Amazon May be Deleting Your Book Reviews!

Has Amazon killed the publishing gatekeepers just to change the locks on Indie Authors? To be fair the gatekeepers aren’t dead, and Amazon is not solely responsible for opening up the door for Independent Authors to self-publish. But, they have been a large piece of the puzzle.

However, for as much good as Amazon has done good for indies,  every few months I hear a new complaint about their business practices. They pissed off Hatchett. Some say KDP Select and Kindle Unlimited limit authors. They’ve changed their algorithms dozens of times, making it harder for Indie Authors to be seen and make a profit. And, I could deal with all of that. To me those changes were just the nature of the beast. They were the turbulent seas of the publishing world I attempted to navigate in a tiny inner tube. Recently however, I heard that Amazon has started deleting reviews, and I can no longer sit by quietly paddling in my float. I have signal flares in my hands and I’m waving them around, screaming that this is wrong.

Here’s the deal, Amazon is now automatically removing reviews that meet certain criteria. In other words they are removed by a bot, not an actual human being capable of looking at the review and seeing if it appears genuine.

The most common reason I’ve heard for reviews being removed is because Amazon believes the reviewer knows the author personally. First, dear Amazon, how do you know whether or not I have a personal relationship with a reviewer? Either you are guessing, or you have seriously invaded my privacy and neither case grants you permission to make decisions based upon this judgement. Second, why should those who know me personally not be allowed to comment on my work?

If you are afraid a reviewer's comments may be biased, why not implement some kind of notice to flag that review, like you do with “Amazon’s verified purchases,” instead of deleting it? Wouldn’t that do more to inform customers about the product instead of keeping information from them?

And thirdly, how close does someone have to be to me in order for my relationship with them to be considered “personal”? Must I have met them in person? Does sending me an e-mail telling me how they loved or hated my work count? Isn’t this rather subjective, and again, I refer back to my first point, how do you know?

I’ve heard Amazon is deleting reviews of authors who have reviewed each other’s work, and that possibly they are looking at people who have friended authors on Goodreads. Now, I want to point out this will help remove the possibility of “Review Swapping” where authors trade books and give each other 5 Star reviews – which is wrong. But, it will also remove honest reviews from honest fans, and punish authors for reaching out to their fans. Furthermore, honesty is not being rewarded. Even if a reviewer fully discloses their relationship to the author in their review, it can get removed, because once again, this process is done by bots not people.

I am an indie author. I do not have millions of fans. I’m lucky if I have a dozen who truly love my work. If I have one person in the entire world who ranks me among their favorite authors, I feel blessed. Because of this I respond to every e-mail a fan sends me. I friend every fan who reaches out to me on Goodreads. I respond to every tweet that mentions my name or work. To some extent, I do know many of my fans “personally”. But they are my fans because of my work, and I truly believe every review I have from my fans is an honest one. And yes, if I have a fan who is an author sometimes I check out their work as well. But, as an Indie Author, I hold myself to a high level of integrity and will only write and ask for honest reviews.

Deleting reviews will only further inspire deception by those who are abusing reviews, and it will hurt the people who are using them correctly. Review swaps will continue, authors will simply set up separate Amazon accounts. But those of us who review correctly, who take the time to inform readers about books, and do so honestly, we will be punished. This will hurt me both as an Indie Author and as a consumer, and for that I am greatly disappointed in Amazon.

So I ask Amazon, why are you doing this? If it’s to protect your customers then you’ve failed. The cheaters will continue to cheat the system, while the rest of us suffer and your lovely customers will be denied reviews allowing them to make educated decisions about their purchases. Are you trying to become the gatekeepers of the indie publishing world by deciding which reviews are worthy, and in turn choosing which books receive attention over others? Or, maybe you’ve just realized you’ve made a monster you can no longer control. The indie world has grown. We’re bigger and stronger now. We are the Frankenstein monster of the publishing world. You helped give us life and now you’re chasing us with pitchforks. But I must ask, did Frankenstein not deserve to live?


If you have a problem with this like I do, please sign this petition and leave a comment below!

Reasons why Books are Better than TV

There's a reason we see TV shows and movies that are based on books and not the other way around. Simply put, books are better, and here's ten reasons why.

1. Books do not have commercials.

2. Books don't need to fit into a 45 minute time slot. They can be as long or as short as the story needs to be.

3. Reading improves your vocabulary. Watching TV decreases your attention span.

4. There are no special effects that your mind cannot create, and they never look cheesy in your head.

5. Saying you read a lot of books makes you sound smart. Saying you watch a lot of TV makes you sound lazy.

6. You don't have to worry about your favorite characters getting fired or quitting in your favorite books.

7. Books get you inside a characters head in a way that TV simply can't do.

8. You don't have to worry if your favorite book series are going to be canceled.

9. Books aren't censored. Characters can say or do whatever they need to in order to move the story forward without worrying about the FCC.

