Writing False Book Reviews

Having written 50+ book reviews for authors, I find it difficult to tear an authors work apart, especially when most of the times that I read a book, I read it with an eye from the CEO desk of Prodigy Publishing Group. Mainly focusing on plot, as I am more attracted to that as opposed to character driven novels. However, I never read a book that's not my type and then tear it down. Equally, I would never take my personal  issues with an author to a public forum (e.g. Amazon, iBooks) and tear their work apart because I didn't like them.

Recently, I read an article that highlighted that John Locke the first independent author to sell 1 million Kindle copies of his novels utilized a firm to write faux reviews for him in order to push his book to the top. Good to some and bad to some. I have a by any means necessary approach to this so, I didn't care either way. On the flip side, what if the reviews were all 1-stars. How would that have affected Mr. Locke.

Recently, I was informed to analyze questionable reviews in the Amazon Kindle store regarding my novel, CON TEST. Specifically to pay attention to the 1-star reviews. One of them has nothing to do with my book at all, and says: "This author is an arrogant, obnoxious jackass that could not write his way out of the noose that his Republican status has placed him in. Not worth buying even if he GAVE it away." The others are so closely related and utilize the same language that they are questionable. They are all written by people that have not left any other reviews. In essence, the reviewer just hated my book so badly that they had to blog about it on Amazon. They didn't praise any other books and didn't dislike any other books? 

Now, I am not suggesting that it's impossible for people to have disliked CON TEST; however, some people have created fake Amazon profiles to tear down an author that they can't in any other way. To encourage people not to buy a book because of a political party affiliation is absurd, and to call me an obnoxious, jackass, which is only half of me is just wrong on so many levels...lol. Yes, I am a jackass, but I mean well when I am. I happen to be very charitable, as well. Doesn't that count for something. Have people forgotten all that I do to stimulate this independent publishing industry by buying books, reviewing them, and attending book fairs/expos. I am not going to give a running balance of my contributions, but I note that I am an active member of the indie community and set out to advance it daily.

The reviewers that said I needed an editor have confused me. Amazing! Your scribe is not usually confused. My proofreader, who has an editing firm, praised the editor and wanted to hire her. And here I thought that validated my beautiful story, which was praised as a 5-star read by ARC Book Club's Locksie Locks. Not only did she give CON TEST 5-stars, but 7 months into the year, she wrote: "My most EXCITING read thus far this year!"

You be the judge. As of this writing CON TEST is $4.99 in the Kindle store. But in the end, please be diligent in your quest to write a review that accurately reflects your opine of the story at hand without any personal biases that you may have toward me or any other author. Or at least be upfront and post it as yourself and engage the author, as opposed to hiding behind your computer.

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The Integrity Of Award Shows

There is an overwhelming number of people that look to earn awards to help bolster their popularity and spark sales teams and book clubs to snatch up their book. Awards are an excellent way to promote and indicate a persons success and literary endeavors achieved making them worthy of honor. Having been in this business two years, I have created an awards that I have ran for two years, and it has had success and is designed to do what awards do: heighten an author's spirits and chutzpah, create a buzz for the author, and prompt people to pay attention to them. Below, I will outline what motivated me start the awards, and the nomination and voting process.

Prior to learning about the African American Literary Awards Show (AALAS),  to my knowledge there was only one other literary awards for African American authors hosted by African American's On The Move Book Club (AAMBC) and Club President,  Tamika Newhouse. The AAMBC awards show was hosted at a yearly conference and winning authors were given a plaque. I liked the concept, and found that there were a few categories that weren't represented that I wanted to see author's rewarded for like: Best Book Cover, Best Dressed Author, Best Web Site and Best Book Trailer. With that I set out to start my own event, Prodigy Publishing Group Urban Literary Awards.

In a recent article written by book club maverick, Tanisha Webb titled, Literary Awards: Have We Lowered Our Standards Just to Get Ahead?, I decided to write this blog to discuss some of her points that I totally understood. Tanisha complained that her blog talk radio show KC Girlfriend's Book Club was nominated for Radio Show of the Year at this years AALAS, despite the fact that their show had been off the air for two years. In her article the host criticized the nominating and voting process. This is not the first incident that an awards have been talked about negatively. I have been blasted for having a Best Dressed Author category, because people think that that is a non-literary factor. I have heard that Author of the Year awards are often based on popularity and not an author's body of work or sales, which would indicate whether or not they truly were the best author of that year. And lastly, I have heard complaints regarding how can a person be on an awards committee and be nominated repeatedly for awards. With these things in mind I created what I thought was a transparent and ethical approach to not have my creation criticized for just giving away awards and falsely stroking an author's ego.

