Tag Archives: book reviews

The Mysteries of Amazon

Leave a reply

I am, on the whole a big fan of Amazon. As a purchaser of ebooks I appreciate the sheer variety of Kindle content available. It is, quite simply mind boggling! From the point of view of an author I value the flexibility offered by Kindle Select which enables me to promote my books as free for 5 days in any 90 day period generating interest in my stories. However one aspect of Amazon which frustrates me is the way in which reviews posted in one country only appear in that jurisdiction. My book, Samantha recently received a 4 star review on amazon.co.uk which greatly boosted my sense of wellbeing when I read it. However on visiting amazon.com I noticed that Samantha showed as having no reviews. This is, to my mind bizarre. As a bit of a simpleton I would have thought that as Samantha is available world-wide reviews provided on one Amazon site should show up on all other sites. The same content is available globally so why can not the reviews show up world-wide? Reviews can be a factor in determining whether an interested browser turns into a book purchaser and anyone visiting amazon.com would not be aware that my book had been reviewed in the UK which could mean the difference between selling (or not selling) a copy. I would be interested to hear your views. Kevin

Limbo

1 Reply

It is often said that if people are happy with a product or service they will rarely express their approbation. In contrast where individuals are dissatisfied they will complain vociferously. Looking at the sales of my book, Samantha during it’s free promotion in the Kindle store I see that 96 copies have been downloaded, however as of approximately 20 minutes ago none of those downloaders have left a review or rating. What am I, the author to make of this?

The promotion ran from 3-7 March so it is still early days (Amazon sends e-mails to customers asking if they would like to review books which they have purchased and it is possible that these will prompt purchasers to leave a review or rating), however I know from my own purchasing habits that although I frequently mean to review a book I’ve read I often don’t get round to doing so. When Samantha first appeared on my blog I received a number of likes and encouraging comments which where (and are) much appreciated, however the lack of feedback from purchasers leaves me in limbo not knowing what people think of Samantha. I enjoy writing and will continue to write with or without feedback. However it would still be nice to hear from purchasers of Samantha either via reviews on Amazon or by comments on this blog.

 

Kevin

I Don’t Like Your Book

6 Replies

I write because I believe that I have something to say. Also I write because I must. I have an itch which must be scratched. Human nature being what it is I hope that people will enjoy my writing and I’m thrilled when they do so. However not everyone likes what I write. I sent a gentleman of my acquaintance a complimentary copy of my collection of short stories, The First Time (at his request I should add). About a week later I bumped into my acquaintance in the street and he remarked that while he had liked the first part of The First Time he’d found the rest “not to my taste”.

To put my acquaintence’s comments into context it is necessary to know a little about The First Time. The main story, The First Time relates  how Becky, a graduate with a first class degree in English literature enters the world of prostitution, as an escort in order to clear her debts. The book deals with the physical and emotional effects of working as a prostitute on both Becky and her fellow escort and friend Julie. In The First Time a tragedy befalls one of the girls and it is this which made the gentleman of my acquaintance remark that the story was not to “my taste”.

At one level I am sorry that my acquaintance did not find The First Time to his “taste”. As I said at the beginning of this post I hope that people will derive pleasure from my writing and being only human it gives me satisfaction when my work is praised. However I can not change my stories to please the gentlemen of my acquaintance or anyone else. In the real world as opposed to the world of fairy tales people do not always “live happily ever after” and The First Time reflects this truth. I wrote what I believe to be an accurate portrayal of the world of prostitution not a fairy story. Consequently while I am sorry that some will find The First Time not to their “taste” I’m pleased that others have understood it and derived enjoyment from the story.

I will continue to write as I do. I can do nothing else.

For the First Time by Kevin Morris please visit http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-First-Time-ebook/dp/B00AIK0DD6

Book Review: In Her Own Words .. Interview With A London Call Girl by Ruth Jacobs

Leave a reply

Yesterday I read  “In Her Own Words .. Interview With A London Call Girl”, by Ruth Jacobs. You can find my review here http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/B008OALF4S/ref=cm_cr_dp_hist_four/280-6753202-9043007?ie=UTF8&filterBy=addFourStar&showViewpoints=0. To purchase the book please visit http://www.amazon.co.uk/Words-Interview-London-Destruction-ebook/dp/B008OALF4S/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top.

The Rise of the British National Party by Matthew J Goodwin

Leave a reply

As with all democracies the United Kingdom has a bewildering variety of extremist political parties on the extreme left and right. The largest far-right party, the British National Party has no representation in the UK parliament, it does, however have two Members of the European Parliament (MEPS) including the party’s leader, Nick Griffin.

As with many parties of the extreme right the BNP has attempted to throw off it’s image as a racist and anti-semitic organisation. The party’s policy of the forceable repatriation of non-white immigrants to what the BNP terms their “homelands” has been abandoned as official party policy, however scratch below the surface of respectability and the organisation remains the same racist and Nazi organisation (witness for example the clips on the internet of prominent party members making racist and anti-semitic comments).

In “New British Fascism: The Rise of the British National Party” Mathew J Goodwin examines the party in detail including in-depth interviews with BNP members and supporters. The book offers a fascinating insight into what makes extremists tick and I’d recommend it to anyone who wishes to understand the disturbing growth of political extremism. For Goodwin’s book please visit http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0053D73WC?ie=UTF8&ref=oce_digital

 

My Page on Goodreads

Leave a reply

I have recently signed up with Goodreads. I’ve just updated my profile which is, however very much a work in progress. I’m still getting to grips with the site, however you can find my admittedly limited profile (as of today) by going to http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/15615537-kevin. Over the coming weeks I will update and add to my site on Goodreads.

The First Time by Kevin Morris Amazon customer discussions

Leave a reply

As the author of “The First Time” I would love to hear the views of my readers. Please either leave a comment on this post or, alternatively by going to Amazon’s customer discussion forum on my book which can be accessed here http://www.amazon.co.uk/First-Time-Kevin-Morris/forum/Fx2SED6KSY0FJIE/Tx1BEAOPB0SWCBD/1/ref=cm_cd_dp_ef_tft_tp?_encoding=UTF8&asin=B00AIK0DD6. To purchase “The First Time” on Amazon please visit http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-First-Time-ebook/dp/B00AIK0DD6.

Book Reviews

1 Reply

On 11 November I published my first book, “The Girl At The Bus Stop” using Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing. As of today (29 November) “The Girl At The Bus Stop” has been downloaded 195 times. Given that this is my first book I am pleasantly surprised at what seem to me at least to be relatively good figures. However I have as yet received no reviews of “The Girl At The Bus Stop”. There is an old saying that “no news is good news” and I assume that those who have purchased my book are pleased with their purchase otherwise they would vent their displeasure by leaving a negative review on Amazon. I must confess though that I would like to receive reviews as it is always good to know that one’s work has given pleasure to others.

Prior to setting pen to paper (well fingers to keyboard to be pedantic) I had left several reviews on Amazon of books which I’d enjoyed and/or found particularly interesting. I must admit however to being guilty of frequently meaning to leave a review of a book which I’ve especially enjoyed but, in the end never getting round to doing so. My early new year’s resolution is to write reviews of the books I read both to help potential readers and to assist the authors in question. I’d love to hear from my readers so if you have read “The Girl At The Bus Stop” do please let me know what you thought of it.