Will I Ever Get a Review?: The Curse of the Self-Published Author

Tags

A Day of Horror: The March 11, 2011 Japan Earthquake-A Foreigner's Perspective, Amazon Review, Book Review, First Book Review, Review, The DiVacci Curse, To Sleep in the Ground, Will I Ever Get A Review?

I asked this question in my mind many times over the years until one day when I happened to check the listing for my nonfiction book “A Day of Horror: The March 11, 2011, Japan Earthquake-A Foreigner’s Perspective” and noticed that someone had finally answered that question. I had my first review of my work! The review was posted on March 8 of this year. It took almost a decade to happen, but it did actually happen. Four months later I am still shocked that I finally joined the ranks of those fortunate, self-published souls who can proudly say that their work has been officially reviewed. I am delighted and humbled for such an honor and wish to thank the kind person who took the time to purchase and read my book, then write and post the review. They rated my book three out of five stars, and I am honored.

The review was posted on Amazon. Not long after I first published my nonfiction book, I received a rating on Goodreads of two out of five stars from a reader. Big thanks to the person who rated the book then. No review was written, only a rating was given at the time. I was brand new to the self-publishing world. Since then, my book has been updated and revised, and I think (hope) it makes for a better reading experience now. Perhaps the three-star rating this time reflects that.

It’s no mystery that reviews sell books, especially positive reviews. If you’re a self-published author like me but you haven’t received your first review yet, all I can say is be patient and hang in there. It could happen when you least expect it, but don’t expect it. Reviews of your work should be considered a bonus, not an expectation. Think of it as a privilege and not a right. Legitimate reviews can be very difficult to get. They are not easy to come by for many of us. It may not even be a flattering review that you receive, but at least it will have provoked a strong reaction in the reader, and that is something to feel good about. Isn’t that one of the reasons why many of us write?

Again, I wish to thank the kind person who reviewed “A Day of Horror: The March 11, 2011, Japan Earthquake.” Now if only I could get a review for my short story “The DiVacci Curse” and my novel “To Sleep in the Ground!”

A side note:

I am still preparing the paperback version of my nonfiction book. After that, I plan to revise and reformat my short story and novel (e-book and paperback). Then I hope to begin advertising my books in earnest. I don’t think I have enough to do.

Have a safe and healthy summer!

A Decade Ago Today…

Tags

10th Anniversary, A Day of Horror: The March 11, 2011 Japan Earthquake-A Foreigner's Perspective, e-book, earthquake, Eastern Tohoku, Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, Fukushima Prefecture, Koriyama City, paperback, radiation, The Great East Japan Earthquake

Revised 10^th anniversary e-book and paperback editions coming soon…

Updated Content of E-books on Amazon.co.jp

Tags

A Day of Horror: The March 11, 2011 Japan Earthquake-A Foreigner's Perspective, Amazon Japan, Amazon Marketplace, Amazon U.S., Amazon.co.jp, Amazon.com, Manage your content and devices, The DiVacci Curse, To Sleep in the Ground, updates, updates not available

I hope that everyone is doing well considering the situation. We have all been getting slammed pretty hard by the virus, severe weather, social instability, etc. It doesn’t really matter where you live in the world…we are all dealing with difficulties right now. Keep your chin up and hang in there.

On a different note, and a followup to my previous post, I have discovered the reason why purchasers of my e-books from Amazon.co.jp (Japan) have not been receiving the content updates to my book(s). It appears that Amazon Japan does not automatically make updates available to readers. The reason is because Amazon Japan (not the author) reserves the right to decide whether updates will be made available to readers. If they deem the changes worthy of alerting the readers and allow them to download the updates, then they will do so. Otherwise, too bad. They evaluate the updates on a case by case basis. I am in complete disagreement with this method as I feel that readers have a right to update and get the latest version of the e-book if they have legally purchased it in the past.

Amazon Japan claims that it may make exceptions to the rule if the reader requests the update directly. Authors may do the same, but there is no guarantee that Amazon Japan will honor the request. Final authority rests with Amazon Japan.

I wonder if Amazon.com (U.S.) is aware of this policy. I was told by Amazon.com that updates are made available across all of their marketplaces where e-books are sold. Yet, Amazon Japan operates differently. It would be nice for the two of them to get on the same page with this issue.

I do not want to discourage anyone from purchasing my e-books. All I can say is that if you choose to purchase my e-books from Amazon Japan be aware that you may not be able to update the book’s content after the initial purchase. I wish it were not the case, but there is nothing that I can do to rectify the issue. Different countries have different policies. I have lived in Japan long enough to know that it runs itself according to its own policies and perspectives. All nations do. You either deal with it, or you don’t. That same idea can be applied to current global events, I suppose.