10. There is something beautiful about the written word that TV simply can't capture.



What do you think? Do you prefer to read over watching TV?

There are No New Plots

A while ago I did a post discussing the fact that there are only so many plots out there and that as readers we shouldn't be so quick to say that one story is copying another. (Check out Rif-offs, Inspiration, and Coincidences) Recently I saw a video that demonstrated this point well.

The video below compares the children's movie Toy Story, with the horrific AMC drama The Walking Dead. On the surface these two stories couldn't be more different. One is made for the entertainment of children, it's funny, and filled with bright colors and characters that will make you smile. The other is a terrifying drama depicting life after the zombie apocalypse. Yet, the video below will show that at their cores they have very similar plots.

Watch and enjoy.

 

This is just further proof that what makes a story original is not coming up with something that's never been done before (because it's all been done before), but instead by looking at what works, being inspired by something, and making it your own. 

What makes a story unique is the twist the author puts on it. 

Do you know of any other videos comparing the plots of two books, movies, or TV shows?

Writer's Digest Feedback for Into the Deep

Sadly, Into the Deep did not win any awards in the Writer's Digest Self-Published Book Awards, however it did receive some wonderful feedback from the Judges. I wanted to take a minute to share this with all of my readers, and to remind everyone that there are some wonderful self-published books out there. My budget for Into the Deep was practically nonexistent. I didn't have extensive developmental editing, I had beta readers, I didn't have thousands of dollars to spend on cover art or formatting, I had zero dollars (with the exception of paying my editor). I did have great friends and an amazing editor, Victoria Shockley. That "outstanding" score in grammar is all her. And, even though I'm not going home with a prize I still feel very honored and validated in my craft to have received the feedback I did from the professionals at Writer's Digest.

[Note: If you have not read Into the Deep yet the commentary below does contain spoilers]

Books are evaluated on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 meaning “needs improvement” and 5 meaning “outstanding”. This scale is strictly to provide a point of reference, it is not a cumulative score and does not reflect ranking.

Structure and Organization: 5

Grammar: 5

Production Quality and Cover Design: 4

Plot (if applicable): 5

Character Development (if applicable): 5

Judges Commentary*:

I really enjoyed your story.  I got so caught up in it that I didn't notice any mistakes in grammar.  You did a great job of characterization and through Ivy's ability to read thoughts, I think your reader will analyze, then try to understand the types of teenagers and the problems that you describe.  The fact of putting a time limit on the bomb helped increase the tension as the deadline grew near.  Your subplots of the various parents' problems impacting the teens' personalities added a deeper dimension to the story.   I liked Ivy's perceptions of so many of the characters changing when she learned more about their lives and by the end her three shallow friends being redeemed by clearing the crowd from the bombsite.   I didn't realize until the end that this was the first book of the series.  In retrospect, that made your climax even more interesting.  The reader expected Ivy to lose her psychic ability when hitting her head for the second time.  A surprise ending is always good.  I think I remember your foreshadowing Eric being picked on in the beginning of the story, but I couldn't find it again to make sure.  Great if you were able to slip that it so inconspicuously.  Your voice sounded perfect for your target reader and your minimalist sex scenes were great.  I'm glad you had a lot of dialogue to make up for the necessary blocks of text where Ivy was alone with her own thoughts.  The text never felt heavy.  Great subplot conflict with Ivy and Tiana's jealousies.  A good read, well thought out and written for your target reader.  You are a very talented writer, good enough for the major publishers with sales/marketing staff to support your efforts.   It's a tough business; don't give up.  Good luck.

Read more about Into the Deep on Amazon 

Read more about  Into the Deep on Goodreads

10 Tips to Writing an Excellent Book Review

Reviewing books is a wonderful way to share your reading experience with others, but if you’ve ever read reviews to help you buy a book you’ll know some are more helpful than others. Here’s my advice to writing an excellent book review.

First I think reviewers should understand what the point of writing a review is. Amazon, B&N, Kobo, Goodreads, ect… allow readers to write reviews to help other readers decide whether or not they will like that book. Above all else your review should provide helpful information to other readers about the content and feel of the book.

