editorial

We're Celebrating Five Years of Service

Irene Watson

I'm reflecting today to five years ago this week when I started Reader Views on a whim whilst realizing the need of more book reviewers. I had just published my first book, The Sitting Swing,  and getting reviews was a challenge. This was back in the day before bloggers and multiple review services, and when newspapers still reviewed books. (Seems like a lifetime ago!)  There were a handful of review services that were inundated with books to review so getting one seemed to be the luck of the draw.

As I reflect I'm laughing because of two things.  One is that I thought I would just do reviews by  myself since I love to read.  Well, as soon as I put a call out for books to review I was bombarded with requests and within a couple of weeks I started bringing on reviewers. Within a few more weeks I added features on the home page, press release writing, and interviews.  And, within six weeks I hired my first assistant.  Yes, there was a need! Silly me.  Since those first few months we've added editing services, book video trailer production, Kindle conversion, and a whole gamut of stuff. 

The other thing I'm laughing at was the bah-humbug comments on the Self-Publishing  Yahoo Group when I made the announcement of starting a review service and offered to do reviews.  Many  publicly expressed that "she's not going to make it" to my post.  I'm not sure what they were basing their biased opinion on but they were very vocal to be sure I wasn't supported.  Fooled them!

In the last five years, Reader Views and Reader Views Kids combined, have reviewed a total of 6578 books and by the looks of it we will probably hit 7000 by the end of this year. That's an average of 1400 books per year so, yes, we've been busy. And, I can boast the reviewers actually read the books and have no problem giving their honest opinion in a full review.  This often scares authors because there are reviewers that don't read the book, write a blurb from the supporting materials, and rate every book 5-stars.  In all honesty, we can't do that and have rejected requests from authors who specify to only post the review if it's 4 or 5-stars or to send the review to them for tweaking before posting.  Oh my, can you imagine the bad Karma we'd be accumulating if we did that!

Of course I can't do all this by myself.  We have 20 adults and 15 kids reviewing books, and 11 of us doing administrative work (two full-time and the rest part-time; some onsite, some virtually, some locally, and some I've never met.) Many of the reviewers have been with us since that first call for reviewers and one of the associates is the first one I hired.

Since I'm a person that likes to fill needs I'm always on a lookout to find ways to support authors. Besides all the packages that we offer on Reader Views/Kids we have added First Chapter Plus, Blogging Authors, Review The Book, and Inside Scoop Live.

We've also been running a successful literary awards program.  The prizes are donated by people in the publishing industry.  The deadline for the 2010 books is December 15th postmark so if you haven't done so yet, be sure to enter your book now.  One thing we do differently from many of the others is actually read the books and give reviews.  The first line judges are the reviewers and who else better than to judge a book but someone that has actually read it.  Many of the other awards programs don't read the books and only judge by what they think it scores just by flipping through it.

I want to thank you, the reader and supporter, for sticking with us, using our services, and telling others about us.  I have to admit we haven't pleased everyone and are certainly willing to lose potential customers if they aren't on the same philosophy page as us. I'm in the process of creating several more "needed" services that will be launched in the new year so keep in tune. 

I also want to thank all those that took the time and effort to make comments, both posted and personally sent to me, about my editorials.  I keep hearing the appreciation of talking about topics that no one else in the publishing industry does, and certainly not by the popular publishing gurus that often regurgitate the same information over and over again. How many times can a person write about how to publish or market  a book  without saying what hasn't been said already?  I really don't think there is anything new.  I get bored with those too and like to tell you about "stuff" that is real and useful, and things others don't want to touch.

This will be the last editorial for this year because the next two weeks we will be showcasing our staff and their holiday greeting for you.  This will be an opportunity for you to meet all of us, put a name to a face, and read our personal message for you.

May 2011 bring you much success, not only in the publishing industry but in all your ventures, both business and personal.  Expecting miracles to happen result in miracles happening.  I see an abundance of miracles for you!

I'd like to hear from you.  Please make your comments here.

Click here to get eCatalog of Christmas Themed Books that we've reviewed - no need to leave home; you can just order online!

featured this week

Nonfiction - Family, Relationships, Spirituality

Two Sisters’ Journey: From Darkness into the Light

Christi Rohan and Juli Rohan

Outskirts Press (2010)
ISBN 9781432750244
Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (11/10)

Synopsis

Life was great for Juli and Christi. Each sister was living their lives to the fullest; however, all that changed the split second their father collapsed, and died in Christi's arms. Both girls lives spiraled into darkness trying to cope with the loss of their father, yet, each sister managed to pull her life back together with the help of God and family. Juli and Christi tell their own story of dealing with their father's death from turning to medication to cope with the pain to immersing their lives in helping others cope. Two Sisters' Journey by authors Christi and Juli Rohan is a unique look into the different stages of grief through acceptance.

