What Is This?

 

Recently I received an email from KDP regarding some kind of alert for content review. Naturally I was perplexed by this. Here is what it said:

 

Hello, 

 

We are reaching out to you because we detected accounts attempting to manipulate Kindle services by simulating reading or borrowing activity on your titles.

 

You do not need to take any action, however, we will block the activities of these malicious accounts and their effects on payments. This means that you will still receive royalties associated with legitimate reading activities, but you will not receive royalties associated with activities related to these accounts. 

Please note that this notice does not represent a change to your account status but is sent to make you aware of how our security countermeasures will affect your previously reporting page count and your royalty payments. 

 

We understand you might have questions regarding the nature of how we detect these activities; however, please be aware that we cannot provide details that might compromise the integrity of our security systems.  

 

If you have any other questions, please reply to this email.  

No, I did not reply to it but went directly to KDP Community forum. I would rather not click on the link they provided because I did not want to click on something malicious. If this email is not directed to me personally, and it was sent out as a newsletter to all Indie authors then that's fine but recently I received several downloads of my books which surprised me but I am thrilled about it and I don't see a problem with it, people can download any of my books if they wish. I even got several global rates on all of them, thank you and I received an actual review on my book, In the Company of Elves, however, I was curious about the email I  received from KDP so I went ahead and logged into the KDP community forum. I asked about the email and why I would be receiving it and this is what several users said:

 “The notice has nothing to do with reviews and all to do with vandals manipulating sales numbers. I had it happen to my account several years back and it takes a while for them to find and disable the culprits, but they will do so. They are trying to reassure you will get paid for all legitimate sales but not for those fake sales being stuffed into the system. Think of it as cyber graffiti. Nothing to do but stay aware and wait it out.”

User 2: 

"Amazon is looking out for itself, not publishers. After all, you will not receive any royalties from page-reads they deem questionable. Be glad you still have an account. Back in the heyday of click-farms, hundreds of innocent titles were used to camouflage the real beneficiaries of click-farming. A great many indie bystanders found themselves jettisoned along with the offending parties, sometimes instead of. Click-farming isn't what it used to be (too many checks, balances and limitations to bring in the $500,000/month they used to get), but the practice has not gone away, no more so than has review or ranking manipulation. Even leaving out those who might get caught up with the actual scammers (like dolphins in a tuna net), KDP deletes 300-500 publishing accounts annually for a variety of reasons. I am sure a goodly percentage of those terminations are undeserved. It is always a mistake to assume KDP is looking out for us, is our friend or colleague/partner, or that they will listen to our protestations of innocence once a determination has been made."

I don't know what he or she is talking about, I've never heard of click-farming before. As far as I'm concerned, any VERIFIED buyer, is a verified buyer. Verified reviews or global rating is genuine and I should receive royalties from those sales, period! 

3 user:

"Well, the scammers aren't, AFAIK, "targeting" you. They manipulate YOUR sales, which means YOU get the money, not them. There's no realistic way for scammers to download KU, Kindle Unlimited book and speed read through them and THEY get the money. You get hurt by it, yes, because Amazon alerts to it and then starts to monitor your downloads and all that. It's bizarre. Not as bizarre as the sideways-book pirates, which is odd but odder."

This person is totally wrong, you can read through a book in two weeks or less if that book is under 100 pages. If it’s a novelette. Some of my books are novelettes. The only books that I have that are more than 100 pages are the Chandra’s Quest Trilogy set and In the Company of Elves.

So, I’m not sure where I stand with receiving royalties from KDP because ever since I had received the email, I haven’t heard anything else from them.

For those who want to know, my account on Amazon KDP is still up and running, it will not be deleted because I am not guilty of any kind of supposed scam. I’ll still have it next month, 6 months from now and for as long as I’m alive. Period!

Please do feel free to visit my author's page and download or buy any one of my books. Read, rate and review. Thank you.

I will make a vlog video about this soon. Please follow links below.

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First, Second or Third Person Narrative

 

Let’s talk about First person, second person and third person narrative.

First person narrative is a point of view (who is telling a story) where the story is narrated by one character at a time. This character may be speaking about him or herself or sharing events that he or she is experiencing—the use of first-person pronouns. Many stories and novels are written I the first-person point of view. In this kind of narrative, you are writing the character’s story by their perspective. You are writing their story through their eyes.

 

 Example: “I left my keys on the kitchen counter but now I can’t find them.”

Second Person Narrative:

  Second-person point of view belongs to the person (or people) being addressed.

The biggest indicator of the second person use is pronouns like: you, your, yours, yourself or yourselves.

Example: “If you eat these fruits you will find that your health is much better to combat illnesses.”

