Anita’s Comments (group member since Jul 12, 2017)

Anita’s comments from the Navigating Indieworld Discussing All Things Indie group.

Goodreads is changing and it’s not for the better. I have noticed a steady rise in the censorship of the threads along with new rules and regulations on the content. Additional stipulations and restrictions have been added to the review process. The giveaway promotion has been turned into a source of revenue. I expect the next step will be a fee to list a book.

The email that Carole received is another example. It alleges a violation of Goodreads policy that is prejudicial and without merit. Considering the inequities in Amazon and Goodreads review policy, it is censorship at its worst. Unfortunately, we have now lost an individual who provided an honest and forthright review.

Kay wrote: "Okay a quick update- On Facebook we've reached 1.4K people with information about the event, and had 336 unique visitors to the page.
I'm seeing between 150-250 website views per day at the minute ..."
That is amazing.

Sad, no it's worse than sad, it's downright disheartening. I saw one article that said Barnes and Noble may be having difficulties. If they go under, that will be a huge loss. Difficult for brick and mortar store to compete with online purchases. Especially, when the shipping is free.

Here's my rant for the day, "more book shelf space is gone." The Walmart store where I live has completed their renovations. The book section is about 25% of what it used to be.

I’m not surprised by anything Amazon does. Two years ago, they changed how royalties are paid for eBooks, from the book itself to the number of pages read.

I recently discovered many of the books in the Kindle top 100 are books that Amazon publishes. There are 13 publishing divisions based on the genre. Right now, 6 of the top 10 Kindle books are published by an Amazon company. These divisions work like a traditional publisher, the book must be submitted by an agent.

It’s all about market manipulation and money. For the last several months, I have been tracking sales rankings which is another area where the market can be manipulated. Amazon controls the formulas.

What did surprise me was the high fee, $119 and $599 when compared to the benefits that are included. On another thread, the individual that posted the announcement made this comment.

“Indie authors are an important part of the Goodreads community and we’re now giving them access to the same powerful marketing tool (ebook giveaways) that traditional publishers use.”

Wow, that’s one hell of a marketing spin to justify the fees especially when there isn’t that much difference in the promotion other than the inclusion of eBooks.

The bean counters (accountants) don’t make a move without facts and figures, just as in the move to change royalties to pages read. Goodreads has a huge base of readers as well as authors, and they have figured out how to capitalize on that. I would expect the next step would be to charge an author to place their book on Goodreads.

One other note on IngramSpark. Createspace sends the print book to Ingram for distribution when an author selects the extended distribution service.

I did an article that was published in Indies Authors Monthly magazine on print distribution that highlighted the primary differences between CS and IngramSpark. It is also on my website, and here is the link if anyone is interested. In my opinion, IngramSpark is by far the better service.

https://www.anitadickason.com/around-...

I believe you are an awesome and talented individual and don't mind passing that thought onto others.

In my opinion, Carole is the marketing guru for Indie authors. Where she goes, I follow.

It is amazing. Wow.

A SAFE and Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Carole, I would frame it and hang it on my wall. That is awesome. Kudos to both you and Erica. How wonderful to see the recognition that is so deserved.

Wow! kudos to you. That's awesome.

OMG--what a great pick for the password, awesome is right. Kudos to everyone on this. It is amazing and what a great event.

Alex wrote: "I also don't like it that so few of the promotion sites let you provide a link to anywhere other than Amazon.
Some will take links to multiple ebook retailers so you get the most out of a promotion..."

Take a look at my site. I don't think what I did is exactly what you have in mind as a promotion site but was the best I could come up with. I am getting ready to add a link to Kobo and duplicate the same links that I have on the front page onto the page with my books. I advertise my website every time I do a twitter, google or facebook post. I have had a few hits.

www.anitadickason.com

I ran the numbers to try and sell the books from my site using paypal. I just couldn't do it. By the time, I buy the books, do all the shipping etc, I would have been in the hole. I scrapped that idea.

Eva wrote: "Carole,

The Indie stigma is also at a local level. It was all I could do to get coverage in my own community paper, never mind the immediate area. We take what we can get. Still, I wouldn't change..."

I so agree. I can control the distribution. I can change the sales price. I can resubmit the files if I need to make a change, which I recently did to add the library of congress control number to the copyright page. My first book was published through a subsidy publisher and I can't do diddly-squat with it.

You got my vote. Good luck.

Carole

How do you stand on my bookmarks. Do I need to send more?

Carole wrote: "Not everybody sent their stuff in- Brit will have a templet by Monday early AM- Please get your info in!!"

Did you receive mine?

I reported

Wow, that's great. Good luck with them. I know you are going to do well.