Who Is Eating Its Authors?

I wish somebody would tell me what the heck is going on! Is Amazon going cannibal, eating its own young?

After watching this industry for 29 years, I think I've reached my saturation point. 

Read this HuffPost article, written by no less than Mark Coker (Smashwords CEO and indie author). Anyway you look at this, to me it spells doom

2018 Book Publishing Predictions--Are Indie Authors Losing Their Independence?

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/2018-book-publishing-predictions-are-indie-authors_us_5a4a88e0e4b0d86c803c78ab

In addition to this dire warning/prediction, tell me why, oh why, have sales and reviews dropped off almost completely for small/independent presses and self-published authors. I'm seeing this all across the board. I have not seen such a dramatic halt for reviews and sales, but I can say this: When you put a minimum dollar requirement of $50 per year for reviewers (who wish to enhance the resources of the written word), you are certainly going to cut out a vast amount of readers and fans.  

WHO WANTS TO BE LOCKED INTO A COMPANY OR PRODUCT BY FORCE, WITH NO WAY OUT BUT TO PLAY THE GAME AND KEEP YOU HEAD IN THE SAND. WE ARE NOT WORTHY AS WE BOW OUR KNEES TO THE FLOOR AND RAISE OUR ARMS IN ALLA FASHION. DON'T YOU DARE CHALLENGE THE MASTER OF AL THEY SURVEY. OR...FIND THE EXIT DOOR. 

And what is this cursed algorithm that ferrets out family, relatives and friends from reviewing your book? Is this all in the name of halting fake reviews and page number reads, as Amazon explains? Why do authors have entire blocks of reviews removed without notice or explanation. The believe some master policy had been violate, although they don't quite know which one.

No one dares speak ill of Amazon's treatment for fear of a giant ax coming down on them. Anyone can be pulled from their pages, ruthlessly and efficiently. That is exactly what happens when a corporation gets too big and powerful.

Do you know why Amazon is producing brick-and-mortar bookstores across the nation? To date, they have 19 operational. Do you know what this means? Do you understand what product lock-in can do to the consumer populace?


I'm not a doom-peddler or naysayer. I'm well aware of the better points of Amazon as it pertains to indie publishing. I know all about leveling the playing field and ousting the gate keepers. Fair is fair, yes. I represent Guerrilla Warfare For Writers. I warn, and fight for the rights of authors everywhere. We are the producers--we MUST take control and demand justifiable resolutions. Without us the literary world is a wasteland.

Chime In! Tell me what you think. What are your experiences with recent sales and reviews of your books and stories.

I wish you all the best in your writing endeavors. Never be afraid to stand up face to face with your nemesis and present your grievances.

The Warrior--Red Shifting.

Pen Names: I'm Not Who You Think I Am.

I've agonized over using a pen name. Call it what you will—pseudonym, non de plume. I didn't really specialize in a genre. This has been going on longer than I’d like to admit. One look at my Amazon page will bear this out in a most dramatic fashion. I’d used a shotgun approach to see what genre got the best reaction sales wise. This late in the game, I've decided to use a pen name for my YA series. My small press sales from just about all my publishers have been small to mediocre at best. The older the book, the higher in the millions your rank can get. You might start off as an Amazon best-seller and stay there for weeks, but if you slide and slow down in sales it will show. You have to sell to even stabilize your rank spot. But enough about ranks, which aren’t the end all of your success.

The problem with writing in so many genres with the same author name will confuse your fan base. That’s if you’ve developed a readership in the first place. Your readers can trust your YA SF, but will any of them make the leap to your erotic romance? Using multiple genres can spread you too thin, carving into your sales and decimating a fan base. The same goes for fiction versus nonfiction. Are you an entertainer at heart or are you a social commentator, historian or instructor? I think it’s okay to experiment in the early stages, but it’s in your best interests to make a decision on how you visualized your career. Both J.K. Rowling and Stephen King used pennames, albeit for different reasons because they didn’t want to get overly familiar with using their very popular names for every book they conceived.

What about gender neutral names? Joanne Rowling used the initials J.K. in front of her last name to disguise the fact that she was a she. Her agent had told her that boys were reluctant to read female authors, which was/is particularly true of SF, fantasy, action/adventure and really anything meant for the YA and MG crowd. Likewise, there are a limited number of females who might openly admit to never reading male authors who have scribed romances, most prominently sweet romances where true emotions and depth of feeling is needed. A male author would certainly have a little more trouble than a woman when penning a Sweet Valley High. There are exceptions, of course, where it doesn’t matter what gender is responsible for the work. In Jo Rowling’s case, she was a debut author, so she carried that moniker until she switched to adult novels. She wanted to draw a distinction between her teen books and something meant for an older crowd.     

