A Failed Treasure Hunt is a Lesson Learned

Some of you remember my excited tweet from a few days ago:

Sadly, the answer was a resounding...

No.

I struggled to read this ebook whose length rivaled that of War and Peace, but after a little over four hundred pages, I knew I had to stop. Actually, I knew I had to stop after I was a little under two hundred pages into it, but I refused to admit it.

This blog is about giving undiscovered indie authors the attention they deserve, right? I'm far from perfect. Who am I to say what's good and what's not?

But then I remembered one sentence from my How I Review tab:

 "You will never see anything on this blog that I would rate with only one or two stars."

This work clearly fell into that category, and this was upsetting. I felt that my time had been wasted. I could have been reading something else. Something better. This was not a work I felt could be posted for others.

But!

I was wrong. No time spent reading is ever wasted. I may have disliked this ebook. I may have wanted to throw my Nook across the room a few times as I struggled to get through this work.

But my time was most definitely not wasted.

Rather, this is a good time to point out a bit of advice we've all heard plenty of times before: Write what you know.

Obviously, if we're writing a paranormal or fantasy novel, we won't have real-world experience with wizards, magical creatures, or the machinations of the gods. We have no vampiric friends, and we've never cast a spell that went horribly wrong. But we do need to understand our characters.

We need to give each of them a purpose, a unique personality, and a goal.

Without this, they become two dimensional and bland. If we don't love them, nobody else will, either. If all we do is pretend to understand our characters, our readers will know it.

Don't pretend. 

People are capable of liking some rather nasty characters. Don't be afraid to create a despicable protagonist. Just be sure that if you do, you know how that character thinks, why that character thinks the way she does, and what caused her to become the person she is today.

Make her real.

And on a more optimistic note...

Any ebook I find that doesn't make it to this page gets deleted from my library out of hope that the next time I find it changes will have been made, and I'll be able to give it another chance. We all make mistakes, and we all deserve a second chance. These are our babies, after all.

A deletion from my library today could be a Treasured Tome tomorrow.

New Contact Form: Discovering the Undiscovered

Look over to your right.

No, not that far right... I mean the right side of your screen. 

See it?

Undiscovered Tomes has a contact form, now!

Do you have an ebook that you'd like reviewed? It's easier to get ahold of me, now. Just fill out the information requested under "Contact me!"

Send me:

• Your title, 
• The name you're writing under
• Genre
• A brief explanation of your work (the blurb you're using would be great)
• And the best way for me to get into contact with you.

If I like what I see, I'll get in contact with you and request a copy of your work. Be sure that your ebook meets the basic guidelines, so a review can be posted for everyone to see.

Will your ebook be the next Treasured Tome?

Coming Soon! Undiscovered Tomes: An eBook Review Blog

That's right! I've decided that indie authors need a break. Marketing is tough, and reviews are important. Unfortunately, a lot of us can't market our way out of a paper bag (<--- see that cliche, there? That's a big no-no. Don't do that in your book. Ever. Except when it makes sense to break the rules because the rules don't make sense. And don't put this much in between parentheses, either.) and have no idea how to generate reviews.

Now go back and read that last sentence without reading everything in between the parentheses, because you've probably just figured out that you have no idea what the point of that last sentence even was.

Told you so!

The simple fact, though, is that some great books are out there just waiting to be read, and I'm on a mission to find them, review them, and give those authors some well deserved attention. These novels and short stories are their babies, their pride and joy, born of blood, sweat, and tears.

Who am I reviewing? Think magic.

In general, I'm looking at the genre of fantasy in its many forms, either Young Adult or General Adult. But I did just say, "Think magic," so I should point out that holiday stories are great, as well... as long as they have fantasy elements within them.

I'm starting with freebies, but I'll branch out to others in the future. Specifically, I'm searching for ebooks that have one review or less on Kindle or Nook. I'm looking for treasure, and I know I'll find it.

Will that treasure end up being your book?