Free (Amazon) Assorted Titles May 18th

[koland]

Thx for the links, even repeats (I set up new acct and am deleting from primary when repeat)

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by koland

Thx for the links, even repeats (I set up new acct and am deleting from primary when repeat)

Seriously considering that. My archives are getting unmanageable with all the freebies in there.

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Seriously considering that. My archives are getting unmanageable with all the freebies in there.

I'd advise doing it. I already have one account which is chock-full of official publisher promo freebies which has accumulated some 2500+ of them in the past two years alone.

I've had a new auxiliary account for just the KDP slushpile stuff since almost the beginning of the year and in a mere 4 months for mostly just the backlist/small press offerings and the occasional promising-looking/sufficiently-cracktastic pure indie, it's already beaten the 2 years' worth of official multi-store publisher promos for sheer quantity.

Even if you pick out maybe 20 of the most promising titles per week, at the end of one year there'll be an extra 1040 in the lot and there's likely to be a steady influx of stuff of varying quality into the KDP Select exclusive-or-else slushpile for the forseeable future.

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by koland

Thx for the links, even repeats (I set up new acct and am deleting from primary when repeat)

Karen, are you going to do a post on your blog describing what you are doing? I think a lot of people would be interested.

I set up a second account for my K3/3G. My other Kindle and my Fire are on my Prime account. I hadn't thought of doing another one just for freebies/repeat freebies. It sounds like quite a bit of extra work. I'd be interested in hearing how you manage it all.

Has the rebooting issue that you wrote about awhile back stopped being an issue?

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

If you're going by reviews as a potential quality measure, the author of Zombiestan is a proven review-faker who got caught sockpuppet-blasting dissidents in the comments (forgot which fake account he was logged in under and responded as his own name using the "real" account; I love it when they do that). The entire saga over at the Amazon discussion boards in this long thread here.

Also, it's your thread and you can do what you wish, but I personally wouldn't see the point of re-mentioning an official time-limited established print-publisher promo freebie that's already gotten its own thread.

I've decided to permanently delete this book from my account due to the obnoxious, spammy, disgusting, unethical, unpleasant nature of this A**H** author.


As some here may know, I don't tolerate spam, spammers, and dishonesty.



Don

[koland]

Originally Posted by booklover6

Karen, are you going to do a post on your blog describing what you are doing? I think a lot of people would be interested.

I set up a second account for my K3/3G. My other Kindle and my Fire are on my Prime account. I hadn't thought of doing another one just for freebies/repeat freebies. It sounds like quite a bit of extra work. I'd be interested in hearing how you manage it all.

Has the rebooting issue that you wrote about awhile back stopped being an issue?

I am working on an article, just wanted to see how much work it is. Also, what sort of hardware you might need, to make it easier to manage and how to use Calibre in the mix.

Interestingly enough, my main SO Kindle has quit rebooting, but not all of them have done so (but that may be router related). Of course, another issue is that I can't see most of my archives on any of the Kindles (and not even on the iPads, anymore).

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

I've decided to permanently delete this book from my account due to the obnoxious, spammy, disgusting, unethical, unpleasant nature of this A**H** author.

Good to know. I've deleted my copy too. I have plenty of other Zombie material to read.

[orlok]

Thanks Fbone. I downloaded Zombiestan before I saw the subsequent comments, so I'll have a think about that one. Unfortunately Gridlock, the other book I particularly wanted to read, having read a previous one in the series, is not free in the UK.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by orlok

Thanks Fbone. I downloaded Zombiestan before I saw the subsequent comments, so I'll have a think about that one. Unfortunately Gridlock, the other book I particularly wanted to read, having read a previous one in the series, is not free in the UK.

I'm sorry about Gridlock. I should have stressed the titles are free in the US.

I posted Zombiestan and let others decide if they wish to download it or not. Personally, I try not to let author's, musician's, actor's, etc personal beliefs and actions interfere with my decision to enjoy their work. It is hard and sometimes impossible, I'll admit, to remain neutral.

The titles I posted had several questionable reviews but samples are available and the cost is nevertheless free. Still, I didn't post several others. I decided to wait until they're free again in 90 days.

[Why does Amazon allow the same person to review an item more than once?]

[orlok]

Originally Posted by Fbone

I'm sorry about Gridlock. I should have stressed the titles are free in the US.

I posted Zombiestan and let others decide if they wish to download it or not. Personally, I try not to let author's, musician's, actor's, etc personal beliefs and actions interfere with my decision to enjoy their work. It is hard and sometimes impossible, I'll admit, to remain neutral.

The titles I posted had several questionable reviews but samples are available and the cost is nevertheless free. Still, I didn't post several others. I decided to wait until they're free again in 90 days.

[Why does Amazon allow the same person to review an item more than once?]

I usually find the less I know about an author the better, then I can just take their work on its merits. I am the same with music - there are plenty of bands whose music I adore, but whose behaviours/politics I abhor. Only rarely does it stop me listening to them.

And no problem about Gridlock - I know you can't cater for all of the people all of the time .

[Wald07]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

If you're going by reviews as a potential quality measure, the author of Zombiestan is a proven review-faker.

WTH? I didn't even *THINK* someone would do this. Shameful. Really.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Wald07

WTH? I didn't even *THINK* someone would do this. Shameful. Really.

There are authors faking them themselves (or with the help of friends & family) and also buying reviews from people on places like Fiverr.

[Wald07]

I am so trusting and naive. I didn't for one minute think that the ratings could be falsified.
*Whew* Never been so glad to be a kindle-freeloader!

It astounds me, that people are so desperate. What is wrong with people today?!?

and why am I so simple?

[ATDrake]

You're not simple, you're just optimistic and think well of people. It's not your fault that some of them don't live up to basic expectations of professionalism and fair conduct.

This is why I personally don't place all that much stock in reviews or anonymized star rankings from random people on the internet* (or in print outlets, for that matter) and myself prefer to filter unknowns by different criteria, which admittedly can also be misleading in different ways, but are at least generally harder to fake, current authorial ability to enter any publisher name in the KDP upload notwithstanding.

* Except for the hilariously funny fake ones, which constitute an art form in and of themselves and often display greater creativity and writing skill than many of the "we normally charge 99 cents or more for our deathless prose" slushpile offerings, IMHO.

[Wald07]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

* Except for the hilariously funny fake ones, which constitute an art form in and of themselves and often display greater creativity and writing skill than many of the "we normally charge 99 cents or more for our deathless prose" slushpile offerings, IMHO.

This was AwEsOmE!
*runs out the door to buy Gallon 128 fl oz of Tuscan Whole Milk* I MUST have IT!

I asked my dear mother once, not so long ago, "Mum, am I (gasp) naive?"
and she replied, in the sweetest tone, "Wellllll.....you're very.....trusting"

Uh huh. I wonder if living in a small town for the last 8 years is responsible? I was once from the big city...

The stores here still take CHEQUES for lord's sakes!
and the grocery store has a list by the till that says, "Do not accept cheques from:____,____,____"

EDIT: I suppose because I'd never fathom it, I can't imagine others doing so. I have zero tolerance for dishonesty, as it disgusts me. Up until now, I have enjoyed indie authors and the 0.99c offerings, but now I am suspicious. I cannot believe what a cut-throat industry self-publishing is!