Author Etiquette –
Over the past few months, I’ve seen an increase in complaints from seasoned authors about poor author etiquette. Here’s a recap for newer authors who may not be aware of what is and is not acceptable etiquette in the book world. These are in random order.
1) Do not PM another author out of the blue, without ever having any interaction with them, and ask them to A) Buy your book; B) Read/review your book; C) Do a review swap (not a good idea at any time); D) Ask them to do an NL swap or include your book in their next newsletter; E) Let you pimp your book to their reader group – especially if you’ve just joined it or you just sent the author a friend request. Most authors will ignore you and many will block you because all of that is just rude. You wouldn’t walk into a book signing and ask an author if you could sit next to them and sell your books, so don’t do it on social media. Become friends with them first. Interact in groups with them and comment on their posts. Chat with them about other stuff too. Then, after a few months of getting to know each other, you can venture out and ask if you could do one or more of the above. AND if they say “no, I’d rather not,” then leave your ego at the door and thank them anyway. They are under no obligation to agree to any of the above. Remember, you’re probably one of dozens or even hundreds of authors who have asked the same from them over the years.
2) Don’t pimp your book in the comments of another author’s post on their wall or page or in their group unless specifically invited to do so.
3) Try to avoid hijacking another author’s post in the comments. While it does happen and some people don’t mind, it is annoying when someone else goes completely off on a tangent that has nothing to do with the original post. If you find it happening, then move the conversation with others to a private chat or create a new post for the topic you want to discuss (you’ll probably get more responses if you do that too).
4) Don’t ask a cover designer (or do it yourself) to “copy” another author’s book cover and make your cover look the same. Recently, I’ve seen titles, fonts, designs, and similar images being used to recreate another author’s cover because that author’s book has been popular. You’re putting both yourself and the cover designer at risk of being sued. It’s also just bad form to steal another designer’s work. You wouldn’t want your writing to be plagiarized, so why copy someone else’s hard work?
5) This shouldn’t have to be said, but don’t plagiarize another author, even if it’s only a small part of their book. There have been “authors” who have changed the characters from an M/F book into an M/M book and vice versa or have just changed the names to try and get away with it. You might get away with it for a while, but your deceit will eventually be discovered (usually by fans of the other author), and you’ll be ostracized in the book world by both authors and readers. We’ve seen it happen time and again.
6) If you want to call someone out for plagiarizing you or stealing your cover idea, you better be able to provide side-by-side proof. There are only so many fiction tropes out there, and they’ve been written over and over again. The only difference is the way each author writes them. Don’t accuse another author of stealing your trope, title, or a photo you used from a stock photo site because you do not hold the copyrights to them!!! And same goes for a series name unless you trademarked it. I have a Malone Brothers series, and there are several others out there, some of which were started before mine and others came afterward. It’s a common enough name that it can easily be used by any author as long as it’s not trademarked.
7) Do not do newsletter list swaps with anyone. This has popped up a lot again lately. When a reader signs up for an author’s newsletter, that is the only NL they want to receive. You giving their email addresses to other authors in exchange for their list is a big NO-NO! The readers did not grant permission for their email addresses to be given to anyone else. If you send your NL to someone who didn’t sign up to receive it, they’ll get pissed and then report it as spam. Too many reports of spam emails may get your NL shut down by your provider. It’s also a big turnoff for readers and they probably won’t go look at your books.
8) Use the @ everyone feature in your group sparingly if at all. It’s a feature most people have found annoying, and they’ve been leaving groups that use it.
9) Same thing goes for the chat feature for your group. It’s annoying and people will either leave the group or mute the chat. Not all FB features are good ideas.
10) Do not go down another author’s friend list and send friend requests to everyone on it, especially the readers. Develop your own friend list by interacting with others on posts and in groups and sending them a friend request that way.
11) Don’t post complaints or drama in any group that has a high volume of readers in it, including your own. The readers don’t want to hear it. Posting on your wall or in a group for authors about something that affects other authors is fine, but leave it out of the reader groups.
