Jumping on the bandwagon

[COSenior]

I've been busy doing just about everything but writing my own stories this week, but thought I'd better update before I forget where I am.

First, after publishing the first novella in a planned trilogy, I dashed off a short story prequel to use as a perma-free intro to the trilogy. I'm not sure that was a great idea, because the writing style is different, as about half of the short story is written from the POV of the trilogy's MC when she was only seven years old. The rest is the POV of the cold and distant mother and contains a graphic scene. I don't know that it will result in sales of the book, although I've had one Goodreads commenter say she's going to buy the book this weekend. [Crossing fingers--after the first day, poof, nothing.]

In my ghostwriting gig, I threw a hissy fit because the story line wasn't well enough developed to make any progress and I was getting frustrated. We've decided to put that book on hold and work on something else that I'm really excited about, but can't talk about. In the process of preparing for that, I decided to finally look into this snowflake method that everyone talks about. I found a lot of it too tedious to even consider, but the scene mapping in a spreadsheet really looks to be valuable. I am targeting word count based on the beat sheet for the same work, and have since also done that for the second book in my trilogy, which was giving me some writer's block problems. So, I'm excited to think that this could help both improve the books and speed the writing after the planning stage.

Then this morning, noticed a tip from RAWR about a book that has improved his/her writing and bought it. Very excited about it. See https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/showthread.php/48596-Worth-it-s-weight-in-gold. I've read the front matter and now have a Kindle reading app open on my workspace so I can look up any emotion I want to show instead of tell. That's going to improve it even more. It's tempting me to re-write the first title, but I should wait until I'm finished and re-write before I bundle, if at all. So much to do! So little time!

Happy writing, all you peeps. Next update will be publication of the second trilogy book unless sales take off and make me a load of money before then.

 

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[COSenior]

Okay, I lied. Have to tell you that I have made some breakthroughs with Gimp and a seven-day 5-free-a-day stock photos. I'm taking advantage to upgrade the covers I haven't gotten around to yet with my fiverr designer. It's just as well, her turnaround time has changed from three days to 14, and that's just too long. I have to use her for the rest of this trilogy, but then I need to find another solution.

So, back to the new covers. My mentor says they look 1000% better, which really pleases me, even if he is exaggerating just a bit. I have two more to do. I took the opportunity to also up the price on the first one, and will do the same for the third. I think the fourth is already priced at 2.99. I left the second one at 99c because it's just 15 pages, and I intend to force it free.

Speaking of which, it looks like delays at Smashwords are delaying that strategy. My last two, including the one that I wrote to be free, are stuck in premium review and therefore haven't shipped to Kobo, so neither Amazon nor B&N have seen it to price-match yet. The last one took almost two weeks to get through review, even though there were no issues. Looks like all the big distributors are having heavy volume troubles.

All this side-stuff has delayed the writing of the second book in the trilogy. Should be more than halfway through by now, and I'm only 1/3 of the way. Argghhhh. Oh, well, the cover won't be ready until a week after my originally planned publication date anyway. Sorry, babbling, I'm going to bed.

 

[britnidanielle]

Good progress COSenior. And congrats on making headway with GIMP! It can be tricky, but Youtube has been my friend on that one lol.

Quick question: Can you only make something free by publishing through Smashwords? I want to eventually make my 30-pager free, but it's currently only on Amazon & it's processing through Nook. I know I can't do it directly through Amazon & have to do some price matching mojo, but can I just set it free through B&N (whenever they finally publish it)?

 

[COSenior]

can I just set it free through B&N (whenever they finally publish it)?

Not that I can see. They price-match, too. I suspect it's Kobo, but I didn't like their self-publishing choices so I never got far enough to see if I could do that directly. I went with Smashwords, which will allow you to set it as free. They then distribute to several more outlets. They also have a pretty high royalty for the books they sell directly. I take the file that they produce for epub and upload that directly to B&N, then edit out the "Smashwords Edition" in the Manuscript Editor that B&N supplies. So, first upload to Amazon, then Smashwords, then take the SW conversion file for epub and upload to Nook (with the edit mentioned). The second two steps take about 15 minutes. Oh, and then opt out of SW's distribution to B&N or Amazon. They do have 'limited' distribution to Amazon. The reason to do it that way is that if it passes Smashwords' formatting scan, it will pass Nook's.

