The GRRRR!!!!!! thread Showing 401-450 of 1,404

[Erica]

I hear ya on the reviews! I always try to leave reviews when I get those emails.

[Amy]

(Cover graphics grrr just saying. Still can't decide on a designer, but I can only afford Fiverr.com)

[Carole]

I think there are people who review and a lot that don't. I also think people are less apt to leave a review if there aren't any others on the book. Most people are afraid to get noticed or their reviews will look silly next to a more seasoned reviewer. Or, they could be afraid to take a stand- a lot of people are intimated by what others think. I noticed we got more reviews as the "volunteer" reviewers stack up. I also noticed that we did better on regular fiction instead of kid's books. Lastly, if it's sci fi- they rarely leave a review. Many people have stopped reviewing over the new rules Amazon put up. I know our mailing list has been halved. I still send the the books, see articles in blog posts, but they are not putting them on Amazon.

[Theodore]

Carole wrote: "I think there are people who review and a lot that don't. I also think people are less apt to leave a review if there aren't any others on the book. Most people are afraid to get noticed or their r..."

What new rules?

[Carole]

Amazon put restrictions on reviews last year and started striping people of reviews if they received the book in expectation of getting a review. There was a specific way people have to write they got the book. Like they got a free copy with no expectation of having to review. Many of the people I know stopped reviewing.

[Amy]

I can absolutely see why it would put people off reviewing books. I had a review of a product denied from Amazon, I was quite put out and that was just slippers!

[Carole]

I stopped reviewing products except for book and now I purchase them, so Amazon can't question my integrity.

[Amy]

They are definitely upsetting the status quo aren't they?

[J.]

Amazon is nutty with their review stuff. I have no idea why. I've had reviews taken away for absolutely no reason I can decipher. So yeah, much like Carol, I buy the books I review.

[Theodore]

I do know they wouldn't let me post my first review on your book about Peru, Carole. I made mention of my friend who lives down there, discussed Mira Flores (where he has an apartment), and attempted to post a photo I took of the area in 1961. They simply rejected the review. So I went back with a much simpler discussion of your book and why I like it. (;>)

[Amy]

Oh good grief are they dumbing down?

[Erica]

My brother has lost a lot of reviews from people that had no connection with him AND they were verified purchases. The reviews had been posted for a couple months before they disappeared. I understand that they had issues with fake reviews, but there really is no rhyme or reason to what qualifies now. And if you try to research their reasoning, it gets even more confusing.

[Carole]

Thanks, Ted!! They are so annoying.

[Carole]

Can you afford to do something like Bargin booksy? Have you tried Awesome Gang or any of those review sites. I've been getting some traction from https://readersfavorite.com/ See if they will take your genre. It was a free review and my sales have picked up. Ted swears by thes folks. http://www.indiesunlimited.com/2017/0...

I think I remember seeing they review for free as well. You know what I think about getting on as many blogs as you can. If you want- write something for my blog on what you are trying to build up- what each book does for the series and I'll put it on either my or my son's blog. I can't guarantee any sales, but I think it can't hurt.


That offer is open to anyone who wants - just write me both here and my email cnbbook@gmail.com-

[Carole]

Erica wrote: "My brother has lost a lot of reviews from people that had no connection with him AND they were verified purchases. The reviews had been posted for a couple months before they disappeared. I underst..."

I check my reviews everyday realizing they erased at least four or five. I don't know why either. I figured the bots at zon decided they were fake- THEY ARE NOT!! or the reader didn't disclose they got the book for free. Many have been verified too. For some reason they never eliminate the one stars that have the same issue. They stay on like a stubborn stain and seem exempt.

[Amy]

Got that on my TBR list, love a crime story.

Today I am beyond tired. I got up early to put in an order for work and paid extra postage to encourage it to arrive tomorrow, I really need it tomorrow. I took my contacts out last night. I hate wearing my glasses they are lightweight but still aggravate my sinuses. A combination of worrying about the order not turning up tomorrow, a late night editing and an even later night to discover that our online order system isn't available on the first of the month just after midnight meant that I woke up with a woolly head. I've got a headache, my face hurts and I'm knackered.

Apart from that... lol

[Marie Silk]

My book has been on Readers Favorite for well over a year and no one there has picked it up to read/review it...

[Amy]

Do you have to pay for that? (Just out of interest-I always assume things like this don't apply to me because of genre.)

[Amy]

Alex wrote: "Why can't I sleep this well during the night."

If we had the answer to that one...

Is bloody knackered. That is all.

[Carole]

Marie Silk wrote: "My book has been on Readers Favorite for well over a year and no one there has picked it up to read/review it..."

It's great that it's on there Marie. Free advertising. Sometimes it takes a lot to get one book sold. I know from my own experience, I usually buy a book when it keeps popping up all over the place. It makes me feel like I'm missing something.

[Amy]

Rule of 7. People need to see things seven times before they act.

