Taylor Swift Wants to Control Her Own Destiny--And Why Not

You probably know Taylor Swift from her music. Maybe you even heard her public outrage about not owning her music and not having a say in who controls her catalog (of songs). Such outrage is easy to understand and agree with. That said, the vast majority of us working creatives don’t own the rights to our work, nor do we control who owns our work or what happens to our work in the future.

Taylor has been extremely fortunate to have found success, to have found labels willing to back her work, and even to get ownership of her newest work. Being an A-list music star helps tremendously. Meanwhile millions of creatives have never had full ownership, nor control over who does.

Millions of creatives have never had labels lining up to back them like the fortunate few, Taylor included. If A-listers didn’t need labels, they wouldn’t go to labels and labels wouldn’t exist. There’s a fine line to cut between control, ownership and labels. It’s a catch-22, an evil necessity, an ouroboros—the snake that eats its own tale.

The music industry though has been on the bleeding edge of changing the rules, allowing creatives to maintain more ownership and control—if not complete ownership and control. The music industry celebrates those who maintain ownership and control of their own work. The music industry celebrates small labels. The music industry celebrates independent artists. Together, they are indies—and there’s a whole world out there celebrating indie music.

In stark contrast, in the world of publishing, independents are derided, relegated to second class, trotted upon. There is intolerance—even hate—directed at independents. Those who independently publish are derided as frauds, failures, fakes, largely by those who fear the slipping away of the status quo. This despite nearly two decades of revolution in independent publishing.

It’s no secret that historically creatives get the short end of the stick. I’ve made no secret of the fact that my first publisher (Macmillan) ripped me off, nor of the fact that without those early contracts I might not have gone on to sell millions and millions of books. I have both thanked Macmillan for the opportunity and condemned Macmillan for taking advantage of me and countless of others. Substandard royalties, work-for-hire contracts that paid a pittance, more. Whatever they could get away with really.

I’ve made no secret of the fact that my publisher of 20 years (Microsoft) was more generous than others in the industry when it came to contracts, though I feel my work was still misused and also that there was tremendous usage of my work that I was never compensated for, including worldwide usage within and by Microsoft as well as third parties with relationships with Microsoft. I am, of course, eternally grateful to Microsoft and especially those that I worked with. Those who oversaw the publishing of my work did the best they could to keep the hungry machine from swallowing it and they ensured a graceful exit when the publishing world changed so dramatically that there was no longer a place for Microsoft Press within Microsoft Corporation.

Over 20 years, my work also was used in thousands of training courses (outside of Microsoft’s control and consent) that instructed millions of students around the world for which I was never paid. These students paid hundreds to thousands of dollars for short—3-5-7-day—training courses, amounting to billions of dollars of instructional training that I didn’t receive a single cent for. It makes the millions I was shortchanged by publishers over the years seem like a drop in the proverbial bucket—a single tear in a lake of tears.

The industry finds ways to further suck the marrow from your bones, to squeeze and wring out your blood. There are managers, agents, publicists to pay, not to mention accountants, others and the IRS, leaving the creative with pennies on the dollar. Point of fact, somewhere along the way, I figured out that over a 20-year period, after everyone got paid, I got about .03 on the dollar while my publishers collectively made well over $100,000,000 off my work (and retailers who sold my work made even more).

Thus, it both alarms and astounds me, that there continues to be so much hate and intolerance in the publishing community for authors who decide to go independent, who decide to self-publish, who decide to embrace new technologies and new means of getting their creations to the world. It boggles the mind that there are still so many fighting tooth and nail to prevent, deter and destroy those who simply want what every working creative should want. To own and control our own work, our own future.

Thanks for reading, I’ve written much about this and other related issues. You’ll find articles at Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/williamstanek/), in my personal blogs (http://robertstanek.blogspot.com/ and http://williamstanek.blogspot.com), at Go Indie (http://readindies.blogspot.com/) and on my websites (http://www.williamrstanek.com and http://www.robert-stanek.com/). You’ll find posts about related problems going back to 2003 here @ http://www.robertstanek.com/rsblog.htm. I do of course write as William Stanek, Robert Stanek, William R. Stanek and William Robert Stanek. I am of course the author of over 200 full-length works of fiction and nonfiction, having been a successful published author since 1995.

A Tribute to William Robert Stanek, an American Author Who Should Be on Everyone’s Must Read List

My name is Jennifer Blake. This guest post is in honor of William Robert Stanek, an author recently named “an American author who should be on everyone’s must read list.” A group of us have been wanting to guest post here in honor of Robert for such a long time, and I jumped at the opportunity to pay tribute to someone I owe so much to. When no one else would publish my work, Robert took me under his wing and helped me publish my first book, Baby Animals on Safari.

Baby Animals on Safari had been turned down by every publisher on the planet, well practically every one, at least that’s how it seemed to me as the rejection letters kept coming year after year after year. As a single mom who works in special needs classrooms, I’ve been writing stories for children since grad school. I wasn’t able to find a publisher or anyone who believed in my work until Robert.

To shorten a long story, Baby Animals on Safari was published four years ago and it changed my life. Though Baby Animals on Safari had modest success in stores, it was a massive success in libraries, where it sold thousands and thousands of copies worldwide and transformed me overnight from a complete unknown into a popular in-demand author. With Robert’s help, I’ve even released a sequel called what else, Baby Animals on Safari 2.

Robert Stanek was fresh off a recent Lifetime Achievement nomination for distinguished accomplishments in American letters when a group of libraries took notice and started buying up his work for their patrons, having named him “an American author who should be on everyone’s must read list.”

I don’t disagree. The Audio Book Store called Robert Stanek “one of its most featured and respected Kids & Young Adults, K-12 Educators and Kids authors.” Parenting Magazine in a listening partnership with Audible.com named his Bugville Critters, recommended reading. Follett Early Learning said his wonderful Bugville Critters stories addressed all major issues of growing up, while combining facts about the natural world with instructive and entertaining fiction.

To date, Robert has released 100 Bugville Critters books. These include magnificent learning books under the Bugville Learning umbrella, Bugville Jr. books for toddlers and preschoolers, and Bugville picture books for kids ages 4 to 8. With the 28 original Bugville books all featuring luscious 2-page spreads from original watercolors, it’s no wonder that millions of readers have devoured the books.

Of his Ruin Mist novels, which include The Kingdoms & the Elves of the Reaches and In the Service of Dragons book and are now enjoying their 15^th anniversary, The Fantasy Guide said the work was very satisfying and that word of mouth had turned it into a bestseller. VOYA, the leading magazine for young adult librarians gushed even more saying that the books were “sure to attract fans of graphic novels and classic Tolkien alike.” With all the praise, it’s no wonder the Ruin Mist books were featured on Audible’s homepage for an entire summer in 2005, #1 bestsellers at Audible in Fiction, and on the Audible Children’s bestseller lists for 182 consecutive weeks.

Robert also has written bestselling thrillers and science fiction. His Scott Evers novels, which include The Pieces of the Puzzle and The Cards in the Deck, have also climbed the charts to become #1 bestselling fiction. Meanwhile, his “After the Machines” dystopian novels are some of the most gripping sci-fi I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading.

Few other authors have written over 200 full-length feature works. Few other authors have been successful in so many genres.

Robert’s oeuvre doesn’t stop with fiction, however. In his day job, he’s an internationally acclaimed technology journalist writing for Macmillan, Microsoft Press, Pearson, O’Reilly, and other leading publishers under the name William R. Stanek. His William R. Stanek books include over a hundred heavy hitting titles like Windows Server 2016: IT Pro Library, a multi-book set with over 500,000 words, and the equally impressive Exchange Server 2016: IT Pro Library, with a mere 300,000 words. Oi!

Robert published these works independently. After being the #1 author at Microsoft Press for nearly twenty years, Robert says it was time to do things his own way.

Robert tells me his writing career began in 1986, the year he finished his first novel. In 1991, Robert won his first writing award, The George Washington Honor Medal. The winning work was an essay about his combat tours in the first Persian Gulf War, an essay that was later turned into a full-length memoir that has recently been re-released for the 20^th anniversary of the war as Air War: The Incredible True Story of the Combat Flyers.

I’ve only met Robert a few times. Each time felt like an extraordinary opportunity, like I was walking with a giant among men. Not because Robert’s 6’ 2”, but because he himself is larger than life. The kind of person you feel honored and privileged to even be in the same room with. Yet, at the same time, he’s so self-deprecating and real.

It’s rare to meet someone who is so down to earth. Funny, sincere, caring, giving, passionate about the causes he supports. And if you know Robert, you know he’s passionate about many things, but especially causes related to peoples with disabilities, veterans, libraries, education and conservation.

