Dear Beloved Readers (although you may be few, you are certainly valued)
I’m not sure exactly what’s happening on Amazon with respect to reviews. I used to get more reviews after releasing a book, but I’ve only seen one pop up for Bosworth, which was released in mid March. In the meantime, GoodReads has seen 4 ratings and 3 reviews over that same period. It used to be that Amazon reviews outnumbered the GoodReads reviews.
I did get an email from a reader who was trying to post a review. She said that the process changed and that she needed to answer questions first. Unfortunately, I think this put her off adding a review.
In the meantime, I’ve seen the review count for I AM change. First it was 38 then it was 37 then it was 38 again and now it’s 37. Not sure why, not sure what’s happening. There is a review for I AM that was a 1-star because the software handshake between Amazon and that person’s device had an issue and the book didn’t download properly (It downloaded fine for the other 12 thousand free copies, I suppose). THAT review stays in place, even though it has nothing to do with the actual book.
I read that some authors are finding ways to “game” the reviews—not me, I don’t see it as being a worthy and honest undertaking. I guess I’ll wait for the dust to settle. In the meantime, I hope people who review on GoodReads are not put off by the updated Amazon process—funny, Amazon owns GoodReads, yet they don’t bother combining the reviews.
Update on current projects:
I’ve been slow to start the second volume of The Balance, although I still expect it to come out next year—I’ve been doing this for 4 years now and have published 4 books. I am writing a short story, a kind of prequel for The Balance, set 18 years before the story that takes place in Volume 1. The short story is called The Purge, and it recounts some of the experiences that Rebecca and Daniel had just before Phoebe’s birth. Chip Cheek has agreed to read through the short story, to provide editing and feedback, and I anticipate sending him the draft by July 10 of this year. The whole short story will be posted online, on my web site and on Wattpad for free. I’ll see if I can post it on GoodReads, too.
Well, today, I’m supposed to take my G 650 GS motorcycle down to Colorado Springs to get a new chain and sprockets and I’ll be getting back to the rebuild of my lower front deck for the rest of this week, but it won’t interfere with the writing, since I do that late at night—sitting in front of my Dell 30 inch monitor, hooked to my Mac Air notebook computer, with music playing in the background.
Have a great week and weekend!
Michael
#fiction #reviews #TheBalance #ThePurge #IAM
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