How to hit #1 on Amazon... Showing 151-200 of 2,339

[Dee]

Hey Gina,
I have no doubt that santa was watching over you :]
I know I am excited about it. Still waiting for your art book to arrive. I think it is coming by pony-express. I promise to post a review to Amazon.com on both!

[Gina]

Is this a bad time to tell you that I can't spell and I flunked English? ;o)

[Dee]

That is why the writing muses invented "spell-check." :]

[Gina]

If only I'd known about it before writing those books ;o)

Is it hard to tell that I've been at the Christmas sherry?

Speaking of which... I want to wish everyone the very best for the festive season and every success with their books during the coming year. We writers can lead a bit of a solitary existence and it's a wonderful thing that we can get together here and share the writing experience. So here's to you all (raises glass) :o)

[Dee]

As it is early in the morning {on this side of the pond}, I will raise my cup of tea with you :]

[Todd Fonseca]

Gina,
Your new book is now on the blog and tagged!

[Todd Fonseca]

Thanks to my UK friends. I see I had a few Amazon UK sales last month as well as a tag or 2. Thanks again!

[Todd Fonseca]

Gina and Dee,
I received your books!
I just finished "cluck" - an odd book I didn't expect I'd like but as it turned out it was very very good!
(check out review on goodreads).
I've just started al-qaeda strikes again and then your books are next!
Todd

[Gina]

It's good to know the book arrived safely... and now I am a nervous wreck all of a sudden... and also extremely excited.

[Dee]

Hi Tod, thanks for letting us know that the books arrived. Gina took the words out of my mouth :]

Hey Gina, YOU KNOW Todd will love you book, how could he not! It is not only beautiful, it is also beautifully written.

[Gina]

Now I've gone all of a blush. I can see that sewing five pound notes into every copy really does work wonders ;o)

[Dee]

Drat it...I knew I should have looked closer to your book before shipping it to my daughter.

[Todd Fonseca]

You guys crack me up!

[Dee]

<--hands Todd some eyeglasses...we B not guys...silly.

Me things you have been reading about talking roosters far too long :]

[Todd Fonseca]

;0)

[Carole]

Now it's time to start work. Everybody else has been busy tagging everyone --- it sounds like fun! Now that Ferryman is out and is up on Amazon I really must learn how to do this tagging! Can somebody tell me what my first move is --- how do I get on to a site where books can be tagged. On the Amazon page there was a message about tagging my book. This I did by merely putting in the genre,crime fiction, and my reason for it.They say it won't appear for two weeks. Does that have any realationship to the art of tagging you are promoting?

Happy New Year to you all,
Carole

[Dee]

Hi Carole,

I am not sure why Amazon has the "it may not be tagged for up to two weeks" clause. Generally the tags go up right away. As do book reviews.

As to the "tag team" that Todd started...I usually go to his "Amazon Tag Page" and click on the books that he has listed.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/tagging/cust...

After you click on the book, scroll down to the Tagged Area and just click on the tags that you think would fit the book.

Todd also has a web site that is very helpful, and you can add your book to his "I want to be tagged" list.

http://tagmybookonamazon.wordpress.co...

As to tagging and promotion...Tagging does bring your book up in the ranks...and my sales have increased with the increased tags.

Hope this helps.
Dee Marie
Sons of Avalon: Merlin's Prophecy

[Dee]

Carole,

I just tagged Ferryman with the following tags on the the "US" Amazon site:

crime fiction
murder mystery
detective story
Cornwall
Ferryman
Fiction thriller
fiction

They showed up right away :]

Oh, and just a suggestion, you might want to add some information about your book to both the Goodreads site and the Amazon.com site. If you need help doing so, I will be very happy to help :]

I fell in love with the coast of Cornwall while researching Sons of Avalon: Merlin's Prophecy, and can hardly wait to read your book!

Dee Marie

[David]

I tagged Ferryman on Amazon.com for you as well. :)

[Stuart]

Hi Carole,

Wow. The tags are increasing in numbers....I have tagged you as well!

Stuart

[Carole]

Hey, I'm overwhelmed! What wonderful people you all are!

And Dee, Thanks for the advice about putting something about Ferryman in Amazon and on Goodreads --- did you mean a short synopsis, or was it something else you had in mind?

Sons of Avalon, Merlin's Prophecy sounds interesting. Would that have been the north Cornish coast?

Thank you David and Stuart (fellow Aussie?) for your tags -- I'm now off to Todd's site to see what I can learn about how to reciprocate.
Carole

[Carole]

Dee wrote: "Carole,

I just tagged Ferryman with the following tags on the the "US" Amazon site:

c..."

Hi Dee, yes I would appreciate a little help. If I were to put the back page blurb in for instance, I can't see where I would place it. There doesn't appear to be any boxes, and yet I see other people have managed. As you've probably guessed, I'm a bit slow when it comes to computers!

