This week, Peter Simeti or Alterna Comics announced that they were changing their review process. Before, they provided free digital copies to reviewers, with some sort of individualizing watermark. Some reviewers, were putting these digital copies up on pirating web sites. Peter had had enough so now reviewers will have to purchase a physical copy at a serious discount. Each reviewer will receive a personalize discount code. If they abuse it and hand out the code, they're done at Alterna. Permanently.
As most of you who read this blog know, I hate the review process. However, not because I receive bad reviews, or even a "meh" review.
No, I hate reviews because in current year, all reviews, good, bad or indifferent, are suspect. You can't trust any of them. I think any knowledge of the state of Rotten Tomatoes tells that tale.
I've never been one to read or even consider reviews. That's why, when I began writing, I never pushed for them. My opinion has always been that if a person liked or hated it and felt strongly enough about it to go to a website and write their feelings down, then I had to seriously consider them. They could be completely off their onion or they could have legit gripes. I have to subscribe to the possibility that they could be right and study that so I don't do it again. If what they liked or hated made them feel that strongly.
Back then, I would review books I'd read on my Kindle, because they make it so damned easy to leave a review. However, concurrently, I began receiving beg-mails from Kindle Unlimited "authors" at Amazon to get a free copy of their books for a good review.
Bad idea.
I'm not sure if you've ever participated in Kindle Unlimited, but it was great when it started out. You got to "borrow" up to eleven books to read and then turn back in. This was a great system to find new authors for me and I dove in right after they started it. However, very quickly, The Harpies learned to game the system. Back then they got paid by pages read. So they would have an original work, then at the end, stuff in nine to ten previews of other books. Every time Amazon would cramp down on the book mills, they would find a work around. The books are barely literate and obviously ripped off from other, better authors who have actually filed suit in a ton of cases.
The plagiarism accusations have been around for years, but until Nora Roberts took action in Brazil, no one was doing a damned thing about it. These people gamed the Amazon system for false reviews for books written in crayon by mouth breathing simpletons who thought they'd never be found out.
I had to remove my address from my profile on Amazon to get the emails to stop. I reported each one to my ISP as a spammer to get them blacklisted. I don't like shady shenanigans meant to part people from their money. Yeah, I will report you. I belong to a pretty huge ISP and have an in there, so it would be very hard to get whitelisted again. Good luck with that.
Earlier this year, as I was nursing a busted foot, I was reading a lot. I revisited a Kindle Unlimited author that I had liked and actually bought many of her books. I was taken aback because, all of a sudden, between one book and the next, her voice and complete tone had changed. Before, she'd been more "street" in her dialogue, but now, she was practically literate if not almost grammatically correct. It was so jarring that it was obvious to me, that writer had not written the book with her name on it at all. So, as I do with all things I question in the market, I went to my mentor.
Susan Smith is such a wonderful person. I accept her advice because i know that she wants everyone to succeed. I explained to her what I had observed. When I finally told her the name of the writer in question she said that she had turned into a KU mill with people writing her series so she could churn out four books a month.
Four books a month!
WTF? I put out five books last YEAR and it nearly killed me. It takes me weeks to write any one book, and then several more of editing and re-writing and that's before I even proof it. I've just finished one book, and it's currently being edited and yes, I'm already working on the next one, but that's only because the story came exploding out of my head and I had to get it down on paper before I forgot it. I've got another story to be told after that one is done. After that I'm taking a break. After five years of writing almost non-stop, I think I deserve a break. Of course, every time I say that a new idea rears it's little head.
I've never participated in the Kindle Unlimited program as a writer and I never will. Why? Because I hardly sell anything at Amazon. I sell mostly at iBooks and Smashwords. I don't have any reviews there at all. I have a handful at Amazon, but those are people who know me. Love you guys! Kindle Unlimited forces writers to only sell their books on Amazon. Why would I limit myself in that manner when I'm selling far more books elsewhere? Stupid idea. This is what happens when you make bad decisions about money, then cry when the magical spigot is shut off. Every single time KU has made changed to try to curb exploitation of their system, the same voices are heard whining and moaning about how they can't feed their cats anymore.
And every single time I hear them I think of EA Price and get angry. I love her books. I live for each one to be released. Lately, those have been few and far between. Why? Because she has to work a real job and write in her non-existent spare time. So, I am so thankful for even a slice of life story in her newsletters. I value her writing fun stories that always kick me out of a sad mood. I value her because she writes very good books. She keeps her readers apprised of her progress and her hope of upcoming books, so we know she's still kicking around. We can all appreciate real life slapping you back sometimes.
