Category: Amazon

Disappearing Reviews

Warning: This post may get a little mopey (though I’ll try to stay upbeat and end on a positive note :)).

My Amazon reviews have been disappearing.  Not reviews that I’ve written, but ones that were written about my books by readers.  *Sigh.*  I think I’ve mentioned it before, but I’m very OCD when it comes to checking up on my book babies.  Seriously, I check their pages almost daily.  The “almost” is because I’d actually gotten better about this, sometimes checking every other day instead of every. single. day.  But the “almost” is no more after what’s been happening.

Most recently, the reviews I noticed have gone missing were from ADORKABLE.

The screenshots are from 2018 (this year) on May 8, 9, 11, and 13.  As you can see the numbers go from 469…to 467…then back up to 468.  Now this may not seem like much, right?  But at one point, ADORKABLE had 470 reviews.  Unfortunately, I have no screenshot of this, but when I noticed it dropping I started to pay closer attention.  OCD, remember?

Anyway, I noticed the drop from 470 to 469 but didn’t freak out.  Then I actually got two new reviews–and the total went down a few days later to 468.  Then down again to 467.  Annnd commence freak out lol!  That means I actually lost 4-5 reviews all around the same period of time.  Strange, right?  Something had to be wrong.  All I needed to do was contact Amazon, tell them what was happening, and they would fix it.  Right???

Wrong.

Here are the responses I received from Amazon.  Basically, they include the reasons they remove Amazon reviews and say there’s nothing they can do.  I was floored.  I read through the guidelines for removing a review, and none of them apply to me.  My family is very small, and none of them have reviews for my books up on Amazon (Full disclosure: My aunt did write one back when ADORKABLE was first released in 2016, and it was removed immediately).

One of the other reasons stated is that a reviewer may choose to remove their own review.  Well, at least one of the reviews that disappeared was a 4-star.  I know how much time and thought goes into writing a review.  Heck, it takes me a couple of hours to write a post!  So, I don’t think anyone who wrote and posted an Amazon review–let alone a nice one–which means they liked the book!–would take it down.

Also, none of the reviews for my books link to other products (reason 3 for removing a review).

The people at Amazon don’t disclose what reviews were taken down or why.  Only the person who wrote the review can request to see the reason why their review was removed–even though Amazon doesn’t notify them, so the reviewer would never know it was missing in the first place.

Naturally, I wasn’t satisfied, and that’s why I got another email from Amazon.  It was a cut-and-paste of the first response.

I’ve also noticed a couple of reviews disappear from NINJA GIRL.  Le sigh.  But I’m one of the lucky ones because, so far, readers keep reading and reviewing.

Reviews mean everything to a self-published writer.

It cannot be overstated.

Reviews are what drive new readers to your books.  Reviews let people know a book is worth their time, money, effort.  And reviews let writers know there are people who love their books (outside of family), that they should keep writing, that they are providing something of value to others.

When you’re out there on your own, trying to make a name for yourself and your books, it is difficult.  No one is there to help you, no one has your back, no one is telling you to keep writing or when the deadlines are.  If you fail, it’s all on you.  If you succeed, it may be you…or just luck.  And just imagine, when you finally break through, when you find those readers who enjoy your books…Amazon decides to remove their reviews with no explanation.  No warning.  The reviews, the readers’ thoughts, are there one day, gone the next.  It is so disheartening.  For both the writer and the reviewer.

So what did I do after all this was said and done?  I saved the reviews in a Word doc then took screenshots.  Several hours, 77 pages of text reviews and 81 pages of screenshots later, everything was saved 0__0.  And that was just for ADORKABLE!!!

Yes, I did this for all of my books.  And yes, I know it sounds a bit extreme LOL, but I had to do it.  I want to be able to read those reviews over and over (the nice ones, of course :)).  And if Amazon won’t help me in this matter, well, I couldn’t just give up.

Thank you to everyone who has written a review for one (or more) of my books!  Your support means the world, and I hope you will keep writing reviews!  I will most definitely keep reading them <3.

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman

 

 

All About Ethan

Hi everyone!  My YA romance murder mystery, The Unbelievable, Inconceivable, Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan Wilder (aka book baby #3) was released on April 5, 2018.  As of last week, it has been out a month.  I thought you might like to hear how it’s been doing out there in the big wide world! 🙂

Every time I release a book, I watch it very closely and end up taking wayyy too many screenshots lol.  But it helps me remember the good things–and I think that’s important.

Here are the stats for Ethan Wilder’s first month:

The Unbelievable, Inconceivable, Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan Wilder was a #1 hot new release in France!!!

It was also a hot new release in the U.S. and the U.K.!

It was on this cool list with some books I greatly enjoyed (looking at you Miss Peregrine and Red Queen :)).

Annnd it was #1 in one of it’s categories in Germany!!!

