Forum boards, reviews and badly behaving authors …

by

Becca C Smith

It’s funny because I didn’t even know about sock puppeting until I started reading some of the Amazon Forums and literally in the title of the board it said “NO SELF-PROMOTION.” I had no intention of self-promoting; in fact, I find it awkward to self-promote. I know I’m supposed to, but I’ve never been the kind of person to say, “hey, read my book! It’s awesome.” 

When I went through the boards, I realized how many writers have absolutely no problem telling the world how amazing they are. Even if they are using fake names, it’s so obvious that it’s the author or at least one of their friends. It’s usually when they go into loglines and details that give it away. 


The really great puppeteers recommend a bunch of other books first, then later after they’ve developed a rapport with the board members pitch their book. At that point, at least they had the courtesy to connect with the other contributors to the board.

But when an author or one of their advocates blatantly spams the boards with their book advertisements, that’s when I understand why someone would add “NO SELF-PROMOTION,” to the title. It completely took away from the discussion that people were trying to have. It’s disruptive and forced and actually makes me not want to read their book. Do people really think that just randomly going on to message boards and recommending their own book will actually bring in sales? Does it? I can’t imagine that it does. If anything, it would turn people off.

The other kind of sock puppeting that I find hard to stomach is when authors respond to bad reviews.  Either they respond as themselves or as “an angry fan.” It always sounds sad and pathetic. If I had any advice to authors it’s simply: Never respond to a bad review. Yes, bad reviews are hard to read, but they are actually a good thing. 


I had a bad review that ended up being great for sales. The reviewer said how much they hated my book Riser because it felt like reading a cross between Twilight and Percy Jackson. To that particular person that was a bad thing, to me, it was exactly what I was going for when I wrote the book so it was a great compliment to me. And it was very helpful to potential buyers. They would know that if they hated both those books they’d probably dislike mine, but to the people who loved those books chances are they’d really enjoy my book.

Becca C Smith received her Film degree from Full Sail University and has worked in the Film and Television industry for most of her adult life. 

Becca is the author of the teen horror/sci-fi novel, Riser. She is also the co-author of the teen graphic novel Ghost Whisperer: The Haunted and also wrote and illustrated Little Family Secrets, a graphic novel based on the true story of her great aunt who was famous for murdering her husband.

She currently lives in Los Angeles, CA with her husband and two cats Jack and Duke.

Welcome to the dark side of chick lit...

Being a misanthropist is Valerie Anthrope’s defence.

Amazon.UK
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She is a cut-throat business woman and happy being alone. She answers to no-one. She has no time for romantic trivialities, and definitely no time for Ellen who nominates herself as her fairy godmother.

But what of Ellen’s playboy nephew? The one who Ellen coerces into buying insurance from Valerie’s brokerage? The one who is full of himself and smitten with Valerie’s cool demeanour. His cocky know-it-all manner, posse of female admirers and playboy reputation are more than enough to put Valerie off – or is it enough to keep her interested? After all, being in a relationship with a playboy means there’s no burden of commitment.

Or is there?

The Fall of the Misanthrope is available for Kindle NOW

Chapter One 

The Fall of the Misanthrope

I bitch, therefore I am

Cait Lavender's top ten books

by

Cait Lavender

1. Guards! Guards! By Terry Pratchett—God, I love this book. I pretty much love anything that Pratchett writes, but this is one of my favorites. Sam Vimes is the main character and he’s a rough-around-the-edges Watch captain doing his best to be a good man, protect the city he loves and deal with his team of miscreant guardsmen.


2. Moon Called By Patricia Briggs—I love all of her werewolf books, but the Mercy Thompson series is by far my favorite. Mercy is a kick-ass shifter who takes care of herself and those she loves. No wusses there.

Paranormal romance - Hunter Moon 

3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin—Let’s be real; if you’re a woman odds are you love this book too. I’ve read and re-read this book so many times I could almost quote the whole book.

4. A Spell for Chameleon By Piers Anthony—This series really lit the flame of my love for the fantasy genre. In fourth grade my older brother ripped my Goosebumps out of my hand and gave me this book and while I didn’t understand the faintly sexual double entendres I enjoyed the Alice In Wonderland­­-like story filled with jokes and puns.

5. Shadowfever By Karen Marie Moning—I loved the entire Fever series, but this one was my favorite because we finally got to know what the hell was going on! I love Mac and especially Barrons and I blame Moning for ruining me for all other male main characters like Austin ruined regular men with Darcy.

Historical novel set in the 1930s Depression era:

Dinner with Lisa
by

Rod L. Prendergast 

In the disastrous economic times of the 1930s, Joseph Gaston, a young widower with four children, arrives in the small town of Philibuster seeking security for his family. Instead, he faces barriers everywhere. He does his best despite great adversity, but the strain of feeding and protecting his family whittles away his strength. Finally, destitution forces him to consider giving up his children in order to save them. Enraged by his situation, he attempts one last desperate act—on the night he learns about the mysterious Lisa.

Heart wrenching, humorous and historically authentic, Dinner with Lisa incorporates the crucial issues of the depression: poverty, unemployment, drought and racism. In the midst of love and loyalty, trickery and despair, the ultimate message of the novel is one of hope and the courage to survive even the worst odds.

For more information: 

Website 

Email 

Purchase Links:

For the print version:

 B and N (U.S.)

 Amazon (U.S.)

 Chapters/Indigo (Canada)

 Amazon (Canada)

W. H. Smith (U.K.)

 For electronic version:

 iTunes (U.S.)

 iTunes (Canada)

 iTunes (U.K.)

 For the Kindle

 For the Sony eReader

 For the Nook

Why Authors Should like Poor Reviews

by

Will Macmillan-Jones

Louise asked me to write a piece, from the perspective of a new writer, on the subject of book reviews.  From a readers’ point of view, a book review is an interesting and useful tool in helping you decide to buy a book - or not.  From a writer’s viewpoint (especially a new writer) they are close to being a major breach of the Geneva Convention on Warfare.  Or citeable as a cruel and unusual punishment.  And that’s the good ones!

Publishing is undergoing a bit of a sea-change with the growing involvement of the internet.  Now, I write what I assure people is comic fantasy.  If you fancied such a book, you could turn on your computer, search Google, and see what came up. Alternatively, you might seek out the book review websites and blogs like this one, and see what they had to say.  Either way, you would soon be looking at a truckload of books and mostly both the titles and the authors would be complete unknowns.

I’ll admit it.  I’m unknown.  Bet you’ve never heard of me before, and (trust me on this) you aren’t the only one.  But I’d like to be known, and not only to the police! Aside from a major lottery win, it’s unlikely unless my stuff starts selling.  And that means getting reviews.