Utilizing a Face Book Group I have brought together a band of 40+ people that make up the award's nominating committee. In that committee are authors (K'wan), editors (Carla Dean), book club members, (English Ruler, ARC Book Club), Blog Talk Radio Host (The 1Essence), Book Reviewers (Adrienna Turner), and Book Interviewers (Joey Pinkney). I listed in parenthesis one representative from the sort of executives on the panel for my awards. Each of them are required to submit a full ballot, which I E-mail and they forward it back to me with their name, and I print them all out. Hence, I have a record of each nomination sheet, so that I can shut down anyone that questions how a person was placed on the ballot. Once I print out all of the sheets, I write down the nominees and the people with the most nominations in any given category make the actual public voting ballot, and all others receive an honorable mention. Each nominee has to have at least two nominations to make the public ballot. Once I have completed the entire list of final nominees, I personally verify the release date of each nominees book. Any book that falls out of the previous years window is removed, and any book that has not been released over 90 days is removed. My position on the latter is that a book needs time to pick up steam and to truly mature into a worthy book. Certainly, a notable like Wahida Clark can shoot right to the top of the Amazon ranking on her release date, but that is a testament to her followers not the greatness of a book. Anyone on the committee cannot vote for themselves and they have been warned that calling on others on the committee to nominate them is frowned upon and prohibited. Each winner is mailed an Oscar-like statute for their win.

Once the nominations have been compiled, I first have a two week voting block to determine the winner of Blog Talk Radio Host of the Year. I ask a radio host to announce the winner of that category only and award that winner the privilege to host the actual awards on their radio show on a date determined by the host and I. That award has been given to Kisha Green (2011) and Mack Mama (2012).

Once that date and time is set, I begin to ask people to be award's announcers. Each announcer must call into the show and announce the winner live. The announcer does not learn the category and winner until the day of the show (just a few hours prior to), and they are sworn to secrecy. To date, I have not heard about any violations of that rule. During the past shows each announcer has been prompt and respectful to the timeline and schedule which they are also forwarded so that they know where they fall in the line-up to be ready. Each announcer is special as they have the opportunity to be on a show that has a large reach and can mention and promote their web site and brand to an audience without cost. Each show is archived and can be listened to at anyone's leisure: 2011 Show & 2012 Show.

I have had two problems with the awards: 1) People have questioned the purpose of having a sexiest male/female and best dressed male/female categories; and, 2) People have wondered if I have given Envy Red the awards that she has won because we are friends? I find that readers do buy books at times based on an author's sex appeal and look. As an author, I find that my sales at signings vary and I have found some connection to what I am wearing playing a pivotal role in that. If I am dressed in a typical jean and T-shirt, I am not approached as much as when I add a blazer. My female author friends have revealed that men do seem to pay them a bit more attention and buy a book just because of an attraction to them, and have no desire to read the book. They just buy with the hopes of getting their phone number. So, I find that commending authors that take the time out like T. Styles and Monique D. Mensah to look great and not head to an event looking like they're dropping their kid off at school at 7 a.m. is important. On the second issue, I was uneasy about Envy Red winning any awards, but she earned the two that she received. Her name was consistent on 90% of the ballots for one category or another, so it was no surprise that she won two of the three awards that she made the final cut. She went on to win awards by a book club and another literary event, as well as some other nominations, which added validity to her win at my awards.

My purpose for this awards is to truly highlight those authors that actually deserve it. I am so open with the process and what I do, because I want a Prodigy Urban Literary Award to matter on a persons resume. I intend to maintain the integrity of the event, and there will be no compromise on remaining ethical. I have won awards and I have been nominated for awards, and I believe that I have truly earned anything that I have received. I am determined to be the face of African American Lit and take on the torch of pushing this industry to the next level, and this awards highlights great book trailers, excellent book covers, respected book reviewers, and the stylish authors. In essence, looking at the nominees aspiring authors can look at the best covers, trailers, and dressed authors to see what it takes to effectively compete in this business.

Thanks for your time and attention, and I look forward to next years awards, where I plan to host the show live, while broadcasting on blog talk radio and youstream.

Rahiem Brooks
Founder & CEO Prodigy Publishing Group
Amazon

Vonda Howard, 2012 Best Independent Magazine 

Carla Dean 2012 Best Editor 

Ni'Cola Mitchell, 2012 Best Book Cover
Erick Gray, 2012 Sexiest Male Author

Mack Mama, 2012 Best Blog Talk Radio Host

T. Styles, 2012 Sexiest Female Author &
2012 Best Web Site Design

JaQuavis Coleman, 2012 Best Dressed Male Author

Urban Literary Review, 2012 Best Book Reviewer

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BE THE BEST YOU CAN AS AN INDIE AUTHOR

This is a reality. 