So far, TUIUTAEW has: 9 reviews on Amazon, 21 reviews on Goodreads, and 301 people have added the book on Goodreads.  A lot of pages have been read on Kindle Unlimited as well (60,000+).  I hope readers will continue to find and embrace Ethan and Delilah’s story!  The category of YA mystery/romance is a bit different than YA romance.  The book has done great so far (despite my ineptness with marketing LOL), and I hope it continues to find the readers who will love it <3.

I hope you are all doing well, and if you’ve read (or are planning to read) The Unbelievable, Inconceivable, Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan Wilder, you are awesome!  You rock my socks, make the world a brighter place, and are just all-around lovely!  Have a great week, everyone! 🙂

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman

Congrats!!!

It’s time to announce the winner of The Unbelievable, Inconceivable, Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan Wilder Blog Tour giveaway!  Thank you to everyone who entered–there were over 7,000 entries, so I’m guessing there were a lot of you lol.  And thank you so much to everyone who participated in the book blitz last week :).  You’re all awesome!

Without further ado, the winner is…

Laura!!!

Congratulations, Laura!  I’ll be sending your $25 Amazon gift card soon, and I hope you enjoy your prize.  Thank you so much for participating in the giveaway!

In other news, I’m going to do another post next week to let you know how THE UNBELIEVABLE, INCONCEIVABLE, UNFORESEEABLE TRUTH ABOUT ETHAN WILDER has been doing.  Yay!!!  I’ve also got some other ideas for posts (including disappearing Amazon reviews (ugh), finding out ADORKABLE is referred to as an if-you-liked-this-you’ll-like-that book (gasp), how NINJA GIRL seems to have more male readers than my other books (hmm), how change is hard and real life can be too (yep) etc.), so please stay tuned!

I hope you are all well and filling your shelves with incredible books!

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman

 

The Unbelievable, Inconceivable, Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan Wilder Release Day!

Yay, yay, yay, it’s finally here!

The Unbelievable, Inconceivable, Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan Wilder is being released today, and my heart is all aflutter.  It’s been resting on my computer forever, and now…it’s out there.  It’s finally out there.  Oh goodness, my heart is with you little book!  I hope readers enjoy it, and if they could fall in love with Ethan, Delilah, and the whole quirky crew, that would be amazing.  I hope they laugh, gasp and swoon.  And of course, I hope this little YA romance murder mystery keeps people guessing.

Thank you so much to everyone who has supported my books!  It means everything.  Readers, you are lovely/awesome/incredible/amazing/all the good things.  May you live long and prosper.  May the odds be ever in your favor.  And may your sweet tea always be sweet enough.

If you like small towns, best friends, southern charm and swoonworthy bad boys, I hope you’ll try The Unbelievable, Inconceivable, Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan Wilder.  I hope you love it–and if you do, please let me know!  Here in the south we love a good piece of gossip :).

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman

 

Now Available for Pre-Order!

Yes, you read that right.  Book Baby #3, otherwise known as THE UNBELIEVABLE, INCONCEIVABLE, UNFORESEEABLE TRUTH ABOUT ETHAN WILDER, is now available for pre-order!  Woohoo!!!

And here’s the proof :).

Annnd here’s another pic because it’s still kind of a big deal (at least to me) to publish a book lol!

Le sigh…there they are <333.  Now, that’s a sight I could look at all day–and I’m only partially kidding.  TUIUTAEW doesn’t actually release until April 5, 2018.  That’s only 7 days away, you guys!  Inconceivable!!!  Sorry, but I had to do it lol :).  Seriously though, I can’t believe how fast the time flew and yeah…7 days!  Wow, it’s right around the corner.

If you’d like to pre-order, like I said, THE UNBELIEVABLE, INCONCEIVABLE, UNFORESEEABLE TRUTH ABOUT ETHAN WILDER is now on Amazon.  I checked, and I already had one order.  It was my mom (Have I mentioned that I love her to the moon and back? <3).  The gesture is extra sweet because 1) I know she’s already read the story and 2) she one-clicked because she loves me and knew it would make my day (although she claims it’s because she loves the book–which also makes my day!).

There will be a blog tour next week, and I’m so excited–and so freaking nervous–to see how the book will be received!

I hope you’re all having a great week, and once more with feeling: Just 7 more days!!!

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman

Happy V-Day Giveaway!

It’s the day of romance, candy hearts, flowers, book boyfriends and L-O-V-E <3.

Okay, so I added in the book boyfriends lol.  But they rock, and we all love them, so why not, right?  February 14th kind of snuck up on me this year, but I do have a sweet giveaway for all of you!

The Happy V-Day Giveaway will run from today until March 7, 2018.  The awesome part: There will be 2 winners!!!  One winner will get a $10 Amazon gift card, and one winner will get a signed copy of my YA romance NINJA GIRL!  You can enter using the rafflecopter below (and there are a lot of ways to enter–including adding my upcoming release, THE UNBELIEVABLE, INCONCEIVABLE, UNFORESEEABLE TRUTH ABOUT ETHAN WILDER, on Goodreads :)).