Now wait for SW to distribute it to their other outlets, including Kobo, Apple and Sony. Then wait for Amazon and B&N to notice it's free somewhere else. THEN they'll price match. Unless you can get someone else to notify them, I think they will look at that if someone says, "I want to get it here, but I found it free at ___."

One more thing about Smashwords. They've just partnered with a company that rents books similarly to the way Netflix rents movies, on a monthly subscription basis. According to what I read, the file expires at the end of the month, so the book isn't floating around out there, plus the company puts a strong encryption around it so they can't pirate it. Plus, the author gets the full royalty for a rented book, if I read it correctly. I don't know how they manage that, maybe advertising closes the gap. In any case, great way to get new eyes on your books!

 

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[COSenior]

I had a brainstorm today and thought about trying to set up an ebook sales outlet that specialized in erotica, since the flap at Kobo that's turned that market on its head. This idea came during a conversation with another erotica author whose entire catalog has been pulled from Kobo--15 books. It's really impacted her sales. Anyway, I googled and found someone that's already doing that and want to register to sell mine there. Here's why I'm updating today: I need some advice.

To register to sell with this site (www.allromanceebooks.com for those who want to know), I have to have a website. That's been on the back burner, because I'm a DIY kind of person and I'm too busy writing to dust off my rusty web-designing skills to do it. So this is a good incentive. But, it occurred to me that maybe I should get someone from fiverr.com to do it for me. So--has anyone ever used a fiverr gig for web design? Is it safe to give them access to your hosting account to install a Wordpress theme, for example? Does anyone have a referral for me? I can populate and maintain it, once it's up, but the thought of doing the work to get it ready just makes me tired. Oh--and is it true for authors as for e-commerce that a free website is the kiss of death? Any and all advice is welcome...would like to get this handled over the weekend.

 

[britnidanielle]

To register to sell with this site (www.allromanceebooks.com for those who want to know), I have to have a website. That's been on the back burner, because I'm a DIY kind of person and I'm too busy writing to dust off my rusty web-designing skills to do it.

You don't really *NEED* any web design skills to build a basic website these days. Everything is a template.

Here's the quick version:

1) Buy your domain name
2) Get a cheap hosting plan (I use Hostgator, they're like $8/mo)
3) Figure out what you want to use to run your site. Most hosting plan comes with WordPress already installed, so just rock with the basic template that's in the background OR (if you want to spend $99/year) you can sign up for a Wordpress.com site + register your domain with them. You have far less control over widgets, but it's easier to change templates, etc.

Done!

 

[COSenior]

Figure out what you want to use to run your site. Most hosting plan comes with WordPress already installed, so just rock with the basic template that's in the background OR (if you want to spend $99/year) you can sign up for a Wordpress.com site + register your domain with them. You have far less control over widgets, but it's easier to change templates, etc.

I should have mentioned I already own a very robust e-commerce ready Wordpress theme that's extremely versatile...but not easy to set up. That's what I want on it.

 

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[COSenior]

I made several changes to my catalog yesterday, including updating the last two of my old covers, making some pricing changes, and correcting the series title on the new cover of one of my first short stories. Something weird...anyone else experience this? Amazon blew up my email with 'Your book is now live on Kindle' messages...at least five for each book I changed. And yet, when I go to the link, the covers on the book's page are still the old ones. You have to click on the 'Look Inside' feature to see the new ones. I know Barnes & Noble takes a while to propagate the changes throughout their site, but this is the first issue I've had with Amazon. Should I contact them? Wait and see? Quit messing around and JKW?

Also, misunderstood the info I got from that new distributor, I just need to give them a URL where my books are on sale, so I can back off and take my time with an author website.

No writing at all this weekend. I'm about 3000 words from finishing the book I intended to publish today, but the cover won't be ready for a week, so I can't get all crazy about it. For the first time in weeks, my house is clean, though.

 

[Breaking Free]

I made several changes to my catalog yesterday, including updating the last two of my old covers, making some pricing changes, and correcting the series title on the new cover of one of my first short stories. Something weird...anyone else experience this? Amazon blew up my email with 'Your book is now live on Kindle' messages...at least five for each book I changed. And yet, when I go to the link, the covers on the book's page are still the old ones. You have to click on the 'Look Inside' feature to see the new ones. I know Barnes & Noble takes a while to propagate the changes throughout their site, but this is the first issue I've had with Amazon. Should I contact them? Wait and see? Quit messing around and JKW?

