Jessica Russell's Blog, page 4
June 20, 2021
Do What’s Right for You
It never ceases to amaze me the things people like to fight about. I have seen so many writers getting into heated arguments with each other over what I refer to as the “dumbest things.” One topic is self-publishing versus traditional publishing. In a nutshell, who cares? One person may self-publish, another person may wait to become traditionally published, which may or may not ever happen, but regardless of which option anyone takes, why is it something to fight about?
There are valid reasons for wanting to do each type of publishing, those reasons are typically highly personal. Sometimes people who are very young argue about it and say that self-publishing is a waste of time and money. Well, when you’re 21, that may be true. If you’re 51 or 61, you may not want to wait any longer. So sometimes age plays into the decision.
Additionally, sometimes writers simply don’t want an editor somewhere completely rewriting their whole story. This happens a lot. Editors used to simply look for errors, uncover plot holes, or challenge the writer if things didn’t make sense. These days, a lot of editors essentially rewrite the author’s story, in which case the writer may choose to self-publishing order to keep control of the novel and make sure that the work being published is THEIR work. Editors are not ALWAYS right. They’re invaluable, but they’re not infallible.
A person may want to self publish simply to get the ball rolling because they don’t plan to make writing novels a career, it’s just something they do on the side. In that case, why wait and go through the agony of sending out query letter after query letter only to be ignored, which is what happens 90% of time. At any rate, there’s great reasons for doing both traditional publishing and there’s great reasons for opting for self-publishing, but no matter what, it is definitely nothing to fight about. Authors should spend more time perfecting their craft and less time telling other authors what to do. Make sense? Write on!
There are valid reasons for wanting to do each type of publishing, those reasons are typically highly personal. Sometimes people who are very young argue about it and say that self-publishing is a waste of time and money. Well, when you’re 21, that may be true. If you’re 51 or 61, you may not want to wait any longer. So sometimes age plays into the decision.
Additionally, sometimes writers simply don’t want an editor somewhere completely rewriting their whole story. This happens a lot. Editors used to simply look for errors, uncover plot holes, or challenge the writer if things didn’t make sense. These days, a lot of editors essentially rewrite the author’s story, in which case the writer may choose to self-publishing order to keep control of the novel and make sure that the work being published is THEIR work. Editors are not ALWAYS right. They’re invaluable, but they’re not infallible.
A person may want to self publish simply to get the ball rolling because they don’t plan to make writing novels a career, it’s just something they do on the side. In that case, why wait and go through the agony of sending out query letter after query letter only to be ignored, which is what happens 90% of time. At any rate, there’s great reasons for doing both traditional publishing and there’s great reasons for opting for self-publishing, but no matter what, it is definitely nothing to fight about. Authors should spend more time perfecting their craft and less time telling other authors what to do. Make sense? Write on!
June 19, 2021
Yes, You DO Need Writing Courses
With KDP and all the self-publishing options out there, many writers jump the gun and publish a book before they’re ready. It never ends well. Usually, they are sad and disappointed when the reviews are bad and the book never goes anywhere. Some things in life have to be done correctly, and writing a novel is one of them. In fact, I would be hard-pressed to think of ANY occupation where you don’t first have to learn how to do the job correctly before you can make money at it or establish yourself in the field.
It’s hard medicine for some writers to take, but yes, you do need some kind of college or creative writing courses to ensure that your work is good enough to compete on the book market. I understand that in this day and age of political correctness, we’re not supposed to tell anyone that anything is not up to standard, every student is supposed to get an A no matter how well they actually did in the course, and no one should have to do anything they don’t want to do or anything that they think is too hard. That’s great if we lived in Utopia, but we don’t.
The reality is that readers have a strong tendency to toss books aside if the writing is amateurish and full of mistakes. You need writing courses if you’re going to make a living writing. You don’t necessarily have to get a Master’s degree in English or a bachelor’s degree in journalism, but simply put, you DO have to know how to write. I stopped reading a book 25% of the way through the other day because there were so many issues with punctuation, grammar, sentence structure, and spelling mistakes that I couldn’t be bothered to continue. THAT is the reality of how most readers feel about substandard writing.
Very few readers will slog through juvenile dialogue, fragmented sentences, and punctuation problems to finish a book. They’re simply going to move on to another book. In fact, one of the reviews about the book I'm speaking of said this:
“Readers (like me) spend good money to read novels and I understand all books are not for all people. And I don’t expect to agree with every plot line. But I do believe all authors should at least take the time to polish their craft before putting it out there for the public to purchase. I feel cheated because of all the grammar errors, fragmented sentences, and juvenile dialogue.”
