What turns readers off

[Jan Hurst-Nicholson]

Apologies if someone has already posted this link.

This is a survey on readers' views of authors' marketing techniques.

Readers Speak Out: Authors’ Online Marketing Techniques http://j.mp/zYSC69

[writersherry]

Great post. Thanks for sharing!

[BrianKittrell]

Thanks. Amazing how much of it is common sense, but people don't think about it when they're trying to promote.

[Jan Hurst-Nicholson]

To reply, or not to reply to reviews raises its head once again.  The consensus seemed to be 'don't thank a reviewer as readers don't like to think the author is sitting on their shoulder as they write the review.' But now we have some readers feeling disgruntled that the author did not thank them for the review.

[K. A. Jordan]

Common sense and a thin skin aren't compatible.

As authors, we need to cultivate readers - and if we have a thin-skin, its hard to do.

I don't promote much - I'm of the 'let the book speak for itself' crowd.

According to my paperback sales - readers are discovering my e-book and recommending it. A few people are willing to pay top-buck to get a paperback.

I'm startled every time I get a paperback sale.

[Lindzz]

I agree - when I published my book, I thought I could just sit back and watch the money roll in.  I don't know whether I was just naive or downright foolish.  This writing lark is definitely not for the faint-hearted, and getting the marketing right is a science in itself.  It's not as easy as it looks as I'm just beginning to find out!

[acellis]

Some good points here.

[xandy3]

Really interesting survey results.  Thank you for sharing. 

I find it interesting that the readers polled associated free & 99 cent books with "unedited" or "not proofread." 
Leads me to make the assumption that those of us who paid for editing (perhaps especially those who have paid a lot) are reluctant to price at 99 cents. I completely understand that.   True, I do have 2 short stories at that price, because I can't see pricing a short story much higher than that (due to length).

It also brings to mind the expression, "It takes money to make money."  If you want your books to appeal to readers, invest in editing and proof reading services. Also, invest in ad space whether in online or print magazines, rather than the "free" marketing technique of continually spamming fb/twitter/message boards where you can annoy readers.

[intinst]

Drive by promoters. I also don’t like it when authors join groups and the first thing I see from them is “buy my book.” That’s all they have to say. How about joining the conversation? How about getting to know us and letting us get to know you?

I feel the same way about members who join KB and their "intro" post (and many times only post outside of the Bazaar and Cafe) is nothing about themselves and just a sales pitch.

[K.R. Harris]

Excellent article and good information. Thanks for sharing!

[Paul Clayton]

To reply, or not to reply to reviews raises its head once again.  The consensus seemed to be 'don't thank a reviewer as readers don't like to think the author is sitting on their shoulder as they write the review.' But now we have some readers feeling disgruntled that the author did not thank them for the review.

Hmmm.  Looking over their shoulder.  Actually, I give them a nice shoulder rub while I'm doing that.  But it doesn't always work.

[MikeAngel]

Common sense and a thin skin aren't compatible.

As authors, we need to cultivate readers - and if we have a thin-skin, its hard to do.

I don't promote much - I'm of the 'let the book speak for itself' crowd.

According to my paperback sales - readers are discovering my e-book and recommending it. A few people are willing to pay top-buck to get a paperback.

I'm startled every time I get a paperback sale.

I'm startled every time you get a paperback sale, too! 
Seriously, I'm with you. Except I don't think it's my job to "cultivate readers." At least not with the usual fertilizer. I'm a hardboiled writer who writes about a hardboiled investigator. They can sit on their thumbs until I write a bodice-ripper or a stupid vampire job for idiot teens. hah. 

[Geoffrey]

Recently, I received mail from an author on goodreads letting me know he has a new book coming out soon.  I had reviewed two of his books over the years, so he thanked me then for reviewing them.  I was cool with that - it wasn't intrusive or weird.  But, then he also asked me a personal question based off something I said in one of the reviews.  When I answered his question, he never responded - that was weird.

