C h a z z W r i t e s . c o m

See all my books at AllThatChazz.com.

11/26/2024 • 11:07 AM 0

We’re Going Somewhere Together

I’m not going away. We are merging.

After gaining a lot of experience with both traditional and indie publishing, I’m finally doing something I should have done quite a while ago! For years, I blogged here daily. Then I told you I’d only blog when I had something new or different to say. The archives are extensive, after all, and much of the old stuff you’ll find here still holds up nicely.

Now, aside from posting on social media and publishing books, I’m going to go exclusive with my author website, AllThatChazz.com.

Chazzwrites.com has always been a site for writers. From here, I’ve encouraged subscribers to head over to my author site to check out my books. I’d built a following, helped people, and met wonderful fellow writers through this space. Frankly, I was nervous about letting go of this blog. I’ll keep this blog up for the benefit of those searching the archives, but it’s time to consolidate (and, not for nothin’, appeal to readers, not only to other writers).

I’m not slowing down. I’m speeding up.

Longtime readers may recall a time when I published as many as four books a year. For the last couple of years, due to pain, a couple of hip replacements, and a lot of rehab with my physiotherapist, I had to take time away from the keyboard. I had to feel sorry for myself, play a lot of Sniper Elite, and watch a lot more TV. I haven’t published since (the award-winning and fantastic) Endemic. It’s been rough, but that phase of my life is over. I’m biking an hour a day and working out for another hour each day. I’m mobile, almost always pain-free, waking up earlier, feeling great, and eating right. I’m a productive, full-time writer again! Expect my next thriller, Vengeance Is Hers, early next year.

So I’m asking all visitors to move over to my author site.

Here’s a sampling of some recent posts from AllThatChazz.com:

What Holds Up? A post about the books you once loved and now might not (plus a book recommendation).

Anger, Humour, Spite. A post you’ll love about where the words come from.

Sincerely, What Else Can I Do for You? Finding out what readers want.

This is My First Novel with a Disclaimer. About Vengeance is Hers, and your many, many enemies.

Forgive and Forget? But How? Should you forgive? I’m not so sure.

Crime Thrillers are a Different Kind of Apocalypse The apocalyptic genre has cooled for the moment, but there’s room for different kinds of scary thrillers.

New Cover Reveal! Dream’s Dark Flight has a fresh face!

Inspiration, Off the Beaten Track. Sick of the same old movie sequels and reboots? Try graphic novels.

And more about Vengeance Is Hers:

COMING IN 2025

So long, and thanks for all the fish!

See you over at my ONE blog site:

AllThatChazz.com.

Filed under: My fiction, publishing, robert chazz chute, the writing life, allthatchazz, allthatchazz.com, books, fiction, publishing, Robert Chazz Chute, self-publishing, thriller, writer, writing

10/02/2024 • 9:20 AM 2

What If We Changed Publishing Again?

Publishing novels is not for the weak. There are many obstacles on the path to publication. Indie publishing cut through the gatekeeping with positive and negative results. Hybrid authors straddle that divide. In the past year, many authors began selling directly. If you can drive enough traffic to your website and have high stress tolerance, you might make a go of that. The advice I’ve seen lately is to get out of your basement, get a table, and sell at book fairs, flea markets, and whatever public events your introvert ass can tolerate. Meet the people! (The horror! The horror!)

Today, I stand on a new precipice. I have questions, maybe even a good idea.

I’ve just completed a new novel. In the past, I put out several books a year, but this one had to percolate longer. I had two hips replaced with bionic implants, and that put a dent in my progress. Now that I’m mostly recovered, I’m back at the writing biz, full steam ahead and all that. This one is a thriller about vigilante justice packed with all sorts of clever ways to get back at bad people. It’s a lot of fun, heartfelt by turns, and ultimately, a heist caper with crazy twists.

So, what happens next? Typically, this:

1. I’m going to spend the next week or so listening to the manuscript for one final polish. I did a lot of editing as I went (not recommended, but it’s what I needed to do at the time). With all that faffing about back and forth, I want to make sure I’ve sanded all the puzzle pieces to make sure they fit. I typically add more jokes with every pass.