I've always wondered what the big house publishers thought of my track record when they gave it a glance. So yes, I'm going with a pen name with a certain genre, and to start a new little writer off, even though that writer will be easily identified as me. Notwithstanding, I'm going to do everything in my power to disguise my identity. It can be done, at least for awhile. I really do need a fresh start since I have such a fruit salad of genres and categories. 

If you are making this decision in the relative early stage in your writing career, then you have the jump on it and I think it might be a good idea. There certainly is a definitive difference between comedy and horror or YA and erotica. Don't make the mistake I made. It sounds like you have to insert yourself into an inescapable niche—not to worry. What you are really doing is specializing, branding yourself for easy recognition. You don’t want to confound or confuse. You want to make finding and selecting you and your books as trouble free as possible.

Why do you suppose that the font type of an author name is larger on a book cover written by an A-list celebrity than it is with a midlist author? If you are a die-hard reader of Stephen King, that name will jump right out at you. It’s called name branding. That’s where you want to be.

Red-shifting….

So You Want a Review?

As I've said before, I'm not here to make you like me (as much as I don't mind that). I'm here to try and inform you; let you know what the Chuck Dickens is going on out there in the industry. This one is about seeking review requests for your new release, be it pre-order or not, or one of your back-list titles. IOW, you're going ask/beg a legitimate book review source to give you their honest opinion of your masterpiece. And make no mistake about that, they WILL give you an unbiased opinion of where your book stands in the literary world. There are a few exceptions who will not post a review that is rated two stars out of five or below. They will contact you about this. The process is different from each review source, so read their policy and guidelines thoroughly--every word, and let it sink in about what you are up against. 

Speaking about what you are up against....

Regardless of the genre, review websites and review bloggers receive anywhere from 10 to 50 review requests per DAY. Some suffer a lot more. They are swamped, backlogged and buried in requests. I had one review source contact me who said, "Chris, there are 34 ahead of you, do you still want to proceed?" I answered in the affirmative, but realized this was not a guarantee of a review, but only a perusal of my query, and then, and only then, would a decision be made. What has changed to make it doubly hard today is that about 75% of the reviewers are allowing self-published authors to submit. This is all fine and well, but it adds to the traffic jam. Only some years ago, indie authors were refused reviews--now they are becoming commonplace.

I've harped on this before--there is a serious industry glut. There are far more submissions to agents and publishers than ever before. Take in the fact that sales are down all across the board, and what you have is a cautious industry that is making mergers, cutting back on staff, eliminating entire categories (like YA), and accepting less debut authors. This trickles down and forces authors to promote and market their back-list titles and this usually means hunting down reviews.

You are aware that Amazon's fairly recent policy has really slaughtered the amount of reviews you are seeing today. They require a $50 minimum purchase within a year, an account and a current credit card to post a review. If this doesn't smack of 'product lock-in', I don't know what does. People have enough expenses as it is, let alone open an Amazon account and spend money there. They also have a stipulation that friends, family and relatives will be excluded from reviewing books. I ask you, is not my family, relatives, fans and friends who buy my books? Amazon's excuse for this was that they had to weed out fraudulent reviewers. Ooooooooookay.

Now that you know what you're up against, let's damn the torpedoes and hit flank speed. Google "review sites for your genre or category." Something to that effect. If you get the best 10, 50, or 100 list, click on each website or blog site starting from the top on down. Make sure the sites are current and active. You might get error messages, parked sites, 401s, or is it 404s? Read their policy and guidelines carefully and make notes on exactly what to include in the submission and how it is to be sent. If you skimp on this or get it wrong, kiss that request good bye. They can't tolerate any deviations from their guidelines.

So help me, you had better personalize it and talk it up a bit before you get to the bones of your submission. These review people want to feel human contact and not some spam onslaught from a robot. Read their bios, comment on their bios. Add a few lines about their favorite sub-genre, pets, family, education, reading habits. Use their real name. If you can't find their name anywhere on the site, use a general greeting but continue with the comments. I usually apologize for not noting their name if I can't find it. You can go to their FB or Twitter page and sometimes find it there. Check out Goodreads, and if you are a member at GR, by all means put your book up for review there. 