A self-help book is written in a second person narrative. There are a lot of self-help books out there and when you buy one, you’ll see the narration and how it’s written. These books are a dime in dozen and the writer is addressing the reader when they write.

 

Third Person Narrative:

The third-person point of view/narrative belongs to the person (or people) being talked about. The third-person pronouns include he, him, his, himself, she, her, hers, herself, it, its, itself, they, them, their, theirs, and themselves.

 Example: “Candy used her paycheck to buy herself a new dress.”

 Most popular books are written as a third person narrative but let’s talk more about first person narrative for a bit.

It is easy to write a book using first-person narrative/point of view. Take a look at Twilight and Fifty Shades of Grey, all of those books were written as first-person narrative.

Easy? Yes, the author publishes his/her book quicker, and are capable of producing several books within 6 months. Most of my books are written as a third person narrative, only The Secret Diary of a Gypsy Heart and Saints and Sinners: Affairs of the Heart are written as first-person narrative. My book Chandra’s Quest Book 1, the 2002 version, was written as a first-person narrative but when I decided to re-write the book, I chose third person narrative instead.

 Author’s that write as a first-person narrative, usually use what they know about the subject they are writing. Sometimes they will use personal experiences in their life and will use fractions of those experiences in their books.

  One of my sons told me that someone they know wants to write a book using first-person narration and use actual names of people he/she knows. Well, you cannot copyright your own name, or titles, or ideas, names are not copyrighted. The person who wants to write a fiction book can make subtle changes to the characters, like hair color, eyes, the character’s place of employment, relationship with other people or where they live. Making subtle changes can help avoid confusion and grievance.

Again, I want to state that names are not copyrighted. You cannot sue an author for using your name in his/her book. It would be considered frivolous and will not hold up in court, not even small claims. Food for thought.

The link below will give more info.

My books:

Saints and Sinners: Affairs of the Heart

Secret Diary of a Gypsy Heart

MY Website

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Rate and Review

Quote from a post I read:

FYI AUTHORS/WRITERS:  Amazon now allows 1-star ratings without a review explaining why a book or a product is given the rating.  It is said that 99% of the time, the book is not even read.  One explanation, especially if it is a non-fiction book, that a competitor who has a book in that category will try to sabotage a book.  Amazon allows a rating to be given w/o reviews.  However, it is nearly impossible to get it removed if it has no review attached to the rating showing who gave it the rating.  THIS IS NOT FAIR for Amazon to allow this to happen to the writer or a vendor selling a product.  It leaves the author wide open for nefarious efforts by unscrupulous people.

I'm aware that some people cannot leave reviews for my books on Amazon unless you're a 'VERIFIED' purchaser.

 Here is my question: What about the people who received my books as gifts or maybe they read my book through a shared download like Kindle Unlimited?

 

Well, Amazon is restricting reviews on only Independent/self-published author's books, because as someone once said, "These so called authors have someone they know post reviews for them just to make them look good."

That statement is unproven since there are plenty of people who post their reviews on books that they have bought elsewhere or were given as a gift so, those people are not verified buyers, right? I'm one of those people. I've left quite a few reviews on books that I bought in a book store or on another website and I don't 'personally' know the author. So in light of the situation, I am posting links to where you can rate and review my books. 

Google Books: If you have the Google Books app, you may not find my books through the app but if you search for them through Google search you will find them. 

The Stranger Things: Paranormal, Supernatural and Unusual Phenomenon

Chandra's Quest Book 2: Twisted Embers

Chandra's Quest

Saints and Sinners: Affairs of the Heart

In the Company of Elves

GoodReads: This popular website has brought readers in touch with various books available to download or buy as paperback. Many post their reviews on this website.

The Stranger Things: Paranormal, Supernatural and Unusual Phenomenon

Chandra's Quest

Chandra's Quest Book 2: Twisted Embers

In the Company of Elves

Saints and Sinners: Affairs of the Heart

NOTE: Some of the books do not have updated book cover images. Chandra's Quest, on Good Reads, has the older 2013 book cover version and the pages of the book are not updated to the current version as the one on Amazon but you can still leave a review. Gypsy Heart has not been added yet to GoodReads or Google Books because it is not available as a paperback.

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What Changed When I Revised Three of my Books?

It has been a little over 17 years since I wrote and published Chandra’s Quest. Originally the title was, Chandra’s Quest Book 1, I published it with Instanpublishers.com, a subsidiary publishing company. Two years later I published Chandra’s Quest Book 2. 

I re-wrote and changed a few things in both books, including how Chandra looks like. In the first book, Chandra (the main character) had long naturally curly hair and brown eyes. 

