SOCIAL NETWORK UPDATE

HAVE YOU CLOSED YOUR ACCOUNTS?

Yes, I have closed my Wattpad, Goodreads and Facebook accounts.

WHY?

To stop trolls. Thankfully this has now been resolved and those involved have apologised to all concerned for their behaviour.

HOW DID THE SITES DEAL WITH THE TROLLS?

To be honest I don't really know. Having closed my accounts I wasn't privy to what was being said.

STGRB advised me that the main antagonists had been in contact with them and realised the error of their ways. They were regretful and apologised. The trolls promised to remove all their posts including the fake reviews. STGRB site would in turn remove the posts identifying them as bullies and replace it with a post featuring their apology.

GOODREADS sent me an email 'sincerely apologising' for not dealing with the situation effectively in the first instance, they had assumed the reviewers whilst 'biased' were 'entitled to their opinion' as reviews are 'inherently subjective'. They soon realised that was not the case. They have promised that should I wish to open a new account they will monitor it closely. They added this, which was a lovely gesture: 

You have received overwhelmingly positive reviews. Not many authors have works that have achieved an average rating of 4.5 or higher - and you have several!

WATTPAD also apologised for the delay in responding to the issue and my 'being placed into this'. They gathered the facts before going any further. I am told they took the situation very seriously and helped resolve the matter. I did not witness it due to closing my account, but I have faith that they handled it with a mixture of diplomacy and forcefulness in regards to the sites T&C.

WILL YOU REOPEN YOUR ACCOUNTS?

No. The smoke is still clearing and I have other matters to attend to but will keep my blog updated with 'Reviews' and information on my own publishing journey.

Special thanks to STGRB, Anne Rice, Melissa Douthit, Athena Parker etc for highlighting what I was being subjected to while ensuring the situation was resolved amicably, even when they came under attack themselves. Also for supporting my decision to close my accounts in order to prevent other innocents getting attacked. Thank you for your support.

WRITING A REVIEW...TIPS.

I've been asked to explain how I compose my reviews and give some tips, as some people are reluctant to write or post them on their blog, in case they get it wrong or receive backlash. This is how I do it. I have no idea how others do theirs but here we go...

Firstly, you can never get it wrong, it is your opinion. Second, a review can be 20 words long on Amazon. It would take a reader 1 minute to type 2 sentences in the review section e.g. 'I loved this story. It made me laugh, cry, swoon and fall in love with the authors style of writing.' See easy! Anyone can do it. The problem is, they often don't as they assume it has to be in depth and they don't have time. Other assume you need a degree in English or be an expert on the subject matter. Nope, a review is purely what you thought of it. Examples:

'It was good. I enjoyed it. I really like the end as it was action packed. Can't wait for the next book.' 5*

'I liked it but felt there were too many questions left unanswered. I am hoping they get covered in the sequel.' 4*

'It took me a while to get into the story as the first few chapters were a bit like a history lesson as opposed to a historical romance.' 3* 

It can be as simple as that. I am not a review snob. I don't care who the publisher is or the author. When I review a book it is based on the shelf appeal and blurb, whether is be online or in a shop. An author wants reviews, they don't expect you to be a wordsmith. As an author myself I get the best reviews from mums at home with a baby in one arm and an ereader in the other or people sneak reading at work or school. 

NETGALLEY

I also review ARC's via NetGalley which I was invited to join last year as a professional reader. I can request a copy of a story I am interested in but I also receive requests from publishers and authors as me to review a story. You then download as a file or send to your kindle as a 'personal document'. You have a certain number of days or weeks before it is archived by the publisher and you can no longer read it. Sometimes you can request a story and the publisher refuses as you have not got enough feedback from others for them to judge if you are any good at reviews.  

I mainly review at the authors request. When I am sent ARC's by the author or publisher my reviews are more in depth. They are for feedback. I point out plot holes and highlight typos etc. When I write a review I do it honestly with a positive mindset and ensure any feedback is constructive and not destructive critique. If I don't like certain sections of the story I'll tell the author/publisher why. 

I won't review a story I don't find interesting. I will suggest other reviewers as an alternative if I know someone would enjoy reading it. 

