The system called “reciprocity”

Tags

author reciprocation, indie authors, indie publishing, self-published

Author reciprocity can be a touchy subject. If Writer A shares Writer B’s blog post, hits “going” to her online event, “likes” her Facebook page, clicks “follow” on Tumblr or Twitter, it is only natural that Writer A want Writer B to do the same for her, yes? In a perfect world, everyone would turn around and immediately repay the favors other people did for them, but this is not a perfect world, we are not perfect people.

You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours—or not.

I go to a decent number of online events for different authors, review lots of books (or did before I started school), follow lots of author social media feeds, occasionally make graphic edits for books I liked, and recommend books on Goodreads and Amazon, but do I expect all those authors to do the same for me and my titles? Well, I’ll admit it would be nice, but no, I do not.

The truth is, it seems unreasonable to me to expect everyone to repay every “favor.” There are a number of people who left glowy reviews for my books, but I haven’t read theirs for whatever reason. I don’t always return blog comments and I’m horrible about sharing links to anything and while there are a few authors with which I have established strong relationships, I do not expect every author I’ve reviewed to return the favor.

In all fairness…

For one thing, they may not have the time. The author community is comprised of parents, students, and full time workers, people with day jobs, cats, and other time-consuming things in their non-literary lives. When they manage to find a spare moments between all of that and writing to read/review, who am I to say they should read my book instead of that one they’ve been wanting for over a year?

The slippery slope.

Then what if they don’t like it? That is their right, after all. Do I get angry because I left an awesome review for theirs and demand they lie to spare my ego?

The idea of author reciprocity is one of those things that is great in theory and can be great in practice, but can also get icky very fast. What do you do if you review the other person’s book and it turns out to be full of flaws? That’s even worse than the other way around. What if they get angry?

In general, I just do my thing and if other authors reciprocate, awesome, if not, I may still download their entire series and preorder their upcoming releases if I liked them. The way I see it, posting reviews keeps my blog alive and even if the authors themselves don’t check out my books as a result, maybe other readers checking out my reviews will.

And let’s not forget why we got into this business to start with.

Perhaps most importantly, I don’t think I should let the prospect of another person reading/not reading my work influence my enjoyment of their work. That’s why I started writing—because stories make me happy. I read stories I enjoy, I write stories I enjoy, and I try not to worry about what other writers are doing.

Me and my Kindle

Tags

amazon, ebooks, free for kindle, indie authors, kindle, kindle paperwhite, readerly

A few years ago, I saw on Facebook that there was a free promotion for a book I’d been wanting to read for awhile, Thorn by Intisar Khanani. The catch? It was for Kindle. At the time, I was a staunch literary purist. eBooks were the inexcusable digitization of literature and I was much to good for that. But…it was free. You can’t argue with free, can you?

So I caved and downloaded the Kindle iPhone app, hit the infamous “one-click” button, and let the book sit around for weeks. And weeks. And months. Finally, I went and took a little peak at it. A little peak turned into a few chapters, a few chapters turned into a few hours—hey, this story was pretty darn good and who cared if it was an eBook, it was awesome!

By the time I scrolled past the last page, I was not only irreversibly hooked on the author, but a love of eBooks had taken root in my soul. I ended up downloading more free eBooks, sampling the beginnings of series that ranged from “why was this published” to “give me the sequel before I hurt someone.” In no time at all, I was buying complete series in eBook, periodically hijacking my father’s Amazon account to go on digital shopping sprees. My iPhone app quickly filled up with books I liked to reread, books I wanted to read, and books I to this day haven’t read—just like a “real” library!

For my eighteenth birthday, my grandparents gave me the ultimate gift for a bookworm—a brand new, shiny, gorgeous Kindle Paperwhite. The very first book I read was Reemergent by A.M. Hargrove, the final book in a series I had devoured via my iPhone app.

Me in Starbucks mere minutes after leaving Best Buy, flaunting my prize before a camera. (If you look closely, you can see Reemergent is open on the screen.)

My Kindle opened up a world of possibilities. With a display that didn’t render me blind after a few hours, a bigger screen, and better visibility, I could even read the big, fat fantasy epics as eBooks!

I can’t count the number of series I’ve been able to try, start, and adore because of my Kindle (actually, they’re all listed on Goodreads). From The Cat’s Eye Chronicles to The Captive series, Legends of Regia to the Shadowlight Saga, awesome is just as prolific in eBook as it is in print.

eBooks have helped me as a writer, too. Without those little things called Kindles and Nooks, my stories would not have reached half the readers they have. Permanently free, Fanged Princess is reaching new fans every month and none of it would be possible without eReaders.

So despite all the things Amazon has gotten wrong, there’s at least one they got right—creating a little thing called the Kindle for all the little bookworms like me to use and love.

Review: Desert Rose: A Tale of Nälu by J.L. Mbewe @JLMbewe

Tags

fantasy, indie authors, review, short story, young adult

Can a desert princess find love with a foreign king?

Johari lives in the shadow of her beautiful sister until a foreign king notices her, but in her haste to prove herself worthy of affection she finds herself compromised and on a difficult journey to make things right.

Blurb and cover from Goodreads

5 out of 5 stars

Why don’t the other high fantasy authors just come out and admit they’re in cahoots to break my heart into a billion tiny pieces? This is a short story that I think comes to less than twenty pages in print, but it still managed to leave me very saddened. Despite the length, we still get a good glimpse into the world of Nälu and Johari’s inner turmoil. I think Ms. Mbewe has certainly proven that she can write quite exceptionally and leave you wanting more of her world.

This was a beautiful piece and I mean to look into the rest of the series!

Find Desert Rose on Goodreads

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Find Desert Rose on BN.com