Picture is not a part of the book.

In the original version she was Latina, Carlos remains the same, Keeja, remains the same, Xenos remains the same and Soran had some changes done but not by much.

In the revised version, Chandra has shoulder length light brown hair, not curly but set with a light wave to it and brown hazel colored eyes and she is multiracial, Hispanic/Caucasian.

In both Chandra’s Quest book 1 & 2, I added and removed some text. I changed some chapters and added more chapters. The endings are different from the original books.

Since both books were labelled Alternative Sci-Fi/adult romance, I did a lot of re-writing to edit out the content no longer suitable. I changed the book series to accommodate 14 and over. Only a few of the original books remain in the system.

Book 3 has not been completed and frankly, it won’t be published till the end of the year—maybe. Please keep an eye out for it by visiting my website, Facebook page and Twitter page.

       picture not in book

In the Company of Elves, has some changes as well. It was meant for adults. I wrote it to be adult fiction but changed it during the re-write. Melissa’s appearance changed a bit, she doesn’t have blonde curly hair, it’s straight and long. 

The elves remain the same, Faye's appearance was changed. For those who read the original version, will like the changes I made.

 

In the Company of Elves is categorized as 14 and over.

The only books I did not or will not revise are:

Saints and Sinners: Affairs of the Heart

The Other Side of Things Part 1 & 2

The Stranger Things: Paranormal, Supernatural, and Unusual Phenomenon

My Website

Why Reviews are Important

Reviews make or break a new author! It’s true. When I got my first review for the 2002 unabridged version of Chandra’s Quest book 1, I was crushed but it didn't stop me from writing. 

In fact, I was in the process of revising Chandra's Quest, so as mean-spirited as the comment was, I chose to plow forward and continue revising Book 1 & 2.  

Constructive Criticism:

The one thing that a person should do when writing a review, is not discourage buyers from buying or downloading the book they've read. I’ve learned that leaving a review is important, better than none.

You should leave a review, whether good or bad but you should end it with something like this, “whereas this book did not appeal to me, it might appeal to those who are interested in reading it,” or “I did not like the book but you can buy it or download it,  judge for yourself.”

It's only fair to give others a chance to read, rate and review.

On Twitter, a reader asked everyone if they should leave a bad review on a book they read but didn’t like. They feel bad in leaving a negative review. They fear that the person will figure out who they are. 

As I stated before, all reviews are important, no matter if they are good or bad, as long as they are constructive, and it does not discourage others from reading the book and posting their review/opinion. In addition, people can remain anonymous. 

In conclusion, please do post reviews on any book that you've read from an author. Do it in a way that it does not discourage others from buying or downloading the book!  

You're not only helping the author but you're giving others a chance to read it too. Remember, that what you don’t like, the other person might. Keep that in mind.

Enjoy your books.

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In the Company of Elves: What you Need to Know

As the author of, In the Company of Elves, I highly enjoyed writing this fantasy story. It is one of my full-length novels, other than the Chandra’s Quest trilogy books. Even though Chandra’s Quest was my first book, I was inspired to write, In the Company of Elves by watching movies like Legend, Willow, Lord of the Rings, Alice in Wonderland to name a few. I published In the Company of Elves in 2009 but started writing the story back in 2004/2005. Yes, I came up with the title for this book many years ago. The first copy of the book was published through Instant Publishers, a subsidiary company. It only had 120 pages. 

Then I decided to revise the book, so I re-wrote it and added more chapters to it. For those who have downloaded my book and enjoyed it, Thank you. If you have a paperback copy, thank you for purchasing it. I recently donated 1 copy to one of those Little Library Boxes, in Menifee Ca. If you read it as a Summer read, please be sure to leave a review on Amazon or on my Facebook page or Instagram. Thank you. 

NOTE: In July, I will be publishing The Other Side of Things Part 2. It is a non fiction book, with issues on Health, Social relations, Romance and Fashion.Visit my Facebook page and my Website for more info.

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FAKE 5-STAR REVIEWS ON AMAZON?

Recently people have been complaining about Fake 5-star reviews on Amazon. They buy a product; they don't like it and they complain that the 5-star reviews are Fake! Really?

 Yes, when I buy an item from Amazon, I do read the reviews first, however if I really want to buy that item, I do it anyways. I like to judge for myself.  I can understand how people can be fooled by 5-star ratings regarding items like speakers or clothing, etc. However, how does this affect indie/self-published authors? 

