So
much heated discussion has taken place on Amazon Forum boards over the years about self
published authors. It’s astonishing that when everything else about them has
been exhausted the discussion turns to commas etc, and accusing authors of promoting
themselves!
I
ask myself does it honestly matter. In books definitely yes, on a discussion
thread no. In books definitely yes, on a discussion thread no. Particularly
when you do not know what difficulties the poster might have regarding sight
and other obstacles.
Self
published authors like traditional authors have their work checked by
proofreaders, and it they can afford it professional copy editors and editors.
They can also have their work professionally critiqued.
Not
being able to place a comma in the correct place or if an apostrophe is missed
on a thread is IMO is just not relevant. Readers go to the look inside feature
and then make their own decision. By the way the majority of readers are not
pedantic and can forgive a few errors. And the majority of readers simply ‘do
not see misplaced commas’. Unless they are reading a serious literary book; on
saying that it’s still no excuse for not getting your book proofread. Even if
you cannot afford a professional editor there is always someone in the
community who will help you out.
Books
with editing problems have been picked up by publishers on Kindle and
published. It is always, always the story line that is important to a publisher,
not whether it has been proofed to death. It is the same with articles. You do
not have to have an article proofread before sending it to a magazine it is the
idea and the writing style which determines whether an editor will pick it up
or not.
Agents
don’t just look at the Kindle top 100 list. Agents are constantly looking at
all of the books on the site to see if they think it is worth following up.
As
for the few posters who accuse authors of promoting themselves on the Amazon
fiction and Kindle threads that is quite absurd. There are hardly any new
readers visiting the Amazon Boards nowadays. Authors visit the boards to chat
to other people who have a love of books and different discussions. Okay,
someone might like your writing style and click on your profile to see your
books. That’s one person out of the millions of readers who visit the Amazon
online shop. Maybe readers left the Discussion threads because of all the
attacks on the authors. Another reason could well be that in the main it was the authors who kept the threads
going. When Amazon introduced the MOA authors found they did not need the
fiction forum anymore.
So
okay occasionally new readers slip up and promote their books. A polite word is
all that is needed to point them in the right direction of the Meet Our Authors
forum. No need for the over reaction that some posters come out with. It’s
hardly a hanging offence to leave an accidental link to your book.
To
sell as many books as they do, without the marketing arm of a publisher behind
them I think self published authors are quite remarkable.
A regular poster to the Amazon Discussion Forum has made this interesting post.
Being interested in writing I've always had a foot in both camps so although I
take breaks I didn't leave the forum for good but many clearly have.
And it's
not just readers. Since Amazon created MOA most authors have had to adhere to
their guidelines or risk being banned and many no longer even post on the kindle
forum as they used to, which was always busier than fiction. On MOA too there
are fewer chat threads than at its inception.
I think it's no one's fault but
in the main authors and readers simply don't mix. They have different agendas
for being here.
Thanks Ethereal.
