kvrdave

You BASTARD!!!! This book is amazing. I got it home a few days ago and posted about it some here http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=403879

And last night I decided to read it. It's a little long for young children (ages 3 and 5) so I read it to myself. This will definately be one we put in the special "Christmas" box, which contains books like The Polar Express, and other books that we only bring out for Christmas so that the stories are looked forward to and remain "special".

Okay, back to you being a bastard. I had tears in my eyes by page 10. My wife was busy doing other stuff and my kids were playing, so I just decided to keep reading and hope that nobody saw me. Halfway through the book I had tears dropping on a regular basis. There were a few nitpicky things I had thought in the first few pages that I would remember to tell you about, but by this time I couldn't even remember what they were. Incredible warmth. That is what I kept thinking as I read this. You gave them incredible warmth. I'm a sucker for kids, and as a result, most of this story just absolutely broke my heart. You wrote in a way that made me connect with Kloss even though I have children of my own, but could imagine what it would be like if I had never had them. By the end of the book I couldn't even talk out loud to my wife or kids because my voice was too shaky.

That's why you are a bastard. You made me cry, and I loved every minute of it. I would rank it right up with Max Lucado's stories about Wemmicks (if you are familiar with those), and it is better than most of his. I can see that the problem I will probably have is that I don't know if I will ever be able to read this to my kids because I will probably start crying. I don't have a problem crying in front of my kids, and several stories have made me do that, and over time I have gotten over it (to a degree), but I know this will only come out during Christmas, so I doubt I will ever get "used" to the emotions it stirs.

You bastard!!!

The illustrations were also fantastic. Kloss actually looks a lot like you. I found that interesting, and also made the illustrations more fun to "study" rather than jus glance at. Kudos to the illustrator. I also loved the illustrators line in the back about thanking his daughter for teaching him that nothing is real unless you can bite it (paraphrased). It was a good laugh after a good cry.

Anyway, congratulations, and you are a bastard. Fantastic book. I hope you write many more, and I will promise to get them.

And now seeing my review style, you probably now know why Geoff hasn't hired me on.

Seeker

Wow - great review - even if I am a bastard.

And I didn't have to shoot a dog in the story to make you cry (wait - that would have made you laugh?)

Care to write an Amazon review for the book? (you can leave out the bastard parts)

Thanks for the update.

Dan

Seeker

This was copied from the previous thread, so to go with Benedict's request - if you want to do anything about buying/selling/autographing/sending "The Blacksmith's Gift", email me at [email protected] - rather than deal with it here, as it doesn't really belong here.

Let's keep these threads talking about the book itself, or the selling technique, or the theory, or how to write, or something like that - I'd think those topics would be more appropriate.

Now, back to the question - well, sales aren't stellar, of course, the book is certainly no Harry Potter, or Lemony Snicket, or Stephen King... or even Polar Express.

On the other hand, we do have a national distributor, we are at Ingram, and we hope to be in the "regular" bookstores for next Christmas (since this is a seasonal story in a certain sense.) We hope 2005 is more successful than 2004.

And in a sense, that's what it is all about - awareness. As a small press, we don't have the awareness or the same type of funds it takes to build awareness. We were "too late" for this Christmas, only getting into Ingram on Nov 15.

Now, all that said, we feel pretty good - almost our entire first print is "in the channel" - i.e. we have very few books in the basement. Now, that doesn't mean they're all sold - but they are at Amazon, or Ingram, or our distributor. One disturbing fact of course, in this case, is again the seasonality of the book - it won't be until May or June that we get orders for "next Christmas".

As for ACTUAL SALES - about half our first print was sold from August - December 2004. That felt pretty good considering we were NOT in regular bookstores this year.

This is our third book - two written by myself or my wife - the first book didn't have seasonality, but it did have "niche" - it is a book on infertility. So both books have "issues" that keep it from being a best seller.

Overall, though, getting these books into print and available is the fulfillment of a dream. We DID have publishers express some interest (although we never got a "yes, let's go...) but I think our own reluctance to turn over control was a factor in not getting that 'let's go' bit. (For example, I would not have been able to pick my illustrator, and I love what Matthew did.)

So, we probably would have been MORE successful had we gone the "standard publisher" route - but not in our own minds and hearts.

Is that a good enough answer?

Dan

kvrdave

I will post the Amazon review for you. Truly great. Thanks again.

Seeker

Wonderful review. Thank you very much!

Seeker

kvrdave,

As you might expect, sales are in the toilet right now given the story has a christmas theme, but i am amazed at how many people have said they liked your review!

i wonder if leaving "bastard" in would have made it better or worse?

Thanks again.

kvrdave

Wow, 6 out of 6. Wild. I heard somewhere (you?) that this is actually part of a trilogy. Sounds very cool. I have already figured I would buy several next year as gifts and get you to personalize them. That would be a cool gift.

Jules Winfield

I remember reading the story when you submitted it for DVDTalk Survivor and I loved it then as much as I love it now. I was looking in here a couple of months ago and saw that you had published the book and I ordered it right away. I was just telling my girlfriend about your story about a week before I found out it was published. Aint that funny? Although I'm not as big a sissy as kvrdave, it still tugged at the heart strings. I hope it's the number one book next Christmas season so then I can tell people I read it way before it was popular and I can be cool and hip and shit. I wish the book great success. It really deserves it.

Seeker

Thanks, Jules.

Also, kvrdave - yes, there will be two more books in the series, for a total of 3.

kvrdave

Just checked your math

FantasticVSDoom

Well, when I get home today I am ordering the book based on the few reviews here...And the fact that Im supporting a fellow dvdtalker, and an aspiring writer myself , makes it that much better.

Seeker

Thanks for checking it out. Did you like the story?

And as an aspiring writer - what do you write?

FantasticVSDoom - still curious!!!