John Locke's Self Help for Self Publishing Authors

[Uke]

Did anyone read this article in the Biz Section of the NY Times on Sunday:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/26/bus...

I followed the link in the article and bought John Locke's self help ebook on my Kindle. I read it last night and this morning. I am very skeptical of self help books. They might work for sales people but as to my situation . . . Enough said.

However, this one makes a lot of sense to me. It speaks directly to my situation. His audience is not going to be my audience necessarily. (There could be some crossover, at least in part of the definition of his target audience.)

In any case, I'm going to work with his system, adapt it to my particulars. At least it's a business plan, and that is missing from my publishing experience right now.

His description of his use of Twitter sounds both elegant and genuine. I've avoided Twitter but just signed up.

Will it work for me? Something has to.
Uke Jackson

[Richard]

Uke, that article has sent up a storm of discussion everywhere writers gather. I wasn't surprised, because book reviews have been an important marketing tool since Gutenberg! The industry is all about personal relationships, and what publicist would send a new property (books are products, after all) to a reviewer they didn't know, or at least knew their preferences and tastes? Even if a chosen reviewer's ethics are above reproach, the connection thing is always real.

Good luck with Twitter! It can be a really good communications tool, but making sure you're not just spamming your followers is really critical. Let them know who you are, and what affects you -- share lots of stuff!

One thing I thought was funny was how Mr. Locke seemed surprised it took him two months to get five top reviews! We should all be so lucky!

[John]

Uke, I'd be interested to hear how the system works for you. I'm thinking of reading Locke's book, but I do remember reading about him when he first came on the scene, and I thought I remembered that he spent some hefty sums on Google Adwords campaigns to market his books. He's a marketer by trade, and he used a lot of methods, some paid and some free, to get the word out. Also, I'm always a little skeptical of people who have some initial success at something and then write a book about how others can succeed using their methods. I'd like to see if his methods work long term. Publishing is going through major changes right now, and just because he struck lightning in a bottle once or twice doesn't mean he's a genius.
By the way, the Times article had a great line by the book review guru, about how these days he only trusts the negative reviews of books. I've learned that's true about most online reviews, whether for books or restaurants. The positive reviews could be paid for, but the negative ones are probably closer to the truth.13 Horror Stories

[Kevis]

John wrote: "The positive reviews could be paid for, but the negative ones are probably closer to the truth."

With all the opportunists offering to post one-star reviews on the sales pages of an author's competition for a small fee, it's only a matter of time before honest negative reviews become suspect too.

[Richard]

Kevis wrote: "John wrote: "The positive reviews could be paid for, but the negative ones are probably closer to the truth."

With all the opportunists offering to post one-star reviews on the sales pages of an a..."

I just saw that same thing posted on Publetariat, also a re-counting of Mr.Locke's early flurry of paid for reviews. This is an annoying business, isn't it!

[John]

Kevis, that's amazing. People are asking for money to post one star reviews? I thought you could get those for free. Actually, I should revise my earlier comment about trusting the negative reviews. Anybody can post a negative review just for spite, or because they have some other ax to grind. I read a vicious review of a restaurant once that must have been written by an ex-employee, someone who got fired, and it was completely wrong. I ate dinner at that restaurant and had a wonderful experience. So, you can't really trust the negative ones either. It's a shame, because the Web depends on reviews for so many things. But the reviews can be manipulated in so many ways.

John

[Uke]

Reviews are like lovers -- you always pay one way or another.

I can understand Locke's efforts. Sometimes it's efficient to slap down your money and get your rocks off -- depends on what you're looking for. I wish I had the dough to buy hundreds of reviews.

Publicists, ad campaigns, reviews in major papers (I used to write them) -- they're al subject to varying degrees of monetary influence. Book editors dine out as often as they wish with publicists and publishers. That's one filter thru which reviewers get their assignments.

Anyway, the fam damily beckons.

Later gators,
Uke Jackson

[Cynthia]

Authors pay people to give a one-star to their competition? I'm not surprised, but I am apauled. And people who don't win free give-aways give a one star? Disgusting, especially with all the free offers of books for a review. I got a 1-star from someone who won one of my books. I looked at the person's profile and found the person was basically an illiterate and my book was a scholarly book. Why even sign up for a give-away of a book you can't read let alone want to read?

[Richard]

That's the two-edged sword of giveaways. You have very little control over how the giveaway market is narrowed. It's usually a shotgun blast of FREE into the general market, so your chances of actually connecting your book to a reader that will understand and appreciate your work (assuming you are not writing urban fantasy/vampire romance...) are pretty slim, and might actually be counter productive.

[Uke]

Cynthia wrote: "Authors pay people to give a one-star to their competition? I'm not surprised, but I am apauled. And people who don't win free give-aways give a one star? Disgusting, especially with all the free o..." I found that weird, too. How do authors end up competing? If you compete with all the past NObel Prize winners, does that put you in the running? I mean really . . .

I got a 1 star for Lord Byron's Coda from a giveaway winner. Doesn't bother me at all. Another GR newbie.

I am questioning doing anymore giveaways, though. I'll see how/if the reviews come in for The Moon of Innocence.

The Moon of InnocenceLord Byron's Coda