Also, misunderstood the info I got from that new distributor, I just need to give them a URL where my books are on sale, so I can back off and take my time with an author website.

No writing at all this weekend. I'm about 3000 words from finishing the book I intended to publish today, but the cover won't be ready for a week, so I can't get all crazy about it. For the first time in weeks, my house is clean, though.

It's a weekend, wait and see. I've made some progress and I'm about 5k words from being done on my current WIP, then I need to decide what to write next...

 

[Thriftypreneur]

Agree with "wait and see." They just rolled out the new countdown promo, so I'm sure everything is broken on their end at the moment.

 

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[joanna]

I've seen multiple people report covers propagating slower than other changes (not just recently) so I wouldn't worry too much unless it's been a while.

 

[COSenior]

Thanks, everyone. Wait and see was the right advice, as it's all okay today. Now for the rest of the world to catch up with the price increases, so Amazon will take the ones I raised the price on off 'sale' pricing. I'm going to go ahead and register for that new distributor today and then concentrate on writing.

 

[COSenior]

It's taking forever to get my account approved at AllRomance ebooks. Waited until the one book that was tied up in KDP Select finally fell out, published it everywhere else. Set the two 15-pagers to free and promoted through a Facebook group. Started implementing the FB strategies in my new course and can see I'm getting more engagement with fans.

Didn't write a word in my new novella for six days, then blew out almost 9000 words yesterday. Almost finished; cover due on Monday. NO SALES, not one, anywhere, this month. Sigh. Repeat after me, just keep writing, just keep writing.

 

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[Thriftypreneur]

Didn't write a word in my new novella for six days, then blew out almost 9000 words yesterday. Almost finished; cover due on Monday. NO SALES, not one, anywhere, this month. Sigh. Repeat after me, just keep writing, just keep writing.

Not sure how many titles you're pushing, but I'm in the exact same boat this month.

I've learned that due to how Amazon's internal promotion seems to work (and I'm sure it's similar on other venues), if your book falls above a certain rank, that you pretty much get zero traffic until you do some kind of additional promotion to push the visibility back up. So it's not like people are seeing your books and going "Yuck!" it's that they're in the abyss, deep inside Amazon, that people don't search through.

 

[joanna]

It's taking forever to get my account approved at AllRomance ebooks.

AR/OmniLit averaged a 4 day reply delay for every email sent... So if they have a question for you before approving prepare to wait some more after you send a reply At least that was my experience, mym sis says they replied to her pretty quickly, but she did get invited by them, so maybe some special treatment going on there

 

[Held for Ransom]

It's taking forever to get my account approved at AllRomance ebooks.

ARe is a pain in the *a$$* and not really worth it, IMHO. But that could just be me...

I recently spent a ton of time uploading to Google Play and I am seeing sales on par with Barnes and Noble which is my second best channel. It's a huge PITA to get that setup right but it's really good, much better than Apple, Kobo, etc.

NO SALES, not one, anywhere, this month.

Any more specifics here? To see zero sales seven days in is odd. When did you last put out something new?

So it's not like people are seeing your books and going "Yuck!" it's that they're in the abyss, deep inside Amazon, that people don't search through.

This is partially true. Thrifty, I assume you are speaking in terms of keywords searches, yes? If not, my bad.

That said, much of your traffic after the initial 7-14 days of release comes from Also Bought (and similar) lists and less from keyword searches.

NOTE: This is only applies if you are doing what I do. In other words, writing and publishing. Nothing else. If you are getting some % of your traffic from other promotions (Bookbub, FB, etc.), then the metrics would be different but if all you do is write, publish and wait that statement above holds true.

Anyway, I have data over 1,000s of sales and tens of thousands of pageviews of real time tracking to correlate this. This is from waaaayyyy back when you could actually do that, you can't anymore.

But, in a nutshell, days 1-5, anywhere from 75% - 90% of your traffic is keyword driven. By Day 30ish, it's almost the exact opposite. You will get less than 5% of your traffic from keywords, especially if it's a strong seller. All of your sales will come from lists (AB, HNRs, etc.) and/or other links but far fewer from keywords.

I have seen this over and over and over.

Anyway, I am compiling it all at some point but yeah, if you don't get on some strong AB lists within the first 14 days, the abyss is sure to follow. Keywords get you in the door but they don't keep you there, buyers do.

