Yep, there they were in my inbox this morning, sent on by kindly, well-meaning souls - multiple links to the new Amazon Author Rank. I can, even now, almost hear the frantic mouse clicks of insecure writers all over the world as they try desperately to gauge how much the reading public loves them. Or not. I'm trying to resist the temptation to join their ranks. I have no status to speak of in the world of writing, but oh, the curiosity, the urge to take a just one peek...
Luckily, a few minutes later, I read this post by John Scalzi. Level-headed sanity from a professional is always welcome when these sort of media thingies threaten to sweep up and exploit less confident writers. He ends with:
Authors who start to worry about their Amazon ranking should likewise be aware that by doing so they’re allowing Amazon to define their success to a greater or lesser extent… and they should really ask who ultimately benefits the most from that: Amazon or them. Amazon isn’t (necessarily) evil, but Amazon is interested in its own goals, many of which may ultimately be at cross purposes to an authors’ own. Amazon will be happy to frame your career to suit its own purposes. All you have to do is let them.
Keep it in mind as you’re refreshing your Amazon author page to see where your ranking is right now.
Good on you, John. All you have to do is let them. So true.
Now, gotta go. It's pouring down outside, but the Arvo Job beckons.
2 comments:
Have you ever listened to the hilarious British radio show - I think it's called Ed Reardon's Week - about a struggling author? There's one episode where he keeps clicking his author rating - I thought it was Google, but maybe it was Amazon.
Here's a link.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006r5ck
Thank you for the link, parlance.I did a quick pop over to the jolly old BBC and it looks funny. I'm a sucker for a struggling author show of any kind - they feel sooooo relevant - so I'll have a listen to it sometime soon.
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