Here are ten tips to being a good reviewer…

1. Finish the book – Many people write reviews for books they don’t finish reading. Personally I have a problem with this. Book ratings and reviews should be based on the entire book. Reading only part of a book and writing a review would be like watching only part of “It’s a Wonderful Life” and telling all your friends that it’s a horribly depressing movie. If you’re going to comment on a book, comment on the entire book. (And if you absolutely cannot make it to the end, at very least make it clear in beginning of your review that you did not finish reading.)

2. Don’t just give a summary – Readers can read the back blurb to know roughly what a book is about. Give information about the storyline but make sure you’re also sharing your opinion. Did you like the plot, characters, setting, writing style? Overall how did the book make you feel?

 3. Read other reviews – See how other people organize their thoughts to help you find your review writing style. What did they do that you liked, were they funny, straightforward, well-organized? And, what did they do that you didn’t like?

4. Use proper English – Write in full sentences and use real words. This is a book review, not a text message. Remember, you’re writing this for other readers to use as a source of information in their purchasing decision. If it’s not worth your time to write something legible, it’s simply not worth your time to write it. Spell-check and re-read your review before you post it.

5. Double check names – I see reviews all the time where the reviewer spelled the author’s name wrong, or a character’s name wrong, or even misspelled the title of the book. Spelling mistakes like this stand out, and can even be confusing to those reading your review. This can also be embarrassing, so do yourself a favor and take a few seconds to make sure you spelled all names correctly.

6. Explain what you liked AND what you didn’t – This may seem obvious, but often reviewers will only state one or the other. Sometimes they love a book so much they have nothing bad to say. And if you’re writing a review for your all-time favorite book you may not have anything negative to say, but for every other book other than that one - or those few - favorites, you will have things you liked and things you didn’t. If you give a book four stars tells us about all the good things about it, but then also tell us why it didn’t get five stars. On the flip side if you write a negative review, don’t forget to mention things you were happy about with the book just because your overall opinion of it was that you didn’t like it.

7. Be professional – As I mentioned above a review is for the next potential reader. It’s not a way for you to send the author a note, or to bash a piece of work. Just because you have a certain opinion about a book doesn’t mean other readers will agree with you. For example don’t say a book is terrible because it has a love triangle and you hate love triangles, and you think all books with love triangles are cliché and not worth reading. Say that that was something you didn’t like about the book and that love triangles aren’t your cup of tea, but be respectful of the fact that some people love love triangles. Even if you gave a book, say 2 stars because it had a love triangle, that may actually be a review that encourages someone who enjoys love triangles to buy it. (Check out The Positives about a Negative Review)

8. Take notes as you go – I read on my kindle and will often highlight and type a note in when I come across something I love, hate, don’t understand, ect…. If you read paperbacks maybe try buying post-it’s and writing yourself notes as you go. Once you’re done reading being able to go back and be reminded of those little moments that made you think, or favorite lines can help you write a more in-depth review.

9. Don’t spoil the story – Sometimes it’s impossible not to comment on a part of the story that happens to spoil, or give away, part of the plot. Sharing spoiling information is fine so long as you put a warning. Maybe try and save spoilers for the end of your review and clearly mark them so those who want to be surprised when reading can be. Goodreads lets you hide your spoilers behind a clickable link simply by putting these html tags around the spoiling information <spoiler> Spoiling info here </spoiler>.

10. Be honest! – No one really has a hard time being honest about a good review, but it can be hard to write bad reviews, and if you find yourself unable to write an honest review, don’t write one at all. Remember, reviews are to inform potential readers about a book. Reviews are not a place for you to rave about a friend’s novel to help them sell more copies. Support friends by giving them honest feedback to help them improve their skills.



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Rip-offs, Inspiration, and Coincidences

Lately I’ve noticed a number of reviews that focus heavily on comparing one book to another, instead of focusing on the pros and cons of that book alone. For example, I’ve read a number of blog posts and reviews, from people who obviously disliked Twilight, who point out all the ways a story is similar to Meyer’s vampire series. But “Twilight Copy-cats” aren’t the only books being labeled “rip-offs”. Have you heard these….

Image by AZRainman

Hunger Games rips off Battle Royale?

Harry Potter rips off Star Wars?

Percy Jackson rips off Harry Potter?

Eragon rips off Lord of the Rings?

LOTR rips off Harry Potter? (Which makes no sense since LOTR was written in the 50’s and Harry Potter came out in the late 90’s – but it’s been said)

And of course all the books that have been considered to be “Rip-off’s” of Twilight including Obsidian by Jennifer Armentrout, Promise by Kristie Cook, and Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion.