Just because 200 FB friends click that they will be attending your event doesn't mean they are coming. You'll have about half the people joining the event that live on the opposite coast and more people that join the event just because they like you or they click to join anything. In 2010 during my first and only release party not one FB person was there despite the overwhelming ppl that not only joined the event but they also personally told me they planned to come. It's been said that this is dishonest and deceitful. Ergo, if you're a person that just likes and joins events just to do it, do your favorite author a favor, and don't do it.

The same holds true for book sales. When in the process of writing a book, you'll have so many ppl telling you that they can't wait for the book to release, but they fade as soon as you post that the book is available. 

Don't be a casualty to FB. FB is a networking site and not a online retailer and that is how I treat it. You may believe different and that is Ok. I am reporting it as I see it. 

People ask me why don't I promote often on FB, and it's simple, FB has NEVER really helped my bottom line directly. I have always had to meet ppl on FB and then take the next step to garner sales from that connection. I do not just sit behind my computer and play FB posting/spamming games all day. The half hour spent posting ads in groups could have been time calling two stores and selling 10 books to each store. I work to be visible. 

I support as many authors as I can. I attend many events and parties. I stay visible amongst my peers. I cold call stores to get sales using leads from indiebound.org. I maintain a PROFESSIONAL web site. I am armed with a professional media kit and press kit for each book. My books are available in all media outlets. 

Please don't be a casualty of FB. There has been a title coined for this and it's, FACEBOOK AUTHOR. Don't be one of them, and sadly it's very obvious to others and the higher ranking authors won't reach back to pull you up if it's not obvious that you're doing it on your own. It's like the sibling with no job. Are you going to buy them cigarettes and a Pepsi everyday and pay their rent when they're not even looking for a job? No. It's the same here in this industry.

Good luck and remember that google is your best friend. I promise you'd have to work very hard to find a topic that has not previously been researched online. And do not get discouraged if you find store info that is outdated. Simply, record the new info and review the schedule on your favorite author's website, as I am sure they list the stores they'll be at, and you can record that information too. You can also check out their site to find the key pages that you need on your site so that it's professional.

Thanks for your time.

Rahiem Brooks
Visit my web site for new books and my backlist is available for $5.99 each.


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STOP COMPLAINING ABOUT E-BOOK PRICING

I am kinda loss as to why people are always complaining about E-book prices. Why they try to figure out why would an author make a book free: who complains about Free stuff. Then the people that refuse to buy $0.99 books crack me up, as if John Grisham offered Kindle book for $0.99 anyone would complain. This is like the billionaire that only shops in Prada and scoffs at K-mart bargains. In my opine, some sales is better than no sales.

E-book pricing is a very tricky and funny business. If you're not savvy or not paying attention to trends and watching the numbers, you will lose. When I had one book out, LAUGH NOW, I had it priced at $9.99 and I honestly had 0, yes, ZERO sales for the first month, and only one (1) book the next, and I couldn't understand why. Bottom line, no one would support me as a new indie author at that price.

I wasn't discouraged, but as a business man, I lowered my price to $2.99, and my first check after that was $350. When I release CON TEST, I opened with $4.99, and sales were OK, but the two books worked out to me getting about the same $350. I rode that wave for a few months and then came DIE LATER, my third book and a sequel. At different times, I had all three books at $2.99, $1.99, $0.99. And guess what, the cheaper the book the more sales. Now here is the catch. When they were $0.99 that forced the number of sales to go up, along with my Amazon rank. When the rank went up, so did the price on my end, and guess what, I earned $850, the first month that I tried this.

When the KDP program offered the option to make books free, I added CON TEST only. First of all, you can only make the book Free on 5 days out of a month. What I did was, make CON TEST Free for a day at a time. That garnered no less that 4,000 downloads a day for CON TEST. But additionally, about 100 straight sales of LAUGH NOW, and DIE LATER, because people get the free book, and buy the other two.

After seeing this bring in four-digit checks, I added LAUGH NOW, my first book to the KDP program. It's a no brainer because people will buy the sequel along with the Free book. The only problems that you must remove your books from Nook and iTunes and Sony to be in the program. I have only sold 280 Nook books as a whole, and only 45 in iTunes. So, I removed them, and now, I rotate the free days and each time that I do, the next two days the paid sales jump considerably, because the Amazon rank is higher.

Additionally, my sales in Foreign countries have also been jumping because of this new formula.

I have just released, MURDER IN GERMANTOWN, on Tuesday, April 23rd, I have scheduled a free Con Test giveaway and Saturday, while I am at the Newark Harlem Book Fair, I have a Laugh Now Free giveaway scheduled. I am looking to garner attention to my new work. My expectation is this: If readers pass on the paperback, I can send them to get the Free Laugh Now, in hopes that they read it and then get the sequel, or just buy all of them at that time when they get the free one.

I do not know about all authors, but I am not looking for fans from free sale days. If people love my work, and become fans that's great. In the end, it's all about the next day sales for me, and yes, I get it right with the editing, typesetting, and cover design. I write for a living, not a hobby, and not to spread any messages. I write to entertain in the thriller/mystery/African American genre.

