Publishing Gripes and Grrrs!

[Carole]

Totally agree, Anna. It starts with our Thanksgiving. However, people do like to give books as stocking stuffers, so we've been pushing our paperbacks for that and putting out ads that people need downtime for themselves and should curl up with a good e-book.

[Anna]

Ah yes, 'buy my paperbacks for your mother/father/sister/daughter/brother/good friend" - why oh why didn't I think of that!

[Carole]

What a great idea! I'm going to buy indie books for the holidays for all my friends.

[Erica]

I have been buying books as gifts for the holidays too. The Facebook ad share page is up and running. It is a public group so please invite your author friends! Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/23903...

[Erica]

I know an author who released a free short story last year right before Christmas when people are getting their new e-readers. He said he had some book sales in the weeks following from readers that liked his writing style. I don't think it was a ton, but every little bit helps.

[Yvonthia]

Arrgh. You should all check out the #authorproblems drama that's taking place right now with my ARC & newly published Official Novel. The drama is in the reviews. Book is "The Wrythe and the Reckoning," and I'm Yvonthia Leland. To be honest, I've stopped looking over there, because I have other things to focus on, and can't be bothered with that stress. But you should definitely look over there at least once. You might learn something or two. Great day! (By the way, I love this thread. Thank you so much for it.)

[Carole]

Nice to meet you Yvonthia. Sorry for your troubles.

[Chrys]

Yvonthia, I've had a look. Seems to me you are the one who has stirred up the drama?

I've always followed the advice that an author shouldn't comment on reviews left for her books, whether good or otherwise.

Please be careful. Some of the reviewers have flagged you to Goodreads, according to their comments.

[Anna]

Erica wrote: "I know an author who released a free short story last year right before Christmas when people are getting their new e-readers. He said he had some book sales in the weeks following from readers tha..."

Thank you for these reminders of opportunities Erica.

[Dale]

I've had very few pieces published on Medium in The Writing Cooperative for over half a year now. Partly that's because I haven't had too many ideas for stories for them, but partly it's because they've changed their guidelines and are being a lot pickier now.

Some of the changes deal with formatting requirements, and if you don't get it exactly right, they reject automatically reject your story. They don't ask you to fix an otherwise good story's one formatting flaw; they just reject it, and then you can't resubmit.

Some of them deal with content and seem pretty straightforward, but yesterday I had a story rejected because it was considered a "blog-style" post. I didn't understand what they meant, so I sent in a request for clarification. The response was from someone who hadn't read the story, but they said, "We do not prefer blog style posts, where the author is only taking about their experience and not in some way providing advise to others."

Problem is, that's not what I sent them. I crafted a piece about a specific writing problem, gave clear advice on how to resolve it, and illustrated it with some of my own work. I think the latter point was what turned off the editor. It was written from the perspective of a problem I had and how I resolved it. But it clearly was "providing advice to others."

Beyond that, I've found recent stories on WC where the author did exactly the same thing, and that was apparently okay.

I find this pretty frustrating. Yeah, they're allowed to pick whichever stories they want, but inconsistency drives me up the wall, and I'm left with the feeling that they're using the rules to justify a rejection when an editor just didn't like it as much as another. Fine, reject my story if you don't like it, but don't point to some inapplicable rule as the reason.

Grrrr . . .

[Barbara]

I have rewritten descriptions for several of my books to display on the Amazon page. Now I have done this three or four times and have carefully saved pages. Amazon gives a message that it is successful and will be changed in three to five days. Three to five days later, nothing changes!

Also, Amazon does not sync information on different formats of the same book. How can I get them to fix this, once and for all.

[Anita]

I've had the same problem. They are fast to make the changes to the kindle version, but the paperback or hardback is another issue.

[Barbara]

It seems they try to push selling the kindle editions, but that does not necessarily work for children's book authors. Only 1% of my sales are kindle and Amazon does not seem interested in pushing sales for the higher-priced paperbacks and hardcover editions. Ever since Createspace disappeared the problem has gotten much worse.

[X.]

Just had a review posted today on Goodreads AND Amazon criticizing my book for plot holes. There very well may be plot holes, but EVERY one of the things he complained about were actually addressed in the book. I hate thinking that I'll lose sales just because HE can't read well. Grr....

[Carole]

People never look at one review. I know for me, when I read a negative review, I like to read the book and see if the reviewer was correct. Sometimes books with a slew of bad reviews do very well. Don't take it to heart.

[X.]

Carole wrote: "People never look at one review. I know for me, when I read a negative review, I like to read the book and see if the reviewer was correct. Sometimes books with a slew of bad reviews do very well. ..."

Thank you. I really am open to criticism--it was something I learned. And I could probably do better than anyone roasting my own books. But I just think it should be FAIR criticism.

[Carole]

We all feel that way- and sometimes the reviewers criticize just to entertain their audience. They confuse constructive comments with mean-spirited attacks. When I review I don't always like what I'm reading, but I take into account that another reader might enjoy it. I try to point out what wasn't for me, in the same way, I point out what I loved about a book. As a reviewer, I am not there to rip someone apart, but inform people with similar tastes why they should or shouldn't pick up a book. Social media has given everybody a voice, which is a wonderful thing but failed to stress or teach the responsibility of someone's actions. If you are powerful enough to influence people, then you have to accept the responsibility and the possible consequences it might bring.
I think both my son and I have grown as writers by reading the reviews. We've discovered our audiences, who likes our style and where we should direct our advertising, and who doesn't appreciate what we do. When the cruel appraisals do appear, we never respond, but understand, this person was the wrong fit for our product.

[Carole]

Well said. Alex

[Nat]

I tend to review books like I've been editing them and dish out a list of problems. It's a bad habit and not sure if it's useful to other readers, which is the point of a review.

I do try to focus on the good, too, but that's usually more amorphous.