More about that Book launch...

There are literally dozens (if not hundreds) of webinars going on all about 'How to have a hugely successful book launch', I listened to another one yesterday - the one difference with this one was that it guaranteed to get you to the No 1 spot, hmmm that's a big statement.

Encouragingly for me,' a lot of what they were saying to do I was already doing, but on a lesser scale; so it's not a rocket science.

I also got bored of the preacher like 'we are great' routine, here's what we are going to do for you, here's what we've done for all these other people, here's how much money we've made for them'. I know I'm English and as such I tend to be a little reserved about telling the world how great I am, but it don't half grind on the nerves when this larger than life person spews huge dollar numbers, and promises great things, all based around the monetary aspects of writing books.

Make no mistake, there were some interesting snippets, for example we are told that the Amazon algorithms have a particular fondness for a book that achieves fifteen reviews - it apparently doesn't matter how many stars, or the quality of the reviews, but fifteen is a magic number. Ok, INVICTUS Part 1 has fifteen reviews so we'll see what happens there.

There is an 'encouragement' to have an 'influence' over some of those reviews. Let's be honest with ourselves, this already happens with numerous Authors, utilizing fake accounts, family and friends, so it's not exactly a news flash but publicly encouraging it does still leave an unpleasant taste in ones mouth.

Promises of thousands of dollars in book sales, top slot in the charts etc etc just plain don't ring true to me - If everyone that took them up on this offer, got to the No 1 slot, well, how many No 1 slots are there?

Another truism that came out was that just having a really good book is not enough to guarantee success - again the presumption is that success is measured in dollars. What's the point of having written such a brilliant piece of literary genius and not tell people that it exists? Well, that's a no-brainer but you'll be surprised how many new authors think that is the case. So, make sure you tell people about your book, utilize social media to proclaim its existence, but that alone will not bring you the acclaim you seek, unless of course you get very lucky. There are other 'human' ways to spread the word, even as simple as a conversation down the local pub, or business clients, just look for them, don't rely on social media.

I was always told that if something seems too good to be true then it normally is; I'm not suggesting for one minute that these guru's can't help progress your stardom, launch you to the very top of the NYT charts or make you tens of thousands of dollars - I'm just saying that you need to be very mindful of what you're getting yourself into, after all they are still a business.

At the moment I am just enjoying writing, learning the trade and experimenting with loads of different characters, scenario's and story lines - it's my idea of great fun and that's what my writing is to me. If your values and reasons are different then that's fine, I'm not here to judge and nor would I.

On a completely different subject, another that I mentioned back-a-ways, that of the Amazon forums; IF you are a newbie I would recommend that you give them a wide berth, some are particularly toxic at the moment. There is a famous female author who seems to have lost the plot a little; she has teamed up with a site called STGRB, which are almost as famous. Together they are on a crusade to drive out bullying on Amazon. In essence this is a good thing, but, almost from the pages of a dark novel of intrigue and deception, all is not as it appears. If curiosity gets the better of you then sit on the side lines and watch, avoid stepping into that arena people, it can cause some serious damage.

So now I'm off to dip my quill in the ink well - happy writing!