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck, and Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman

We have a winner!

I hope you all had a very merry Christmas!

My day was spent with the people I love, and it was wonderful to finally give them their presents.  Although I’m not the biggest fan of shopping (understatement of the century–and bookstores don’t count.  I could stay in the bookstore forever), I absolutely LOVE giving.

It rocks.  It makes them feel good, makes you feel good.  Speaking of which…

We have a winner!  The winner of the NINJA GIRL Christmas Giveaway is:

Janet!!!

Congratulations, Janet!  Your $25 Amazon gift card is on its way, and I hope you love it!  Thank you so much to everyone who entered the giveaway and who has supported both NINJA GIRL and ADORKABLE.  I appreciate your support so very much.  I’ll have to do another giveaway soon because it feels so awesome to give :).

May the odds be ever in your favor, may the Force be with you, and may your holiday be filled with awesome!

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman

It’s Giveaway Time :)

Okay, in case you missed it: NINJA GIRL came out in paperback yesterday!  Yay, yay, yayyyyy :).  I’ve gotten several nice comments, and I appreciate them so much; the power of a kind word to brighten someone’s day is very real.  Also, some people have already bought the book–which is crazy awesome.  I’m so so thankful for every reader and for anyone who gives Ash and Snow a chance <3.

Second, like I said at the end of the previous post…it’s giveaway time!!!

The NINJA GIRL Christmas Giveaway will run from December 15 until December 25, and a random winner will be chosen to win a $25 Amazon gift card! 🙂  You can enter using the rafflecopter below.  With Christmas right around the corner, I definitely wanted to do a giveaway to say THANK YOU to my readers, so please enter as many times as you can!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I’ll be doing another post next week, but until then…happy holidays, everyone!  I hope life is treating you well.  Thank you so much again for making yesterday a great day, and best of luck in the giveaway!

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman

Happy Paperback Release Day!!!

I can’t believe it’s here!  Today is the day, my adorkable ninja readers, the day that Snow and Ash make their big debut in print <333.  And I’ve gotta say:

Happy Paperback Release Day, NINJA GIRL!!!!!!!

FullSizeRender(12)

It’s live, you guys!  Snow and Ash’s story is now available in another format, and I’m so excited.  I hope readers embrace their story, and the mix of action and romance.  I hope they love the strength, the chemistry, the funny, and of course, the swoon in NINJA GIRL.

Oh my Ash, do I hope they swoon :).

I can honestly say that this–publishing my second paperback–is just as exciting (and nerve-wracking lol) as the first time.  I care about my characters, and the experience of seeing a physical copy of their story, the beautiful cover, the real-life pages, knowing all the feelings and time that went into writing this little YA romance?  Ahhh, it is a truly amazing feeling <3.

Also, print books are just awesome!  I only give them to the people I really like lol.  I don’t loan mine out because I’m afraid of bent pages and torn covers (shivers).  As much as I love my iPad–and I definitely do!–books you can hold in your hand are irreplaceable.  Some people only read print books.  So, I’m hoping NINJA GIRL will find even more awesome readers and that Snow and Ash will find a place in their hearts and on their shelves.

And it’s just in time for Christmas!!!

I love getting books for Christmas, so hopefully NINJA GIRL (and ADORKABLE) will find its way under some bookish person’s Christmas tree lol :).  As always, thank you so much for your support, and I hope you’re having a wonderful week!

Happy reading and Happy Paperback Release Day,

Cookie O’Gorman

P.S. I’ll be doing a giveaway tomorrow to celebrate, yayyyy! 🙂

Sharing the Love

It’s the end of August which means it’s time to share the love and announce the winner of the 5000+ ADORKABLE Readers Giveaway!!!  Still can’t believe so many people actually read something that I wrote…just wow *__*.  Without further ado, the winner of the giveaway is:

Bilqees B.!!!

Congratulations, Bilqees, and thank you so much for entering–and for adding NINJA GIRL to your Goodreads shelf!  I will be sending your $25 Amazon gift card shortly.  Again, thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway and helped to make it a success.

To share even more love, spread good karma and hopefully contribute some positivity to the universe, I’m running a Kindle Countdown Deal.  Starting today and running until September 7, 2017, ADORKABLE will be available for just $0.99 on Amazon and Amazon UK!  Got any friends who you think might enjoy a lighthearted best-friends-to-lovers story?  Anyone you know need a pick-me-up of the sweet YA romance variety?  Well, look no further lol!  Sally and Becks are here, and their story will make you laugh, swoon, and feel all the fluttery feels (at least they do for me :)).

If you will please help me spread the word, I’d greatly appreciate it; I love finding new readers!

I’m really in the spirit to share the love–my NINJA GIRL and ADORKABLE readers, rock!!!–so there will definitely be more giveaways to come.  Be on the lookout for those, and I hope you’re having a great week!

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman