As an Indie Author, I am at the mercy of tour companies, reviewers, and ad response at websites and newsletters. Some of these experiences have been great, most not so great. Some ads at first were great but second, and third time around not so great. It’s also not fun to run into antagonistic reviewers who actually like your book but have no use for its author. This new rudeness is stunning and not welcome. I’m not saying that all reviewers are like that but this new tour I’m doing seems so far to have them in spades. What is fueling this is the bullying trend in the Indie Author community toward reviewers. First of all, hasn’t anyone got the memo that GR and Booklikes are a safe haven for trolls? Why my tour company thinks that I would benefit from a posting on GR and not on Amazon is beyond me. I have not even created an account on Booklikes because of the nasty element that hangs there. I will certainly not list my third novel on GR. The better ad sites look at your book’s star rating on Amazon not GR. GR is worthless in so many ways.
I have also learned something. Don’t ever interact with a reviewer who gives your book a one star. My naiveté stemmed from the fact the review was not thoughtful but aggressively nasty, so I wondered why do that? Certainly, an author can’t please everyone, but is there a need for that kind of negative aggression? What kind of person gets their jollies from plain meanness? But I’ve learned now, I must curb my instinct to defend myself, or ask any questions. Let it alone, or you will reap untold horror from the nasties that bait you with their meanness. And I will never, never, never, give my book away for free again. That is really a scourge for the Indie Author because it attracts the meanies who find new titles to trash without reading them.
I also have learned that trying to get accolades from sites I thought I respected is quite meaningless. I recently read a book that achieved the highest approval rating from one site, and although it was interesting, there were so many plot holes and problems with the narrative style, that I realized that I am chasing something that is just subjective. Some will get my work, others not. There is no consistency, no science behind any of this. One reviewer is a good as another, especially if they give my book 5-stars, so who cares if they are on some list or not?
With my next work, I will just throw it out there. Probably see what organically happens. I really don’t like the environment in the online book world, but writing is for my own satisfaction and the few who really enjoy my work.
Depressing realizations about this new game, but definitely a learning curve.
