Thursday, February 20, 2020

BOOK MARKETING: “Taste and See, Volume I” - POSSIBLE Removal from Amazon to Preserve Integrity of Book’s Rating for Christian Readers


Taste and See - Volume I, is a compilation of books and other reading materials from over thirty authors in the John 3:16 Marketing Network. Published several years ago, hundreds of ebooks have been downloaded from Amazon for free. Since 2011, sixteen ratings had been posted although only nine reviews appeared on the Amazon book page. 

Of all the reviews posted, they were five-star reviews except for one. I will post a jpeg here of that one 1-star review so the reader here can see what the reviewer wrote.

Until about a month ago, the overall rating for Taste and See, Volume I, was listed as 4.7 or 4.8, I can't remember exactly, but if you add up all the reviews and do simple math, the overall rating by Amazon comported with what statistically would be expected.

However, a month ago, Amazon lowered the overall rating to 3.5. No recent reviews had been posted that would have altered the overall review rating in either direction. I couldn't understand how a book could be rated 3.5 with eight 5-star reviews and one 1-star review, so I contacted Amazon to find out why. They never responded.



When I went back and read the 1-star review, I noticed the person who rated it never read the book. Here is the review the reviewer posted.



Because Amazon was unwilling to restore the appropriate rating for Taste and See, Volume I, as it had been rated for the last several years, and since the reviewer rated the book as one-star although she never read the book, I contacted Amazon to remove the 1-star rating.


Here is Amazon's response:

I've read the review titled "Felt put upon" for the book titled Volume 1, Taste and See, A Sampling of First Chapters by John 316 Marketing Network Authors." I understand your concerns, but the review doesn't violate our posted guidelines, so I'm unable to remove it in its current format.

We try to encourage our customers to give their honest opinions on our products while staying within our guidelines. As a retailer, we are interested in cultivating a diversity of opinions on our products. Part of that is allowing our customers to air their honest thoughts on items they have received. Here's a link to our guidelines for reference: 

My reply:  So a person can post a review on a book they have not read? If that’s the case, then I will just encourage people to post a five-star review to get the ratings back up to where they should be. The only reason I care is that your algorithm is rating this book as a 3.5 and there are eight [5] stars that should be pulling it up to a 4.75. 

That means someone who has not even read the book is able to reduce the overall rating of the book from 4.75 to 3.5. It seems to me like Amazon’s algorithms are censoring what books they want to do well and what books they don’t want to do well. This is against a higher law of ethics, and I will be looking into what I can do about this, including contacting the Federal Trade  Commission.


*~*~*~*

Their final reply back was the following:

We’ve investigated the review "Felt put upon" for the book titled Volume 1, Taste and See, A Sampling of First Chapters by John 316 Marketing Network Authors." and looked into your previous correspondence of "February 18, 2020" with my colleague. We’ve determined that this review is within our Community Guidelines (available here http://www.amazon.com/review-guidelines) and will not consider the removal any further.





 e
Here is a sampling of the eight 5-star reviews that Amazon seemed to disregard in their overall rating of 



As shown from this selection of random five-star reviews, what Amazon has done is unethical. They have allowed one 1-star review to be posted by a reader about a book she had not read and then allowed that one review to lower the overall rating of the book to 3.5. Against eight 5-star reviews, statistically, that is impossible. There are no other reviews on this book. They are all five stars with one 1-star.

Because all the first chapters from thirty books highlighted in Taste and See Volume I, as well as other materials, including poems, devotionals, et cetera, are written by Christian authors, I truly believe Amazon is now censoring Christian authors/books. 

Once the overall rating was artificially lowered to 3.5, not a single book was downloaded. Would you want to download a 3.5-rated book when there are so many books rated four stars and above?  

I will be posting at least one more blog post on my experiences this last year with Amazon and all the reviews they have removed from various books of mine. And that's not all they have done to me.

I have a couple of marketing experiments going on as I write this to test my hypothesis and pull together a compelling case to present to the Federal Trade Commission - if Amazon blocks my marketing efforts as I anticipate they will.

Feel free to leave a comment if you have anything to add to my thoughts.

Taste and See, Volume I, is available across the web on multiple websites, including Apple, Barnes & Noble, Pay Hip, and more.  You can visit http://bit.ly/LRTASTEANDSEE to see a partial listing of websites. I will continue to add more as time permits.

UPDATE:  The current ranking is 4.0, so Amazon made an adjustment to the ranking, although it is still lower than it should be ranked (as of June 1, 2020).

Tuesday, February 18, 2020

RANSOM SMITH: A Short Story by Lorilyn Roberts





The successful businessman reveled in the applause. He had worked hard for this prestigious award. Everyone admired him—his strong work ethic, his determination, and the fact he had saved the failing tech giant from a humiliating fall. The major news outlets had featured his accomplishments, and Time magazine named him a finalist in the “Businessman of the Year” award. That was the award that had eluded him for too long.

A pang of jealousy ripped through his heart. Mr. Ransom Smith personally knew the last two winners, and he was much more of a business genius than they were. He spit on the sidewalk of the busy New York City street as he pushed his way through the crowds remembering the night before. This was his year for glory.

Why couldn't his wife appreciate how wonderful he was? When he arrived home after a ten-hour day, the tired, haggard woman wasn't interested in his exploits. Even the cat ignored him. Only the dog appreciated the sacrifices he had made, wagging his tail and extending affectionate licks and kisses.

Mr. Smith approached a busy intersection that he frequented several times during the week. One business establishment always caught his attention—The Utopia Connection. Business people frequented this hole in the wall, and today wasn’t any different.

Two men entered as they were greeted by a stunning young woman with long blonde hair draped over her shoulders in ringlets. Mr. Smith glanced at his iPhone. He had a few minutes to linger. Unexpectedly, as the blonde was shutting the door behind her customers, her eyes caught his. For a fleeting moment, Ransom, surprised by the chance encounter, fixated on her face.

The young woman smiled. Her enticing eyes called out to him, speaking to his soul, “Ransom, stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant…come and celebrate with me....”

The woman disappeared inside, and Mr. Smith shook his head, mumbling under his breath, That was odd. It was as if she knew me. Maybe the young lady did know me. Maybe she had seen the news coverage. Maybe I should introduce myself.”

The man stood and watched a couple more businessmen enter. He imagined it must be a restaurant and drew nearer out of curiosity. How had he not noticed the extravagant entrance before—the mosaic lined floor and the golden flower pots. Still, the strange photographs caught Ransom’s attention the most.

Snapshots lined the walls with an assortment of captions, “Bill was here,” “John’s favorite hangout,” “Sam’s place,” and dozens more. Ransom did not know any of the men. Strangely, Ransom noted that all the visitors were dead. Beneath their photographs were the dates of their untimely demises.

The scent of burning candles and air misters permeated the softly lit marquee. Etched glass lined the other wall. Mr. Smith tried to see through the exquisite façade, but to no avail. He waited for someone to exit, to ask what was inside this beautiful, captivating establishment. After all, Ransom didn't want to be seen entering a place that might be unseemly. He was too prideful to fall for that temptation. But despite his waiting longer than he meant to, no one exited.




It must be an extraordinary place, Mr. Smith reasoned, because so many enter and no one leaves. A few more minutes passed as Mr. Smith’s curiosity clashed with his better judgment. He glanced at his watch. If he didn't go now, he would be late for his next meeting. But he longed to admire that beautiful face once more. He wanted to see those eyes, those eyes that latched onto his.

She no doubt knew him from the news reports, and if by some unlikely chance she didn’t, he could impress her with his accomplishments. Surely she would be impressed. I wonder if she is married.…

Abruptly the door opened, and Mr. Smith was surprised to see only the beautiful young woman reappear. Where were the men? But he quickly dismissed the question as he peered into those eyes—deep and mysterious.

