Jessica Russell's Blog, page 8
March 26, 2021
The Cart Before the Horse
Just a quick post today! There's nothing wrong with giving one of your books away for free here and there if you really want to. However, nothing smells stronger of desperation than running after people giving them free books in exchange for reviews. You immediately devalue your work: great things are worth the price. Therefore, you are instantly creating a situation where the person is subconsciously thinking "how good could it be if he/she has to GIVE it away?" Focus on driving traffic to the sites where your book is sold, and reviews will eventually take care of themselves. Don't put the cart before the horse by giving your work away. It took you a long time to create your novel. Don't stamp "desperate" on your forehead after all that blood sweat and tears. Schedule book signings, do podcasts, advertise, get a good book trailer made and post it on social media, but don't devalue your work by handing it away for free!
January 21, 2021
Breathe
There is an amazing number of posts everywhere you look concerning all sorts of "critical" do's and don'ts that will supposedly make or break a new author. Here is the actual truth: SOME things literally only matter to editors. I have nothing against editors, they're doing their job. However, the Oxford comma, opening a chapter with weather, using "smiling" words or sneaking in a split infinitive are not things that any reader anywhere, to the best of my knowledge, has EVER cared about. Proper spelling, grammar, and punctuation are important. Beyond that, there's no reason to drive yourself crazy with all kinds of nitpicky nonsense because you're convinced that the "experts" will find flaws in your writing. All books need editing and proofreading, but ultimately, you are not selling your book to editors, you're selling it to READERS. And readers don't care about the Oxford comma. Readers care whether or not the darn story is any good. Focus on weaving a good tale and when it comes to whether or not to use a semicolon, take a nice deep breath, flip a coin, and keep writing. :)
October 25, 2020
Beware
I can't speak for any other self-published authors, but this has been MY experience with a company called PUBBY:
Pubby has what is perhaps a good business model, where readers and writers pay to join a community and earn “snaps” for reading and reviewing other authors’ books. The "snaps" can then be used to have YOUR book read and reviewed. You never “exchange” reviews with another author. If one person read your book, then their book does not come up in the feed for you to read. Sounds good at first, because Amazon strictly forbids authors from exchanging reviews just to do each other a favor. It sounded like a legitimate way to read and review new books and have mine read and reviewed. Where the program unravels in a very negative way is as follows:
From what I can tell, most Pubby members absolutely do not read one word of the books they are reviewing. This became apparent to me very quickly. The very first review, which was written by a college-age boy, who I’m not surprised wasn’t really interested in historical fiction, contained gross errors. By that, I do not mean he gave me a low rating. He actually gave me a very high star rating, BUT...the information he listed was wholly inaccurate. He named one of the characters and said that the story was primarily about that character, when in reality, that character was killed off in the first chapter.
He then compared the story to Romeo and Juliet, when it had absolutely zero similarities to that famous tale. LOL. He then stated that the female protagonist had to “deal with a man she didn’t like in order to solve personal issues,” which is absolutely not similar to anything that took place in my book. After that, about TEN other Pubby members simply repeated and reworded this person's "review" and I can only reach one conclusion from that: very few members are actually reading these books, they’re just reading other reviews and repeating what is said in those, and they don’t realize it’s inaccurate information because they never read the book to find out! No one who read my novel would think any of the things that were listed in that first review, yet MANY people copied that information.
I even went to the text box where we can leave a message for our readers and I BEGGED Pubby members to stop repeating inaccurate information from other reviews, and after that it got even worse. So I’m assuming this is a bunch of young kids who think they’re being cute to do the opposite of what you asked. And all I asked is that they actually read the book before they post a review. There is also something called a “recommended reader,” which costs you MORE money and you supposedly get only readers who are interested in your genre. I paid the extra money and primarily got boys from 18 to 22 years old. I DON’T think that’s the main demographic for historical mystery-romance. Just a hunch.
Talking to the staff of this company got me nowhere and the last straw was when the most recent review was literally a word-for-word copy of a review that was already written. THAT kind of stuff can get you in big trouble with Amazon because they think you’re just out there paying for fake reviews, which was not my intention. I was naïve enough to think that this “community of readers and writers” were actually going to be reading each other’s books. I guess you live and learn. *sigh* In all good conscience I have to say AVOID Pubby!
