CJ Simone

It's #mentalhealth awareness month & I've got a rare thriller series featuring an MC w/ bipolar disorder. You can start w/ THE MANIC MISSION or jump into the standalone series later. 🔗in B I O A couple other authors to read for MH month: @CollingsMaccrae & @SamKhalefa

@mickeyblackpens Added it!

Ahh! She’s on Goodreads! If you want, you should totally mark as want to read. 🥰

@DanNEO_SS 1) I'm not sure I can decipher what's honest when the reviews can be so contradictory (same as agent/publisher feedback). 2) Maturity is overrated. Sometimes immature people entertain me, dating back to my youth, loving class clowns. 3) It depends what day you catch me on.🙂

Are you ready to face an honest review with the maturity and ethics expected of a professional author? I’m asking this as a reader.

@AuthorTRobare ❤️

I grew up in a house without books. No one ever read to me. I was born unable to hear and went through 11 years of speech therapy after surgeries. My mom didn't graduate high school. I didn't have my dad. I got a college degree and write books. It is pretty crazy sometimes.

Bullying is even L behavior before adulthood, young friends. Treat everyone as precious, remembering whose image we're ALL made in. Anyway, bullying shows your own insecurity, & it's true that bullies are the biggest of babies, unable to take what they dish out. #teamlove❤️

#bookreview for Planet Of Diamonds by @JDaltonAuthor This was a fun Sci-fi story about a mission to help a Stone Age civilization from being ended. The friendships in this story are great and there’s a mix of adventure & romance. a.co/d/03HVRd3K

7 days to get 4 more pre-orders. Very possible. I believe 🙏

@JohnWGant @AuthorGoodwin I didn't, so why's the comment beneath my reply lol? Do we look that much alike?

@CJSimone333 @AuthorGoodwin Then, don't spend all that money on the project, or, don't come on social media to complain about how much you've spent. I do all of the above, on my own, without paying anyone to help. Try it. And then you won't have expenses to complain about.

I made the mistake of adding up how much I've spent on editors, covers, websites, marketing, subscriptions... Bad idea. Very bad idea. 😭

@JohnWGant @AuthorGoodwin But the choices aren't only "get paid" or "a vanity project." It can also be that you have stories worthwhile to offer, enjoyed by many, even if you bear the cost.

@AuthorGoodwin But, was it? That path does not pay (except rarely). Rather, it is a vanity project.

@SDDonovan You too!

I don't have much to say today except I hope you're having an awesome day!

With AI labeling the genre, it helps to put genre in subtitles. W/ the couple I did, they got it right. THE MANIC MOON is a mafia thriller & differs from mafia romance - 1) a male protagonist; 2) 3 POVs; 3) no glamorization of the mob; 4) more thrills & family drama than romance

@NoInsaneRants Nice!

stuff I made up

A few things that seem to make the Zon bots target ratings: 1) Lots of 5 stars (yep, legit enthusiastic readers can hurt us) 2) Freebie ratings (doesn't matter that it's THEIR OWN free promo they offer) 3) Too many ratings coming close together (ARCs, promo times) #BotsSuck

@VioletLave5799 It's widespread, not specific to mine, though it seems once they target yours, they continue to. Some things bias the bots, like freebie ratings, even though it's their own free promo. I've never heard of it getting better when they're contacted. They only care about big names.

@CJSimone333 How does it benefit Amazon to remove your ratings? Aren’t you paid by pages read and sales? I would screenshot my reviews and then contact customer service.

If the bots little by little take away my legit ratings, will my books eventually end up at zero ratings? I NEVER pay for them & have very few from fellow authors. But every few days, they take one. Really, if they take away more than I get, all my books will be end up at zero.

@JRMontarbo @ronanbeckman Nice!

Thank you @ronanbeckman for this wonderful review! I woke up to this—what a great way to start the day! 😀🙌

@NoInsaneRants Now that it's controlled by AI, the bots can take away our ratings/reviews. They're biased against positive ratings, their own free promo ratings, etc.

@CJSimone333 sometimes I'm like, I'm a writer-dude, I should know what she is talking about, I wasn't aware bots could steal ratings

@RealHeatherOB Yes, it's always the good ones they take!!🥲Like they don't believe people can like our books or something. Then using pretend math, they inflate the percentages or our low ratings (a single 2-star was forever 4% of my total according to them when real % I got was 1.75%).

Reviews are becoming highly unreliable, because Amazon and others will remove legitimate ones for arbitrary reasons, yet leave up "review bombs." It's becoming a joke, frankly - though it's anything but funny. I've protested bad reviews intentionally made by people who decide they don't like something I've said online. Yet two are still up. I can't get them removed. Now, it would be preferable to have so many legit reviews that the review bombs didn't matter. But then we get back to the arbitrary removal of some of those. It's a neverending cycle.

@Whitedale_U Yes, it's gotten so bad very recently!

@CJSimone333 I've seen other people complaining about this too. They Ai'd their system. It's only a matter of time until it's completely screwed.

@SDDonovan They steal them every few days. The Manic Mission, for example, would have over 100, as it does on goodreads, but it's currently at 85.

@CJSimone333 What do you mean by bots taking your reviews down?

@JRLarriba Often, yes. I don't always know which ones are gone, especially on the books that have too many to pinpoint. A weird one recently was a no-review rating they took. I regularly give my books away through their own promo days, but the bots are biased against free book ratings.

@CJSimone333 That is the weirdest thing I've ever heard. Are they verified customer reviews?