Jennifer Becton's Blog, page 44

Smashwords Responded

On Monday, I received an email response from Smashwords regarding the fact that three of my books were placed on sale at Sony even though they had been unpublished in late 2011. The email indicated that Smashwords “cannot guarantee that errors will never occur as the take-down itself is in the retailer’s hands.” This would be a reasonable response if MONTHS had not passed between my taking them off sale and the retailer selling them again. In addition, this was the second time it had happened, and different retailers were involved both times. And there was no apology for my inconvenience, by the way.

As I said, I wasn’t expecting them to send flowers, but I have always appreciated their customer service in the past, so I was expecting something more than being told that accidents happen.

I had planned to delete my account, but I’ll give them one more strike before taking my business elsewhere.

Smashwords Update

Thank you to Smashwords for removing my books from unauthorized sale sometime between Friday night and Saturday morning. I appreciate that the correction was made within 48 hours of my original request.

However, I’m not fully pleased with the situation. I received no email response from either of the two people at Smashwords to whom I sent my complaint. I also checked their “Site Updates” page and their blog to see if they issued a general statement to others who might have experienced this problem: nothing. So far, I have heard no explanation for how my unpublished books were put on sale, and I also did not receive any acknowledgment of my request to close my Smashwords account after my final payment is sent.

I’m not expecting to receive flowers or anything, but this problem has happened to me twice, and I believe some explanation is due to all Smashwords’ customers. After all, how can any of their customers trust that their books are being distributed properly? If my experience tells me anything, it’s that files from as far back as six months could be being sent to retailers, and that means that the old book files may be going out to readers even though a more recent edition had been uploaded by the author. Or worse, books that authors have taken off the market may still be being sold.

So thank you, Smashwords for your prompt response, and I hope to hear from you soon.

Smashwords: It’s Become a Problem

Not so much.

Until December 2011, I published my books at four main venues: Amazon, BN, CreateSpace, and Smashwords, and I have recommended them all to my friends and fellow indie authors as good business partners. I’ve extolled the virtues of Smashwords’ Style Guide and their customer service, and until recently, my only real complaint with them has been slow reporting and payment.

But when I chose to enter my ebooks temporarily in the Kindle Select program, I was required to remove my ebooks from all other sales venues. Therefore, I took them out of all Smashwords’ distribution channels and also unpublished my books there completely. This should have been the end of the matter.

But that’s when my problems began. In March, I discovered that one of my books had become available on Kobo via Smashwords. Confused, I immediately emailed Smashwords, and the problem was resolved quickly. Not only was this odd–the book was listed as unpublished and not entered into any distribution channels–but it also jeopardized my standing with Kindle Select. Still, the problems was fixed, and I figured it was a freak error.

Today, I discovered that three of my “unpublished” titles had again been distributed to another retailer by Smashwords without my direction. I have not changed anything in my account: all my books were “unpublished,” and they were not listed in any of the distribution channels, which technically shouldn’t matter since they were unpublished. So nearly six months after I removed my books from their sales channels, some of them are still being published, distributed, and sold without my knowledge or consent. (I have contacted customer service, but I’ve not heard back yet. However, it was after 3 PM, so I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.)

Yet again, my Kindle Select status is being risked because of this company’s mistake, but that is not my biggest concern. Frankly, the fact that this error has happened to me twice causes me to question the accuracy of Smashwords’ distribution system. How are my unpublished books making it out to retailers? And even when I was selling and distributing via Smashwords (of my own free will), were my books accurately making it to the retailers I’d selected? And what does that mean for other authors? Has this happened to you? Are your unpublished books being sent to retailers without your consent?

I am not one to create drama or to rant about every little thing that happens, but I believe this problem is worth mentioning to my writing and publishing friends. I can no longer do business with a company that is selling my books without my permission. Even if this is an error, it has occurred twice, so it is clearly not a fluke or isolated incident. Once my books are removed from (unauthorized) sale at the retailer and my remaining royalties are paid, I am going to be forced to delete my account at Smashwords. I wish it didn’t have to be this way.

 

That’s Entertainment (with Apologies to Mrs. Gillham and Herman Melville)

Entertainment is important; why else would people spend so much money on it?

