I’ve reached the end of the line as far as these editorial reviews go. I’m happy to report the my final two reviews for Framed, from Reedsy and Kirkus, were two of the best (although, in different ways).

Reedsy Discovery rated my book a 5/5 Star “Must Read,” and this means something on Reedsy, as there are plenty of three and four star books there. My favorite part of Viktorija Blazheska’s review was the conclusion, which I’ll repost here:

I like it when people say that I’m funny. If you generally support Viktorija’s statement and would like to help boost my book’s visibility, head over to Reedsy and upvote Framed.

Kirkus is widely considered to be the authority in book…stuff? Evaluations? I really don’t know the scope of the activities.

Anyway, after paying hundreds of dollars and then waiting months for someone from Kirkus to read 40% of my book and stop at Chapter 9, I’m happy to announce that Kirkus rated Framed “Get It” and then emailed me separately telling me that my review was in the top 25%, which qualified it to be a Featured Indie Book Review in their catalog.

If you subscribe to that catalog, you can find Framed in the June 15th edition.

The review, which I’ve disputed with Kirkus, is positive, but very shallow, not really comparable to the “amateur” Literary Titan review or the Reedsy Discovery review. I think it’s sad that independent authors are forced to enter this pay-to-play vortex just to face gaslighting when they complain about reviewers who didn’t read the whole book.

With the Kirkus review, the reviewer positioned “Cutlet” as the central villainous involvement of the book. “Cutlet” was, essentially, a single chapter in the introduction, compared to the 8-ish chapters much later in the book where I focus on “Shark Social.” The miss here is hard to ignore.

Wholesale Distribution: Enabled

I finally figured out the IngramSpark cover dimensions! Well, not really. The cover still isn’t pixel perfect, support couldn’t answer my questions, and all the “internet forum people” told me I was crazy. The paperback cover ready for wide distribution is off by a few millimeters, but it’s good enough.

The profit margins on IngramSpark are awful. So, even if you do see Framed at Barnes & Noble (which is possible), an Amazon purchase is probably cheaper for you and more profitable for me.

My blog post on translating KDP covers to IS covers may be one of the most useful resources on this saga which will be familiar to many indie authors. Ironically, as things stand today, the information in the article isn’t entirely correct. In the final draft, I had re-align everything based on a “best guess” line, since the estimates/tolerance around the IS cut line were not correct.

Pods

I had a casual chat with Chris Kiefer of The Pursuit of Purpose Podcast. How casual was the chat? Well, Chris spent the entirety of the interview walking on his treadmill. I recommend listening to this forty-five minute podcast audio-only and avoiding the distracting video.

David Hill interviewed me on The Persistent Entrepreneur podcast, which I didn’t realize was being streamed live on LinkedIn. I don’t love interviews that start with the host telling me that they forgot about the appearance, but we covered enough ground that it’s worth mentioning.

I interviewed with the UnHacked Podcast recently, and I was told that the episode will be released today. By the time you read this email, the episode might be posted!

Three free copies of Framed

As a token of thanks for reading this far and continuing to support me, the first three people (based in the U.S.) who respond to this email will receive free Kindle redemption links for Framed: A Villain’s Perspective on Social Media.

If you’re too late to claim the offer, you can always buy the book. I’m going to raise the price to $2.99 at the end of the month.