The caveat there is that if you are new, it's likely that you will fall into the abyss anyway. Amazon is a visibility game and the more books you have, the more overall traffic you get.

 

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[joanna]

ARe is a pain in the *a$$* and not really worth it, IMHO. But that could just be me...

Their forms are really crappy, and editing is a pain, but sold a couple of each erotica book there just by posting. My sis has better sales than on amazon on there (weird MM romance). For *romance* apparently it can be worth it. My sff on the other hand had zilch sales so yeah. But then again, I treat it as even if it sells 1 book a year, it doesn't cost me anything to keep it there, so it's one sale I wouldn't have gotten...

 

[COSenior]

Any more specifics here? To see zero sales seven days in is odd. When did you last put out something new?

It's been about three weeks. Meant to be two, but the girl I was using for covers on this series went from a three-day turnaround to a 14-day, which put me a week behind getting the cover. Then life intervened, and since I couldn't get the cover anyway, delayed finishing up the book. My bad, should have been keeping track, I know she's getting popular and there are only so many hours in the day.

But, in a nutshell, days 1-5, anywhere from 75% - 90% of your traffic is keyword driven.

I'm pretty confused about this. I thought I understood that keywords in Amazon only serve to put you in specific sub-niches. But, since my genre is erotica for most of my catalog, that's all there is to it. I know one book is adult-flagged, and I haven't bothered to protest even though I changed the cover and that's what I think was the cause. But I've set that one and one other to free in Smashwords anyway, in an attempt to force them free in Amazon. But they have been in Premium catalog review for days just because I changed the covers, so haven't shipped to Kobo or Apple where Amazon price-matches (I guess--they don't seem to pay any attention to Smashwords.) So, with one mention each on FB, both of those have lots of downloads from SW, 50 and 74, but it isn't translating to purchases of the rest of the series.

Thrifty asked (indirectly) how many titles...eight, soon to be nine. So I get that I don't have a big enough catalog to expect not to fall into the abyss, but up until this month, even the old ones were selling 1 or 2 a month. This is the longest dry spell I've had. Discouraging. My husband is going to make me go to work if I can't start showing some progress soon.

Their forms are really crappy, and editing is a pain, but sold a couple of each erotica book there just by posting. My sis has better sales than on amazon on there (weird MM romance). For *romance* apparently it can be worth it. My sff on the other hand had zilch sales so yeah. But then again, I treat it as even if it sells 1 book a year, it doesn't cost me anything to keep it there, so it's one sale I wouldn't have gotten...

My reasoning was that with the majors targeting erotica, it wouldn't hurt to have a fallback position. I like their 'heat' ratings, because it sorts out the non-romantic erotica from the extra-steamy romance. I'm trying to get away from the former, gets boring to write after a while, but since the majority of my catalog is there for now and most of the negative feedback I've had is about the fact that there's no romance, I thought the specialized outlet would be worth it.

Thanks to everyone for your input. I'm just going to keep plugging away.

 

[Thriftypreneur]

Thrifty asked (indirectly) how many titles...eight, soon to be nine. So I get that I don't have a big enough catalog to expect not to fall into the abyss, but up until this month, even the old ones were selling 1 or 2 a month. This is the longest dry spell I've had. Discouraging. My husband is going to make me go to work if I can't start showing some progress soon.

Got anything perma free as a loss leader yet? I ask because I've heard pretty much nothing but overwhelmingly positive things about this promotion method. I can't even count how many times I've read on Kboards and blogs, "Once I set the first to perma-free, everything changed."

 

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[Held for Ransom]

I'm pretty confused about this. I thought I understood that keywords in Amazon only serve to put you in specific sub-niches. But, since my genre is erotica for most of my catalog, that's all there is to it.

That's not incorrect but that's not all they do either.

So, for example, if you were targeting a Romance sub niche, you want to drop in the keywords (or variants that have the trigger keyword) into your hidden keyword field within KDP so you get a listing there.

But, they have a secondary purpose as well in that, well, they are keywords. So, if you are pubbing in Erotica, you can just put in whatever keyword you want that you think will get the right sort of reader to your book page.

Make sense?

If you were writing stories about "billionaires" or "menages" or whatever, when you enter those keywords into your KDP dashboard, Amazon will associate them with your book. Of course, EVERYONE targets those high traffic terms so it pays to be a bit more resourceful but that's the general idea.