So, if you've read my books, leave a review. If it's good, great, but if you didn't like it, tell me why? My goal is to get better with each book, each story told. Help me do that if you want. If you don't? Shrug and read another book.
As most of you who read this blog know, I hate the review process. However, not because I receive bad reviews, or even a "meh" review.
No, I hate reviews because in current year, all reviews, good, bad or indifferent, are suspect. You can't trust any of them. I think any knowledge of the state of Rotten Tomatoes tells that tale.
I've never been one to read or even consider reviews. That's why, when I began writing, I never pushed for them. My opinion has always been that if a person liked or hated it and felt strongly enough about it to go to a website and write their feelings down, then I had to seriously consider them. They could be completely off their onion or they could have legit gripes. I have to subscribe to the possibility that they could be right and study that so I don't do it again. If what they liked or hated made them feel that strongly.
Back then, I would review books I'd read on my Kindle, because they make it so damned easy to leave a review. However, concurrently, I began receiving beg-mails from Kindle Unlimited "authors" at Amazon to get a free copy of their books for a good review.
Bad idea.
I'm not sure if you've ever participated in Kindle Unlimited, but it was great when it started out. You got to "borrow" up to eleven books to read and then turn back in. This was a great system to find new authors for me and I dove in right after they started it. However, very quickly, The Harpies learned to game the system. Back then they got paid by pages read. So they would have an original work, then at the end, stuff in nine to ten previews of other books. Every time Amazon would cramp down on the book mills, they would find a work around. The books are barely literate and obviously ripped off from other, better authors who have actually filed suit in a ton of cases.
The plagiarism accusations have been around for years, but until Nora Roberts took action in Brazil, no one was doing a damned thing about it. These people gamed the Amazon system for false reviews for books written in crayon by mouth breathing simpletons who thought they'd never be found out.
I had to remove my address from my profile on Amazon to get the emails to stop. I reported each one to my ISP as a spammer to get them blacklisted. I don't like shady shenanigans meant to part people from their money. Yeah, I will report you. I belong to a pretty huge ISP and have an in there, so it would be very hard to get whitelisted again. Good luck with that.
Earlier this year, as I was nursing a busted foot, I was reading a lot. I revisited a Kindle Unlimited author that I had liked and actually bought many of her books. I was taken aback because, all of a sudden, between one book and the next, her voice and complete tone had changed. Before, she'd been more "street" in her dialogue, but now, she was practically literate if not almost grammatically correct. It was so jarring that it was obvious to me, that writer had not written the book with her name on it at all. So, as I do with all things I question in the market, I went to my mentor.
Susan Smith is such a wonderful person. I accept her advice because i know that she wants everyone to succeed. I explained to her what I had observed. When I finally told her the name of the writer in question she said that she had turned into a KU mill with people writing her series so she could churn out four books a month.
Four books a month!
WTF? I put out five books last YEAR and it nearly killed me. It takes me weeks to write any one book, and then several more of editing and re-writing and that's before I even proof it. I've just finished one book, and it's currently being edited and yes, I'm already working on the next one, but that's only because the story came exploding out of my head and I had to get it down on paper before I forgot it. I've got another story to be told after that one is done. After that I'm taking a break. After five years of writing almost non-stop, I think I deserve a break. Of course, every time I say that a new idea rears it's little head.
I've never participated in the Kindle Unlimited program as a writer and I never will. Why? Because I hardly sell anything at Amazon. I sell mostly at iBooks and Smashwords. I don't have any reviews there at all. I have a handful at Amazon, but those are people who know me. Love you guys! Kindle Unlimited forces writers to only sell their books on Amazon. Why would I limit myself in that manner when I'm selling far more books elsewhere? Stupid idea. This is what happens when you make bad decisions about money, then cry when the magical spigot is shut off. Every single time KU has made changed to try to curb exploitation of their system, the same voices are heard whining and moaning about how they can't feed their cats anymore.
And every single time I hear them I think of EA Price and get angry. I love her books. I live for each one to be released. Lately, those have been few and far between. Why? Because she has to work a real job and write in her non-existent spare time. So, I am so thankful for even a slice of life story in her newsletters. I value her writing fun stories that always kick me out of a sad mood. I value her because she writes very good books. She keeps her readers apprised of her progress and her hope of upcoming books, so we know she's still kicking around. We can all appreciate real life slapping you back sometimes.
So, if you've read my books, leave a review. If it's good, great, but if you didn't like it, tell me why? My goal is to get better with each book, each story told. Help me do that if you want. If you don't? Shrug and read another book.
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