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The Red Walker
Great Reader
USA
3567 Posts |
 Posted - 15 Sep 2007 : 17:05:17
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I would like to make a general plea to all the eloquent scribes here at the 'Keep. Please review your favorite Realms books online. It does help!! It would be wonderfull to see some of the same impassioned reviews of these great books where more eyes can see them.
I went to amazon.com to check on availability of new books and on a whim decided to read the reviews of Swords of Dragonfire......it was a travesty!!! 2 reviews....only 2. And they did not seem very fair...a 2 star and a 3 star rating....that was it....
Rating of Ed's latest Gem was reduced to 2.5 stars by the power of 2 reviewers. I submitted my own humble effort, but admit readily that I am not near the wordsmith as many of me fellow scribes. Great reviews(honest ones most importantly) can and do help shape our Realms!!
Thanks for reading my rant and please do consider it!!
edit: My review was rejected, amazon one allows you to review one part of a series 
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A little nonsense now and then, relished by the wisest men - Willy Wonka
"We need men who can dream of things that never were." -
John F. Kennedy, speech in Dublin, Ireland, June 28, 1963
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Edited by - The Red Walker on 15 Sep 2007 21:45:43
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SirUrza
Master of Realmslore
USA
1283 Posts |
Posted - 15 Sep 2007 : 18:33:24
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| Well it's gone up quite a bit now. :) |
"Evil prevails when good men fail to act."
The original and unapologetic Arilyn, Aribeth, Seoni Fanboy. |
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The Red Walker
Great Reader
USA
3567 Posts |
Posted - 15 Sep 2007 : 21:46:03
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quote:
Originally posted by SirUrza
Well it's gone up quite a bit now. :)
Nice work my friend! |
A little nonsense now and then, relished by the wisest men - Willy Wonka
"We need men who can dream of things that never were." -
John F. Kennedy, speech in Dublin, Ireland, June 28, 1963
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Erik Scott de Bie
Forgotten Realms Author
USA
4598 Posts |
Posted - 16 Sep 2007 : 05:50:35
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Kudos to you, Red, for sending out the call!
RW isn't kidding about this, ladies and gents--reviews really do make a great deal of difference.
And not just to the readers of Amazon (who can get a sense of books to buy) but to the publishers (because the more books that get sold and the more people talk about an author, the more they want to publish that author) and to the authors themselves (some of us who very much appreciate feedback and external opinion).
Write about the books you like, and say what could make them better. Don't let the only reviews that get up be two-sentence dismissals paired with a 1-star vote (like RW's example of Ed's great novel).
The greatest promotion for a book is word of mouth, and seeing personal opinions that aren't just those of critics, who often ignore really wonderful books that aren't heavily marketed, makes a whole lot of difference.
I'm not just speaking for myself, here--you want to see more Realms books by your favorite authors, go out and post reviews of them. Review Ed, Bob, Elaine, Paul, Rich . . . anyone and everyone.
We really appreciate it.
Cheers |
Erik Scott de Bie
'Tis easier to destroy than to create.
Author of a number of Realms novels (GHOSTWALKER, DEPTHS OF MADNESS, and the SHADOWBANE series), contributor to the NEVERWINTER CAMPAIGN GUIDE and SHADOWFELL: GLOOMWROUGHT AND BEYOND, Twitch DM of the Dungeon Scrawlers, currently playing "The Westgate Irregulars" |
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Kairin
Acolyte
40 Posts |
Posted - 18 Sep 2007 : 17:03:52
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| I agree, I would like to see more reviews too. Honest reviews, not just fanboy reviews, so I get a better idea of what to buy. Just because some books aren't heavily marketed don't mean that they aren't good. |
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Jamallo Kreen
Master of Realmslore
USA
1537 Posts |
Posted - 18 Sep 2007 : 21:57:46
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My keyboard drowned over the weekend (literally), so my typing is severely curtailed by time limits on library computers, but I'll try. Gods know I have sufficient books to review!
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I have a mouth, but I am in a library and must not scream.
Feed the poor and stroke your ego, too: http://www.freerice.com/index.php.
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EdGentry
Forgotten Realms Author
USA
175 Posts |
Posted - 06 Dec 2007 : 18:57:11
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Not to beat a dead horse but everyone here is very correct! Reviews can really help an author and a book.
To that end, I will now (with only a touch of shame) beg anyone and everyone who reads and enjoys my first novel Neversfall to review it on Amazon. Give an honest review, of course!
Thanks to anyone who can help a guy out on this.