I apologize for any inconvenience that Amazon Japan’s policy may cause those who purchase and read my books. As always, I thank you for your continued support and consideration.

Stay safe and healthy!

Updates Available…

Tags

A Day of Horror: The March 11, 2011 Japan Earthquake-A Foreigner's Perspective, authors, Horror, humanity, Manage your content and devices, nonfiction, novel, photos, Short stories, The DiVacci Curse, To Sleep in the Ground, updates

First things first…

I hope that everyone is coping with the pandemic and that lives are being saved by compliance to the worldwide lockdowns.

No offense or disrespect is intended, but I thought that since things seem to be settling down a bit in some areas of the world, and some countries are over their peaks of mass infection, that maybe it was acceptable to post some new info about my books.

Amazon.com has informed me that free updates are available for all three of my e-books.  In order to access the updates, readers who purchased my books in the past can go to their “Manage Your Content and Devices” page in their Amazon account to download the updated and most recent version.  I assume (you know what happens when we do that) that the updates will translate to all Amazon versions of my books no matter what country they were purchased from.  If you have information to the contrary, or would like to chime in with any comments about the updates, then I would be more than grateful and open to them.  Unfortunately, as of the date of this post, the updates are not available for anyone who purchased my books from Amazon.jp here in Japan where I live.  Sorry about that.  I hope it changes.  Perhaps it just takes time for word to spread throughout the entire Amazon kingdom.  That is completely understandable considering the current situation.

As mentioned in previous posts, after I published my first novel, I revisited both my nonfiction book and my short story.  Basic technical changes were made, but I made no changes to the stories.  I just updated and improved the appearance, format and user-friendliness of the books.  I changed some of the front matter to back matter, and made the layout and flow more consistent across all three books.  I also reformatted the photos in my March 11, 2011 nonfiction book among other changes.  I feel that the changes make for a much better reading experience overall.

The free updates are my gift to the readers of my books.  Thank you all very much.  I hope that you will enjoy the improvements.  For those of you who have not yet read my books, then be assured that you will be getting the most current editions and the best possible reading experience that I can offer at this time.  Thank you for your future patronage.

Again, please forgive my selfish post at such a difficult time as this.

I ask your continued prayers for the world.  We are all in this together regardless of gender, race, religion, creed, political ideology, socioeconomic status or income.  Hang in there, everybody.

 

 

 

 

Introducing…Marco Dark!

Tags

A Day of Horror: The March 11, 2011 Japan Earthquake-A Foreigner's Perspective, action, artist, author, Blood, bloodlust, Bradley Lobue, California, casino, claws, corpse, Creepy, dark, desert, dollars, dusk, e-book, euros, fangs, fictionalist, financier, France, French madame, Fukushima Prefecture, Gore, gothic, grim reaper, hacker, hit man, Horror, humanity, Japan, Koriyama City, Las Vegas, lone vampire, loner, manga, manga artist, Marco Dark, money, Nevada, new, nightlife, Northern Japan, novel, Palermo, Pasadena, publish, Read, Review, Scary, Sicily, sociopath, suspense, swindler, The DiVacci Curse, thriller, To Sleep in the Ground, Tohoku, undead, vamp, vampire, vampire action, vampire drama, vampire fiction, vampire novel, vampirekind, vampires, vampiric, vampiric hit man, vamps, wild west, world traveler, writer, yen

My first novel and latest release is now available!

A wealthy French madame, a misguided manga artist, a greedy financier, a malicious computer hacker and a homicidal sociopath.  What do they all have in common?  They all have contracts on their heads.  The one hired to fulfill those contracts is Marco Dark.  He’s cultured, sophisticated and intelligent, and the most lethal hit man on the planet.  He’s also a 200-year-old vampire!  Journey with Marco as he traverses the globe plying his deadly trade…and pray that you’re not on his list!

“To Sleep in the Ground” has taken twenty years to complete since its original conception.  I encourage you to check it out.  You can access a sample of the book via the link at the end of this post.

If you read Marco’s story and find it entertaining (or not) then I request that you write a review.  Let’s be honest, reviews and word of mouth sell books and reviews are a great way for readers to express themselves, too.  I’d also like to hear your comments and opinions about “To Sleep in the Ground” on this blog.

