A Wee Bit Behind & Discovering Kirkus Discoveries (Am I the Only One Who Didn't Know About This?)

Progress Meter Courtesy of Writertopia

Forging ahead with NaNoWriMo, I only have 26,315 words as of 8:45 this Sunday morning, when I should have 30,000-plus. However, I must congratulate myself on those having broken through the 26,000 mark, period. When I first started to type this morning, I hadn't yet done that.

I truly enjoyed a New York Times story today on the most book-loving area in our nation, a place that I, as a writer, am ashamed to say I'd never heard of, the Valley of the Literate. Incredible, huh?

All of which prompted more thoughts about how to get my books into stores. I'd already decided to launch a modest (translate that to small) email campaign to independent bookstores, but I hadn't planned on visiting any in person. I've changed my mind. After all, the book does have a Christmas hook and now's the time when bookstores are looking for books with a theme. I'll visit the bookstores in Harlem first, the ones I know about. Then I'll visit Barnes & Noble. I have to admit that I expect to be shot down by them, but I'll give it a try, anyway.

Because of my renewed interest in bookstores, I checked out Kirkus Reviews. Now, to tell you the truth, I've never bought a book because of what Kirkus or Publisher's Weekly had to say about it. However, I wonder if librarians and booksellers might. Kirkus had found a way to circumvent their rule about publishing only certain kinds of books -- i.e., books that are in the pre-publishing phase and backed by traditional powerhouses. How did they circumvent that rule? Easily. They simply created a new division that does everything the old division didn't. It's called Kirkus Discoveries. Now, the for (not-so-measily) fee of $400, yours truly could buy herself a Kirkus review. That's not to say that I could buy what the reviewer says -- but I could buy an honest-to-goodness review. Wow! This way, Kirkus is finally indirectly acknowledging what a lot of others have whispered about: There's a lot of money to be made by servicing self-published authors and authors of books out of print who want to reinvigorate them. More importantly, for the price you don't just get a review, but get to be included in the Kirkus newsletter, which is circulated to librarians, agents, publishers and filmmakers who are searching it for the latest undiscovered thing. If a publisher or filmmaker approaches you because of what they read in Kirkus and after reading your humble prose, makes a healthy five- or even six-figure offer, then that $400 is a good investment. If not, well then, you at least have a bona fide "objective" assessment of your book that you can post on your website, feed to Amazon and include in your press kit.

I'm still thinking about it. It sort of feels weird to pay for a review. Who would believe that it isn't tainted?

Here's an article on this very issue. It's from 2004. (Yeah, I'm sort of behind on the times, as well as NaNo.)And here's another one.

I've got to go wash my hair now. See ya!