Then again Twilight could easily be considered a rip-off of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and if you read The Vampire Diaries just like Buffy? you may wonder if Buffy ripped off The Vampire Diaries (which was written before Twilight and BtVS). So then is every comic book hero ripping off Superman? Is every vampire novel a rip off of Bram Stoker’s Dracula (which wasn’t even the first vampire novel)? Is every love story ripping off Romeo and Juliet?

My answer: No.

As readers we should stop focusing on these similarities, many of which are coincidences, and others are simply an author finding inspiration in another’s work, and we should start enjoying the stories we read.

In my opinion, everything has been done before. And as authors we are inspired by what we read, watch, and experience and we incorporate those things into our own works. That’s what writing is, taking something we know and twisting it to make it our own. That’s not ripping something off that’s being inspired. Even E.L. James’ Fifty Shades of Grey, which was surrounded by controversy when it was discovered that it was originally written as Twilight fan-fiction, is an original piece of work. I personally have problems with how James wrote it, as her characters were originally written to be someone else’s, but in the end her finished story is her own. (Read more about this in The Legality of Fanfiction a Grey Area)

T.S. Eliot once said, “Mediocre writers borrow. Great writers steal.”

Some of my favorite books lately are stories that take a classic fairy tale and twist it into something else. Are these books just ripping off the classics? No. They’re taking something wonderful and creating something new. After all, there are only so many master plots out there.

At the bare bones structure of any story you will find similarities with something that came before it. If you try hard enough you can find parallels between any two books, but unless a book follows another word for word (which would be plagiarism) there is going to be something different about it that makes it original. Maybe some stories are too close for your liking, maybe some stories feel cliché because of the concepts they borrow, but personally, I think if we could all stop comparing one book to another we’d all enjoy reading a lot more.

Even if a certain scene in a novel, bit of dialogue, or even the entire book was purposely inspired by another piece of work this does not mean that book isn’t its own original story. For me, unless a book copies another in a way that the entire story is spoiled by my knowledge of that book – which has never happened to me – As long as it’s a good book, I’m going to be happy with that read, regardless of similarities. In fact some similarities between a book I loved and a book I’m reading are a good thing.

Now I want to be clear, I’m talking about authors borrowing ideas in plot structure, concepts, character development, phrasing…I’m talking about pieces. To copy a story word for word, or so closely that you only make small changes is plagiarism, this is illegal and not what I’m talking about. (This is also not what T.S. Eliot meant by his above quote) But, I would like to think that we all learned the different between plagiarism and putting something into our own words by 8th grade English.

So writers, don’t shy away from writing that vampire novel that’s been eating away at you because you’re afraid it’ll be called a Twilight rip-off. Write what you love and work your magic to make it your own. You can’t appease everyone so at least write something you enjoy.

 For more information about “stealing” ideas check out this blog post Why Do Great Writers Steal

I hope reviewers will stop complaining that something rips off something else. Reviewers should feel free to comment on the similarities one book has to another, but they shouldn’t post nasty reviews demeaning an author of his or her creativity. Doing this only makes the reviewer look unprofessional and their review petty and unreliable. So please, reviewers, I rely on what you write to help me decide what to read next. And, those reviews that are 1-3 stars are sometimes the most telling about whether or not I would enjoy a story. But please, take the time to write a quality review that discusses the story and what you liked and disliked about it, don’t just a compare and contrast with the latest “it” novel. (Read 10 Tips to Writing an Excellent Book Review.)

What do you think? Are you sick of rants about rip offs? Are these books stealing from other stories or are these similar ideas inspiration creating transformative works?

The Legality of Fanfiction a Grey Area?

There has been a lot of talk lately about the legality of fanfiction after the publication of Fifty Shades of Grey which originally was written as Twilight fanfiction under the title of Master ofthe Universe. In truth the legality of fanfiction has been argued for much longer than that, but with Fifty Shades success I feel this talk has grown. Some feel that any use of another’s characters is copyright infringement, that fanfiction is stealing from another author’s hard work. I however think differently.

There are ways to use another author’s characters and even their entire story, re-write them as your own and still have it be legal to sell. How moral or ethical this is varies by opinion. The best example of this is a parody. The Hunger Pains is a parody of The Hunger Games, Nightlight is a parody of Twilight, and Fifty Shades of Earl Grey is a parody of Fifty Shades of Grey. These books take the work of the original author and basically make fun of it. We know they’re based off another’s work, that’s the joke. Personally I don’t like parodies when it's so obvious they're mocking a particular book. I find them to be disrespectful and un-enjoyable reads, but they are perfectly legal to create and profit from. There are some fun reads out there that make fun of overused concepts and those can be quite entertaining.