If you are trade published, ask your publishers which review source they automatically send to--you do not want to cross-post with your publisher, hitting the same review source twice. That can get you yanked out of the review list. Make a note of what format is expected. It could be the more popular PDF, or it could be an EPUB format that the reviewer finds easiest to read on their device. 

Start your review campaign at least three months in advance of your release. Some reviewers will take ARC (author review copies) well in advance of publication!

They will try to get their review to coincide with the release of the book. Other reviewers don't want a gun to their head, expecting to rush a review for anybody. Again, read the policy. The reason you generally want to submit early is that it can take so long for a review to materialize. It could be a few months or longer. This is a maddening process akin to submissions to publishers and agents. In fact, it is not much different. You'll find one reviewer who wants a short intro query via regular email. They want to feel you out. Don't--don't attach your book or anything else. Other reviewers will instruct you to fill out their long forms and upload material there. Obey the rules or suffer the consequences. 

They will contact you if you will get a review. Many of them will post that review on Amazon and many of the other retail stores online. That's a great perk. You should also use that review by spreading it around to your social media sites and other sources. Bring it to your publisher's attention. 

How many review sources are enough for good saturation? Answer: as many open and legit review sources as you can find. The odds are against you. You might get one review for every 15 submissions. If you personally know the reviewer you've just upped your chances significantly. Below is my list. Since the genre was romance, more precisely romantic suspense with some erotica, I found these review sites and gave it a go: 

