Tag Archives: Book review

A blog about the topics of writing, Uncategorized, Writing tips and ideas

100 Reviews: My Journey with ‘Jasper, Amazon Parrot’

Leave a comment

Jasper and I have hit 100 reviews. Granted, it took a while, but we’ve surpassed the 100-review mark for my book, Jasper, Amazon Parrot: A Rainforest Adventure.

Overall, the reviews were really nice to read. As with everything else, there’s normally a downside. That being said, some reviews are not so nice, and others are written by trolls.

When this book was first released, I received a one-star review. Reading the review, I knew there was no way they could have read the book.


The review was for the hard copy of Jasper. The book was released, and a day later, the review popped up. Amazon is fast with its delivery most days. But the review arrived a day after the book was released. There was no way. This was back in the day when Prime took 2-3 days to deliver.


I contacted Amazon and explained the situation. They took it down. The review showed back up, and Amazon took it down. This happened three or four times.


The person was as persistent as I was. But I didn’t want the first review of my first book to start off with a one-star. Now, if they had read it and that is how they felt, so be it. But Amazon agreed with me. Perhaps behind the curtain, they could research and see if they had indeed delivered the book that quickly. But it came down to it not being possible.


Trolls are everywhere in this world, wanting to bring a person down for whatever reason. Maybe they have nothing else to occupy their time. Perhaps, they are jealous. I honestly can’t think of many reasons why.


But thankfully, Amazon worked with me.

A blog about the topics of writing, Writng

Amazon reviews: Easy come easy go

Leave a comment

 

I heard through the writer’s grapevine that Amazon would be gathering reviews from all their sites and put them in one place. This means the reviews that are on Amazon.uk or Amazon.ca, Canada and England, would be compiled on the site for the US.

Yay! This was the initial reaction from all of us. Majority of us, upon hearing this news, went to the site to see if it had occurred yet. We would continue to do so just waiting to see the number of reviews go up.

I saw an increase. Than I saw a decrease. I saw an increase and than it went back down.

Too good to be true was my first thought. Some authors it has remained, some authors has seen reviews return to the original number and unfortunately for some odd reason some saw their numbers go down. For me the numbers went back to the original numbers.

So, what gives? The people I have discussed this with are at a lost as well. I think I did find the answer though.

Amazon.

A wonderful site where you can buy just about anything. A site that happily takes your money, you can stream movies and shows and a place that keeps increasing it’s annual fee to Amazon Prime.

But when it comes to authors, those who are not in the top tier, forget about it. Small business people fall on the wrong side.

But alas I keep writing. For me to do otherwise is inconceivable.

A blog about the topics of writing, Writng

Reviewing different genres: book review

Leave a comment

 

 

I been reviewing books for a quite a while now. In that time I have done it for companies, authors and just for myself.

Reviewing the various genres can be challenging. In fact some reviewers will only review a book in certain genres. Some, like myself, will review anything.

My biggest challenge has always been children’s book. The reason being is one of the companies I review for requires at least 300 words per review. Doing a children’s picture book that you can read in under a minute is challenging.

You have to pull all that you know as an author and reader to find the word count needed. But reviewing children’s book is fun. You are reading a different genre and age group which will help you with your reviewing skills.

Each genre has requirements that makes it fit in the genre it is in. That is what the readers are looking for when they check out the reviews for a book. So it make sense that writers who review will stick to certain genres. It is what they know.

But to me any genre still should have the same requirements. This includes plot, development of characters, time line, loop holes, research that makes sense and more. If you are reading a book that does not have the essentials to what a book should have it does not matter what genre you read it. The results will be the same.

It will be a book that fails regardless what genre it is in and what a reader reviews it.