I will repeat what I said before 'You do not have to be a professional reader, have a degree in English Literature or be a writer to review a story. Anyone who reads a story can review it.' 

MY RULES FOR REVIEWING

My number one rules is... start out positive. My mindset from the beginning is 5* as the author has taken the time and effort to write a story. It is their baby. They have been through the conception, which is always the best bit. They have carried the story around with them for months, sometimes years and been through the horror of editing labour.

They are finally showing us their baby, dressed in a posh book cover, name blazing across it and asking 'is it beautiful?'. No one wants to be told their baby's ugly, the names stupid and it stinks. Leave that to the trolls, manners cost nothing. 

STARTING WITH 5* IS MY CHOICE

Some reviewers like to build up to it, there is no hard and fast rule. I am basically giving the author a 'high five' for completing a novel. I only take away stars if something really niggles or confuses me and I have to step out of the world they created to get my bearings e.g. flicking back a few pages or google something I know to be factually incorrect. 

Throughout the process I jot notes on a pad of what I love, hate or spot as an error. I remove a star if they lose me e.g. can't work out who is talking or we change location half way though a conversation. Also if they take too long describing something, as it loses the momentum, especially in a battle scene. I hate poorly thought-out sex scenes where it ends up being more like a game of people jenga/twister as opposed to an erotic/romantic scene. You'd need tits on your back and the flexibility of a contortionist to get into some of them. 


I often spot where the editor has removed a scene but referred to it later on, I point those out in a private message. Not in the review. 

A story will lose a star if it's full of plot holes or races to the end for the sake of 'word count' and leaves me with questions. So many try to cram in 50,000 or 85,000 words. Pay attention to the page count as you can review 3 stories in your TBR pile if the page count is e.g. 47 or 56, where as another is 287. Some are just one shorts and 10 pages. Get it out the way. 

HONESTY

I always tell the author the parts I didn't enjoy or where they confused me, in a private message not on the review. If it is published and I will allude to finding areas confusing but I won't be specific in my review as I would have already fed back to the author. Most importantly I tell them the parts I loved and if it is a series, what I am looking forward to reading in the next. I will also explain where they lost or regained a star and why. I give stars back for awesome bits! 

I don't post reviews lower than 3* in public, but I do feedback to the author direct. They have always been grateful and agreed on areas of improvement. I've never had anyone object to my reviews. I am often asked to read drafts to help other authors with document blindness or writers block. That is how I started reviewing. 

PROMOTING YOUR REVIEWS

If I like a story and think it is worth reading I will post my review on Amazon, Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, blog etc but only when the story is published. Not before. If I don't like a story I won't post a review. Simple. 

Enjoy reading the story and only at the end write the review, don't keep stopping. Yes, I note things down but it's nothing more than 'pg89 typo, 3rd line, Out not Our'. Those notes go to the publisher not in the review. 

DON'T POST SPOILERS

You are reviewing a story. Not retelling it. If your review contains a spoiler post a warning on it. 'This review contains spoilers' as there is nothing worse. Don't become a numpty like those who spoilt Harry Potter and Bridget Jones for people. 

5 STARS - WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

You are supporting an author with a review. It doesn't have to be 5*'s to be a great review, people see the scale very differently and it can vary depending on the site you are using. Don't feel pressured to give 5*'s. No matter how popular the book, it will never get straight 5's. In fact the more popular a book gets, the more outspoken the reviewers. Yes it's true that publishers don't often promote a review unless it is 5*'s but that's not important, an honest review is. 

In my mind (1) is poo, (2) is Meh, (3) is 'yeah it's ok', (4) is 'read it you'll like it, (5) can be varying things 'Read it, I want to discuss it with you' or 'I loved the shit out of this book'.

To other reviewers it could be (1) is 'WTF', (2) is 'Absolute Crap', (3) is 'Hours of my life wasted', (4) is 'It was ok but I hated most of it', (5) 'Loved the shit out of this book!'  

