Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Third Review

This is the most important one before publication. It’s in a magazine called Publisher’s Weekly. The other day, on another site, people were saying things like they’d never read a book that had a quote from PW and other negative stuff about the magazine. I don’t know if they were joking or not, but I hope they were because a good review from PW is used by librarians, bookstores, and very often gone over by the movie people.

I got a starred review. This makes it special. It was one of the best reviews I’ve ever gotten, if not the best. It’s made me very happy. It’s made my agent very happy. And it’s made my publisher ecstatic. This is good.

When I saw the fax I couldn’t believe it. I walked around the house. Then I ate a piece of candy. It was hard to go back to work but I did.

So waiting for the pre pub stuff is over. And I nailed two out of three. Not bad.

The Booklist review for This Dame For Hire is posted at Amazon. I imagine the PW one will be there eventually. Feast your eyes.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Congratulations! And, if I got a starred review from PW, I'd be eating more than one piece of candy. Hope you do something special to celebrate!

Sandra Scoppettone said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Sandra Scoppettone said...

Thank you Bill and Nobody. I appreciate your congratulations. The thing is I don't have time to celebrate because I'm rewriting the sequel (better known as the 2nd in the series.) All my time and energy has to go to that right now. But, yipppeeee!

Bybee said...

That's so great about your starred review. I didn't know you wrote crime fiction. I read one of your young adult novels a while back "Trying Hard To Hear You" and I liked it so much and remember it so vividly.
Very cool that you wrote with Louise Fitzhugh. "Harriet The Spy" was THE novel of my childhood. The movie was such a terrible disappointment to me.

Olen Steinhauer said...

Congrats, Sandra! These prepubs are always a nail-biting experience because they're the first "objective" reactions you run into, and there's the feeling/fear that they will set the tone for the rest of the reviews--the ones the general public reads.

This time around my PW review wasn't so hot, nor my Kirkus--to them, the book just didn't work. Depression set in. Then, suddenly Library Journal and Booklist gave me rave starred reviews! What th'? So if this sets the tone, then I'm in for an emotional roller-coaster ride when the "real" ones come out.

Kudos to you on both the PW and the Booklist!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations! Looking forward to holding the real thing in my sweaty little hands!
Susan

Sandra Scoppettone said...

Thank you, Susan. I have no way to respond less publicaly because I don't have an email address and don't know which Susan this is.

I really wish people wouldn't be nobodies and anonymous. I so appreciate the comments that I'd like to respond personally.

Sandra Scoppettone said...

Olen,
I was sure I had your email address but I can't find it if I ever had it.

Thanks for your congrats. I had a lousy Kirkus also but no one really cares about Kirkus. One expects a bad review from them.

I don't think the trade reviews set the tone for the other reveiws. But we're both in for an emotional rollercoaster. Everyone has something different to say, as you know. Even though the bad ones hurt, I try to remember that any review is better than no review and by the next day the paper is being recycled or wrapping fish. Hang in there.

Anonymous said...

I stumbled across an uncorrected proof of This Dame for Hire at my job and just finished reading it. I enjoyed it very much and am looking forward to getting the real thing. It's good to know that there will be another Faye Quick book next year. As a comic book fan, I loved the cameo by "Superman". Nicely handled.

David J. Montgomery said...

Hopefully some good newspaper reviews will start rolling in... perhaps in the Chicago Sun-Times?