I am honored to be able to publish a guest post from one of my favorite authors of racy maritime tales -- Helen Hollick, whose boisterous lust for life and love of the sea sparkles through every word.
Her post is about her new, and particularly valuable, book review blog site. All authors, and not just Indies, are well advised to read on....
Thank you, Joan, for inviting me here to talk about my
historical fiction review blog, Discovering
Diamonds. For several years I was Managing Editor for Indie Reviews for an
historical association, but for various reasons I decided it was time I founded
my own online site. So Discovering
Diamonds was officially launched on 1st January 2016. Our
anniversary approaches!
Several reviewers who had worked with me also transferred to
#DDRevs (our Twitter hashtag) as they wholeheartedly supported what I wanted to
do – that is review, and therefore recommend, enjoyable-to-read well written,
historical fiction, regardless of whether the book was indie or traditionally
published. A good read is a good read – however it is produced. We also
felt that we wanted to support and encourage indie writers who often find it
difficult to get their novels noticed. Reliable reviews by reliable reviewers
can boost a writer a long way up that steep, daunting ladder.
We take great
pleasure in seeing new authors improve as they gain in experience and confidence.
Let me stress, however, that we are not a critique service, we do not give
feedback or advice. Not all novels submitted to us receive a review, we select
which books to read, and then which ones to review. For those we do not select,
it does not mean they were not very good, but maybe we felt the novel could do
with another edit, there were too many missed errors, anachronisms or too much
‘head-hopping’. And I do need to be
truthful, some novels are not well-written – this can include traditional mainstream novels
as well as indies! We only (usually!) publish positive reviews, although we do
include some constructive criticism
if we feel it necessary. There are quite a few boxes that need to be ticked
before we publish a review and award the author one of our Discovering Diamonds logos. The novel has to look professionally
produced: no left-hand margin text, no page after page of typo errors etc. Our
aim is to recommend novels that are, in our opinion, ‘value for money’.
It was a lot of hard work to get Discovering Diamonds started: the blog had to be created, and
suitable logos and graphics designed, for which I am grateful to Cathy Helms of
www.avaolongraphics.org. My team is
brilliant. They are dedicated reviewers and admin helpers Discovering Diamonds would not exist without them. With everything
in place, we needed submissions. I only
expected a few novels to trickle in, but they flooded in! By the end of that
first January I was already scheduling reviews to ‘go live’ an entire month
ahead. (We continue to schedule for between 4 – 6 weeks ahead of ourselves.)
We prefer e-versions as we have no funding to cover postage
or purchase costs (this is all voluntary!) Mobi or e-pub are best, but we will
accept paperback copies by arrangement. Plus, we only accept books that are
already published with an isbn and are available via Amazon (which is, alas,
the main point-of-sale outlet for authors.) Apart from that, we accept any sub-genre
of historical fiction. By ‘historical’ I mean anything that has 75% of the
story set pre-1950. This is because I was born in 1953 and I refuse to be
thought of as historic! At our
discretion we will review something history-based set in the 1960s. We might
even consider something contemporary if it has a very strong historical
connection – I am thinking specifically of time travel, or Alison Morton’s
wonderful Roma Nova series, which are
modern-day thrillers, but with the theme that the Ancient Roman administration
survived, which I think readers of Roman-Age novels will find fascinating. We
welcome romances, thrillers, young adult fiction – anything as long as it has that historical connection.
The emphasis, though, is on the word good. We are looking for quality books that are value for money to
buy, and are suitable for recommending by ‘word of mouth’, the best way for
authors to sell books.
To submit a novel either email me (address below) or fill in
the submission form on the blog’s sidebar. I will then send you detailed
instructions of what we want, where and how to submit your novel. We do not
accept gift vouchers – they are too complicated to use when other reviewers are
involved.
In addition to our reviews – we publish one review per
weekday – we often have interesting posts about writing or reading. At present
during December 2017 we are running a series entitled Diamond Tales, a variety
of short stories written by some delightful authors – do take a look! (This link here will take you to the first of the series.)
We give two awards each month, one for
Cover of the Month, one for Book of the Month. You’ll find details on Discovering Diamonds. We also give eye-catching
logos for authors to use as they wish; our aim is that these logos will, in
time, become instantly recognised by readers as a sign of recommended quality. With
fingers crossed and a lot of hard work to gain the respectability I am aiming
for, Discovering Diamonds will, I
hope, become one of the prime places for authors to receive a diamond-standard
review for their work of historical
fiction.
HELEN HOLLICK BIOGRAPHY
Helen Hollick moved from London in 2013 and now lives with
her family in North Devon, in an eighteenth century farmhouse surrounded by
thirteen acres of fields and woodland. A variety of pets include horses, Exmoor
ponies, dogs, cats, chickens, ducks, geese and a donkey.
First published over twenty years ago, her main passion is
her pirate character, Captain Jesamiah Acorne of the nautical adventure series,
The Sea Witch Voyages.
Helen became a USA Today Bestseller with her historical
novel, The Forever Queen (titled A Hollow Crown in the UK) – the story of
Saxon Queen, Emma of Normandy. Her novel Harold
the King (titled I Am The Chosen King
in the US) is a re-telling of the events that led to the 1066 Battle of
Hastings. While her Pendragon’s Banner
Trilogy, set in the fifth century, is widely acclaimed as a different
telling of the Arthurian Myth.
She has written three non-fiction books, Pirates; Truth and Tales and a book
about smugglers, to be published in 2018. As a supporter of indie writers,
co-wrote Discovering the Diamond with her editor, Jo Field, a short advice
guide for new and novice writers who are interested in self-publishing.
Helen is published in various languages including Turkish,
Italian and German.
LINKS
Twitter: @HelenHollick
Twitter hashtag: #DDRevs
3 comments:
I appreciate Helen Hollick's interest and efforts in promoting good books -- whether they be published traditionally or independently -- and I'm pleased that Rhode Island Rendezvous was deemed a diamond and recently reviewed.
Helen is a Force of Nature, whose zest, enthusiasm and generosity of spirit sets an example for all of us. It's a delight and an honour knowing her.
Indeed!!
Post a Comment