That’s what I noticed most when talking to Robert. You don’t see the decorated soldier (yes, he received the Distinguished Flying Cross) who fought against the second Gulf war with raised fists or the guy who conquered the publishing world from his worn keyboard while wearing pajamas. You don’t hear those things in his words you expect from someone who’s achieved so much. You see instead a guy who’s trying like the rest of us to swim up river. You see a guy who deserves your wholehearted support. You see a guy whose works should be as widely read as any author today. There are certainly enough of his masterworks to choose from. Works that will move you, teach you, show you. Works that will make you think, deliver you to the brink, leave you breathless.

Read Robert’s work. Praise it where you can. Spread the good word. Tell others.

Jennifer Blake

Author of Baby Animals on Safari

Book Promotion Sites Ranked & Rated: More Thoughts & Tips for Getting into BookBub from BookBub, Plus 20 Questions & Answers with BookBub

So many have pinged me about Book Promotion Sites Ranked & Rated and asked questions that I added more to the article originally and in comments, but will now put those together with additional tips for getting into BookBub from the BookBub team. The details come from research and discussions between January 2014 and December 2014 as well as updates and additions from January 2015.

Before I get into more details and tips for success, remember, a promotion that doesn’t do as well as hoped isn’t necessarily a failure on the author’s part. It can be a failure of the marketing done on the author’s behalf – and marketing does fail frequently in my experience. That said, it's up to the author to put his or her best foot forward. You really need to take your time with any submissions to these services, make sure your work is highly polished with good cover art, and provide as much detail as possible in your submission.

Further, to be clear, no one who participated in the study was disappointed with BookBub. Participants gave BookBub two thumbs up with caveats and our highest rating.

Did the participants think BookBub was a good value? Yes, that's what the score of 10 indicated.

Did the participants think BookBub was perfect? No, that’s why the score was a 10 and not a 20. Online promotion services in this category have a long way to go towards perfection—BookBub included.

Will the participants be using BookBub again? Yes, absolutely.

I was asked many questions about the residual value of online book promotion services, as in: Is there value beyond the promotion period?

To be clear, the study looked at the value of the promotion not just on the day of promotion but within a reasonable window of time that extended beyond. As an example, a book may see 80% of its boost on Day 1 and Day 2, 15% of its boost on Days 3 to 5, and 5% of its boost on Days 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10, and that windowing effect was taken into account.

These offerings are really one-time and done, with little residual value. Remember, many of these services are featuring 20 – 30 or more books a day with promotions appearing on “daily feature” pages, promoted through daily emails, and often on social media. It’s important to remember that success with these services isn’t just about the daily newsletter emails to followers. It’s also about the service’s web site and social media channels. Thus, there are 3-parts to promotion strategies using these services that must be considered.

With the “daily feature” page, your book is one of many. Successive daily promotion pages quickly follow the page your book is on. Thus, after 7 to 10 days, your book is already several hundred books back in the queue. Some promotion services distinguish themselves by making their web sites about more than the listings, and that helps to build traction.

With daily emails, your book is included in a daily email. Successive daily emails quickly follow. Thus, after a few days, the email containing your book has already been superseded several times.

It’s also important to remember that just because a service has 1,000,000 followers doesn’t mean 1,000,000 are going to see your promotion. Typical open rates for promotion services that use daily emails are likely 2 to 3%, though I’ve seen claims as high as 6 to 12%. Open rates are posted by some services if you look for them, though self-reported and based on all classes of recipients.

With an open rate of 2 – 3% and 1,000,000 emails sent, that means about 20,000 to 30,000 are opening the email. With an open rate of 6% and 1,000,000 email sent, that means about 60,000 are opening the email. With an open rate of 12% and 1,000,000 email sent, that means about 120,000 are opening the email. Once those emails have been opened, some subset of those who did so will make one or more purchases based on what they read.

Going back to the idea of residual value. Marketing isn’t just about the sales made, but also building brand, following and cache. However, most of these services would have to rethink their entire approach to build any actual product awareness: daily pages and daily emails don’t build anything.

With 20, 30 or more books featured at a time each and every day, readers are simply being overwhelmed and it’s highly unlikely any value is being built. ENT and BookBub might be exceptions, as their larger followings make the building of traction more likely. As ENT and BookBub are quite popular, they may also have higher open rates than smaller services.

Anyone working at these services may wonder how they can start providing more value more consistently. There's no easy answer but here's a start: Don't feature so many books at once. Build additional value using your website and social media. For examples of better websites, start by looking at how ENT is doing things.

The effectiveness of this category of book promotion services has changed over time. Services focusing on free and discounted ebooks have grown and matured with the ebook/kindle marketplace itself. A mature following isn’t the same as a new, hungry following.

When many of these services started, they were rapidly expanding and growing their following. Now much of their following has matured along with the services themselves. As a result, there’s likely a growing percentage of members who may not be actively seeking new reads or who may not be seeking new reads as frequently, as well as a base of members who continue to actively seeking new reads. Because of this, these services must constantly grow their membership base with not just new members, but with members who are actively seeking new reads.

I know when I first started following these services, I couldn’t wait to open the emails each day to discover new deals. A few weeks in though, I was only checking every few days. A few months in, I was only checking sporadically, and mostly when I needed something to new to read. Now after several years, I check only every now and again—and I’m someone who reads ravenously, daily.

Regarding repeat advertising for the same product, some discussion should be made about the possibility of diminishing returns—and that should definitely be highlighted. The first time you advertise a product in a new market you are likely to capture the attention of a larger part of the market than with subsequent advertising in the same market. In fact, with each subsequent ad for the same product, you may find less and less of a return.

Keep in mind, the concept of diminishing returns applies to advertising the same product in the same market repeatedly. Thus, one way to get continued success is to market different products rather than the same product. Also, keep in mind the market itself can change over time. In the early days, this was especially true with BookBub. BookBub with 2 million members didn’t have the same market as BookBub with 4 million members. Not only did BookBub have 2 million more members, but the company also started doing things in different ways. Growth and change create new opportunity, and if BookBub continues to grow and change these opportunities will continue to flourish.

Open rate is only one metric for success in email newsletters. Other important metrics include clickthrough rates and conversion rates. Going back to what I was talking about earlier with open rates for the email newsletters from these services. The open rate is the percentage of members who open the newsletter. If a service has 4-million members and a 10% open rate, that means about 400,000 will open the email on any given day.

The clickthrough rate is the number of members who click through to a sales page after they’ve opened the email. If the clickthrough rate is 26%, that means out of those 400,000 about 104,000 will click a book link and land on a sales page, whether at Amazon, Google Play, Barnes & Noble or somewhere else. Thus, in the end, the 4-million member base is whittled down to about 104,000 who have progressed far enough to make a purchase decision:

4,000,000 to start

400,000 who open the email

104,000 who click through to a sales page

Those who click through may do so more than once, but typically are only counted on the initial click through. Because the newsletters always have multiple features, each book typically receives some portion of the click through.

Sometimes an additional metric called the conversion rate is used to track the number of people who then make a purchase. However, that’s a difficult metric to track because it relies on sales reporting, which is often estimated or self-reported.

Tips for Getting into BookBub from BookBub, Plus 20 Questions and Answers from BookBub

Like Country Clubs and Men's Clubs, BookBub builds buzz among authors by seeming to be exclusive. In 2014, they accepted 1 out of 4 submissions. For 2015, they’re currently reporting that they accept 1 out of 5 submissions and that’s what we’re seeing as well. But the only real criteria they seem to have relate to:

Current sales rank

Current sale price relative to past on sale prices

Number of favorable reviews relative to total reviews

Or in other words, they're largely looking for already successful authors to make even more successful.

Never forget, BookBub is offering a service. They exist to serve authors, authors don't exist to serve them. In 2014, BookBub earned about $12,000,000 from authors (our estimation, not theirs). If they want to keep earning that kind of money, they'll need to start being fair about their selection process, start looking at the product offered itself, start posting real sales numbers for all authors and not just the winners, and stop paying attention to what we all know can and are being bought: reviews and sales rank.

So what does BookBub itself have to say about all this? Do they have specific tips for successfully getting featured? Yes, they do, and here they are with my revisions as appropriate for clarity.

What is the biggest factor for getting into or not getting into BookBub? Discount. More specifically, the discount relative to the everyday price of the book. Books must be discounted by at least 50%. As an example, a book priced every day at $5.99 and offered at $2.99 has a 50% discount. A book with a discount less than 50% will not be accepted.

BookBub accepts novels. Does BookBub accept novellas, short stories or picture books? Any work of fiction must be at least 150 pages. Any work of nonfiction must be at least 100 pages. The exceptions are for cookbooks, middle grade readers, and pictures books. Cookbooks must be at least 70 pages. Middle grade books must be at least 70 pages. Picture books must be at least 20 pages.

So novellas and short stories are acceptable as long as they meet the length criteria? Yes. We don’t currently accept stand-alone novellas or short stories, but we do accept collective works.

