This kind of thing benefits no one
I must say that I get a bit tired of hearing how self-published books scam readers with fake reviews and artificial rankings. I've been in (and watched) the self-publishing world for a long time now, and I can tell you the professional self-published get their sales and rankings based on what they should be...readers who love books and say so. Yes, there are a few bad eggs who operate in disreputable ways, and this undermines an industry that has benefited many. Given how self-publishing has benefited both writers (making full-time income), and readers (inexpensive books they love), it's sad to see these things happens.Which brings me to All About A's. A book whose description says, "Have you ever wondered about the letter A? It's the first letter of the alphabet, but why? Who created it? This books purpose is to answer these questions, maybe. So sit back, buckle up, and enjoy the ride."
But the problem...is it's a book with six chapters and the entire content is just the letter A repeated over and over and over again. I'm sure it will be removed from Amazon soon, so I'm not going to bother posting a link. But it's current #222 in free stories:
Well, it's free so maybe some people downloaded it just as a joke or to show others. But this book is also in the Kindle Unlimited Library, and if a big part of that 222 ranking is through "borrows" it's going to hurt the legitimate authors in the program. This is because regardless of price, everyone in Kindle Unlimited gets an equal cut of a pool divided by a number of borrows. So, I do feel bad for the authors whose paychecks will be a little smaller until this book is removed (hopefully Amazon won't give this books author any cut and it will be a moot point).But, here's the part that really gets me...the reviews. A 4.6 rating and 119 of them.
Are they paid reviews? Are they friends of the person who did this book? I've even seen comments on a writing forum who thinks it was done by one of the big publishers, no doubt to hold up as an example about the "quality" of self-publishing.
So, I'm not sure if this is (a) a joke (b) someone trying to make a point (c) someone hoping for a viral 15 minutes of fame or (d) just someone trying to cash in with next to no effort. But no matter what the truth is, it's really not helping anyone, and I'm really sorry to see it released.
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The publication was removed. I encourage you to keep this blog alive as a testament of the weakness of KDP policy.
You didn't read the book very well. It was not all A's. Spoiler alert: one chapter was a blank which I saw as a great postmodern statement (or maybe a formatting error). I guess I'll have to head to a London gallery to get my fill of creative art. Poor show KDP. PS it helped me so much that I wrote my one and lonely review on Amazon and now it is gone forever, along with Amazon's sense of humour.
Michael, I've got to disagree with you here. There are lots of rubbish scam pamphlets in KU, being churned out by the hundreds to earn money on the 10% read payment threshold. I mean lots. There is a continuing issue with piracy, something I myself have been negatively affected by. "All About A's" is a satire, and intended or otherwise, it has lampooned all the weaknesses inherent in the KU system.I find it nearly incomprehensible that so many authors have gotten so worked up about this. I get that humor is subjective; I find the book's premise funny as hell, and the reviews side-splitting. Your mileage obviously varies.
To answer your questions, the reviews are real and mostly from reddit and 4chan readers, if I understand correctly. The author had around 7 KU borrows. The book has been pulled by Amazon. Meanwhile, "8 Tips on Controlling Body Odor" and similar scam pamhlets continue to be churned out at an ever increasing pace, depriving real authors foolish enough to enrol in KU of real money.
It's obvious this was an experiment to see how Amazon can be gamed and I have a feeling it's a publishing company or a relatively successful published author behind this. I don't understand why this book was pulled from Amazon so quickly when scammers like 'Loranzo Spencer' are still selling 1 page books and charging $2.99.
A few of his scammy books are under review but they have not been pulled down off the site. He is still selling 'How To Land A Cool Job' for $2.98 which is 1 page long. Amazon is not doing their job efficiently and why are people not reporting this author who has been doing this for months now.
Yes, Jay Cute was doing some pretty malicious things. Luckily it was discovered quickly and rectified. What this author did is no where near that bad. An again, I don't what his (or hers if a pen name) purpose was for doing it. Jay's intentions were pretty clear.
