Tag: Amazon forums

Amazon Forum Discussions

success_1405379462-150x150As authors and writers we are always on the lookout for more ways to bring eyes, and then buyers, to our work. Now, I don’t know about you but I don’t have hours and hours a day to spend on all the sites out there to try and find those elusive readers and buyers.

Recently, I had the pleasure of hosting a discussion on Amazon about my first book, Back From Chaos. It came about from another discussion held on Facebook with members of a group I belong to. When it was my turn, I decided that, instead of holding the discussion on Facebook, where only a few friends would see it, I would use the discussion feature on Amazon. It was surprisingly easy. Continue reading “Amazon Forum Discussions”

Be Careful of the Lions

Seeing what some people have to say about their experiences in various internet forums, it sometimes seems like they imagine they’ve been transported to ancient Rome. (I’m actually thinking of authors, but have heard that they’re people too.) In their imagination, these authors are (obviously) at The Forum in downtown Rome. But a pack of lions, alleged in myth to be Christian executioners, have wandered down the street from the Colosseum in search of a dietary change. Rumor has it that a surviving Christian told them that authors, regardless of religious beliefs, were much tastier.

To be fair, I’ve seen a few authors torn to bits in a virtual feeding frenzy that would make Roman lions look no worse than Tard, the grumpy cat, in comparison. At the risk of attracting a few hungry lions to my place, some of the time these authors deserved it. More often they were just in over their head. At least once or twice, contrary to the myth that only certain types of lions engage in such acts, in the ultimate act of literary cannibalism, I’ve witnessed author on author attacks. It doesn’t get much bloodier than two rival wordsmith gangs engaged in a war of words.

However, internet forums are also a great place for so many things. As an author you can interact with fans and potential readers in Goodreads discussions (which, regardless of what they call them are the same thing). KBoards.com and the Amazon forums provide the same opportunities. Looking for other writers to talk, get advice, or ask questions about writing and publishing, then there is the Writer’s Café sub-forum at KBoards, the KDP forum, and numerous others. If you’re researching almost any vocation or hobby to get the details right for your latest novel, there is an internet forum somewhere where people who know all about the subject and others who are just learning gather to discuss their common interest. Avoiding them is making a conscious decision to take one of the most powerful tools in your toolbox and throw it away. This seems silly when by taking a few relatively simple precautions you can turn those lions into pussycats. Continue reading “Be Careful of the Lions”