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.

Things to Remember

I have to remember that this is not a blog about Waiting for Appa, but blog about my efforts to get more of my books published and sharing what I've learned with others.


I haven't blogged for a while, but I'll fill in the time gap briefly. I've been writing several books in the last two years, but I have one that's really promising based Pride and Prejudice. Right now, I'm waiting for one of my readers to finish reading some changes. I never thought it'd be so hard to find a Jane Austen lover around me. I never thought I'd be happy to find one!

I'm also writing the missing high school chapters for Waiting for Appa. I do have sales of that book, once in a while, and most of the feedback is positive, along with I wish it was a little longer. So, I'm filling in the missing high school years.

Why were those years missing in the first place? First of all, I had planned to write a coming-of-age book and I thought I'd cover most of the high school years then. Second, even though I had good friends and I did well in school, high school years weren't the years I wanted to relive. I often felt misunderstood and ostracized. Whether that was the reality or the trick of memory, I'm not sure, but it is what it is. But after having received input from various people, I've decided to fill in the gap and provide a more complete picture of what could have been Eunhae's more formative years.

I'm once again filled with hope, and I pray that I'll hear some good news beginning of next year from the agents I'm planning to query, but I do have plan B. Darcie Chan (you can Google her and read about her stunning success) is an inspiration to me, and I'll be knocking on Kirkus Review's doors if things fall through with the agents. Either way, I'm far from giving up on this maddening business.

A possibility

Just a quick note. I found this website when I was searching for Christian outlets. It seems like it has a lot of possibilities. You might want to check it out if you're a Christian writer.

http://www.christianmanuscriptsubmissions.com/

I'm not quite sure my books are a good fit for this one or Christian market in general because they are not overtly Christian. I myself do not see them as "Christian" books, but books with Christianity mentioned in them as an integral part of the story. In Kwangsook's case, it's part of Korean history, so if I'm going to write about that period, it's going to have to be a part of it.

So, I'm still searching, but I'm now thinking I might go through a last, before it gets published kind of editing/cleaning of the manuscript and send it straight to Kindle. People who have read it tell me that it's quite a compelling story which they haven't been exposed to before. I guess I have options, but it's still difficult to give up on your dream of going through the traditional route.

Happy writing to you all.

A New Direction

Sorry about the long absence. It's very hard to be motivated and keeping at something when nothing seems to work. But the thing is...if I give up, here and now, then I'm beaten. There is no hope. But I always believe there is hope, always. The glass is always half full. So, here I am, after licking my wounds and taking time off, I'm back with a new plan.

I'm a Christian. Sometimes irreverent. Sometimes heretical in my thinking. Always questioning and seeking. But I do believe in God and that God is love. I didn't pursue the Christian agents/publisher route 1) because my books aren't overtly Christian and 2)I wasn't sure I wanted to be known as a "Christian" writer (whatever that might mean...). I now realize that I'm penalizing myself by not looking into that option for both of my books.

One of the reviewers of my book on Goodreads.com complained about my "Hallmark" ending for Waiting for Appa. I like "Hallmark" endings and I like the ending on Waiting for Appa. I hope a new segment of publishing industry might be willing to look at my work more favorably.

Update on the second book which I'll call by the main character's name from this point on - Kwangsook (means Virtuous Light in Korean). Two agents have read more substantial amount of the manuscript and both have rejected it for several reasons, but the frustrating thing is that both have told me that I'm a good storyteller. I don't know if I need to go back and rework the manuscript or keep trying to find someone who will like it the way it is.

My husband, that wonderful man, says I'm too hard on myself. I'm a busy mom with two young kids who has her hands full all the time. I'm going to take his advice and just try to enjoy my life as it is, agonizing wait time for agents/publishing opportunity and all.

A New Hope

I can be very stubborn and tenacious, if I want to be, but I also give up easily if and when I decide that it's not worth the effort. Well, once I decided, last summer, that I was going back to work (which hasn't quite worked out, yet because I don't want to travel too much), I gave up trying to schedule book talks/book signings, etc. What I should have done was to look more into other options. I didn't look into Kindle because iUniverse had offered my book in ebook format, but it's not offered on any other websites besides iUniverse.

iUniverse, which published my book in paperback, also offers the ebook option on their website. So, I didn't think much about the ebook option until yesterday when my brother forwarded me a link to an article about an author, Amanda Hocking, who had found success on Amazon/Barnes and Noble selling her ebooks. I think she sold 100,000 ebooks a month! She does sell these books for $0.99 to $2.99 per ebook (their lengths suggest that they may be shorter stories). When you can keep 70% of that, that's a lot of money. I only get $0.75/book for royalties and my book sells for $14.95/book, supposedly.

iUniverse has not lock me into anything. I have all my publishing rights. So, I'm currently working on Waiting for Appa so that I may publish it for Kindle and Nook readers. You may want to consider this option also.

Because I already had a book on Amazon and I was already on www.authorcentral.com, it was really easy for me to take a look at what I need for Kindle publication. I don't know what a new author without a published book needs to do, but it can't be that difficult (because Amazon wants to make money). So, take a look. I'm going to take a chance. What do I have to lose?

REVIEWS:

No one likes reading negative reviews (less than 3 star rating, I guess), but I have to admit that those negative reviews provide a wealth of information on what I can do better next time (unless of course, it just says you suck). Now that I have an opportunity to work on the Kindle version of Waiting for Appa, I'm actually in the process of writing some additional material. So, please, don't feel bad about writing negative reviews. I'm always ready and willing to take my reader's advice to make my book better anytime.

Ebook publishing note - Amanda Hocking signed a four-book, $2 million plus deal with St. Martin's Press. This is something to inspire me and aspire to.

Good luck everyone!

Lessons Learned: Making sense of rejections

I used to work at a high tech firm in the Silicon Valley. I had 8 direct reports and some of my direct reports had direct reports. The thing about hiring people is that black and white qualifications might get you in the door, but it doesn't get you hired. I used to get a stack of resumes and I had less than a minute to spend on each of them. At this point, I'm looking for the qualifications on paper. But after an interview, I'm looking for that spark, that chemistry, that indefinable quality I can't put down on paper to justify why I'm hiring this person over another person who was just as qualified. It's the gut feeling that tells me that this person will make a good team member.

I recently received a rejection letter from an agent who wrote that she didn't feel the spark, the indefinable quality with my manuscript. I wrote back, asking if there was anything I could do differently to improve my synopsis (which I absolutely hate writing) or my manuscript. She replied that there wasn't. If she thinks of something later, she said she would let me know.

Of course, I was frustrated. I wish she had told me my grammar sucked or plot was weak or something. Something concrete that I could work on. But there was nothing. Nothing for me to work on to make myself feel I'm actually doing something constructive to better my chances next time.

Well, after a day of fussing over it, it finally occurred to me that I know exactly what this agent is talking about. She's not being difficult or vague. She just didn't feel the Chemistry. So, since that revelation, I've redoubled my efforts to send out more query letter to different agents who might see a spark or feel some chemistry with my book.