Does BookBub use reviews to determine whether to feature a book? Yes. Customer reviews and ratings are used to determine whether to feature any book. BookBub also looks for critical reviews from trusted editorial sources.

Such as? Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, Amazon editors, book review sections in newspapers.

Do deeper discounts help to get into BookBub? Yes. BookBub promises members that any book we feature is deeply discounted or free. The deeper the discount from the everyday price, the better. Remember, the deal BookBub features must also be the best deal available at the time.

Does BookBub accept always discounted books? Not usually. A book that’s always discounted doesn’t meet our criteria for a limited-time offer.

What is the best price point for a deal to get accepted? BookBub rarely accepts deals priced higher than $3.00. For the best chance at getting featured, make sure your deal is $2.99 or less.

Does the price history affect a submission? Yes. BookBub doesn’t accept submissions for books that have had a better price in the previous 90 days. We don’t accept submissions for books that will have a better price in the near term (approximately next 30 days).

Does BookBub accept free books? Yes. BookBub only features books that are free or discounted. Free books are our most popular listings, and we’re always looking for submissions of good free books.

Does BookBub accept always free books? Not usually. A book that’s always free doesn’t meet our criteria for a limited-time offer.

Books that were on sale at the time of submission often weren’t selected. Can you tell us why that could happen? BookBub looks for limited-time offers and typically 14 to 30 or more days in advance of a feature. If the book is already on sale, it won’t be a limited time offer by the time we feature it.

During the submission process, we are asked for how long after the feature will the offer be available. We found that our answer here really seemed to matter. Does it? Yes. Again, BookBub looks for limited time offers. A book that’s going to be on sale for 60 days isn’t a limited time offer.

A deal has to be widely available for acceptance. Can you explain? Yes. A deal must be available on at least one major retailer in the US or UK.

An example? Amazon US or Amazon UK.

I notice BookBub is looking at Amazon Canada too, and breaks out US, UK and CA separately in pricing when you get accepted. Yes. US, UK, and CA pricing is separate. The audiences are separate.

Does the number of retailers matter? Wider availability is better, but a deal only at Amazon US, Amazon UK or both is sufficient.

How often can an author submit a book to BookBub? Each book must have at least 6 months between features. A book featured in February can’t be featured again until August.

But what if a book is rejected. When can the author resubmit? BookBub asks that authors wait four weeks before submitting a book for consideration again.

But what if an author has multiple books? BookBub looks at submissions for individual books. An author with many books can submit each that meets our requirements.

But BookBub will only feature the same author once every 30 days? Yes. BookBub won’t feature the same author twice in any 30-day period.

ReadIndies recommendation: Authors with multiple books should wait to see if they are accepted before submitting a different book for consideration.

Submit your book to BookBub @ https://www.bookbub.com/submit-order/new

Learn about BookBub pricing @ https://www.bookbub.com/partners/pricing

Hope this special report helps you get into BookBub! To share your BookBub success story with our readers, send an email to williamstanek@aol.com with subject BOOKBUB STORY TO SHARE. Be sure to include full details about your promotion including the cost of the promotion, the total sales attributed to the promotion, the category you were featured in, the sale price, the number of days for the sale, the everyday price of your books, the number of reviews and the overall rating at the time of the submission. No attachments, please enter the details into the body of your email.

Thanks for reading,

Robert Stanek

Bestseller Lists Can Lie (Or Alternatively Finding Your Happy Place While Perusing the Bestseller Lists)

I'm Robert Stanek and I founded Go Indie and Read Indies to help and support independent authors. Today, I want to break down a mistruth in this industry: the one that says bestseller lists show the actual bestsellers in the industry. The simple truth is that bestseller lists don't necessarily show the books that actually are bestselling in any category or any genre at any particular time. More accurately, bestseller lists are reflective of the bestselling books at any particular time in any particular category or genre.
  

Bestseller lists, like those in the New York Times, can lie. Every year books appear on the New York Times lists that have relatively few sales, especially when you get into the extended portions of particular lists. Every year books appear on the New York Times lists that have fewer sales relative to other titles in a particular genre that aren’t on the list. Every year books appear higher on the New York Times lists that actually have fewer sales than titles ranked lower on the list. And none of this is specific to the New York Times lists, rather this is specific to all lists of this nature.

Bestseller lists capture a portion of sales in particular markets and locations. Some bestseller lists incorporate numbers reported to them by publishers as well, which is sort of like inviting the fox into the hen house.

Publishers can become craftsman at working the bestseller lists to ensure important titles land on them. Ways some publishers do this: one-day laydowns, strict street dates and distribution focused on locations tracked by the lists. So if you’re Publisher XYZ and you have a book that you want on a particular New York Times list, you ensure the boxes of books arrive at specific stores on a specific date, can’t go on sale until a specific “street” date and you ensure those stores tracked by the list are your priority focus—you may even ship at different times to markets not tracked by the list to ensure buyers have to go to locations tracked by the list to make purchases.

Publishers organize marketing, drive pre-orders, give tracked stores incentives—whatever it takes—to ensure buyers go out and buy the book on a specific date or dates and especially at tracked stores—and those targeted sales at the right locations put the book on that important list. For some of the most important lists, depending on time of year and category, that tactic can be used to put a book on that all important list with only a few thousand actual sales in a particular week. For other lists, depending on the time of year and category, that tactic can be used to put a book on a list with less than several thousand actual sales in a particular week. Go into the extended lists and that tactic can be used to put a book on an extended list with even fewer sales. Yet when publishers proclaim a book a New York Times bestseller, they rarely state the list the book was on and I don't think I've ever seen one make the distinction between a primary list and an extended list.

Being on a bestseller list is, of course,  very cool for authors and publishers alike. I just would prefer specificity and you may as well. When possible and practical, a USA Today Bestseller should be listed as such and by category, as should a Publisher's Weekly or other print media bestseller. Likewise for online bestsellers, which should list the website and category. Preferably the category will be a top level or competitive second-level category, as this will have more relevance than lower level categories.

With my books, when possible and practical, I always try to state exactly where my book was a bestseller and in what category and in the relative position within a category. I believe that's the only honest approach. As examples:

'The Pieces of the Puzzle' was #1 Fiction for 4 weeks, Top 10 Mystery for 11 weeks and Top 20 Mystery for 16 weeks at Audible.com. 

'The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches' was #1 in Fiction at Audible and soon #1 on the entire site and not long after one of the Top 100 grossing titles in Audible’s history.

When you are specific, whether on a media list or online list, you let readers determine relevance for themselves. As online categories at specific sites are straight forward and based on actual sales numbers, rather than being weighted or based in part on a publisher's reported numbers, I believe online lists when specified precisely can be more honest than media bestseller lists.

The New York Times in particular has many bestseller lists. These lists change over time and currently, at the time of this writing, are as follows:

Combined Print & E-book Fiction (Top 15, extended to Top 35)

Combined Print & E-book Nonfiction (Top 15, extended to Top 35)

Hardcover Fiction (Top 15, extended to Top 35)

Hardcover Nonfiction (Top 15, extended to Top 35)

Paperback Trade Fiction  (Top 20, extended to Top 35)

Paperback Mass-Market Fiction (Top 20, extended to Top 35)

Paperback Nonfiction (Top 20, extended to Top 35)

E-book Fiction  (Top 25, extended to Top 35)

E-book Nonfiction  (Top 25, extended to Top 35)

Hardcover Advice & Misc.  (Top 10, extended to Top 15)

Paperback Advice & Misc.  (Top 10, extended to Top 15)

Children’s Picture Books   (Top 10, extended to Top 25)

Children’s Middle Grade    (Top 10, extended to Top 15)

Young Adult    (Top 10, not-printed extended)

Children’s Series   (Top 10, not-printed extended)

Hardcover Graphic Books   (Top 10, not-printed extended)

Paperback Graphic Books   (Top 10, not-printed extended)

Manga  (Top 10, not-printed extended)

Combined Hardcover & Paperback Fiction (Top 35, not-printed extended)

Combined Hardcover & Paperback Nonfiction (Top 35, not-printed extended)

Each list has a primary and an extended portion. Some of these lists are harder to get on and more competitive than others. Generally, the number of titles on each list is reflective of how competitive the list is. Generally, unit sales, or the number of books sold, is what lists look at vs. the cost of a book and its total earnings. However, the lists depend on tracked store reporting, on publisher reporting and relative weighting. These things virtually guarantee certain types of books will never appear on certain media bestseller lists--at least until the rules are changed to be more reflective of the entire marketplace (and I won't hold my breath waiting for that to happen anytime soon).

If you're an indie author, while you likely won't get on such a list with printed books, you may get on such a list with ebooks. Inclusion of ebooks is something that's happened only in the last few years. Ebooks were included when the list creators started realizing that many e-only books had unit sales above those of what they were calling bestsellers at a particular time. For the authors whose books peaked before such reporting, they simply missed the opportunity to have those books appear on the media lists--and there were many authors who lost such opportunities. 