-Ed
P.S. - If you read it, be sure to check out the book club running on it right now here at Candlekeep. |
http://www.edgentry.com |
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Kuje
Great Reader
USA
7915 Posts |
Posted - 06 Dec 2007 : 19:44:13
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I don't get around to reading FR novels as much as I used to but I do have a book review journal here:
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.ListAll&friendID=98747893
However, as people can see, I haven't read a FR novel since August and so I don't really write Amazon reviews. Maybe someday I'll catch up with the half dozen FR novels I have in my stacks. |
For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet and excite you... Books are full of the things that you don't get in real life - wonderful, lyrical language, for instance, right off the bat. - Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium |
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The Red Walker
Great Reader
USA
3567 Posts |
Posted - 13 Dec 2007 : 00:06:40
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quote:
Originally posted by Kuje
I don't get around to reading FR novels as much as I used to but I do have a book review journal here:
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.ListAll&friendID=98747893
However, as people can see, I haven't read a FR novel since August and so I don't really write Amazon reviews. Maybe someday I'll catch up with the half dozen FR novels I have in my stacks.
Sounds like you need to ask Manshoon how to clone yourseld, repeatedly! |
A little nonsense now and then, relished by the wisest men - Willy Wonka
"We need men who can dream of things that never were." -
John F. Kennedy, speech in Dublin, Ireland, June 28, 1963
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Kuje
Great Reader
USA
7915 Posts |
Posted - 13 Dec 2007 : 02:49:40
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quote:
Originally posted by The Red Walker
Sounds like you need to ask Manshoon how to clone yourseld, repeatedly!
That could be a part of it but it's more other factors that I'd rather not get into. :) |
For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet and excite you... Books are full of the things that you don't get in real life - wonderful, lyrical language, for instance, right off the bat. - Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium |
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Zanan
Senior Scribe
Germany
942 Posts |
Posted - 14 Dec 2007 : 15:25:45
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| Well, we do that for ages now over at the German D&D Gate. Maybe you need to motivate people much like the Gate-Kobolds do, i.e. give them free copies of the novels (P&P to be paid by the reviewer). |
Cave quid dicis, quando et cui!
Gæð a wyrd swa hio scel!
In memory of Alura Durshavin.
Visit my "Homepage" to find A Guide to the Drow NPCs of Faerûn, Drow and non-Drow PrC and much more. |
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Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
Great Reader
USA
7106 Posts |
Posted - 14 Dec 2007 : 15:36:20
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I have to admit, I'm not just inclined to review books online and post them on, say, amazon.com.
Sorry. I know it would help, but it's just not something I do. I do try to spread the word about books I enjoy though. |
"Instead of asking why we sleep, it might make sense to ask why we wake. Perchance we live to dream. From that perspective, the sea of troubles we navigate in the workaday world might be the price we pay for admission to another night in the world of dreams."
--Richard Greene (letter to Time) |
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The Red Walker
Great Reader
USA
3567 Posts |
Posted - 14 Dec 2007 : 20:32:33
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quote:
Originally posted by Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
I have to admit, I'm not just inclined to review books online and post them on, say, amazon.com.
Sorry. I know it would help, but it's just not something I do. I do try to spread the word about books I enjoy though.
It seems a shame to keep all of your elegant thoughts and well written thoughts all to ourselves!! |
A little nonsense now and then, relished by the wisest men - Willy Wonka
"We need men who can dream of things that never were." -
John F. Kennedy, speech in Dublin, Ireland, June 28, 1963
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Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
Great Reader
USA
7106 Posts |
Posted - 14 Dec 2007 : 23:47:40
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quote:
Originally posted by The Red Walker
quote:
Originally posted by Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
I have to admit, I'm not just inclined to review books online and post them on, say, amazon.com.
Sorry. I know it would help, but it's just not something I do. I do try to spread the word about books I enjoy though.
It seems a shame to keep all of your elegant thoughts and well written thoughts all to ourselves!!
That's nice of you to say. |
"Instead of asking why we sleep, it might make sense to ask why we wake. Perchance we live to dream. From that perspective, the sea of troubles we navigate in the workaday world might be the price we pay for admission to another night in the world of dreams."
--Richard Greene (letter to Time) |
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Zanan
Senior Scribe
Germany
942 Posts |
Posted - 15 Dec 2007 : 17:45:29
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quote:
Originally posted by The Red Walker
quote:
Originally posted by Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
I have to admit, I'm not just inclined to review books online and post them on, say, amazon.com.
Sorry. I know it would help, but it's just not something I do. I do try to spread the word about books I enjoy though.
It seems a shame to keep all of your elegant thoughts and well written thoughts all to ourselves!!
