I joined the website Goodreads recently as a way to track what I am reading, to get suggestions about what to read next and to try out their Reading Challenge.
After signing up, I saw they had my novel, The Magic of Eyri, listed, and that if I was the author, I could apply for Author Status. Why not? After a couple mouse clicks and a short email, I was given the title of Goodreads Author a few days later (despite my novel being self-published, but hey, take the wins where you can, right?).
Now that I am a Goodreads Author, folks can become “a fan” (which is probably only a few pegs lower than joining the Mr. Belvedere fan club¹). Neat.
I found a few friends of mine on Goodreads and added them, because it is What You Do, and I saw an alert that one of my friends, John, was now “a fan”². I popped over to his page, and I was listed with some of his other Favorite Authors in the sidebar, which gave me a chuckle.
I should see if they want to collaborate on a book. And then I woke up.
I didn’t expect to be listed alongside big names like Orson Scott Card and George R. R. Martin anytime soon, except perhaps as a punchline.
Joking aside³, I know I do have fans of Magic of Eyri† and the other nonsense I churn out, and when I have been lucky enough to meet them in person, I am always grateful. If you have 10 fans, or ten thousand, each one is a win–and take them where you can.
Except Spambots on Twitter. Those don’t count.
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¹ FACT: I was a member back in the day. I have the stickers and the T-shirt somewhere. This is not a reference to the SNL skit.
² In all honesty, John has been one of my biggest fans and supporters since the book came out in 2007. I don’t forget stuff like that. Same goes for my Magic of Eyri co-star, Robin.
³ I’m a fan of Ender’s Game, and I want to read the Game of Thrones series at some point (and watch the show–c’mon, Netflix). I have played the game though, but before the show came out.
† I have been very lucky to meet a few fans at conventions, and some have even emailed me–mainly when the Magic of Eyri podcast was on hiatus. That kind of stuff keeps me going.
2 comments
Now thats something you probably don’t get to see everyday. I will say you have the best avatar of the 3 anyway…
Speaking of Game of Thrones, I am reading the books, have seen the show, but have never played the game. How is it? I just ordered the Mistborn RPG from Crafty-games and of course I have 30 years of D&D and the new Pathfinder games, but I have never tried GoT. Is it a desktop RPG like D&D or a CCG like Magic The Gathering or Redakai?
It is more of an empire building/strategy game akin to Ages of Empire or Risk. There isn’t really much role playing in it, at least not that I recall, other than you pick your house. Each house has its own ups and downs, and you fight for control of land. There are certain items, like the titular throne, which change hands throughout the game and affect game play (ex: there was a sword, and whoever had it won ties in fights–I think).
BoardGameGeek has as run-down of the whole thing. It is very complex, but I think if you played it a few times you would quickly get the hang of things.
I didn’t hate it, but it was a lot to take in at once. I don’t know if my friend still owns it, as he is an active game trader. If I had been more familiar with the books, or even the show, I may have understood more of what was going on–it was like having someone play the Battlestar Galactica game without ever seeing an episode.
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