"Social" Media and Reviews Don't Mix ????

 (Picture is from Funny reviews by Accoutrements Horse Head Mask) 

It’s only been a few weeks since I wrote an article on Indies Unlimited titled Amazon Steps in as Big Brother http://www.indiesunlimited.com/2015/07/07/amazon-steps-in-as-big-brother/  chronicling how Amazon has decided who can leave customers reviews and who can not. My disappointment started when the company began removing reviews for some of the books I bought and read. I felt so bad about not being able to leave my customer review because I believed the author deserved the praise. I was told via email since there is not phone support for this department that I could not leave my review because I knew the author.

That was odd to me because I didn’t know this author anymore than the other nearly 700 authors I left reviews for before this. This didn’t sit well with me and I wrote them only to get the same computer generated response, and I quote, “We are unable to post your review because your account activity indicates that you know the author. We encourage family and friends to share their enthusiasm for the book through our Customer Discussions feature or Editorial Reviews feature.”

Even though I tried to state my case I failed miserably to get through to them as was pretty much dismissed. I knew I had to share this story because I believed this was just the first chip of the iceberg. And surely it was.

Since I wrote my original story things have gotten worse for me, just last week I received a new message from Amazon stating, “We are writing to inform you that we have removed your review privileges and suppressed all of your reviews. Any new reviews written will automatically be suppressed. We took this action because you have failed to comply with our review guidelines and manipulated product reviews. For detailed information on the guidelines, please visit: http://amazon.com/help/customer-reviews-guidelines.” This was exactly the same message Christoph Fischer received from Amazon months earlier. I knew my reviewing days had come to an end. It was a big disappointment to me because not only did I spent a lot of money on all these books I read but I had also invested a great deal of my time as well. As an Indie author I have wanted to support others in my position and this was one way to help. Now this was all for not.

It was bound to happen but when it did I was flooded with feelings of disillusionment , anger, resentment, loss and messages from other authors on Facebook concerned why my reviews for their books were no longer on Amazon. Some took it personal thinking I had a reason for removing my reviews. That goes to show you how important these reviews are to us. They are one of the few rewards we receive as Indie authors because certainly most of us are not getting rich and famous. Well, maybe some of us are. ;-)

If you haven’t, would you please sign the petition author Jas T. Ward started to get Amazon to Change the “You Know This Author” Policy. It now has 13,685 supporters and it needs 1,315 to reach 15,000.

https://www.change.org/p/amazon-com-amazon-change-the-you-know-this-author-policy?recruiter=17310278&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&rp_sharecordion_checklist=control

Brenda Perlin On Facebook

Author page on Amazon

Welcome to the world of Social Media ;-)

Marketing a book feels like an endless journey. There is never enough hours in the day to fulfill everything you have wanted to accomplish. Now I know why it’s called “Social Media.” It’s pretty much as social as you can get without changing out of your bath robe. All the hours of reading about authors books, their cats, dogs, favorite foods and so on. I mean it is endless! I barely have time to brush my teeth. My day seems to go by in a fury as if I am in some sort of a race but the only race is one with the clock. Not sure where the times goes? How does anyone even have time to take a bath let alone write a manuscript? How can we have the next best-seller when we are all so busy whittling away the hours enjoying a little “conversation.”

Don’t get me wrong. I love the interaction, the sharing of stories and the knowledge. There is a wealth of information out there in the World Wide Web. Well, at least sometimes there is. One thing I know for sure is I will never be lonely at home by myself again!!! Facebook has solved that fundamental problem.

I used to find pure satisfaction in sitting down, pen to paper, writing for hours at a time. My mind was a buzz and I wrote without a care in the world. I never felt rushed or hassled like I do now. I didn’t have to consider how many messages I was missing or how many notifications I was receiving. I simply wrote for the pleasure of it. There is nothing better than the feeling when you are writing something and the puzzle pieces come together. It is instant gratification even if it didn’t happen in an instant. When the writing is going well, it feels as if I am floating above my body as my imagination and recollection come together. These days I don’t seem to have the luxury to spend hours on end writing. I am far too distracted and frankly too darn busy!