Read review of Two Sisters' Journey
Listen to interview on Inside Scoop Live
Visit authors' website

featured this week

Fiction - Humor, Satire, Novella

The Entrepreneur: Also includes The Truth About Peking Duck

Rick Casteel

CreateSpace (2010)
ISBN 9781453818220
Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (12/10)

Synopsis

The Entrepreneur is a zany romp through the imaginative mind of a narrator who sails off into his own realm of ludicrous ambition. He begins a tattoo business with the help of Mink, a mysterious master of the needle, capable of tattooing internal organs so they can be reclaimed by the owner should they ever be snatched.

Ever optimistic, the narrator undertakes another misadventure retooling a WWII Japanese submarine for luxury dinner cruises beneath the San Francisco bay. The cruises are a great success until an amorous whale spoils the fun and the Coast Guard must be beckoned to save passengers from angry, half-drunk harbor seals. Author Rick Casteel extends the absurdity of the novella with his short story The Truth about Peking Duck in which the history of Peking Duck is delivered in the monologue of a Peking Duck that’s about to be eaten.

Read review of The Entrepreneur
Visit authors' website

Spotlight - reader views literary awards winner

Karen Villanueva Award for the Best Global Book of the Year

At Home Abroad by author Nancy Henderson-James

Plain View Press (2009)
ISBN 97809110516747

Nancy Henderson-James’ defining childhood years were spent in Angola, Africa where her parents were missionaries. Every five years the family spent a year in the United States. Her book, At Home Abroad: An American Girl in Africa, covers the happy, confusing, carefree, angry years between 7 and 21, a time when children clarify their identities, and when she worked out her allegiances to Angola and America. Coming to the US in 1961, she found a home in the civil rights, women’s, and anti-war movements, and a way to define herself as American.

She was educated at Carleton College and Pratt Institute, and worked as a librarian for 30 years. She has written essays and compiled Africa Lives in Soul, based on a survey of missionary kids. A chapter of At Home Abroad was published in Unrooted Childhoods. She received honors from the Southern Women Writers Conference and the North Carolina Writers’ Network. She lives in Durham, North Carolina.

Synopsis: At Home Abroad: An American Girl in Africa goes to the heart of growing up inside and outside a culture. It is a story of how a child born to American missionary parents and a transient intercontinental and intercultural life, struggled to find her homeplace: spiritually, geographically, and emotionally. The theme of wanting to belong, connect, and be anchored runs throughout the book.

The book covers the author's life in southern Africa from ages seven to twenty-one (1952 to 1966). The story includes an ocean voyage complete with fairy magic and the anguish of a sailor's sudden death. It ends with the return, after a five-year absence, to war-torn Angola. It explores the conflicts raised by going away from home to school at age nine, the disruptions to family life brought about by the constant presence of guests in our house, the question of which among the many surrounding cultures she belonged to, and the bewilderment of fitting into, at ages twelve and sixteen, an America scarcely interested in her African life.

Read review of At Home Abroad
Visit Nancy's website

Enter Literary Awards Program

This week's video

Rendezvous Rock

Rickey Bray

Robert D. Reed Publishers (2009)
ISBN 9781934759257
Reviewed by Victoria Gonzales for Reader Views (7/09)

Synopsis

While vacationing in the mountains, Eric meets an unusual girl, Susan, who has sparkling, emerald eyes that are unusually captivating. They are a unique, singular shade of green and seem to be imbued with an ancient fire that even a spoiled, youthfully unperceptive Eric could easily feel.

He senses a strange maturity about this mysterious girl and is drawn to her like a magnet."When I said we would never be married, I meant in your way," Susan said. "Will you marry me in my way? Right now?"Even though numerous questions clamored in his head, Eric easily replied, "Of course."

Eric's answer was far too easy in Susan's opinion. As she mused over his quick reply, she speculated on how to best explain their strange situation in terms that he could understand, an impossibility to do beforehand. He would have to commit himself, then learn the truth. It was unfair to the extreme, yet unavoidable under these very peculiar circumstances, and thus Eric is drawn into a mysterious world.

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