I've gotten a few reviews on Goodreads lately for Dominating Her Intern... and they've been one stars. I'm thrilled people have been reading (or listening to) it! I wish they'd review it on Amazon, one star or not.
What I find kind of funny and very interesting is the aspect of the role-reversal in the story and how people have reacted to it. It's a femdom story, or female domination, so the woman's in charge. I've read a lot of BDSM shorts (with and without billionaires) in preparation to write erotica (and afterwards, of course). I made Ms. Frost, the female billionaire dom, in this story basically the same as the maledoms in other stories I've read, except a woman. The acts are geared more towards the femdom audience as well, but the attitude is virtually identical. And people hate it.
Is it dubious consent? Absolutely it is. Yes, in the story Marc CAN say no, but he's threatened with losing his internship if he says no. Would he? We don't know as he dubiously consents. It's one of the rare dubcon stories I've written (I can't actually think of another off the top of my head, but I'm sure I've written one or two more in there) as consent is a big deal to me, fantasy or not. There's no doubt Marc is enjoying his submission (hence, dubcon--it's "Ok" because he really likes it... or is it?), but people have rightfully called what Ms. Frost did as sexual harassment. They didn't like it. Yet, I've read stories with the boss and BDSM elements roughly the same (shame, humiliation, dubcon), and when it's a dude in charge, it seems perfectly OK.
I don't know why that is. Is it the double standard? Is it because it's OK for a man to be in charge and not a woman? Is it something else? Is it because the readers of erotica are mostly women and don't like seeing a man humiliated like that? (Although, it's pretty clearly stated it's female domination.)
What I can say by the numbers is that Intern has outperformed all the other Dominating singles, by a factor of 170% percent. What I mean by that is that next best performing single--which is the second followed closely by the fourth--didn't even come close to Intern. Intern is almost double in income. Certain allowances can be made for it being the first in a series. People will naturally check out a first book first and decide if they like it enough to continue to the second. However. since I have a block of the singles, five in total, which are about the same for money earners. Hence, one could expect that Intern would have made about the same amount were it not first.
Or is there another reason? It's so hard to say, it really is. Dominating Her Intern has the most reviews of all the Dominating books on Goodreads. I did put the audio up for a promotion.... oh a long time ago last year. Yet these new reviews are, well, new. What spurred them on? And the difference in sales/money is substantial between Intern and the next five highest, so why aren't there more reviews on any of them? There's like... two between all five where Intern has seven. Is it just because of the dubcon? Is it because it's the first of the series? Is it something else?
I find statistics fascinating, and so this phenomenon here has me thinking it's something else, and the only thing I can think of is the role reversal, femdom instead of maledom. I don't have, sadly, solid enough information to draw a conclusion for sure. I could very well be wrong, but it's definitely something to think about!
Showing posts with label The Good The Bad The Review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Good The Bad The Review. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 8, 2017
Saturday, October 1, 2016
The Hard Talk
I recently missed an event on Facebook and I felt terrible about it. So, I told the author whose book release I missed that I would read and review it. I put everything else I was reading aside and concentrated on it... and I didn't enjoy the book. Why I didn't or what book it was doesn't matter, what matters is that afterwards came the Hard Talk.
Because I felt pretty strongly about my dislike and I just can't... I just can't be dishonest. I can't just write "It was great 5 stars" when I don't mean it. I know this is "just" my pen name, but I still want to be known for some integrity. If I say I like something, I like it. If I don't, I don't. However, as an author reviewing another author's book, it gets tricky. First, because we're in the same genre, Amazon could view the review as me trying to sink the other author's book, which that's not the intention. Second, you can get into a 'Well, you rated me a 2 I'm rating your shit a 1!', although most of the authors I've met have been really nice and I don't THINK they'd do that, they still might. Three, it's... well, it's kind of dickish to do that without talking to them first.
