Amazon – Marie at 1 Write Way

To Write, or Not Write, a Book Review

January 18th, 2015

This post could also be titled, “A Book Review Discussion Without End.” In as many days, I’ve come across three separate blogs discussing the pros and cons, the ups and downs of positive and negative book reviews. If you want to go off and read these posts before mine, go right ahead. I’ll wait. Each post has its merits and is well-worth the read.

http://greenembe.rs/2015/01/15/a-product-should-be-reviewed-good-or-bad/

http://theclaymoreandsurcoat.com/2015/01/15/attention-those-blogging-about-reviews/

https://litworldinterviews.wordpress.com/2015/01/15/safe-reviewing/

Great, you’re back! Let’s continue … But first, a caveat:

This post on reviewing is for I would call creative writing only: memoirs, fiction, poetry. In the case of manuals, self-help, or how-to books, 1-star reviews are sometimes well-deserved. Even if the majority of reviews are positive, there is often a shelf-life for certain kinds of how-to books. Buy with extreme caution.

Because I taught First Year Composition (one semester only; I swear the experience sped up the graying of my hair), I find these discussions interesting but also confusing. Why do we even need to have a discussion?

For one, we know there are people out who like to write negative reviews of novels for the sake of negatively reviewing someone. These are undoubtedly people who feel so miserable they want everyone else to feel miserable too. Yes, their 1-star reviews can undermine an almost perfect 5-star average rating, but such reviews are usually useless and “not helpful.” The above-mentioned posts will do nothing to stop nonconstructive 1-star reviews. So what are we talking about?

Can a reader leave a constructive, rational 1-star review that would be helpful to other readers? Possibly, but what is the point? In my training for First Year Composition, I learned to take any student’s essay, no matter how badly written, and find something positive to say about it. (Believe me, I did have to be trained to do that. I would never have developed such a skill naturally.) And maybe it’s because of this training that I’m loathe to leave 1-star reviews for any book I’ve ever read. If we limit starred reviews to Amazon, the one star means “I hate it.” Who would want to say they hated any book? Okay, maybe you might want to say you hated Mein Kampf on principle and so you give the book one star. (By the way, the average rating for Mein Kampf is 3.8 and the median looks like it’s tilting toward 5 stars.) But should you leave a 1-star review because you disagree with a book’s content?

I’ve perused a few of the 1-star reviews given to Mein Kampf and many of them take exception to the quality of translation. I guess you can “hate” that a book has been poorly translated. I definitely wouldn’t like one that was and if I were a researcher, I would feel compelled to let other readers know. Still, 300 readers gave that book 5 stars, and some of those extol the translation. Go figure.

So what’s my point (something I myself often lose sight of)? That reviews are … tricky. Even with something like a translation, there are differing opinions. Do the 300 5-star reviews outweigh the 1-star reviews? I’m not sure. Since I don’t speak or read German, I won’t know a good translation from a bad one.

And there often, if not always, is some bias at play in reviewing. Not the sort of bias that comes from our perennial 1-star reviewing troll. But from our own sensibilities and preferences. I have read genres outside my comfort zone (XXX erotica, anyone?) for the sake of reviewing a debut indie novel and supporting that author. And when I write those reviews, I make it clear that this may be the first novel in this genre that I’ve read. Regular readers of that genre can then discount my review, or at least take it with considerable salt. Even in the rarefied atmosphere of literature and literary criticism, reviewers can be biased, having such a slant for what they deem good literature that they lack the imagination to enjoy something different.

“[…] it is striking how frequently [James Wood] finds that a novel has succeeded when it deals with the questions Wood himself likes to ask and that it has failed when it strays into territory alien to him.” Christopher Beha, How Much Damage Can It Do? On the intellectual element in modern fiction. Harper’s Magazine, Feb. 2015, p.85

So the bottom line? For me, anyway: do your fellow readers a service and write reviews of novels you’ve read, especially those independently published. Be honest in your reviews, but be constructive. If you really think a novel warrants a 1-star review, explain, clearly and concisely, why it does. And in the case of Amazon, you have to explain why you “hate” it. Think about that. A novel that I might not have the stomach to read again may be a favorite beach read for someone else.

