Yesterday I Saw A Unicorn.

Being an independent author in the Information Age isn't easy. Authors want readers to discover and read their books. However, there are MILLIONS of books available by tens of thousands of authors across the English-speaking world. Getting your book noticed is beyond difficult, especially if your books are different. Even if someone notices your novel, not everyone is a fan of the genre you write in. Even traditionally published authors, to include those by major publishers, find it a challenge to get their books noticed, let alone read. I could go on. Yesterday, an extraordinarily rare event happened to me, something akin to seeing a unicorn. 

BLACK SEA GODS  got noticed, purchased, read and reviewed by a complete stranger on the other side of the planet. Not just reviewed, but reviewed in a completely unique way that rarely, if ever happens to an indie author. 

Out of the blue, I got tagged on X by a book reviewer from the UK informing me he had reviewed my novel BLACK SEA GODS. He not only reviewed it, he used it to debut his new book review channel on Youtube, "Writing Stick Man, Let's Read an Indie." On this channel, he reviews and interprets an independently-published novel with stick man art. It's funny, and it's unique approach to book reviews.  

First, the review was highly positive. Yes, he had a few negative critiques, but the overall verdict was still overwhelmingly positive. Second, it was really weird (and funny) to see his "stick man" interpretations of scenes and characters. Those interpretations are obviously meant to be a creative angle to set his channel apart and get noticed. The crazy thing is it provided wonderful feedback on how my literary imagery was interpreted by the reader. I've never had that happen before! What was great was when he drew his stick figures of the main characters (with no labels) and I knew who they were. To me, as a writer, that was extremely validating!

It was an honor to be this channel's first book review. I really wish this guy all the luck in the world with his channel, and also with his own writing career.