Jaimey’s Comments (group member since Jun 18, 2009)

Jaimey’s comments from the Author Support Group group.

Susan wrote: "It dawned on me that we could build you a WordPress Mu platform and you could have all these separate entities under one roof, so to speak. As separate as you want to be, but also together enough to take advantage of the search engine junk."

Is that how you have all your blogs and pages on one site? I was wondering about that.

What do you charge for this service? My royalties suck right now so unless you take payments (LOL) I probably can't afford it. Can you email me the details? Pretty please? :o)

Sometimes, I think it's an OCD thing. I have to keep them separated for some reason. And maybe a little bit of an excuse to procrastinate. (I'm editing a few of my manuscripts right now and I hate that.)

Mostly, I just need all my thoughts on a subject in one space. And they don't necessarily have to have a limited life. There is always something one can do with a "specific book" type of blog. I've always found character "interviews" quite entertaining, for example.

On the other hand, you have a point. I probably should just roll all my blogs into one. (Except my reviews blog 'cause that really is a whole different can of worms.) I don't know. You've given me some food for thought. :o)

I have too many, I know. But, if anyone is interested in following, I started a new blog for my Regency novel, Spellbound.

All the Gossip of Spellbound

At the time of this post, there are no posts to my new blog. I am working on the first and it will probably go up late tonight.

Thanx for looking and have a lovely night, all! :o)

Susan wrote: "I'm strict about having it come into the Win a Book e-mail. I have to be; I have a friend who helps post stuff and frankly, it's an organization thing. If it's there in the box, it gets priority. I..."

There are many things in life where we have to draw lines. Otherwise, life turns to chaos and we go stark staring mad. (Which would be incredibly bad since, as authors, we are already halfway there...)

So I did the email right, then, for my latest freebie offer? I wasn't entirely sure how much info to include.

Do you post about blog tours? I'm part of one that started Aug 10 and goes through Sep 18. My day isn't until Sep 16. There is a giveaway involved... If this is something you post about, I will email the link to my book reviews blog. I have a post all about the tour and every stop on it...

Hello and welcome, Vampire Dark!

And huge congrats to you, Lisa. I added your book to my massive TBR wishlist. :o)

Thank you, Sharon! I hope you enjoy it. :o) (And I hope smashwords rights itself soon.)

For one (1) week* only, use coupon code FQ22T at Smashwords.com to download Spellbound for FREE! No entry necessary, no catches; this is a true giveaway. Simply put it in your cart and use the code where prompted. :o)

*Offer expires August 21.

You know, Susan, next time I have a giveaway, I'm going to have to put a sticky note in the middle of my computer screen to remind myself to email you. Sheesh.

:o)

Thanx for the heads up, Sharon! :o)

Diane wrote: "Jaimey, Do you think It would help if some of us went over to the negative reviews and clicked on the "report this" button? Amazon would be forced to look at the situation and you might not have to..."

Honestly, I don't think it would. As far as I can tell, the reviews I received are legitimate. (Except the two that were plagiarized, which are still deleted; Amazon does draw the line at plagiarism.) It's only the comments to certain reviews that are outright fabrications. I'm not sure reporting them (can they be reported?) will do any good, really.

But, what do I know? I'm so tired right now I can't see straight.

Thank you for your concern and offer of help. I'll give Amazon another week or so.

New update (and typical of Amazon, I might add):

Ignore what I said earlier. The comments have all returned. Go figure. I guess I'll just have to wait and see if anything else happens.

I will wait much longer next time before I post anything. Sorry. :o)

Jj wrote: "That's great Jaimey. Glad they took care of it. It's nice to know that someone can't get away with that type of behavior."

I know. I was so afraid they might. And I don't think it's totally over yet. We'll see what Amazon ultimately decides to do. I know none of the profiles will disappear. Amazon won't "remove" any of their customers over such a trifling matter. But I wouldn't be totally surprised if Amazon decides to remove our ability to leave comments. Even mine.

UPDATE!!!

