Ratings and reviews

Considering a big reason I branched out onto Smashwords was to get more reviews, I guess the handful I was able to garner isn't much to sneeze at. Admittedly based on the stats below, I've collected some for shorts and one is definitely fake, but I appreciate the average I have at least, it hasn't been hindered by bad reviews. I have two definitely fake ones on Kobo they recommended I leave there, but I think a couple have popped up since then. I like reviews but I appreciate a rating and I prefer them to be honest. I can kind of rest on never getting a bad review or a rating below three stars. From the feedback I'm managed to squeeze out of people, it's been largely okay. Meanwhile, the worst thing about Goodreads (for me, since I've yet to be extorted by assholes), is seeing people's reading stats and knowing they gave up on a book of mine at 18% two years ago. (I don't get why people want massive "to-read" lists over "read" lists, or they do reading challenges and just read the same books every year, it's another reason I don't participate in the Goodreads community as a whole, because it has given some readers the erroneous belief they're more important to authors than they truly are). But if they do flag a book to read it'll at least give you some free publicity. (My ex publisher tried to get other authors in the company onboard but they didn't know/get Goodreads at all and expected her to take care of it. I at least had a head start. I also disagreed with her policy of giving our books a five star rating to "get the ball rolling").

I've appealed to people who aren't into the genres I've written, I like not having a fanbase to placate, or an agent. My life would be fucking miserable if I were doing this as an actual job, I've never refuted that. So I get pretty insulted when it's suggested this would be a good job for someone like me, with a chronic mental illness. Because if I can't have a steady income I won't cope. I have to know when the money's coming in to have any kind of reasonable structure, so if you're the type who can cope and work around commissions and sporadic royalties, etc, (while accepting you'll have to widen your net in terms of income even if you are successful), then go right ahead. It worried me I knew people who were considering tax writeoffs from their minimal royalties, I was told it was pointless declaring the pittance I got as it was classed as a hobby. And I preferred not to take money. It hasn't mattered who I've told about my Amazon copies, it's not generated any sales, and Amazon seems to flip-flop on whether to release any drops in the ocean I get. I know I missed out on an old royalty check for one book because I failed to supply them with bank account details and they couldn't process anything to me physically. It still didn't matter. I've even lost a sale, because (I believe) the buyer realised they could get my ebooks for free and disputed the transaction, which ultimately led me to giving up on Kindle versions. Any moment I reconsider that stance, I remember the stupid guidelines, how it's not helped me at all on my last attempt at a giveaway. Smashwords has yielded diminishing returns on every new book I've released, the numbers just aren't possible to achieve. So I've let it rest. What I have below may stay like this for decades. I can't be bothered starting a page for my new author pen name, whether when I release it Goodreads creates a page, (which without an Amazon listing I believe it can't be done), I'll leave that up to them. Because I'll always be annoyed I'm stuck there forever under my actual name because I dumbly released one book under it before changing everything via Amazon. It's also super annoying you can't delete old editions for whatever reason. Librarian status on Goodreads also creates god complexes because you're "curating" their library and shouldn't mess with the records. I should have more ISBNs from new editions/versions but I've gotten away with duplications, and I've never once paid for one. They used to be hundreds of dollars. It used to be a privilege to have one. The fact literally any person can get one for even an 8 page short story on Smashwords proves the value of publishing itself has diminished.

I mostly hate Goodreads anyway for the role they've played in boosting sales for certain books which suck, and having to explain this to my editor was exhausting. If you don't cultivate some rabid following from the outset, you'll rarely make it long term. I think some people are comfortable having little denizens where they can proclaim to have more popularity than they do. Because when it was decided authorship had to be a popularity contest and not have anything to do with talent, that inevitably made shit worse. Some of my books have more reviews than some fairly well known, popular books, that's hardly worth the bragging rights. Point is, what I have below should be worthy of more self-pride than I'm willing to give it. I keep trying to work on owning the Ws and forgetting about the Ls. It's tough, I know.  

I suppose I can say I don't think I've angered anyone or made them unreasonably miserable with what I've written. On a grand scale that's the most you can hope for.