View any of these lists online and you’ll be able to read a full explanation of their methodology for creating each list. When you read the fine print, you find that the lists are weighted like I've mentioned: “The universe of print book dealers is well established, and sales of print titles are statistically weighted to represent all outlets nationwide.” 

In other words, the lists for printed books are representative of sales at tracked stores and then multiplied by and/or padded with a modifier value to represent sales across the US. (And there's other fine print as well, such as with regard to publisher reported numbers, etc, etc.)

Reading this you may wonder if a list like this is sort of like Nielsen ratings for books. With Nielsen ratings, the television viewing habits of a relatively small cross-section of households are statistically extrapolated to be representative of millions of viewers across the US. Nielsen ratings are carefully controlled. The bestseller lists are not. With the bestseller lists, publishers know what stores and markets are tracked and what stores and markets aren’t tracked. Using statistical weighting, a few thousand sales at tracked stores can be interpreted as many, many thousands of sales across the US.

It's important to point out that if a list includes publisher reported numbers, as many lists did and some continue to do, the honor system was/is relied upon. The publisher reported numbers were/are simply relied upon as fact--something that some publishers took advantage of by shipping out huge numbers of books at steep discounts and than calling the books "sold."

As with print books, ebook-related lists are representative of the industry while not necessarily all inclusive.  At the time of this writing, the New York Times states they don't weight ebook sales yet--but may in the future--while also stating they track only certain ebook markets. It could be list creators simply want to find ways of being relevant when everyone else is looking to the primary online marketplaces themselves to determine what book is a bestseller at any given time. It's also important to point out that e-audio isn't included in such numbers, nor are ebook sales from websites not considered primary markets.

Finally, keep in mind, it’s not just traditional publishers who work bestseller lists. Over the past year or so, I’ve seen indies working online lists and I don’t like the trend.

Additionally, as cool as it can be for an author to see their free giveaway soar up the Amazon free list and maybe get to #1 Free in a category or even #1 Free on the entire site, a book given away isn't a bestseller. During my giveaways at Amazon every one of the books I had in KDP Select landed at #1 in a top-level category at some point in time. I gave away over 250,000 books and I don't count any of it as anything. Why? I gave the books away for free. Readers weren't purchasing them. Reaching #1 Free multiple times was fun but ultimately meaningless (and I do of course, as always, reserve the right to change my opinion about this).

If you're an author and you disagree with my thoughts on free, and that's your choice to do so, I hope you'll always qualify in any reference that your book was being given away at the time. You can use the same qualifiers I discussed earlier with regard to website, category and position within category. For example:

A #1 Free Mystery at Amazon

Further, true bestsellers stay on print bestseller lists not for a single week but for multiple weeks. True bestsellers stay on online bestseller lists not for a few hours on a particular day or for a particular day but for many days. Here's an example:

'The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches was #1 on Audible for FOURTEEN consecutive weeks and then a Kids & YA Top 10 bestseller for the next THREE YEARS.

Now that's bestselling power and it was reflected in the massive sales and millions in retail earnings for my books at Audible.

Thanks for reading,

Robert Stanek

Don’t Cry for Me Argentina (Or Alternatively Muddling Through the Gold Rush… ;-)

Hi I'm Robert Stanek and I founded Go Indie and Read Indies to help and support independent authors. I've been an indie published author since 2001 and a professionally published author since 1995.

The writer’s life can be a great one. I don’t regret this writer’s life. Not in any way. But I am kind of tired of hearing about how poverty has chosen our profession and I am equally tired of hearing about writers who once made $45,000 in a week and now have a marketing book about it. Hence this post and its title: “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina.” And alternatively, “Muddling Through the Gold Rush.”

Recently a writer said in his blog that his indie bestseller made him nothing. The author said his book was on a particular bestseller list for about a week, expected it might make him a millionaire and was disappointed to find that he’d only (his word) earned about $15,000 that whole earnings period (which I assume covered a 3-month or 6-month period of time, based on the post). The disappointment in the post was quite the opposite of the “gold rush” euphoria of some others. But why the disappointment in the first place? Events like that one are fun times. String a few of those together and you just might have a career in this crazy business.

Some time back I read a blog post from a writer who had been a full-time writer with several modestly successful books yet only made about $35,000 a year as a professional writer for most of his career, but now that he’d gone indie he’d “hit it big” (his words) and was enjoying income of $75K a year or so. He’d been a “successful indie” about two years at the time. Based on the price of his books, it wasn’t hard to figure out this “success” was about 50,000 book sales a year in total. Good numbers, not necessarily big numbers. The truly BIG numbers come over the long term like when you continue to sell 50,000 books year after year for a decade or two.

Another indie expert I met along my travels was a writer who had a single period of success. She made $45,000 in a week during the holidays a few years ago and then rushed to publish a marketing book about her big success and to offer her indie marketing expertise. She’s had continuing sales but not like that one holiday success. I understand the “indie gold rush” euphoria that makes writers say and do things like this. Everyone in this crazy business of the writing life should. 

My thought on experts in any field is that there are very few actual experts. Be careful with that word when positioning yourself. Be honest too when you talk about your success and actual experience.

My thought on success in the writing life is that: You are a success when you know you are a success. Success isn’t about other people. It’s about you. John Steinbeck once said that “The writer must believe that what he is doing is the most important thing in the world. And he must hold to this illusion even when he knows it is not true.” 

Still, the truest success in this writing life really is something you can only look back on to know fully. The truest perspective comes with time. Time measured not in a handful of months or a couple of years but in many years, maybe even a decade or two.

Some of the biggest disappointments related to the writing life come from a misunderstanding of how the industry works. This business has feast and famine—boom and bust. What sells today might not sell tomorrow; what didn’t sell yesterday or today might sell tomorrow. You can be a failure today, a success tomorrow; a success yesterday, a failure today but a success tomorrow. Neither one sale nor one million sales make an expert—time and actual experience make an expert.

Don’t forget that in this “indie gold rush”–as with any gold rush—the ones who are going to strike it rich are more likely to be the ones on the periphery providing services than those of us who write the books. Mark Coker said something similar in a recent blog post. Now there's a guy who is an expert.

Thanks for reading,

Robert Stanek

Rising Above and Finding Success As a Writer: Robert Stanek's Writing Life

I'm Robert Stanek and I run Go Indie / Read Indies as a platform to help other writers. Throughout my life I’ve found myself in extraordinary circumstances. As a child, I loved watching episodes of the Six Million Dollar Man starring Lee Majors as the bionic man. I loved the spin-off show, The Bionic Woman starring Jaime Sommers, just as much. Both were stories of larger-than-life people in extraordinary circumstances. They were classic television shows, written in the style of the day, and like the classic novels of Verne and Wells and Stevenson they helped me transcend abject poverty, a tragedy-filled youth and the misery of my circumstances.

However difficult that journey from childhood was, it did prepare me for an extraordinary life. A life filled with not just fleeting moments of transcendence but a life filled with sustained stretches of transcendence where I was able to rise above circumstance time and again.

Where I find myself today is a long way from a childhood where “flour and water” pancakes were breakfast and a can of peas was dinner shared by many. A long way from that kid who graduated high school near the top of his class but had no way or means to go to college. A long way from that kid who joined the military to serve his country and make a better life but later found himself in multiple warzones. A long way from that kid who eventually put himself through college while working full time and starting a family but with no idea of what he really wanted to do in this life.

And yet, every turn that seemed wrong eventually became right as I was able to overcome circumstance and rise above--like a phoenix born from the ashes. So much so that now as I look back, it seems I look back upon another’s life, thinking that kid really couldn’t have lived through all that. But that kid did, and that kid is me--all grown up now.

That kid all grown up has had as many difficult turns as ever from encounters with crooked competitors to encounters with just plain crooks. To say that writing is a difficult business is a serious understatement. Any business where some very few make billions and millions is a difficult business. Exacting, harsh, risky--and dare I say at times even hazardous. That is the writing business. As a writer you put yourself out there for the world to see. Though others may try to twist and pervert the lens through which the world sees you, you can rise above--you can succeed. You have only to dare to dream.

And when you dare to dream, measure your success not by the words and thoughts of others but by standards of your own heart and mind. Believe in yourself. You are a success when you know in your heart and mind you are.

For me personally, though I’m in no way bashful about my commitment to the written word and will gladly let you know about the 150+ books I’ve written and the many millions who have read my books, while shouting from the rooftops about the same, success has never been about stacks of books written or millions of books sold. It’s always been about loving what I do and believing in what I do each and every day. That in itself is enough for me to know I am a success. It’s why I get up each and every morning eager to write. It’s why I’ve never had writer’s block. It’s why I’ve been so prolific over a lifetime of writing.

