Showing posts with label indie books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label indie books. Show all posts

Monday, December 1, 2025

Rates & Reviews do Matter

 


My son captured this image of a book I recently finished called, The Never King by Nikki St. Crowe, which is available at Target now. I bought mine on Amazon. I was drawn to it because of the smut it claims it has. However, I rated it as a three star on Amazon, as I found the storyline somewhat clichéd and reminiscent of typical fanfiction plots. Even the book, Ask Alice: A Tainted Wonderland by Kell Frillman, rated a higher star by me, than this book. 

In The Never King, the character of Wendy does not embody a strong female lead, which raises the question of why this book has become a bestseller on Amazon. I suspect it is largely due to the numerous ratings and reviews it has received since its release, some of which are not particularly favorable by some readers but there it is on Target shelves.

 The significance of ratings cannot be overstated; a book is deemed a bestseller when it accumulates a substantial number of downloads or receives numerous ratings and reviews. However, it's crucial to understand that a high volume of ratings—such as over 1,000—does not inherently indicate quality. Those who claim that ratings and reviews are inconsequential are mistaken; they play a vital role in how platforms like Amazon classify bestsellers. The presence of ratings can elevate a book's visibility, regardless of its actual merit. Consequently, books with fewer ratings may achieve only moderate recognition, while those with extensive reviews are more likely to be prominently featured on Amazon, making them easier for readers to discover.

In my quest to discover indie authors with few ratings, I often navigate through a sea of choices to uncover hidden treasures, a task that can be quite daunting. To my fellow indie writers, I encourage you to persevere! Continue crafting your stories, as there is an audience out there eager to embrace your work.


My Website

CG Heandez Blog




Wednesday, October 30, 2024

Chandra’s Quest: Audiobook

 


I am currently working on converting several books into audiobooks. You will find them on GooglePlay only. Below is the list of books: 

Chandra’s Quest Book 1

Lost in the Backrooms: The Phoenix Files Vol. 1

A Time Traveler's Companion

Books that I am revising:

Secret Diary of a Gypsy Heart

I am currently undertaking the addition of four new chapters to the book. Previously, I indicated my intention to write a sequel; however, I have opted to incorporate this content into the existing work instead. 

Furthermore, I have removed certain images from the book. The same applies to both Chandra’s Quest and Lost in the Backrooms. Additionally, I am continuing my efforts on Path Less Taken: The Phoenix File vol. 2. The progress is gradual, and I will make an announcement regarding the publication date once it is finalized.

Chandra’s Quest (Audiobook)

Website

Tuesday, September 3, 2024

An Author’s Choice

 


Every writer sometimes chooses to steer their work in a new direction. Sure, many authors draw from their own life experiences, adding a twist for a bit of fun. I'm definitely one of them. 

For anyone interested, I have drawn on my past relationships with men in my recent books, written under CG Heandez. Additionally, I am married and have been for 33 years. 

Let's move past my personal life; I prefer to keep that private. Overall, it's up to the author to explore different genres, and if you appreciate their writing style, the genre shouldn't be a concern, whether it’s young adult stories or more mature adult content. 

Feel free to swing by my profile link and take a look at my books.


Linktree


Summer Fling Stories

Thursday, February 1, 2024

Updates on Books I Am Writing

 



I just want to give my readers an update on my progress of the books I am currently writing. 

Diary of a Time Traveler’s Companion: so far, I’m at 207 pages in; this book will be a full-length novel. It will be published under another pen name. It is based on a fanfic I’ve been writing. There are some changes in the book that sets it apart from the Fanfic. For those who know about my Fanfiction, kudos to you! You’ll enjoy the book as well. 

 


Path Less Taken: I am working on this book, I just haven’t gotten as far as I would like but it's possible that the completion date will be around the same time the Time Traveler’s book will be completed. I alternate between books when working on them.


*Pictures of the characters from both of my books are posted on my Facebook author page. 

Note: the character Jack Harlin is similar to the Jack character in Doctor Who but there are slight differences. And as you probably have figured out the woman with the curly blonde hair represents River but not the same personality. Both Jack and Melanie are bisexual.


Jack & Melanie

For those who follow me on TikTok, some of my videos have been muted, but you can find them on my YouTube channel or on my Facebook Reels list. Follow links below. 