Now to learn how to balance my time better. For a start I have had to learn to use the word “no” more often. That is not always an easy thing to do. It feels so good to help support someone that is doing the same thing you are. It can be so rewarding but at the same time can be all consuming. There needs to be boundaries, I have discovered. That is if I want to have a life outside of all this self-promotion thing. I have friends and family outside of the computer and my books. Sometimes I do forget that but that is my New Year’s resolution. Take more time out for the people that matter the most. Myself included.

Rome wasn’t built in a day and I am constantly struggling to find this balance. For me I have to make a conscious decision to make these changes I need to give myself a calendar and break it all down. How much time do I spend marketing (playing) and how much time writing. It needs to be done and I know it is possible. Are you with me in following a time calendar? Can we stick to it? I do know if we set our minds to it, anything is possible. So why don’t we give it a try and see how it goes.  Break out the licorice and let’s start writing again. :-) 

Brenda Perlin
Amazon Author Page  
Twitter

Goodreads

How we do Twitter

We were excited when we discovered Twitter and learned how to use it to promote our material. We’ve “met” a lot of terrific friends there and connected with fellow authors and readers alike. 

Since we started, we’ve developed our own method for using this wonderful social tool. Here it is in a nutshell:

When we get a new follower, we read the profile and then scroll down through the timeline. If we see they regularly retweet others, we follow them back and add them to our private list of retweeters. Then, when we go onto Twitter each day, we first choose tweets from that list to retweet. They deserve it because they are generous enough to RT others.

Each day, we also attempt to RT those under certain hashtags because we like them, and because we know they will return the favor down the line. The top hashtags we favor are #asmsg, #teamretweet, and #click1. But there are others geared specifically to authors as well.

And finally, if we see something we think our friends would be interested in, we will RT it.

Our personal approach to etiquette:

We do not ask anyone to RT for us unless we are willing to RT for them. Any other approach would be selfish on our part.

We try to keep at least one of our tweets near the top of the timeline so our followers do not have to scroll through tons of tweets to find one of ours to RT. We want to make it easy to retweet us, should anyone be so inclined.

We try to return each RT for an RT. This is our way of saying thanks to someone for taking the time to RT one of our tweets. We realize many people don’t do this, and that’s fine, but it is how we have chosen to express our gratitude for an RT.

Thanking us for an RT is very nice, but not necessary at all. A return RT is always appreciated, though! 
When we RT someone, we look for a tweet about the tweeters project or interest; if we can’t find one of these, we send a thank you for the RT.

We try to respond to all mentions, but we may miss a few. We truly appreciate every kind mention, shout-out, and FF.

We avoid RTing anything offensive or divisive. Our Twitter account is strictly for enjoyment and for the promotion of our books and those of other authors or helpful/entertaining information. Of course, every person’s definition of offensive is different, and this should be taken into consideration.

Wodke Hawkinson
Follow us on Twitter @WodkeHawkinson

Wodke Hawkinson is the pen name PJ Hawkinson and Karen Wodke write under together. For the true bios of these fantastic writers simply read on...

PJ Hawkinson grew up in the Midwest. She is a Hutchinson Community College graduate. An avid reader since childhood she is now the published author of Half Bitten. PJ's interest include sightseeing off the beaten path, fishing, and paint-by-numbers. She admits to no favorite writer but enjoys the works of Stephen King, JRR Tolkien, Kent Conwell, and Douglas Adams. PJ envisions life of writing, both on her own and with her long-time friend and co-author, Karen.

Karen Wodke attended HCC and Kansas Wesleyan University. She grew up in the Midwest and has played in various bands off and on since childhood, writing many of the songs herself or with co-writers. She is now narrowing her focus to creative writing. She has always been an avid reader, having a wide range of literary interests. Tangerine is her first co-written novel with co-author, PJ.

Our website: http://wodke-hawkinson.com/
Our blog:  http://wodke-hawkinson.com/blog1 

Google's Anti-Islam Video Censorship

Forbes called this a "A Well-Meaning Mistake".

Its hard to build a line between responsibility and censorship.

