Waiting is over

Waiting is over, but the review is not what I had hoped, but it's not a negative review, either. So, where does that leave me?

If the review had been really positive, I had planned to find an agent with it, but it's not. At least I  don't think it's strong enough to land an agent. So, I must go on with my Plan B. 

Here are some of the excerpts from the review that I might use to market Five Stones (a Korean-American tale inspired by Pride and Prejudice). 

"The setting plausibly retains the values of Austen-ian England." - Kirkus Reviews

"The competent...prose has some good ideas." - Kirkus Reviews

"Kim cleverly adapts characters and situations." - Kirkus Reviews

"A Korean-American setting helps this reboot." - Kirkus Reviews

"Updating the story among an upwardly striving immigrant community makes good sense: The setting plausibly retains the values of Austen-ian England (marriage, conformity, material success, loyalty to family, good manners) within the larger context of American individualism." - Kirkus Reviews

If you want to read the whole review, please go on to Kirkus Reviews and you should be able to search for it by the book title (it's not "published" right now because the reviewer made some mistakes and the assistant editor is trying to correct the mistakes. I'll talk more about this later). 


Now, on to more important matters....

The PROS: 

1. I've always been insecure about my writing (English is my second language and I majored in Mechanical Engineering in college), and Kirkus Reviews assured me that I was a "competent" writer. 

Actually the whole excerpt is..."The competent, workmanlike prose has some good ideas...," and I'm sure "workmanlike" wasn't meant to be a compliment, but it still makes me happy to think about the "competent" part. I'll just have to work on the "workmanlike" part even though I want to dismiss it was a subjective. But I know this much. If I want to accept "competent" and be happy about it, I have to accept "workmanlike" and work on that.

2. I think I did get some good excerpts from the review, and I'm grateful for them. But Kirkus Reviews' policy is that if you're using part of their review as excerpts to promote your book, you have to make the review available on their website (which I think is fair).

3. The reviewer referred to my previous book, Waiting for Appa, in the review, and I guess that's increasing its visibility. But since the review wasn't overtly positive, I'm not sure if it's going to be all that helpful.

The CONS:

1. The reviewer referred to my previous book, Waiting for Appa vs Waiting for Apa, but he/she misspelled it. So, I've asked the assistant editor to correct the mistake, but I have yet to hear back from him. I'm not sure what to think of this mistake. 

2. The reviewer referred to Cal Berkeley correctly once, then referred it as Cal Tech the second time. So, I've asked the assistant editor to correct the mistake, but I have yet to hear back from him. Again, I'm not sure what to think of this mistake. 

I don't know how much reviewers get paid, but they do get paid, and it's disappointing that the details that the reviewers chose to point out weren't correctly spelled or referred.

3. When I signed up for the Kirkus Reviews Indie program, I had a choice of sending a digital copy or a hard copy. I sent two hard copies (at the cost of $17.25). I wasn't required to send a digital copy, but a digital copy was requested and it took me a while to send it (my computer went through a meltdown stage, then recovered). I feel as if I could have been penalized for this delay, because due to the lack of digital ease in searching, I feel that my reviewer limited himself/herself to first several chapters and didn't venture beyond them to quote widely from the book.

So, you writers out there, choose your words carefully, and if and when you decide to get your book/manuscript reviewed by Kirkus Reviews, send it digitally.

I'm still thinking about what to do next. I've been reading some e-book success stories, and I think I need to research a little longer to decide what to do.

Good luck and keep on writing!

Kirkus Review Indie

I don't know if I need to explain about Kirkus Review Indie, but here it goes. I first came across the information in an article about Darcie Chan's success on Amazon. I think she sold 140,000 copies of her book online, and she attributed a lot of that success on Kirkus Review Indie.

What Kirkus Review does is... it will review your book for a fee ($425 or higher for faster return). The author will get 250 - 350 word review on the book. It doesn't promise anything, except that it will be reviewed by one of their qualified reviewers.

"Our reviewers include librarians, business executives, journalists from national publications, PhDs in religion and literature, creative executives in entertainment and publishing industries as well as other professional reviewers."     - Kirkus Review

This service doesn't guarantee a good review, just an objective review.

I guess that's the beauty and the strength of Kirkus Review Indie. That it doesn't guarantee a good review, but an objective review. So..., what am I going to do with it? I've done a little bit of research, and people have used it in two different ways basically, if the review were positive.

1. Use it to find an agent. Some authors have used it to find an agent in two months!
2. Use it to market the book on Amazon.com via Author Central, as well as book lover sites, such as Goodreads.com, etc.

Obviously, getting a good review would be a start. So, here I am, crossing my fingers for a good review.

Wish me luck!

Five Stones, An introduction

As a lover of Jane Austen’s books, especially Pride and Prejudice, I’ve been amused and inspired by the cultural similarities between Jane Austen’s England and modern-day Korea. This led me to write a Korean-American version of Pride and Prejudice titled Five Stones, and it is approximately 130,000 words in length.

Five Stones would fit the category of chick-lit or women’s fiction. My reader would also enjoy reading Bridget Jones Diary and any other modern take on Austen’s timeless tales of love and marriage.

It is a truth, universally known, that a Korean mother in possession of five unmarried daughters must be in desperate need of eligible single men. Mrs. Youngae Kim has nothing to worry about except for her five daughters – Mihae, the beautiful one, Jihae, the supposed smartest one, Soonhae, the oddly pious one, Kihae, the boring smart one, and Marhae, the vivacious one – whom all failed to procure a husband. However full and blessed her life may be, Mrs. Kim fixes her mind on that one sore subject and spends her days on an emotional seesaw between rapturously hopeful and miserably despondent.

Over the course of many months, the two elder Kim sisters, Mihae and Jihae, struggle and then triumph over their mother’s plans for their future, the misunderstandings with the men they love, and the other people’s machinations to find love and happiness.


I've been working on this book for a couple of years, even though I wrote the 1st draft in about three months. I'm usually a confident person, but when it comes to writing, I become very insecure. I've edited this manuscript several times and spent more time fussing and nit-picking at it. Then finally, I bit the bullet last week (Friday) and sent it in to get it reviewed by Kirkus Review Indie. I'm crossing my fingers and toes for a positive review, but good or bad, I'm eagerly waiting to hear back. I feel like this is an opportunity for me to get an objective review of my work.

I know I won't get the review until July sometime (8 weeks lead time for $425 package), but I'm already waiting for it. I hope I can remain calm.