Books for Kids

Sunday, April 15, 2012

What the Kindle Forums are saying about us Indies

While checking my offerings on Amazon I had a wander through the Kindle forums. This is my take on what they had to say about us Indi authors.
The number one complaint seems to be about typos.
It's one of my pet hates too, if you can't afford an editor make sure you turn on the inbuilt spell & grammar checker in your word processing package. Yes, I know this is basic but it's surprising how many don't activate the grammar check. Trust me it does work, and if you get funny squiggly lines under the word or sentence it's because you've done something wrong. Don't just ignore it, keep working at it until you lose the squiggle I promise it will make the sentence sound better. Eventually.
If you're still not sure it's spelt right or looks odd, use the thesaurus to check for synonyms (alternative words), you'd be amazed how many times I've done that and found I was using the wrong spelling of a word to describe something. Oh, and watch for missing words, this usually happens when you're editing for the nth time, 'can't see the woods for the trees' syndrome. Don't give the Kindle trolls grist for their mill,
The second complaint was about homophones.
Now, I must confess I had no idea what a homophone was but I do now, it’s just a technical term for something I’ve always known, and I have to admit they have driven me mad when I see them in a book. For those like myself who have lived most of their life in ignorance of the technical term homophone, they are words that sound the same but are spelt differently and have different meanings IE: there/their, your/you're, hair/hare, break/brake, flower/flour, night/knight, affect/effect.
The list is long so if you don't know the correct spelling for the sentence you are writing, look up homophones on line, there are plenty of sites 'spelling 'it out. Don't get too down about this I've read books by famous authors with incorrect or missing words. However, because we are self published we need to think like the women pioneers in a male dominated job, we need to be better than the established authors to rise to the top.
Number three was dubious reviews.
It seems they don't like it if we get too many 5 star reviews because they think we get our friends and family to use reviews as propaganda to improve our sales. Well, as we know, friends and family will always give a good review, although my family haven't so far... :( So, what do we do about our love ones?
I suppose we could always be as honest as one author I read, he commented below the review that it was from a friend. His frank disclosure was refreshing so I bought the book. You could always ask some of those loved ones to give 3 & 4 star reviews, though I doubt they'd be able to force their finger down the star list. Maybe I'll try that, if any of my family or friends, ever get round to giving me a review.
Number four was cover art.
Apparently, according to the trolls, too few Indi’s take the time to obtain a good cover for their book. We all know the saying 'don't judge a book by it's cover' but the trolls are turned off by some of our covers. Ok, this again comes down to cost, and not all of us can afford to employ cover artist.
Of course, you might just be capable of doing it yourself, so think about exchanging skills with another writer. Do you need an editor? Offer to do a cover for their book, and they return the favour.
The only other thing I can think of to combat this is, to capture a geek. Awww! come on people, we all know a geek of some sort, ask around and pick the youngest one, they are the most clued in. They often do it free for the kudos. Just promise them a credit in the book, and don't forget to follow through on your promise. Having said all that, I don't judge a book by its cover, I mostly go by the blurb so make sure it's a killer.
So there we have it, the top four complaints from the Kindle Trolls. Check your books my friends and let's make them the best they can be, our reputation depends in it.
Carol x
PS One of my characters has escaped http://tinyurl.com/bojx2zg




10 comments:

  1. As much as I loath and despise the on-line Trolls normally, I have to agree with all of the above Carol. Mind you, I would love to come across a book written by one of the said Trolls wouldn't you. It's easy to criticise, quite another to sit down and write a story worthy of sale. :)

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    1. Can't see that happening soon Jack, all we can do is try to not give them ammunition.

      Carol x

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  2. Carol, this was an excellent piece of information. I must admit that in my book, its and it's isn't always correct - not my fault, it seems that MS Word chooses the incorrect version. But, we're all human, and even the biggest publishing companies make spelling errors. Check out Yahoo news and the NY Times sometime - filled with errors.

    Homophones - ugh. As a teacher there, their, they're the won, one, thing that eye, I, aye, go absolutely crazy about. So I here, hear that complaint loud and clear.

    And I guess I can't fault Amazon on the too many 5 star reviews. I admit that I love to get them, but I can see where Amazon might think those reviews are coming from friends.

    This is such a great discussion topic you've written. I could just go on and on.

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    1. Michael, if you have the grammar checker on it's less likely that word will do that. I know it's a pain but it's worth it.

      The Kindle trolls only seem to go after us indies so the only way we can beat them is to be vigilant.

      Thanks for joining in.

      Carol x

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  3. I've heard this many, many times. Since I can't afford an editor AND a cover artist, I end up employing (without cost) a panel to read over the manuscript. I choose three educated people who read it and send it back to me. Then I make necessary changes and edit again before sending in for the proof copy. I missed a few things in my book the first time, but so far there haven't been any complaints about these issues for me. Thanks for the details, though!

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    1. I tend to do that too Lisa, we can't be careful enough. Our reputation depends on it and keeps those kindle trolls off our backs.

      Carol x

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  5. Yes, I always have spell check and grammar check turned on. Now I even write blog posts in a doc file so that I can use the tools. Blogger doesn't have that. You are so right, at some point the eyes are shot. Missing words and homophones don't always show up in grammar or spell-check. Thank you.

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    1. I have to admit I write my blog post in word Louis, we can never be too careful. Thanks for the comment.

      Carol x

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  6. Thomas Sharkey8:43 am

    Q: What do you do if you tread on a lump of Troll-shite?

    A: Wipe it off and keep on walking (writing).

    When I criticise a writer's efforts to entertain, I criticise as a writer and give advice.

    Writer and author have for me the same meaning - I am a published writer, full stop.

    On ideas, "The Tale of the Blind Vampire". Now, there's an idea, but it's probably beeb done before.

    You have a pm on your favourite site from the moderator.

    Thomas Sharkey. (Blog name)

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