Maybe we should take Rino by the hand and take her and her alter ego to the next Loviatar temple for some expert treatment aimed at changing their minds? |
Cave quid dicis, quando et cui!
Gæð a wyrd swa hio scel!
In memory of Alura Durshavin.
Visit my "Homepage" to find A Guide to the Drow NPCs of Faerûn, Drow and non-Drow PrC and much more. |
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The Red Walker
Great Reader
USA
3567 Posts |
Posted - 16 Dec 2007 : 04:19:58
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quote:
Originally posted by Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
quote:
Originally posted by The Red Walker
quote:
Originally posted by Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
I have to admit, I'm not just inclined to review books online and post them on, say, amazon.com.
Sorry. I know it would help, but it's just not something I do. I do try to spread the word about books I enjoy though.
It seems a shame to keep all of your elegant thoughts and well written thoughts all to ourselves!!
That's nice of you to say.
Every word is true Milady! I am glad that my meaning shone through despite me being tired enough as I typed it to use Thoughts twice in that comment! (What My mind told my fingers to type was ....your elegant words and well written thoughts...) Well, it's the thought that counts! |
A little nonsense now and then, relished by the wisest men - Willy Wonka
"We need men who can dream of things that never were." -
John F. Kennedy, speech in Dublin, Ireland, June 28, 1963
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Edited by - The Red Walker on 16 Dec 2007 04:21:09 |
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Rosemary Jones
Forgotten Realms Author
USA
148 Posts |
Posted - 02 Jan 2008 : 02:19:10
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Thanks to everyone who spreads the word about the FR books. I know all the authors appreciate it.
I've been trying to send information about my book, Crypt of the Moaning Diamond, and the Dungeons series to bookstores that I know. I have a postcard that I've been mailing out. If you've got a suggestion for me, just e-mail me.
Also, with a crazy work schedule, I'm not able to go out and do signings or other "traditional" author promos. But I'm happy to send out a signed bookplate to any reader or bookstore that wants one. Again, just e-mail me.
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Rosemary Jones
www.rosemaryjones.com |
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ElaineCunningham
Forgotten Realms Author
2396 Posts |
Posted - 02 Jan 2008 : 03:02:56
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quote:
Originally posted by Rosemary Jones
Thanks to everyone who spreads the word about the FR books. I know all the authors appreciate it.
I've been trying to send information about my book, Crypt of the Moaning Diamond, and the Dungeons series to bookstores that I know. I have a postcard that I've been mailing out. If you've got a suggestion for me, just e-mail me.
Also, with a crazy work schedule, I'm not able to go out and do signings or other "traditional" author promos. But I'm happy to send out a signed bookplate to any reader or bookstore that wants one. Again, just e-mail me.
Rosemary, if you can pick up a copy of Writer's Digest Yearbook 2008, check out the article on press kits, starting on page 66. Good basic info on how to put together info for bookstores. |
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Rosemary Jones
Forgotten Realms Author
USA
148 Posts |
Posted - 06 Jan 2008 : 19:37:49
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quote:
Originally posted by ElaineCunningham
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Rosemary, if you can pick up a copy of Writer's Digest Yearbook 2008, check out the article on press kits, starting on page 66. Good basic info on how to put together info for bookstores.
That's a great suggestion. Thanks.
Neat thing about the Web is how fast people can get back to you. CRYPT OF THE MOANING DIAMOND stills seems like a "baby" to me as it just start shipping at the end of the November. But I'm already getting notes from people who finished the book ... or found it in their local bookstore and turned it face out on the shelf or talked it up to the bookstore owner (bless family and friends for guerilla marketing!).
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Rosemary Jones
www.rosemaryjones.com |
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The Red Walker
Great Reader
USA
3567 Posts |
Posted - 06 Jan 2008 : 20:27:53
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quote:
Originally posted by Rosemary Jones
quote:
Originally posted by ElaineCunningham
[
Rosemary, if you can pick up a copy of Writer's Digest Yearbook 2008, check out the article on press kits, starting on page 66. Good basic info on how to put together info for bookstores.
That's a great suggestion. Thanks.
Neat thing about the Web is how fast people can get back to you. CRYPT OF THE MOANING DIAMOND stills seems like a "baby" to me as it just start shipping at the end of the November. But I'm already getting notes from people who finished the book ... or found it in their local bookstore and turned it face out on the shelf or talked it up to the bookstore owner (bless family and friends for guerilla marketing!).