REVIEW REQUEST SENT TO AAR ROMANCE (DABNEY) 1-17-2019

REVIEW REQUEST SENT TO AESTAS0 ROMANCE BOOK BLOG: 1-17-2019

NATASHA IS A BOOK JUNKIE—1-17-2019

RED HOT BOOKS—1-17-2019

JOYFULLY JAY, ROMANCE REVIEWS—1-17-2019

DIRTY GIRL ROMANCE—1-17-2019

COFFEE TIMES ROMANCE—1-17-2019

TRUE STORY BOOK BLOG—1-17-2019

ROMANCE BETWEEN THE SHEETS—QUERY ONLY—1-17-2019

ROMANCE FOR THE BEACH—QUERY ONLY FOR PDF—1-17-2019

THE ROMANCE DISH—QUERY ONLY—1-17-2019

TBR—TO BE READ PILE—SMALL FORM, QUERY ONLY—1-17-2019

YEARWOOD LA NOVELA—QUERY ONLY—1-17-2019

JOYFULLY REIVEWED (JOY AND MELISA) QUERY ONLY—1-17-2019

TYPICAL DISTRACTIONS ROMANCE—QUERY ONLY—1-18-2019

NON DE PLUME ROMANCE—FORM SENT—1-18-2019

NOT ANOTHER ROMANCE BLOG—FORM—SENT—1-18-2019

ONCE UP AN ALPHA REVIEWS—SMALL FORM-EMAIL—1-18-2019

FOR THE LOVE OF ROMANCE—QUERY WITH SYNOPSIS—1-18-2019

ADDICTED TO ROMANCE—RENNE, QUERY ONLY—1-19-2019

WANTON READS ROMANCE—EXTREMELY LONG FORM—1-19-2019

UNDER THE PAGES ROMANCE—SHORT FORM AND LINK—1-10-2019

ALICEVL.COM ROMANCE—SHORT QUERY—1-19-2019

MY LOVE OF ROMANCE, RENNE—EMAIL QUERY—1-20-2019

DAILY BOOK REIVEWS—SHORT QUERY ONLY—1-20-2019

FOREVER YOURS ROMANCE—LONG SUB-ATTACH—1-20-2019

ALL ABOUT ROMANCE—QUERY ONLY—1-20-2019

BLACK RAVEN’S REVIEWS—LONG FORM—1-21-2019

BOOK LOVER INC REIVEWS—LONG FORM—1-21-2019

DARK DIVA REVIEWS—LONG FORM—1-21-2019

NAUGHTY EDITIONS REVIEWS—QUERY—1-21-2019

RITES OF ROMANCE—QUERY, BOOK,--1-21-2019

LONG AND SHORT ROMANCE REVIEWS—SHORT FORM—1-21-2019

MANIC READERS—LONG FORM, MULTIPLE CHOICE—1-21-2019

THOUGHTS BY TASH REVIEWS—SHORT FORM—1-21-2019

BEAS BOOK NOOK—EMAIL SHORT FORM—1-21-2019

BOOKS MAKE ME HAPPY—SHORT QUERY—1-21-2019

BOOK PUSHERS—SHORT QUERY FORM—1-21-2019

BOOK SMUGGLERS, ANA AND THEA, EMAIL QUERY—1-21-2019

CARABBEAN ACCENT BOOK REVIES—COMMENT QUERY—1-21-2019

CONFESSIONS OF AN UNSUSPECTED BOOK WORM-QUERY—1-21-2019

DEAR RESTLESS READER—LONG EMAIL QUERY==1-21-2019

FORGET HOUSEWORK I’M READING—LONG EMAIL—1-21-2019

LAURA’S REVIEW BOOKSHELF—INITIAL QUERY—1-21-2019

MALDIVIANS PASSION FORM ROMANCE—QUERY—1-21-2019

MARYSE’S BOOK REVIEWS—QUERY/SUBMISSION—1-21-2019

MY TANGLED SKEINS REVIEWS—QUERY SUB—1-21-2019

BAD BIRD READS—EMAIL, SYNOP, SAMPLE, LINKS—1-22-2019

ROMANCE NOVELS FOR FEMINISTS—BOOK SUB, QUERY-1-22-2019

SHAMELESS BOOK CLUB (SMUT)—FULL—QUERY—1-22-2019

THE BOOK TART—SMALL EMAIL FORM—1-22-2019

THE ROMANCE REVIEWS-MEMBERSHIP—LARGE DATA FORM-1-22-2019

THE ROMANCE STUDIO—LONG FORM, FULL, 1-22-2019

WHAT I’M READING-IN SEARCH OF ROMANCE—QUERY—1-22-2019

LOVE IN THE MARGINS—LARGE FORM—1-22-2019

Sorry, no clickables here. Didn't have the time. 

Why so many? Because I was a slimy little smelt in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It took me four days, eight hours a day to make all of these submissions. Prepare for the time and workload knowingly. 

Good Luck!

Red-shifting otta here.... 

 

Are you a HOOKER?

Have you Hooked or are you Bait-less?

(I just hooked your ass in here, didn't I?)

        I've accumulated thousands of rejection slips, both email and hard mail, dating back at least 28 years. We writers agonize over just about every word in these little snippets of rejection death, attempting to decipher some type of meaningful logic out of these one or two-line zingers.

Scenario: So the editor has read about three or four pages and stopped. She is in problem territory already. She sees snags and there are a few that stand out over the rest which indicate specific problems, and the rejection usually begins with, "I'm afraid I wasn't pulled into the story," or “I couldn’t identify with the protagonist,” "the front bogged down," or "after a few pages, I wasn't compelled to read any further." “too dialogue heavy,” “static opener,” “excessive sentence fragments,” Something to that tone, anyway. What we have here is a failure to communicate up front with that all important "hook." A hook doesn’t have to make logical sense. It’s better left less obvious.  

        The hook is that mystical teaser, that pulls the reader into the story, and it usually begins on page one, and really never lets up unless it finally reveals but leads into another. You can craft a hook by using dialogue, action, narrative or even description, but the one thing it does is present a unique problem that is not answered immediately, or is a set of circumstances that confounds the reader, asking more questions that it's answering. I think a really great hook uses deceit or misdirection. It presents a "What the hell's going on here" in the reader's mind, or a "why or how could this be happening?" ````

        Setting a good hook, I later learned, is a crafting trick--a tactic. There's nothing artistic about it. Just like a magician uses sleight of hand, so too does the writer create an unfathomable scenario that begs explanation and further reading. Of course, it's wise to take the reader up to the confusion threshold but not beyond it, where incidents and plot seem even more disjointed. There must be a method to your madness, allowing the reader to glimpse that sliver of light at the end of the tunnel. Which means, little answer and a bit more tease.  

        I can pontificate all day long about how stunning and fast-paced my second and third acts are, but when I read and interpret those pesky rejection slips, the ones that hint at boring, tepid, stilted, stuffy first-page or fist-chapter passages, I know then that I've failed in capturing my reader's attention--he/she will be reluctant to invest further reading time if I cannot make the mystery worth his/her time to solve. I've opened the story door and invited the reader to ride along, but they are inclined to pass and let me drive off without them if I haven’t grabbed their curiosity.