No, that was not my review. But quite frankly, if I would’ve seen it before reading the book, I wouldn’t have READ the book. THAT’S reality.
There are many ways around college if you don’t have the money to go. Lots of distance learning establishments offer courses in creative writing, English, or whatever it is you need to get your writing clean and error-free. Just having a “love for writing” is not enough to make your book a success. Have the patience and the perseverance to learn the necessary elements before you just throw a book out there. You’ll be glad you did.
It’s hard medicine for some writers to take, but yes, you do need some kind of college or creative writing courses to ensure that your work is good enough to compete on the book market. I understand that in this day and age of political correctness, we’re not supposed to tell anyone that anything is not up to standard, every student is supposed to get an A no matter how well they actually did in the course, and no one should have to do anything they don’t want to do or anything that they think is too hard. That’s great if we lived in Utopia, but we don’t.
The reality is that readers have a strong tendency to toss books aside if the writing is amateurish and full of mistakes. You need writing courses if you’re going to make a living writing. You don’t necessarily have to get a Master’s degree in English or a bachelor’s degree in journalism, but simply put, you DO have to know how to write. I stopped reading a book 25% of the way through the other day because there were so many issues with punctuation, grammar, sentence structure, and spelling mistakes that I couldn’t be bothered to continue. THAT is the reality of how most readers feel about substandard writing.
Very few readers will slog through juvenile dialogue, fragmented sentences, and punctuation problems to finish a book. They’re simply going to move on to another book. In fact, one of the reviews about the book I'm speaking of said this:
“Readers (like me) spend good money to read novels and I understand all books are not for all people. And I don’t expect to agree with every plot line. But I do believe all authors should at least take the time to polish their craft before putting it out there for the public to purchase. I feel cheated because of all the grammar errors, fragmented sentences, and juvenile dialogue.”
No, that was not my review. But quite frankly, if I would’ve seen it before reading the book, I wouldn’t have READ the book. THAT’S reality.
There are many ways around college if you don’t have the money to go. Lots of distance learning establishments offer courses in creative writing, English, or whatever it is you need to get your writing clean and error-free. Just having a “love for writing” is not enough to make your book a success. Have the patience and the perseverance to learn the necessary elements before you just throw a book out there. You’ll be glad you did.
June 18, 2021
It's Not How, it's Where
Being told to be careful with research is probably something you’ve heard 100 times. However, it bears repeating because sometimes you have an excellent story, multidimensional characters, surprise ending, and all the good stuff that makes up a great read. Nevertheless, your credibility can take a real hit if you’re not careful to get your facts straight. Of course, if you’re writing fantasy or sci-fi, that’s a different story. If you write historical fiction, crime or medical thrillers, etc., it’s important to get your facts straight. Otherwise, you create eye rolling moments in parts of your book, which is something no novelist ever wants to see happen!
The tip I would like to give concerns the source of your research. Most writers do some type of research, particularly if they’re writing historical fiction. However, sometimes your sources are the kiss of death. I’ve seen many novice writers go to places like Wikipedia, personal blogs, or even Snopes to get their facts. I’m not downing Wikipedia or Snopes, but they are not foolproof places to research facts for a novel. If it’s a historical novel, you may get some great information on Wikipedia or similar sites, but you also need to cross reference it with genuine history textbooks and sites like Smithsonian or history.org where the facts are vetted as much as possible.
I recently had someone go completely to the other side of the ditch and make this ridiculous statement “well, how do you know the historians are correct?” Okay, it’s true that historians probably made mistakes through the years, but if I’m researching facts for a novel and I’m using the same books that colleges use in their curriculum to hand out masters degrees in history, I think it’s safe that most of it is going to be accurate. No one can time travel, we just do the best we can.
So just know that there’s a big difference between sites that “contributors” can post on, leaving it up to the READERS to determine whether or not it’s accurate, and books and websites that are sourced back to true authority figures on the subject. Always make sure you use the latter, not the former. You will avoid many silly mistakes, some of which might make you look foolish in the eyes of your readers. Write on.
The tip I would like to give concerns the source of your research. Most writers do some type of research, particularly if they’re writing historical fiction. However, sometimes your sources are the kiss of death. I’ve seen many novice writers go to places like Wikipedia, personal blogs, or even Snopes to get their facts. I’m not downing Wikipedia or Snopes, but they are not foolproof places to research facts for a novel. If it’s a historical novel, you may get some great information on Wikipedia or similar sites, but you also need to cross reference it with genuine history textbooks and sites like Smithsonian or history.org where the facts are vetted as much as possible.