Finding Reality in Hate: Personal Attacks, Stalkers, Unethical Competitors

On January 5, I contacted a guy who appears to have been writing malicious nonsense about me since at least 2009 and asked him to remove an objectionable review from GoodReads. This also is a guy who is friends with many of the bloggers and several of the authors who have been writing personal attacks about me online for years.

I joined GoodReads at the beginning of January 2013. Immediately after I joined, Tyson was one of several people who modified their reviews. To me, it seemed these people wanted to make sure their reviews were the first thing anyone--and me in particular--saw when they looked at particular books I'd written. All sort of a welcome to GoodReads greeting for me from these folks.

In this particular case, Tyson reposted his review from 2011 to give it a new date, January 5 2013. He also added the text of the review which had been on his blog. This moved his review to the top of the listings and made it appear as a new review.

Reading what follows should help you get a feel for just how far outside of reality all this nonsense that they keep cooking up really is and just how much rage some of these people have inside them. As you read this, note the timestamps: The conversation via GoodReads messages is finished when this person goes over to Sffworld and tries to stir up the mob, saying specifically "I haven't heard anything back from him, but then again this just happened tonight."

For the record, the ____ I've inserted replaces a threatened act that I stated in the message but is best left in private, regarding a specific incident, which was prosecuted successfully in April 2012.

Tyson lives in Lakewood, WA. From his messages, he believes I don't know that (and that I don't know what he's been doing). In his messages, he tries to act like he's offering helpful advice while he twists the knife with the other hand.

Let's start with his nonsense on Sffworld. His alias is DurzoBlint:


#   #    #   # 

January 6th, 2013, 02:40 AM #1
DurzoBlint

Just Threatened by Robert Stanek on Goodreads

I am sure that many of you are familiar with Mr. Stanek and way back in mid-2011, I wrote and posted a review of his book The Kingdom and The Elves of the Reaches on Goodreads. When I originally posted my review, I heard absolutely nothing from him. That is until about a week ago when I changed my review from a link to my review site to the actual review for all the world to read.

Now, Mr. Stanek is threatening me with slander (slander for those of you keeping score at home is defamation that is spoken [not written as in my review]). He also claims that my review has in fact harassed children that enjoy his books. Not sure how that can occur. Has anyone else had this issue with him, or with a different author? How did you respond, if you gave any response at all.

I did respond and told him I would alter the review where I felt he could possibly feel that he was being personally attacked as to avoid "libel" or where children could be "harassed"(I even went so far as to set him straight on the two forms of defamation). However, I remained vigilant in my rights to post a negative review of his book.

I haven't heard anything back from him, but then again this just happened tonight. I am not worried about any repercussions but I am curious as to what other reviewers have done in the past if something similar occurred to them.

Didn't quite know where to post this thread, so Mods feel free to move it to its proper location if this is not the proper place.

#   #    #   # 

Although Tyson says he didn't quite know where to put his post, I'm fairly confident he knew exactly what he was doing when he posted that message to the Books and Literature - Fantasy / Horror discussion. This location ensures his post is seen by just about everyone who logs in to the site, which is what he wanted.

He's been an active member of the site since March 2009, having actually participated in other threads there and elsewhere regarding me specifically. What he wanted to do was to get the most eyeballs, stir up the mob, get people angry and have them retaliate--as ever.

So what precipitated this? Here are the GoodReads messages between Tyson and myself.


#   #    #   # 

My message:

Jan 05, 2013 09:40pm

Dear Tyson,

I understand you did not enjoy my book. However, many readers have and most of my readers are children. As a result of posts like yours, many people have been harassed and most of them were children who were unable to defend themselves.

What you've written constitutes slander and under defamation laws you are personally liable for any damages caused by such. Rather than pursue legal action, I simply ask you to do the right thing.

I do not appreciate your personal attacks. I ask you to remove your review and refrain from posting in the future.

Thank you,

William Robert Stanek

#   #    #   # 

Jan 05, 2013 11:19pm

His response:

Mr. Stanek,
Grow up. Stop using children as a shield to protect yourself from negative reviews. There is no slander in the review (for your own information slander is spoken, libel is written). I maintain my right to freedom of speech by posting a negative review. Since I reside in Korea, I am not under American jurisdiction of defamation laws. Which even if I did, your case is about as solid as a wet paper sack. Considering you are a veteran, I would assume you of all people would support a person's right to free speech. And would have enough backbone to be able to take a little criticism, guess not.

The review has been up for quite some time (Mid-2011). The change was making the review for all to see without needing to click on the actual review website. You didn't have an issue with the review until it was made plain for all to see. However, since you have an issue with parts of my review, and to appease you I will remove the first paragraph of the review where "children" could, for some reason, known only to you, some how be harassed. Which should appease you under Section 230. The remainder of the review stands as is.

This is why you have such negative press. You take everything as a personal insult instead of taking reviewer's critiques and using them to improve. You would win over more readers and fans if you engaged them intellectually instead of cramming a bunch of legal mumbo jumbo that anyone with a high school diploma knows is total malarky. It is your online antics that have turned the reviewing community against you.

While I commend you on publishing books, that does not automatically mean that you are an accomplished author or that you should receive automatic acceptance. Accomplished authors work with their peers and constantly work to improve themselves while building a rapport with their audience and fans. Something you have failed to do.

Tyson Mauermann
PS- We are not on a first name basis.

#   #    #   # 

Jan 05, 2013 11:39pm

My response:

Dear Mr. Mauermann,

I appreciate this change. As an associate of multiple people who have written personal attacks against me online, you know very well what has been going on and that it has been going on for many years. These persons were extremely vindictive and personal in their attacks, and this is something you also know.

I've rarely engaged these persons, though they seem to have created all sorts of untrue nonsense stating I have.

Children have been harassed because of related nonsense. One of these persons threatened to ____ a child. Hope you can live with that on your conscience.

#   #    #   # 

Jan 06, 2013 12:17am

His response:

Mr. Stanek,

Really? You really think that the allegation that someone else threatened a child is going to make me not sleep at night, or somehow make me increase my opinion of you? Simply by using this random fact in correspondence with me has lowered my opinion of you a hundredfold. I have absolutely no connection with a random act of violence and you want to put the blame on me? I sleep quite well at night. It is silly, over-the-top antics like your last three sentences that have put you in the doghouse with the reviewing and online community at-large.

Do not presume to know what I do and do not know; however, if you are referring to who I think you are, they are highly regarded individuals in not only the reviewing community, but the publishing community as a whole. While they may have personally attacked you in the past, your attempts to elevate the argument only proved that they were not dealing with a rational person. Which again, I direct you back to your last three sentences you wrote to me.

Book reviewers, fans, and the occasional reader love their books, but never have I been witnessed to anyone threatening a child with physical harm. Not sure who these individuals are, but the online community would certainly condone that type of behavior and seek to identify that individual so that the proper authorities could take any and all legal action pursuant to the the law to prosecute them. I personally feel as if you are a bit delusional about a great many things.

This is all very unfortunate as I can tell you have a great passion for your novels and the world you have created; however, the way you have gone above and beyond to vilify and discredit negative reviews and book reviewers has led to the position you are in. My advice to you, and you can take it or leave it, is to grow from each positive and negative review instead of lashing out at the individual. Not everyone's tastes run as parallel to your own. That is the beauty of a review.

Furthermore, you have no inkling as to who I am. For all you know I could be in law enforcement or serving in the armed services and have seen many horrible things that far outweigh [what you attempted to hang upon my conscience.

I have done my best to be civil and not hang any moral obligations on you. I have also done my best to give you some advice as someone who is involve in the reviewing community. You can take it or leave it. But I ask you to refrain from contacting me again. I will uphold my end of the bargain and leave the review in its current form (which you have stated is adequate) and refrain from reviewing anything else in your catalog and in return I ask that you abstain from anymore correspondence with me as I plan to do the same. This will be the last time you hear from me. Best of luck in the future.

Tyson Mauermann

#   #    #   # 

Unethical Competitors

I am the author of 150 books, celebrating #150 this year in fact. Millions of people around the world have read my work. I write as William Stanek for technical works and Robert Stanek for other works. My first professionally published book was Electronic Publishing Unleashed, published in 1995.

For over a decade certain competitors have used downright nasty, unethical tactics to tarnish my good name and reputation while strongly positioning themselves within the industry. They’ve hired promoters to spread falsities while spreading praise for themselves, set up fake websites to do the same, compelled others to disparage. They’ve used intimidation and harassment to ensure readers couldn’t talk about my books in public forums. They’ve coerced distributors into dropping listings, hired lawyers to send notices—and much more.

