Month: April 2021

[Blog]

I get so frustrated sometimes with Amazon’s response system. I’m in the process of soliciting reviews (which is fine under the community guidelines as long as they’re honest and you don’t buy them). What does soliciting reviews entail? That’s a good question. There are lots of different ways to do this. For example, you can go through services like booksprout, pubby, and various blog tour options. You can also contact bloggers and potential reviewers directly. I’m sure there are other options, but I’m not going to go through them here since that isn’t the purpose of this post.

Here’s what Amazon currently says about Customer Reviews:

(Full disclosure: I trimmed the tabs / taskbar off the image since you don’t need to see how many tabs / programs I have up.)

Here’s the message I just sent them. I could go on a tangent about how their help categories leave off certain topics, but that’s also not the purpose of this post. I’m looking at soliciting reviews through booksprout:

“My apologies if this question is in the wrong category. My books are enrolled in KDP Select / Kindle Unlimited. I understand that my enrollment grants exclusivity to the kindle store. Can I still give out ARC copies? Does that include sending out ARC copies through an ARC service like booksprout? Thank you in advance for your response.”

Booksprout (as I understand it – I haven’t used there service yet) provides a limited pool of readers with free copies in (hopefully, since we can’t demand it) exchange for a review. You have to create an account and go through the sign up process in order to access any of booksprout’s books. In other words, they’re behind a sign in wall. I tested this with a book that I know is on booksprout: Shu Daizi’s Iris and the Secret Library. As of this post, here’s the link: https://booksprout.co/arc/64220/iris-and-the-secret-library-book-7

I know, it’s erotica. Blame twitter.

Here’s what the booksprout listing looks like:

Yes, the link is findable through a search on google. This means that an algorithm could theoretically find the link through a search engine. What happens when I click Get this ARC?

I get directed to login or signup. I can not access it without an account.

Here’s the response Amazon provided me with:

What does booksprout have to say about using their service while a book is enrolled in KU? They say yes and no. I can’t find the answer I read yesterday (otherwise, I’d include it in this post). I found a forum thread on kboard discussing it [here]. The responses contain different answers. For example, one says they contacted Amazon and received this answer:

Admittedly, that was in 2018. It also does not list booksprout by name. Other posts say you cannot use booksprout while enrolled in KU. Then there’s this gem:

So, can I give out ARC copies through booksprout? The response says I can not make the ebook available through another site. So, presumably, I can give out ARCs if I don’t go through a public website. Meaning that this question could be resolved if booksprout put their book listings behind a sign-in wall, as opposed to just the ARC copies. I know from experience that freebie giveaways on Amazon don’t really generate reviews. Also, providing them with the downloadable ebook file is effectively the same thing as providing them with a free copy, right? And what about the (however many) people who use booksprout anyway and don’t get flagged by Amazon?

A former choir director at my church growing up had a “Bang Head Here” sign on her wall. Sometimes I think I need one of those.

(To those of you who are more literal minded: No, I’m not really going to bang my head on the wall. I’m just thinking about it.)

[Blog]

There is so much conflicting information out there. The community guidelines aren’t always particularly clear either. In this blog post, I’m going to go over two recent things that have happened.

First, I got a 1-star review on Into the Unknown. The reviewer was clearly taking issue with the fact that I have my pronouns in my bio. They also critiqued the fact that I have a genderfluid character whose pronouns I actually respect. It consisted, overall, of a long rant claiming I had an inability to put basic sentences together. I panicked a bit and reported the review to Amazon.

I also messaged a writer I know on twitter about how to handle the situation. The advice I received was basically to report it myself and convince as many people as I can to also report it. I got lucky – it was taken down in less than three hours after I reported it. The reason I’m writing about it here? In a blog post with this title? It made me question why I was targeted in the review (beyond the obvious).

The reviewer explicitly called out my pronouns in my bio. They misquoted it and tried to use my own words against me (I have a snippet in there about working in the school system). Part of the problem might be that my pronouns were at the top of my bio. I have also used my non-normative pronouns (they / them) for the bulk of my bio, as opposed to the more normative he / him.