And if that novel’s “territory” is “alien” to you, then I’d argue you have even more responsibility to write your review with a great deal of caution.

Have I resolved anything here? I didn’t think so.

Top Ten Things Not to Do When Writing an Amazon Review

January 12th, 2015

For all you people who love to write to reviews of anything and everything :) Monday humor from John Howell!

Fiction Favorites

This week’s list was inspired by reading some Amazon reviews recently. As writers, we always think of Amazon reviews in terms of books. There is a whole other world out there so this includes other categories as well as books. I hope you enjoy.

Ten Things Not to do When Writing an Amazon Review

10 When writing an Amazon review, do not think you need to use words no one understands. If you do, at best your review will remain unread and a waste of your time. At worst, you will garner a number of WTF comments and will be notorious for your high-handed use of the language.

9 When writing an Amazon review, do not review a product or book you haven’t tried or read. If you do, at best your review will look like the others you copied and will be ignored. At worse, you might analyze what…

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10 Tips for Selling Your Books on Amazon

January 4th, 2015

Please, all my indie author friends who are selling their books on Amazon, view this YouTube how-to, courtesy of Cate Russell-Cole, courtesy of Lisa Orrell (http://www.promoteuguru.com/blog/). Lisa lists the bells & whistles that Amazon authors can use to sell their books.

A Different Kind of Book Review: The Night I Walked Off of Boot Hill by Briana Vedsted

July 21st, 2013

I’m currently participating in Camp NaNoWriMo but have been negligent with working on my novel. I also owe a number of book reviews. So I thought, why not try to do both? Work on my novel and a book review at the same time. Granted, this is not the kind of book review I would post to Amazon or Goodreads. I’ll have to snip away the dialogue and narrative for that, but those reviews will be posted. Many thanks to Briana Vedsted for her patience and her talent in storytelling.

An excerpt from WIP: The Widow’s Club: Guilty Until Proven Innocent

Melissa sought to distract Tupper by telling him about a novella she had read. It was The Night I Walked Off of Boot Hill by Briana Vedsted. She had noticed a stack of worn paperback books in the cabin, at the foot of the cot, most with pictures of cowboys on horses. She could make out the names Zane Grey and Louis L’Amour. She smiled at the thought of this young mountain man being taken with horses and life out on the plains. The landscapes of Grey and L’Amour probably seemed like foreign countries, even distant planets, to Tupper.

She rested her fingers on the top of the stack, noting how well-thumbed the books looked. “Have you ever read anything by Briana Vedsted?” Her voice was low, wanting to get his attention, but not wanting to startle him since they had been quiet for so long now.

He turned toward her. When he saw that she was looking at his books, his face lit up. “No. Does she write stories like those? I’ve read those books over and over. They belong to the library, you know.” His cheeks turned pale rose as he admitted to having overdue books.

“She doesn’t have a book in the library … yet.” Melissa realized that he may not understand electronic books and the Internet and she didn’t have the energy to explain all that to him. Better to just gloss over that part, she thought. “I have a copy of a novella she wrote, called The Night I Walked Off of Boot Hill. I can … read it to you someday.” She wasn’t sure about showing him her Kobo Reader, either. What would he make of something like that? And if she offered to read it to him, maybe he’ll consider helping her get down the mountain and back home.

“Can you tell me about it?” He sat on the floor in front of her, as she sat cross-legged on the cot. He was so big, she thought. He had to be at least 6 feet tall, if not more, and no less than 200 pounds. She couldn’t quite tell because he was fully dressed, but she suspected that he was all muscle. Living on the mountain, all that hard labor just to find food. She smiled at him as he looked up at her, eager for a story.

“Sure, it’s a ghost story, but a nice one, not a scary one. It starts with a man waking up in a cemetery on Boot Hill. It takes a while for him to remember his name, Barbados Tom, and to gather his last memories before waking up on the hill. The thing is, he doesn’t know if he is dead or alive.” Tupper’s eyes grew wide and the smile faded from his face. Melissa marveled at the thought that he could be scared by a story when for years he had been living alone in this isolated cabin on the mountain among bears and other predators. Yet, that didn’t seem to scare him.