I write novels that are meant to entertain.

There. I said it.

Actually, I’ve said something similar before in my post about comedies versus tragedies and their perceived merits in the literary world, and this entry is tangentially related. As part of researching various book markets, I read a lot of reviews on Amazon and BN, and I’ve noticed something that I find odd: many reviewers of entertainment-type novels feel the need to state that a particular book is meant for entertainment and then they write as if they feel guilty for liking it. They might write something like, “This book wasn’t a great literary work and was really just brain candy, but it totally sucked me in.”

Why do people feel compelled to write that? I’ve wondered about this, and here’s what I’ve come up with. Ever since high school, readers have been told what books are of literary value and which ones are the brain candy, and we are praised for liking Herman Melville (I never managed to finish Moby Dick), but frowned upon for also liking Agatha Christie or Nora Roberts. We wave our weighty tomes around in public, but hide the romance novels. We’ve started seeing literature as the equivalent of bran flakes, as Chris Baty says. We feel that we should only be reading books that have been deemed “good for us.”

Well, I contend that entertainment novels are also of value. Allow me to deviate a bit here. What do you spend your money on? You spend money on food, your house or apartment, your clothing (unless you’re a nudist), and entertainment. Now, maybe entertainment is not a life-or-death necessity, but the very fact that so much of our budgets and time are comprised of entertainment–vacations, TV, movies, video games, outings, books–then that must expose a basic human compulsion to relax, have fun, and enjoy life without worrying all the time about the stresses and trials we face daily.

All novelists–with varying degrees of success, I admit–are tackling an enormous job when they put pen to paper (or fingers to keys). They are trying to create a world, evoke emotions, and take readers on a journey, and that is not an easy task. Moby Dick may be read (or at least the first line anyway) by students the world over, but even the “brain candy” can provide something of value: hours of pleasure, escape, and even emotional catharsis. So there is also merit in Christie’s brilliant plot twists and even something to be admired in Nora Roberts’s prolific output of beloved romances. Not all books will stand the test of time and be studied hundreds of years in the future as literature, but they can still be appreciated for what they are: entertainment.

I write novels that are meant to entertain. I’m not preaching at anyone, trying to teach the great unwashed masses, or trying to ram my worldview down anyone’s throat, but I do work hard at crafting a good story; creating likeable, quirky characters; and taking readers on a journey in which good triumphs over evil. Maybe my books won’t end up beside Melville in the annals of literature, but I hope they fulfill the purpose for which I wrote them: bringing joy and laughter to the people who read them.

If you’re looking for some good colon-cleansing bran flakes, look elsewhere. Perhaps here.

Keeping up with the Book Business

I’m over at Indie Jane today blogging about the current state of the book world, including fun and fascinating discussion of business practices, agency vs wholesale model pricing, and lawsuits. Fun, fun, fun!

How to Write Heroines

Last week, I had the privilege of posting on Nancy Kelley’s blog about How to Write Heroines. I got to unleash a bit about one of my biggest writing pet peeves: out of context historical characters.

Nothing ruins a historical novel for me quicker than a character who is so far ahead of her time that she is more representative of modern thought than a product of her actual context.

Please stop by Nancy’s blog and share your thoughts on the matter!

Surprises in Writing

So this is proof that Kevin Manus-Pennings, author of the excellent fantasy novel A Shore Too Far (Daughters of Damendine), knows me too well. (BTW, A Shore Too Far is only $.99 at the moment, so go buy it now!)

How much do I love this video? Let me count the ways. First of all, it begins all artsy. The photography is lovely, and I wouldn’t mind if my hair looked like that. Nice song too. And then wham! Surprise!

And then there’s a complete shift in attitude, which I totally dig.

I adore discovering videos, books, TV shows, or movies that lead the viewer or reader in one direction and then divert them from the expected outcome, but in an understandable, logical way. (I hate movies that pull surprise endings completely out of nowhere.) If you know of any books or whatnot that use this technique successfully, send them on.

Enjoy!

His Good Opinion: Free on Kindle

My friend Nancy Kelley's book, His Good Opinion: A Mr. Darcy Novel, is free today on Amazon. Go download a copy and enjoy!

Tell her I sent you.

