Responding to Reviews 1

I wanted to try something out! I don’t get very many reviews on my books, but I like to read them to see how I can improve and what things people really enjoyed about the books.

I’ll try to do as many as I can if there’s maybe something to comment on, so you might see your review!

Note: this isn’t to call out reviewers or chastise anyone. This is simply for learning and constructive criticism for myself.

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The Review:

Kind of Silly But Still Interesting
I get the impression the author just threw everything at the wall and saw what stuck. Vampires, zombies, AND werewolves all in one book. A little too much, if you ask me. It's like having beef, pork, and duck in the same bowl. But I will give credit where credit is due: It's written well enough, and some of the ideas presented are interesting.

My thoughts:

With this three star rating on Amazon’s Italian site, it sounds like they at least kind of enjoyed When Dead Men Bleed.

Taking a step back, I could see where WDMB could be a lot to process at first. You get a rundown of there being an apocalypse and a war in the past, so that could be too much information to chew to some people.

I’ve also recently learned there’s a whole gaggle of people who don’t like when scifi (zombies) and fantasy (everything else) mix, and are really passionate about it. That being said, I absolutely love it, mixing the two together for infinite possibilities.

My books tend to have a bit of everything and normally don’t follow plot lines we’re used to seeing. I try do do what I can to make my books different, and ultimately, I think I’ve done that with WDMB. I love this book and I am so excited for what’s to come. Maybe beef, pork, and duck aren’t for one person, but I’ve met quite a few people who absolutely love this book.

My Takeaway:

When approaching big worlds with a lot of creatures, maybe I should make the introduction more bite-sized for my readers. Just jumping in might be too much, even if I really enjoy that approach myself. There has to be a middle ground, and I have to remember the reader isn’t in my head—it’s my job to describe what I see well enough so the reader isn’t run off. It isn’t their job to guess.