you wrote called Chasing After the Wind is not right, actually I loved it! I really got hooked, seeing I’m not a great reader and my Mum enjoyed it too.’ I also had a visit from the girl’s grandmother who was similarly encouraging and positive about the impact my book had on her granddaughter. To know I’d had such an amazing impact on a reluctant reader was better than any review. Interesting enough I had another t letter from tow girls who were avid readers and there response was just as positive as they ‘really related to the characters.’ Those are a few of several letters from readers that I up on the cork board above my desk to remind me during the discouraging times of the impact my words have had on others.

3. You review books yourself. Has being a reviewer influenced your writing, and in what way?

I suppose being a reviewer has influenced my writing, as has past work as a manuscript assessor. I tend to look at things very much trying to see them as the average reader would and make sure I don’t rabbit on with those boring bits people tend to skip over when reading.

4. Goanna Island is published by a publisher whose focus is the educational market. Did they send out review copies or is it up to you to do so? How do you go about seeking reviews for your books?

I have no idea if the publisher sent out review copies of The Goanna Island Mystery. I sent the book to Delwyne Stephens who was published by the same publisher and later to Dee White and Mabel Kaplan who asked for it , when setting up this blog tour. I haven’t seen any other reviews other than Delwyne's for The Goanna Island Mystery but initial comments have been positive indicating people enjoyed it. On the whole though, I haven’t actually done much at all in the way of seeking out reviews.

5. Do you think getting reviews is important? How does it help you as a writer?

With so many books in the market place, getting reviews can be important in bringing a book to the attention of readers, teachers, and librarians. Obviously positive reviews can help boost sales, which is always good for a writer but often word of mouth can generate interest to as readers talk about books they have read and liked.

Thanks for dropping in Dale.
Here are the dates in May and the blogs where The Goanna Island Mystery will be touring.

Monday 25th Dee White at http://tips4youngwriters.wordpress.com/

Tuesday 26th Sally Murphy at http://aussiereviews.blogspot.com/

Wednesday 27th Mabel Kaplan at http://belka37.blogspot.com/

Thursday 28th Claire Saxby at http://www.letshavewords.blogspot.com/

Friday 29th Sandy Fussell at http://www.sandyfussell.blogspot.com/

The Goanna Island Mystery can be purchased online from Blake.

You can learn more about Dale by visiting her website.

And, if you are an Aussie author or blogger keen to be involved in blog tours, you can find out about the Aussie BlogTours group here.