As an Author, publishing her first book, I expected to be met with a lot of criticism, a lot of people who wouldn't like my story, or that found it only average. I guess maybe this was my way of building up that overly tough skin you're required to have as an Author. If I thought it wouldn't be well received, and it wasn't, I'd already set myself up mentally to receive that criticism.
I remember the very first time I send Finding Love's Wings to my Editor of Awesome - Sione, and shaking, literally, as I hit send on my manuscript. I waited very impatiently for feedback and was blown away by her response. She liked it and she saw some amazing ideas as to how we could work together to make it even better.
After months of writing, editing, writing some more, and polishing off the finishing touches, I hit the big bad publish button on Amazon and waited, and waited, until around 11:30 that night when FLW started to pop up on the Foreign sites.. AmazonUK, AmazonCA, etc. Then Finally - Amazon.
So now, it's LIVE and in living color for all the World to see. Sales picked up in those first couple of days, mainly from those that had followed my journey to publishing my debut novel.
Finally on May 12th - 7 days after publishing came my VERY FIRST unsolicited review (aside from those I asked to please review my book) and it was from the LOVELY Michelle and it was 5 Stars and an amazing review & confidence booster. Read It Here. Michelle was also the first person to reach out to me via Facebook & this Blog to tell me how much she loved my story.
For the first time since hitting that magic publish button I actually thought to myself that maybe this story doesn't suck after all.
May 13th brought about 3 more reviews, 1 Four Star and 2 Five Star reviews. One of them, from Laura - Who is a Top Reviewer on AmazonUK - was thoughtful enough to post her review to US Amazon as well as UK. I learned a lot from Laura's review. She enjoyed the book and was critical enough to point out some of the flaws in formatting - most of which have since been changed.
Then came May 14th and FLW's one and only 1 Star Review. Read It Here. I'm not going to lie, it brought me down, way down, until I came to the full realization that my book is NOT for everyone. I haven't read this review since that first day.
I choose to move past it, and find others to read my story and to hope for more reviews, which is ultimately the reason for this post.
This week, the beautiful Vickie Ann of Innovative Online Tours organized a Review Tour for Finding Love's Wings that Kicked off on July 22, 2013 with a BANG!
First Stop: MommaSez - The Beautiful Cindi at MommaSaz wrote an Amazing Review of Finding Love's Wings. Here's a blurb:
"I personally love New Adult novels because I can relive my youth. Tattoos, piercings, buying nice clothes and shoes (believe me, when you’re a Mom, most of that fun stuff goes right out the window, lol), having men hit on you in bars. It’s a peek back in time to when life was a bit naughty and definitely adventurous. And watching the characters find their own strengths in order to maintain healthy relationships is a positive in my book as well. Derrick writes a love story with a HOT side and she does it with style!"
Second Stop: T B R - Vickie Ann loved Finding Love's Wings so much, she posted her review a week ahead of schedule, <3 Here is a blurb:
"It is official I need to purchase a new kindle because Zoey Derrick set mine on fire!
Cami and Tristan are smokin hot and their love story is so enthralling. This book kept me up until 2 am 3 nights in a row, can you say exhausted with a silly grin."
Third Stop: The College Crawl - The Fabulous Claire over at The College Crawl posted her review. Here is a blurb:
"Cami is a very interesting lady "wink wink" and is not at all like you would of pegged her to be as she certainly holds her own."
Forth Stop: Faerie Tale Books - Sam, man there are so many amazing things I could say about this review. When I find all the right words, I will let you know. Here is a blurb:
"When they discover the fierce connection that is between them, Tristan and Cami are thrown into a whirlwind affair that will leave them both breathless. Can they learn to trust again? Is their love strong enough to overcome their obstacles?"
Fifth Stop: Roxy Kade - Although Roxy wasn't overly thrilled with Finding Love's Wings, she does give it a pretty good review. Here's a blurb:
"I must admit that I did like Cami. I loved her feistiness and the fact that she was also vulnerable and a bit broken made her feel real."
Sixth Stop: RAWBooks - I met Mandy through Goodreads and a group called Some Like it Hot where I offered up a free copy in exchange for my review. Mandy was very quick to sign up for Vickie's Tour. Here's a blurb from her review:
"Finding Love’s Wings was beautiful. The story, the characters, the emotions, the words; they were all beautiful. I sat down to read this and I really didn’t know what to expect. This is Zoey Derrick’s debut novel and I never read reviews of a book when provided with a copy and asked for an honest review. I don’t want to be influenced or jaded or have my review shadowed by other reviews in my head. So, I set out to read this book and at 28% I was texting Danielle:
“HOLY SHIT! THIS BOOK IS AMAZING! I’m only at 28% and I am addicted and panting! I can’t believe she asked us to review her book. Zoey Derrick is going to be huge!”
All in All this week I received the 6 tour stop reviews and 4 new Amazon Reviews. Currently Finding Love's Wings has 35 Reviews - 21 Five Star/13 Four Star/1 Three Star Review.
So after all this is said and done, I'm beginning to finally believe that my book is honestly being read and enjoyed and for that I
THANK YOU!!!
Finding Love's Wings would not be what it is after nearly 90 days without all of you reading and your AMAZING Reviews.
Whether your review is 1 Star or 5 Stars - Please Please Support Me in what I do by Writing a REVIEW!
That is ALL - For Now!
Zoey
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