[Marie Silk]

Carole wrote: "It's great that it's on there Marie. Free advertising. Sometimes it takes a lot to get one book sold. I know from my own experience, I usually buy a book when it keeps popping up all over the place. It makes me feel like I'm missing something."

Thank you, Carole :) I'm not too worried about it now, but it did send me into a panic/paranoia about my ability to write when I had no response from Reader's Favorite for months. I did not have any ratings or reviews at that point so I was pretty concerned. Luckily my book was picked up by the Historical Novel Society during a short window when they accepted indie books for review. That (free) editorial review has done wonders for my book!

[Carole]

Those are the things that add up, Marie. And, yes, you are so right, Amy!

[Eldon]

I have to say Amazon has outdone themselves this time. I purchased a kindle to give my wife as an anniversary gift and thought hey, why not transfer some of the books from my own kindle on to hers.

Of course I come to find out that this type of sharing is not allowed by Amazon. I mean give me a break! I understand wanting to stop piracy and am all for that, but seriously!? Sharing books is as old as time. The joy of reading comes from sharing it with someone, am I right?

Worse than all this though...apparently Amazon allows book sharing if you live in the United States. If you live anywhere else then no share for you. Sense anyone??

The whole thing is ridiculous; if I had purchased the physical book I could share it with anyone but the ebook can't be shared when it's the same story!!

Thumbs down Amazon. Grrrr!

[Mary Ellen]

Wow, that is amazing. I live in the US and we have prime and family share enabled and my husband and I share all our Amazon stuff, even the free shipping applies to both accounts. You can add up to 4 kids too I think, not sure since I don't have any kids. That is totally unfair that it only applies to the US.

[Amy]

I'm not surprised Eldon, I had to jump through hoops to get the content I'd bought for my daughter onto her Kindle when I bought it. They don't make it easy.

[Eldon]

Amy wrote: "I'm not surprised Eldon, I had to jump through hoops to get the content I'd bought for my daughter onto her Kindle when I bought it. They don't make it easy."

They certainly don't!! Don't make any sense either lol

[Amy]

Eldon wrote: "They certainly don't!! Don't make any sense either lol "

There was a thing here a few years ago-we watched a TV series called Castle (police thing with a crime author helping out in investigations) My husband found there were some fiction books to accompany the series and bought them to read on his Kindle. If I wanted to read them I'd have to use his Kindle or buy them again. They are £4.74 for the ebook. If, however he'd bought the paperback for £7.99-everyone in the family would be allowed to read it.

It makes no sense. I'm not a fast reader I believe they have this process where you can lend it to someone for a couple of weeks, but that's no good to me because of reading so slowly. I still haven't finished one book I started about 5 holidays ago!

[Amy]

Another example of how people on the ground are suffering because of under funding in various sectors. If they had enough people to answer the phones...

On the upside, you can now sit down with a coffee and some chocolate and relax in the knowledge that you've sorted it out.

[Amy]

I've got nothing other than chocolate milkshakes and 40 calorie hot chocolate and a headache! It's just taken me far too long to create a blog post with a video of a tortoise eating a flower. Just because I didn't want to throw the whole 28 seconds up there I wanted it cut and cropped. Several downloads in the app store and two bits of software I could figure out how to use, I managed it.

I have yet to figure out how to share a blog post to Facebook whilst replacing either the huge picture of my face or my first book cover with something else. UGH technology.

[Amy]

The headache has gone, without painkillers-yay.

Most recent Grrr, just as I get to the point where everything else has been done and I can start editing-it's almost time for the kids to come home and I'll have to start cooking.

[Amy]

Yes I'm getting there. It's easier to read it on my phone than my laptop, I can at least see the words on my phone. I misread things on the laptop and I haven't figured out why yet.

[Amy]

I think it's just rubbish eyesight. My Kindle app is set so I've got 4 or 5 words per line and is probably 20cm from my face when I read. My laptop screen is more than a foot away from my head with smaller type. I could resize the type, but I wonder if my divergent squint mixes the words up on the screen sometimes. #FallingApart

[Amy]

I really don't know what the answer is. I've got it zoomed in at 300% in Word. My eyes get tired after about half an hour. I'm OK reading through short things like posts on Goodreads where there is a dividing line between each post. I can focus OK on the words in-between. It might be the volume of continuous words on the screen in a Word document. I have difficulty following the words along a line. I miss the days of reading when I was five and put a ruler under the line of text I was reading lol. I think it's my squint and tired eyes. I'm constantly closing my left eye which has the squint just so that I can focus on what's in front of me.

[Amy]

I don't think the font is helping, what's a decent paperback font that won't make my eyes bleed?

[Amy]

So Nate and Day is 17 pages longer this week than it was two weeks ago when I put the order in for the cover and I've not increased the length. Damn you MS Word. I'm hoping I find duplicated pages somewhere or I'm probably going to have to pay for another edit of the cover.

ETA: No, no, phew it's OK, it just hadn't registered me changing the font back when I was experimenting. Things I need-lighter newer laptop, better eyes.

