Recently tried a Free Kindle Promo

A free promotion is not the same as a free book. Your book is priced at $2.99 and users will natually expect the quality of a book for that price point even if they get it during a promo period.

You shouldn't confuse someone's opinion of your book as their opinion of you. They don't intend to be mean. They just don't like your book.

If you just want your writing out there for free without getting the professional expectations you might try posting on a blog or maybe WattPad.

(Also, I took a quick look and your newly edited version still contains a mistake in the very first sentence. The opening pages still have a lot of problems to my eye. My guess is you're very new to writing fiction, or perhaps English is your second language? I hope otherwise, but the book just doesn't seem ready yet to my eye and I fear you will continue to get poor reviews even after the revisions. But I wish you the best of luck regardless.)

lbwilde said:

I would like to say I did a "Pre-Launch" of my book "Man of Mystery" and posted it on FB via Kindle Select for FREE with over 5500 downloads within the 5 day period!

Congratulations!

Awesome results but of course you don't make a dime. The reviews are half and half since I obviously had editing issues but overlooked them to get the book out.

What was the hurry in getting the book out?

My mistake!

It has been reedited and revised but still the bad reviews suck or are bad reviews good because it draws attention? I seriously don’t think so.

I only read a small portion, but saw many errors that still remain.

Some people are just; how do you put it; downright mean! When they review a "FREE" book; they are obviously the type of people you don't want to be drawn attention too!

I didn't read a lot of mean reviews, they mostly said they wanted to like the book, but the editing issues got in the way.

They are the kind of people who don't spend any money on books and want free and great all in a nut shell! I would have to believe a majority of these people don't even buy any books and spend their limited time just reviewing Indies which are free.

You may want to rethink making a blanket statement about all people who download free books. I download freebies, as do many of my friends. We also buy books and will generally delete a book we really liked that we got for free and then buy it as a way of thanking the author.

I put myself in that position and I now regret that decision. Be careful what you wish for. FREE doesn't mean you will get positive responses. I only had a few out of 5500 who actually reviewed and where constructive in telling me; by their post what needed to be improved in order for my book to be successful.

It isn't up to readers to point out what needs improving. Beta readers are great for that purpose. Nobody ever said offering a title free would get positive review. Reviews are for readers to communicate with other readers.

It’s a hard road, so be careful for what you wish for.

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It is a hard road, and a worthwhile one.

I hope you take what you have learned and use it as you write your next book.

lbwilde said:

I would like to say I did a "Pre-Launch" of my book "Man of Mystery" and posted it on FB via Kindle Select for FREE with over 5500 downloads within the 5 day period!

Awesome results but of course you don't make a dime. The reviews are half and half since I obviously had editing issues but overlooked them to get the book out.

My mistake!

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So you knew the book required more editing, but you published it anyway. And now you're upset because it got some bad reviews.

It has been reedited and revised but still the bad reviews suck or are bad reviews good because it draws attention? I seriously don’t think so.

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Some of the reviews which are still coming in might have been written about the first version.

Or it could be that your re-edited, revised version still requires work.

The point is that you shouldn't publish substandard work and expect your readers not to complain about that.

Some people are just; how do you put it; downright mean! When they review a "FREE" book; they are obviously the type of people you don't want to be drawn attention too!

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"Free" isn't the same as "you should be grateful for this and give it a good review even if it contains mistakes, or you don't like it".

They are the kind of people who don't spend any money on books and want free and great all in a nut shell! I would have to believe a majority of these people don't even buy any books and spend their limited time just reviewing Indies which are free.

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Because they gave your book a poor review you now think they spend their time looking for bad books in order to condemn them? That's a bit of a leap.

It doesn't matter if your book is free, or costs a thousand dollars: when people give their time to read it, they expect a good read. You published this book knowing it wasn't good enough, and are now upset that people have pointed it out.

J. Tanner said:

You shouldn't confuse someone's opinion of your book as their opinion of you. They don't intend to be mean. They just don't like your book.

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Well I disagree This is a surprisingly optimistic view of humanity. A percentage are always mean. A sub-group of these mean people do review books in a mean manner. I've seen Larry Niven books reviewed meanly, Dean Koontz books reviewed meanly, Dan Brown and Leo Tolstoy and Martin Amis books reviewed meanly. It does happen. It shouldn't, and usually doesn't, but it does.

You hang in there, Wilde!

P.S. But, what everyone else says here about needing to give your book another edit is very true. Mr Strunk here can teach in an hour the logic behind correct punctuation, while catching your own proofreading mistakes is time-consuming, but very much worth it - read every chapter in a 2-3 different font formats (say, Courier and Georgia) and you'll be surprised yourself how many typos you've missed initially.