TIKTOK

YouTube

CECILE GARCIA

CG HEANDEZ

Wednesday, September 20, 2023

Books I am Working On Now


I've been busy these past couple of months with my writing and other craft projects. The company I worked for has put everyone on hold until the housing companies decide whether they want people to advertise for them or not. I have more time to write. I am still upset not being able to work during the summer but that's not what I want to talk about in this blog entry. 


Anyways, lets talk about my books. Lost in the Backrooms: The Phoenix Files Vol. 1 has been downloaded more than any of my other books which says a lot, thank you to the readers that are interested in my version of the Backrooms. That's a big deal to me. Also, two people actually bought the printed version, double thanks, I appreciate it. 
I do write under another pseudonym and I am going to reveal what the name is and where you'll be able to download the books I will publish under that name. 

Future books by CG Heandez

Womens' Stories: A Collection of Unbelievable Short Stories (General Fiction)


Through the Eyes of a Sign Twirler
(Nonfiction)

Where to find them: Google Play and Apple Books.


I am currently working on, A Twist in Time:  a prequel to Chandra's Quest, and Vol. 2 of the Phoenix Files and Womens' Stories: A Collection of Unbelievable Short Stories. This book is considered general fiction, much like one of my other books called, Saints and Sinners: Affairs of the Heart.
Please do visit my YouTube channel and subscribe. Also, please do follow me on my website.






 

Thursday, March 16, 2023

New Book: Lost in the Backrooms


I am withholding the title of my new book until it is ready for publication, I guarantee that this next book series will intrigue avid readers. The first book out of the series will be related to the Backrooms phenomenon, called Lost in the Backrooms. Well, not sure if it’s a phenomenon but people have talked about it and posted short videos about the notorious Backrooms in recent years. The Backrooms intrigue me and have inspired me. I am integrating it into the story I am writing. The main character is a Hunter, she belongs to a secret organization that the Church created long ago to hunt down paranormal/supernatural creatures. 




The first book will introduce the main character, Jane, whose parents were a part of the secret organization and after they died when she was 12, she is taken to Saint Augustina orphanage, raised and trained to be a Hunter, like her parents. That’s all I am going to give you, I won’t reveal anymore. When I publish this book, I will post links to it on this blog and create a page for the series on my website.


MY Inspirations: Supernatural, Backrooms, paranormal shows, and some anime TV series I’ve seen in the past.


LINKTREE


Tuesday, January 3, 2023

What to Expect This Coming Year

 



I don't always write in my blog but I do hope people will visit this blog and read any updates I do post. I started working on the Spanish version of Secret Diary of a Gypsy Heart last year, but I haven’t completed it. This coming year It will be published. 


I am also working on a prequel to Chandra’s Quest, and a short story relating to Arowyn and Melissa from the book In the Company of Elves. 

In addition, I am working on making a Spanish version of Chandra’s Quest. 


Chandra


I feel that publishing a Spanish version of some of my books opens the opportunity for a wider range of readers to read my books and review them. 

What will be published this month:

I am working on a book of poems and Haiku which will be published in the coming month. Overall, be on the lookout for the Spanish version of Chandra’s Quest and Secret Diary of a Gypsy Heart. Pleaae do rate and review. 

NOTE: I will be writing a novelette nonfiction book based on Sign Twirling job I did. It will be published on GooglePlay under a different pseudonym. In fact I will not link it to this blog. I will link it to other website.

Have a blessed New Year.

My LinkTree, Please visit

Link Tree



Tuesday, June 28, 2022

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.

Amazon

 Facebook page


Author's Website



 


Friday, December 31, 2021

New Years 2022 Resolutions


2021 is coming to an end and people will be making New Years Resolutions. Well here is mine: I will finish books that I am working on, I will become a Pescatarian and hold true to my faith.

We all want something in Life but sometimes we don't know what direction to take to achieve it. I say go with your gut feeling, it's usually right. 
Have a Happy New Year, be safe and stay healthy.  

Wednesday, June 23, 2021

My Summer Projects


If you've been following me on Facebook or Twitter, you should know that I am still working on Omega: Chandra's Quest Book 4, the final installment of the Chandra's Quest trilogy. And if you've read the first three, you're looking forward to reading book 4.

I will continue working on Omega and hope to publish it by the end of this year. I will also be converting Secret Diary of a Gypsy Heart into a paperback this Summer. Usually, during the process, I might find something within the text that I want to change so by the time it becomes a paperback, it might be a bit different than when I uploaded it as a eBook. Technically when that happens, I will re-upload it as an eBook with the changes.