I am proudly non-binary. And I have been out for years. I know I don’t pass particularly well (and my author pic gets read in a few different ways, most of which work against my pronouns). But the pronouns were clearly visible after my name. I have since moved them to the bottom of my bio. That way, I don’t feel like I’m compromising myself by lying or stepping backwards. But, at the same time, lazy trolls would need an extra click to find that info.

I also have a pronoun-free version of my author bio that I have used for anthologies. I’ve learned the hard way that the vast majority of editors I’ve worked with DO NOT accept they/them pronouns. It’s uncommon for someone to overwrite my bio with the wrong pronouns, but that has happened in the past. I am strongly considering putting the pronoun-free version on amazon. I’ll still include the paragraph I added at the end requesting they/them or he/him pronouns, but the body of the bio would be pronoun-free.

I am tremendously grateful that the review got taken down. However, it’s hard not to think about how to prevent that from happening again in the future. In all honesty, I’m not sure I can prevent it. I just hope that there’s a balance somewhere. And that I’ll be able to figure out where that balance is.

Here’s the second thing that’s happened: I was watching another video on Youtube that aims to teach new indie authors about publishing on Amazon. It was a list of rules not to break (that Amazon conveniently doesn’t necessarily tell you). One of the functions discussed in the video could easily be wielded against LGBT / minority authors. That is certainly frustrating, but it’s not the part that stuck out to me the most.

He basically argued against newbie authors seeking out reviews. There was no alternative provided, and the best the comments / summary could do was to tell us to let it happen organically. Reviews were the bottleneck to my sales / publicity for years. Sure, I have other areas to improve in (social media being an easy example). But there’s a reason why so many authors focus in on getting reviews.

Reviews are like social credit. They let someone else provide an opinion on our work. Sure, they can be heartbreaking (and, to some extent, nerve-wracking, especially at the beginning). But they definitely have their place in providing value. Beyond the social credit provided to readers, they also provide feedback to authors.

Sure, not all reviews are high quality. One of the first reviews I got on Into the Unknown was “I enjoyed reading this book.” The reviewer gave me five stars, but no real feedback. However, that five stars was my first review on that book after my pen name change. Having even just one review for a book looks a lot better than having none. Sure, a book with no reviews isn’t necessarily bad. It’s just that no one has contributed an opinion yet, so it becomes much riskier for a potential reader.

This youtuber / author accused review services (like Pubby Co, Booksprout, Author Marketing Club’s Reviewer Grabber Tool, etc.) of preying on authors. There are times when that’s probably true, especially with some of the shadier options I’ve seen on the internet. He was also adamant (in 2019) that Amazon will strike down these platforms and punish the authors that use them. I think, if Amazon actually tried that, they’d have a class action suit to contend with. But I may be wrong in that.

On the other hand, growing reviews organically? The internet doesn’t seem to know how to do that. In fact, I know it’s common for traditional publishers to solicit reviews. This means that even traditionally published books do not get all their reviews organically. But this is still a pointed reminder: regardless of what I do to market my books, they are still at risk.

What do I mean by that? I can not fully prevent piracy. I have a 50-page PR copy I can send out (as opposed to a full PDF), but someone could still use coding to manipulate the software on their Kindle to pirate from KU. (Yes, that happens. Don’t believe me? Google it.) I also can not prevent the mighty hammer of Amazon from crashing down on my books. Nor can I prevent people from exploiting that function I mentioned by targeting LGBT authors.

But, do you ever wonder what happened to John Locke? He’s the early kindle millionaire who famously admitted to buying fake reviews. And he still has his books on amazon [here]. His most recent blog post is from 2012, but I’m sure he still makes sales. Admittedly, I’m not a millionaire. But he publicly admitted to buying reviews and his books are still there. I think Amazon’s enforcement of the Community Guidelines is more selective (or, perhaps, algorithmically unintentional) than what they say publicly.

From what I can find, this Youtube content creator doesn’t offer any suggestions for how to “organically” grow reviews. He advises against soliciting reviews, but doesn’t provide an alternative. Nor does he really account for the bottleneck that reviews can help resolve in marketing books.

Don’t know what I mean by bottleneck? A book with no reviews is a bigger risk in the eyes of the consumer. Even one review offers some social credit.

