I often describe authorship as a roller coaster: one second, you’re flying high, receiving the most thought-provoking five-star review; the next, a new manuscript makes you question if your story has (literally) lost the plot. The fact is, being a writer has always been an exercise in adulting (to use a fav Gen Z word), requiring you do things you’d rather not while dodging a constant series of punches.
Lately, I can’t help but see authorship as more of a fight in a boxing ring. You might win the match, but not without it leaving scars.
(Of course. Leave it to a writer of sports stories to come up with another sports analogy; Zach from The Winning Ingredient would be proud).
When I first embarked upon a career as a novelist a mere three-four years ago, it was after an ideal publishing experience with a Big 5. Once my nonfiction submission had been accepted by Simon & Schuster, the rest was a smooth ride. However, I never could have guessed how different publishing would look as a fiction writer, and even more so as an indie novelist. This subjective writing world was a one-eighty from my scientific/legal, objective one. I went from knowing where to find all the answers to being smacked in the face by a world with few rules at all.
As a law student, people often asked, “Why do you want to be a lawyer?” You’ll hear a whole host of answers involving politics, justice, monetary gain, and even “not sure” or “why not?” For me, my answer wasn’t simply that I love winning an argument (which I honestly still do). It was that I was born a fighter. I see strength in pushing through adversity and believe that often nothing worth doing comes easily. In many ways, this is exactly what the publishing world needs.
Which leads me to the moment I recently got gut-punched—from Amazon. While I don’t systematically check my book reviews on any site, I do keep track of my Amazon product pages and frequently update them to expand my reader base. Like it or not, this is where most people now purchase books, me included. So, you can empathize with my utter horror when Amazon DELETED several of my reviews (as in, a double-digit amount), striking the lowest of low blows. After the initial shock waned, I was in panic mode, talking with my ARC team and fans of my work (some of whom Amazon has permanently banned from leaving reviews). When Amazon attacks a book or author and their bots rip through valid reviews for no reason, it doesn’t only affect the author or book. That reviewer’s time-consuming work is eliminated as well.
So, what did I do? I wasn’t about to sit around and skim through more blogs, Reddit questions, or Facebook posts about authors in the same boat who’d given up. To me, giving up wasn’t productive.
I put on my boxing gloves to fight.
And my fingers pounded my keyboard as I drafted a legal letter to Amazon, demanding they restore my reviews. This wasn’t my first rodeo threatening legal action against the behemoth company. I’d done it only a couple of years ago after they fumbled my first book launch. And guess what? I won. They conceded my demands and settled to my satisfaction.
I'm reminded of Kathleen Kelly with her quaint boutique Shop Around the Corner (You've Got Mail) fighting the big box retailer Fox Books (F.O.X.)...
In the meantime, this author-fighter also came up with a battle plan. Rethinking my simple "organic strategy," I opened my mind to a new approach to getting reviews. If Amazon penalizes authors for interacting with a select, small (but dedicated) fan base, I need to expand mine on well-known yet discerning reviewer sites that select the readers for me. Plus, I'm utilizing my current "deleted" reviews by populating my Amazon product pages with "editorial" ones from other sites, like Goodreads (where reviews are never deleted). All the while, I'm working on a full advertising campaign to attract a larger readership to my books.
This comprehensive, take-charge approach is the way for a Type-A, perfectionist author and attorney to gain control of a situation where most feel they’ve lost it. Who in their right mind purposefully fights Amazon? And who on earth ends up winning? The answers to both those questions are the same: me. I’ll fight for myself and for other authors and reviewers. It’s who I am. And if you refuse to be authentic as a writer, who are you really?
However, as a lifelong fighter, I'm not immune to its effects: the scars. It wounds even the most resilient of us.
Over time, it makes you question why you are putting yourself through this battle just to create art.
Along this publishing journey, as I absorb more crushing blows, the idea of "throwing in the towel" frequently crosses my mind. Yet, despite this most recent heart-wrenching experience, the thing I fell back on was creating this post. Writing is where I gain solace and work through issues, sometimes for myself, but also for my complex characters. While ping-ponging if I should continue to publish, my brain is still crafting stories, whether I like it or not. It has become automatic and ingrained in who I am. I have no idea when this transition happened. Perhaps it has always been there. Like being a fighter. So, I will continue to fight* and write.
I am a storyteller. A fighting storyteller. And in this boxing match, I might have a puncher’s chance.
*Don't forget, there's strength in numbers. Fight alongside me. If you are an author, demand Amazon restore your reviews. If you are a reviewer, keep reposting those reviews.
**To leave an honest reader review for any of my books, follow this Linktree to my Amazon, Goodreads, and Bookbub pages. I very much appreciate your support!
Why do they ban consumers from writing reviews. I am bombarded by the companies selling items every day, and sometimes before it is even delivered. So what makes book reviews different. People who want to write a comment should be allowed to. Makes no sense.
Hi Kelly, and thanks for this post. It triggered a memory from five years ago, where Amazon advised me in an email that my novel BEST SELLER, which was self-published five years earlier, was deemed “misleading.” I was advised to re-title the book within five days or my novel (and its 163 reviews) would be removed from its selling platform.
I am not a fighter! I contacted Amazon’s customer support, five times, and each time a sympathetic voice told me they’d run it up to their manager. But I lost. I re-released the book under a different title, with a new cover. It took at least six months. The new version has 41 reviews.
Keep up the good fight -…