Based on the referring URL strings I used to see, *most* visitors to a brand new book page get there by some (or all) of those keywords plus other long-tails that you don't enter. It's kind of the same way Google works with SEO.

Anyway, the strings give you a bunch of information, most of which I had to decode by trial and error. But, in the very beginning, if you get a searcher coming to your page via keyword, you can sort of figure out exactly where they came from on Amazon. Later on, it gets much more difficult because the strings don't have keywords appended to them, just gobs of data.

At that stage, it's Also Boughts, HNRs, etc.

But yeah, there's a lot more to keywords than just triggering a category inclusion, that's for sure.

Hope that helps. Let me know if you need a better example or something...

This is the longest dry spell I've had. Discouraging. My husband is going to make me go to work if I can't start showing some progress soon.

That sucks but this time of year is awful for everyone. I know its hard, but patience and production are the keys.

Perma free could be an option though I've never done any of that stuff so I couldn't say. Still, I mean, it took me a long time to break a $1,000/month and then it rocketed after that. I think it was 15 - 20ish titles to break a grand and then like mid 20s in titles I got to five figures.

It's been there ever since. But, yeah, before that it was like running my fingers through a meat grinder for months on end. I'd estimate it was about 400,000 words of soul crushing disappointment to break through.

Not fun.

But all you guys market differently than me so hopefully, that time to success gets cut in half, or better!

Last question, how targeted is your content?

Do you have very specific reader tastes/preferences you are catering to? I'm not asking you to reveal everything, of course, I'm just trying to get a feel for where the obvious problems could be.

 

[COSenior]

Got anything perma free as a loss leader yet?

Trying, Thrifty, trying. It's a process, and it hasn't happened yet. But I'm through tweaking things on Smashwords, so hopefully they will get the books distributed so Amazon will price-match soon.

I think it was 15 - 20ish titles to break a grand and then like mid 20s in titles I got to five figures.

That's actually very encouraging. I'm over half-way to the number of titles for four figures, and that alone will justify my staying at home. Obviously, there are some things I need to figure out. I have been keywording, sort of by the seat of my pants, but I don't know for certain that many readers are searching those keywords. I used the idea of letting Amazon fill in the blank to choose them.

As for targeted preferences, that's hard to say. You know I write erotica. At first, I wrote what turned me on. Until it stopped doing so. Boredom set in, and then I tried to get strategic. The novella I just finished is the second in what is meant to be a romance trilogy, with steamy scenes. I'm getting feedback that indicates to me I'm either not kinky/rough enough for some readers, or too much so for others. Since I'm not comfortable going further in the first direction, I'm working on the second. From mechanics to euphemisms, if you will. The first book in the series got very little attention. Then I wrote a short story prequel for a perma-free intro, but Amazon hasn't price-matched yet. I'm late publishing this new one, but have it ready for beta-read as of tonight.

So I guess the short answer should have been, not very targeted. Working on it. I'm a bit obsessive, can't see abandoning the ship I'm on in mid-sail, so I need to finish this trilogy and then take a harder look at niche. It occurred to me re-reading this that I've basically been trying to finish what I started since I started. Maybe a break to regroup after the last book in this trilogy is in order.

 

[Held for Ransom]

I'm a bit obsessive, can't see abandoning the ship I'm on in mid-sail, so I need to finish this trilogy and then take a harder look at niche. It occurred to me re-reading this that I've basically been trying to finish what I started since I started. Maybe a break to regroup after the last book in this trilogy is in order.

Yeah, I understand. Finish it if you need to but if you don't, cut it lose and never think about it again.

 

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[COSenior]

So if you think that, you are a fool or ignorant.

Guess I'm both, because that's what I thought when I started. I knew I could write better than 90% of the erotica authors out there, just figured that would make a difference. Four months later, I'm a little more jaded. I just saw a Facebook author acquaintance hit #2 overall on Amazon with a poorly-written, poorly-edited, but beautifully-covered and thoroughly hyped piece of steamy romance. I definitely need to fall back and regroup. And possibly start a new pen name. Damn, I've invested some time in that one.

PS, thanks for helping me get my head straight. I needed that.

 

[Mark Anthony Le]

Keep it going! Subbed. How many words did you accomplish today?

 

[Held for Ransom]

Guess I'm both, because that's what I thought when I started.

That wasn't directed at you. Sorry if it came across that way. I meant that in general terms.