         Thick back-story is a killer, as is puffed up prologues, heavy, multiple character descriptions (laundry listing), too many characters, uninspired dialogue, weather reports and heavy handed scenery that tries too hard to be literary or cinematic.

         I can have a dynamite query letter, but the editor or agent won't get past page five if I haven't pulled them into the story and forced them to wonder or agonize about something.

        The hook scene doesn't have to be complicated. (First Page--First Paragraph)--Imagine average Joe Blow pulls over in a picturesque grove of trees, gets out of his car and lights up a cigarette. He's on his way home but has a few minutes to kill. He happens to notice a church a few hundred yards away and the church parking lot is filled to capacity. The back of the church looks to be occupied with a reception area, filled with chairs, tables, colorful streamers and a small stage. But no one is out there celebrating, meaning that the festivities must still be under way inside. He crushes out his cig butt and happens to look up, being prompted by the sound of a twig snapping in the boughs of a large tree.

         He sees a woman in a full sequined wedding dress, balanced precariously on a limb high up in the tree. The woman has a terrified look on her face; she is breathing hard and sweating profusely.

        You've just set the hook. You don't have to have this guy figure out exactly what she's doing up there, but we have a pretty good idea. Or do we? We won't really know until the writer let's these two exchange dialogue. But we're not going to do that either. Joe Blow has decided, against his better judgment, to help this woman out. Just by her demeanor, he knows something is way off the normalcy scale. She’s a runaway. He can sort it out later once he gets her in his car and down the road away from the church.

         He drives off and they’re safe for now. When it comes time for her to confess her problem, she's evasive and remains quiet.  He slows the car down and then gets a phone call from his wife, wondering if they're still on for their marriage counseling session that night. He can’t talk right now and hangs up. He slows down, looking for his pack of cigarettes that he’s lost, and he can’t get his seatbelt up because it’s wedged in the closed door. She whines from the back seat and slips into a barrage of hacking sneezes, spraying phlegm all over his new upholstery. He also can’t see out of the rear view mirror because she’s got her head buried in the carpet and her pleated wedding dress has sprang up and blocked his view.

         Now we have conflict, while still nothing has been resolved. And that's what you're doing--leading the reader along, who thinks he/she is on the main storyline highway, but are actually ending up hitting potholes and speed bumps. I think you get what I'm trying to say. Don't be predictable. Don't underestimate your reader. Shock and surprise. Don’t explain the reason for this scene.

        How important is the hook? It is the most important page or pages of your entire manuscript, and that includes the query and/or synopsis. You've got one chance, one pair of editor/agent eyes to entice, to compel, to convince the reader to keep turning pages. Any lull or stoppage in the text is the mark of death, and it means your bait is inadequate, it stinks of age or it's missing entirely.

         Does your book really start on chapter 2? Then dump chapter 1. Is Chapter 1 a slough? Then cut and burn out everything that isn't thrusting the plot forward or arousing conflict and asking new questions. Yeah, but Chris, you should read some of these dud first pages in these bestsellers; hardly grabbers. Let those brand name authors craft their books the way they see fit; they're not hurting for readership and the fans know their style pretty well. Study some of the debut author's works from some new books and see if you can't find those subtle hooks, little red herrings--those attention grabbers that are starting to unravel things.

      Another mile down the road, our driver’s phone rings again—it’s his counselor confirming their appointment for that evening. He can’t answer because the girl in the back has rolled down the window and pitched out her bridal train and veil onto the street. He cusses her for that action and tells her to get down. She get’s fresh and starts insulting him. He steps on the gas and comes to a screeching halt in front of the police station, where he forces her door open and yanks on her legs, only to tear her nylons off.

“Halp! He’s trying to rape me!”

“You get out of this car right now.”

“I won’t let you kill me, you masher!” she wails for all the city to hear.

You get the idea. This can go on and on and escalate into a full scale donnybrook--clothes being torn, saps and batons flying until our two are handcuffed and shackled and led through the entrance door to precinct 11. His new car starts to burn from a lighted cigarette which fell between the seats. He tries to get away but assaults the arresting officer. Just make sure if you lock him up make sure that his prison stay has SOMETHING to do with the plot.

Now, if you can’t stand the notion of pulling your first chapter because it’s a slug, do a flashback scene. Exchange a really interesting future chapter with chapter 1, and then sew up the transition between that pulled chapter and the next one. If you move your slug chapter to the chapter 2 position, cut it down and make it move faster. How do you write a flashback scene? Google it. It’s not that difficult.

Red-shifting otta here…