I approached the author and said "Hey, I finished Book X and I can review it if you want me to, but it won't be a good review". They asked if I could hold off, which of course I'm more than happy to do. I didn't really want to post a bad review. I don't like doing it. After that, they asked me what I didn't like, and so I went through most of my points (I forgot one, but oh well) and ended with the sincere "I think you've really got some talent, it was just X that I really didn't enjoy, but I am also not your target audience, so that may make a difference too." I ended it on a positive note, because I do think the author has the potential to be really good, and the writing wasn't terrible. They also used cunt, which that's a word I love even though most other women don't. Personal preference.
It's hard to be honest like that and go up to someone and say, "Hey, that thing you put all your time and effort into? I hated it." However... criticism has to mean something. Reviews have to mean something. I used to belong to a writing site many years ago. You would review stories people posted to get things to use to promote your own stories. It was all for free, but fun, and I learned a lot there. When I reviewed, I was always brutally honest. I mean scathingly, brutally honest. And you know what?
People requested I review their stuff.
On purpose.
Why? It was because I was brutally honest and they wanted to learn. I wanted to learn. That's why I was there. A "great story 5 stars" might be nice to see, but it's not constructive. Even in positive reviews, you can always point out "I really loved Bit X and Bit Y, but Bit Z was a little off to me." There's nothing wrong with that. Constructive criticism is how we learn. But it has to be constructive. Just saying something sucked or something was awesome is not helpful, and in fact, it can be downright hurtful.
So I want to tell people not to be afraid to be honest in their reviews. If you loved the book, but really didn't care for Character Y or Plot B or whatever, tell them. Tell them why you didn't like it. Not every story is going to be to everyone's tastes, and that's OK. Don't be mean. Don't be harsh. I always try to end on a positive note, too. It takes some of the hurt out because yeah, getting those low reviews does hurt. You try not to let it, but it does anyway. And it's encouraging.
As a side note, don't listen to those people who say "WELL, you didn't write a book, so you can't criticize!" That's total bullshit. Anyone can. I've said that before and I'll say it again. Anyone can criticize because everyone has an opinion. It's a matter, as an author, of seeing if you value that person's opinion and the deciding what you might learn from it.
Here's another quick story (bunch of them today!). I reviewed another author's book because I thought it sounded really exciting, but when I read it, I was so disappointed. I couldn't even finish it the book was pissing me off so much. I write a very long review about why, and put a lot of thought into making it constructive and well researched. Yes, I researched for a review. I take them seriously! When the author found out about it, they went off on Facebook about how it was horrible and they didn't know anything and blah blah blah. Now, I'd written the review under my real name (as I tend to do on Amazon) and they didn't know I was seeing the backlash. I never said anything to them about that, but I was shocked at the reaction and the behavior. It was vicious. What made matters worse was that the author had followers, a lot of them, who were mean, nasty, and said some really terrible things that I was stupid and didn't know what the fuck I was talking about and SHE didn't write a book so SHE can't criticize and stuff.
Again, I was pretty shocked at the reaction. And it wasn't like I said "It sucks, the end." It was thought out. The review itself was long, about 1500 words in length so I spent a significant time on the review... because it meant that much to me. Being able to see things from both sides made me really think about what I want to put out in the world as far as reviews go, and helped me to learn how to react to bad ones. Which is almost the same as how I react to good ones in that I say, "Thank you. Why did you feel that way?"
That, I think, is how authors should respond to reviews, good and bad. Why did you like something? Why did you hate it? Was it the writing? The style? Characters? Plot? Setting? So on and so forth. I know this first author I mentioned probably won't ever read this, but if they do, I want to say thank you for being a bigger person, standing up and saying, "Thank you. Why did you feel that way?" It not only shows they are willing to learn and adapt, but that they value what I thought. For readers, I think that's really important.
K, done rambling now.
Because I felt pretty strongly about my dislike and I just can't... I just can't be dishonest. I can't just write "It was great 5 stars" when I don't mean it. I know this is "just" my pen name, but I still want to be known for some integrity. If I say I like something, I like it. If I don't, I don't. However, as an author reviewing another author's book, it gets tricky. First, because we're in the same genre, Amazon could view the review as me trying to sink the other author's book, which that's not the intention. Second, you can get into a 'Well, you rated me a 2 I'm rating your shit a 1!', although most of the authors I've met have been really nice and I don't THINK they'd do that, they still might. Three, it's... well, it's kind of dickish to do that without talking to them first.