I guess what I'm saying is that marketing by being real is good - but using pretend realness as a marketing tool can tend to have a negative effect on the overall marketing effort.

[cate dean]

Thank you for posting that link - I've bookmarked her site as well, loads of great info! And bravo for her taking the time to poll the most important people - the readers.

~Cate

[telracs]

To reply, or not to reply to reviews raises its head once again.  The consensus seemed to be 'don't thank a reviewer as readers don't like to think the author is sitting on their shoulder as they write the review.' But now we have some readers feeling disgruntled that the author did not thank them for the review.

some readers want a connection with an author
some readers just want to read the books
some readers want to know that authors read their reviews
some readers just want the author to write another book.

no matter what you do, you will please some people and displease others.

[Ben White]

I never respond to reviews as a comment (I always cringe a little when I see authors doing that, it feels tacky to me no matter what they're saying), but every so often, usually after I get a thoughtful and insightful review, I tweet or do a Facebook update or similar along the lines of "I appreciate everyone who takes the time to not only read but review my books, thanks guys!".  You know, just when the feeling's there   Oh, and if someone tweets that they've reviewed one of my books I'll tweet back with a thank you, that just seems polite.

Interesting that free books now seem to have a better reputation than 99 cent books.  I can see where people are coming from

[ETS PRESS]

The whole review thing is interesting. Over at Teachers Pay Teachers, the teacher-authors have found that responding to reviews is a good thing. It seems that people like to feel that they've been heard. If the review is negative, then the response is usually matter of fact and with a possible apology (sorry you didn't like it). It's an entirely different attitude.

Then I come here and everyone talks about what a big no-no it is. Personally, I'm torn. I don't think it's smart to argue with someone or come across as defensive -just have a conversation, and if the person is a troll, then ignore them. I don't know. It's a tough call.

[Beatriz]

I agree - when I published my book, I thought I could just sit back and watch the money roll in.  I don't know whether I was just naive or downright foolish.  This writing lark is definitely not for the faint-hearted, and getting the marketing right is a science in itself.  It's not as easy as it looks as I'm just beginning to find out!

I couldn't agree with you more.  I felt the same way and was in for a big shock because you have to fight for every book you sell and every review you get.  But writers are damned if they do and damned if they don't.  If you promote too much they judge you, if you don't promote enough you get nowhere.  If you charge $.99 cents to sell more books they think the books are shoddy.  If you charge $2.99 and are an unknown writer they think you're overcharging.  So what's an author to do?  The truth is that readers just don't realize how tough we got it, and that many of us are not rolling in money from our sales.  The posts they see from people who sell thousands of books are few and far in between because most of us are struggling.  So why do we stay in the game?  Because we feel that eventually cream will rise to the top and good books will sell on their own merits, but it's a long, lonely stroll, that's for sure.

[Jena H]

Yeah, that's interesting that some readers would like authors to acknowledge the "compliment or shout-out" of our books.  For one thing, does every author even know when his/her book is mentioned anywhere other than an Amazon or B&N review?  I understand that if I, as an author, frequent a particular blog or non-Amazon/KDP discussion board, and someone mentions they liked my book, it would only be polite to say "how kind of you to say so."  But authors certainly can't scour the internet looking for every mention of their book.  At least, I won't.  

But as ETS Press says, in certain venues, author response is apparently appreciated.  I guess the rule would be "When in Rome...."  And since I'm rarely ever in Rome, I guess I won't be responding.    

[Terrence OBrien]

"So what's an author to do?"

If the objective is to sell books, I'd recommend we judge what we do by the sales results.

[Nell Gavin]

Yeah, that's interesting that some readers would like authors to acknowledge the "compliment or shout-out" of our books.  For one thing, does every author even know when his/her book is mentioned anywhere other than an Amazon or B&N review?  I understand that if I, as an author, frequent a particular blog or non-Amazon/KDP discussion board, and someone mentions they liked my book, it would only be polite to say "how kind of you to say so."  But authors certainly can't scour the internet looking for every mention of their book.  At least, I won't.  