I recently had someone go completely to the other side of the ditch and make this ridiculous statement “well, how do you know the historians are correct?” Okay, it’s true that historians probably made mistakes through the years, but if I’m researching facts for a novel and I’m using the same books that colleges use in their curriculum to hand out masters degrees in history, I think it’s safe that most of it is going to be accurate. No one can time travel, we just do the best we can.
So just know that there’s a big difference between sites that “contributors” can post on, leaving it up to the READERS to determine whether or not it’s accurate, and books and websites that are sourced back to true authority figures on the subject. Always make sure you use the latter, not the former. You will avoid many silly mistakes, some of which might make you look foolish in the eyes of your readers. Write on.
June 17, 2021
Proceed With Caution When Choosing a Review Service
If you are an unknown author and spending money on advertising, here is some invaluable advice. When you're shopping for companies that offer legitimate reviews by readers who are genuinely interested in your book, ask these questions:
• Where are they located
• What is the members’ average age, and which genre are they interested in
It may not seem like these things have anything to do with the quality of the service, but they do. First of all, if your book is going to be offered to people worldwide, you must make sure that there are enough members of the community who speak fluent English (or whatever language your book is written in) so that you can be sure of getting accurate reviews.
Age is also important, because depending on your genre, the company may not be able to get anyone interested in reading your book. That recently happened to me when I did a secret shop: my book is historical fiction. It’s a murder mystery/romance set in 1600s England, and it is definitely not a Beach Read. Rather than being heavy on sex and weak on plot, it’s the exact opposite. It’s heavy on the plot and character development and it’s full of historical facts.
For this reason, my demographic is typically people 35 years of age or older who live in the UK or America. This ensures that they are mature enough to be interested in the book and can fluently read it in the language it is written in. Naturally, there are people all over the world who speak English, but if your book is written in English, you’re better off marketing to America and the UK simply because there will be a greater number of English speakers in those areas.
The Independent Author market has been flooded with fantasy and science fiction over the past 10 years. For this reason, many “review services” have communities made up of young adults who are interested in this type of book. That’s fantastic if that’s what you’ve written. For someone like me, it equates to spending a lot of money to get very little interest and not many reviews. So always check with the company to determine if they have members who are interested in your genre, whatever it may be.
I recently had a disastrous experience with the review service that I did the secret shop on. I found out to my dismay that the company was located in Egypt. Well, it was no small wonder that they couldn’t get much interest in my book. I wouldn’t choose a book either if it was in a language I didn’t speak! That’s not the members’ fault, that’s the person’s fault who signed me up for not disclosing that the company was located overseas. So asking those two simple questions can help immensely when you’re searching for legitimate review services. Find out if your book will be offered to the appropriate demographic and find out the location of the company before you dive in! Write on.
• Where are they located
• What is the members’ average age, and which genre are they interested in
It may not seem like these things have anything to do with the quality of the service, but they do. First of all, if your book is going to be offered to people worldwide, you must make sure that there are enough members of the community who speak fluent English (or whatever language your book is written in) so that you can be sure of getting accurate reviews.
Age is also important, because depending on your genre, the company may not be able to get anyone interested in reading your book. That recently happened to me when I did a secret shop: my book is historical fiction. It’s a murder mystery/romance set in 1600s England, and it is definitely not a Beach Read. Rather than being heavy on sex and weak on plot, it’s the exact opposite. It’s heavy on the plot and character development and it’s full of historical facts.
For this reason, my demographic is typically people 35 years of age or older who live in the UK or America. This ensures that they are mature enough to be interested in the book and can fluently read it in the language it is written in. Naturally, there are people all over the world who speak English, but if your book is written in English, you’re better off marketing to America and the UK simply because there will be a greater number of English speakers in those areas.
The Independent Author market has been flooded with fantasy and science fiction over the past 10 years. For this reason, many “review services” have communities made up of young adults who are interested in this type of book. That’s fantastic if that’s what you’ve written. For someone like me, it equates to spending a lot of money to get very little interest and not many reviews. So always check with the company to determine if they have members who are interested in your genre, whatever it may be.
I recently had a disastrous experience with the review service that I did the secret shop on. I found out to my dismay that the company was located in Egypt. Well, it was no small wonder that they couldn’t get much interest in my book. I wouldn’t choose a book either if it was in a language I didn’t speak! That’s not the members’ fault, that’s the person’s fault who signed me up for not disclosing that the company was located overseas. So asking those two simple questions can help immensely when you’re searching for legitimate review services. Find out if your book will be offered to the appropriate demographic and find out the location of the company before you dive in! Write on.
June 16, 2021
Don't ask for Favors
As writers, we naturally want people to read what we wrote. And it’s perfectly normal to begin with friends and family. But never go to someone and say “I need a favor, can you read this and give me your HONEST opinion?” Never give into the urge to say “I need you to critique this for me.” Etc. etc. The reason is because it’s not fair to the person you’re asking to read it and it’s not fair to you.
You are obviously proud of your work and you want people to have a good reaction to it. This is why you shouldn’t set yourself up for hurt feelings by using the “favor” method, because you’re essentially telling them to find flaws in your book. People will do what you tell them to in cases like this… they’ll read it with a critical eye and find flaws. Let’s face it, that’s NOT what you want. You went through all that already with the proofreader and the editor, and hopefully found all the flaws. What you REALLY want is for your friend/relative to read the darn book and enjoy it! So don’t ask them to read it in the frame of mind of “let’s find out what’s wrong with this book.” They’ll do exactly that, and you’ll be left deflated.
Secondly, it’s not fair to the READER, which might come as a surprise to you. Here’s why: if you tell someone to read something critically, they’re not reading it the way they would any other book… just to enjoy it. Instead, they’re reading it to find flaws. And find flaws they will. So their reading experience will be so-so. In fact, they will find flaws that aren’t even THERE, because that’s what you told them to do. This is a lose-lose for both the writer and the person doing the “favor.”
So be confident in your work and your skills and if there’s someone near and dear to your heart who you really want to read your book, just give it to him or her and say “this is my new book, would you like a copy to read?.” You will soon know if the person took it just to be polite. Three months go by and the person still hasn’t read it yet? Safe to say he or she is not interested. If the person reads it, the reaction may be to love it or hate it, but at least it will have been read with an open mind instead of from the standpoint of finding something wrong with. I know it’s hard to resist that urge to ask someone to “do you a favor,” but never demean your work that way. If you need an editor, hire one. Don’t pass off a book to a friend or relative under the guise of needing them to critique it. Just hand it to the person with confidence and let the rest take care of itself.
You are obviously proud of your work and you want people to have a good reaction to it. This is why you shouldn’t set yourself up for hurt feelings by using the “favor” method, because you’re essentially telling them to find flaws in your book. People will do what you tell them to in cases like this… they’ll read it with a critical eye and find flaws. Let’s face it, that’s NOT what you want. You went through all that already with the proofreader and the editor, and hopefully found all the flaws. What you REALLY want is for your friend/relative to read the darn book and enjoy it! So don’t ask them to read it in the frame of mind of “let’s find out what’s wrong with this book.” They’ll do exactly that, and you’ll be left deflated.
Secondly, it’s not fair to the READER, which might come as a surprise to you. Here’s why: if you tell someone to read something critically, they’re not reading it the way they would any other book… just to enjoy it. Instead, they’re reading it to find flaws. And find flaws they will. So their reading experience will be so-so. In fact, they will find flaws that aren’t even THERE, because that’s what you told them to do. This is a lose-lose for both the writer and the person doing the “favor.”
So be confident in your work and your skills and if there’s someone near and dear to your heart who you really want to read your book, just give it to him or her and say “this is my new book, would you like a copy to read?.” You will soon know if the person took it just to be polite. Three months go by and the person still hasn’t read it yet? Safe to say he or she is not interested. If the person reads it, the reaction may be to love it or hate it, but at least it will have been read with an open mind instead of from the standpoint of finding something wrong with. I know it’s hard to resist that urge to ask someone to “do you a favor,” but never demean your work that way. If you need an editor, hire one. Don’t pass off a book to a friend or relative under the guise of needing them to critique it. Just hand it to the person with confidence and let the rest take care of itself.
June 13, 2021
Fans and Other Beings
A trap I’ve seen a lot of writers fall into, especially new ones, is to sit there wondering why they don’t have more momentum since they have so many “fans.” I think this is primarily a conceptual interpretation problem. Believe it or not, I think a lot of people just don’t know what a fan actually is.
You can have a mailing list that just won’t quit. You may have hundreds or thousands of people who get your newsletter every month. You may have your own YouTube channel or podcast with a decent number of followers. You may have thousands and thousands of social media “friends.” Unfortunately, that’s not a fan base for your book. Especially if all those people were in place BEFORE you even wrote it.
Fans are very specific people. Number one, as elementary as it may sound, they have to be people who read your book. Everyone on your mailing list, all your social media connections, and your podcast and blog subscribers probably didn’t read your book, did they? Therefore, they can’t all be fans.
