Three weeks after its release, Call Me Boy still retains a spot in the top 100 bestselling Gay and Lesbian books on Amazon.com. This is pretty awesome *cue self patting on back*. But not all my experiences on Amazon.com of late have been similarly awesome. Some of them were decidedly un-awesome. Let me relate them for a moment.
I got two fairly terrible reviews, one from a reader who was foaming at the mouth because of a spanking relationship portrayed in Little Miss and the Law, which she found to be ‘disgusting’. She was even driven to ask ‘do people really live like this?’ The irony of someone who is presumably lesbian (or at least, a reader of lesbian fiction) pointing the finger at D/s and calling it disgusting whilst being a member / fan of a lifestyle that is often discriminated against for similarly senseless and bigoted reasons is quite amusing. But there you go.
The second was from a reviewer who was kind enough to say that I’m a good storyteller, but the book (Miscreant and the Master) didn’t grip her. I have a feeling that’s because the rather gentle, somewhat paternal D/s relationship between the Master and the Miscreant wasn’t to her more mainstream tastes, or at least, wasn’t quite her kink.
This is the fun (and I use the word ‘fun’ here in the same sense that being put through a meat grinder is fun) thing about Amazon.com. People can accidentally find themselves buying books that don’t fit their particular kink set. This is unfortunate. What’s super unfortunate is that these are the people who are motivated to leave reviews. People who are happy often don’t feel the same urge. This is something I myself have been guilty of.
At the end of the day, the books page of my author bio looks rather dismal indeed, in spite of the fact that so many lovely readers have gotten in touch with encouraging words, which I super appreciate, more than I can say. You people rock with an intensity that cannot be measured by modern science.
You might ask why these kind sentiments don’t translate into reviews. I have a fair idea why. It’s difficult for people who didn’t buy my books through Amazon to leave reviews, because Amazon demands that a person have bought something on Amazon.com at least once in order to leave a review. So with my non kindle reader base pretty much hobbled, it is left to those who are kindle purchasers. But here’s the thing. Many people have their Amazon.com accounts under their real names and aren’t exactly keen to have spanking book reviews connected to their real life personas, which I totally understand.
This would all be enough to dismay even the roughest and toughest of authors, but here’s the interesting thing. Call Me Boy has sold through the roof. It’s sold more in three weeks than any other ebook I’ve ever written. And it too, has 0 reviews. It’s the only book in the Top 100 Gay and Lesbian Bestsellers not to have a review. And that, I feel, is interesting. I’m starting to think that although some reviews on Amazon.com are natural, organic reviews left by people who wanted to share their experiences with a particular book, many of them are as a direct result of ‘review swaps’ ‘reviews for hire’ and other little tricks that exist because authors are feeling that they have to go out and solicit positive reviews. I understand that urge, though I’ve not (rather obviously, because this problem would not be a problem if I did) engaged in any of those techniques myself. Nobody wants to see their book dragged down in the eyes of potential readers by people who were never going to enjoy it in the first place.
So what’s the moral of the story? Well, there are several really.
Moral One
Don’t put too much trust in Amazon.com reviews. They are often inflated or sometimes underrated as a result of malice (there was a scandal at one point where some authors were caught going around leaving negative reviews on other people’s books) or thoughtlessness. Every single kindle book has a free sample for download, so if you’re interested in a book, download that and make your own decision as to the quality of the writing.
Moral Two
If you’re in the position to do so, it’s nice to leave a review. This is a lesson I myself will be acting on in the coming days. There are several books I have rather enjoyed in recent times and not reviewed. That will be changing.
Moral Three
Haters really are going to hate. It often has very little to do with the quality of one’s work – or the number of people who love what you do. This final lesson is applicable to almost everything in life.