I approached the author and said "Hey, I finished Book X and I can review it if you want me to, but it won't be a good review". They asked if I could hold off, which of course I'm more than happy to do. I didn't really want to post a bad review. I don't like doing it. After that, they asked me what I didn't like, and so I went through most of my points (I forgot one, but oh well) and ended with the sincere "I think you've really got some talent, it was just X that I really didn't enjoy, but I am also not your target audience, so that may make a difference too." I ended it on a positive note, because I do think the author has the potential to be really good, and the writing wasn't terrible. They also used cunt, which that's a word I love even though most other women don't. Personal preference.
It's hard to be honest like that and go up to someone and say, "Hey, that thing you put all your time and effort into? I hated it." However... criticism has to mean something. Reviews have to mean something. I used to belong to a writing site many years ago. You would review stories people posted to get things to use to promote your own stories. It was all for free, but fun, and I learned a lot there. When I reviewed, I was always brutally honest. I mean scathingly, brutally honest. And you know what?
People requested I review their stuff.
On purpose.
Why? It was because I was brutally honest and they wanted to learn. I wanted to learn. That's why I was there. A "great story 5 stars" might be nice to see, but it's not constructive. Even in positive reviews, you can always point out "I really loved Bit X and Bit Y, but Bit Z was a little off to me." There's nothing wrong with that. Constructive criticism is how we learn. But it has to be constructive. Just saying something sucked or something was awesome is not helpful, and in fact, it can be downright hurtful.
So I want to tell people not to be afraid to be honest in their reviews. If you loved the book, but really didn't care for Character Y or Plot B or whatever, tell them. Tell them why you didn't like it. Not every story is going to be to everyone's tastes, and that's OK. Don't be mean. Don't be harsh. I always try to end on a positive note, too. It takes some of the hurt out because yeah, getting those low reviews does hurt. You try not to let it, but it does anyway. And it's encouraging.
As a side note, don't listen to those people who say "WELL, you didn't write a book, so you can't criticize!" That's total bullshit. Anyone can. I've said that before and I'll say it again. Anyone can criticize because everyone has an opinion. It's a matter, as an author, of seeing if you value that person's opinion and the deciding what you might learn from it.
Here's another quick story (bunch of them today!). I reviewed another author's book because I thought it sounded really exciting, but when I read it, I was so disappointed. I couldn't even finish it the book was pissing me off so much. I write a very long review about why, and put a lot of thought into making it constructive and well researched. Yes, I researched for a review. I take them seriously! When the author found out about it, they went off on Facebook about how it was horrible and they didn't know anything and blah blah blah. Now, I'd written the review under my real name (as I tend to do on Amazon) and they didn't know I was seeing the backlash. I never said anything to them about that, but I was shocked at the reaction and the behavior. It was vicious. What made matters worse was that the author had followers, a lot of them, who were mean, nasty, and said some really terrible things that I was stupid and didn't know what the fuck I was talking about and SHE didn't write a book so SHE can't criticize and stuff.
Again, I was pretty shocked at the reaction. And it wasn't like I said "It sucks, the end." It was thought out. The review itself was long, about 1500 words in length so I spent a significant time on the review... because it meant that much to me. Being able to see things from both sides made me really think about what I want to put out in the world as far as reviews go, and helped me to learn how to react to bad ones. Which is almost the same as how I react to good ones in that I say, "Thank you. Why did you feel that way?"
That, I think, is how authors should respond to reviews, good and bad. Why did you like something? Why did you hate it? Was it the writing? The style? Characters? Plot? Setting? So on and so forth. I know this first author I mentioned probably won't ever read this, but if they do, I want to say thank you for being a bigger person, standing up and saying, "Thank you. Why did you feel that way?" It not only shows they are willing to learn and adapt, but that they value what I thought. For readers, I think that's really important.