“The whole story is about Barbados Tom remembering who he is and what he did and where he needs to go. The reader is taken along on this journey, learning about him just as he learns about himself. Along the way he meets up with a young man, Jim McDougall, who also seems lost and alone. They have adventures along the way.” Melissa glanced over at the stack of paperbacks. “Lots of horse riding and meeting up with Indians and traveling through lonely ghost towns. Tom wonders if they are both dead. And yet they feel hunger and the cold, they need sleep, they feel pain. Tom can’t figure it out. He was supposed to be hanged. He remembers that he was an outlaw and that he had been captured and sentenced to death. And, yet, here he is on a journey. He knows where he needs to go, but he doesn’t know why.”

“So he was a bad man?”

“Well?” Melissa paused. She didn’t want Tupper to think that it was okay to be a bad person, to hurt people and maybe get away with it. “The thing is he had done bad things and he had to be punished. But he also had a heart, a good heart, and he was trying to make things right again. He started to think of Jim in a fatherly way, watching after him and planning for his future.”

“How does it all end?” Tupper sat up a little straighter, eager to know how anyone could make right the bad things they had done. How could someone be condemned to death, and yet be worthy of life.

“I can’t tell you that. It would be giving away the whole story.” Melissa felt a little anxious, wondering if teasing Tupper with only part of the story would backfire. “It’s a very good story, and it has a happy ending. But I can’t tell it right. I need to read it to you.”

Tupper looked down at his hands and frowned. Melissa’s heart started beating hard and she felt a chill down her back. So far he had treated her well, but she still didn’t know if she could trust him.

“Does he ever figure out if he’s a ghost?” He looked up at Melissa, a child-like plea in his eyes. “Does he get any peace?”

Melissa smiled, relieved that he seemed only concerned about the story, about Barbados Tom.

“We never know if he’s a ghost or not, but that’s okay, because in the end, he’s happy. Everyone is happy.”

___________________________________________________________________________________

This review is based on my own purchased copy of The Night I Walked Off of Boot Hill by Briana Vedsted. You can buy your own copy at Amazon. It is available in book e-book at 99 cents and in paperback currently for $5.94!

Book Review: Bestiary of Blatherhorn Vale

June 8th, 2013

Disclaimer: I have not read fantasy since I was a kid, and then it was The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, that sort of thing. As a young adult, I read The Mists of Avalon , but I don’t know if that qualifies as fantasy. My point is I know little about the genre, so I can’t tell you if Bestiary of Blatherhorn Vale, a slim ebook (44 pages) by Charles E Yallowitz qualifies as fantasy. What I can tell you is that I love this book.

Like I know good art when I see it or good wine when I taste it, I know a good book when I read it. Bestiary of Blatherhorn Vale is a delightfully creepy compendium of strange creatures. The premise of the book is that it is a “battered field notebook” from an expedition to Blatherhorn Vale. The book reads like an epic poem with a firm beginning (“Blatherhorn Vale lies in wait”) to a neat ending (“Leaving Blatherhorn Vale to rise again”), and in-between a curious cabinet of relics.

Mr. Yallowitz’s imagination knows no bounds. Every creature is meticulously and poetically described. He brings them to life to the extent that the reader may choose to ignore the caution that “Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.”

Here’s a taste for you: My two most favorite beasts are the Yethys and the Glintra. The Yethys have “scales of gold,” “eyes of crimson,” no mouth, and “[Risk] all To gain some precious warmth.”

The Glintra are delicate, deadly creatures whose:
“Feeble tendrils
Of finest crystal
Drag along the ground
Burning
Those they touch”

Good wine and good art, indeed. Try the Bestiary of Blatherhorn Vale for yourself. It’s only one-third the cost of a tall latte and much more satisfying. Perhaps if the Bestiary becomes popular enough, Mr. Yallowitz could be persuaded to issue a printed version for distribution. This is the kind of book I would want on my shelf.