Fans are people who read and enjoyed your novel, are interested in you as the author, and are hoping for more of the same in the future. Ask yourself how many of THOSE there are. If you’re just starting out, it’s probably not that many. But never let that discourage you. A certain percentage of people who read your book will like it. It may be a large percentage or it may be a small percentage, but you WILL get fans if your book gets read. So don’t put the cart before the horse, focus on getting your book READ as opposed to trying to get fans based on your “resume.” It just doesn’t work that way.
Even your author page on Amazon is irrelevant until someone likes your BOOK. Once they like the book, THEN they want to know more about YOU. If you’re trying to do it the other way around, well, that’s only going to work with mom.
Selling books is all about marketing and distribution. Once sales are where they should be, fans will be there too. As far as reviews? Good luck and God bless you with that one. Even most fans don’t leave reviews. Not sure why. But that’s a topic for another day. Properly market and distribute your book, and this time next year, you will have fans. I guarantee it. Write on!
You can have a mailing list that just won’t quit. You may have hundreds or thousands of people who get your newsletter every month. You may have your own YouTube channel or podcast with a decent number of followers. You may have thousands and thousands of social media “friends.” Unfortunately, that’s not a fan base for your book. Especially if all those people were in place BEFORE you even wrote it.
Fans are very specific people. Number one, as elementary as it may sound, they have to be people who read your book. Everyone on your mailing list, all your social media connections, and your podcast and blog subscribers probably didn’t read your book, did they? Therefore, they can’t all be fans.
Fans are people who read and enjoyed your novel, are interested in you as the author, and are hoping for more of the same in the future. Ask yourself how many of THOSE there are. If you’re just starting out, it’s probably not that many. But never let that discourage you. A certain percentage of people who read your book will like it. It may be a large percentage or it may be a small percentage, but you WILL get fans if your book gets read. So don’t put the cart before the horse, focus on getting your book READ as opposed to trying to get fans based on your “resume.” It just doesn’t work that way.
Even your author page on Amazon is irrelevant until someone likes your BOOK. Once they like the book, THEN they want to know more about YOU. If you’re trying to do it the other way around, well, that’s only going to work with mom.
Selling books is all about marketing and distribution. Once sales are where they should be, fans will be there too. As far as reviews? Good luck and God bless you with that one. Even most fans don’t leave reviews. Not sure why. But that’s a topic for another day. Properly market and distribute your book, and this time next year, you will have fans. I guarantee it. Write on!
June 10, 2021
How to Easily Spot Fake Reviews
There are legitimate review services out there that have professionals read and review your book and publish their reviews to your Amazon author page. Such services aren’t cheap but they are sometimes helpful for newly published authors. My main message today, however, is buyer beware. Even some of the most reputable review companies are slipping these days. In fact, I did a “secret shop” on one of them recently and ended up asking them NOT to post the reviews that I paid good money for. I know right in this second you are all thinking that’s because it was a bad review.
It was not.
It was a FIVE STAR review full of compliments for me and lovely descriptive phrases. However, I didn’t want it published because I knew the reviewer didn’t really read the book. You never want an inaccurate review even if the reader gives you five stars. Accuracy is more important than rating.
In one section of my book the heroine, Catherine, leaves England for France but mitigating circumstances make her return. The leading man, Julian, welcomes her with open arms. He rolls out the red carpet, treats her like a china doll, caters to her every whim and she falls all over him in gratitude. Yet the supposed reviewer described that section of the book as “Julian and Catherine spending most of their time fighting like cats and dogs until the book’s last chapter.”
Yes, this was a reputable review service with a good online rating. I’d love someone to tell me how anyone could possibly describe what I wrote above as two people fighting like a cat and a dog.
The “reviewer” was taking a gamble: in most historical mysteries that have romance subplots, the leading pair spend their time fighting like enemies until the last 20 pages when they suddenly realize they can’t live without each other. That’s one way to spot a fake review. If the reviewer is obviously taking an educated guess based on the “typical” storyline in your genre, it’s fake.
Why a professional service would let that happen I don’t know, but if you can believe this, I gave them three shots and all three were fake. One described the leading lady as a “spitfire prone to temper tantrums.” Well, once again, that’s probably accurate in 95% of the nonsense romances out there. Unfortunately for that reviewer, mine isn’t one of them. My leading lady was refined, quiet, and a thinker as opposed to someone prone to emotional outbursts. So all three reviews were five star, but fake. I told them NOT to publish them. I don’t need a few more 5 stars at the expense of having wholly inaccurate info. being posted about my book and neither do you!
In addition to professional services, there are also people who review books simply to get points in a book club or hit a certain level as a top reviewer on Amazon. Something they do on a regular basis–and they all think they invented it, but they didn’t–is what we call in my line of work “spinning.”