In addition, I will be writing some FanFic stories (above) based on some of my old time favorite shows. I will share them on another blog.  
What will happen after I publish Omega?
I will take a break on starting my next novel. I've learned not to reveal too much about the title or the subject I will be writing. I like to leave it a mystery. 

I will share updates on my blog, Facebook Author's Page & Twitter. 
Stay Cool & Safe. 





Sunday, August 30, 2020

The Backrooms


The Backrooms are dangerous, they run deep INSIDE our own reality, meaning there is no physical way to enter it. Rather, a person enters the Backrooms when in a state of deep despair, or during deep sleep. To most it is a fictional realm in which someone finds themselves trapped but some say they have actually been there, physically. Well, lets explore that. Below is a fictional short story I have written specifically for my blog. It is written as a first person narrative. The character is telling her story of the experiences she had in the Backrooms. Do leave your comment if you wish. TY

My name Reyna Salano and I'm 19. I attend the local community college while working part-time as a Target associate. One day, my roommates and I went out for our usual Friday hang out at Buffalo Wild Wings to chat about anything that came to mind, most of the time it was about men. 

After we were there for two hours, Teresa's boyfriend walked into the restaurant. Teresa waved him over and he came and sat down with us. "Hey babe, what are you guys talking about? I hope not about me." He said and gave her a kiss.  

"Really? You think every conversation is about you?" said Teresa, with a Latin accent. Teresa loved his cockiness and bravado, but I was never fond of his personality. I often wonder what attracted her to him. After a while, I looked at the time on my phone and I made an excuse to leave early. "Hey guys, I'm gonna head home. I have a class tomorrow morning, and I have work after." Teresa looked at the time on her phone.  "It’s only 9:30, I thought you were gonna stay till midnight? This place doesn’t close until one in the morning. Stay," she insisted. I pressed my lips together and smiled, "Um, no. I need my sleep, sorry guys." 

"Oh, okay, drive carefully," said Teresa. She turned her attention back to her boyfriend.

 "We'll see you at home," said Mary. I gathered my belongings.

  "See you guys later," I said. Teresa, Mary, and I are roommates and we’ve been renting the two-bedroom condo for about two years. Mary works at an Amazon facility, she is satisfied with where she works and chooses not to attend college, she says she really doesn’t have the time, and Teresa works at a dental office as a receptionist. At the time, I was the only one attending college and I was the youngest of the three. Teresa was 23, Mary 22 and I was 18. Our sleeping arrangements were as follows: Mary slept on the sleeper couch in the living room, while I took one room and Teresa took the other. I drove home and got ready for bed. However, I lay in bed staring up at the ceiling; time went by. Teresa and Mary got home around two in the morning.
 “2am?" I said to myself and sighed. I rolled over and listened as they talked for a bit, then they quieted down and turned in for the night. A breeze was blowing outside, and I could hear a branch from a tree lightly tapping at my window. I soon drifted off to sleep. Around four in the morning, I awoke with a start. I had a weird vivid dream which jolted me out of sleep, leaving me with a feeling of uneasiness and trepidation. I rubbed my eyes as I lay in bed and stretched my arms over my head. I let out a heavy sigh and sat up.”

I could hear Teresa snoring in the next room. Mary doesn't snore, thank God. I decided to go downstairs to get a cup of water. The only light in the room was the dimly lit cabinet lights. I drank some water and placed the cup by the sink on the counter, then tiptoed upstairs.

  As I walked into my room, I suddenly tripped. A sudden dizziness came over me as well. “Damn it,” I said to myself. I was afraid that I would wake them up. As I stood up, I found myself not in my room! I caught my breath and looked around.

 “What the Hell,” I said to myself, my mouth dropped. I took a few steps forward. I was faced with randomly generated rooms interconnected with one another. The wallpaper, ceiling and carpet were a dull dirty yellow color. There were fluorescent lights hanging over my head, like the ones found in many buildings from the 70’s or 80’s. I was flabbergasted, and I stood there paralyzed. My heart raced.

 “Am I dreaming? Where am I?” I mused. There was a muggy smell in the air and the sound of the florescent lights buzzing overhead was annoying. I realized that this place looked like something from my dream. I was shocked, I didn’t know what to do and I was barefooted too since I just got out of bed and didn’t put on my slippers beforehand.

