How I Rediscovered Amazon
Over the past few months, I did some evaluation of being an author at this point in my life and I began to get over my fear of bad reviews. I'll be honest, nothing rankles me more than the unfairness of a bad review that isn't deserved. (Wait, there is one thing that is more annoying, and that is when unworthy books get good reviews!) And when a combination occurs, such as my books being criticized while works that aren't better are praised like bread that can't ever be buttered enough, it has been enough to make me distrust the review process.
I hope that everyone reading this understands that those books, like heavily buttered bread, are likely to be toast. :)
I'm fine with a book being praised if it is superior to the book that was trashed. I am perfectly comfortable with other people being praised instead of me if they really deserve it. This is like feeling ok when other people are in relationships and you're not. I am single and I am not sitting around being miserable about it. It's also true that some of my books have received good ratings, and they are much better than the books that have lower star ratings. But when that nightmare situation happens--Book A, by me, is treated as if it were much lesser than Book B, which is in no way superior--I become uncertain about continuing to interact with readers. It's clear that judging the storytelling is on a backburner with them compared to other activities over which I have no control and which shouldn't obtrude themselves on my work.
But last week I went into Amazon again for the first time in years--not with flight syndrome about comparing my books to others or even comparing my books to each other. I just examined the book section as if I was new to reading, like a potential audience for a book--an increasingly disengaged, only-reads-a-little-bit type of reader. In short, the way most people browse Amazon books. It was both eye-opening and fun. I really, really enjoyed it. After looking at each genre, I noticed readership patterns, types of books that were popular, and levels of engagement with entire genres that surprised me. (Some have MUCH less than you'd think, some much more.)
I found myself in the Teen and Young Adult Category, which is how I've marketed myself over the past year and in fact for basically all my writing career. But a problem arose as I noticed that three of my books didn't really fit into the category. Ryan and Essie is a children's book, a genre I don't normally write as I have no dedicated interest in the category and this book was a one-time event. Facets of Fantasy is a speculative anthology more for adults than adolescents, a genre I have always had interest in, but it's not broad enough for me to write a lot more. And Bellevere House is mainstream (for adults) Literature and Fiction, specifically in the Adaptations category which is 90% Jane Austen retellings. The book is out of step with my other works and has no relevance to them since I only wrote it to spend time with some friends I knew years ago. So for various reasons, these three books keep my marketing from being sufficiently focused on a category.
These books have not been deleted. They are still available for sale on all digital storefronts and I have added hardcover editions of them on Amazon along with the hardcovers for all my other books. I simply mean I am removing them as part of my overall author image. For instance, they don't appear on my website; they won't be featured in any new stories that use characters from my books (after consideration, I have changed my mind from a few months ago when I planned to use more elements from Bellevere); and they will not be promoted through review or book promotion sites. While these books are fine in themselves, it's important not to confuse a new reader about what you are offering. I need to be very clearly a Young Adult Author. If after they feel comfortable with me, readers want to branch out and explore some of these more unusual titles of mine, all well and good. But the easiest way to lose readers is for them to be uncertain that you are even focused on them at all.
And there will be more updates.
I hope that everyone reading this understands that those books, like heavily buttered bread, are likely to be toast. :)
I'm fine with a book being praised if it is superior to the book that was trashed. I am perfectly comfortable with other people being praised instead of me if they really deserve it. This is like feeling ok when other people are in relationships and you're not. I am single and I am not sitting around being miserable about it. It's also true that some of my books have received good ratings, and they are much better than the books that have lower star ratings. But when that nightmare situation happens--Book A, by me, is treated as if it were much lesser than Book B, which is in no way superior--I become uncertain about continuing to interact with readers. It's clear that judging the storytelling is on a backburner with them compared to other activities over which I have no control and which shouldn't obtrude themselves on my work.
But last week I went into Amazon again for the first time in years--not with flight syndrome about comparing my books to others or even comparing my books to each other. I just examined the book section as if I was new to reading, like a potential audience for a book--an increasingly disengaged, only-reads-a-little-bit type of reader. In short, the way most people browse Amazon books. It was both eye-opening and fun. I really, really enjoyed it. After looking at each genre, I noticed readership patterns, types of books that were popular, and levels of engagement with entire genres that surprised me. (Some have MUCH less than you'd think, some much more.)
I found myself in the Teen and Young Adult Category, which is how I've marketed myself over the past year and in fact for basically all my writing career. But a problem arose as I noticed that three of my books didn't really fit into the category. Ryan and Essie is a children's book, a genre I don't normally write as I have no dedicated interest in the category and this book was a one-time event. Facets of Fantasy is a speculative anthology more for adults than adolescents, a genre I have always had interest in, but it's not broad enough for me to write a lot more. And Bellevere House is mainstream (for adults) Literature and Fiction, specifically in the Adaptations category which is 90% Jane Austen retellings. The book is out of step with my other works and has no relevance to them since I only wrote it to spend time with some friends I knew years ago. So for various reasons, these three books keep my marketing from being sufficiently focused on a category.
These books have not been deleted. They are still available for sale on all digital storefronts and I have added hardcover editions of them on Amazon along with the hardcovers for all my other books. I simply mean I am removing them as part of my overall author image. For instance, they don't appear on my website; they won't be featured in any new stories that use characters from my books (after consideration, I have changed my mind from a few months ago when I planned to use more elements from Bellevere); and they will not be promoted through review or book promotion sites. While these books are fine in themselves, it's important not to confuse a new reader about what you are offering. I need to be very clearly a Young Adult Author. If after they feel comfortable with me, readers want to branch out and explore some of these more unusual titles of mine, all well and good. But the easiest way to lose readers is for them to be uncertain that you are even focused on them at all.
And there will be more updates.
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