So as you can see, you can't go wrong. It's an opinion. Your opinion. Your version of the 1-5* and if everyone liked to read the same thing there would be no need for reviewers. Be your own person, give an honest and fair review. Be conscious that there is a person on the receiving end of the words you type. I use the 'granny rule' don't say something in your review that you are not willing to say to a granny. For the record I know some pretty frisky grannies but if you are rude to them, their cat will scratch your eyes out ;) 

Enjoy reviewing! It only needs to be 20 words.

FACEBOOK AUTHOR LIKE FOR LIKE - DO THEY WORK?

Recently I have been invited to some author 'like for like' events. I decided to partake and see if it really worked. Were authors really going to support each other or did you end up liking others and get zilch in return?

I also set up my own event https://www.facebook.com/events/482826078461796/

I discovered Facebook hates these events. It will allow you to 'like' a few pages and then it will start asking you to enter a verification code for each one you want to like thereafter.

After doing that several times it logs you out and states your account seems to been accessed by someone Phishing and is now suspended. I had to enter a new password. There was no other option.

A week later I discovered event organisers and participants could avoid this by allowing people to post a 'preview' picture of their page so people can hover over it and click 'Like'.

They can also use the '@' sign and type their page name as a link so you can hover over it as well. It stops people having to open page after page.

Don't keep commenting on each post to say you have liked it, just click 'like' under the post to show you have. You will show up on their page and they should return the 'like' just as this person is.

I gave my event longer as 'a day' is too short and people were getting slammed in 'Facebook Jail' for rushing their likes or commenting with a link which facebook sees as spam. I would suggest other do the same. I also left it open for people to still click like when it was 'closed'... all I did was remove the ability to post comments. Simple. 

Friend requests

I had a list of friend requests from authors who wanted to start a dialogue and continue to support each other. I thought that was lovely and went down the list clicking accept. 

What I didn't realise is some people had 'suggested' friends and I hadn't noticed the 'add friend' instead of 'confirm'. I just rushed through clicking them all. This resulted in FB telling me off for adding people I don't know 'in real life' and threatening me with account suspension. Now I scan the list and click 'ignore' first on all suggestions, then I go through and click confirm.

If you don't do that a message appears saying 'You must know the people you send friend requests to in real life outside of Facebook'. It then gives you the option to cancel all outstanding friend requests or gamble.... this means identifying 'friends' in photographs, a bit like an ID parade. 

It showed me several pictures from a persons page and gave me names to chose from. I had to click the right person or my account would be closed. It was like a really shit game show.

I easily identified my friends from multiple pictures and what did I win... not a sausage! Facebook do not have a problem with you 'following' someone you do not know but they object to you 'friend requesting' someone you have no personal connection with outside of FB. 

As an author I am not going to know each person personally so I accept all friend requests unless they look really dodgy, alas the odd pervert and fruitcake still get through but they are blocked and reported.

So do these events work?

I've liked approx 1000 pages from various events using my author page, books pages etc over the past two weeks and I've had approx 475 returned  http://www.facebook.com/AiramAuthor  So yeah it is working but there are the odd ones who just post their link on every event but never 'return' that 'like for like'. What I intend to do it collate a list of links of people who returned the 'like for like' on my page and post it on my blog so you can see who played by the rules. 

I've had authors point out that you need to 'like' from your author page not from your personal or book pages as they don't count. I've also noted several times my likes have disappeared on my author page and I have to go back through a 're-like'. someone. I know I have liked them as they appear in my newsfeed but when I go through an event it allows me to like the page again. Bizarre.

I should also point out that the FB jail is full to the rafters with bloggers and authors. I believe this is due to the 'promote your page' which FB brought in. However, Anne Rice was mugged by that and wrote a scathing review on how she spent thousands but didn't get anything in return so don't fall for that. I also noted that the more likes you get, the higher the promotion cost is. There was no option to drop down the menu as there had been when I had 27 likes.

Thank you to everyone who has 'liked' my page, joined in with my event and continued to support my work. I hope this little blog helps everyone who has been asking questions and give you some tips towards avoiding FB jail time. I will leave you with some of the FB jail messages users received as I know some of you were anxious to see what they looked like. If you get them don't worry, it is usually a warning first and should they restrict you, you will be back to normal in the time it states... but using the tips above should avoid it.

Happy Liking!