Well, I don’t know if other authors are having this problem, but I have been informed by a few of my readers who have downloaded or bought my books, that they can’t leave a review on my books! Personally, it doesn't matter to me if they give my book/books a 5 star or not, the point is that my books receive a review that can be helpful to potential buyers! 

example: I recently received a message from a reader who downloaded one of my books that was up as a free promotional deal a while back. That person finished reading it and he/she said that they tried to post a review but they couldn’t. On occasion I do a free download promotional deal on some of my books, on certain holidays, I believe that the individual must have downloaded the book during a free KDP download deal. I personally feel that even though they downloaded the book for free, they should be able to post a review. I see it as a verified buyer, but maybe Amazon doesn't see it that way. That's just my opinion. Also, I've heard from new author's that new reviews being posted on Indie author's books, are scrutinized possibly even ignored and never posted because it is a 5-star. They only accept 4 and below for new Indie Authors. I find that unfair and down right mean-spirited! 

I visited the community forum for the writers on KDP. I asked about the supposed, 'FAKE REVIEWS'. I have to say that the people there are no different than the people you'd encounter on Craigslist forums! Has anyone ever been on Craigslist forums? I'm sure you have, so you know the kind of reaction you'd get when you ask a half decent question, right? My sons say not to get on Craigslist, because you'll only encounter half baked people that don't know a damn thing! They're right. However, on occasion, I do get on Craigslist and yes, I'm disappointed. 
Anyways, I am the kind of writer who is REAL. I like to write from my heart and write exactly what I think, as some of you know by reading The Other Side of Things part 1.    It came as a surprise to me when I read some of the responses posted on KDP after I asked a question about the fake five star reviews. The first response:

*Wait, I do want to say something else. Why can’t people get it? Why do they persist in believing that a few reviews from there friends/neighbours/coworkers will sell a book that couldn’t sell on its own merits? Why do they ignore recommendations for better cover, better product description, better editing/any editing, and learning to write in favour of pestering acquaintances for a review that says, “oh, yeah, Bob’s a great person and this here book that he wrote is just a work of genius, absolutely brilliant, and you have to read it, and I can’t wait for the sequel, which you should preorder right now just like I’m gonna do.”

Okay, that got something off my chest. Back to work now. And you too, C. Gold, whose sequel I am looking forward to reading. I won’t review it though, not because I sort of know you in the slightest possible way, but because I haven’t spent $50 on the US site in forever due to a lack of materialism.

So this person had something to say but not productive, not to me. First of all, the weekend job I have requires very little contact with co-workers. I do NOT know them and I wouldn't ask them to post a review because I don't want them to know who I am online!  As far as I'm concerned, they have to find it out for themselves. 

Second, I do have family members, but not a whole lot on my Facebook list. Since my 'Personal' Facebook list is private, I don't believe the public can view it and I have never asked any of them to post a review, not without reading one of my books first. 

Third, this person talks about neighbors, well I have to be honest, I don't know my neighbors, I rarely talk to them and again, I do not want them to know who I am online. 

 So, he/she says, "better editing/any editing," Well, how did E.L James get away with it? I am sure you know what i mean by that and I am certain that some of her acquaintances, family and even neighbors posted reviews on her books. 

As for that last part, Miss Laundry Maid was referring to another author. Someone I don't know and don't care. 

NOTE: Haters are the only ones who would post a comment such as Miss Laundry Maid's comment. They try to be subtle on their hateful responses as to not come off as a 'Bleep'.  Just saying.

 Second comment:

*If people can't leave reviews on Amazon, tell them to leave them on GoodReads. As people on this forum have found out, if we leave reviews for another's books they tend to get taken down because we have enough of a connection to be considered bad. I don't see how you can really be considered 'friends and family' if you don't even know the person's real name, but it is what it is.

Well, this person is right. If you have followers on Facebook who are not necessarily on your friend's list but are just following you, they might be considered a red flag to Amazon's standards. Ridiculous, I know but as she said, it is what it is. Someone also said if you sign into Amazon through Facebook, that their bots can track people who know you? I don't believe that hogwash, but I don't sign in with Facebook, never. I keep all that separate. Perhaps others do.

In all fairness, GoodReads is okay but it's still important to have a fair amount of reviews on your books or products on the website you're selling your items on. 

My questions are: Does Amazon only accept 1 to 4-star rating reviews, even if the person leaving the review really liked the book or product? 

Are Indie/self-published authors targeted for 'supposed' fake reviews?

Final thought: I would like to see more authors, especially Indie authors stop tearing each other down on forums! You do know that we're all in the same boat when it comes to publishing our books, getting them recognized and liked. Why say such disparaging remarks? We have enough people out there that don't even want to recognize us as real authors, do we need to be so condescending to one another?

With that said, what are your thoughts? Express your opinion in the comment box. I will approve them.

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