2. Then it’s off to the editor while I reach out to a graphic designer to discuss the look of the cover.

3. I have to revamp my author site. There are problems with its functionality which, frankly, I have not prioritized. Pain, physiotherapy, and surgical appointments distracted me from such trifles for quite a while.

4. Planning marketing and promotions, bien sur!

But do I have to go back to Amazon? Probably, but I do have some concerns about the Zon.

I’ve published forty books since 2010. The last one, Endemic, published at the end of 2021, was my latest pride and joy. Amazon sabotaged its launch. They wouldn’t allow me to advertise and promote it properly for months. That hurt. I got pretty depressed and hid out in my blanket fort. Eventually, Endemic won awards from the Hollywood and New York Book Festivals, a Literary Titan award, and the North Street Book Prize. That exoneration soothed me, but I still felt burned by Amazon.

At about the same time as Endemic was getting torpedoed by Amazon, a publisher reached out to me. Suitably impressed after reading This Plague of Days, they asked me to send fresh book proposals their way. After doing some research and hearing from authors they’d published, I became less excited at that prospect. The publisher didn’t seem very adept, or even interested, in what’s required to market a book. That particular publisher’s forte was more about the publishing side and less about selling in the Social Media Age.

Now I’m wondering about a different model for publishing. Don’t be afraid. Everything is unprecedented until it’s not.

I have an editor whom I adore (Gari Strawn of strawnediting.com). I have a graphic design company with a great track record. I can do marketing and promotion. I don’t love it, but I can do it. Whatever way we choose to publish, most of the marketing falls to the author, anyway. Promotional work from publishers is not an ongoing project. It’s a short burst of activity followed by a sink-or-swim mentality. The one thing traditional publishers excel at that I can’t do easily or widely is distribute to bookstores.

What if we tried something different? Instead of getting the publisher to do all the things I can do, let’s let everyone max out in their major, not muddle in their minor. I package the book: writing, editing, cover. If the publisher likes the package on a take-it-or-leave-it basis, they add it to their catalog and get their sales force selling to bookstores.

The terms of such an agreement might sound complicated, but wouldn’t be as hard as colonizing Mars or getting a politician to tell the truth. The traditional boilerplate contract would be set aside. The split and rights would be negotiated through an IP lawyer. I’m taking care of all the editorial side, so the publisher’s work and expense are greatly reduced.

I’m proposing a model for publishing books with less back and forth and endless logistics. You want it? You do what you do best and my editor and I will do what we do best. I’d get the autonomy I crave, and you get a product to sell with less investment, less risk, and at greater speed to readers. Don’t think it can’t be done? I’m not reinventing the cheese slicer. Book packagers have been around for years. This is just taking out the middleman between publishers and the artist.

What do you think?

And, hey! If you’re a savvy publisher who is not trapped in inertia, reach out to me at expartepress@gmail.com.

~ I am Robert Chazz Chute. A former newspaper journalist, I worked in trad publishing for several years before doing a bunch of other things, from healthcare to speech writing and working as a freelancer and magazine columnist. Now all I do is write crime thrillers and apocalyptic epics, read, ride my bike, and think about how much better the world could be if we got out of our own way.

To see all that’s wrong with my author site at the moment, go to AllThatChazz.com.

Filed under: publishing, Amazon, book packagers, book packaging, book proposals, books, distributing to bookstores, new models for traditional publishing, publishers, publishing, Robert Chazz Chute, self-publishing, writing

05/02/2024 • 11:52 AM 6

Writers Fighting With Themselves, Part Infinity

Pain is a distraction. Pleasure is a distraction. Social media algorithms have trained us to have the attention span of cocaine-fueled gnats. It’s grim, and the entertainment market is so fragmented! If you’re still a writer, it’s a wonder. Congratulations! You are a beast working on the dream of writing books. Many people attempt the summit, but few make the journey all the way to publication. That’s the happy congratulations part. Stay tuned. I’m about to tell you something you won’t like. Somebody’s gotta do it, so here I am! Captain Meanie Chazz Buzzkill!

Last night, I unsubscribed from three streaming services, but not before I went down a rabbit hole checking out all their pretty terrible offerings. (FYI: MGM is the king of Sequels Nobody Wanted.) More to the point, how many times have you perused everything Netflix has to offer before turning off the TV? You never got around to watching a movie. Maybe you added a few possibilities to your watch list. But will you really get to them? Often, we browse just long enough to decide it’s time to do the dishes and go to bed. It’s kind of the same with readers. We browse and browse and maybe buy a book, but then it goes to the TBR pile, possibly to go unread forever.