K, done rambling now.
Friday, June 26, 2015
Write What You Love or... HOLY SHIT I GOT A LEGIT REVIEW!
...not on Amazon or Goodreads though, and that's not to say that Reed's review of "The Shagging Tree" isn't legit (it was, I didn't ask for 5 stars, though I think he's probably generous to erotica writers... however going through his reviews he doesn't give out five often... also go read his other reviews. They are generally cool and fairly accurate from what I've seen!), but as I was tooling around the internet at work, I wanted to reread one of Alana's blog posts here, but strangely I couldn't remember the address. Feeling a bit dumb (and lazy, cause I could have just logged INTO the blogger site, but nooooo lazy), I Googled Alana Melos and something else. Like "blog" or something, I think.
So, tooling through the results I was getting (OH, I Googled "Pulp Erotica" and then added "Alana Melos" to it, that's what it was), I was getting irritated going, "Jeez, how many pulp erotica stuff is out there?" Then I started hitting up like the book sites, like Amazon and so on, and I hit upon a blog and clicked on it, thinking it was MY blog and I'd just go through the posts to the one I wanted to read that way.
It wasn't.
Holy mother fucking shitballs it wasn't.
It was an honest, actual, OMG review of Rump Raiding Raptors! Not only that, but they did Perils and Trillionaire too! For reference, here are the links:
Rump Raiding Raptors
The Perils of Penetrating Pixies
Trillionaire Living Spaceship Docked with my Ass
And I've read them all, squeeing the whole time. And yes, the exposition is a bit much in the first one. Yes, Debbie's a cunt bitch at times. And yeah, I should have had more spaceship action. I agree with them all, spot on.
Doesn't matter if it was bad or good. I don't care. I'm just thrilled that someone actually read them. Yes, yes, I know that yeah, I'm making SOME money at this, but to have actual confirmation that someone read them from beginning to finish and had enough of an opinion to post is fantastic. They could have said they were all the biggest pieces of crap ever and I would still be squeeing. However, much to my thrill, they were concrit... as in constructive criticism. Not only that, but for the most part, they seemed to enjoy them. Or at least enough to put positive in there with negative, which is fucking fantastic!
This all goes back to... write what you love. Like the first couple I wrote was Raptors and Pixies, Trillionaire close behind, and I really loved the idea of the JKC. It was pulpy and adventurous and weird and sexy and all sorts of things and I really got into some of them. (I really want the to review Knob Gobblin' Hobgoblins now!) Trillionaire... was sort of a dare to write something that silly, so of course I went a serious route and filled it mostly with bdsm suspension bondage. I wish I would have gone more silly with that. It was an alright write, but I couldn't wait to get back to the other stuff I was working on.
When you write what you love, it shows. It really does. People can tell. I know I was calling it in with the Cheri books, but I was so excited at first... then it just... went away. For other books, like Hunger of the Heart, I was into it the entire way. Of course, it wasn't a great seller and never will be, but I LOVED writing it. I even went through and edited it! (most of the smut I really don't, quick edits, but nothing major) That story had been brewing for years in my head, and I'm really proud of it. The JKC are so much fun to write. Dirk & Debbie have such different personalities... Dirk's actually more soft-spoken and studious, and Debbie's more of a go-getter, with a helping of bitch on the side. Both are really fun to get into their heads and write, but they are way different perspectives. Waaaaay different.
Rock possesses a weird place in my writing. I like his head. He's a good guy. But I suck at writing spy thrillers, so the action and spy stuff while very interesting, is really hard to write. Writing about myths is fascinating. I can't wait to finish my kitsune book (SOON, I know), and I'm going headfirst into my werewolf horrorotica here. I love some of these books. I won't say they're high art, cause they're really not, but they're fun, and I think some people who have read it have realized how fun they are for me.
