Someone direct-messaged me on Twitter this week offering me an opportunity, that if I bought their book for 99 cents, in return they'd re-tweet my Twitter messages for a whole month! Presumably the person in question couldn't care less whether I read their book or what I thought of it, the only point is presumably to get enough sales to climb up the Kindle chart? Not only does this approach reek of desperation, but surely it's the sort of practice that can only bring indie authors into disrepute? We've all heard of authors (not just the independent ones!) who've composed their own glowing 5 star reviews, which to my mind is an even worse crime because it completely undermines the integrity of the review process. There was a report in the Telegraph recently about a fairly prominent history professor (now being sued apparently) who was using his wife to write admiring reviews for his work whilst at the same time she was cobbling together dimissive ones for his rivals. I read that this process of writing fake reviews even has a name and it is called "sockpuppeting". Personally I don't care what the practice is called, and the only word I can think of to describe it is reprehensible!
Anyone who's published a book knows how hard it is and how vitally important reader reviews are - especially for indies! It can be frustrating when someone kindly takes the time to contact you and mention how much they enjoyed reading your book, but doesn't actually get round to posting a review about it. It's also quite disconcerting sometimes how widely different people's tastes and expectations are concerning the stuff they read. I know that not everyone who chooses to read Niedermayer & Hart will absolutely love it without any reservations. I am a grown-up and I can accept this (sometimes)! Some of the people who have posted reviews on behalf of Niedermayer & Hart are known personally to me, but the majority are not; whatever they wrote about the book (known or not!) was done at their own discretion, except in two cases where I contacted the reviewer and asked them to alter a certain line which would have 'spoiled' the plot. My wife, son, friend and editor Peter Bolwell have not posted any reviews on behalf of the book either as themselves or under pseudonyms. Because of their close involvement in the project I'd consider it quite wrong if they did so.
Nobody is after bad reviews of course and we all want to sell our books. Book buyers don't always buy when they're supposed to and when they do read the flippin' book they don't always see it the way they're meant to! Seems like the only ideal solution would be a world in which I am both the author and the book's perfect reader! A kind of narcissistic love-fest!
Book-reading strikes me as one of the most subjective of all pleasures. And, as I've said, I have to accept that people have widely different expectations when it comes to the stuff they read. I don't personally understand how anyone could give Catch 22 or To Kill a Mockingbird anything less than five stars, or how anyone could fail to love Dickens! Yes, I know, shocking but true!
Anyone who's published a book knows how hard it is and how vitally important reader reviews are - especially for indies! It can be frustrating when someone kindly takes the time to contact you and mention how much they enjoyed reading your book, but doesn't actually get round to posting a review about it. It's also quite disconcerting sometimes how widely different people's tastes and expectations are concerning the stuff they read. I know that not everyone who chooses to read Niedermayer & Hart will absolutely love it without any reservations. I am a grown-up and I can accept this (sometimes)! Some of the people who have posted reviews on behalf of Niedermayer & Hart are known personally to me, but the majority are not; whatever they wrote about the book (known or not!) was done at their own discretion, except in two cases where I contacted the reviewer and asked them to alter a certain line which would have 'spoiled' the plot. My wife, son, friend and editor Peter Bolwell have not posted any reviews on behalf of the book either as themselves or under pseudonyms. Because of their close involvement in the project I'd consider it quite wrong if they did so.
Nobody is after bad reviews of course and we all want to sell our books. Book buyers don't always buy when they're supposed to and when they do read the flippin' book they don't always see it the way they're meant to! Seems like the only ideal solution would be a world in which I am both the author and the book's perfect reader! A kind of narcissistic love-fest!
Book-reading strikes me as one of the most subjective of all pleasures. And, as I've said, I have to accept that people have widely different expectations when it comes to the stuff they read. I don't personally understand how anyone could give Catch 22 or To Kill a Mockingbird anything less than five stars, or how anyone could fail to love Dickens! Yes, I know, shocking but true!
Niedermayer & Hart isn't a slim novella with characters named Tristram and Arabella who have fallen on hard times and are forced to rent out rooms at their chateau (a very small chateau you understand!) in Provence. N & H is a 162,000 word story that is meant to be enjoyed as a ripping yarn, grip you by the whatsits (apologies if you don't have any whatsits!) and keep you turning its pages right to the bitter end. If you buy it and read it, I sincerely hope you'll like it because I'd like you to buy and read my next book too and the one I'm currently working on after that! If you could spare the time to write a short review on Amazon or Goodreads I'd be very grateful - believe me it is so important! I'll be like a puppy with two tails if you not only leave a review but also press the 'Like' button on Amazon and my Facebook author page. Unlike the publishing houses who can introduce their new authors through newspapers and advertising campaigns etc, for us indie guys it's all down to the honest response of our readers' reviews. It strikes me as a very bad thing indeed to renege on that trust by using any of the techniques described in the first paragraph.
After all, nobody held a gun to my head and insisted that I write a book. Nobody said it would be easy! And what's more I'm doing something I totally love!
After all, nobody held a gun to my head and insisted that I write a book. Nobody said it would be easy! And what's more I'm doing something I totally love!
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