The 8th Anniversary of the East Japan Earthquake

Tags

A Day of Horror: The March 11, 2011 Japan Earthquake-A Foreigner's Perspective, Climate Change, climatologists, e-book, e-book price reduction, earthquake, Eastern Tohoku, environment, Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, Global Warming, humanity, Japan, March 11 2011 earthquake, meltdown, meteorologists, Mother Nature, nuclear crisis, nuclear meltdown, Progress, radiation, reconstruction, recycle, The 8th Anniversary of the East Japan Earthquake, The Great East Japan Earthquake, tsunami, writing

I deliberately avoid posting about politics on social media.  I’m not qualified to talk about climate change or global warming, or what impact humanity has upon the environment. I’ll leave that to the climatologists, meteorologists and scientists of the world. The city where I live in Japan has a good recycling program and I do my part. In this post, I’m not going to share my personal views on the topic of whether or not climate change is real. My opinions would be inappropriate and irrelevant.

What I do know, based on personal experience, is that on March 11, 2011, Mother Nature had her say, and had a lot to say, when she unleashed her fury upon the Eastern Tohoku region of Japan. I witnessed the fourth largest earthquake in recorded human history. I live thirty-six miles west of the site of one of the world’s largest nuclear meltdowns. I lived it. I was terrified by it. I am still haunted by it. I will probably never be free from the memory of it in some capacity.

The Earth doesn’t care how we feel about climate change. It does what it wants to do, when it wants to do it, and it doesn’t give a damn what we mere humans think of it. It makes the rules and we have to suffer the consequences; good or bad, instigated by us or not. We are at its mercy. It’s the price we pay to live on this wondrous ball of life rotating on its axis in space.

If you’re interested in knowing more about the events of March 11, 2011, and its impact on the environment and the people of southern Tohoku, from someone who was there, then I respectfully encourage you to read my book. It’s available through Amazon in most countries where Amazon operates. I recently decreased the price of the book rather significantly, but Amazon retains the right to fluctuate the pricing when necessary. Thank you for understanding. You can access the book directly through the link provided on the “My Books” page of this blog.  My humble thanks to all who have already purchased and read the book. Your kindness and consideration is truly appreciated and will not be forgotten.

March 11, 2011 (Reblogged from my Facebook page).

Tags

7th anniversary, A Day of Horror: The March 11, 2011 Japan Earthquake-A Foreigner's Perspective, Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, Fukushima Prefecture, honor, Japan, March 11, March 11 2011 earthquake, memorial, nuclear meltdown, Progress, radiation, remember, The Great East Japan Earthquake, tsunami, writing

Here in Japan we remember all those who lost their lives in the East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami seven years ago today.

I ask your prayers for all of the victims and their families and friends who remain and mourn their loss. Some people lost their entire families on that day.

I was thankfully spared the horrors of the tsunami that day because I live farther inland in Fukushima prefecture. But, I remember the earthquake well (too well) and the subsequent radiation crisis at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant which I live roughly 36 miles from.

Thankfully, radiation levels have dropped dramatically in the past seven years, but the threat of long-term radiation exposure continues to haunt me and plague my psyche.

I wrote a book about my personal experiences during the earthquake and nuclear crisis. It’s available in e-book form on Amazon in the U.S., Japan and Europe, etc.  You can access the link from the “My Books” section of this blog or search for it on Amazon in your country.

Koriyama (where I live) and Fukushima prefecture in general are recovering, slowly but surely. However, a lot of work still needs to be done. The courage and dignity of the Tohoku people is incredible to behold. We are all in this together and have been walking hand in hand on the path to recovery.

Please keep the people of Northeastern Japan in your thoughts and prayers today…and always.

Attention Amazon Kindle Readers!

Tags

A Day of Horror: The March 11, 2011 Japan Earthquake-A Foreigner's Perspective, Amazon, Amazon Prime, e-book, Ghost Story, Horror, KDP Select, Kindle, Kindle Owners' Lending Library, Kindle Unlimited, Review, Short stories, The DiVacci Curse, The Great East Japan Earthquake

My nonfiction e-book and my fiction e-short story are now enrolled in KDP Select on Amazon.  This is good news for Amazon Prime, Kindle Owners’ Lending Library and Kindle Unlimited members.  Check em’ out!

For those who have already purchased and read my e-book and e-short story, thank you very much.  If you like what you read, then I encourage you to write a review and post it on Amazon.  I would be honored and grateful for your kindness and consideration.  If writing a review is not your thing, then please spread the word among your family and friends, co-workers, distant relatives, ex-spouses, etc.

As always, direct links to both books can be found on the “My Books” page of this blog. Thanks for reading.

Have a fun and safe summer!

Most humbly,

Brad