[Todd Fonseca]

Hi Carole,
I'll add the blurb on the tagging site when I add your book (I usually pull it from the amazon description or your can put it in your submission).
Happy new year all!
Todd

[Todd Fonseca]

Gina,
Starting your book today!
Todd

[Gina]

Todd, you've set my knees knocking and my teeth chattering. If anyone wants me I'll be out of town, having my face surgically altered whilst applying for new identity papers. :o)

Happy New Year one and all!

[J.R.]

I just finished tagging the January additions and I think I'm caught up for now. Happy New Year to all.

[Stuart]

Hi Guy's,

Happy New Year and I hope 2009 will catapult book sales for us all!!

Stuart(Australia)

[Dee]

Hi Carole,

On your Amazon.com page, scroll down to, "Product Details"...at the bottom of that section is the, “Would you like to update Product Info” link.

Click that link and add pertinent information about your novel.

I took your novel’s information off of your website

http://casutton.tripod.com

and added it to the Ferryman Goodreads' book information page.

Thank you for the kind words about Sons of Avalon: Merlin's Prophecy. Many of the novel’s pivotal scenes take place on Bodmin Moor and of course in Tintagel.

While doing research for the book, I feel in love with Tintagel and the people of Cornwall, from the moment my foot touched upon the Cornwall soil...I felt like I had returned home.

If you need additional help with setting up your Amazon.com page or with your Goodreads page, please do not hesitate to ask :]

Wishing you a most wonderful New Year!
Dee Marie

[Carole]

Dee wrote: "Hi Carole,

On your Amazon.com page, scroll down to, "Product Details"...at the bottom of that section is the, “Would you like to update Product Info” link.

Click that link and add pertinent i..."
Thank you Dee, you have been most helpful. I will go and have a look shortly. At the moment I am preparing a submission to send Todd on the Tag My Book page. I did some tagging yesterday and was quite thrilled today to see it recorded on my sheet. It meant I had done it properly!
Yes, Cornwall is a magical place. My experience was mainly in the south, the softer coastline, beautiful rivers. I take it you became familiar with The Jamaica Inn on Bodmin Moor?

Cheers, and a Happy New Year to everyone,
Carole

[Dee]

Hey Carole

If you click on the following link

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60...

You should be able to edit your novel's information on Goodreads. Just click on the "edit" link within the data window.

As to the Jamacia Inn, no, I did not get a chance to go there. I did however, hit every pub in Tintagel. And a few "hit me back" ... as in I drank a wee bit too many honey meads. :]

I have put your novel on my to-read list, and look forward to reading your adventure.

What part of Australia do you live?

Dee Marie

[Dee]

Waves a Happy New Year to Stuart :]

[Carole]

Thanks again, Dee, I will check that out. I have put in my submission into Todd, so hope all is well there.
Yes, I must read Sons of Avalon and lear a little more about the north coast.

I live in the foothills of the Darling Range. Western Australia, just outside Perth. Our summer temperature today was a warm 39 degrees C.

What about you Stuart, where in Aus do you live?

Carole

[Dee]

Ahh, some of the nicest people on earth live in or near Perth :]

[Stuart]

Dee wrote: "Waves a Happy New Year to Stuart :]" Thank you, I live in the cooler state of Melbourne, however, being English it is warm enough for me!

[K.G.]

Hello Stuart, I'm Kathy saying hello to you in Melbourne, from Melbourne, Florida. May the new year find you happy and healthy. kgcummings... Kathy

[Todd Fonseca]

Gina,
I'm well in to your book and am enjoying it very much. So stop those teeth chattering!
Happy new year all.
Todd

[Todd Fonseca]

All,

For those who get my newsletter, you probably noticed I gave out my first low (2 star) review. I'm feeling a little bad about it because as an author I know how much work it is to write a novel. On the other hand, I also know that if my work is not making the grade I would want to know and understand what could be done to improve. For those that read my work, I really want an honest assessment. I assume others want the same when they ask for a review. I think this gives credibility to the work reviewed, the review itself, and the reviewer. But I'm looking for a little feedback. When you all send out your work for review, do you want an honest assessment? Other thoughts?

Also, I try to be objective in my reviews - for those that read this particular review or any of my reviews, I would also appreciate any feedback on what can be done to improve them as well. Thanks all.

Todd

[K.G.]

Wow, Todd, you've broached a sensitive subject. Known as the 5 star reviewer at one of the sites I used to belong to, I was once slammed for not being honest. I challenged the slam by stating that I passed by poetry that I couldn't honestly give five stars. It was different there because it wasn't mandatory to review everything. Now if it was my book that you felt only deserved two stars, I would want to know privately first, to lick my wounds and develope a rebuttal if necessary. ...just food for thought. Thank you for sharing yours. kgcummings... Kathy

[Gina]

Todd, I would prefer an honest review that's a good one *giggles*

Seriously though, I know it's difficult to post a review that isn't glowing, but what is the point in having reviews at all if they're not honest? Honest, objective, and fair, that's the only way to go really.