 The carpet felt moist and gross. I curiously walked forward, not knowing how I got there and afraid that I would bump into something or someone that would harm me. I did not have a weapon, not even my hand taser that I usually have in my purse and my feet were bare. I cautiously walked around the maze of endless rooms, and hallways, while all the while the noise of the fluorescent lights sounded above me like a hoard of bees buzzing around. The place appeared desolate; no other person was around. After a while of wandering, which felt like eternity, panic set in and I realized that I would never find a way out. I had the sunken feeling that I wasn’t going to leave at all. I was becoming hungry, thirsty, and weary. I sat down with my back against one of the walls, pondering, reevaluating what happened. I facepalmed, took a deep breath and stood up.

  I began to run, well more of a jog, then stopped when I heard a sound coming from afar. I caught my breath and listened. There are many strange rooms and hallways but it seems as though I am the only one in here but what was that sound? I thought to myself. I dare not call out for help. I don’t know what was coming toward me, but I turned on my heels and ran back the way I came; however the walls seemed to have changed, I was confused and frustrated. The florescent lights buzzed above, confusing me. One of the walls looked a little different from the others, a little darker in color but I didn't pay attention to it at the time. “Am I dreaming? I must be because this can’t be happening,” I mused, and I heard the sound again, something strange, scrapping along the walls, but the sound was still too far away to be of any concern. The florescent lights above sounded louder and flickered, sometimes the sound was deafening.

I decided to continue my journey through the yellow crazy maze and perhaps I will find my way out eventually. My heart pounded in my chest, and I felt like a mouse trapped, trying to find the exit. A part of me wanted to believe that this was a dream, a nightmare but instinct told me that it wasn’t. As I turned a corner, I came across a Nike tee shirt and Nike Air Max shoes. I picked it up and inspected the shoe, I saw some dried blood on it. I gasped and dropped it. I took a step back and looked around, wide eyed. I was worried that whatever killed the person who owned those shoes might still be around. I was dizzy with fear, my heart pounded, and I took a deep breath; continued through the ominous yellow labyrinth.

“There’s a killer in this place, something killing people. I must be careful, or I will end up like that person.” I stopped and listened. My ears strained as I could hear a low growl, but it was still far from me, not a cause for alarm. However, I remained vigilant. I breathed a sigh of relief. The musky smell lingered in the air; the moist carpet squish at every step my bare feet took. Lucky that in some areas, the carpet was somewhat dry.

 “I will find a way out,” I kept telling myself. I have faith. I would find a way out but as I continued to journey through the maze, I turned a corner and stopped. “What is this?” I said to myself. I found a mini camcorder next to the case. I picked it up and looked at it. It was an older model of a Panasonic mini camcorder. “I wonder where this came from?” I walked to a secluded corner where I felt safe. It had a tape inside, and I played it. I quickly turned down the volume. I held my breath, and looked around, my heart pounding. I waited a few minutes then exhaled. Whatever was out there, did not hear me so I took out the earplugs from the case, placed one into my ear and plugged it into the camera. The video consisted of these teens who were maybe two years younger than me. The date is April 26th 2009, they were ghost hunting at an abandoned old house. As I looked through the video, the footage glitched and became blurry at times. The young men, joked around about meeting a ghoul or ghost or coming across something otherworldly.

 “Hey, we might slip into another dimension or something,” one of them joked.

“Very funny,” said the African/American boy who was holding the camera. He turned the camera around and introduced himself and his friends.

“I am Jet this is Mike and Victor, we are the Truth Seekers, we go to abandoned places and search for the paranormal,” he said. “They must have a YouTube channel,” I mused.

 “Yeah, so we upload a new video every Friday on our YouTube Channel, please give us a thumbs up on this video and subscribe to our channel,” said Mike. They proceeded to go inside the house and look around. Nothing special, just old furniture and a lot of dust everywhere. The curtains of the house were half hung by the rods, the rooms looked as if whoever lived there before, left abruptly many years ago. Jet had the camcorder and the other two had some ghost hunting gadgets. When Jet entered one of the rooms it was then that the camera glitched and he found himself in the Backrooms.

  “What the Hell is this!” he exclaimed as he slowly stood up. At that point the camera must have been facing down because I couldn’t see anything but the carpet. He lifted the camera to check if it was still recording.

