Kevin's Watch

Hey...

I've written about 285 reviews on Amazon; one concerns RotE. It's been the Spotlight Review on Amazon ever since the hardcover came out. The number of helpful votes helped my reviewer ranking significantly, as the helpful votes are fairly high.

HOWEVER, due to a lawsuit that has nothing to do with Amazon, RotE, me writing reviews for anyone else (it's an entirely personal lawsuit brought against me that used reviews I wrote for Amazon as evidence of [insert personal stuff here], and they lost. They looked like huge idiots too, especially given that they leaned heavily on reviews that took me fifteen minutes to write. Some took one minute.

I was kept from writing reviews on a regular basis for quite some time. My reviewer ranking dropped. I'm ticked. If anyone wants to take a look at my review on Amazon, and if you agree with it, and vote "helpful", I'd be much obliged. If you don't agree with it, feel free to vote no. I won't be offended if my see-saw starts to tip in favor of negative votes at all.

The review is by T. Burger, and that's me. The title of the review is really stupid. I don't know where I came up with such a ridiculous title. Anyway.

Don't hate me if you think I'm pandering. Or hate me. I guess it doesn't matter.

Thanks,
"me"

Done - SInce there are so many reviews, and yours was done in late 2004 it is more helpful to find yours by choosing oldest post first, rather than the default.

Since I have only read Runes three times, I found your review quite helpful

Hehe...thanks.

Actually, my review is right at the top of the page. It's the first review listed under Spotlight Reviews.

Done and glad to help!

Thanks!

Sad when all you have to look forward to in life is climbing up Amazon's reviewer ranking ladder.

We all to have a dream, Burgs!

Thanks to everyone who voted. I felt a bit odd even posting this.

Again, thanks.

Is this a good place to ask what the numbers are for the 1st and 2nd Chrons together? Is there anyplce I could find this information?

What numbers? Sales? All I know regarding sales is that the two trilogies surpassed 10 million copies. I could be wrong. (Love your name...Forestal Fangirl...sweet).

And then all of the money that SRD earned went the downside in 2000 (stock market). Does that suck or what? You write something that sells 10 million copies, it makes you rich (he mentioned this in an interview), and you're back to being a "regular writer". I'd be as frustrated as he claims to be if I was him.

It's inconceivable. TEN million copies, and he says he's an average joe. Terry Brooks, and Terry Goodkind are more comfortable than he. What's wrong with people reading this genre??? Some are quite normal. Others are just insane.

It doesn't matter how much money you make if you lose it all in bad investments. Terry Brooks is a lawyer, and Terry Goodkind is an Evil Bourgeois Lackey of the Capitalist Running-Dogs or something like that . . . and I suspect they both took better care of their capital than SRD did.

Not that this is a knock against SRD. A lot of people, some of them very savvy indeed, lost fortunes when the dotcom bubble burst. Unfortunate, that's all.

He did say, in an interview, that he had invested his money rather well.

Sadly (I keep saying that) Brooks and Goodkind have probably made more than he has. Such injustice.

burgs wrote:What numbers? Sales? All I know regarding sales is that the two trilogies surpassed 10 million copies. I could be wrong. (Love your name...Forestal Fangirl...sweet).

That's what I was wondering. *whistles* Ten million, huh? Wow.

Thanks for answering my question.

burgs wrote:Hey...

I've written about 285 reviews on Amazon;

Wow--i don't think I've read 285 book in my life...centainly not since Amazon.com came into being!

Just added my "helpful" vote.

burgs wrote:He did say, in an interview, that he had invested his money rather well.

Sadly (I keep saying that) Brooks and Goodkind have probably made more than he has. Such injustice.

Inflation has a lot to do with it. You could get a paperback book for a buck and a half when the First Chronicles were published.

So does the fact that Brooks and Goodkind each wrote a lot more than six books in their interminable series, whereas SRD stopped when he had no more to say (for the time being). SRD could have been a lot richer if he'd sold out his artistic integrity and milked the giant cash cow for all it was worth. I don't think he regrets not doing that.

You're obviously correct, Farseer. That's what's unfortunate of being a great writer, actor, or actress, say, 50 years ago. Let's pick the beautiful and talented, Nicole Kidman for example, and compare her with Betty Davis.

Nicole's biggest check was $17.5 million. Betty's biggest check was in 1989, and it was for $250,000. I'd like to post Meryl Streep's, but it's not offered on imdb.com. Anyway. Nicole, even with inflation, has earned more than Betty or Meryl. All three actresses are icons, and phenomenoal. Yet, even with inflation, Nicole makes more. Is it fair? That's good for discussion, even though it's not the topic. (The topic is me! )

Now, SRD didn't sell out like his contemporaries, and I'm proud of him for that. I've told him so. Covenant could have been reeped for riches, but he chose to tell a logical story, a story in which one came logically from the other. When I read The Wounded Land, I was breathless. I had never - and still have never - read a book that so absolutely *logically* came from the one before. It was brilliant. (OK, The Last Chronicles may eclipse that, but we've yet to see...but I trust him. I think they will.) The Shanarra stories are crap, as are the ridiculous Sword of Truth. To be honest, I've fallen away from fantasy because the same writers are writing the same crap. There are few that hold my interest. Obviously, SRD does. Immensely. From the day he told me (he doesn't remember, of course, but I do, i was 14), that he had a 3rd trilogy mapped out, I've been holding my breath. Thank God I could let it out two years ago. Whew. That was a world record.

SRD may not be as rich as they are in terms of assests, but he eclipses them in terms of excellence.

No other author of fantasy that I've read (other than Gene Wolfe), writes sequels that follow *LOGICALLY* from "what has come before". SRD doesn't compromise himself, and that's why he's my favorite author of fantasy. Running closely with GRRM. He's writing some phenomal fantasy. But he wasn't finished it yet, so it's impossible to comment.

So...the main theme of this whole thing is not SRD, not market shares, but that I was robbed by a corrupt insurance company who thought that my writing reviews on Amazon meant [insert personal information here], and they lost, big time. Not only did they spend several thousand dollars trying prove the were right, they have lost several thousand in their, well, loss. Because they were wrong. Sorry to not share that personal info here, but it's quite personal. I think if I did, most people would rush to Amazon just to flip off this insurance company. Doesn't matter though. I've already won.

I don't care if you like my review or not - yes or no is great. So vote!

And thanks to all that did.

That may have been a bit too long. Pardon my verbosity.