I write web content for a living and a very short and concise example of spinning is this: suppose you get an order from a travel client for a blog on the best vacation destinations in Brazil. To use “spinning,” all you would do is go to a competitor’s website, pick yourself out a nice article from that site and rewrite it. By rewriting it I mean simply changing the word order around, swapping out adjectives and adverbs, and essentially giving the client the exact same information that’s in another article rather than researching and writing the original piece he/she is paying for. You change it just enough so it passes copyscape. (Copyscape is the Web’s plagiarism checker tool.)
Behold, spinning. It’s called a black hat tactic in my line of work and no professional ever does it.
Well, people who write fake reviews often use this very same tactic and it’s obvious when they do. Tip: if you see a “review” and every single line of that review is something that can be gleaned from the summary–or copied from another review–it’s highly unlikely that that person read the book. The odds are just north of impossible for someone to read an entire novel and not have one original thought about the story other than the facts in the summary. So reviews are important, yes, but don’t let anyone publish fake reviews for your book if you can help it. They are an embarrassment, and to web content writers out there like myself, their fakeness is painfully obvious. Write on!
It was not.
It was a FIVE STAR review full of compliments for me and lovely descriptive phrases. However, I didn’t want it published because I knew the reviewer didn’t really read the book. You never want an inaccurate review even if the reader gives you five stars. Accuracy is more important than rating.
In one section of my book the heroine, Catherine, leaves England for France but mitigating circumstances make her return. The leading man, Julian, welcomes her with open arms. He rolls out the red carpet, treats her like a china doll, caters to her every whim and she falls all over him in gratitude. Yet the supposed reviewer described that section of the book as “Julian and Catherine spending most of their time fighting like cats and dogs until the book’s last chapter.”
Yes, this was a reputable review service with a good online rating. I’d love someone to tell me how anyone could possibly describe what I wrote above as two people fighting like a cat and a dog.
The “reviewer” was taking a gamble: in most historical mysteries that have romance subplots, the leading pair spend their time fighting like enemies until the last 20 pages when they suddenly realize they can’t live without each other. That’s one way to spot a fake review. If the reviewer is obviously taking an educated guess based on the “typical” storyline in your genre, it’s fake.
Why a professional service would let that happen I don’t know, but if you can believe this, I gave them three shots and all three were fake. One described the leading lady as a “spitfire prone to temper tantrums.” Well, once again, that’s probably accurate in 95% of the nonsense romances out there. Unfortunately for that reviewer, mine isn’t one of them. My leading lady was refined, quiet, and a thinker as opposed to someone prone to emotional outbursts. So all three reviews were five star, but fake. I told them NOT to publish them. I don’t need a few more 5 stars at the expense of having wholly inaccurate info. being posted about my book and neither do you!
In addition to professional services, there are also people who review books simply to get points in a book club or hit a certain level as a top reviewer on Amazon. Something they do on a regular basis–and they all think they invented it, but they didn’t–is what we call in my line of work “spinning.”
I write web content for a living and a very short and concise example of spinning is this: suppose you get an order from a travel client for a blog on the best vacation destinations in Brazil. To use “spinning,” all you would do is go to a competitor’s website, pick yourself out a nice article from that site and rewrite it. By rewriting it I mean simply changing the word order around, swapping out adjectives and adverbs, and essentially giving the client the exact same information that’s in another article rather than researching and writing the original piece he/she is paying for. You change it just enough so it passes copyscape. (Copyscape is the Web’s plagiarism checker tool.)
Behold, spinning. It’s called a black hat tactic in my line of work and no professional ever does it.
Well, people who write fake reviews often use this very same tactic and it’s obvious when they do. Tip: if you see a “review” and every single line of that review is something that can be gleaned from the summary–or copied from another review–it’s highly unlikely that that person read the book. The odds are just north of impossible for someone to read an entire novel and not have one original thought about the story other than the facts in the summary. So reviews are important, yes, but don’t let anyone publish fake reviews for your book if you can help it. They are an embarrassment, and to web content writers out there like myself, their fakeness is painfully obvious. Write on!
June 7, 2021
Naivety is Dangerous
Don’t be naïve with advertising! If you’ve recently published a book and you’re anxious to get it in people’s hands, rest assured there’s hundreds of thousands of authors who feel the exact same way. Nevertheless, it is extremely important to avoid falling for solicitations that promise you the moon and stars. Let’s just clear one thing up from the beginning: no one can rank you in the top 1000 on Amazon. The only entity who can do that for you is Amazon. An unknown author is not going to suddenly catapult to top ranking on a monster merchant site. Slow and steady wins the race.