I hate to admit it but the last several times at my bookstore I have taken your book along with Stardeep, Neversfall and Erik's books and turned them face out one shelf up covering the spines of most ofthe eberron books
I know its a little naughty, but they have taken a small shelf from FR books to fit in a few eberron books and cut back on the number of FR books. When I asked a manager how the eb books sold, he told me not well so that made me feel a bit better. |
A little nonsense now and then, relished by the wisest men - Willy Wonka
"We need men who can dream of things that never were." -
John F. Kennedy, speech in Dublin, Ireland, June 28, 1963
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Alaundo
Head Moderator
United Kingdom
5696 Posts |
Posted - 06 Jan 2008 : 20:52:47
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quote:
Originally posted by The Red Walker
I hate to admit it but the last several times at my bookstore I have taken your book along with Stardeep, Neversfall and Erik's books and turned them face out one shelf up covering the spines of most ofthe eberron books
I know its a little naughty, but they have taken a small shelf from FR books to fit in a few eberron books and cut back on the number of FR books. When I asked a manager how the eb books sold, he told me not well so that made me feel a bit better.
 Oh I wouldn't worry yourself about it, Red Walker. All is forgiven 
Keep up the good work  |
Alaundo
Candlekeep Forums Head Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
An Introduction to Candlekeep - by Ed Greenwood
The Candlekeep Compendium - Tomes of Realmslore penned by Scribes of Candlekeep
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Renzokuken
Acolyte
USA
38 Posts |
Posted - 06 Jan 2008 : 20:55:50
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quote:
Originally posted by Rosemary Jones
quote:
Originally posted by ElaineCunningham
[
Rosemary, if you can pick up a copy of Writer's Digest Yearbook 2008, check out the article on press kits, starting on page 66. Good basic info on how to put together info for bookstores.
That's a great suggestion. Thanks.
Neat thing about the Web is how fast people can get back to you. CRYPT OF THE MOANING DIAMOND stills seems like a "baby" to me as it just start shipping at the end of the November. But I'm already getting notes from people who finished the book ... or found it in their local bookstore and turned it face out on the shelf or talked it up to the bookstore owner (bless family and friends for guerilla marketing!).
Haha, "guerilla marketing" is a great term and I am sure it is something most of us here are guilty of. One thing that would drive me insane as a budding, new author is not knowing just how well my novel was selling in relation to other WotC books. I am pretty sure they do not divulge you guys of any sales figures, correct?
Also, Red Walker, not to be too blunt but placing a FR book over an Eberron book is quite counter-productive since they both come from the same publisher. It saddens me that the bookstore manager told you that the Eberron novels were not selling too well considering they are some of the best novels WotC are putting out these days. The young authors under the Eberron line are just as talented as those under the FR line. Perhaps the manager meant neither lines were selling too well?
But to get back on topic, it is indeed unseful to read online reviews of WotC novels, especially amazon. I really do need to review more considering the amount I read each year. |
Currently reading: Dark Elf Trilogy (FR) |
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Rosemary Jones
Forgotten Realms Author
USA
148 Posts |
Posted - 24 Jan 2008 : 07:27:46
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Bless anyone and everyone who tells a bookstore employee "this is a great book" or a "great author" or a "great series." Having spent some time on that side of the trade, I can tell you that it does help spread the word. As do posting reviews or discussing books in places like this forum.
I should add that even as I'm turning Jaleigh's Dungeon title face out or Eric's, I don't cover someone else's book. Because there is a reader out there who wants to find that title too and a writer's mother who wants to see that cover as well.
But to get back to posting reviews, I love seeing the readers' reactions. It's so nice to know somebody cared enough to leave a little feedback. |
Rosemary Jones
www.rosemaryjones.com |
Edited by - Rosemary Jones on 24 Jan 2008 07:30:07 |
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The Red Walker
Great Reader
USA
3567 Posts |
Posted - 24 Jan 2008 : 20:38:55
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quote:
Originally posted by Rosemary Jones
Bless anyone and everyone who tells a bookstore employee "this is a great book" or a "great author" or a "great series." Having spent some time on that side of the trade, I can tell you that it does help spread the word. As do posting reviews or discussing books in places like this forum.
I should add that even as I'm turning Jaleigh's Dungeon title face out or Eric's, I don't cover someone else's book. Because there is a reader out there who wants to find that title too and a writer's mother who wants to see that cover as well.
But to get back to posting reviews, I love seeing the readers' reactions. It's so nice to know somebody cared enough to leave a little feedback.
I don't want to make it seem as if I hid all other books, I only covered a few of the spines, never blocking all of a particular book |
A little nonsense now and then, relished by the wisest men - Willy Wonka
"We need men who can dream of things that never were." -
John F. Kennedy, speech in Dublin, Ireland, June 28, 1963
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Plea to all scribes...Review books online!!
