I’ve been in the process of revamping my Pinterest account to focus on my books and writing life. I’ll communicate more on that later when I launch the newly revamped site, but the process did highlight something very important for me.
I think Kingston’s Promise might be suffering from Middle Child Syndrome. In case you’re not familiar with this condition, here’s a good summary from urbandictionary.com
When a middle child—typically of a family of three kids who are close in age—feels left out or neglected.
Because the bigger sibling is the first born and typically an over-achiever, they are the most important and get the most privileges. A younger sibling is the ‘baby’ of a family and gets away with more as well as being the most looked-after. Middle child syndrome starts when the middle child is squeezed between these two and have trouble finding their ‘niche’ in the family. […]
In short, it’s where the older child gets all the awards, and the younger gets all the love, and the middle gets nothing.
The reality of my author parent fail became apparent when I didn’t have many pins I could place in my Kingston’s Promise board. Even my fourth book, which I’ve barely started at this point, has more pins than Kingston’s Promise.
Not only does Kingston’s Project get the awards, but I don’t even give Kingston’s Promise a chance. Because, you know—it’s a sequel. While I tried my best to write it in a way that if someone were to read it as a standalone they wouldn’t be too confused, the reality is that the reading experience is better if Kingston’s Project is read first. It’s also why I don’t do giveaways/discounts on Kingston’s Promise alone. If someone doesn’t have Kingston’s Project it would be like me saying, “Here’s a free/discounted book—but you’d enjoy it better if you read the first book so go buy it!” That just doesn’t feel right to me.
I had a great celebration when Kingston’s Project turned one. I did nothing for Kingston’s Promise. Not even a quite, “Happy birthday, my beautiful second book.”
Again, because it’s a sequel all my promotions focus on Kingston’s Project. Any book reviews I request are for Kingston’s Project. Kingston’s Promise doesn’t have any reviews from book bloggers because I haven’t asked for any.
From a reader’s perspective, Kingston’s Promise had a difficult standard to live up to. Many people have loved Kingston’s Project. A sequel is hard in that case because many readers already know what they want for the characters, and if I take a different route then it might be disappointing. Kingston’s Promise has to follow in the wake of its older book sibling and live with the constant comparison.
And then there’s my baby, Shattered Angel. I’ve already stated that she’s my favorite in many ways. She hasn’t yet turned one, but I’ll admit I’ve already thought about how to celebrate. I’ve been more emotionally attached to Shattered Angel than my other two novels.
Now that I’ve realized my neglectful nature of Kingston’s Promise, it’s time to fix it. Sequel or not, it’s time for that baby to shine alone in the spotlight.
Stay-tuned . . . fixing this means good stuff for you!
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