Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Wanda's world wievs......

Authors, readers, reviewers and pirates.
So loads of people love blogging.  Right.  Right!  I am not one of them.  Or rather, I never was.  Now that I am starting to get a following I am starting to re-evaluate my views on Blogging. 
Is it the creative outlet I need to balance my life?  Do I have anything to say?  I wonder, and with wondering I decided that I would not know until I try.  So here is my first try.  I guess much of the continuation of this will depend on if I received any comments.
So today's blog is about books.  BIG SURPRISE! But seriously.  It is about the people I now call my friends.  The people that write, edit, create their own covers, promote and beg others to read and review their books.
I only recently found out that authors need 50 yes fifty reviews on Amazon before Amazon would through it out as a recommended book.  I also know some sort of tag is very important on Amazon although I do not know what that is or why it is so very important. 
I love reading.  I really love reading, but when I read I do it because I love it.  Not because I want to rush through the book so that I can get onto the next one.  So authors pm'ing me, sending me mails, asking me how far along I am - that kind of started to bug me.  What really got my goat were the authors that would try to play on my emotions.  Then I found out about the 50 review rule and I started to get it.  I really get it now. 
I also have another pet peeve, people stalking authors in an attempt to poach as many free books as they possibly can with no intent on even reading the book. 
So, on the one side we have people that need validation for their work.
People like me that love reading and in the process try to do right by the person whom is seeking validation.
And on the third we have people who I think of as pirates, people taking looty with no idea what they will do with it so they bury it in the sand. 
So the point of my monologue - where is the golden midway?  Why are more authors not actively involved in reading and reading follow authors work, cause, guess what - as long as your review is more than 20 words long Amazon accepts it is a review.
Why, among the millions of passionate readers on Facebook is their so very few who actually do reviews? Again, 20 + words counts as a review!
And to the pirates out there, we all love you in anyway, but please; do not take a book if you know you are never going to read it.  Pay it forward and make sure somebody gets the book who would love to read it. 
But that is what I think, what do you have to say about it.

11 comments:

  1. I totally agree Wanda, although I did read somewhere it was only 20 reviews and I didn't realise they had to be 20 words min. Damn, I've still got a long way to go!!!
    And I fully intend to read each of the 80 e-books I now have on my Kindle! As soon as I can!

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  2. I heard from Melissa whom is an editor that it is a minimum of 50 reviews, ironically the amount of stars, whether it is recomended or not does not come into the equation. So all of this got me thinking, seriously, why cant people drop a sentence saying they are not a fan of the genre but or some such. I have a folders on my Kindle 1. For review and to keep.
    2. For review.
    3. Won
    4. Free download
    5. Gifted so prioritise...... is it that hard?

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    1. I am not the only one who did this when i got my kindle, everything is neat and when i have read and reviewed it, it then goes into a completed folder. I can see what i have, what i need to read and it's all there when i turn on the kindle. I do move things around to fit other books in but don't we all do that. Although if i have given a set date for the review to go live i will make sure that i done.

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  3. I fully agree with you Wanda, every book i have i intend to read and review, but i do this for the love of books. I also was not aware until recently with regards to the 50 rule so am in the process of getting all my reviews out there on amazon to help out. I do find that there are people out there that ill take books they will never read, i would rather say it's not my thing and let someone else review it.
    I loved that you put this out there for people to see, maybe things will change but then again some things wll never change and for that i am sad

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    1. That is the thing Jenny, I am sure we can change things. But we need to make people aware of the facts. Or as many as we can. We need to tell our friends, hey drop a line, tell our authors, you know that book your reading, drop a few lines on Amazon, and all those little pirates out in never world. We love you and for many of us like with me, English is not my first language, but I am almost convinced no author will begrudge you a spelling mistake or a grammar mistake as long as you are helping them realise their dreams.

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    2. I know exactly what you are saying, my first language is English and i make mistakes at the end of the day it's the review that counts, and hopefully not that you have a couple of spelling/grammar mistakes we all make those if you have read a book and loved/liked/hated it 20 words is not that much to write. We have to support our authors and i for one love my indies more now than i ever did, and hope that i can help them realize their dreams especially when they have been so amazing at giving us really great books to read

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  4. Great blog Wanda!! Yes, the rule is 50 reviews in order for Amazon to "recommend your book". Meaning when you purchase a book Amazon recommends a book. "Others who have bought this book looked at/bought these books:" Obviously authors need their books to possibly be recommended to get word out there as another "publicity" outlet. That's not just for books though. It is for almost everything on Amazon.

    That being said, I've never had an author contact me to check on the status of their book or get my opinion, etc. That does seem a little off and I see why you'd be upset!

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  5. Hi Wanda,

    I agree with you regarding the pirates! However, I had not heard of the 50 review rule on Amazon either. If I do find a book that I love, and I have bought it through Amazon, I usually leave a review. However, sometimes I mean to do a review and I either forget or don't have time to do it straight away and then I forget! Doing the book reviews on your Book mews page has made me realise how much I enjoy reading and passing on my enjoyment to others. I feel honoured to do book reviews, and I hope I can spread the joy of reading to everyone everywhere.

    Lynn

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    1. Hi Lynn, I love doing reviews, it gives me the chance to say, oh and and and .. and did you notice and oh..... the things is, these authors, indie authors especially really need us and we need to up our game if we want to continue reading books written by them. They have amazing talent and I feel we should give as much as we receive if possible. Thanks for the reviews, I love them - although you might be the reason I go bankrupt!

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  6. Crazy crazy...50 review rule...Well, my opinion is that I will just stick to it and keep on keeping on! Staying true to myself and always love, and never forget, why i got into this whole wild and rollercoaster of literary madness: to tell stories and hope people at least find enjoyment from them. Word of mouth i think will always be the best form of a review, anyways :)

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    1. Joseph, your work is strong enough, you do a very good job at marketing yourself. Not everybody does that well though. But yes, we will keep on talking about your books. That is a fact.

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