Apparently, I was supposed to sit quietly and not say a word about what they were doing—ever. I did in fact ignore them for a number of years, but that only emboldened them to do more harm. Finally, fed up, I blogged about what they were doing in May 2007 @ http://www.robertstanek.com/rsblog2.htm — this was about 5 years after all this started and only after these same competitors took over the Robert Stanek author page fans had created on Wikipedia and used it to spread their nonsense. It was the first time I had said a word publicly about what these competitors were doing. Prior to this, my only involvement was to ask Wikipedia to take down that bastardized page. My contact was with Wikipedia and not these persons.

Blogging about what they were doing sent them into another multi-year rampage because I was supposed to sit quietly while they ruined my career. The next time I commented about any of this was on my blog in 2009 —http://www.robertstanek.com/rsblog1.htm  — when these persons used a picture with myself, my entire family and Brian Jacques at his book signing in my hometown of Olympia Washington and made all kinds of noise about how it was a supposed scam where they said I photoshopped myself into the picture to make it look like I had a book signing with Brian Jacques—or whatever variation of such generated the most outrage at the moment. The picture was posted, with Brian’s permission, on a tribute page about his books and his visit, found here: http://www.themagiclands.com/brianjacques.htm.

At this point, this was the sum and total of my commentary on the matter, but according to their postings and running comments I supposedly deserved all their nonsense because I was raving about how they were attacking me all over the Internet. If defending yourself and your reputation with a few blog posts is raving all over the Internet, then I guess I was raving.

Who are these people? Largely, they’re direct competitors—authors who write in the genres (fiction books) I write in and their blogger friends. This nonsense started in 2002 when Keeper Martin’s Tale was topping the Science Fiction & Fantasy lists at Amazon.com. The book was highly ranked for several months when the nonsense started. Initially, it was a couple of odd reviews. The third review ever of Keeper Martin’s Tale was titled: “I’ve been had.” The review went on to say the book was “nowhere near a five star book and I was conned into buying this book by all the five star reviews.” The book had exactly two previous reviews and both were short, a few sentences. Elf Queen’s Quest got a similar review around the same time—which was the second review ever for that book and from a reader supposedly “conned into buying by all the five star reviews.” Keeper Martin’s Tale was published in print February 2002 and in ebook in August 2001—the book had sold many thousands of copies on Amazon.com since its publication.

In May 2002, the following appeared in David Langford’s Ansible: “Amazon Mystery. Authors of fantasies on sale at Amazon.com have noticed a rash of oddly similar customer reviews that rubbish their work and instead recommend, say, George R.R. Martin, Robert Jordan, and Robert Stanek. The number of Big Name commendations varies, but not the plug for self-published author Robert Stanek. Who could possibly be posting these reviews (many since removed by Amazon) under a variety of names? It is a mystery, but Ansible is reminded of how Lionel Fanthorpe's pseudonymous sf would often mention those great classic masters of the genre, Verne, Wells and Fanthorpe.”

The people behind that post made sure for whatever reason this kicked off a firestorm within the fantasy community. Before long people were posting about how I was a conman, a fraud, a guy who wrote fake reviews and used sock puppets. For the record, later when I learned of this nonsense, I looked to see if any such reviews rubbishing anyone existed. The only review I ever saw, written in this timeframe, was a five-star review of George R.R. Martin’s book from a reader that mentioned they had bought Martin’s book after reading my book, Keeper Martin’s Tale. Of note also is that I had about 65 books to my credit by this time (2002), which had sold many millions of copies collectively and was also previously a columnist for PC Magazine and Dr. Dobbs which were widely read (readership in the millions for PC Magazine back then).

Regardless, what followed was a flood of nastiness that went through multiple fantasy forums and blogs and also resulted in my books getting flooded with one-star reviews and hateful comments. Largely, this nonsense came directly from competing authors and their associates.

The nonsense reached a fever pitch in 2005 when these hateful people learned my book, The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches, was the #1 bestselling book on Audible.com. That sent them into a feeding frenzy that went across the Internet and into nearly every fantasy book discussion forum. Suddenly, my books on Audible were flooded with nasty reviews too.

In 2005 my books were praised in three printed books: The Complete Idiots Guide to Elves and Fairies (June 2005), Ancient Art of Faery Magick (Sep 2005) and Popular Series Fiction for Middle School and Teen Readers: A Reading and Selection Guide (Children's and Young Adult Literature Reference) (Jan 2005). This was exciting news and when I found out I shared the news with readers.

Seeing me talk about this, these hateful people started spreading malicious lies that no publication had ever mentioned my work and I was supposedly fraudulently claiming publications had.

Anyone who bothered to look would have found otherwise—but it seemed no one who went on the war path about this bothered to check the facts. I don’t know why but I suspect some people are just mean and hateful and don’t care, while others may have believed the people spreading the lies were beyond reproach: The lies were coming from professionally published competitors. Some with many books to their credit. [This was before Look Inside the Book was available on Amazon BTW.]

This was accompanied by another strange post in David Langford’s Ansible (Sept 30, 2005) about how I supposedly hired a lawyer to contact Glasgow University: “Now it can be told. The mystery complaint that caused such trouble for the Ansible archive at Glasgow University has been forwarded at last. Apparently, however factually based and written in a spirit of fair comment, light-hearted squibs are fraught with peril if they refer to fantasy author Robert Stanek.” There’s more but I won’t include it here. Again though, the people behind the post ensured it kicked off a firestorm.

In February 2007, my book, The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches, was praised and reviewed by the leading magazine for YA librarians, VOYA. Within a few months, they started spreading malicious lies that I wasn’t a best-selling author, that any claim I made to have ever been #1 was a lie, and backed their claims by stating no publication had ever mentioned my books and that no library had ever stocked my books. Shake your head if you want, I know I have. It makes no sense that any rational person would believe this nonsense but these hateful people used this nonsense to work others up into angry frenzies in forums and discussions time and again. Those angry people then spread the nonsense and posted many hateful, malicious things about me on blogs, in reviews, and in discussions.

By this time, the group posting character attacks and slinging mud in my direction included quite a few competitors who were directly associated with fantasy publisher Tor. Not only that, when their blogger friends trashed me, they used Tor.com and Tor.com related Facebook pages to distribute their nonsense and seemed to be given additional visibility within the fantasy community for doing so. Some of these competitors even started web sites to praise themselves and their friends while trashing me (and sometimes others).

Around 2007 a new group related to a then-newcomer with big friends came in swinging with nastiness. That author's #1 fan, and friend, started posting the same nonsense to his blog and elsewhere. The author (himself or a representative of his) joined in by posting about how I was supposedly a fraud on his blog/site in what seemed an effort to get his readers involved in the nonsense—and they did get involved in a big way for the next few years.

These nasty things continued. My book, Stormjammers: The Extraordinary True Story of EW in the Gulf War, was published and received good reviews in the press. I’m a distinguished combat veteran, having received many accommodations for my wartime service, including our nation’s highest flying honor, the Distinguished Flying Cross. Around 2008, when these people saw that the book was still selling well, they started spreading a malicious lie that I hadn’t received the Distinguished Flying Cross and wasn’t even a combat veteran. This resulted in some of the worst harassment I’ve ever encountered.

This was rapidly growing into something worse, darker and angrier. The people at the core of this began posting online how I was delusional and mentally imbalanced—and here’s the kicker: and that I deserved everything I was getting because of my supposed rantings about what they were doing.

This continued for several years and was spread to new corners of the Internet. Some of these started going around to various websites and getting them to remove any positive discussion of my work. Several of the competitors who had been trashing me online and/or their representatives came back from the summer American Library Association convention where my books were featured with renewed purpose to destroy me. One, who either attended or knew someone who did, posted malicious nonsense about me on his blog / Facebook page. His readers went rabid with their attacks—some going as far as stalking anyone who talked about my books online anywhere.

The Fantasy genre is a billion-dollar industry. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out why so much effort was made to harm my image, damage my career, and ensure I couldn’t compete as effectively as I should have been able to in the marketplace. Meanwhile, the hateful people behind the nonsense and those related to them? A few are multimillionaires.

Twas the Nights of the New Year and the Great Holiday Indie Author Meet and Greet Post!

Robert Stanek: Hi, readers and authors. Welcome to ‘Twas the Nights of the New Year’ and the Great Holiday Indie Author Meet and Greet Post!

The holidays are a wonderful time of year. A time to reconnect with family and friends. A time to rekindle hope and love. A time to cherish what matters most. But the holidays also can be a busy time. A time when it’s hard to slow down and catch a breath.

This holiday, I decided to do something different. To breathe. To catch a breath. On Facebook, I invited authors to introduce themselves and/or share by posting about their works as part of a holiday get-together. The result follows. Read on to learn about many authors and many books, from new voices awaiting discovery to the well-established, all giving a holiday shout out as part of the meet and greet.

 

 

Robert Stanek: I’ll get things going by introducing myself. I'm Robert Stanek. I founded Go Indie (http://goindie.reagentpress.com/) in 2007 and that effort grew into the Go Indie and Free Today groups on Facebook as well as the Read Indies blog (http://readindies.blogspot.com/). When I began writing stories in the 4th grade, I had no idea that 35 years later I'd be celebrating the upcoming publication of my 150th book or that millions would have read those books.

