I'm a Fixator

Book Reviews: I'm a Fixator

Some authors don't read reviews of their own books. Others fixate on them. I'm a Fixator. probably because I've only written a couple of novels. I like to read nice things about my books. Five star reviews make my day. 

But there is grade inflation on how many stars a book receives. Your friends and family will award five stars because they love you. Other readers may not (they may or may not love you, and they may or may not award your book with five stars). But I really think that getting some negative reviews makes your book more balanced when both good and bad are posted on a review site such as amazon. To compare this to the traditional school report card, getting a "B" or even a "C" (which actually is/was "average" back in the day) brings us down to the real world, where some readers like a particular book and some don't. When I think of the great writers (Steinbeck, Hemingway, Faulkner, etc.) and compare them to myself, I'd award them twenty out of five stars. Maybe more. 

I've seen websites where other authors offer to post five-star reviews on your books if you'll do the same for them. I suspect many of these books aren't actually read.They can read the back cover and pull up a few reviews or descriptions on amazon.com, and that's all they need to write a credible review.  

When we purchased a car, the salesman made a point of telling us we would receive a survey, and---there it was in his those puppydog eyes---the pain and fear of not getting top marks. Seems his friend had bought a car from him at the dealership and had raced through the post-sale survey, rating everything as "Good," with no knowledge of the harm he was causing the salesman, who explained to us that it had taken him two years to "pull his grades up" and overcome the "Goods" in his file. Who knew that Good was Bad?

Waiters and cruise ship stewards will ask you for "excellents" too. Their livelihood may be at stake. I nod my head and reassure them that they'll get top ratings from us. I've come to anticipate that embarrassing little speech and cut it short with a quick "Yes, you'll get all 'excellents' from us." So I became a player in that game, too.

You never know what to expect in a review. I have to wonder if Very Sensitive (and kind) Readers will give five stars to just about anything they read, while Insensitive Readers won't. I reviewed books for one nationally-known website for several years, but stopped when their instructions were modified: If you can't award four or five stars, please send this book back to us and we'll give it to another reviewer (presumably one who gives lots of fours and fives). Sometimes they'd sent me books that needed a lot of work and weren't ready for prime time, and I'd tell them I couldn't give it a fair review.  But now there's no room for that kind of interchange. They are now a four and five star review site. Perhaps business has flourished.

But now, in my case, we come to some of the Bigger Guys: Foreword Magazine and Kirkus Reviews. They shoot straight from the hip. In their reviews, there are some mentions of my strong points as a writer and negative comments that make me squirm. Well, I read both Squirmy Reviews and did a little wincing, too, because I think most of the criticisms were accurate and fair. Plotting has always been my weakness and a good reviewer will take note of that. 

These two sites offer you the option, after you've read your review via email, to allow them to post it on their web page or to not post it anywhere (the term on their web page is "kill it"). If you go for the "publish" option, the entire review appears on the company's website and may be posted (or excerpted) elsewhere.That means, of course, that you can quote one flattering sentence and put it on your amazon page. By excerpting and only publishing the best parts of the review, you can make it appear that the reviewer loved your book when they didn't. It seems we're all players here.

So, Gentle Readers, there you have it. 

p.s. I do like such terms as "nuanced," "strong character development," "imaginative tale" and "Jensen takes a light touch..." if you ever write about my book. 

Foreword Magazine's review

Gabriel's Daughters

Reviewed by Michelle Anne Schingler
August 26, 2016

Gabriel’s Daughters is a lovely and optimistic story about the uncrushable nature of women’s spirituality.

Janet Kay Jensen’s Gabriel’s Daughters is the imaginative tale of a young girl who breaks away from the expectations of her rigid religious community to live a life with more possibilities.

At sixteen, Zina knows that her artistic dreams will have to be put on hold soon so that she can marry Cyrus, a friend of her father’s. But Zina is resistant to the prescriptions of her polygamous Utah community and craves a future full of passion. Her ambivalence leaves her vulnerable to the sweet-talking of a handsome young Gentile teacher. At risk of communal exile, she flees into the wider world, where she must challenge all of her taught notions of right and wrong.

The narrative pits polygamist traditions against more welcoming Christian belief systems, from the emotive Protestant church where Zina first finds refuge to a more modern articulation of Mormonism than that she first knew. Zina is not the only woman from Gabriel’s Landing to question how she was raised; two sisters also resist the roles assigned to them. Moments devoted to their barrier-breaking are fascinating in the text, which openly celebrates women’s dreams without insisting that they must abandon all beliefs to pursue them.