It seems Amazon, having speedily deleted the plagiarized reviews, is now looking into the comments situation. The comments were deleted from the negative review of Heartless but the ones on Spellbound remain. Amazon also deleted the comments for two negative reviews Sorcha MacMurrough received, both of which included comments that specifically named me as the instigator of the whole situation. There is still one of MacMurrough's reviews that retains its comments, one of which does include my name.

I have not received an email from Amazon in regard to this situation so I can only assume they are still looking into it.

Thanx again, everyone, for all the love and support! :o)

Oh, and I have to correct a statement I made in an earlier post: There is one other profile in this group of person(s) who are targeting me who uses the "real name" badge. Accent Marketing Group and J Mullally are the only two with real names.

I already feel so much better about all of it. :o)

On a semi-related note: I am running a poll on my blog. Publisher Reviews: Do They Matter? If you get the chance, stop by and vote, leave a comment if you have more to say about the subject.

http://jaimeygrant.blogspot.com

(And I wouldn't object at all if you decided to "follow" my blog. LOL)

Hi, Becky! Go ahead and start your own thread in this folder and get some more exposure for your contest. :o)

Wait, make friends with readers? I thought the real key to success was to bash the competition down until you were the last author standing?

Forgive my sarcasm. :o)

What is the average life of an indie book? Anybody know?

Thanx everyone! You're all so helpful :o)

Gina wrote: "I think that as reviews can impact upon book sales, and are therefore fiddling with a person's livelihood, Amazon should make all accounts 'real name' ones. Anonymity can make people feel that they can do/say anything without consequence."

I agree. Totally. I think this would really cut down on the nastiness. Although, Gail Wagner sure didn't care if everyone knew she was the one to write the original "Don't waste your money!" review. And, despite everything, I have to admit that her review was excessively nasty.

Ah. I get it now. I do think there may be more than two, possibly. But the fact that there is only one in the group with a "real name" badge makes me wonder.

When I set up my real name, they offered me "Laws of Nature" as a possibility since I have my business card on file with Amazon. (I have a super tiny bath and body store on ebay with a bank account to match.) If this HerStory or EternalSpiral are legit, why don't they have something similar?

Amazing, isn't it? I keep trying to wrap my brain around this behavior, trying to understand a person who thinks this is acceptable. At first, I thought it was one, maybe two people with multiple profiles, but now I wonder if you may be right. Perhaps there is actually a group of people who all believe they are right in their behavior--although their accusations toward me seem to imply that they know better.

If anybody is willing, here are the links to the reviews for each of my books. I would really, really appreciate it if some of you could read all the reviews, marking them helpful. Only if you find them helpful, though. I feel so bad that these people have brought the helpful percentages of my readers/reviewers so low.

Spellbound: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001IZZ2S6
Heartless: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001IZZ2RC
Redemption: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001J6N9LQ
Betrayal: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001IKKMEA

My oldest brother (I have three brothers) has been doing a little more digging into a couple of the Amazon profiles that have been involved in the smear campaign. He found one that seems to be related to the previous ones, EternalSpiralBooks. Here is a quote from their website:

"We publish romance in all genres through the HerStory Books imprint. Please visit the site for our latest titles, free newsletters and more: HerStory Books"

EternalSpiralBooks is yet another SUPER FAN of MacMurrough. So far, as far as I know, the only time these people have actually mentioned me by name is in the comment by HerStory Books in reply to the review from Gail Wagner. I'm sure that will change now that those reviews have been removed.

Meanwhile, I changed my Amazon profile name to reflect my real name, Laura Miller, complete with "real name" badge. She can't claim I'm Gail Wagner anymore, who also has a "real name" badge. My oldest brother's profile also reflects his real name and we told our younger brother to do the same. (It was my younger brother who made the comment to Mullally's review.)

What a sad, sad world to live in. I have heard of cyber-bullies but this is my first real dose of one.

I really, really need to get back to writing. My husband is concerned that this situation has taken too much valuable writing time away from me. I suppose that means, in a way, she's winning.