Yesterday, I caught a TikTok where someone offered sage advice. If you are traditionally published, as an author you will often find yourself at odds with the marketing department. Long titles are apparently out. Titles with “Girl” in the title have finally fallen out of favour. The marketing department has lots of good ideas you’ll hate. But are they really good ideas?

To which I reply, “Only maybe.”

You will definitely be at odds with your editor on some points. As a trad pubbed author, you’ll often have far less say about your cover art than you might have imagined. The “Authors art and publishers business” model is often true, but it ain’t necessarily so.

I used to work in the marketing departments of several publishers. The lame joke was always, “What’s the market research for this novel’s commercial prospects?” Answer: “Market research? In publishing, that’s what we call the first print run.”

I had such a romantic idea of the publishing world. Then I worked in it. Whoo, boy! Was that different! At the Banff Publishing Workshop years ago, I met titans of the Canadian publishing industry. Lots of great stories there, but the key takeaways were three:

Connections help.
Book marketing is so much art and so little science that expertise mostly comes down to personal preferences and speaking with the outrageous confidence of a maniac who never got spanked.
No one knows which book will be a hit, so, as William Goldman said of the movie industry, “Nobody knows anything.”

What does this mean for you and me?

Sadly, there’s no magic bullet. The few successes pay for the many failures. Visibility and invisibility, pay to play advertising, flooding the zone with AI, timing, genre choice, endorsements, platform and presence, and a thousand other variables come into play if a book (and your writing career) is to have a chance of getting noticed, chosen, bought, read, and reviewed by a fan base larger than can be found at your mom’s house.

Here’s what’s hard for some of us to swallow

Your commercial success hinges on throwing more spaghetti against the wall. I haven’t published since the fall of 2021. (As regular readers know, I’ve had health issues that put a crimp in my creativity straw.) But, if you can, write more faster.

I know, I know! Some of you can’t or won’t even consider this strategy for reasons, many of them completely understandable, a few whiny, and a couple downright snooty.

Apply an old George Carlin joke about driving to writing: “Anyone going slower than me is an idiot, and anyone going faster is a maniac!” Save it. I’m not talking to the “I can only write slowly” crowd. I’m talking to those who dream the nigh-impossible dream of making enough money to vacation in Fiji next year (or just pay the rent with scribble money).

But how do I write faster, Captain Meanie Chazz Buzzkill?

My strategy is to schedule my writing time and defend it with small-arms fire. Planning ahead (what some call pre-writing) for me takes the form of making notes on my phone at any random moment when genius strikes. Scraps of dialogue appear. Plot twists and cleverness abound, especially at inconvenient times, like when I’m trying to sleep.

In addition to scheduled writing times, I squeeze in short bursts of writing, Set a timer for twenty minutes and go to it. Do not wait until the time is perfect and the vibe is right. Go hunt down that muse and tie that fickle thing down in the chair beside you. Inspiration hits at the keyboard. Don’t wait for it elsewhere.

This is the same strategy I use for all the exercise and physio I have to include in my day as part of my rehab. Yes, it feels like having two full-time jobs that do not pay (beyond the satisfaction of creativity, advancing goals, and of course, being able to perambulate like a human being).

More output = more shots on goal decreases the odds of a total shut-out. (There’s a shit-out joke here, but a respectful jape escapes me at the moment.)

Producing more books does not guarantee success, of course. There are so many variables, and production is but one. But it ain’t nothin’, neither. In the end, it’s the oldest saw there is: publish or perish. And yes, I’m taking my own advice. The muse is handcuffed beside me as I write this. Bionic hips be damned, I’m back in the game.

~ I am Robert Chazz Chute. I write apocalyptic epics with heart and killer crime thrillers with heat. See links to all my books at AllThatChazz.com.

Filed under: publishing, books, fiction, publishing, Robert Chazz Chute, self-publishing, writing

04/05/2024 • 8:30 AM 1

Betrayed

I checked in on my Amazon dashboard and got a shock. This post will serve as your reminder that you cannot set it and forget it. I guess you really can’t set and forget anything.