My official #150 is the upcoming book from Microsoft Press that I just finished. That little book, weighing in at 1580 pages and 654,000 words, is called Windows Server 2012 Inside Out.

It's been an interesting, if not always fun, ride through these last many years, and you can read my thoughts on writing @ http://www.imaginedlands.com/writing.htm. Thank you for your contributions and participation in Go Indie (http://www.facebook.com/groups/goindie/).

 

Warren Martin: Hello Everyone, I’m a little older buy new to the writing scene. I had served 21 years in the Army and then ten plus in business and business ownership. I jokingly tell people I don’t know what I want to do when I grow up since it always seems like I’m doing something. A few years ago I started writing, learning as I go while at the same time working on school going after a PhD – so staying busy.

I self-published my first book earlier this year, “Forgotten Soldiers” and yesterday was surprised with a package notifying me that my book was a finalist for Historical Fiction in the Star And Flags Book awards, so an early Christmas present. I plan to keep writing as a hobby I love to do and also transition into teaching – unless of course Hollywood calls, but even if that happened, I’d probably still want to write and teach.

My Blog and Websites:

http://warrenmartinbooks.blogspot.com/
http://www.warrenmartinbooks.com/

Kim Mutch Emerson: Kim Mutch Emerson of www.MasterKoda.com and www.MasterkodaSelectPublishing.com Love to assist others in creating success. Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday. My book Digitus 233 just released and I'm overwhelmed right now. LOL

Wendy Jones: I'm Wendy Jones and I come from an academic background so have published in academic textbooks and journals. I have just finished my first novel and I am currently editing it. It is a murder mystery set in Dundee, Scotland where I live. It will be the first in a series about the CID in Dundee headed up by DI Shona McLeod so the series will be called The DI Shona McLeod Mysteries.

Marilyn Holdsworth: I'm an author of two books. My third, Making Wishes will be published in January. Womens literature.

Debbie Brown: Debbie Brown! I run the English Historical Fiction Authors (multiauthor's blog) and the FB group by the same name. I write sweet Victorian suspense/romance books, one of which is published and free today on Kindle and Audible.

Marquita Herald: Marquita (Marty) Herald - I'm an award winning blogger, and I have published 4 books on the art of living life by design. I live in Maui, Hawaii. I jumped from a successful career in sales and marketing into coaching new entrepeneurs, and eventually realized I could help many more people through my blog and my books. Nice to meet you all!

Scott Nicholson: Scott, organic gardener and libertarian taoist. ;-)

M.j. Kane: Hi! I'm M.J., stay-at-home-mom turned Amazon Bestseller of Contemporary Romance, Women's Fiction, and Interracial Romance. My debut novel, A Heart Not Easily Broken, Book one of The Butterfly Memoirs was published in September 2012. Book two, Jaded, will be published March 2013. See what happens when your home all day with an over-active imagination! You find a way to make it work! Happy Holidays!!

Alan Tucker: Greetings and Happy Holidays! I began publishing YA Fantasy/Adventure books in 2010 and just released my fourth book in November, a new SciFi/Adventure, called Knot in Time. My writing and marketing skills are still very much a work in progress and I hope to meet many more wonderful Indies here! http://www.facebook.com/TuckerAuthor

Kelly Preston: Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to everyone. I am Kelly Preston, co-author of Real Dogs Don't Whisper (www.realdogsdontwhisper.com); my partner in crime is Mr MaGoo. He would stop to introduce himself, I took away his iPaw as he has been "naughty" LOL Our book is about giving those with special needs, a chance, a second chance.

About miracles that occur when your heart opens up and allows these angels from God to enter into your life. This book has been based on my life, the life lessons I have discovered along the way with four special need dogs and my late brother with Downs Syndrome.

S.w. Frank: Greetings, i am the author of the multicultural romance, drama series Alfonzo. An infusion of urban literature is often found in my stories to give spice and earthiness to the read. http://1swfrank.wix.com/authorswfrank

Jill James: Hello, I've been indie for just over a year. I have 3 novellas, bundled, and made them trade paper too. I have 1 full-length novel, paranormal romantic suspense, in eBook and print. Happy Holidays everyone!!

Lisa Bilbrey: Hello, I'm Lisa, an author, editor, Public relations manager, and co-owner of a small publishing house with big dreams! I have 5 books out so far.

Author Qwantu Amaru: I'm Author Qwantu Amaru, author of One Blood, a bestselling award-winning novel about a supernatural curse tormenting a group of people unaware of their hidden connections.

Brian Bigelow: Hello, I'm Brian Bigelow. An author living in Colorado and I presently write horror. I hope everyone has a great holiday, warm wishes to you all.

Zoe Brooks: Hello, I'm Zoe Brooks. I've been an indie author since March last year. I've got three novels out on amazon - Girl in the Glass, Love of Shadows and Mother of Wolves. I have a blogsite about magic realism (http://magic-realism-books.blogspot.com) and produce an online newspaper featuring the best on the web (http://www.womens-fiction.net)

Andrew McAllister: I am the Assistant Dean of the Faculty of Computer Science at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. I'm a father of three, and I write both fiction and non-fiction. My current project is a non-fiction title - relationship self-help, based partly on my relationship advice blog To Love, Honor, and Dismay.

Karen Docter: I've been in the writing biz for over twenty years, mostly aiming my sights on traditional publishing. A series of health issues sidelined me for several years but when I came out the other side, I found a whole new world of Indie publishing and the surety that life was too short to keep beating my head against a wall. I went Indie with my first romantic comedy in February of this year, followed by a novella. In addition to writing romantic comedy, I'm launching a romantic suspense series beginning next year. blog 5 days a week, three of those days highlighting other authors' books. To find out more about me, www.karendocter.com.

Diana J Febry: Hi, I'm a very new writer. My first two novels were published in 2012 and third is due to be published in January. All with Wingsepress. I'm learning as I go along. The first novel was a detective crime, the second - I honestly haven't a clue (one neighbour tries to blackmail another and it goes very wrong) and the third is probably women's lit. Looking forward to making new friends here.

Adrienne Thompson: I am a divorced mother of three, grandmother of one, former RN, current full-time writer. In the last 2 years I've self-published 5 books, all of which have appeared on Amazon best-sellers lists. I love music and pop culture and Marilyn Monroe http://adriennethompsonwrites.webs.com

Janice Horton: I'm an indie being interviewed on Dizzy C's Book Blog Festive Fun Feature. Take a look. All Shares and Tweets appreciated! xx http://dizzycslittlebookblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/festive-fun-day-21-janice-horton.html

M.j. Kane: A HEART NOT EASILY BROKEN, BOOK ONE of the BUTTERFLY MEMOIRS and AMAZON BESTSELLER!!! Read the BOOK REVIEWS, check out the FREE SAMPLE CHAPTERS, then BUY it for KINDLE, NOOK, iBOOK, or SMASHWORDS for $3.99, or find it in PAPERBACK….all from just ONE CLICK!!!

http://www.kindleboards.com/book/?asin=B009DID8HW

A Heart Not Easily Broken (The Butterfly Memoirs) by M. J. Kane

www.kindleboards.com

Zoe Brooks: Set in an unspecified time and land this Cinderella story for adults there is no fairy godmother and no handsome prince, just a girl of spirit and her strange companion. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007IROBEE

Girl in the Glass (The Healer's Shadow)

www.amazon.com

Deborah Hutto Bateman: Self-Publishing Simplified: How to Publish a Book on Kindle

By: Deborah H. Bateman

Go to: http://tinyurl.com/9plzayh

If you don't have a Kindle you can download Kindle for PC free on Amazon then read your Kindle ebooks right on your computer. Go to: http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=kcp_pc_mkt_lnd?docId=1000426311

Merry Christmas to you and yours,

Deborah

Kelly Preston: "Anyone who has ever loved a pet will want to read this one, but more than that it's a story that reminds us of second chances and unconditional love. On a scale of one to five this book deserves at least a ten because it's just that good! I would love to read more from this author! Highly recommended." 50% off with promo code: JW67FYL5 http://goo.gl/xuW8H

Real Dogs Don't Whisper: Life lessons from a larger than life dog - and his owner!

www.amazon.com

Joseph Rinaldo: Did Mormons, directed by Brigham Young, slaughter 150 Arkansans in Utah Territory in 1857? Arkansans who were doing nothing more than trying to reach California to start a new life. A slaughter of men, women, and children, the theft of all their wagons, clothing, gold, supplies, animals - a slaughter that made Brigham Young even richer? Or was it really Paiute Indians, as the Mormons claimed, even though historians have declared that Paiutes were a peaceful people AND they owned no guns - all the dead were murdered by gunshots! Read A MORMON MASSACRE and decide for yourself who is covering up one of the worst mass murders in American history! A MORMON MASSACRE on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/A-MORMON-MASSACRE-ebook/dp/B008R26S18.

