Month: September 2013

Can You Verify That?

I’m guessing you’ve all seen the notation on customer reviews for an “Amazon Verified Purchase” like this one.

I imagine many (most?) people don’t pay much attention to which reviews have or don’t have this, at least most of the time. However, if a review seems suspicious for other reasons, it is used by some people as “evidence” that their suspicions are correct. I’ve also been told that some of the book promotion sites are now looking at the number or percentage of Amazon reader reviews that are verified purchases as part of their vetting process. There is some confusion as to when an Amazon reader review will or won’t show as a verified purchase. So I’ve mucked about and think I have the answers. As it turns out there are several different scenarios and this isn’t as straightforward as you might think. Continue reading “Can You Verify That?”

Quiche, Coffee & The Morning Pages…

Guest post
by Mira Prabhu

It’s the Manhattan winter of 1992, less than three months since I’ve left my mate of fourteen years, losing, in one fell swoop, all the solid props of my life.

To stay financially afloat, I take on freelance administrative gigs in arguably the planet’s most frenzied and high-stakes city.

Weeks are busy, but weekends are poisoned with a high-octane cocktail of anxiety, guilt and confusion; I cannot seem to extricate myself from the tangled nest of viperous thoughts that paralyze me into a state of chronic despair. Have I done right in placing personal integrity above the comfort of family and economic security? Continue reading “Quiche, Coffee & The Morning Pages…”

Will you sign my yearbook?

For most people, the angst of thinking up a pithy signature line was over with the last period bell.

For them, there is no more worrying about all the ways a book owner could be dissatisfied: It wasn’t personal enough. It wasn’t long enough. It wasn’t funny enough. It wasn’t smart enough. I still remember the poor freshman schmuck who signed, “have a neat sumer”. Yes, s-u-m-e-r to be ridiculed for all eternity.

You, however, may be fortunate enough to relive that autograph frenzy with your own print book. What? You say you used to hide in the bathroom until it was over? Well, if you’re really lucky as an author, you’ll be put under a spotlight in the middle of the cafeteria–I mean, store–so that everyone can gawk at what a loser you are because no one wants your book, let alone your signature.

There will, however, be at least one person who feels enough pity to approach your table. It might be your mother but you should still be prepared and make it count. So here are some tips: Continue reading “Will you sign my yearbook?”

Tutorial: Smashwords Series Manager

Your series name will automatically be displayed with each book!

Just this past weekend, Smashwords notified its authors of a handy new tool: Smashwords Series Manager. They claim it will “improve series discovery” and they could be right. They explain about the new tool at this link.

At first I was skeptical. Then, I thought about it. There have been many times I wanted to send people to JUST my Mr. Pish educational books on Amazon.com. But I can’t. I can always do a search under “Mr. Pish,” but that doesn’t bring up only his books. So, if this gave me the capability to do that, it would, in fact, be good. Turns out, it’s very good, and I have to say, this is another advantage Smashwords has over Amazon (the other being free and discount coupons for books).

Here’s a step-by-step tutorial to show you how easy it is to link your series books together with the Smashwords Series Manager.

Continue reading “Tutorial: Smashwords Series Manager”