Well, I did it! I made a “Banned from ARCs List.” Why? Because I encountered another ARC reader who claimed to be new and trying to get a foot in the door. Doesn’t sound bad, right? I’m always one to help a fellow newbie, I love helping others, but dude! I hate being taken advantage of and wiping spit from my face. I will still send out my upcoming ARCs for Origin of Violet and Violent, but I’m done with newbie ARC readers. I’m so sorry to those who are kind and honest, but I can’t keep getting screwed over.
I’ve talked about ARCs a lot. I’ve described the purpose, expectation, etiquette, and responsibility of being an ARC reader. In my application I very clearly explain my expectations and when I send out the ARC itself, I send a very detailed list of instructions and requests. No, I don’t make them sign a contract, but should I really have to do that? It’s a covenant of understanding and mutual benefit between an artist and a potential art lover. Can’t I trust people to be good humans and do what they agreed to do?
You may be able to tell that I’m pissed. I don’t care that they said my writing sucked, this person is entitled to their opinion as much as the next person. I’m mad because I specifically requested that any review below four stars not be posted until the end of September. I’ve explained before that theoretically a low review in the first few weeks of publishing can tank visibility of a book in the algorithm. I’ve also heard it’s a myth, but to be safe I made the request to delay those reviews. This person posted one star and an unkind review of my book. It’s not even out yet, so even before my big release my book has a chink in its shiny new armor.
You may recall I had a similar situation with my debut. In that case the reviewer waited until the requested date, but then trashed me and gave it one star. Again, I don’t mind the one star, but they filled their review with spoilers. Another thing I specifically requested ARC readers avoid. I write suspense if you spoil the suspense, you’ve ruined the story for anyone who sees your review and decides to forge on regardless of your lonely star. Despite the fact that a bad review doesn’t bother me, a mean one does. I’m human, I have feelings, why would you set out to hurt me when you don’t even know me? Why so harsh? It’s just a book, if you don’t like it, fine. Why be mean? Did I sleep with your husband in another life? Did I accidentally run over your squirrel? What did I ever do to you?
Now you know why two people are on my banned ARC readers list. I hope to get through this next one without adding to it. Wish me luck, because apparently people are trolling hard. Want to know the worst part? This latest disappointment actually made me feel sorry for them and suckered me into sending them a paperback copy. Yes, I paid to get a copy of my book, signed it, and paid to ship it to this person. My poor book baby is trapped in their house lonely, sad, and unloved. I hope they set it free and donate, trash, or burn it and put it out of its misery.
Other than what happened with this one person, things have been going very well. I’ve gotten really good feedback. I’ve also seen an uptick in sales for book one, Force of Corruption. Haunted Hunting Camp also continues to be steady in orders and KU reads. I’ve even sold a couple copies of my other short story which I have never advertised. I added it to have it where people can find it. I’m going to be moving it to KU probably because Origin of Violet is going to be my new free for subscribing to my newsletter book, or reader magnet.
I’ve mentioned this before, a reader magnet is something you offer readers to entice them to read more. It works especially well when it’s a story that continues on past the free book. I’m currently using The Devil’s Affair, which is a short story. With Origin of Violet, it’s the beginning of the story. If a reader enjoys it and wants more, the hope is they’ll read Violent. So, like a magnet it draws readers in for more and hopefully ends in more sales. At least that’s the theory of using a reader magnet.
I’m very excited for the release of Force Majeure this weekend. I’ve done little to no advertising for it so I may decide to do an advertising campaign on Facebook or Amazon. FB is more wallet friendly, so I’ll probably go with them. I’ve been struggling with my recovery from surgery and very frustrated with talk to text. I’m actually typing this week's blog with one left hand finger. It’s taking forever but involves much less time correcting things so it’s worth the effort. The recovery has cut into my social media time and led to my lack of advertising.
Not only am I frustrated with my unusable hand, but my formatting person and I have been struggling with a glitch with my upcoming ARC, VioleNt. When I got it back from my editor it had a bunch of weird spacing issues, but I figured it would be fixed in formatting. So, I completed my edits and sent it off to be formatted. When it was loaded into the formatting program, it went haywire. It was missing random edits, like most of the italicized words were no longer in italics. There were still some weird spaces and some words are missing a letter.
It’s better after much effort from my formatter and not as messed up as it was but to be sure I’m reading it completely and fixing all the mistakes I see. The problem is I don’t know if there are edits missing that I don’t remember. My AMAZING editor has offered to read it again and make sure it’s all good. It’s getting extremely close to the deadline, NEXT WEEK, but I have to know it’s right. Hopefully my cover designer can deliver quick. But if I get the e-file set, it’s the most urgent part. Plus, after my recent experiences I’m inclined to not even offer any paperbacks to ARC readers.
There’s more exciting news, the Stuff Your Kindle horror event is coming soon so I’m looking forward to some more interest in Violent. I’m hoping to be able to get Violent registered but if I can’t, I'll register Origin of Violet. I wish I could chat with the host and get advice on what to do but the event date is top-secret so I can’t ask if Violent will be ready in time. They don’t announce the date until 3 weeks before, even the authors don’t know. But I have a feeling it’s in October since it’s a dark themed event. It also compliments the Romance SYK which I think happens in November again. I can’t say it enough, try to find an author who participates and beg them to invite you! Nothing is as amazing as SYK for book sales!
Speaking of book sales, if you write horror you must sign up for the Readers Break the Internet Horror Edition event!! It’s a great experience and gets your name out there. I earned two new fans who buy all my books and advertise them on their social media. I’m a newbie who technically had only one book when I did the Romance Edition. Some of the other authors sold more than twenty books. Plus, it was fun chatting with everyone.
I’m going to include the link for my new release also for authors and readers to participate in the RBTI Horror Edition below. As always thanks for reading and check out Force Majeure if you need something to read over the long weekend, it’s free on KU.
Force Majeure: https://a.co/d/7B2N5PI
Authors sign up here for RBTI Horror Edition: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeDSr7yof5WMMT5tp1anWzet285weT3SJWBxxIG4Um3ICaCVQ/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1&flr=0
Readers sign up here for RBTI Horror Edition: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdfdK684r5E44PaD6rmw9kXC7AQVr9Unx7EkLb1gfN_QZ1jpQ/viewform