Changes I had made previously apparently were not saved or didn’t stick, or something. I don’t know what happened. My main problem was that I was eligible for three categories but only two were on record. Thus began my odyssey. I need to add categories for all versions, hardcover, paperback, and ebook. When more than three categories are appropriate, this is actually a marketing opportunity since you can use the different media to add more categories and widen your net.

So maybe it’s a good thing this happened

I (eventually) decided to look upon this as an opportunity to revise descriptions and revamp keywords and prices. If you haven’t checked into your Amazon dashboard for a long while, there’s also a yes or no question about whether you used AI in the production of your work.

I have so many books that this task is very time-consuming. However, revisiting old descriptions and pumping them up with the benefit of more experience and a fresh perspective will be worth it. If you do nothing else, I would suggest you check your dashboard to make sure everything is as you want it.

Of all the variables authors are least likely to change, pricing is probably where we feel least flexible. However, if you haven’t given yourself a dollar raise since 2011, consider why your self-esteem is so low while you examine the pricing pages of all your hard work.

I know this last suggestion can be hard, but you can do hard things. You already accomplished the hardest part. You wrote a book.

Filed under: Amazon, publishing, Amazon dashboard, books, pricing books, publishing, Robert Chazz Chute, writing

03/18/2024 • 11:29 AM 3

Imagine you are a book marketing guru

Recently, I saw a personal trainer talk about how nice people are scammed into questionable (and expensive) nutritional courses. Then I made the connection to publishing, and I’m sad now.

So here’s how you do it. (Hint: Don’t do this)

Let’s play the bad guy for a minute. You were an author first, but now you make much more money selling shovels and pickaxes than you ever would panning for gold. Writing books is for suckers. Marketing courses to aspiring authors is where the money is.

You claim to have all the answers to getting books flying off digital shelves, right? Your first strategy is to suck in the rubes and noobs. You go all over social media to promote your courses. You’re on every podcast when you make the big push. You pat yourself on the back so hard, you’re in serious danger of injuring your shoulder. Hundreds of desperate authors, maybe thousands over time, sign up to learn how to finally make Facebook, Google, TikTok, X, or Amazon ads work for them. They’re all just one click away from living at a resort in Fiji, or so you say.

Authors: When the pitch to boost your book income homes in on your inability to buy expensive Christmas presents and go on exotic vacations, watch out! They’re using cheap tactics to push your pain points to make the sale.

But here comes the bigger con:

Of all those new students the guru hauls up in his net, a few outliers will get positive results. Those few outliers will promote the next course and sing all the praises. Rinse and repeat, and each course gets bigger and more expensive. Huzzah! You’re a marketing genius! You’re the captain everyone looks to in hopes you can steer their ship past the rocks.

Except, uh-oh! For most authors, it won’t work. Don’t just focus on the outliers claiming staggering results.

This phenomenon is not unique to book marketing. Forbes will ballyhoo the latest investment guru on their cover each year because that’s how math works. One hedge fund manager will make the most each year, sure. But will you ever see that person on the top of the pile again? There is only one Warren Buffet per thousands of pretenders to his throne.

Some, but not all, reasons for book marketing failures:

Put lipstick on a pig, it’s still a pig. Great marketing for the wrong book can, at best, spread the word fast that a lousy book is lousy.
The cover art is wrong for its genre.
The cover art is plain bad.
Your blurb sucks.
Your blurb doesn’t hit the expected tropes for its genre.
Your book is fine, but its niche is too small, and you have too few reviews.
Your book could sell well, but it can take an immense amount of experimentation to make the marketing stars align. In this case, the guru didn’t necessarily fail. You didn’t do the thing, or didn’t do it enough, or didn’t listen in class.
You don’t have the budget to move that needle.
Your chosen genre is cold, or just not hot enough to move the needle to justify the ad cost.
What worked for ads in the past isn’t working now.
Some successes don’t look so good on further examination. An outlier may proudly proclaim the gross, but never hint what the appearance of success cost them. Folks with huge ad spends can look great on social media, but a spreadsheet would tell the true tale: The ad spend was so heavy, their net is far, far less than their gross.
Your book marketing guru is full of shit and uses the tactics noted above to build his Empire of Shit.

Solutions?

