Reviews of Amazon self-published Kindle books - minor rant.

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Andrew_Culture

Internet Marketing bod
I wrote a book which was published 13 years ago (not a novel, but to do with my work). To date it has sold roughly 20,000 copies :thumbsup: but someone has scanned it, turned it into a pdf, and it does the rounds of Russian 'free download' websites. I've got fed up letting the publishers know when I discover a new one...they do what they can to chase them up, but it just migrates to a new one.:sad:

I solve this problem by writing books nobody wants to pirate... or read.
 

Jon George

Mamil and couldn't care less
Location
Suffolk an' Good
To go back to the original post on this thread, I would like to point out that Kindle supply a sample of any purchasable book (but not for free downloads) so you can make your own mind up before clicking 'buy', rather than just blindly accepting what the crowd may be saying. I hope this helps. And keep reading!
 

phil_hg_uk

I am not a member, I am a free man !!!!!!
When I was a kid I used to read loads of books, but as I got older and life got more hectic I stopped reading. Since I got a kindle I have read more books in the couple of years I have had it than in the previous 30 years so thats got to be a good thing.

Oh also they dont take up any space which is also a bonus and they are on every device I own eg PC, Phone, tablet etc.
 

ColinJ

Puzzle game procrastinator!
To go back to the original post on this thread, I would like to point out that Kindle supply a sample of any purchasable book (but not for free downloads) so you can make your own mind up before clicking 'buy', rather than just blindly accepting what the crowd may be saying. I hope this helps. And keep reading!
The first 10% in fact.

If you can't make your own mind up after reading that, then you probably shouldn't moan about not enjoying the other 90%!
 

green1

Über Member
I once bought a book about heat pumps from Amazon. It turned out to be an MSc thesis, and it was a $41t one too.
Why else would you write a tome about heat pumps? not many Nobody in their right mind would write or buy a book about heat pumps for giggles. :whistle:
 
OP
OP
Rezillo

Rezillo

TwoSheds
Location
Suffolk
The first 10% in fact.

If you can't make your own mind up after reading that, then you probably shouldn't moan about not enjoying the other 90%!

A fair point for those that have 10% but the one that made me snap had nowhere near 10% to preview - a couple of pages or so from chapter one and another from a jump to chapter two. Needless to say, these small sections were not representative of the sheer dross of the rest of the book.

I've just checked a few of the others that I had the misfortune to buy, because this does seem like a good idea if reviews are not to be trusted, but I don't think I would have made a different decision at the time. The preview amount is variable, to say the least, and opening chapters tend to get more thought into being attention grabbing.

I've tended to used the previews a lot for history books where a dense writing style can be immediately picked up, which can get very tedious for descriptive material. I will have to be more careful with the others from now on.
 

ColinJ

Puzzle game procrastinator!
A fair point for those that have 10% but the one that made me snap had nowhere near 10% to preview - a couple of pages or so from chapter one and another from a jump to chapter two.
I'll have to check that because I was thinking of inflicting my own appalling writing on a wider audience via the Kindle platform!

Hmm ... as I thought, the sample is supposed to be 10%, sensibly 'rounded up' - link.
... and opening chapters tend to get more thought into being attention grabbing.
I found somebody complaining about that very thing - link.

I can promise you that all of my chapters will be equally, er, ColinJ-like! :laugh:
 

hoopdriver

Guru
Location
East Sussex
I'm clearly behind the literary curve - I've read some Harry Potter, years ago, when the marketing guy at my (and her) publisher sent me some, but never read any of the Shades of Grey genre that is filling shelves at my local bookstore, not even over anybody's shoulder.
 
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