A MORMON MASSACRE
www.amazon.com

Author Missy Lyons: 365 Days of America (Annotated) (365 Days of Happiness)

http://www.amazon.com/365-Days-America-Inspirational-ebook/dp/B00AQKE23A/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1356120414&sr=8-1

365 Days of Romance: Inspirational Quotes for Every Day of the Year (Annotated)

http://www.amazon.com/365-Days-Romance-Inspirational-ebook/dp/B00AE7KB08/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1356530008&sr=1-1&keywords=365+days+of+romance

Jill James: He is Mr. By-The-Book. She has an attitude problem. Together, they just might catch a killer virus before it becomes an Extinction Level Event. Dangerous Shift http://tinyurl.com/dangerousshift-amz in eBook and print.

Dangerous Shift

www.amazon.com

Tammie Clarke Gibbs: His Uncle was an eccentric.

And determined to prove she existed.

He was determined to prove to the world that his family wasn’t crazy…
That HE wasn’t crazy.
It was working…
Until he made one mistake…
That would change his life forever…
And force him to question his own sanity.
Something was missing from her life…
Doing a friend a favor…
And pretending to be someone else for a day seemed like a good idea at the time.
Then she finds a warning note…
From hundreds of years BEFORE she was born.
And then if that wasn’t bad enough…

She met HIM…

TWICE!

For centuries a force has kept them apart…

But, will Love be enough to finally keep them together…
Or will history repeat?

http://www.amazon.com/Island-Secrets-Travel-Romance-ebook/dp/B004DNWQ98/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1356307982&sr=1-1&keywords=tammie+gibbs

Island of Secrets: A Time Travel, Gothic Romance
www.amazon.com

Patrice Fitzgerald: Merry Holidays! RUNNING is free Christmas Eve and Christmas Day... you can grab it via Amazon Kindle in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Brazil, Japan... have I forgotten anywhere? Oh, and India! An election season full of suspense, action, romance, laughs, and a little sex. Two women running for President of the United States. Enjoy, and pass it on! http://amzn.to/RUNNINGnovel

RUNNING

www.amazon.com

 

Karl Jones: This is possibly going to be my last major promotion effort for the year so here it is.

Give the gift that keeps on giving this Christmas, literature.

Buying a copy of Shattered will not only entertain your friends and family, it will give me a merry Christmas, so please, be kind and give everyone a wonderful present.

Murdered teens, incompetent police, vigilante parents. Stuck in the middle is Donna Harp, the young constable determined to bring an end to the murders tearing her village apart, even if it costs her her job.

Amazon US - http://ow.ly/g4mP7

Amazon UK - http://ow.ly/g4mSO
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/116947

Shattered (Donna Harp Series)

www.amazon.com

 

K.t. Dixon: Load up that Kindle you bought for a friend or loved one with the best deal on Amazon. Today all of my Kindle books are on sale for just 99 cents. http://www.amazon.com/K.T.-Dixon/e/B00818GN9K/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1356355423&sr=1-2-ent

Amazon.com: K.T. Dixon: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Kindle

www.amazon.com

Susette Williams: #BestSeller MAID FOR MURDER: Deadly Business

Genre: humorous inspirational mystery

http://ow.ly/g9frP  

Bailey inherits her grandfather’s business, Maid For You, but cleaning up dead body parts wasn’t part of the job description. Bailey hopes to wipe out crime with the help of Nate, her computer hacker assistant, despite protests of their involvement in the case from Detective Max Wellington.

 When Bailey catches the culprits arranging to dispose of another body, she's out to help the two of them dig their own grave and if she’s lucky, Detective Max Wellington will keep them from arranging her funeral.

 Maid for Murder is a trilogy that begins with Deadly Business. The story continues throughout the trilogy as Bailey uncovers deception, corruption and a few secrets that may forever change her life. As the threads of deceit unravel, the murders begin to break out like a case of Bubonic Plague.

 Bailey is a Christian, struggling to keep on the path she knows is right, fighting the temptation of the hunky Detective Max Wellington who would like nothing more than to take her into protective custody, for more than just interfering in police business.

Amazon.com: B00A1U6WI8

www.amazon.com

 

Staci Stallings: Best Selling Christian Romance.... COWBOY "Stallings has a way of making you fall in love with the characters." http://ow.ly/gnKT1 Get your copy! Tell a friend!

Cowboy (The Harmony Series)

www.amazon.com

 

Lee Mellott: Double Chin - How To Get Rid Of A Double Chin

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007TBK9Y0/

 

Lisa Bilbrey: Did you get at the new Kindle Fire for Christmas? Maybe a new Nook or iPad? Even a Kobo e-reader? Looking for some great reads to add on to them? Well, look no further! Renaissance Romance Publishing is having an after Christmas Sale on all of our books on Smashwords. Use the coupon code listed on our blog that goes with each book and enjoy! http://renaissanceromancepublishing.blogspot.com/2012/12/after-christmas-sale.html

Morgann Roddy: I don't do well at my own promotion, so I teamed up with twenty-some odd other authors, instead. Help me get the word out about ALL of these wonderful stories, priced (some starting today) at only $0.99! You see, I helped to run a Forty Books For A Buck Each promotion about a week ago, and it was wildly successful. There are new authors on the list this time, along with previous participants, and EVERY BOOK will be (or already is, in the case of mine and a few others') priced at only $0.99. http://mo8832.wix.com/undiscloseddesires#!home/mainPage PLEASE check it out and spread the word for me, as you know I will do the same for you. THANK YOU, and I hope your holiday is warm, bright, and full of love.

Undisclosed Desire - A Novel Website by M. Peters | Wix.com

mo8832.wix.com

The home of my first novel and of exciting news, excerpts and other tidbits about my next writing adventures!

James C. Wallace II: Check out Magician of Oz (which was reviewed by The Baum Bugle and declared to be "in the true Baum tradition"), Shadow Demon of Oz, Family of Oz and The Ozian Adventure of Pickleless & Blu; each only $0.99 each! http://www.amazon.com/James-C.-Wallace-II/e/B009ONML4M/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1#/ref=la_B009ONML4M_rf_p_n_feature_browse-b_1?rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_82%3AB009ONML4M%2Cp_n_feature_browse-bin%3A618073011&bbn=283155&ie=UTF8&qid=1356390960&rnid=618072011

Amazon.com: James C. Wallace II: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Kindle

www.amazon.com

 

Birgit Kluger: “Black Sacrament” first part of the fantasy Serial “Creatures of Fire”: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008QKTX4A

Black Sacrament (Part 1, Creatures of Fire Serial)

www.amazon.com

Shelley Hitz: My book is "Healing for the Broken Hearted" http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ANSSW6S

Thanks for your support! I really appreciate it! ~Shelley~

Healing For The Broken Hearted: Discover Lasting Freedom in Christ

www.amazon.com

K.t. Dixon: I want to wish a Merry Christmas to all of my friends out there in the FB world. If you have a Kindle or a Kindle app on your phone, you can go to my Author's page on Amazon and download any of my books today (12-25) free of charge. http://www.amazon.com/K.T.-Dixon/e/B00818GN9K/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1356437427&sr=1-2-ent

Andrew McAllister: In honor of the season, I'd like to give away a free e-book copy of Unauthorized Access. Here's the deal - If you have an e-reader or tablet (maybe even a new one you received for Christmas - yay!), leave a comment saying what kind of device you have. Tomorrow I'll put all the respondent's names into a hat, pick one out, and send off the appropriate file format to the winner. Happy Boxing Day everyone!

Margarita Felices: GOT ONE OF THESE STORIES ON YOUR KINDLE? EACH ONE IS DIFFERENT AND SURE TO KEEP YOU ENTERTAINED.

JUDGEMENT OF SOULS 3: Kiss at Dawn.

Judgement of Souls
www.amazon.com

JUDGEMENT OF SOULS is a Gothic horror novel.

DeEtte Beckstead Anderton: No more rights, no traditions, new rules. Will the Overseer win the showdown on the mountain? Find out in Victory. Now just 99 cents through Dec. 28th. http://tinyurl.com/c3tel2c

Victory

www.amazon.com

Victory, a town where the people love their country and their neighbors, but what comes may change everything.

Janelle Taylor: My book is NECESSARY EVIL. Very interested in hearing what especially horror/thriller/mystery authors think about it. http://amzn.com/B009MQP6UM

NECESSARY EVIL

www.amazon.com

‎1990 - Atlanta, Georgia Is there a serial killer on the prowl?

Janelle Taylor Author: Thanks, Robert, for your help to Indie authors.

Robert Stanek: Thank you, Janelle.  Glad you went indie! And thank you everyone for your participation. Happy Holidays!