However, as soon as your book is out, you will get solicitation after solicitation telling you how people used this service or that service and were suddenly catapulted to stardom. They’re not telling you the truth. Advertising is important, but it’s up to you to make sure you’re using legitimate services. You can buy Amazon ads, twitter ads, Facebook ads, or pay to have your book added to the “shelves” of legitimate services such as BookBub. You can also go on podcasts, hold local events, or go through any other legitimate avenue to get your book in front of the best eyes, but one thing all those methods have in common is that you are paying for a specific service.
Solicitations that show up from merchants with whom you’re unfamiliar should be regarded as suspicious and ignored. This is because legitimate advertising sources don’t have to spam new authors with personal messages through Twitter. Writers go looking for THEM because they have a reputation.
Facebook doesn’t send you a message from a personal account saying “Hey, I’m passionate about helping other writers succeed, for only XXX dollars we can rank you in the top 100 on Amazon, give us the money and we'll show you the “secret.” Can you imagine Amazon doing that?
No, you have to go looking for THEM. Unsolicited messages telling you about “wonderful opportunities” should always be ignored. You’re just going to lose money if you trust them, and even if there is one legitimate one in every 50, it’s not worth playing the guessing game to figure out who’s who. Stick with trusted advertising sources you know, even if they're more expensive. It’s better to pay more money and get something for it than to pay less and end up with nothing. Write on!
However, as soon as your book is out, you will get solicitation after solicitation telling you how people used this service or that service and were suddenly catapulted to stardom. They’re not telling you the truth. Advertising is important, but it’s up to you to make sure you’re using legitimate services. You can buy Amazon ads, twitter ads, Facebook ads, or pay to have your book added to the “shelves” of legitimate services such as BookBub. You can also go on podcasts, hold local events, or go through any other legitimate avenue to get your book in front of the best eyes, but one thing all those methods have in common is that you are paying for a specific service.
Solicitations that show up from merchants with whom you’re unfamiliar should be regarded as suspicious and ignored. This is because legitimate advertising sources don’t have to spam new authors with personal messages through Twitter. Writers go looking for THEM because they have a reputation.
Facebook doesn’t send you a message from a personal account saying “Hey, I’m passionate about helping other writers succeed, for only XXX dollars we can rank you in the top 100 on Amazon, give us the money and we'll show you the “secret.” Can you imagine Amazon doing that?
No, you have to go looking for THEM. Unsolicited messages telling you about “wonderful opportunities” should always be ignored. You’re just going to lose money if you trust them, and even if there is one legitimate one in every 50, it’s not worth playing the guessing game to figure out who’s who. Stick with trusted advertising sources you know, even if they're more expensive. It’s better to pay more money and get something for it than to pay less and end up with nothing. Write on!
June 6, 2021
Are Mailing Lists Really Worth it?
For decades mailing lists have been touted as a top way to sell anything. Not surprisingly, many people say this is also true concerning books. If you’re an author who released a novel in the last year or so, you probably have some kind of reader mailing list built up, and I’m sure you used it to advertise your book. I also have a hunch you might’ve been a little bit surprised with the lackluster results. Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying that mailing lists are useless. A contact is a contact is a contact. However, don’t delude yourself into thinking that building a massive mailing list is the solution to every advertising/sales problem you have. It’s not.
To prove my point, think about how many things you willingly signed up for and then take note of how many times you actually read what you receive from that particular merchant. More to the point, how many times do you ever actually make a purchase on impulse from an email solicitation? And these are typically vendors that you signed up with.
After all, most people don’t get unsolicited emails. Usually at some point you had signed up for SOMETHING in order to get on that person’s list. But how interested were you? Maybe you signed up because you couldn’t advance further on the website without giving an email. Maybe you couldn’t make a comment on something unless you created an account, and then bingo, your name was sold to other merchants. There’s a million reasons you might be on a mailing list, but when you look at the volume of inbox pieces you get every day, versus the ones you actually read, and even fewer, the ones you actually make a purchase from, I bet it’s a minuscule minority.
Unfortunately, that’s the same way it works with reader lists. You may have hundreds or even thousands of email addresses from people who read books, but when you did your big email blast after your book launch, how many sales actually tracked back to that list? If you got a lot, then stick with it, it’s working for you! But if you didn’t, focus on a different type of advertising.
The bottom line is, growing a list just to say you have a big list doesn’t do anything to advance your career unless the people on the list are buying your book. So go look at your email stats and see if it’s worth it to continue frantically collecting emails or if it would be better to move on to a different type of advertising. Just food for thought. Write on!