Did you get the new Porsche I sent you by the way? ;o)

[Todd Fonseca]

Kathy and Gina, thanks for your thoughts on this.
Seems I'm now on the receiving end of some retribution. Someone has gone and tagged "not helpful" for every review I've done on Amazon all in one day. They've also tagged "not helpful" for all the reviews done by others for my own book. Sigh...

[Stuart]

Hi Todd, Kathy and Gina,

Reviewing is a highly sensative area and as writers we are known to be sensative types! However, with that being said the only good review is an honest one, which sometimes leaves the reviewer in murky waters. I try to review books that are not too far away from genre's that I am familiar with, this way it will be an honest review. I'm sorry to hear about the bitter writer who is out for some warped retribution Todd, sometimes being honest in this world backfires!

Best of luck to you all in 2009, Stuart

[Todd Fonseca]

All,
Thanks for the support. I'm going to move on now and enjoy Gina's wonderful book (and Porsche! - wink).
T

[Carole]

Hi Todd,
Five stars for everyone? I don't think so. But in giving reviews there is a difference between being honest and being brutal. Probably, like most writers at some point on their journey, I have recieved both. The honest, constructive review leaves one with feeling of ok will try harder, but the brutal, sarcastic one leaves only devastation.
I find it difficult to review books not of my preferred genre, and wonder how other reviewers manage. For example, how does a writer of fast action thrillers manage to review Romance? Wouldn't they be tempted to dumb it down? so, my suggestion to the original question, is 'be honest, but make it nice!' I can't understand anyone behaving in the manner you described and I'm sorry to hear it.

[Carole]

Hi Dee,
I've been scrolling everywhere today and much good it has done me! I'm trying to add more to the amazon page, as you suggested. I can find no space available for my blurb. When I go down to 'would you like to update product' link, it only refers to the stats on the book like page numbers, binding, language,title, etc. So I looked at the link next to it, and that had no bearing on it either. The only place I could find was below that called Customers reviews, where they say 'no customer reviews, create you own'-- but I hesitate to use that in case it is being presumtuous. Any advance on all this?

[Ilyn]

Hi Todd & everyone. Happy New Year.

What I would do with an unfavorable review depends on its purpose. If the author requested my review, I would privately give him my thoughts but I wouldn't make the unfavorable review public. If my paying job is to review for the reading public, my reviews would include the criteria I follow for objectivity.

If I don't personally know the author and reviewing is not my livelihood: In Goodreads, I do not have a rating below three stars because I do not include books I did not like in my list.

I have gotten mixed Goodreads reviews for my self-published novel, Reason Reigns. Some like it very much, but one who won it in the author-giveaway said, "Did not finish." But I had expected this - people have different values and opinions. I greatly appreciate good reviews - they make me happy; they are good for the book; it means, in my mind, that the reader is good. For an unfavorable review - I wish it were otherwise, but it doesn't hurt me. It just means that the reader and I are different.

Good fortune on all your books and endeavors.

[Dee]

Hey Carole,

Are you signed-in to your Amazon.com account?

Next, you want to establish a link between yourself and your book. It has been a while since I did that, that I will have to poke around Amazon to remember how I did it :]

Let me do a little research and get right back to you.

Dee Marie

[Gina]

Hi Carole,

I just added descriptive content to my book (or rather, I tried to take some away), and here's a page with the link to that form:

Add content

You can become an Amazon Connect author and have a profile page and blog there. Here's the link for that:

Amazon Connect

For Amazon Connect you have to have a publisher/agent/publicist confirm you're the author.

Hopefully those links do work.

[Dee]

Thanks Gina,
As always, you have come to the rescue :]

[Dee]

Hey Gary,

Gina does not play fair...pout...
But, neither do I...{insert waaaaaaaay evil grin here, as I toss Gary the keys to a metallic blue, 2009 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1}

After all, you can never have enough sporty cars :]

All teasing aside, I know you will LOVE Gina's book. My copy finally arrived two days ago, and I was blown-away. I am looking forward to reading Gina's novel next. Geez, if this keeps up, I will have to add a new shelf to my personal library just dedicated to works by Gina.

Oh, just one question...what color was the Porche?

[Nina]

The review issue is certainly complex. I am like Ilyn, I generally do not post a review of any book I thought was below 3 stars. If an unfavorable review was written about my book, I would appreciate seeing the review or having some insight prior to it being published. One review published about my book made a few disparaging comments that led me to wonder if the reviewer read the book-she was referring to a quote on the back cover, something I did not write or address in the book.I also find it difficult to review books in a genre I don't prefer reading.