Authors Who Read Every Single Review
Authors Who Never Read Any Reviews
I am solidly #2 because I know that my brain does the thing most brains do which is, when confronted with nine lovely things said about me and one not-so-lovely thing, I will only remember the not-so-lovely thing.
(And repeatedly revisit it whenever I find myself awake at 2 in the morning!)
There’s a lot more to be said about how condensing an entire reading experience into a 1-to-5 star system is oversimplified bullshit not in the least because art cannot and should not try to please everyone all the time. How most readers aren’t rating their reads so you’re really only seeing reactions from a sliver of your audience, how often the same book will read differently to the same person at different moments in their life, how we live in an age when the algorithms reward negative hot takes and controversy over nuance, and on and on I could go!
Not only do I get to field reviews for my art, but also for my business!
I do read my Spruceton Inn reviews. If only because TripAdvisor and Google both send me emails any time a new one goes up. But it’s not very often because:
a) Most of our business is made up of folks who’ve stayed here before—about 75% of you have stayed at least three times already!—and I don’t think most people are suddenly compelled to write a review after their third or fourth time somewhere.
And b) Just as many of you want to keep this place a secret.
At least, this is what you’ve told me! And when you say it, you say you’re “joking”. But I know it’s one of those there’s-some-truth-to-it “jokes”, because we only have nine rooms, and right after the pandemic our whole season would sell out in a matter of days, and wouldn’t it be the worst if this place went viral and got run over with influencers and you could no longer book your annual stay for a reasonable price??
All of which is to say, I get it. I LOVE our repeats. You guys mean the world to me! It’s why you get first dibs on reservations, why you can always email me about a midweek or off-season room or why I’ll break our 2 night minimum “rule” for you if you just can’t swing it. Why I do my damndest to keep notes about your stays and try to remember what hikes you’ve already been on, when your anniversary is, the name of your cat you left at home, if you prefer the Room One cocktail or the cold Kaaterskill IPA so I can hand it to you before you even ask. I could never consolidate the many textures of your many stays in a 1-to-5 star experience AND YET…
I am here to humbly ask you to do exactly that.
I’m so sorry! But this is the reality of the mediascape right now for authors and business owners! ChatGPT is scraping new reviews for recommendations, algorithms are royalty, and I still have rooms—and books!—to sell this year!
Yes, I am unabashedly only asking for “nice” reviews! Because even meh reviews don’t just hurt feelings, much more importantly, they can hurt the health of a business and a book career and I’m obviously out here trying to do my best for both of ‘em right now.
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOUUUUUU! Especially to those of you who’ve already done this. I am oh so appreciative of you all!
And while I’m not exactly looking for any suggestions for my book that’s already been published hahaha, I am always looking for feasible ways we can improve your experience at the Inn, so by all means, if you’ve got an idea— more towel hooks? trays to bring stuff out to the grills? something else I haven’t considered yet at all??—just reply to this email with it!
Give the Inn that TripAdvisor love here
Give the Inn that Google love here
(And I’m sorry, I can’t even bring myself to create a link button to Goodreads or Amazon for fear of looking, haha! You’ll have to find ‘em on your own.)
I will also say: word of mouth is also a truly wonderful thing! I absolutely love meeting someone new in Room One who says one of you sent ‘em, or hearing from a reader who picked up THE FOUNTAIN because of one of you. Thank you oh so much for this, too!!
Thank you soooooo much to the 514 of you who applied to our Artist Residency!! Steven Weinberg and I are so excited to dig into everyone’s work. We’ll be announcing recipients mid-September.
And another thank you to everyone who came out for the Catskills Book Festival last weekend! That was suuuuch a fun ride, wild rainstorms and all, and the whole thing culminated in an unofficial afterparty down at the Inn WITH A FULL FREAKING RAINBOW.
THIS SUNDAY, Aug 16th / 2pm at the Woodstock Library: Book Talk & Signing with Sophie Strand for the Golden Notebook (Check out Sophie Strand ‘s wonderful Substack here!)
Sun, Aug 30th / 2pm at Kinderhook Books: Rough Notes Festival : A Place For Work: Spaces, Communities, and Audiences that Make Creative Work Possible discussion with (fellow upstate novelist and oh so fun podcaster!) Olivia Muenter
Here’s a list of all our availability for the rest of the year. I know some folks have been having trouble with our booking system where it looks like we’re sold out when we’re not (don’t even get me started on THAT part of life online right now!), but here are links that work AND you can aways call or text me directly at 718-541-9984 and I can take care of that for you over the phone no prob!
THIS WEEKEND! Fri and/or just Sat August 14th & 15th
August 21st & 22nd (only 1 room left!)
September 4th & 5th & 6th aka Labor Day (only 2 rooms left)
September 18th & 19th (that’s when the leaves begin to turn!)
October 9th & 10th & 11th aka Indigenous People’s (just 3 rooms left)
October 16th & 17th
October 23rd & 24th
October 30th & 31st
See you for some Catskills fun soon?
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