Just please scrutinize books based on the synopsis, cover, and sample, and make a decision. But the consistent bashing of all authors is getting played out, and I hate to say that it's such a Black thing. I am in other groups on FB, and members of blogs sponsored by white people and it's such a breath of fresh air to see peace and harmony and effective tools to get to the next level, not constant complaining that a book is to high or to cheap.

Thanks for your time and attention to this blog,

Rahiem Brooks

Web Site: http://www.rahiembrooks.com

E-mail: rahiemb@prodigypublishinggroup.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/rahiembrooks

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/rahiembrooks

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Why would an author do a book signing?

For me to order 10 copies of DIE LATER it costs $50.09 to include shipping and taxes. If I go to a signing in Philadelphia (my hometown) and I sell each book for $10 and split with the store 50/50, I earn $50, which puts me in the hole $-0.9. Add in $8 for a roundtrip downtown on the local train and food/drinks for the day $10, I am in the whole $-18.09. Now, suppose I go to NYC for this signing with the same number of books. I paid $20 roundtrip on Greyhound, I spend $10 to eat, and local train fare $10. I am now in the hole $-40.09.

If, I sell the books for $15 and the split is 50/50, I get $75, so I make $6.91 in Philadelphia. But if I travel to NYC, I am in the hole $-15.09.

There is something seriously wrong with this picture. I am doing a business plan for MURDER IN GERMANTOWN, and book signings are becoming very low on the list of priorities. I mean at this rate, why not sell an E-book for $0.99 in Kindle store. At least you'll make $0.35. There has to be some sort of standard or oversight committee set up to fight for the rights of authors. Book stores and vendors, should not make more money than an author. In my opine anyway. What say you?

For more information about Rahiem Brooks, read my bio at http://www.rahiembrooks.com.

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Why Are Urban Book Stores Dysfunctional?

Is it me, or is the Black book business very dysfunctional? I am looking for answers to these tough questions, because, I am so tired of unprofessional people that do not have telephone etiquette, do not possess any communication/business skills, do not have an up-to-the-minute inventory system, no knowledge of the authors that they carry, and their checks don't cash. So, I ask the following questions:

(1) How can I call book stores that have ordered from me directly on more than one occasion and they have absolutely no clue who I am?

(2) Am I the only one that receives E-mail blasts from book stores that promote the same authors in every blast, while the store has possession of a case of your books that they bought?

(3) Can anyone explain why book stores do not give new authors a real fighting chance, but pump the same ol' authors that are going to sell no matter what?

(4) Is it me, or is it absurd for a book store to accept a book on consignment and never shelf the book, just keep it boxed up?

(5) Why is it hard for a book store to pay an invoice when it's a mere $30 (i.e. $6 for 5 books)?

(6) Why is it that book stores acquire more product than they can move and then mail an author a bad check?

(7) I have been a victim to all of these instances and it's about time that book stores are held accountable for their foolishness.

Please do not be afraid to weigh in and share this blog entry. And please become a member. I am gearing up to start a real dialogue about this business.

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ARE YOU A GOOD EXAMPLE FOR CHILDREN?

There I was standing on the train platform headed to Center City when I heard the loud screaming of a child. Mind you, the child was coming down the stairs  behind her mother, which was asinine to me, as someone could have snatched her child. The mother proceeded to the platform and had a seat on a bench and ignored her screaming child. The mother had the audacity to sit in a way that she was not facing the child who had lay out on the platform screaming at the top of her lungs. After three minutes the child began to roll on the platform and just as she reached the yellow lines a man grabbed her. The mother jumps up and snatches her daughter from the man and sat her on the bench.  She then beat the little girl. I didn't hear what was said because my earphones were high as Sandusky's attorney to suggest that this pedophile was teaching young boys to properly shower and not molesting them.

We as a society need to do better to remove ourselves from a ghetto state of mind. It's absurd to allow your child to be laid out on a train platform, but on another level people need to be taught parenting skills. This cycle of the idiots teaching idiots and then teaching these idiotic behaviors to innocent minors is getting very old and very fast. We need to educate ourselves. Read some etiquette books or something. What I just saw hurt me and I hate to see young adults encourage children to become hoodlums and sluts and irresponsible. 


I'm 34 and I acted like a child. I was not perfect, but Debbie woulda kicked my ass for half the things I see teenagers doing. My mom and dad gave birth to me at 16 and my mom finished high school on time and worked every day of her life. Never took a hiatus for the sake of laziness. I watched and learned that. It's innate for me to be hard worker. And unless we get more parents exhibiting good qualities we will  continue to be viewed as the lowest class, I don't care how many black presidents are elected!


Rahiem Brooks, author of Laugh Now, First Laugh, Die Later, Con Test
Web site

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