Books are a bit like kids.
You get this idea for a story, you work and work and work and write and
edit and hate it and love it… and there's a book. You have the book
edited, have a cover designed… and finally it's finished, ready for the next
phase of its existence. You're an anxious parent, you might shed a tear as,
heart in mouth, you send your creation off into a larger world where readers
wait with (you hope) breathless anticipation. You wait for the first sales, the
first reviews…
Of course you do. You created it.
But once you hit that 'publish' button, it's not yours
anymore.
When a person buys a book, it's their book. Their opinion of
the content is every bit as valid as anybody else's. And there's bugger all the
author can do about it. These days it's all out there, warts and all. People
are encouraged to leave a comment about anything they buy – and that results in
gaming the system. People leave negative reviews of their competitors'
products, whatever they might be. Including, of course, other authors. People
buy reviews to improve their 'visibility'. Publishers like Amazon have done
their best to tackle that rort. Sometimes, it's true, they seem to use a
bulldozer where a shovel might have done a better job. And they certainly
haven't done a good job of attacking the other side of gaming, where bad
reviews are left for no good reason. This could be an author's street team
jumping on another author's book. Or maybe one of the groups on Goodreads which
seem to target some authors. Or it could be
somebody whose cat died today, or has a bad dose of PMT to take out on some
anonymous person in the virtual world.
We've got to live with that. Shrug and move on. This is why
I don't read reviews anymore. I certainly don't want to be accused of being one
of those badly-behaved authors we've all read about, denigrating reviewers, and in at least one famous case, tracking them down and attacking them. I don't mind if people don't like my books.
There are plenty of books I don't like. But ooooh… there are times when I wish
I could engage the writers of some unfair reviews. Like the person who left a
one-star review because the book wasn't what she expected, despite the fact
that the author had made it clear in the blurb that the story wasn't a romance.
Or the person who slammed just about everything about the book after cheerfully
admitting they'd only read up to 23%. Or the person who gave a book one star
because two names in the story were similar to (not the same as) characters in
a popular franchise. Or the person who gave a book one star when it hadn't even
been published yet. (Goodreads allows for that). And woe betide the author if a
'reviewer' uses Aaaargh (or spelling derivatives) in the title, or the words
"I tried to like this book…" (To which I say bullshit. I never buy a
book intending not to like it. But I don't 'try'. To paraphrase a famous literary critic,
"Like or like not. There is no try.")
These are not all examples from my books, you understand.
It's one of the trials of this Writing Game, experienced by all authors, which
seems to be getting worse. Coupled with that, it's harder to get your name out there,
harder to attract readers. It's said that you have to have a backlist to make
an impact. Well, I've got a backlist. Here it is.
Ptorix Empire
The Iron Admiral:
Conspiracy
The Iron Admiral:
Deception
The Complete Iron
Admiral (Conspiracy and Deception in one volume)
Starheart
Crisis at Validor
The Stuff of Legend
*
Morgan Selwood
Supertech (short)
Morgan’s Choice
A Victory Celebration
(short)
Morgan's Return
Ink (short)
Kuralon Rescue
*
Dryden Universe
A Matter of Trust
(novella)
The Demon's Eye
(short)
Eye of the Mother
(novella)
A Dryden Collection
(the three stories above in one book)
Ella and the Admiral
(novella)
*
Paranormal
Black Tiger
White Tiger
Black Tiger / White
Tiger (Black Tiger and White Tiger in one volume)
*
Historical
To Die a Dry Death
I've given you the results of my
mini-marketing
campaign last week. I've done one more thing – listed my perma-free book,
The Iron Admiral: Conspiracy, with
eReader News Today. I had excellent
results through them some years ago.
Here's
the post I wrote about it. This time, the book was downloaded about 750
times. This does not necessarily translate into reads, or reads of other of my
books, but might help. We shall see, but right now, I'd say it was a waste of money. Giving away books has lost its impact. In
fact, it has fed reader expectation that books
should be free, especially if
you're not well known. There are so many free books out there that many are
never even read.
Mind you, there are still indie authors out there who make a respectable living, and all power to them. They've established a fan base, are prolific enough, and write what their readers enjoy reading. But judging by comments from fellow writers, there are many in the same situation as me.
If you're getting the idea from all this that I'm
disheartened – you might just be right. I obviously don't write the kinds of
books that readers want to read. In the SFR niche, more and more of the titles
seem to be steamy stories set in space, with a bare male torso on the cover.
Whatever floats your boat. But that's not what I read, and it's not what I
write.
On a more positive note, I've just received my copy of
Timothy Zahn's latest novel,
Thrawn.
If you're a Star Wars fan you will have heard of the Thrawn trilogy. I'm so
pleased Grand Admiral Thrawn has been embraced into the Star Wars canon. I
loved the way he was portrayed in Star Wars Rebels and can't wait to see him in
a future Star Wars movie. I'll write a review for next week. Oh – and I promise
I won't 'try to like this book'. Even though I have high hopes.
Here's the link to the book on the Zon.
Until her love unlocked his
heart.