 

As a side note, that last [blog post] by John Locke is a really fascinating read from a marketing perspective. You could study it for either blog or email marketing. The lead is great and personal (which helps connect with the reader), it doesn’t look like an advertisement until the end, and it’s much more subtle than other attempts I’ve read. Admittedly, you didn’t see so many of these types of posts in 2012. No wonder he sold so many books, right?

On the other hand, does that make this blog post a lesson in what not to do? I’m not leading the reader into something about one of my books. This post isn’t technically literary citizenship either. I’m making some observations and posting them online on a platform I control. Sure, I have barely any readership on my blog. But, in theory, I’m still expected to use it for marketing. Not the weird combination of venting / observations / anti “hot takes” that I usually use it for.

(Hot take: Noun. “A piece of commentary, typically produced quickly in response to a recent event, whose primary purpose is to attract attention.” (Source: Google). None of my posts are anywhere near that short. Yes, I know I have a weird sense of humor 😉 )

[Blog]

J’adore la langue français!

I adore the French language!

I’ve studied French since I was about ten years old. I read books in French, practice with French music, and sometimes hold conversations in French. Lately, I’ve been debating doing a French translation of some of my work. I don’t really have a French readership, so this would be more of a pet project.

Admittedly, I’ve never taken on a big translation project before. And I’ve only ever officially translated French to English. However, it is an easy project to break into parts. And I can include a polite disclaimer saying that French is not my first language. There are, however, some potential problems.

Let me give some examples. Since I’m not a native speaker, I do sometimes confuse colloquialisms. Also, French has more verb tenses than English does, so I would have to determine the dominant tense of the work before making a translation (and, since I’m not great with passé simple, I probably wouldn’t be using the more dominant literary tense). There’s also the fact that people assume I’m Canadian (I’m not).

I’ve never taken on that big of a translation project before, but it is an easy project to break into parts. I would also be using a translation software I already have to help check my work / streamline the process. But, there’s the other problem: I’m recalling an indie writer on amazon who disclosed the use of translation software in the international additions of her books. She was slammed by troll reports through amazon until those books were taken down (by amazon, not by her). I do not need to put myself in that situation.

Right now, I’m just floating the idea. But maybe I will translate one of my website shorts for the why not of it.

(As a side note, I am trying to get better at blogging. I wrote three of these blog posts at one time as a batch blogging attempt. This is the third, but I might not be posting them in order.)

[Blog]

I can’t currently screenshot and crop images, so I’ll just give the text of the tweet by Hannah Whitten:

“Being a Creative Career Person on the internet is a delicate dance of wanting your platform to grow because that’s how you get to share more art and also being terrified of it because there are a LOT of people just looking for a reason to be an asshole.”

(Alternatively, I did recently retweet this tweet if you want to scroll down my twitter feed to find it.)

The other tweets underneath it mostly consist of people agreeing. There is some discussion of parasocial relationships, which I honestly had to Google. And, yeah, I am learning what it feels like to try to grow an online platform. This tweet puts a lot of those feelings into words. Especially considering some of the personal things I’ve been through in the past.

But I think I’m getting better at Twitter. For example, I’m learning more of the etiquette. It seems that, if someone retweets my pinned tweet, then they expect me to retweet their pinned tweet. I’m sure this isn’t always the case, but people do seem to expect it. Following someone who follows you is encouraged (not required), but people frequently unfollow people after getting that follow back. Sure, it’s not everyone. But it is enough for me to see people complaining about it and combing through their lists.

I am also confirming a few suspicions. Yes, there is a lot of sh*tposting. And misinformation. But there’s also a vibrant community. And, well, I am one among many. And I mean MANY. It’s not just that there is a vibrant writing community on Twitter. There are a lot of us floundering around. We’re trying to build a following, get reviews, make sales, build a readership, actually connect with people, advertise without it looking like we’re advertising, learn the new “tricks,” feel like we’re connecting with people, etc.

I’ve now been on the platform for about a year and I only have around 115 followers. But I’m getting there.

Note from the future: Want to see me sort my Twitter followers? You can in this post [here].