Pubby has what is perhaps a good business model, where readers and writers pay to join a community and earn “snaps” for reading and reviewing other authors’ books. The "snaps" can then be used to have YOUR book read and reviewed. You never “exchange” reviews with another author. If one person read your book, then their book does not come up in the feed for you to read. Sounds good at first, because Amazon strictly forbids authors from exchanging reviews just to do each other a favor. It sounded like a legitimate way to read and review new books and have mine read and reviewed. Where the program unravels in a very negative way is as follows:
From what I can tell, most Pubby members absolutely do not read one word of the books they are reviewing. This became apparent to me very quickly. The very first review, which was written by a college-age boy, who I’m not surprised wasn’t really interested in historical fiction, contained gross errors. By that, I do not mean he gave me a low rating. He actually gave me a very high star rating, BUT...the information he listed was wholly inaccurate. He named one of the characters and said that the story was primarily about that character, when in reality, that character was killed off in the first chapter.
He then compared the story to Romeo and Juliet, when it had absolutely zero similarities to that famous tale. LOL. He then stated that the female protagonist had to “deal with a man she didn’t like in order to solve personal issues,” which is absolutely not similar to anything that took place in my book. After that, about TEN other Pubby members simply repeated and reworded this person's "review" and I can only reach one conclusion from that: very few members are actually reading these books, they’re just reading other reviews and repeating what is said in those, and they don’t realize it’s inaccurate information because they never read the book to find out! No one who read my novel would think any of the things that were listed in that first review, yet MANY people copied that information.
I even went to the text box where we can leave a message for our readers and I BEGGED Pubby members to stop repeating inaccurate information from other reviews, and after that it got even worse. So I’m assuming this is a bunch of young kids who think they’re being cute to do the opposite of what you asked. And all I asked is that they actually read the book before they post a review. There is also something called a “recommended reader,” which costs you MORE money and you supposedly get only readers who are interested in your genre. I paid the extra money and primarily got boys from 18 to 22 years old. I DON’T think that’s the main demographic for historical mystery-romance. Just a hunch.
Talking to the staff of this company got me nowhere and the last straw was when the most recent review was literally a word-for-word copy of a review that was already written. THAT kind of stuff can get you in big trouble with Amazon because they think you’re just out there paying for fake reviews, which was not my intention. I was naïve enough to think that this “community of readers and writers” were actually going to be reading each other’s books. I guess you live and learn. *sigh* In all good conscience I have to say AVOID Pubby!
October 11, 2020
There is a Market for Every Book
I call my recently published book “the kind of fiction no one writes anymore.” There was a time when authors such as Victoria Holt, Elizabeth Peters, and a host of other writers dominated the genre of Historical Fiction/Romance/Mystery. Over time, graphic sex began to dominate that genre instead. Many books in the Historical Romance category suddenly offered nothing more than flat, cookie-cutter characters that were the same from one novel to the next, with the primary emphasis placed on multiple scenes of graphic sex. I have nothing against erotica, but I think books like that probably belong in the erotica category, rather than the category of historical fiction or historical romance.
The novel I wrote has a very strong love story that I’m told brought several people to tears. However, the main emphasis is on the characters and why they do what they do, as opposed to what the characters do in bed. I was surprised at how well it started to do on various sites and the many comments I’ve received thanking me for a book that is rich in history, features multidimensional characters, and offers a strong mystery plot as opposed to multiple sex scenes, a weak storyline and a few historical facts thrown in just to make it fit the category. I really hope I have reached readers out there who think no one writes these kinds of books anymore, because there are plenty of us out here to do and we are trying to be heard. If you’re looking for a story that’s meaty as opposed to fleshy, this is the book for you!
https://www.amazon.com/Hot-Winter-Sun...
The novel I wrote has a very strong love story that I’m told brought several people to tears. However, the main emphasis is on the characters and why they do what they do, as opposed to what the characters do in bed. I was surprised at how well it started to do on various sites and the many comments I’ve received thanking me for a book that is rich in history, features multidimensional characters, and offers a strong mystery plot as opposed to multiple sex scenes, a weak storyline and a few historical facts thrown in just to make it fit the category. I really hope I have reached readers out there who think no one writes these kinds of books anymore, because there are plenty of us out here to do and we are trying to be heard. If you’re looking for a story that’s meaty as opposed to fleshy, this is the book for you!
https://www.amazon.com/Hot-Winter-Sun...