But as ETS Press says, in certain venues, author response is apparently appreciated.  I guess the rule would be "When in Rome...."  And since I'm rarely ever in Rome, I guess I won't be responding.    

That was the paragraph that really caught my eye too. It's such a slippery slope, when you try to interact with readers who haven't actually tried to contact you. I recall a thread on this once where someone described it as "creepy," to post something on a forum somewhere, and then suddenly have the author appear out of nowhere. It makes readers feel as if they can't be honest because it will get back to the author - and it probably will, unless the forum is private. Most authors use Google Alerts now.

But here's another aspect to that, which I learned here on the boards. The poster had just learned - and taught me with that post - that Facebook files "non-friend" messages into an "Other" folder that is separate from your Inbox. This includes fan mail from readers. The messages don't display in your Inbox, so they're easy to miss. After that posting, I went and looked and - sure enough - the Other folder contained fan letters, and some were several months old. I got busy in a hurry, writing apologetic messages to those readers. I felt truly awful.

I wonder if those readers had taken the time to contact an author on Facebook, and never received a reply because of that? At any rate, PLEASE remember to check your Other folder once in a while! What an awful feeling that was!

[Terrence OBrien]

We have the technology for authors to respond to reviews. It's available, and easy to use. I suspect it will become normal for authors to respond. If more authors responded to fiction reviews, I'd start reading them.

[GGKeets]

I find this thread really fitting today 

One thing that bothers is me is when an author name drops in a promotion for their work. I don't mean "so and so liked and reviewed this book." I mean along the lines of "if you liked (insert insanely popular work or author) you'll like my book!"

There have been at least a dozen instances in which I did not make a purchase because when I got to the product page, in the description, the author had mentioned several popular works that were like theirs.

Just look at one of the banners today on KB. In a space much larger than the cover "If you liked Harry Potter . . ." buy my book! So obnoxious.

Authors or publishers have no business trying to make those comparisons to the readers. The genre and product description should be enough.

[Decon]

"So what's an author to do?"

If the objective is to sell books, I'd recommend we judge what we do by the sales results.

On that note, I have just had a free promotion on KDP. Last time I facebooked, twittered, and free sited. I finished up with 2,000 downloads. This time I have not done anything, the result, 100 downloads. You tell me what works and what doesn't?

It would seem to me that for every one that doesn't like what we do, there are at least as many who respond.

[BrianKittrell]

Just look at one of the banners today on KB. In a space much larger than the cover "If you liked Harry Potter . . ." buy my book! So obnoxious.

lol!! I almost spit out my coke on that one. It gets worse.. from the product page:

...If you think you would enjoy C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia or J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series mixed in with a bit of detective and alternate history...

...Lord of the Rings meets the Da Vinci Code in this epic tale of dark versus light...

...Something as good as Harry Potter AND Lord of the Rings...

Quick! Get this person a billion-dollar check immediately! No, It CANNOT wait.

As good as Harry Potter AND Lord of the Rings AND Chronicles of Naria AND Da Vinci Code...

Wait... Da Vinci Code?

Now, granted that some of it is quoted from reviewers, but reviewers tend to receive things that we as publishers like to refer to as "press kits" in which is supplied relevant marketing material from which one might acquire... similar works.

"Now presenting the most prodigical bastard child of all time, His Royal Highness J. K. C. S. Stephen Dan Rowling-Lewis-King-Brown, Master and Commander, Viceroy of the West Indies, and Lord Admiral of the Ocean-Sea. He prefers to be addressed simply as "Majesty", and the bow is optional."

I always LOL when I see this sort of thing, then I one-click... the red X at the top right.

*Note: I'm just having a little fun here because the banner was mentioned, but the same could be said about a number of books coming around these days. I have not read the book, and I do not comment as to its quality, only its marketing practice.