She held out her hand to him, and once more, Ransom heard the same words spoken in his mind earlier:

Click to Tweet: “Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”

“Yes,” the man replied, “I’d love to share your stolen water and secret bread. And I’ll pay.”

He followed the young woman through the door and disappeared inside. The door shut behind him.

Mr. Ransom did not know the dead were there, and her former guests were in the depths of hell.


Proverbs 9:13-18

A foolish woman is clamorous;
She is simple, and knows nothing.
For she sits at the door of her house,
On a seat by the highest places of the city,
To call to those who pass by,
Who go straight on their way.
“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here”;
And as for him who lacks understanding, she says to him,
“Stolen water is sweet,
And bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”
But he does not know that the dead are there,
That her guests are in the depths of hell.




Wednesday, January 29, 2020

BOOK MARKETING: Sunshine State Book Festival Makes Its Debut In Gainesville, Florida


Author Lorilyn Roberts 
Saturday’s inaugural Sunshine State Book Festival hosted by WAG (Writers Alliance of Gainesville) was a resounding success. I learned a lot about the rich literary history of Gainesville. World-renowned poet Robert Frost and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings once called Gainesville home. Today, over two hundred authors live in the Alachua County environs.

My book table was at the exhibit entrance; I was thrilled to greet book dabblers and story lovers, but no homeschoolers stopped by to check out my books. In hindsight, I should have reached out to that audience on social media before the fair. WAG promoted extensively on television and radio, but most homeschooling families don’t watch TV or listen to the radio.

The books I sold included three copies of my memoir Children of Dreams, one copy of my children’s picture book The Donkey and the King, and two copies of my cookbook Food for Thought. I also gave away dozens of postcards to download Seventh Dimension – The Door for free from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

I connected with a librarian who invited me to speak at a local school, and I helped an elderly couple who locked their keys in their car to call for roadside assistance using my AAA card. Most of all, I enjoyed mingling with the authors and learning about their writing pursuits.


If you have an opportunity to visit a book fair, don’t miss out. 

Click to tweet: Reading is a pleasurable pastime and print books are making a comeback—especially among young adults and teens—as the most eco-friendly, sustainable form of entertainment on the planet.


*~*~*


Tuesday, January 21, 2020

LORILYN ROBERTS BOOK REVIEW: “Live Green: 52 Steps for a More Sustainable Life,” by Jen Chillingsworth





-->
-->
Live Green: 52 Steps for a More Sustainable Life by Jen Chillingsworth shows the reader how to live an eco-friendly lifestyle. With cover-to-cover captivating artwork, innovative ideas and suggestions leap off the pages of Live Green.

Topics on sustainability include sprucing up the home with anti-pollutant plants, spicing up the dinner table with wholesome foods, buying natural products for hair and skin,  and creating Christmas decorations from organic materials.

In addition to ideas to encourage a greener lifestyle, the author lists sources of inspiration for those who want to dig deeper.

My favorite chapter, “Eat Green,” challenged me the most. As a two-year breast cancer survivor, the quest to eat healthier stretched me to try healthier foods and forego sweets, deli meats, and soft drinks. I would encourage the reader, if this seems daunting, to incorporate changes slowly. Even for the most determined, it takes time to make significant lifestyle adaptations.  

The underlying theme in Live Green begins with awareness. I recommend starting simple. For example, I began with growing herbs beside our front door and planting lettuce and onions in a winter garden. More strategies in Live Green include how to compost and buy product in bulk.

Modest changes like bagging groceries in hemp or cloth bags instead of plastic ones help the environment. For Christmas, I gifted reusable straws to my daughters. After years of hounding me to recycle, they are impressed with how far I’ve come. Small adaptations help sea creatures not only to survive but thrive.

LiveGreen: Fifty-Two steps for a More Sustainable Life is one giant leap toward helping all of us to live greener. Future generations will thank us, and our oceans, air, forests, birds, honeybees, and animals will reap the benefits of our more sustainable life choices. 

My herb garden                               

To purchase Live Green from Amazon,
click here.