Peer Reviews

What can I say? I am flattered at the peer reviews I am getting. To date they have been all complimentary, and that says a lot, considering these folks are major sellers in my genre. When I received the typeset gallery a couple weeks ago, I was pleasantly surprised to see yet another blurb that I knew nothing about. I began reading the front matter, that content at the front of a book before the story starts, and thought this guy was writing a clever, humorous blurb about some related book... until I saw him refer to Cruise Confidential! THAT was quite a nice surprise! So by the time my typeset galley was returned, I had four peer reviews, from such notables as Doug Lansky (a National Geographic award winning travel writer and host of Travel Channel shows), Jen Leo (the editor of some of the leading women's travel books, including Sand in My Bra and Whose Panties Are These?), Peter Mandel (author of the authoritative book on the Normandie, one of the finest cruise ships in history, as well as Boats on the River) and lastly, the amazing J. Maarten Troost, author of the perfectly named The Sex Lives of Cannibals. Nice list, eh?
I compare this experience frequently to that of publishing my own book, Comstock Phantoms. That was necessarily a self-promoted work because it was for a small ghost town outside of Reno. I had complete control, of course, and therefore it never had the punch of reality because it was all just me. No peers, no contact with anyone, in fact, except the consumers. Fortunately that continues! I had the blessing of the Historic Preservation Officer for the state of Nevada, Ronald James, but that was my only blurb. This experience is tremendously more, especially now that I am about to meet my publicist. Imagine, little ol' me having a publicist! Crazy how the world turns...