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Rant! Why I don't go to the HF forums at Amazon anymore

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Michy
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Location: California

Post by Michy » Wed November 17th, 2010, 3:12 pm

[quote=""EC2""]Oh yes, the bitching over there is something else - on the comments too under reviews. Some of them are unbelievable. [/quote] They all but insult each other's mother. And who knows, maybe even some of them do that! :eek:

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Misfit
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Joined: August 2008
Location: Seattle, WA

Post by Misfit » Thu December 2nd, 2010, 1:36 pm

:D ;)

It appears someone at Amazon just cleaned house. There are a ton of deleted by Amazon posts from the regular troop of spammers. I was chuckling over a comment from one of themover this mass deletion,
Course not.

Amazon doesn't like it that we recommend our OWN books in these threads. I guess they just hope that someone will magically pop up out of nowhere completely and suddenly and without provocation, OR KNOWLEDGE, recommend a book they have no idea exists.

Don't ask me the logic. I see absolutely NO harm in mentioning one's own book, as long as it's done once.
Although I have seen that poster mention her book more than once...

*Edit*

Same commenter on another thread about this,
I see Amazon strikes the idiot bat again. They deleted most of the authors in this thread who recommended their own books, AND YET, left Karim Koussa and Joel Russell to flaunt their own books.

One of those posts wasn't even about my own book!!! I'M SICK TO DEATH OF THIS CRAP FROM THEM.
Ummm, last time I looked it was their playpen after all.
Last edited by Misfit on Thu December 2nd, 2010, 2:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
At home with a good book and the cat...
...is the only place I want to be

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N. Gemini Sasson
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Post by N. Gemini Sasson » Sat December 4th, 2010, 3:49 pm

[quote=""Misfit""] :D ;)

It appears someone at Amazon just cleaned house. There are a ton of deleted by Amazon posts from the regular troop of spammers. I was chuckling over a comment from one of themover this mass deletion,[/quote]

Ah, glad to see Amazon stepping in. Bravo for them!

What some spammers are not recognizing is that when they mention their own books, it's not just a recommendation, it's a sales pitch. If every time you picked up your phone, it was someone trying to sell you something, you'd quickly find it very irritating. Thank goodness for Caller ID ;) .

It's a tough slog to be self-published, but indie authors have to consider what type of professional demeanor they are presenting at all times. The constant sales pitch will do more to alienate readers in the long run than win them over.

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MLE (Emily Cotton)
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Interest in HF: started in childhood with the classics, which, IMHO are HF even if they were contemporary when written.
Favourite HF book: Prince of Foxes, by Samuel Shellabarger
Preferred HF: Currently prefer 1600 and earlier, but I'll read anything that keeps me turning the page.
Location: California Bay Area

Post by MLE (Emily Cotton) » Sat December 4th, 2010, 4:15 pm

Amazing that these people don't realize that a writer's recommendation of their own work is not just worthless, it is laughable. Of course they think their book is good. The question is, does anybody unconnected with them think so?

It's not the sales pitch that convinces -- it's the satisfied customer.

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Misfit
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Post by Misfit » Wed December 8th, 2010, 8:04 pm

[quote=""MLE""]Amazing that these people don't realize that a writer's recommendation of their own work is not just worthless, it is laughable. Of course they think their book is good. The question is, does anybody unconnected with them think so?

It's not the sales pitch that convinces -- it's the satisfied customer.[/quote]

Le sigh, it's started again :mad:
Vila SpiderHawk says:
Oh hands down, the best historical fiction I have read recently is the Forest Song series by Vila SpiderHawk. Forest Song: Finding Home is set in the Polish/German Corridor between 1929 and 1933 and is an absolutely fascinating volune. The next one, Forest Song: Little Mother begins where Finding Home leaves off and ends in 1937. Forest Song: Letting Go picks up there and ends in 1941. And I understand there's a final book in the works that sees the character's story through the end of World War II.
These books make the period come alive while not dwelling on battles and the war itself. It's just a wonderful collection of books. AND they're available in Kindle as well as in paperback!
At home with a good book and the cat...
...is the only place I want to be

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boswellbaxter
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Post by boswellbaxter » Wed December 8th, 2010, 8:41 pm

[quote=""Misfit""]Le sigh, it's started again :mad: [/quote]

You'd think the author would at least be clever enough to find a screen name that didn't match her author name.
Susan Higginbotham
Coming in October: The Woodvilles


http://www.susanhigginbotham.com/
http://www.susanhigginbotham.com/blog/

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Vanessa
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Currently reading: The Farm at the Edge of the World by Sarah Vaughan
Interest in HF: The first historical novel I read was Katherine by Anya Seton and this sparked off my interest in this genre.
Favourite HF book: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell!
Preferred HF: Any
Location: North Yorkshire, UK

Post by Vanessa » Wed December 8th, 2010, 9:21 pm

Talk about blowing your own trumpet! How do they get away with it?
currently reading: My Books on Goodreads

Books are mirrors, you only see in them what you already have inside you ~ The Shadow of the Wind

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Misfit
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Post by Misfit » Wed December 8th, 2010, 9:29 pm

[quote=""Vanessa""]Talk about blowing your own trumpet! How do they get away with it?[/quote]

I don't believe there is anyone at Ammy dedicated to policing the forums. Stuff like this is against their own guidelines, but without an option to say what's wrong with the post when you click on the report button no one will understand. If you email them, sometimes you get a customer service person who gets it, and often times they don't.

I've spotted spams occasionally at Goodreads and you click on that report button and tell them what it is. They take care of it lickety split.
At home with a good book and the cat...
...is the only place I want to be

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Misfit
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Location: Seattle, WA

Post by Misfit » Wed December 8th, 2010, 9:57 pm

Hehe, just spotted this over at the Top Reviewers forum on a thread discussing Amazon reviews, validity, etc. Out of the blue comes this,
Christina Easley says:
I am interested anything that will ameliorate my main focus which is the "Knight and Don: The Gift of Dreams" by Christina J. Easley this book just posted on Amazon yesterday and contains both Christianity and what some people think is a form of ESP, or psychic ability but the book focuses on more than one topic which makes it overlap in marketing as well including: fantasy, Christian books, young adult, war books, and books about the family saga.Knight and Don: The Gift of Dreams (Volume 1)
Knight & Don: The Gift of Dreams
??
At home with a good book and the cat...
...is the only place I want to be

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MLE (Emily Cotton)
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 3566
Joined: August 2008
Interest in HF: started in childhood with the classics, which, IMHO are HF even if they were contemporary when written.
Favourite HF book: Prince of Foxes, by Samuel Shellabarger
Preferred HF: Currently prefer 1600 and earlier, but I'll read anything that keeps me turning the page.
Location: California Bay Area

Post by MLE (Emily Cotton) » Wed December 8th, 2010, 10:57 pm

'Ameliorate'? as in the legal use, to mitigate, make more bearable? what exactly is this lady asking?

If that's the best she can do at communicating, I'm not inclined to try her storytelling skills.

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