Even the Dominating books... I'll fully admit I started them just to make money, but I enjoy the different variations of femdom I'm finding. Some are soft and light, some are harder, some are just "get down on the floor, bitch, and be prepared for my faux cock!". Hell, one's even from the sub's POV. (Though I think I'll keep those few and far between. Either that or start a new series with the malesub perspective) I'm throwing in some crazier stuff now, and I've a list of books I could write. I may... end it with 9, 3 bundles, and a megabundle. But I don't know. It's fun writing.
The thing about these reviews I read too... it makes me want to go back to fun. Fuck serious. My husband reminds me that this is about fun, and it is. It so is. Yeah, the couple hundred or whatever a month is nice (stupid basement!!) but it's about keeping myself awake and alert during a long night shift at work, and giggling stupidly over some phrase that I wrote which is just over the top, or a situation which is so unbelievable it crosses over into that... weird B movie awesome fun action. The next few JKC are planned out (I've been wanting to finish some series up first before moving on), and I will have to keep in mind how much fun I had writing the first ones. It's not serious. It can't be serious.
But just because they aren't serious doesn't mean they aren't sexy.
So, tooling through the results I was getting (OH, I Googled "Pulp Erotica" and then added "Alana Melos" to it, that's what it was), I was getting irritated going, "Jeez, how many pulp erotica stuff is out there?" Then I started hitting up like the book sites, like Amazon and so on, and I hit upon a blog and clicked on it, thinking it was MY blog and I'd just go through the posts to the one I wanted to read that way.
It wasn't.
Holy mother fucking shitballs it wasn't.
It was an honest, actual, OMG review of Rump Raiding Raptors! Not only that, but they did Perils and Trillionaire too! For reference, here are the links:
Rump Raiding Raptors
The Perils of Penetrating Pixies
Trillionaire Living Spaceship Docked with my Ass
And I've read them all, squeeing the whole time. And yes, the exposition is a bit much in the first one. Yes, Debbie's a cunt bitch at times. And yeah, I should have had more spaceship action. I agree with them all, spot on.
Doesn't matter if it was bad or good. I don't care. I'm just thrilled that someone actually read them. Yes, yes, I know that yeah, I'm making SOME money at this, but to have actual confirmation that someone read them from beginning to finish and had enough of an opinion to post is fantastic. They could have said they were all the biggest pieces of crap ever and I would still be squeeing. However, much to my thrill, they were concrit... as in constructive criticism. Not only that, but for the most part, they seemed to enjoy them. Or at least enough to put positive in there with negative, which is fucking fantastic!
This all goes back to... write what you love. Like the first couple I wrote was Raptors and Pixies, Trillionaire close behind, and I really loved the idea of the JKC. It was pulpy and adventurous and weird and sexy and all sorts of things and I really got into some of them. (I really want the to review Knob Gobblin' Hobgoblins now!) Trillionaire... was sort of a dare to write something that silly, so of course I went a serious route and filled it mostly with bdsm suspension bondage. I wish I would have gone more silly with that. It was an alright write, but I couldn't wait to get back to the other stuff I was working on.
When you write what you love, it shows. It really does. People can tell. I know I was calling it in with the Cheri books, but I was so excited at first... then it just... went away. For other books, like Hunger of the Heart, I was into it the entire way. Of course, it wasn't a great seller and never will be, but I LOVED writing it. I even went through and edited it! (most of the smut I really don't, quick edits, but nothing major) That story had been brewing for years in my head, and I'm really proud of it. The JKC are so much fun to write. Dirk & Debbie have such different personalities... Dirk's actually more soft-spoken and studious, and Debbie's more of a go-getter, with a helping of bitch on the side. Both are really fun to get into their heads and write, but they are way different perspectives. Waaaaay different.
Rock possesses a weird place in my writing. I like his head. He's a good guy. But I suck at writing spy thrillers, so the action and spy stuff while very interesting, is really hard to write. Writing about myths is fascinating. I can't wait to finish my kitsune book (SOON, I know), and I'm going headfirst into my werewolf horrorotica here. I love some of these books. I won't say they're high art, cause they're really not, but they're fun, and I think some people who have read it have realized how fun they are for me.
