Eldon’s Comments (group member since Jan 05, 2017)

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

Annabelle wrote: "They're definitely legit. I think they have decent results, depending what service you pick."

That's good to know. Thanks! I was looking at their email list services.

Hi all,

I'm considering using https://www.authorsxp.com/for-authors for some upcoming promotions but first I'm wondering if anyone has used them in the past? Are their services legit and did they bring results?

Thanks :)

Marie Silk wrote: "It's very upsetting that scammers are doing this. I just looked at the page for this particular book and it has no rank information (the same was true when I read this blog post a month ago) so may..."

Maybe...but that's only one of many sadly :(

Carole wrote: "I work hard to get reviews- I am constantly sending the books out to bloggers, or running promotions. All of this cost money. Amazon steadily chips away at my reviews, arbitrarily taking some down...."

Clearly Carole, Amazon has their priorities messed up :(

Annabelle wrote: "Even if they don't know how to stop it in general, when somebody points out a book where 90% of the reviews are very clearly fraudulent and they just let it stand, that bothers me."

It should bother us all. When I think of how much time and money I've invested to honestly promote my books and the highest I've managed is just under 10k in the kindle store and then some scammer comes along and buys the number 1 spot for a few hundred...it really ticks me off!

Theodore wrote: "And for Bezos to condone that is beyond comprehension. "

That's the part that floors me as well. Why is Amazon seemingly doing nothing while these scammers make a mockery of their vaunted rankings system? From any perspective I can think of it makes no sense. Unless they don't know how to stop it...

Theodore wrote: "Sooner or later these crooks will get into the legacy publishers' knickers, and then, the fur will fly...especially after the lawyers get involved. Just a matter of time. Follow the money."

Point is it shouldn't be that way. Amazon likes to tout themselves as being of such high moral integrity and yet the facts obviously don't support that. Of what worth is it to be on their bestseller list if anyone can buy their way on it?

Annabelle wrote: "OMG, I read that article and it totally made me furious. It's hard enough to get your book legitimately on the bestseller lists... it gets me so angry when I see people cheating.

I saw this book ..."

Right there with you Annabelle. I could not believe Amazon allows this behaviour to continue and yet punishes the honest authors on their site unnecessarily. As David pointed out in the article, how long until the honest authors begin adopting these heinous tactics? If Amazon will do nothing to clean their own house will we not all be forced to get dirty just to compete?

It's reprehensible.

When I read the following this morning I couldn't help but be shocked and angry by the indifference Amazon is showing towards honest authors in how they are allowing their own system to be gamed. This from the company that routinely yanks reviews for next to no reason.

https://davidgaughran.wordpress.com/2...

Who else finds this upsetting?

The best investment in time I've made has been participating here on Goodreads. So many great people who are willing to share their experience and knowledge. Can't beat it :)

Sorry to hear that Elina :( Had you tried a sample of their work beforehand?

Alex wrote: "Eldon wrote: "Erica wrote: "That is fantastic news Alex and Eldon! Congrats to you both!"

Thanks Erica and Alex :) My goal is to make the next thousand in less time ;)"

Sound thinking. Now you've..."

Best of luck Alex!! I'm sure you'll make it :D

Erica wrote: "That is fantastic news Alex and Eldon! Congrats to you both!"

Thanks Erica and Alex :) My goal is to make the next thousand in less time ;)

Well after 16 months in publishing, yesterday I crossed over 1,000 copies :) On to the next thousand!!

Marie Silk wrote: "I regret buying a pack of 10 ISBNs instead of 100. I blew through the first 10 in a matter of months and had to spring for the 100-pack anyway."

So lucky I live in Canada :)

Dumbest thing I ever did...writing wise right? ;)

I would say it was releasing my 2nd and 3rd books in a rush last year because I took the advice that the quicker you get your books out the better. I really wish I had taken the proper amount of time and planned out a marketing plan for them. Oh well, live and learn.

Annabelle wrote: "Why are some self-published authors so reluctant to divulge their "secrets"? Or do they actually have secrets? Are there secrets??"

I read a book on marketing recently by a wise and successful author (James Scott Bell I think), and his philosophy on sharing information is the same as mine. Share it. Tell every author you know and help them out because what goes around comes around. The more you help others the more you help yourself.

Authors that greedily hoard their "tricks" are only fooling themselves anyway. There is no trick and if you learn something, it won't be long until other authors learn it as well. There's nothing to be gained from hoarding information.

If you're looking for information check out some of these books:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

Joanna Penn's website is always full of helpful info too:

https://www.thecreativepenn.com/

Hope it helps :)

Erin wrote: "Eldon wrote: "Erin wrote: "Ni hao, dudes! I've been in Nanjing, China for the past 3 weeks visiting friends so I've been MIA but I missed you guys. So what is everyone working on this summer? How a..."

I'm game. Just let me know :D

Erin wrote: "Ni hao, dudes! I've been in Nanjing, China for the past 3 weeks visiting friends so I've been MIA but I missed you guys. So what is everyone working on this summer? How are hot weather sales? Where..."

Missed you too Erin!!

Erica wrote: "I am not a big fan of sending out my PDF for that reason. I normally pay to gift and ebook or send a hardcopy. I just want to add to be careful about some of the shady sites that would have your bo..."

Another reason not to send out PDF copies is they are terribly hard to read on a Kindle. I just can't do that to my readers.

I have heard a lot of the sites claiming to have your book don't actually have it. But if you click through to find out you get nailed with a virus.