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Advertising with FantasySciFi.com and Fantascize.com
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Yes he has approached me as well. He advertises a lot on the sites there I belong to. It does look quite pricey but as you say they seem to have a lot of readers. I have yet to find anyone who has advertised there but maybe they simply haven't said. Personally I am reluctant to shell out a lot of money, as I don't have much as it is. I would be interested to know if this is a viable option before hand.
Writers - just to alert you about Fantsynscifi and fantascize.com I recently signed up for some advertising on their website for my book CODE BLOOD. I don't pay for reviews, but this time it seemed like a good idea, because I wanted it available with the ad. The review was expensive.
Unfortunately the person who wrote the review couldn't spell, nor could she keep the plot line and characters in my novel straight. The review was incomprehensible and so disgraceful that I asked them to remove it.
Note this is not about an unfavorable review - we all get those and it is part of the game. This is about having my name and the name of my novel associated with something written by someone who is barely qualified to read a book and write about it.
I asked for a refund and of course they refused.
I would simply alert you not to advertise with Fantsynscifi and fantascize.com. Not a good outfit.
Kurt Kamm
Kurt wrote: "Writers - just to alert you about Fantsynscifi and fantascize.com I recently signed up for some advertising on their website for my book CODE BLOOD. I don't pay for reviews..."
They approached me about advertising with them , too. I'm glad I passed, now that I hear your experience.
Kurt - ouch. Sorry you took it on the chin for us there. Thanks for the heads-up. I'll be passing on the offer. Note: I will say FB ads have been good to me.
They approached me too, when I told them I couldn't afford it they haven't bothered me since. Maybe it is just I don't hear the good side of things but every time someone posts about some form of paid advertising it is negative.
I'm double stupid. They didn't even approach me. I saw one of their ads on facebook
Haha. Well chalk it to experience. I think we all make mistakes like that. The reason I haven't paid for an ad- much too poor;) There is so much conflicting advice it is hard to know what is sound and what isn't.
Over the years I've tried all kinds of things. What works one time doesn't seem to work the next. Now there is SO much advertising and twittering and posting and blogging, that I don't think anyone is paying any attention.
In response to Kurt Kamm and his comments about Fantascize.com's review of his book "In Cold Blood":I'm Francis of Fantascize.com. His comments are completely biased, so I'm defending it with this truth:
First of all, it was Kurt's choice to have his THRILLER book featured in our network that focuses only on Fantasy and Sci-Fi. We provided this information in our first messages to our clients, and our website clearly shows that. We were misinformed by this author, and only realized that his book is barely "Sci-Fi" when the reviewer was already reading it. Nonetheless, having spent hours upon reading and reviewing, our reviewer completed the task. Yes, there were some typos in the first draft, but we did revise it as shown in this link- http://bit.ly/15xJAVu
So his decision to have his book featured in a site that doesn't focus on his genre, is a mistake in his part, not ours.
The author requested via Email that he wanted the review unpublished because he was not pleased with the review. We explained to him that it was meant to be honest and analytical (not marketing type) as professional reviews go, and he wanted it down probably because it made his book look bad.
He asked for a refund, but we did refuse because our reviewer had already spent a lot of time and mental effort that she was paid to do for this review. We also promoted his book several times, and we have followed his request to unpublish it, but because of his defamation posted above, we re-publish the review to prove our point, and to show you all the whole picture of the situation.
We are a professional company that features Fantasy and Sci-Fi books, but due to his mistake of marketing choice and his displeasure of an honest non-offensive, and critical review despite its typos in its first drafts, he did not get the results he wanted. Advertising takes risks anywhere you go. It also depends on the quality of the product, and to be honest, based on what I've heard from the reviewer who wrote the review for his book, it did not sound like it fits our platform. His target audience is definitely not our audience. I even wrote an article about this here- http://bit.ly/16CH5uT
Thank you for listening.