@Jack - Hey there. Was that the purpose to show the weakness of KDP? I think KDP is an amazing thing...Select is another matter, and yes I think there should be some corrections made to it...hopefully this will help Amazon make some substantive changes. On a more personal note...if it HAD been a book about A's (it's origin and history) I would have been interested in reading it - ala Salt: A World History which was a great read.
@Mercia - I only looked at the sample, so if there was "actual content" later on, then yeah I didn't know about it.
tut tut Michael, reviewing a book from the sample only. ;-) Spoiler followsIt was a book of A's except for one blank chapter. The only actual content was the dedication and the table of contents, which incidentally revealed that this was a wind-up.
@Michael you said, "All About A's" is a satire, and intended or otherwise, it has lampooned all the weaknesses inherent in the KU system.Is it really? I guess we need to ask Jack what it's real purpose was.
My objection stems from the fact that it adds fuel to self-publsihing nay-sayers. If a book with nothing but A's reaches high in the rankings then how reliable is this as a metric for books with "real content."
@Booklover - I don't know anything about Loranzo Spencer... but if he has really good advice in that 1 page - then maybe it has value. Noah Lukeman has a really short piece about "How to Write a Query Letter" (which is free) but even if it was $4.99 for a few pages it is well worth the content within. I would think that something that had no content would be returned or never make it past the sample stage.As to whether it is an experiment to see how to game the system - well Jack visited for a minute and maybe he can clarify his motivations.
Michael wrote: "@Booklover - I don't know anything about Loranzo Spencer... but if he has really good advice in that 1 page - then maybe it has value. Noah Lukeman has a really short piece about "How to Write a Qu..."I can assure you, there is no valuable content in Loranzo Spencers 1 page books. It is obvious this is someone gaming the system and making some quick money. You can check the two or three reviews he has. He has blank pages, 1 line of obvious advice and terrible looking book covers.
Amazon need to be more alert to these scammers
I doubt Jack will reveal his real motivation, as I said I suspect this is a publication company or published author behind this 'experiment'
" If a book with nothing but A's reaches high in the rankings then how reliable is this as a metric for books with "real content.""But that's my point precisely. This book opens up that discussion.
First, real people got real value and enjoyment from this book. Certainly you wouldn't argue that they shouldn't have, simply because you yourself saw it in another light? You cannot dictate another's taste. I personally would rather gouge my eyes out than read 50 Shades, or Twilight, but I'd never go so far as to say they denigrated the written word. Real people got real enjoyment from those books. "All About A's" simply makes the point of this truism in extreme form.
Second, even if 99.99% of people agree with you, Michael, the truth is the Amazon Select and KU systems are flawed. "All About A's" points out those flaws brilliantly, and in my opinion, *that's* the discussion we should be having: What's wrong with the system and why, and what should be done to correct it.
By the way, I don't mean any disrespect. You're a great writer and I own a few of your books. :)
Michael,You can get a full understanding of why I wrote the book if you check out this forum discussion. - http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topi...
I was not aware of how KU or anything functioned when I published All About A's. It was a fun, satirical experiment that quickly caught good/bad attention.
All downloads and reviews were legitimate. I am a university student, not a major publisher.
P.S. My book is still under investigation by Amazon, but I am confident that it will be republished in due time. I have heavily edited the book but am staying true to the original format.
"A warning via Sharon Lee:
Buyer beware: If you buy Kindle books, make sure you're buying a legitimate copy. Someone has decided to have fun and make an unearned profit off the rush and confusion of the holiday.
FROM THE KDP SUPPORT GROUP
Warning - Jay Cute is selling other author's books as his own
Posted: Dec 7, 2014 12:10 PM
theft , plagiarism
He's not even trying to hide it. He's just adding his name to the covers and selling them. He has 37 books listed so far. People have been reporting him to Amazon, but nothing has been done so far."
Just wanted you to know in case you were not aware