A few weeks back, I received my first negative review of one of my books. Okay, I’ve had the odd, “I spotted a spelling mistake” and “you didn’t format this page correctly” but so far, in terms of reviews, so good.
Then a disgruntled buyer of Return To The Crease gave me a 1-star rating on Amazon for the paperback. Frustratingly for me, because the two previous 4 and 5-star reviews weren’t both on amazon.co.uk this has dragged the overall rating down, although I haven’t exactly noticed the dip in sales that I would expect.
On reflection, I am not too bothered about the reviewer. The reader actually misses the point when he writes about it being written by a 10-year-old and asking how people like me can get published. However, with the book itself being so short, I can see how you might be a bit peeved if it isn’t right up your street.
I think it works better as an e-book, and indeed it sells better as an e-book, so I’ve decided to remove the paperback from Amazon. It doesn’t live up to the standards I have set for myself. If you want to read the review that got me thinking, here it is: http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/B007QBOPAM/ref=cm_cr_dp_see_all_btm?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending
In other news, I am reducing the price of 1,309 Days Later to encourage people to buy it and put it in people’s stockings for Christmas. The Kindle will be £1.99 and the paperback £3.99 until the end of December – that’s a £1 off!
It’ll take a couple of days for these prices to update – please be patient and keep an eye on my Twitter feed for details of when it comes through.