Sincerely
Stay away from this guy. And do read the review he published. The only thing it proves is that his reviewer cant speak/write the English language. Want a review like that? (It has nothing to do with the merits of the review, its the ignorance of the reviewer.Good reviews and bad reviews are all part of the game. A review by a person with a 12 year old literacy level is not. I urge anyone considering a review by these people to read their review of my book. Then decide
You're attacking the merits of the reviewer because you're displeased with your review? Our reviewer can't help it if your book lacks the quality that deserves a "pleasant" review for you. Your defamation and insults are noted.
I read the review and I must say that if I had paid for it, I'd be pissed too. Every time I read anything about pay for review services it's overwhelmingly negative. Thanks for the heads up Kurt.
Please tell us which part of this article makes you say that our reviewer can't speak/write English- http://bit.ly/15xJAVu ? Is your comprehension so troubled that you can't distinguish what's "English"?
You're just not happy because your book did not get a "pleasant" review that you were expecting and you paid for our service. Your feedback has no substance.
I'll field that question for you Francis. For starters, the review is replete with numerous run on sentences. There is one in particular in paragraph 4 that is almost 4 full lines long. The reviewer forgets to use the one character's name properly repeatedly. Is it "A Li" or "An Li"? The reviewer seems more interested in writing a basic summary of the work, not an actual review. There is very little on the actual quality of the book, good or bad, in the text. Finally, the review appears to be double posted for some reason. I'm being as objective as I can ,but it looks quite unprofessional, especially if the review was paid for.
Reed wrote: "I'll field that question for you Francis. For starters, the review is replete with numerous run on sentences. There is one in particular in paragraph 4 that is almost 4 full lines long. The reviewe..."As objectively? You mean a "biased feedback" without putting in regard the author's defamation, and retaliatory, exaggerated, harsh, disrespectful and inaccurate remarks such as the reviewer having a "twelve-year-old literacy"? and not having the "English writing/reading skills" when it's clearly comprehensible in English? You're probably a friend of the author whom you're doing a favor.
A summary is a part of a review or critique's structure. The reviewer clearly stated her perspective of the book.
Keep in mind that I consider this "defamation". The author clearly posted this inaccurate defamatory remark with a bad intent.
Here's a post from reputationhawk.com:
"What Is Defamation?
The publication or broadcast of any libelous or slanderous statement about an individual or business that can be proven to be false and published with the intention of harming that entity's reputation is considered to be defamation. Online defamation is the publication of such statements made on any Internet based media including blogs, forums, websites, and even social networking websites. While many Internet users believe that they are free to say and do as they like while on the Internet, this is untrue and the same defamation laws and regulations stand for online defamation as they do in any form of media."
I have never met Kurt. We are not friends. Tossing a slew of accusations at me does not change the fact that the review is sub standard work. You address almost none of the concerns I raised in my previous post. If Kurt was rude or abusive then that's a shame, but his original point remains valid. I understand perfectly well what defamation is. My remarks ARE objective, as both a reader and writer of fiction myself. The point I was trying to make was that the review is nearly all summary, not that summary is unacceptable.
Mod
I welcome experiences and opinions to be shared and if someone feels that they are being misrepresented a statement made in their own defense is fine as well. However when general insults start getting thrown around I feel all productivity is lost and I don't want that here.
I looked at this group as a possible promotional source. They seemed professional, although we had a bit of difficulty trying to get clear exactly what they would provide for the money paid. However, the 'paid review' part of what they do may be an issue for some: some places look askance at paid reviews. Despite the fact that at one time the large reviewing entities, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Library Journal, required publishers to subscribe in order to have a chance at having their books reviewed, a purely paid review is something different. So I decided against using the service discussed above, for the moment. If paid reviews become acceptable per se, many will be offering them. Now, I don't think that is the case.
Do you have any information on these sites (as a reader/follower or even better as an author who advertised with them)?
Thanks!
+ Leeland