Even the Dominating books... I'll fully admit I started them just to make money, but I enjoy the different variations of femdom I'm finding. Some are soft and light, some are harder, some are just "get down on the floor, bitch, and be prepared for my faux cock!". Hell, one's even from the sub's POV. (Though I think I'll keep those few and far between. Either that or start a new series with the malesub perspective) I'm throwing in some crazier stuff now, and I've a list of books I could write. I may... end it with 9, 3 bundles, and a megabundle. But I don't know. It's fun writing.
The thing about these reviews I read too... it makes me want to go back to fun. Fuck serious. My husband reminds me that this is about fun, and it is. It so is. Yeah, the couple hundred or whatever a month is nice (stupid basement!!) but it's about keeping myself awake and alert during a long night shift at work, and giggling stupidly over some phrase that I wrote which is just over the top, or a situation which is so unbelievable it crosses over into that... weird B movie awesome fun action. The next few JKC are planned out (I've been wanting to finish some series up first before moving on), and I will have to keep in mind how much fun I had writing the first ones. It's not serious. It can't be serious.
But just because they aren't serious doesn't mean they aren't sexy.
Saturday, May 16, 2015
It Takes So Little to Thrill Me...
I'm an easy date, and by "easy" I mean, "I don't demand much". I really don't. Dinner could be anywhere, could go out for a movie... it doesn't have to be big or special or anything like that. I'm usually just happy going anywhere with the person I want to be with and hanging out.
It translates to online too. I'm absolutely thrilled when someone friends me on Facebook or adds me on Google+, even if it's not a big deal to them. When Reed James reviewed The Shagging Tree, I was on Cloud Nine for the rest of the day. It helped that it was a five star review... but it could have been one star and I would have been like, "Did you SEE that? Someone did actually read it!" Well, duh, woman, no shit people are reading it. It's not like they're just throwing money at starving artists out of the kindness of their hearts! It's just nice to see someone enjoyed it! (and I really appreciate the review--when I finish the latest one since I know you are partial to story driven erotica, Reed, I'll apply for another review)
Now, that latest thing that has me squeeing is that finally someone has showed up on my "Customers Have Also Bought Items By..." list, which it's a name I don't recognize, but I don't care! That means I'm getting connected to people! People have actually bought shit of mine! Holy smokes! Should that thrill me? Probably not. Yet, I'm a rookie, wet behind the ears, a greenhorn, so every little thing is like, "WTF OMG BBQ!!" (Mm. BBQ.) My daily refreshing of my sales page has gone down (though it's still a little obsessive), so that's good, and I'm easing into things, but that doesn't mean I don't get excited when something brand new and shiny happens.
It's a good feeling. Cheap dates are the best!
It translates to online too. I'm absolutely thrilled when someone friends me on Facebook or adds me on Google+, even if it's not a big deal to them. When Reed James reviewed The Shagging Tree, I was on Cloud Nine for the rest of the day. It helped that it was a five star review... but it could have been one star and I would have been like, "Did you SEE that? Someone did actually read it!" Well, duh, woman, no shit people are reading it. It's not like they're just throwing money at starving artists out of the kindness of their hearts! It's just nice to see someone enjoyed it! (and I really appreciate the review--when I finish the latest one since I know you are partial to story driven erotica, Reed, I'll apply for another review)
Now, that latest thing that has me squeeing is that finally someone has showed up on my "Customers Have Also Bought Items By..." list, which it's a name I don't recognize, but I don't care! That means I'm getting connected to people! People have actually bought shit of mine! Holy smokes! Should that thrill me? Probably not. Yet, I'm a rookie, wet behind the ears, a greenhorn, so every little thing is like, "WTF OMG BBQ!!" (Mm. BBQ.) My daily refreshing of my sales page has gone down (though it's still a little obsessive), so that's good, and I'm easing into things, but that doesn't mean I don't get excited when something brand new and shiny happens.
It's a good feeling. Cheap dates are the best!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)