Authors Too Need Code of ConductApr. 25, 2007
Prominent tech publisher and blogger Tim O'Reilly made recent news with his proposal of a code of conduct for bloggers. But bloggers aren't the only ones who misbehave online. So do authors on Amazon.com.
So says Aaron Shepard, author of the book "Aiming at Amazon: The NEW Business of Self Publishing." In January, Shepard posted an article on his Web site called "Amazon Etiquette: Minding Your Manners on Amazon.com," with suggested guidelines for Amazon book promotion. (Shepard’s Publishing Page is at http://www.aaronshep.com/publishing.)
"It's getting to be a real jungle on there," says Shepard. "Authors are spamming Amazon in a desperate effort to get their books noticed. Many don't even realize their behavior is inappropriate, because they have no experience in business. Others know but do it anyway, just because they can get away with it."
Popular author spamming techniques include
Writing positive customer reviews of their own books under false names.
Soliciting positive reviews from friends and relatives who have no real interest in the book's subject and pretend to be objective.
Writing positive reviews of competitors' books but mentioning the reviewer's book to draw off sales.
Creating dozens of Listmania lists so that Amazon will display a book's cover whether or not it's relevant.
According to Shepard, it's harder now than it used to be for authors to write fake reviews. In the past, all you needed was an email address with which to start a new Amazon account.
"I spotted one author who had written literally dozens of phony five-star reviews for his quack sex manual. You can usually tell when a book's reviews are fake by the way they'll all sound alike and say similar things." That author, says Shepard, apparently still makes tens of thousands of dollars a year from Amazon sales of his book.
Now, though, Amazon accepts new reviews only from accounts that have been used for at least one purchase. "That has improved things a lot," says Shepard. "But you still get phony reviews. Basically, authors can write as many reviews as they have credit cards."
Once the province of the cagey few, spamming on Amazon is becoming more and more common, says Shepard, as some of these methods are promoted on discussion lists, in workshops, in newsletters, and in new books on marketing, publicity, and promotion. Though no one publicly urges authors to write fake reviews, other techniques are openly endorsed.
"For instance, the owner of one self publishing company actively teaches some of these methods to his customers," says Shepard. "Recently he published his own book about Amazon marketing, so this approach will be getting a big boost. He even has a clever euphemism for it. He calls it 'competitive networking.'"
Amazon's own ambiguous policies, says Shepard, are part of what allows such methods to spread. "In most cases, Amazon doesn't clearly prohibit them. Yes, the spirit of Amazon's guidelines does oppose these practices -- which is why Amazon can deal with them when reported. But Amazon could discourage such things much more effectively by just saying, 'Don't do this.'"
Instead, says Shepard, Amazon sometimes seems to actually encourage spam. Recently, for instance, it started allowing customer reviewers to link to other products from inside the reviews. "I don't know what they could be thinking," says Shepard. "You know just how this will be used. Authors will not only mention their own books, they'll link to them!"
Ironically, says Shepard, no spamming techniques are necessary to succeed on Amazon. His own book "Aiming at Amazon" decries such methods and shows how books can sell well without them. "I'm the proof of the pudding," says Shepard. "I've been living mostly off Amazon sales for years without any resort to spamming."
Shepard’s article "Amazon Etiquette" proposes four simple guidelines that he says would clean up the scene on Amazon. "But with the spammers entrenched and spreading their message," he says, "there's not much hope."
This Self Publishing Book Won't Be at Your BookstoreOct. 4, 2006
Aaron Shepard’s new book on self publishing won't be at your bookstore. And that's just the way he likes it.
"Aiming at Amazon: The NEW Business of Self Publishing" describes a new way of self publishing that is much simpler and leads to higher sales with less effort. Shepard recommends a strategy based on working with print-on-demand industry leader Lightning Source Inc. and marketing on Amazon.com.
"My motto is 'Forget Bookstores,'" says Shepard. "I love bookstores, but bookstores don't love self publishers. The answer is to focus your efforts on Amazon."
We've all heard of Amazon, but what is Lightning Source? A tiny Web-based operation?
Far from it, says Shepard. Lightning Source is a sister company to Ingram Book Group, the largest U.S. book wholesaler. It's also print on demand's "man behind the curtain" -- the service that provides printing and distribution to nearly all the big self publishing companies like iUniverse and Xlibris.
"When you work with Lightning Source," says Shepard, "you get the benefits of print on demand without paying the middleman."
One of those benefits is a direct line into Amazon.com, where all Lightning Source books automatically get listed. And on Amazon is where Shepard does most of his marketing.
He must be doing it well. Of the 11 books he has published previously under the Shepard Publications name, almost all have sales rank averages in the top 100,000. His book "The Business of Writing for Children" has been Amazon's #1 bestselling children's writing guide for most of the past six years.
"Most publishers and self publishers don't understand Amazon," says Shepard. "It's a whole different world. Once you decide to ignore bookstores, it leaves you the freedom to do what's needed to really sell online."
Unlike many, Shepard didn't turn to self publishing because he couldn't sell his work to others. In fact, Shepard’s children's stories have been bought by a number of top book publishers.
"There's more prestige if you sell to big publishers," says Shepard. "But by self publishing, I'm making more money -- and having more fun -- than I ever did before."
You can find info on Shepard’s book on his Publishing Page at http://www.aaronshep.com/publishing. The book itself is available -- where else? -- on Amazon.
He wouldn't have it any other way.