I knew I could write better than 90% of the erotica authors out there, just figured that would make a difference. Four months later, I'm a little more jaded.

Stay patient. I am sure that you are better than 90%. For the most part, this is a numbers game. The more books, the more you stack the odds in your favor.

Four months later, I'm a little more jaded.

I don't think that's a bad thing. "Being jaded" can also mean seeing the e-book game for what it is and not the ridiculous hype that surrounds it.

For the most part it is a glamour-free grind and one that only you can control. No one can make you sit there and type story after story after story that no one buys for months on end.

But...

When the hit comes and IT WILL, you really "get it". At that point, it will be highly unlikely it is a "flash in the pan" or something.

Instead of, how the hell did that happen? You will KNOW, with 100% certainty what your readers want and man, it is the closest thing to free money I know of.

Bottom line is at that point, it will be much more about your process and execution which can repeat over and over and over and less about gaming Amazon's algos or Bookbub promos or whatever...

I definitely need to fall back and regroup. And possibly start a new pen name. Damn, I've invested some time in that one.

I'm not saying don't evaluate if you want to write in Erotica. What I'm saying is that if you start over, you'll be at ground zero again.

Adjust your expectations accordingly.

 

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[Breaking Free]

It's a numbers game.

I haven't met a single person that hasn't written 30+ books and hasn't seen success. Sure, we might get lucky with one or two, but I don't want that.

Let my fame come in around novel #20, so that way I have a backlist for my readers to enjoy (and for me to profit from).

 

[COSenior]

How many words did you accomplish today?

I just finished a novella of 26,000+ words, and getting it ready for publication (formatting, cover, etc.) takes precedence today. So, none. But I typically do 3000+ a day on my own writing, and another 2000-3000 on my ghostwriting gig.

That wasn't directed at you. Sorry if it came across that way. I meant that in general terms.

I wasn't offended.

I'm not saying don't evaluate if you want to write in Erotica. What I'm saying is that if you start over, you'll be at ground zero again.

I won't throw out the baby with the bathwater. I'm more than halfway to a point at which I should see some results, even if they are meager. And I know that there are problems with my writing that I can solve with practice. So I'll probably just add another genre but keep working on this one, too. I've got lots of time to write, and I can reliably produce several thousand words a day.

I haven't met a single person that hasn't written 30+ books and hasn't seen success.

Again, very encouraging. Thank you for that.

 

[COSenior]

All the while I was holding my little pity-party last night, was uploading my latest novella, which turns out to be more like 29k words, to my go-to sites, Amazon, Smashwords and B&N. No results to report except that a handful of people have downloaded the free preview from Smashwords.

After receiving mixed results from sending out review copies and using KDP Select for a free period, I'm doing very little promotion on this one. I posted it on my author page at Goodreads and on my fanpage at Facebook. Don't know if the holiday will have an effect on how many people see the posts. Also promoted it in three Facebook groups and sent a review request out in advance for a review of the entire series when I bundle it. I'm going to do one last thing, and that's try a Smashwords coupon for a half-price download of the first book in the series for a week. That may be shooting myself in the foot, because the MC is much more likable in the second book, and in fact the second book is much better than the first, but there is method in my madness: I'm trying to increase engagement on my FB page in order to sneak in some lead generation for my mailing list.

You KNOW I'm gonna update you with the good, the bad and the ugly. Cross your fingers that there's some good coming.

 

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[Thriftypreneur]

You KNOW I'm gonna update you with the good, the bad and the ugly. Cross your fingers that there's some good coming.

I like hearing all of it. Makes me feel like I'm not the only one who goes a little crazy (or gets discouraged) from time to time. I'm hoping that as long as we keep writing, that the "good" finding it's way to us is a certainty.

 

[joanna]

I agree, it's good to see all the aspects of everyone's journey. We can learn just as much from failed attempts at promotion or other mishaps, as from the successful endeavours. I do like the honest approach in this forum and the fact that even when something doesn't go our way we move on rather than cry about it and whine how miserable our life is. Sorry for the rant, but being in several writing groups it can get tiring when every bad review anyone receives (warranted or not...) is a pity party, followed by a battle cry for fellow writers to downvote the reader who dared to have an opinion So again, it's refreshing to see a people learn from the negative.

Fingers crossed CoSenior. Worst case scenario, just move on to the next book.