well today is depressing.

[apiphile]

Poll

I know if I say "guys please leave Amazon reviews/Lulu rankings" you will assume I mean everyone else but you, that no one will want to read your review, that nothing you do would help, and therefore it isn't worth you wasting your time - that is provably not true. The more reviews/upratings things have - especially on the Kindle store - the more

Comments

[wolfy_writing]

Obviously, some people buy your books, because I've purchased nearly all of them. I'm less likely to buy things off Lulu because it's slightly more effort than either Amazon or iTunes. If anything, it's probably the reviews, which makes it more my fault than yours. (I did give you a bunch of stars everywhere I could, but actually writing reviews intimidates me. Sorry.)

People avoiding your books because of you somehow being unworthy isn't a real thing. Book sales aren't distributed based on who deserves it the most. You're every bit as deserving of a successful writing career as most writers, and more deserving than a few really successful ones. (There are a couple of well-known writers of best sellers who don't put anywhere near the effort and craftsmanship into their work that you put into yours.)

[redshira]

Basically, all of this. I am going to leave reviews, though, since I am clearly part of the problem. I can't say they'll be particularly descriptive - I'm a reader, definitely not a writer - but I will make it very clear that I think more people should buy the books.

[apiphile]

Well when I read product reviews on Amazon I'm usually looking to see if the people who bought it enjoyed it and would recommend it, rather than if they're great writers themselves. Some of them are in monstrously bad txt spk, even. ;)

[apiphile]

As I said to Vee upthread, this is not "wah wah why aren't my friends buying my books". My friends ARE buying my books, or at least the ones at the nexus of "have money" and "like my writing" on the Venn Diagram. The point is that my friends are a limited pool of people and I want to know why no one else in the known universe is buying (also, seriously, no, no one is currently buying my books. I can show you my sales stats). So far everyone's interpreted a sincere plea for guesses as to why I'm not doing so well / possible poking to get people to write reviews so I look slightly less like some mental writing books about cooking with your own semen to an audience of none as a whinge at you to buy things you've already bought. I DON'T KNOW HOW TO MAKE THIS MORE CLEAR. I HAVE NO ACTUAL EARTHLY IDEA. I PUT IT IN THE POST.

[wolfy_writing]

Ah. I was confused by the "you don't deserve to" option. Sorry.

ETA: I finally forced myself to give you two short (and to my ears, awkwardly-phrased) but glowing reviews on Amazon.

[apiphile]

thank you; I can promise you they won't sound awkward to anyone else.