I’m going to be posting reminders next month about the holiday promotion/event allromanceebooks.com is having partly because “Chase of a Lifetime” was selected to be in it and partly because I’m a fan of smaller boutique retail web sites where e-books are sold.
I’ve said it before; I’ll say it again. Amazon is great for many things, and they are important players in the publishing industry. I’m a huge fan of the KDP program. But there’s just something so discount store and shabby about Amazon in a general sense. You don’t get that personal feeling you get with smaller retail web sites, and frankly, you can’t trust any Amazon reviews for anything, from toasters to condoms. I once bought a pasta machine there and it turned out to be one of the best pasta machines Tony’s ever had. I don’t cook, so I don’t know much about those things. And it’s a good thing I didn’t pay attention to one of the reviews for that pasta machine left by some wing nut who probably never made fresh pasta in her life. We’ve had it for about four years and never one single complaint.
But I digress. I think most people would agree that Amazon reviews suck and they offer very little personal assistance when you need consumer help. The product descriptions are even worse. So that’s why I’m always trying to steer readers to smaller more personal web sites like Allromanceebooks.com.
And aside from getting great customer service, you get excellent product descriptions and the reviews can usually be trusted on smaller sites. Just like it’s important to support your small retail business where you live, it’s as important to remember to support small retail web sites. They are working hard to compete with monsters like Amazon and I often wonder if most shoppers realize this before they make purchases. As a small business owner, I know how important this is.
One of the things I’ve found I love the most about self-publishing the four books I wrote this past year was that I get more control over what I can do with marketing and promotion. And when I submitted “Chase of a Lifetime” to be in allromanceebooks’s holiday promotion, I was hoping it would be selected so I could give something back to readers who’ve given so much to me. I’m not sure if any of my other books with publishers will be part of the promotion, but I wanted to make sure at least one book from Ryan Field Press was there.
There will also be other books by other authors in this holiday promotion and I’ll post more details about it as we get into December. But check out the allromanceebooks web site this month for their announcements and you’ll be able to get a few free e-books for your own enjoyment. This time of year is busy and can be stressful, and there’s nothing that relaxes me more than shutting “it” all out and burying myself in a book.
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