Last week I was going to post this story I saw on Yahoo about a fellow who made 25K a year writing reviews for other folks. Apparently Todd Rutherford made a lot of money posting reviews that were either copied from previous works or were not quite as custom as he proclaimed them to be.
On the drive into work today I heard this story on NPR that discussed how the English author R.J. Ellroy was caught not only writing glowing reviews of his own work that he claimed were written by others but that also derided some of his competition.
Then today, whilst trying to determine what I should blog about today, I read this post at the Kill Zone which discussed "paid reviews on Amazon" and whether or not reviews actually affect their purchasing.
It was this last post that got my grey cells working. How many times have I read a review and used that for purchasing a book. I remember I read a review for Wool, but that was only to confirm a friends recommendation. I looked at the number of reviews for Outlander, and probably should have been more focused on reading them, particularly the ones with 1 star. Still, that's pretty rare. Most of my reading list is built by friends recommendations not reviews.
Makes me think I should spend less time trying to get reviews and more time trying to get real folks, friends and family to actually read my work.
4 comments:
I have never overly marketed my book -- I am not one aggressive enough to market my book in several social media sites. I don't have it in me and I do feel inferior to other Authors who are truly Authors. I am just a story teller.
Since I do not market as others do with their work, I do not sell very many books -- but I still enjoy writing and that is what counts. I enjoy writing out short stories and my style is simplistic -- I admit. I use less sophisticated words in my writings than average -- I admit. Their were grammatical errors in my work -- but very few compared to the Author who gave me a bad review.
This is the publishing site's policy on reviews:
"We expect reviewers to maintain civility. If you don't like the book, don't attack or insult the author. Instead, provide constructive criticism and feedback. If you like it, say why (but don't spoil the ending!). If you don't like it, say why. Don't write, "This is a crappy talentless writer not worth reading." Instead, suggest how the writer might improve their craft. Reviews that are simply attack pieces will be deleted. Reviews must also remain on topic. If the reviewer engages in behavior counter to our Terms of Service, their account may be deleted without warning."
Am I wrong to have the opinion that there are a multiple upon multiple ways to write a sentence or paragraph -- from being simple to sophisticated -- to being ugly or nice to giving constructive criticism? I thought how she wrote her review was ugly and not nice and below is what the bad review stated about my book:
"The stories might be cute, but the language was far too simplistic and the grammar was horrible. It was like reading a series of 3rd grader essays talking about "grown up things". Sad to say I barely enjoyed this ebook at all and would not recommend it to anyone else."
I am of the opinion she could not stop herself and went on and attacked me."
An Author friend wrote to me and stated "don't worry about it -- she is probably just jealous." Made me feel better -- but still. Another friend said the same -- "don't worry about it" -- yet I do.
Thanks for this post -- it makes me feel somewhat better. What counts is you keep improving on your work -- enjoy the art of writing and keep improving on your writing -- and stop the thoughts you will become wealthy from your work.
It is nice to imagine intermittently you could -- as you do with winning the lottery -- but do not get your hopes too high. As the co-founder of McDonald's once said: It is a matter of being in the right place at the right time -- so with that being said -- maybe it is best to have your books published everywhere.
One good thing came out of the bad review -- I had no idea how there are grammatical error checkers online -- now I do -- and will be putting my work in -- to check -- as well as having people to edit. Edit - Edit - Edit. As my writing style -- it can be improved -- but I feel it is not so horrible -- one would not enjoy reading my book -- it is simplistic and easy to read -- (:
I forgot to mention my Name above (for I have no idea how to post but anonymously here) -- My pen name: "Marisa Meissa" -- and I am still proud of my simplistic written book "A Coffee with MM."
(: I Hope to be adding a new book cover and add 2 or 3 new stories to it -- when I have the nerve to tackle such.
Awesome post you have done and I enjoy reading your blog!
Thanks so much Marisa for the input! I got a similar review from a professional review site . . .I think they said it was like reading a high-schooler who was trying to write a novel.
I found quickly that I could find any number of reviewers with a far more professional bent via these book blog sites.
It made me think of what Anton Ego said in Ratatouille:
" In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little, yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so."
Thanks for commenting I hope you do so more! Do you have a link to where I can buy the book?
Mr Hannah -- thank you so much to the reply -- makes me feel better somewhat. There are multiple upon multiple ways to write a sentence or a paragraph from simple to sophisticated to downright ugly (there may be millions of ways when it comes to writing anything.
If one wants to give Constructive criticism -- then do it -- don't attack -- telling someone they write like a high schooler or a 3rd grader is not acceptable.
I put the bad reviewer's work (a seven page story in an online checker because she stated my book was filled with grammatical errors. Then I put my book -- we both made College Level -- with her scoring 1 point higher -- it was my half-page stories that kept me from scoring higher. All of this -- I may be repeating for I do this a lot and is why I stick to short stories.
I actually had less grammatical errors than she did -- with the checker stating she needed to work on her vocabulary -- and I used less sophisticated words than average. Her listing of errors in her summary were 5 pages and mine was four -- with my book have more pages (16). I had three spelling errors and she had listing upon listing of grammatical errors.
Just because someone does not like another author's style of writing (and let's face -- we all have our own unique style) was no reason to attack. My book is simplistic and easy to read (I market as an easy read) ( : -- I agree -- that is the way I write -- but no better (my stories were original and more interesting) less than her type of style of writing -- which I found boring.
If I do not have anything good to say about the book -- then I would not write anything.
I am not sure if I read this in your Blog or another.
Below is another Blog (Rebecca' Blog) -- she posted on same topic and I thought it was a great article -- she says people are going to buy from the sample provided.
One of my Facebook Friends stated she would rather get her friends and family to read her book -- thus hoping they will suggest to others -- than work on getting awesome reviews :
http://us.mg5.mail.yahoo.com/neo/launch?.rand=2ve3umgks31j1
Here is a yet another link telling one opinion on how "Fifty Shades of Grey" became so popular -- an interesting theory:
http://stevevernonstoryteller.wordpress.com/2012/08/27/the-fifty-shades-of-grey-phenomenon/
Marisa Meissa
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