A long time ago, I learned the hard way that my work wasn't ready for publication. At all.

Don't make the same mistakes I did.

If your book is well-edited, polished and has a good story, readers will find it and they'll like it. They'll give good, fair reviews, and the ones who really like it will spread the word. And of course there will always be one and two-star reviews. Not everyone will like your work.

But your book has to be edited. There shouldn't be any typos, bad grammar, etc. If you put the work into it, it will pay off in the end. But again, you have to be willing to do the work it takes. It's not easy but it's the only way to get there.

Readers aren't being mean. They're just being honest about your book. They are not trying to "hurt" your feelings, and they're also not there to "coddle" you when you don't put forth the necessary effort to ensure your writing is mostly good (at the very least).

Readers do not want to pay hard-earned money for a product that isn't satisfactory. That's just how it goes.

Emma Clark said:

If you put the work into it, it will pay off in the end.

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Well I disagree This is a surprisingly optimistic view of humanity. Plenty of awesome authors and musicians did not see their work pay off during their lifetime, or ever. It would have been great if the world worked like this: 'you are great at what you do - you have more success than those who are less good at the same thing' - but that is not always the case.

I'm not saying that one shouldn't give one's absolute best - of course one should. But will that guarantee that more people will therefore buy your books, and only the kind and levelheaded of those people will write reviews? No.

Unless we accept that the more commercially successful a product is the better product it is, we'll have to accept that other criteria for quality do exist, and when these criteria for quality are not alligned with commercial success (and they often are not) - we are forced to admit that many quality products did not get their 'fair' success.

But even if we do accept commercial success alone as measure of quality - then still we have to admit that it is precisely the most successful writers and musicians, for example, that get the most mean reviews, simply by virtue of their enhanced visibility.

In short: Yes, doing the absolute best we can with our existing writing skills and then some, is the only way to go; yet mean reviewers do exist and do write mean reviews, and success does not always come in response to quality. Just frequently enough to keep us all motivated.

dondomat said:

Well I disagree This is a surprisingly optimistic view of humanity. Plenty of awesome authors and musicians did not see their work pay off during their lifetime, or ever. It would have been great if the world worked like this: 'you are great at what you do - you have more success than those who are less good at the same thing' - but that is not always the case.

I'm not saying that one shouldn't give one's absolute best - of course one should. But will that guarantee that more people will therefore buy your books, and only the kind and levelheaded of those people will write reviews? No.

Unless we accept that the more commercially successful a product is the better product it is, we'll have to accept that other criteria for quality do exist, and when these criteria for quality are not alligned with commercial success (and they often are not) - we are forced to admit that many quality products did not get their 'fair' success.

But even if we do accept commercial success alone as measure of quality - then still we have to admit that it is precisely the most successful writers and musicians, for example, that get the most mean reviews, simply by virtue of their enhanced visibility.

In short: Yes, doing the absolute best we can with our existing writing skills and then some, is the only way to go; yet mean reviewers do exist and do write mean reviews, and success does not always come in response to quality. Just frequently enough to keep us all motivated.

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Very true. A lot of good points there, most of which I happen to agree with.

Old Hack said:

So you knew the book required more editing, but you published it anyway. And now you're upset because it got some bad reviews.

Some of the reviews which are still coming in might have been written about the first version.

Or it could be that your re-edited, revised version still requires work.

The point is that you shouldn't publish substandard work and expect your readers not to complain about that.

"Free" isn't the same as "you should be grateful for this and give it a good review even if it contains mistakes, or you don't like it".

Because they gave your book a poor review you now think they spend their time looking for bad books in order to condemn them? That's a bit of a leap.

It doesn't matter if your book is free, or costs a thousand dollars: when people give their time to read it, they expect a good read. You published this book knowing it wasn't good enough, and are now upset that people have pointed it out.

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OH said it all.

lbwilde said:

I would like to say I did a "Pre-Launch" of my book "Man of Mystery" and posted it on FB via Kindle Select for FREE with over 5500 downloads within the 5 day period!

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Just imagine if you'd edited and polished and got the book to a publishable standard before doing this. You really could be making some great sales figures now if 5500 people had downloaded and loved the book. Even if just 1% had left reviews, that takes you to 55 which is enough to kick in to Amazon's algorithms (probably).

The way you worded it does make it sound as if you were aware of editing issues but published anyway. If that's really the case, the reviews can't be too surprising.

However, I've watched many friends get their first truly savage reviews while something was free. There is a portion of readers who download things that are free without paying much attention to what they're downloading--shocked reviews about content and how it's not really what they normally read but they thought they'd try it tend to bear this out. And I do think that some people are harsher in reviews of free books than paid ones. It's a strange dynamic, but it's there.

