Reviews (How I Need 'em)

One of the most important things for an indie author, any author, really, are reviews. People, it seems, don't want to risk their hard earned dollar on some unknown weirdo with access to Microsoft Word. They look for reviews. But the thing is, you're not going to get any if no one is reading your book. I think they call that a vicious circle. Or is it a pain in the ass?

Whatever it is, it's maddening.

But there is a silver lining in having no reviews: my feelings don't get hurt. I suffer from thin skin. I'm working on it. I know I'll get nowhere as an author if I can't weather insults from anonymous souls on the internet. (speaking of which, wouldn't it be weird if one way spirits can communicate with the physical world is by leaving reviews on Goodreads?)

So I made this cartoon. It's pretty sparse. Just ink on some paper. I didn't even bother erasing the pencil underneath. It served two purposes. One, giving voice to the frustration of having nearly no reviews, and two, combating that most evil of traits, perfectionism.

What can I say? The drawing's rough. The perfectionist in me wants to take it down and rework it until it's all crisp and lovely. The thing is, that requires time, and if I'm going to be able to continue writing and still show off the odd cartoon, I've decided I've got to loosen up, and if that means having pencil lines showing, oh well.

But I want to get back to the book reviews, or more specifically, the lack of them. I'm hoping one day I can look back at this time and smile. "Oh, you silly Benny," I'll say, "you're going to get loads of them. Not all of them will be nice, but don't worry, those people, we burned down their houses.  :)"