12) Your wall or page is not the place to be whining about a lack of sales, exposure, lack of reviews, or anything else. There are plenty of author groups where you can ask for advice in getting your books noticed. Maybe it’s your cover or your blurb that needs help, or maybe there are tools available to you to get your books in the hands of readers that you’re not aware of. It’s a turnoff for readers when they see an author complaining about the fact no one is buying their books.
13) Think before you respond to another author’s post. There is no sarcasm font or a “just kidding” font on most social media sites, so many times comments are misinterpreted. You’re an author, so make sure your response to someone’s question or request for advice properly conveys what you want to say. If you can’t respond to a question or advice request without being snarky, then keep scrolling. Let people who want to help the person respond. Your way of doing things is not always the best way for other authors. All we can do is give our interpretation or experience, so the author looking for advice can make an informed decision about what is right for them. Everyone was new to this book community at one time or another, so remember how you felt when you went looking for advice as a newbie. There should be no “stupid” questions.
14) Don’t be offended if an admin deletes your post or comments in an author group. Sometimes comments get out of hand and the arguing and mudslinging start. Admins may delete the post or remove comments that are inappropriate. Remember, this is their group, they make the rules. If you don’t like it, leave and start your own group. Most admins have worked hard to make their group a happy and informative place for authors to communicate with each other, so drama is to be avoided at all costs.
15) As I said above, do NOT let your ego get in the way. Other authors are not your competition. We help each other (well, most of us do) and really want to see everyone succeed. Listen to them if they offer advice. It may not work for you, but really consider it before tossing it aside. Think twice about posting something that’s going to stir up shit and get people in the book community upset with you. I’m not saying stay silent if you were wronged, but make sure you really were wronged before posting it. Your perception of something you’re upset about may not be the same as everyone else.
16) Do NOT use song lyrics in your book unless you have written permission from the songwriter or producer or the copyright has run out on it – usually, 75 years or more after it is penned. Song titles are allowed to be used – they’re not copyrighted.
17) When contacting bloggers, understand that they too have lives. Give them more than a few days to read/review. If the blogger states that they aren’t able to r/r your book, but they are able to share your promos, take them up on that. Do NOT get mad or degrade them for not being able to read/review your book. Many bloggers might not accept your book for several reasons, such as they have a long list ahead of you or you don’t write in their preferred genre.
18) Do not put your books in some obscure category, that they don’t fit in, in order to get an Amazon best-selling status. This is a sneaky tactic that is frowned upon by authors and readers alike. Be aware though that Amazon does randomly change authors’ categories and you might end up in one you didn’t select. This is based on also-boughts, keywords, and other things. Contact Amazon and explain how this is not your book’s genre and ask them to change it back.
19) Do not “stuff” extra material in the back of your books in order to get a higher page-read count for KU. If you’re not sure what this is and why it’s not a good idea, just Google #bookstuffers #bookstuffing #getloud #tiffanygate or #bookscammers and you’ll find out quickly. Do NOT try to scam the system and don’t follow someone who tries to teach you how to do it. You will get called out on it eventually.
20) Do NOT freak out when you get a bad review and definitely DO NOT respond to it. These are a rite of passage for authors. Go to any well-known, best-selling author’s book and click on their 1-star reviews. It’ll make you feel much better. If a bad review (or even a good one) mentions specific grammatical errors or something that bothered them about your writing style (i.e. head hopping) that can be fixed, then use that as constructive criticism. Go back and fix the errors and upload the new file so other readers get a better copy and will maybe leave you a 5-star review to counteract the 1-star review. The worst thing you can do for any bad review is to respond to it (don’t ask your readers to respond to it either) unless you want to tank your career in less than a few hours. We’ve seen it happen before, and it wasn’t pretty.
And finally, sometimes unexpected things happen too. If something happens to you, such as reviews go missing, your book was pirated, your book ends up in a category that you didn’t put it in, someone’s cover is similar to yours, you got a bad review, or anything else that might frustrate you or get you depressed, please know this has happened to all of us–including the big-name, traditional-press authors. None of us are immune to the perils and pitfalls of the book world. The best thing to do is take a few deep breaths and talk to your fellow authors who have been there before.