  “Good, it is recording,” he said, breathing a sigh of relief. He moved ahead at a slow pace, similar to how I did when I first got here. He just kept walking, but eventually, he broke into a run down the hallways, glancing around and breathing hard with each step. I can tell he was afraid and frustrated because I heard it in his breathing, but he kept filming and pushing onward.

 “Wow, I can’t believe this place, it’s endless,” he said to himself. He called out to his friends but there was no response. He began to panic. He stopped for a moment as though he had heard something.

He slowly turned around. He heard scratching on the walls but couldn’t see anything. He started to run.

  On occasion he would turn the camera back to catch something but there was nothing. Then he stopped cold on his feet and was in a room with many columns. He saw something that frightened him.  He points the camera in that direction. The camera caught a grotesque looking creature, something out of Hell. It had the head of a Human but acted like a hound. It crawled on all fours much like one of them. I honestly thought it was a werewolf. The back legs were twisted like the hind legs of a dog, and the claws were sharp. It was as though someone cut the head off a person and sewed it onto the body. The most horrific part of the creature was its face. You couldn’t see it under the matted hair, but its eyes glowed as it glared at him. 

When it opened its wide maw, it had several rows of teeth. When I saw it on the video my mouth dropped; I was beside myself. “Is that real?” I asked myself. He continued running but I heard on the video the creature close behind. Jet couldn’t find a way out; it was then he dropped the camera and the case; he kept on running, as the camera caught footage of him running away. The creature lunged at him in a heartbeat and that was the end. After I watched it, I sprung up and put the camera securely into the case, hung the strap of the case diagonally around me and continued the trek through the Backrooms as quickly as possible. I came across a strange wooden crate, but I ignored it as I heard that familiar sound again, the same sound that was in the video and the same sound I heard earlier. I gulped and stopped. I held my breath, and I slowly turned around. The creature was a few yards away from me, so I ran, as if my life depended on it because it did. It was strong, fast and I could feel its breath on my heels. My heart raced and the only thing that ran through my mind was finding a way out. Then I remembered the strange wall, the weird looking wall. It was then when I heard something say, “Go through it.” Maybe it was my Guardian Angel, I don’t know. “Yes, that’s where I have to go,” I thought to myself. I can hear my own heart pounding, but I can hear that thing pouncing its feet on the moldy carpet as each step brought it closer to me. I was never very religious but at that moment, I recited the Lord’s Prayer in my head. The creature was hungry, and it was not going to stop until it caught me.

 “God, help me find the way out,” I shouted. As I continued, the creature was gaining on me, then I turned a corner and saw it, the wall. I ran right at it, hoping to make it through or that I would knock myself out, so I wouldn’t feel a thing when the creature’s teeth sink into me. I was thinking that death will be swift. I went right through the wall, but the creature managed to rip a piece of the hem from my bottom pajamas. I screamed as I flowed through emptiness, a void, then suddenly I was thrust into a small room. I hit hard against the door. I thought I was still in the Backrooms, but I looked around and it was a storage room under some stairs in a house. I breathed heavily, catching my breath. I slowly opened the door and crawled out, limping. I quickly looked at my ankle where the creature tore my pajamas, it scratched me, blood ran down my foot. I was trembling uncontrollably. I still had the camera with me and as I looked around the room, I noticed there was no furniture, it was an empty house but clean.

“It looks like no one lives here but it is well kept so someone comes to clean this place,” I pondered. By the way it was early evening. I found myself in an unknown house. Tears ran down my cheeks. “Hello,” I called out. Then I saw a camera erected on the corner of the wall.  “Yes,” I said, hoping that someone was watching the camera, I waved at it, saying, “Help me, please.” I passed out and it wasn’t until the next day when the housekeeper and two men dressed in security uniforms came in and found me. I escaped the Backrooms by a hair but others have not, and i pray for them everyday.

(Thank you for reading this short story. I will be using fragments from it for a book I'm contemplating on writing in the near future. Please do visit the link below to my website.)

My Website

NEW! I made a video relating this short story. Please visit link and comment. TY

The Backrooms

UPDATE: I recently published a book based on the Backrooms. Please visit link to download the eBook or purchase the paperback.

Lost in the Backrooms: The Phoenix Files vol. 1

Please consider a small donation to support Indie authors like me. TY

Donate

 





Saturday, August 22, 2020

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. 






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.






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.