#105:  For a follow-up on #104, see my blog post “Indie books and bookstores…,” prompted by a myopic NY Times article on B&N.  The Times presents the official viewpoint of B&N.  I present my own.  Are you surprised that I don’t side with the bookstore giant?  They recently announced that they will not carry Amazon’s publications.  That doesn’t make sense if you just consider the online giant as another publisher (it isn’t, of course).  I don’t know what it means for KDP (Amazon’s eBook publishing).

#106:  Deanna Proach yesterday (Feb. 2) made a guest post to my blog titled “How to Critique a Writer”—for established writers and writers who are starting out.  Anyone who has a good critique site (where writers interchange manuscripts to have them critiqued) is welcome to comment there or here with a URL to the site.  After EditRed (now defunct), I stopped participating in critique groups, but I know they are very popular with some writers.

#107:  Shah Wharton has interviewed me for her blog.  See yesterday’s (Feb. 2) posting on www.wordsinsync.blogspot.com where you might learn a bit more about my quirky cynicism.  Writers should check out her “Author Advice” category where she quotes famous authors’ tips on writing—readers might be interested in these too, because they are sure to recognize some famous names.  I especially like Philip Pullman’s, though.  Shah also has an author page:  shahwharton.blogspot.com .

#108:  One rule of writing I try to follow myself (rarely mentioned in Shah Wharton’s tips list above) is:  Never, never pay for a review.  There are internet services that will charge you for reviews.  There are internet services that charge you for lining up reviewers, even if those reviewers don’t charge you.  There are many ways for a website to make money that might marginally annoy readers but don’t gobble up writers’, especially indie writers’, meager funds to pay for reviews (advertising, deals with book retailers, etc).

A writer shouldn’t pay for reviews.  The first reason, of course, is that payment biases the review.  In some cases, many reviewers, paid or not, simply tell you beforehand that if the review is negative, they won’t post it.  That’s still a bias.  Your only possible obligation is to provide a reviewer with a copy of your book—ARC, pBook, or eBook.  This has enough intrinsic value if the reviewer is truly an avid reader who enjoys reading works by new authors.  It still may only “buy you” a short review, but you have more chance of it being an honest one.

Nevertheless, paid or unpaid, don’t expect a review to be professional, in the erudite sense of analyzing the merits of your book as the next literary masterpiece.  Most readers nowadays are more interested in an answer to the question, “Will I enjoy this book?”, rather than “Is this the next installment in great 21^st century literature?”  In my own reviewing, I always try to answer the first question plus provide some technical comments on plot, POV, characterization, and other things important to readers and writers alike.

Amazon reviews often just answer the first question but the prospective reader should be aware of two important caveats:  (1) Positive Amazon reviews are often posted by friends and relatives (I have less of a problem with this if these people are also writers or involved in the publishing business); and (2) negative reviews (and just one can knock the writer’s Amazon score down tremendously) are often written by people with a grudge.  Amazon provides the reading public an important service here, but the results should be taken with a grain of salt.  Moreover, authors should not become suicidal over negative interviews at Amazon or anywhere else—reading choices are subjective and readers’ reactions to a writer’s opus are even more so.

#109:  Do blogs help writers sell books?  That hasn’t been my experience.  It’s easy to calculate:  If every person that reads my blog regularly were to buy two of my books, even the cheapest two, then I would be far ahead of the game.  Consequently, I conclude that many people read my blog just for enjoyment, my cynical opinions, or information, but they’re not attracted to my fiction.  There’s nothing wrong with that because, in some sense, you’re still valuing and validating my writing…as a blogger.  Nonetheless, if this is true, my blog is not helping me sell my books, contrary to what most book-marketing experts recommend.  Comments, anyone?

#110:  Kudos to Amazon.  My books are now available in the UK and France.  I’m not sure how many Francophiles are interested in slangy American sci-fi thrillers, even though there is an international and out-of-this-world flavor to them, but presumably readers in the UK will find them interesting.  Evil Agenda and Soldiers of God are globe-trotting tours de force, for example.  I recognize that there are nuances of language that will catch my UK friends’ eyes, but that’s unavoidable…and maybe part of the fun?

In libris libertas….

This entry was posted on Friday, February 3rd, 2012 at 4:00 am and is filed under Interviews, News and Notices from the Writing Trenches, Writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.