Fanfiction is writing using another author’s characters to explore one’s own ideas. Works of fanfic are done out of admiration and appreciation for an author and their work. The goal is to create a story with characters that are recognizable as another author’s, have them act in ways that are believable to that character but put them in a setting or storyline that is your own creation. They are created for entertainment and not for profit. Fanfic is important because it allows fans to connect and share ideas. It encourages interest in a particular author or book, or TV series to grow.

I think there are a lot of authors out there who started writing, and grew their skills writing fanfic, then decided to write their own stories and created wonderful books. And then, there are some who took their fanfic stories down from sites they had them posted at to change the names of their characters and publish them as their own work. Again, how moral and ethical this is varies by opinion, and also varies by how extensively the published work is from the original piece of fanfiction. Karen A. Wyle made a blog post a short while ago on Twilight, Fifty Shades, and Copyright Law which seems to suggest that what E.L. James did in creating Fifty Shades of Grey is perfectly legal as well as ethical. It is a persuasive read.

Personally, I don’t have a problem with fanfiction. I used to write some myself. I support it and would hate to see anyone try to make it illegal. However, my thoughts get a little more muddled when I see an author post a story as fanfiction (Master of the Universe); a form of writing that usually includes a disclaimer which says the following is for entertainment purposes only and that the characters do not belong to them, and then takes that same piece of work, changes little to it and then tries to sell it as their own original work (Fifty Shades of Grey). Write fanfic, write your own original pieces, be inspired by other authors and their characters. But, don’t take something and call it one thing, and then turn around and call it the complete opposite of what it was originally without changing it.

I have not read Fifty Shades of Grey, however from what I understand it has barely been changed from its original work as a piece of Twilight fanfiction, which should have been written for entertainment purposes only. I would have preferred for E.L James to have published Fifty Shades as hers without posting it as fanfic first. Or, had she taken that fanfic story and changed it in a way in which Fifty Shades no longer could be confused with her fanfic piece I would feel like there isn’t any controversy here. (In other words had it been less than 89% the same as the fanfic story (Dear Author) But she didn’t, which leaves me feeling like maybe there are some issues with how she went about getting this book published.

Her fanfic story was obviously AU (Alternate Universe) and James did create a lot of her own material in creating it, but I feel she didn’t go about things in the right way when it comes to truly making this her own work. She wrote her characters to be Edward and Bella. That was the point when she wrote it as fanfiction, I find it wrong if she did nothing but changes their names and then call them hers. There have been many who’ve said her characters in Master of the Universe and in turn Fifty Shades of Grey do not resemble Bella and Edward well, but they were still written to be such originally.

Fifty Shades of Grey could be considered transformative work in the eyes of some, and it may be considered stealing in the eyes of others. Personally my opinion is that it’s not stolen, it is a piece that was inspired by Twilight and should be considered transformative. However, the way E.L James gained a following by originally posting it as a Twilight fanfiction story bothers me, and may be the reason I choose not to read this book.

The Importance of the Novel

Kevin Martini

As technology continues to boom why does the written word stick around? Why when movies, television, and you-tube videos are so accessible do we still read novels? After all, many of our favorite books like Twilight and The Hunger Games (at least those are among my favorites) are made into movies, and it takes far less time to watch a movie then read a book. Why spend more time to read a book when we can watch a show?

I believe the reason is that the written word conveys something that visual and audio media simply can’t grasp. A novel expresses a character, their thoughts, sensations, experiences, and emotions in a way that looks at the character from every angle. Our understanding of that character is complete and well-rounded where to watch that character on TV we only get one angle. We can only see them on the outside in movies and television, but in a book we get into their head.  Some may argue that a movie offers you the visual stimuli to actually see what’s going on; but I think a well written book shows me more visually then any movie.

There is something special about the feelings words can create.  Something beautiful about finding that prefect phrase that encompasses everything the author is trying to express. For example, here are a couple sentences I wrote in one of my unpublished pieces.

The fan clicks spinning and creaking like a door with a rusty hinge. Incessantly, eternally, round and round rotating on an uneven axis; an involuntary metronome keeping the tempo of my silence in key.

I don’t think any video of a fan could capture the essence of my silence as the words written on this page do. Technology may continue to grow but I don’t think it’ll ever replace the written word. We may use technology to help spread the written word, such as e-book readers like the Kindle and Nook. But, the written word will never be eliminated. Proof of this is seen every time someone says the phrase “the book was so much better,” I’ve yet to find a movie that I liked more than the book because they can never include all the details that the author did.

So, let’s celebrate the novel, the written word, and never forget how important reading is.