High expectations kill books

I recently went on a trip to the Great Barrier reef. I planned it to the Nth degree. I couldn't sleep I was so excited. But when I went weather meant I missed out on so much. I was crushed. It wasn't like it wasn't a lovely trip. The food was amazing. It was just because the hype didn't live up to reality. If I had gone expecting just another holiday instead of the dream I had pictured in my head it would be one of my all time favourite holidays.

This is what happens with books as well. You can slather all over the front that the book is awesome. That there isn't another book out there that can compete. You can blow out of proportion just how amazing you are as an author, after all as an indie author we are the ones who write our blurbs. It wouldn't work though. Because of those pesky expectations.

A friend was talking about how they had built up Logan in their mind and this made for a meh kind of reception to the film. It wasn't that the movie wasn't awesome but rather it was the expectation undermined the end result.

This of course can work the other way. Some of the best reviews I have for my books often mention something about the grammar or something they didn't like but they still give it 4 or 5 stars because they said the story was so good. I must admit I didn't do this on purpose but by not over selling my books led to these favourable reviews. I don't pretend my books are not something they aren't so when people read them that are surprised by the good stuff, enough to over look the other.

I also don't mind those reviews. I can hire an editor to fix up the grammar and now that I'm writing my third series I've gotten better and I can go back and fix up what I've written with the eyes of experience.

I should tell you the one star on my amazon page is from someone who loved my first book but hated my new series. My second series is very different to my first and I think expectations got in the way.