Progress?

There have been some stumbles on my road to acquiring reviews. It seemed to be taking an inordinate amount of time for BookSirens to notify me of my acceptance or non-approval, so I initiated a chat. They couldn't find any submission from me! So I tried again. (I'd completed their stupid form, so I guess that was a false flag.) This time I at least received an acknowledgement. But I still have to wait for the "go" sign. 

Additionally, from the list of free reviewers BookSirens supplies, I received one response, and it was positive. This is actually a high-value reviewer, since she has almost 8,000 followers. I contacted others with far fewer followers (in the one hundreds) with no response. To be fair, I don't know that all these listings are up to date. They all clearly indicate they are accepting submissions, but on their sites, many state they are closed. This woman was very nice and timely in responding, but did explain that she's currently reading submissions from May/June, so it'll be at least five months before anything transpires. I was glad I'd whipped up a synopsis for Shadow Song, since that was one of the details she required. She also mentioned to let her know if I would be interested in penning a guest article, and she did mention donations (no strings). I don't mind that. She's putting work into her endeavor and everyone deserves compensation for their work. I will send a small amount her way. 

I admit to being an impatient waiter. I do wish that the other reviewers I contacted would at least shoot me a rejection, but like many literary agents, I guess, they receive too many requests to even send a form rejection.

If I'm being honest, I guess all I'm looking for with the above steps is simply more visibility. Good reviews enable that (not that I'm convinced they'll all be good). I'm basically circling the drain as far as Amazon rankings. Reviews could at least provide a little nudge. At this point it isn't even about sales. Face it, at $1.99 per book my road to riches can't even be glimpsed with high-powered binoculars. 

Right now I'm focused on Shadow Song and, to a lesser degree, New Kaitlyn. If anything pans out with BookSirens I may take a gander at some of my others and see whether they need spiffing up. They're just sitting there doing nothing ~ and I mean absolutely nothing. 

As for writing something new, my head's not in that space right now. I've given it a tiny thought, but I've barely formulated a setting, much less characters or plot. 

Baby steps...