Pass the Peanut Butter
People fascinate me. I like to people watch and try to understand what makes them tick. And no, not just the ladies on beaches. I’m talking about everyone. I want to know why they do the things they do, especially when they make a decision I would not have made.
Case in point, I was browsing through my Amazon Affiliate account yesterday and I saw a list of items people had bought while using my affiliate code. This happens if they click a link of mine and purchase the item listed at the link (one of my books), or anything else while still on Amazon. No, it doesn’t cost them anything extra, but Amazon sends a few pennies my way to say thanks for bringing us a customer.
Anyhow, I noticed that amongst my books there were a few other books that I did not write. Let me stress that point again, I did not write these books. They don’t have my name on them and they sure as hell don’t have a topic I have any interest in. Why the strong reaction in me? Well let me share the topics of the books – the first involves a woman and her large dog having conjugal relations and the second involves a fresh faced 18 year old virgin farm girl developing an affinity for manmade replicas of the equine phallus. I hope it all makes sense now.
I’m a very open minded and tolerant guy. More so than anyone else I happen to know, I think. I’m not trying to prove anything, I’m trying to wrap my head around why these books exist and why they’ve obviously been purchased several times. One of them was released on March 4th and has over 100 reviews on it, 73 of them five star! I assure you from the handful of negative reviews I read that the vast majority of 5 star reviews are fake reviews purchased to increase visibility. What’s worse is that the book is in two top 100 lists and was ranked under 5,000 in the paid Kindle list. I’m hopeful that it’s dropping fast after the initial rush provided by fake reviews and fake sales, but even the other book with hardly any reviews is in the 50,000 range (marking it as mid list but still selling a few copies a day).
I ask the world, WTF? How is it even remotely possible for this many copies of books like this to rank so highly? The cover is clearly done by an amateur, not to mention disturbing in itself. I can understand some macabre curiosity or desire for humor, but come on, this is ridiculous! And they’re asking $4.99 for one and $3.99, respectively. My own book, Child of Fate, is ranked in the 9,000 block on Amazon paid books and I have to sell 10 – 15 copies a day to hit that rank. For the
To each their own, I get that. Don’t ask and don’t tell…sure. But come on, if that’s the kind of crap I have to write to get decent sales I’m doomed to a life of obscurity. If I thought 50 Shades was poorly written, now I’m truly flummoxed.
My faith in humanity is shaken when I see this sort of thing.
To learn more about Jason Halstead, visit his website to read about him, sign up for his newsletter, or check out some free samples of his books at http://www.booksbyjason.com .
