Ever since I was signed with Rambunctious Ramblings Publishing Inc (RRPI) in January, I have been learning a lot about the publishing industry. There were lots of things I thought I knew and were wrong, and many things I never even considered. RRPI runs a great forum on Facebook called the Rambling Writers Café, and there are discussion questions put up every week. You don’t have to be signed by them, just interested in books and talking about books, and the discussions are enlightening. (It is a private group, so you have to ask to join, but it’s not like they turn people away)
One very important thing I learned lately has to do with reviews. As you know, I write lots of book reviews for this site, but up until now I have not posted them anywhere like Amazon or Goodreads. I didn’t think it would make a difference to just keep the articles here. In truth, it makes a huge difference.
On Amazon, for instance, they have an algorithm for recommending books. Obviously, an author wants to get themselves recognized by that algorithm to get more people interested in their work. Reader reviews factor heavily into this calculation, but that goes for ANY review. Good reviews and bad reviews carry the same weight. Reviews that just say “I liked it” are just as valuable as an entire article devoted to the book, and both of those are the same as a negative review. All that the Amazon formula cares about it that 50 or more people cared enough to weigh in.
So rather than write any more articles this week, I am going to devote my normal blogging time to posting the reviews I have done over the past years onto Goodreads and Amazon to give those authors a little push in the right direction.
Happy reading and writing!
Phoebe Darqueling 