[Amy]

I experimented and found that Garamond gives a lower page count than the others a random google search produced as viable options. Might as well make that extra 17p of royalty! I didn't check Minion Pro, and I do have that installed.

[Amy]

lol

[Nat]

Hang in there you two!

[Theodore]

Erica wrote: "I have had trouble with reds too. My bright red tricyle is sometimes a dull brownish red tricyle. I feel it is more of a vibrancy issue. CMYK seems to be closer to a true representation of the fini..."

Just to bring you up to date...it's been a month since I first alerted CS to the problem...and I'm still getting "Our technical support people are looking at the problem." Boy howdy, that must be some technical support group! Obviously, I haven't gotten to the "right" person yet. May call again this coming Friday and see if it's possible to escalate to a supervisor. As well, they owe me a redo on a 6-book order on which the covers, which were supposed to be blue, came out light purple. CS quality control is not good!!!

[Theodore]

Theodore wrote: "Erica wrote: "I have had trouble with reds too. My bright red tricyle is sometimes a dull brownish red tricyle. I feel it is more of a vibrancy issue. CMYK seems to be closer to a true representati..."

Okay...I think I have cracked the code...at least as far as my blue cover is concerned.

The problem apparently had to do with the conversion of my RGB cover to the printer's CMYK file (though why some of the files I submitted (which were developed in an identical manner) printed better than others still remains a puzzle to me). In any event, mindful that the problem was the amount of red in the cover, and further, that I needed a blue with a good separation between the C and M values in the CMYK constitute colors (a separation of at least 30 points, better 40 points), I settled on trying Pantone 286 for the cover. This "color" has values of C 100%, M 60%, Y 0%, and K 6%. It translates into RGB values of R 0, G 96, and B 240.

Redoing the cover in PSE 9 (yes...I'm a bit behind in update my software) using these RGB values, yielded a brilliant blue cover (see below) that both in proof and on the CreateSpace Website listing appears as I intended.



The lesson learned is that if you're thinking of creating a cover with significant blue elements, consider carefully the RGB values you use (minimize red to the maximum extent possible) or employ other cover/color options that may be available to you.

[Angel]

Hi, everybody! Can I have some support here. An author just went postal when I gave her a three star review. She's so used to her friends giving her all five stars that her first non-five star review she totally took it very personal and started verbally attacking me. I've never been so disgusted in my whole life. I'm always honest with my reviews. Even I've gotten negative reviews on my books, but have never personally attacked a reviewer. I have since blocked this author. Do you think I should report it. I have the email she sent me verbally attacking me. What do you guys think?

[R.L.]

I def don't think you should attack a reviewer regardless of what you get from them. I wouldn't engage with her if I were you. It only makes her look bad if it's one sided.

[Gisele]

Angel wrote: "Hi, everybody! Can I have some support here. An author just went postal when I gave her a three star review. She's so used to her friends giving her all five stars that her first non-five star revi..."

That sucks! I've said it before, if you only expect love on your book, why put yourself out there? And all books with a lot of readers have 3s. *shrugs*. Im sorry that happened to you Angel. I feel bad for the author. Her life must be terrible for her to behave that way. Keep your head up beautiful woman, and keep the honesty coming. :)

[Angel]

R.L. wrote: "I def don't think you should attack a reviewer regardless of what you get from them. I wouldn't engage with her if I were you. It only makes her look bad if it's one sided."

Oops! I think I did but I deleted my response to her before she could see it. A lot of these authors have been posting reviewers personal info on these certain sites that harass reviewers to the point they have showed at the reviewers' homes. Should I be worried?

[J.]

You do this long enough and you're going to get reviews that aren't the most glowing. It happens to everyone! Even Harry Potter had bad reviews. I'm sorry to hear that happened to you, Angel. I think that's ridiculous that she attacked you like that.

I think it's smart that you blocked her and I hope that's the last time you encounter something like that. Honest reviews are the name of the game and not something that should ever change.

[J.]

Angel wrote: "R.L. wrote: "I def don't think you should attack a reviewer regardless of what you get from them. I wouldn't engage with her if I were you. It only makes her look bad if it's one sided."

Oops! I t..."

WTF!!! showing up at people's homes and releasing personal info!?! That's so messed up! I don't think you should be worried. She'll probably fume for a bit and then move on.

[R.L.]

Yeah I wouldn't worry about her showing up to your house. Just shrug her off and keep moving.

[Amy]

Oh good grief, the second review I received was a one star! Nothing wrong with a three star. She emailed you attacking you? I thought the worst thing you could do as an author unhappy with a review was to contact the reviewer.

Angel I would ignore it. If you got your point across in a constructive way that's all anyone should expect surely?

[Theodore]

Angel wrote: "R.L. wrote: "I def don't think you should attack a reviewer regardless of what you get from them. I wouldn't engage with her if I were you. It only makes her look bad if it's one sided."

Oops! I t..."

Showing up at a person's home with the intent to intimidate is "assault." I'd enjoy filing charges against them with the local police.