The Dark Side to Promotions

The problem with running a free Kindle promotion on a book is that a lot of readers who wouldn't normally read the book because it's not their cup of tea, pick it up for free and then trash it in an Amazon review because it's not their cup of tea.  This can happen across genres--for an example a reader who hates romance novels, tries one out at no cost, and then savages it because it has too much romance and not enough action. It can also happen with subgenres.

My Dire Planet series fits into the broad genre of Science Fiction, but the genre contains everything from Space Opera (action-oriented stories against the backdrop of space) to hard science fiction (stories more concerned with exploring a scientific theory or principle). Dire Planet falls  into the Space Opera end of the spectrum, and more specifically into the subgenres known as Planetary Romance or Sword & Science Fiction, as I like to call it. After a free promotion one reader ripped it for "taking the science out of science fiction." Clever enough, and perhaps I'll use that in a promotional blitz. However, the books were never intended to be an exploration of science fact or theory.

Again, the Thriller genre covers a broad range of subgenres and my Gantlet Brothers series falls into the Action-Adventure end of that or what some term New Pulp, which indicates fast-paced story with plenty of action. One reader who sampled The Nuclear Suitcase (the first book of the series) at no cost slammed it as "awful" and said there was too much action, and the idea of mercenary/rockstars was ludicrous. Maybe, but remember the 90's when rappers were running around shooting each other? Normally, a reader who thought the idea of a book was ludicrous would read another book, but since they're getting a book for free they read something they're predisposed to dislike and gleefully tear it apart. A reader who thinks the idea of gun-toting rock musicians might be cool, instead of hating the concept, will be more likely to post a favorable review.

The occupational hazards of a writer (or any other creative person) putting their work into the public arena are the folks that are predisposed to dislike the sort of art you are creating, and those who just plain get their kicks out of tearing down what others have built, because it's easier than building something themselves. Exposing yourself to the critical darts of the general public may seem like a fair trade to somebody that is pulling in a hundred thousand dollars or more for a novel, but the vast majority of creatively-inclined people are doing it for the love of their art, and making a few pennies an hour for their efforts. For those of us in the latter category, it might seem a safer pursuit to create our works of art and cloister them away on our hard-drives, in our desk drawers, away from the public eye--or perhaps we can avoid the trolls looking for free fodder for their condescendence by pricing our work so that only those inclined to like it will view it? Each author will have to weigh in balance the pros and cons of the added exposure of a book giveaway versus the  resultant negativity that is sure to result as well.

At any rate, as I muddle through various promotional efforts the latest book from PulpWork Press, the PulpWork Christmas Special 2013, which contains a Christmas story be me as well as authors Percival Constantine, Josh Reynolds, and Russ Anderson, Jr. seems to have garnered a couple of nice reviews in the Cedar Rapids Examiner and in the Noir Journal.  The good reviews help to balance out the bad.