Sales Myths and Conundrums

Some ideas about sales are as realistic as this.

Why do some books sell and others remain stagnant? And how do sales cycles work? And what's the deal with Kindle Select? Is it worth it? Everyone with a stake in the publishing world has been trying to figure these things out. Now that I'm a seasoned self-publisher–ha! I've only been at this a year–I have some theories.

Reviews

For a while, I thought it was mainly positive reviews that created buzz and spurred sales. Now, I'm not discounting reviews as a very important factor in the success of a book, but I don't think they're the only factor. I've watched dozens of books take off up the sales charts with mediocre to poor reviews, and I've also heard reports of books experiencing a sales spike after they receive negative reviews. And I've watched well-reviewed books lose momentum. Don't get me wrong: I want people to enjoy my books. That's why I write them. I want to entertain. But one bad review isn't going to kill a book. However, an accumulation of reviews that are critical of the same thing–especially poor editing–will do real damage.

Visibility

People can't buy books they can't find, and it breaks my heart to see good books, especially those by my friends, languishing because of lack of marketing. Amazon is good, but you can't just upload a book and hope it sells. Experimentation is required in marketing in order to find what works best for you at the moment. That may mean ads, sponsorships, genre bestseller lists, book review blogs, or giveaways, but it's got to be out there. People have to be able to see it in order to buy it.

Sales Fluctuation

For a long time, I believed that once a book fell in the ranks, it was all over. I don't know if that was a hold over from the traditional publishing days when you had one month to make a book into a hit, or if it was just based on my fear of failure. But based on what I've observed, the idea that a book cannot recover if it slips in sales is untrue. I've watched lots of books go up and down over the past year. Sales fluctuate, and now I have actual numerical proof. All of my books has slipped and then recovered later. Sales fluctuate.

Kindle Select

I've given away all my books as free promotions on Kindle Select, and I've had fantastic results. In March, I experienced record sales income, which is truly staggering to me, and grown my Facebook page rather significantly. In contrast, I've watched other free promotions that did not result in the same sales. I'm not sure why. Maybe the markets for those books were smaller, or Amazon was slow that day. I don't know. But I'm starting to think that the more books you give away on the free day, the better the bounce later. That could be a natural result of larger markets or more attractive books, or it could be something built into the algorithm. Not sure.

So how to wrap up? Well, I guess my message with this blog is that none of us really have book sales figured out, and because of the rate of change in the indie pubbing industry, we will probably always be riding sales fluctuations and doing major marketing experiments. All I know for sure is that I appreciate everyone who has read one of my books. I love being able to share them–especially now that I can give them away for free so easily–with other people, and I hope you all enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy writing them.

All’s Quiet on the Blog

I apologize for neglecting my blog for the past week and a half. My grandmother passed away last week, and honestly, I just haven’t felt much like posting. My grandmother was a spitfire, and everyone who has read Death Benefits has met her in Mrs. Twilley, who was inspired by her. I don’t want to spoil the scene for anyone who hasn’t read the book, but my grandmother would have done the same thing if someone tried to force their way into her house.

I Call This "Research"

In other news, Riding Fear Free, the horseback riding book I’m cowriting with Laura Daley that I’ve been teasing for the past year and a half, is almost ready to head to my early readers and editors. I’m very excited about this project because the principles in this book not only changed the way I ride, but also the way I approach life. I think Laura is a fear genius, and I hope our book will help others. Plus, I get to call all my horse time “research.”

Edited to Add: Thursday is Darcy’s 18th birthday! She was bred and born “Call Me Crazy” in Georgia by Debra Hines, and I would love to connect with her one day and get some of Darcy’s baby pictures. Here’s a link to her pedigree online. Anyway, she’ll be getting her traditional birthday peppermints and also a pedicure and general pampering.

But I’m also still working on At Fault. In fact, I’m 1/5 of the way through the first draft, and I’m feeling good about the direction it’s heading: drag racing, fraud rings, and–of course–more Vincent. I hope you’ll be pleased too.

So in the remainder of 2012, I’ll be releasing Riding Fear Free and At Fault, and in 2013, there will definitely be another Southern Fraud Thriller and maybe another historical romance. We shall see how the spirit moves.