Review: The Numbers were Interesting
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 09 14, 2013
...but really, nothing else was that interesting or unique as far as information for marketing books goes. I found myself a bit upset that the author didn't take enough time to format the blog posts properly, where she copied and pasted them into the book. I mean, she really didn't write much of a book here-she copied and pasted blog posts from her blog for a large chunk of the book (even though those had been available for free and no longer are, so now you have to buy the book to find the information).... but the part that upset me the most wasn't that. I have no problem with a blogs-to-books concept. What I have a problem with is laziness by authors who self-publish, and this was lazy. There is an irony here that she talks about how editing, formatting and professionalism is important when creating your book but then turns out a book like this that doesn't do those things. The cover of this book clearly needs some work (It's definitely not a nonfiction, standard industry cover) and the formatting leaves a lot to be desired. Editing would have made the book more cohesive and more a book, instead of a series of blog posts, simply cut and pasted, with a little extra information surrounding them.Again, the blog posts were copied and pasted in the book nearly exactly like they were posted on the blog--typos and all. In fact, she left references to links that don't exist, such as a line that says 'click here to' blah blah blah, but there is no link to click on. She references other blog posts she's made previously and asks the reader to click to go read, but there's no clickable line. Several of the posts start with things like: If you haven't read part I or II or III... then click here, here or here to go read it, but there are no links. And there's no indication if all those posts even made it into the book. There is a way to jump to a bookmark in a Kindle book--she could have at least formatted it that way so they linked to each other so you could see what she was referencing when she mentions previous posts.You'd think that if you're going to take a blog and turn it into a book, you would use the information but at least format and remove the dead link/impossible link issues, remove references to posts that aren't in the book, etc. To do it like this, it really does just feel like a cut and paste situation, and that's sort of insulting to readers that we weren't worth enough time to format the book and make it appropriate for an actual book format.As for the usefulness of the information for marketing and promoting: I can't really use some of her techniques to promote books. It might sell books, but it borders dangerously close to spamming. I don't begrudge her what she's doing, but I run a group on Facebook and a writers forum, and I know what we think of authors who use some of the techniques she uses and recommends--we think they are spammers. It might be selling books, and that's great if she's okay with it--I'm not okay with doing it and don't want to sell books that way. It might mean I never make the money she does. I do get that. I don't begrudge her doing what works for her--more power to her and major congratulations on the success!I, however, won't set up automated twitter posts, because I want folks to know that *I* am a real person who interacts with my readers, not just tries to spam them. I've also seen that go dangerously wrong, where a forgotten about Twitter scheduled posts will actually post a blurb promoting a book, say, during the Boston marathon bombing, and authors were called callous for having done it. I prefer to maintain full control of my Twitter posts.I also won't go hunting people down on Facebook and telling them that my characters are named the same as them--that's a sure-fired way for Facebook to block you from being able to friend people (and I've got nearly 5000 friends and over 1000 fans on my fan page, and I have NEVER been blocked, ever, because I don't spam people!). There are ways to promote properly, and those will not only eventually get you sales numbers, but they'll do it with integrity and without pissing off a whole bunch of people in the process.So do the techniques in the book work to sell books? Probably, they do some. But they also work to alienate some readers too, and that's something I try hard as an author never to do. There's a fine line, balance, and this book never talks about that. Sometimes, making it big is just a matter of luck, timing, and the right one or two people finding the book and sharing it then sharing it and then sharing it to make it happen.So since I won't do some of the things in the book because of my integrity, I can't speak to how they would work if they were tried. If you don't mind pushing the boundaries of spamming, though, go ahead and give this book a read and try it. I would imagine it is at least effective at getting the author noticed.Also, it's important to keep in mind the timing of her doing the KDP Select was when the program first started, and the algorithms of the placement on the best-sellers lists for the site have changed and many have written about how the free promotional periods aren't nearly as effective as they once were, unless you're already known, because of the way the lists show you after your book goes back to paid again now. It's changed, which makes your book much harder to be discoverable. You definitely want to promote the heck out of your freebies to get them up there on the lists, and it does still help,  but to a NEW author trying to break out, it's not as easy as it was when Select was brand new, like it was for this author.What I did find quite useful though was the stats and figures. I liked seeing how the numbers played out, how sales worked, the way the freebies worked, etc. That part was quite interesting to me.All in all, not a horrible book (definitely read worse on the subject), but I've read so much better. I believe the author when she says this is how she did it, and that's great and I'm happy for her success, but I wish she'd put a bit more time into caring about how the information was presented in the book and focused less on spam-style techniques and more on effective and active marketing and promotion. She does give some great links to some other promotional techniques and places she's used to promote her books--and I honestly think the entire cost of the book is worth if for nothing more than that. Those are some great resources (even if all the links don't work--you have to click on them, like one of them left off the .com on the end) but if you can figure out how to get the links to work, these resources are fantastic.In the end, she basically tells you, this is what I did, but I have no idea why I was so successful or sold so many books. And the truth is, I don't think anyone knows. The basic guidelines are, write good books, get good editing and good covers, share the books and promote, and then write more good books. All the gimmicks and tricks in the world won't sell books if the books themselves aren't decent--so that's what I hope writers learn. Writing good books will eventually sell books no matter what marketing techniques you try.This author has obviously written good books that people want to read. I'm really looking forward to reading them, for certain.