The decision to block access on YouTube to an inflammatory movie trailer in countries where it has already incited deadly riots was obviously made with the best of intentions. It’s hard to fault anyone for prioritizing actual human lives above abstract principles, even principles as important as freedom of speech and the free flow of information.

A scene from "Innocence of Muslims."
Under other circumstances,
the badness of this green-screen technology would be pretty funny

First of all Google,Twitter,Facebook,YouTube and other social medias don't come with  proper terms and regulations.

It's easy to change the rules according to time,but its hard to maintain consistency across.

I would blame the social media for the death of the US brand ambassador in Libya and then the violence across all other parts of the this world.

Religious sentiments have to be taken care. We still live in the world where Ram, Jesus, Allah lives in our heart. 

I would suggest Social medias to have a strict t&c/censorship for all the religious posts/Videos/Pictures. Its hard but that doesn't mean it's not achievable.

Do check how many anti-Hindu organization pages still exists in Facebook.

Is Social media not blamed for the Assam riots that occurred recently.

I’m pretty sure they didn't do the right thing. The problem is that for Social media's calculation to work, its actions need to be effective in dampening the violence. So far that hasn't happened, and no wonder. More often than not, banning a piece of political speech is the surest way to amplify its power, especially when it’s speech that lacks much intrinsic power of its own.

I think the reason this is a potential source for concern is that Google, Twitter, Facebook and other platforms are subject to pressure from would-be censors all the time in the forms of governments and corporations. Having clear principles they consistently abide by is the best defense against that sort of pressure

~~Prakhyath Rai N

prakhyathrais.blogspot.com

The Self Promotion Treadmill (1)

One of the downsides of being an Indie writer is the need for self promotion. I've spent a lot of time over the last year trying to figure out how to promote White Jade and The Lance. I've read a lot of blogs, articles and books about guerrilla marketing and self promotion. Joe Konrath has probably written the Bible of Indie promotion. If you have not already done so, look him up. His blog is at http://www.jakonrath.blogspot.com. Joe's basic philosophy is brutal in its simplicity: promotion takes time and a lot of work.

The problem isn't so much finding out what to do, it's balancing that with writing. For me, that is the real work. It's where the juice is. Marketing is a job. Writing is hard work, but it's not a job. It's life.

Nelson DeMille's approach is that writing more books is a better way to spend your time than self promotion. Konrath would agree that you need as many books out there as you can produce, a body of work over time.

You're probably in trouble if you are writing just for the money, both from a creative standpoint and for the future of your early retirement. But still...money is good. Reward is good. Millions of readers would be good. That is going to take self promotion.

We are in the first stages of a massive revolution in publishing and marketing and it's not clear yet what really works and what doesn't. It also depends on what you are trying to accomplish. Here are a few things that keep popping up from various experts on marketing your books.

WARNING: Cliché Alert

Take this list with a grain of salt.

       1.      ads don't work, don't waste your money

2.      press releases don't work, don't waste your money

3.      you need a great cover

4.      you need to write a lot of books

5.      a series is good

6.      you need to stick to your genre

7.      you need to keep control of your work

8.      you need to think in terms of the long run

9.      you need to think internationally

10.  you need friends

11.  you need to support other Indie writers

12.  you need to do all those things Amazon suggests, like the Author Central page

13.  you need the patience of Job

By friends, I don't mean Auntie May, your buddies Joe and Irene and your Mom. I mean the people you support and meet online, on Facebook, on the Amazon forums, in specialized groups on Goodreads and LinkedIn. I'm not so sure about Twitter, but maybe. The groups you choose to join are an invaluable resource. It doesn't mean those folks will buy your books. It does mean you can joke, laugh, tap resources, learn, celebrate success, get the word out about your writing, get yourself out of the writer's isolation and in general participate in the human race. That is good, trust me.

It boils down to this: link up with others and support them. Write as much as you can. Trust in the value of what you write. Have fun doing it. Otherwise, why bother? Remember Field of Dreams? If you build it, they will come...

Alex Lukeman

Twitter: @alexlukeman  Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/alexlukeman