E-book Reader Blues

May 10th, 2013

I’m not really a gadget geek. Really, I like to keep things simple. I like the simplicity of picking up a book and leafing through its pages. Still, several years ago, I became smitten by e-book readers.

I don’t remember how the love affair began. It was the early 2000s and discussions about ebooks and ebook readers were slowly making their way into the mainstream. Somewhere, somehow I got wind of a Gemstar eBook reader that I could purchase online for roughly $99 (or $149 for a color version). I opted for the black and white version, wanting to keep things simple. And thus the affair began.

My Gemstar is a solid 22 ounces, about the size of a paperback, with a grip on the left side that makes it easy to hold with one hand. It has a touch screen, a stylus specifically for navigating the “Bookshelf” and two buttons on the left side for paging through books. It has about 8 MB of memory and I also use a smart media disk of 128 MB. On my Gemstar, I have contemporary books such as Newjack by Ted Conover, classics such as Les Miserables by Hugo, and lesser-known works such as The Amateur by Richard Harding Davis. I must have purchased the Gemstar around 2003 because I also have a few articles from the New York Review of Books saved there from that year.

Alas, within a few short years, support for the Gemstar evaporated entirely: no technical support, no online bookstores dedicated to the Gemstar. The flame had gone out of the affair.

And, yet there was still a spark. A few years later, on a camping trip, my husband and I huddled together in our small tent, on a dark windy night. I pulled out my Gemstar and read parts of Newjack to him until he was ready for sleep. I often said then and I’ll say it again now that the portability of an ebook reader is its greatest advantage. I had a long list of books for my husband to choose from that night, and I could not have backpacked all those books into camp. While the Gemstar was my first love, it may also be my last. I have since bought a 3rd-Gen Kindle (right before Amazon came out with the Fire and substantially dropped the price … damn you, Amazon!) But I missed the expanded memory that I had with my Gemstar, the touch screen, the ability to add books and articles of various formats. I liked the Kindle at first but now it’s primarily an overpriced word game player.

Then I got an iPad 2 which I bought with some hard-earned second job money and found (oh, crap!) that I could have just put the Kindle app on my iPad and been done with it. I love the touch screen and would read books or catch up with news on the iPad during my lunch hour. But still, I wasn’t satisfied. I was itching for something simpler, something more ebook dedicated, something I could read in bed without the lights on, without an LCD burning my eyes out. I have read review after review after review comparing the Kindle with the Nook with the Kobo with the iPad. Although we have a Barnes & Noble in town, I was hesitate to buy a Nook. B&N may not be as big as Amazon, but, bleeding heart liberal that I am, I wanted something more “indie.”

In April I purchased a Kobo Glo. I had found good reviews of the device, it’s capacity for storage, various ebook formats, and its “night light.” Unfortunately I had to buy it online since the one independent bookstore in my town didn’t carry it. Here’s where the blues comes in: I can’t get the wireless to work, no matter what we do (reset, factory reset, unsecure our network, secure our network). The device doesn’t always recognize the memory card, and the touch screen can be a little quirky. I’m using Calibre to download and add books outside the Kobo BookStore, but that can be a little squirrelly too. And even though I thought I had thoroughly vetted the Kobo, I’ve since learned from Calibre that “The Kobo has very buggy firmware” (from their manual).

Sigh. When my Kobo works, it’s wonderful, and I have enjoyed using it to read at night. Nobody is disturbed by the gentle light around the edges of the screen, and my eyes don’t get fried. Yet, today it took several attempts to transfer a bundle of new books from Calibre to my Kobo. Admittedly, I may have not been syncing correctly. All these gadgets seem so sensitive to how they are handled. Even some of the apps on my iPad are having hiccups following the latest system update.

My Gemstar and I never had such problems. To remind myself of how advanced technology was, I’m recharging my Gemstar and recharging our affair.

No More Amazon

April 12th, 2009

Amazon is playing with the fire … in essence, censoring books that they deemed to be “adult” by removing their rankings. See Amazon Follies. Amazon, remember: You are not too big to fail.

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