Purged Amazon Reviews: Case Closed?

Purged Amazon Reviews: Case Closed?

Castalia House Lead Editor Vox Day passes along a possible solution to The Case of the Purged Amazon Reviews. Specifically, he quotes author Amanda Green's theory based on her review of Amazon's terms of service. 2. Are authors allowed to review other authors’ books?Yes. Authors are welcome to submit Customer…
March 19, 20181 Comment
Amazon Review Purge

Amazon Review Purge

Has the epidemic of social media censorship that's seen big tech firms like YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter persecute users for their politics infected Amazon? A recent purge of book reviews may be a warning sign that the English-speaking world's biggest online retailer is interfering with its users in subtler but still…
March 12, 201815 Comments
The Can that Laughs

The Can that Laughs

In a turn worthy of a coke-fueled Stephen King novel, reports have surfaced of Amazon's Alexa digital assistant exhibiting eerie behavior. Amazon is trying to stop its Amazon Echos, powered by the Alexa voice-activated assistant, from suddenly laughing. The online retail giant told to tech news publication The Verge on…
March 8, 201811 Comments
Nick Cole and the New Pulp Age

Nick Cole and the New Pulp Age

This past Saturday marked author Nick Cole's triumphant return to Geek Gab. It's a take-no-prisoners episode in which Daddy Warpig and Dorrinal get Nick to spill all of his secrets for making Galaxy's Edge a smash indie success. My takeaways from the episode: Publishers are screwed. Not just the Big…
January 29, 20188 Comments
Movin’ on Up

Movin’ on Up

Previously, a perceptive reader alerted us to the troubling phenomenon of Amazon ghettos. With the recent launch of The Ophian Rising, I tried to employ the strategy defined by Galaxy's Edge authors Nick Cole and Jason Anspach in an attempt to avoid falling into the ghetto and perhaps to get my…
December 21, 20177 Comments
The Ophian Rising Is Here!

The Ophian Rising Is Here!

The cycle is complete. What an astonishing journey we've taken together: from the launch of my first novel to the Hugos, from Larry Correia's BOOK BOMB! to the Dragon Awards, it's been an honor to ride this out-of-control rocket car with you! The genesis of the Soul Cycle goes back…
December 20, 20178 Comments
Amazon Ghettos

Amazon Ghettos

Following my recent posts about how the fundamental realities of publishing have changed in the new Amazon/indie-dominated landscape, a reader passed along a number of eye-opening revelations about how authors and publishers are unintentionally consigning their books to "Amazon Ghettos". The Amazon sleuth explains: Amazon’s algorithm is set up to…
December 13, 201714 Comments
Indie Pub Eras

Indie Pub Eras

The world of indie publishing is a dynamic market that has undergone dramatic change in a remarkably short time. To better understand this rapidly evolving industry, it behooves us to take a look back at the stages of indie pub's development. Pre-Kindle Before Amazon's introduction of the Kindle eReader, traditional…
November 28, 201712 Comments
Space Opera vs. Mil-SF

Space Opera vs. Mil-SF

Picking up form yesterday's post about picking the right science fiction niche, Injustice Gamer Alfred Genesson names some successful indie authors who are peeling off readers from underserved or poorly served fandoms: Brian brings up Galaxy's Edge, which is an interesting study as it's by Nick Cole and Jason Anspach,…
October 20, 201711 Comments
Indies Anonymous

Indies Anonymous

A piece of common book industry wisdom frequently cited by self-publishing proponents such as myself has it that there's an anonymous cadre of indie authors quietly making millions on Amazon. This popular bit of publishing lore happens to be true. It also presents indie authors--and the emerging New Scheme of…
October 16, 20176 Comments