When something's free, pretty good and cleanly edited, it often will still draw the vicious freebie review or two. Throw something out there that's not really ready, and you're bound to get burned. Could be considered self-inflicted, though, if you knew there were problems.

Are you going to re-edit?

dondomat said:

Well I disagree This is a surprisingly optimistic view of humanity. A percentage are always mean. A sub-group of these mean people do review books in a mean manner. I've seen Larry Niven books reviewed meanly, Dean Koontz books reviewed meanly, Dan Brown and Leo Tolstoy and Martin Amis books reviewed meanly. It does happen. It shouldn't, and usually doesn't, but it does.

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Of course there are exceptions, but that doesn't make it generally untrue and those exceptions don't even really mean we disagree. Also, take a look at lbwilde's low star reviews and share your opinion about whether any of them seem mean to you--my guess is you'll have the same impression I do.

Some really good advice has been given on here, but I feel the need to say that you shouldn't feel bad. Use it as a learning experience. Even the best of us who have been studying writing and editing for years have to go back over our work to find obvious errors. The human mind is prone to it. And I have to wonder also if you really think you could have edited and revised your book that quickly. Even with minimal errors, it takes me the better part of a week sitting at the library for a few hours a day to edit a completed novel.

Maybe you can find a beta? From what I read in the reviews, there are still some serious issues that need to be resolved. Good Luck!

lb, I checked out the sample of your book, and as others have noted, it still has lots of typos, missing words, and run-on sentences. Then I read through your site.

Please, please reconsider this "Rewards Program" you're running. In essence, you're attempting to buy good reviews and that never works out, not for you and not for the readers.

shelleyo said:

However, I've watched many friends get their first truly savage reviews while something was free. There is a portion of readers who download things that are free without paying much attention to what they're downloading--shocked reviews about content and how it's not really what they normally read but they thought they'd try it tend to bear this out. And I do think that some people are harsher in reviews of free books than paid ones. It's a strange dynamic, but it's there.

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I think the theory is that people tend to value free ebooks less because they haven't paid for them - the reader is primed to see a free ebook as worth less (possibly even worthless).

eqb said:

Please, please reconsider this "Rewards Program" you're running. In essence, you're attempting to buy good reviews and that never works out, not for you and not for the readers.

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Oh dear. Really?

Yep.

****Read – Review – Reward****​

Amazon Gift Card Giveaway​

The rules are simple, purchase the book “Man of Mystery” by L.B. Wilde through Amazon.​

Read the “Reedited and Revised” copy.​

Review the book through Amazon.​

The review needs to be tactful and not unethical. No reviews that are condescending or below a level of 3 stars will be accepted. You may give advice on improvements which can be made to the book, but kind words of encourage are greatly appreciated.​

​

Rewarded with a $5 Gift Card from Amazon​

​

The Reward! A $5 Gift Card from Amazon! This will only be given to valid entries. The reader/reviewer must show proof of purchase they receive as an email from Amazon (forward your copy that Amazon sends you that you just downloaded the book in your received email) along with a copy of your review that you have posted on the book with the name you use to post with for Amazon.

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That's a really bad idea, lbwilde. Please reconsider. Rewarding people for positive reviews is not at all appropriate. If you're going to offer these gift cards, at least offer them to everyone who writes a review, regardless of the rating they give your book.

I can't begin to explain to you how bad this is. I'm sure we have links around and about discussing paid-for reviews: do have a look for some.

With regard to the read- review -reward program:

Frst off, when you -- or anyone-- put your work out into a public forum, you must expect all kinds of reactions. This goes with the territory. You can't and shouldn't expect to control it.

Will you get silly, gratuitously mean comments? Yes, a few.
Will you get thoughtful, honest comments that hurt your feelings because they're not what you want to hear? Yes, more --possibly many more --
than you'd like.
Will people take you to task for sloppy, careless work? You bet.
Will people "get" you and your message? Some will, some won't.

The bottom line is -- you have to get with the program and understand that readers and reviewers can and will say anything they want. You have to graciously accept it, learn from what seems constructive and well intentioned, and learn to let the rest slide off your back.

Note: If you are putting out work you know is sloppy and poorly done, you can't expect people to respond in a way that's respectful. You were the first to be disrespectful by putting out subpar work.

My constructive advice for you: find teachers or beta readers who want to help you improve your work. They will give you constructive, kindly worded advice. It's their job to do.

That's not the job of the general public and you shouldn't expect it to be.

I'm pretty sure buying reviews is against Amazon policy. It's one thing to give out review copies. Quite another to offer money in return for 3-star and above reviews.

So this is your business plan? To churn out an unedited manuscript, upload it and then give rewards to those who rate your book above 2 stars?