But those optimistic explorations also lead to some less-than-believable moments in the story, which always seems designed to afford Zina a wealth of opportunities. Her fortunes are incredible: she finds work and shelter immediately, even as a pregnant, teenage runaway, and is able to complete school with ease. A friendly young man with an art-laden apartment shows up offering her a room, rent free, when she needs it; later she inherits millions from a woman whom she knew only briefly. Even her grand struggles dissipate quickly, including her resistance to the love of a kind man.

The lack of suspense is consistent, and sometimes at odds with the story itself, which takes many dramatic turns, including a brutal assault and a kidnapping. There is never much doubt that Zina and her family will prevail and that forgiveness is always at hand. Where the story concentrates on Zina as a vulnerable and growing young girl, it is a successfully sweet foray into women’s religious lives; where it strives for more incredible turns, it strains credulity, sometimes beyond reason.

Years pass quickly, and kind characters move in and out of the story with ease and gentle presence. Prose is both swift and self-consciously affecting. Characters are somewhat formulaic, particularly black and gay characters, who are subject to light, if nonhostile, caricaturing. The text works to celebrate differences, if it does not always do so with much depth.

Speeches around personal progress are preachy, but they also result in small, happy redemptions. Zina herself grows into a woman of presence, and other characters develop in a similar style, always emerging from their challenges as more well-rounded, and eternally hopeful, people. The result is a cast that is lovable and admirable, if not always believable. Happily-ever-afters are never much in doubt, but those who come to the tale for its spiritually cheerful core are likely to still find much about the conclusions in Gabriel’s Daughters to celebrate.

Gabriel’s Daughters is a lovely and optimistic story about the uncrushable nature of women’s spirituality.

Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The author of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have his/her book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Review make no guarantee that the author will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

Good news from Foreword Indiefab Contest

JULY 12, 2016
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: JOLLY FISH  PRESS
publicity@jollyfishpress.com

GABRIEL’S DAUGHTERS has been named a Foreword Reviews’ 2015 INDIEFAB Book of the Year Awards Silver winner.

PROVO, UTAH—Today, JOLLY FISH PRESS is pleased to announce GABRIEL’S DAUGHTERS has been recognized as a Silver winner in the 18th annual Foreword Reviews’ INDIEFAB Book of the Year Awards.

Narrowed down from nearly 2,000 entries by a panel of librarians and booksellers, along with Foreword Reviews’ editorial staff, the winners in 66 categories are considered the year’s best books published by independent publishers, university presses, and self-published authors. Foreword Reviews made the announcement in a live presentation at the American Library Association Annual Conference. A complete list of winners can be found at:

https://indiefab.forewordreviews.com/winners/2015/

“Foreword’s INDIEFAB judges are the key to our winners selection process, and, in our minds, the most foolproof way to choose award-winning books,” said Victoria Sutherland, publisher of Foreword Reviews. “We work with a librarian and bookseller in each category to provide us with an insider’s perspective on what would do well on consumer and library shelves. Using industry professionals confirms the trade quality of a book.”

Jolly Fish Press hails GABRIEL’S DAUGHTERS as “an impressive work of literary fiction that accurately explores the struggles of being raised in a polygamous community. Jensen’s novel explores the unique strengths and weaknesses of the relationship in a polygamous family.”

ABOUT THE PUBLISHER: We are Jolly Fish press, a publishing house based in Provo, Utah, which publishes trade fiction and select non-fiction books in the national and international market. We excel in exceptional cover design, worldwide online and brick-and-mortar distribution, expansive publicity and marketing campaigns, subsidiary rights representation, and most of all, our drive and ability to find exceptional, yet undiscovered authors, jumpstarting their careers with maximum exposure, sales, mentoring, and higher than industry average royalty rates."

About Foreword: Foreword Magazine, Inc is a media company featuring a Folio:-award-winning quarterly print magazine, Foreword Reviews, and a website devoted to independently published books. In the magazine, they feature reviews of the best 170 new titles from independent publishers, university presses, and noteworthy self-published authors. Their website features daily updates: reviews along with in-depth coverage and analysis of independent publishing from a team of more than 100 reviewers, journalists, and bloggers. The print magazine is available at most Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million newsstands or by subscription. You can also connect with them on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest.

They are headquartered in Traverse City, Michigan, USA.

Foreword Magazine