To prove my point, think about how many things you willingly signed up for and then take note of how many times you actually read what you receive from that particular merchant. More to the point, how many times do you ever actually make a purchase on impulse from an email solicitation? And these are typically vendors that you signed up with.
After all, most people don’t get unsolicited emails. Usually at some point you had signed up for SOMETHING in order to get on that person’s list. But how interested were you? Maybe you signed up because you couldn’t advance further on the website without giving an email. Maybe you couldn’t make a comment on something unless you created an account, and then bingo, your name was sold to other merchants. There’s a million reasons you might be on a mailing list, but when you look at the volume of inbox pieces you get every day, versus the ones you actually read, and even fewer, the ones you actually make a purchase from, I bet it’s a minuscule minority.
Unfortunately, that’s the same way it works with reader lists. You may have hundreds or even thousands of email addresses from people who read books, but when you did your big email blast after your book launch, how many sales actually tracked back to that list? If you got a lot, then stick with it, it’s working for you! But if you didn’t, focus on a different type of advertising.
The bottom line is, growing a list just to say you have a big list doesn’t do anything to advance your career unless the people on the list are buying your book. So go look at your email stats and see if it’s worth it to continue frantically collecting emails or if it would be better to move on to a different type of advertising. Just food for thought. Write on!
June 5, 2021
Hitting the Target
Sorry, peeps, it's been a long week, but as promised, I will quickly cover targeted advertising today. As a recently published novelist, you are likely advertising as much as possible, according to what your budget allows. However, pinpointing your exact demographic is one of the most important, as well as the most overlooked, tasks when it comes to book promotions.
Like most people, you probably receive tons of unsolicited ads for marketing, and trust me, they will ALL look good. Unfortunately, most of them are a waste of time and a waste of money. The reason is because they are too general. For example, many people who have built tremendous followings on Twitter and Facebook offer to “Tweet your book to 50,000 followers” or “advertise your book on four different Facebook pages.” It sounds great at first, but the questions you have to ask are WHO are they tweeting to? What type of followers do their Facebook pages HAVE? For example, if you are like me and you wrote a historical fiction book, it will do you little or no good to have it tweeted to 50,000 people on Twitter if they are all under 25 and their primary interest is Fantasy or Sci-Fi.
It’s not just a numbers game, it’s a Who’s Who? game. In another scenario, say you ARE that Fantasy or Sci-Fi writer and you pay to have your book advertised on several different Facebook pages, but the primary following for those pages are fans of the True Crime genre. Most of you probably know what I’m getting now. Getting your book in front of potential readers is vitally important, but you have to remember that the name of the game is quality over quantity.
It would be far better to run an ad that targeted only several thousand people who are interested in your specific genre than to pay to advertise to 50,000 people in a general audience. You could end up inadvertently bypassing your entire demographic and paying to have your book marketed to people who have absolutely no interest in that type of novel.
Regardless of which advertising venue you choose, make sure that you can pinpoint the demographic. If it is the type of ad that cannot be targeted, pass it up! It may not be politically correct anymore, but every type of novel has a specific market, and you need to target that market in order to get the most for your advertising dollars! Write on!
Like most people, you probably receive tons of unsolicited ads for marketing, and trust me, they will ALL look good. Unfortunately, most of them are a waste of time and a waste of money. The reason is because they are too general. For example, many people who have built tremendous followings on Twitter and Facebook offer to “Tweet your book to 50,000 followers” or “advertise your book on four different Facebook pages.” It sounds great at first, but the questions you have to ask are WHO are they tweeting to? What type of followers do their Facebook pages HAVE? For example, if you are like me and you wrote a historical fiction book, it will do you little or no good to have it tweeted to 50,000 people on Twitter if they are all under 25 and their primary interest is Fantasy or Sci-Fi.
It’s not just a numbers game, it’s a Who’s Who? game. In another scenario, say you ARE that Fantasy or Sci-Fi writer and you pay to have your book advertised on several different Facebook pages, but the primary following for those pages are fans of the True Crime genre. Most of you probably know what I’m getting now. Getting your book in front of potential readers is vitally important, but you have to remember that the name of the game is quality over quantity.
It would be far better to run an ad that targeted only several thousand people who are interested in your specific genre than to pay to advertise to 50,000 people in a general audience. You could end up inadvertently bypassing your entire demographic and paying to have your book marketed to people who have absolutely no interest in that type of novel.
Regardless of which advertising venue you choose, make sure that you can pinpoint the demographic. If it is the type of ad that cannot be targeted, pass it up! It may not be politically correct anymore, but every type of novel has a specific market, and you need to target that market in order to get the most for your advertising dollars! Write on!