It's misleading and against Amazon's policy (like someone else mentioned). Not only are you disrespecting readers, you're disrespecting other authors by doing this. Other authors, as in those who actually put the work into their books.

Not to mention your unedited book is priced at 2.99.

Why not just do the work required to get a review above 2 stars?

This is wrong on so many levels.

I hate to kick you while you're down, lbwilde, but I've got to jump in and say that I agree with everything everyone has said here.

And I'm saying that as someone who routinely does things the "wrong" way. I'm happy with my amateurish-looking book covers, my blurb for Cave of the Kobolds just screams "Hey, I'm self-published!", but in my opinion, it's the best of any of my blurbs. And my tweets are an endless loop of book advertisements.

But something I won't do is put out work that isn't as good as I think I can make it. I respect my readers far too much for that. And I certainly won't buy reviews. Readers aren't stupid. If they see a glowing five-star review for an error-ridden, shoddy piece of work (I haven't looked at your sample. I'm speaking in generalities now.), they'll know something's amiss.

Here's a thought: instead of buying yourself good reviews, why not spend that money on editing?

Old Hack said:

Here's a thought: instead of buying yourself good reviews, why not spend that money on editing?

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I second that motion. By the time he's shelled out 5 bucks a piece for a hundred 3+ star reviews, he's got quite a bit ($500) to invest in someone editing the book.

I expect a quality read whether or not I pay for a novel. I DON'T expect the writer to throw it up with editing issues because they're in a hurry. People who download free books are not "They are the kind of people who don't spend any money on books and want free and great all in a nut shell! I would have to believe a majority of these people don't even buy any books and spend their limited time just reviewing Indies which are free."

Wow. Not a good idea to insult a whole pack of people because reviews didn't go your way...even when you knew you were rushing your book to publication. Sloppy is sloppy.

I get free books. And I pay for books. I spend a fairly huge chunk of my disposable income on books. When I get a free book and I like it, I give it a glowing review. The ones that are shoddy and unedited and rushed...I remain quiet. No point wasting my time writing a review for an author who didn't want to waste theirs to make the best book possible.

You get what you give what you get what you give...

Speaking as a reader of limited financial means, I thought I'd just jump in with a quick comment...

Yes, I download many free titles. But just because I'm not investing money in your title doesn't mean it's free to me. I'm spending my time to read it - and time, unlike money, cannot be replenished at work.

So, yes, when I download a free title and it reads like an unpolished, unedited rough draft, I'm ticked, and I feel I have a right to be ticked. It's like getting a game only to have the thing crash out on me because the manufacturer didn't bother beta-testing; either I'm being used to do work that should've been done before it hit the public, or the company is too lazy to care that they've released a substandard product. This may not be true, but all I have to go on is the product in my hands... and, yes, it does affect my reviews. I call 'em as I see 'em.

The 'Yes I suck, what next?' epiphany

The 'terrible realization' my writing sucks! is every aspiring writer's friend. Sure it depresses, but evading it is bad, bad, bad.

The struggle is to move from inept writing with bursts of quality, to quality writing with bursts of ineptness, and then maybe, some day, do away with the bits of ineptness completely.

Ian Fleming's advice on writing is to evade seeing how much your book sucks while you're drafting, but once the story is finished, you put on the editing goggles and should, ideally, notice crap on every line, to be straightened out.

As I tirelessly point out hither and yon, many writers actually keep their first books out of print, because once they got to their mature level, the re-read them and became quite embarrassed. Not something I'd do (the trying to pretend the early books never happened thing), but I respect that.

The issue is, that to reach the mature level, one has to develop and progress, and in order to develop and progress, one has to not be in denial, and instead be able to see all the crap in one's writing, once the story is finished.
But not before: can be fatally demotivating.

Wilde, the published book, as it is now, can certainly be straightened out. Any book can be straightened out with sufficient editing skills and determination. The thing is that at this point, another person doing the editing would inevitably change the book too much. Because it needs much changing. So the only way is for you to change it, when you're ready. For that to happen - read, write, read, write, listen to people's opinions.

To paraphrase Gaiman, who paraphrased someone else: 'When people tell you how to fix your book, they're usually wrong. But the fact that they noticed that fixing has to happen, means something really does have to be fixed.'

I wrote two novels in 2010, but they only got picked up by publishers in 2012, because only in 2012 did I reach a level in which I managed to edit them well enough for this to happen. Same goes for short stories written in 2009 and 2010 which only got published in 2012 for the exact same reason. Yes, it took me two years to able to reach a level of competence to edit my already written and re-written stuff barely well enough for it to be picked up by real editors.

There's no shame in admitting one's writing is flawed at a certain point in time. No one is born Tolstoy.

Except possibly Tolstoy.