book review submissions are scary

Now that After Ever has been released, I have begun to send it to various blogs I hand picked a while ago for possible review. I do this for a variety of reasons, the two most obvious being:

A) It spreads the word to a variety of people I wouldn't otherwise interact with

and

B) Hopefully if the reviews are GOOD people will want to buy the book

Of course, reviews are always a double edged sword. The good ones are fantastic, the not so good ones make you want to curl up in a ball and cry yourself to sleep hugging your old stuffed animal Bugga Boo and sniffling into the phone to your mom about how everyone hates you and you're never going to be good at anything and you basically fail at life. I mean, not like I do that or anything. Naw. Bad reviews? Pfft. I just dust those right off. 

I have a natural tendency to want to submit my work to the blogs that seem the "nicest." You know the kind. They always say nice things, even if they didn't like the book, and they tend to never rate lower than a three. Those blogs are great. I love those blogs. If I could only send in After Ever to those blogs I totally would except... I can't. And let me tell you why. 

Weenie Me: But I don't want to send my book to her! She can be so m-m-mean!!!!!!

Rational Me: Yes, but her reviews are always pretty spot on. 

Weenie Me: B-b-but what if she doesn't like meeeee???? 

Rational Me: She doesn't know you. She might not like your book, but you'll survive. 

Weenie Me: BUT HER AVERAGE RATING ON GOODREADS IS A 2.72!!! I WANT THE ONE WHO HAS THE 4.99!!!!

Rational Me: No. You need to challenge yourself. Now put down the chocolate bar and type up a nice proposal to send. And stop crying. You know you're an ugly crier. 

Weenie Me: O-o-okay. *sniff sniff*

Yeah... That is pretty much the conversation I have with myself every time I submit any one of my books for review. It's tough, and it's hard, but it is absolutely necessary to keep pushing the boundaries and keep tossing your work out to the wolves. Even if on occasion the wolves bite back.