Mary Newman's Blog - Posts Tagged "amazon"

One of the fun things about being an avid reader, which I most definitely am, is writing reviews for those books I really enjoyed. I'm finally getting back to that. I'd taken a break from doing much more than the star rating here on Goodreads or Amazon.

One of my favorite authors, Alexa Land, had a problem a couple weeks ago with Amazon removing her reviews because they said they were written by "friends". This came down to Amazon looking at Goodreads and Facebook friends as I-know-you-well-visit-your-home-call-you-on-the-phone-regularly kind of friends. This completely ignored, of course, that most authors connect with their readers, and each other, through social media, as well as the fact that Alexa Land is a pen name. The situation got so out of hand they (Amazon) threatened Alexa with not being allowed to sell her books on their site because she was unfairly manipulating reviews. Yeah, a total crock. It was settled, by the way, but Amazon really didn't handle it well, as far as I'm concerned, and showed just how much they relied on faulty algorithms instead of human beings with a modicum of common sense.

That's the main reason I stopped writing any reviews for a period of time. I didn't want to get an author I enjoyed reading in trouble simply because we were "friends" on Facebook. For the record, I've never met any of my author friends from Facebook. Never attended an author's convention of any type and probably won't ever do so because I'm not comfortable around a lot of people. Yes, we interact on Facebook. Yes, we see each other's posts. But, do we know each other and would I be comfortable inviting them into my home? Probably not because I don't really "know" them, only their online persona.

I don't have my Amazon account connected to my Facebook account, but I'm sure through the world of cyberspace, since I only have one active email account, they do have a way of checking up on who my "friends" are and if I'm writing reviews for them. I have Goodreads and Facebook connected so I can share posts between the two. I'm no longer sure that's a smart thing, now, in light of the fact Amazon owns Goodreads.

Although, I am, once again, writing reviews; it is mostly just here on Goodreads and only if the book was especially awesome. I'm not sure I trust that I'm helping another author out by doing so, and I would never want my review to be seen as undeserved simply because I have "friended" them on a social network.

The really bad thing about this entire situation is that authors depend on reviews in getting their work noticed. They also have come to depend on Facebook, Goodreads, Twitter and other social networks as a means of advertising their books. For Amazon to take the stance they have, has effectively taken that form of advertising away from us, singling authors out of any other business who sells their wares on their site. I just don't see how that's a good thing, Amazon.

I've mentioned before that I was taking my books off of Kindle Unlimited, but I had no plans for offering the books on sites other than Amazon because I hadn't found a way to do so. At least one that was simple and easy. I finally discovered a way, thanks to input and suggestions from fellow authors.

This week, I started the process of adding my back list to Draft2Digital (D2D). Most of those books are now available on sites other than Amazon for the eBooks - iBooks, Kobo, Nook, Scribd, Inktera, and a couple of others. I've looked into offering the eBooks on All Romance, but decided to wait, since D2D is in the process of negotiating with them. If those negotiations fall through, I'll reconsider.

I'm all for keeping things simple and the easiest way to put up the buy links was to place them all on my website on the 'About' page. Here's the link: https://marynewmanauthor.wordpress.co...

A Warrior's Strength just ended it's final term on KU and is now in the process of being offered through D2D, as well. There are still two books on my back list: Love Awakened, which will fall off KU on 5/20, and The Healers Warrior, which will come off on 5/13. I'll start the D2D process for both of those books next month after that happens.

I'm hoping this new move will allow those who wanted to read my stories, but had their own reasons for not wanting to purchase from Amazon, that chance.