Honestly assess your book’s marketability (or consult other authors with experience about its marketability).
Save up for that ad budget.
Focus on one ad platform at a time.
Invest the time to learn from free resources (YouTube, TikTok, or near-free from books). That’ll save some cash and allow you to better judge the offerings from potential gurus in the future. (Not all book marketers are bad.)
Be social with other authors and get recommendations for further guidance from trusted sources.
Stalk your guru to see if his values align with yours. If he sounds like a dick, don’t sign up!
Listen carefully to their answers for obfuscation. I asked a guru a test question. His answer was, “That’s a good question! (Condescending tone) That’s where you have to get creative. Next question…” Um…what? Thanks for the non-answer, douche canoe.*
Check to see if your guru sells a lot of his or her own books.
Be skeptical. If it sounds too good to be true, punch ’em in the spleen. Y’know…metaphorically.

*That’s douchebag in Canadian.

Filed under: book marketing, publishing, books, Marketing, publishing, Robert Chazz Chute, self-publishing, selling books, writer, writing

04/23/2023 • 7:17 PM 5

Waiting for Dawn on the Comeback Trail

The first twenty minutes of coming back from the dead are the worst. After forty-four staples on a ten-inch wound, I’m working on my comeback.

Minor detail: I wasn’t coming back from the dead. I was returning to consciousness after major surgery. I thought I was dying, though. The last thing I remember was a surgical team member lowering a mask over my face and telling me to breathe deeply. I disappeared into nothingness, but in an instant, I was swimming back, wide awake and drowning. The pain was searing, and I was unprepared for the burn. I found out later the surgery had been difficult, but successful.

Pain. Four letters, one syllable. It’s really not a big enough word.

I’d been in the void for just over two hours, and that retreat was okay. Death doesn’t scare me. It’s the dying part that kills you. Why me? I thought. This should be happening to my many, many enemies.

“The morphine will kick in soon, but I can’t give you too much at once, or you’ll stop breathing. My job is to keep you breathing.” That was Laura, my post-op nurse and shepherd back to the land of the living. As the pain subsided, my sense of humor returned. Laura was great. I was going to be great. It was going to work out. But it’s been harder than I’d hoped.

I anticipated most post-op issues. My main problem is sleep. I can’t get enough of it, and I must sleep on my back for six weeks. The sedatives help a bit. At least I’m not watching reruns of Kung Fu at 3 a.m. anymore. I’m bingeing Justified and Fresh Off the Boat, but that’s a daytime distraction while I perform my remedial exercises. I’m off the narcotics, but I must admit arthritis really fucked me up. I’m feeling old and useless. You don’t fight a disease like this. That’s the wrong metaphor. Instead, I’m hobbling away from it. Using a walker and a cane, I’m putting distance from Decrepit Me. I’m nostalgic for the days when I could kick opponents in the jaw, but eventually I’ll walk normally. Surgery makes a pretty X-ray. Activity makes it a moving picture. I’m looking forward to returning to boxing.

Rehab is a full-time job.

My surgeon performed the vivisection and engineering expertly. I am a cyborg, renewed by titanium, cobalt, and polyethylene. My physiotherapist is endlessly encouraging. She sees a stationary bike in my near future. Though my progress is incremental, I’m retraining my body and improving daily. We set up a recovery room with assistive devices at home. My wife, She Who Must Be Obeyed, is a doctor. However, through this ordeal, she’s been doing double duty as my nurse. She’s also proved herself a saint.

That first twenty minutes haunts me, though.

I dwell on my mortality too much. My sense of time is still messed up. I’m morbid and more emotional than usual. I didn’t have claustrophobia before. Getting tangled in the sheets triggers me now. A week after surgery, I felt panic mount as it took me too long to find the neck hole in a hoodie. Even as I dismissed the problem as ridiculous, my lizard brain was fired up and ready to flail. Sometimes it feels like there isn’t enough oxygen in the room.

There are many milestones on the Comeback Trail, and I am not a patient patient. Anxiety and depression are common after major surgery, and I had those issues even before I went under the buzz saw. Last week I wrote my first work email, details on a book doctoring job. Typing up a few paragraphs of instructions wiped me out for the day.

I hope to get back to writing my next novel soon, but I had my first shower since the surgery only yesterday. I still want to record my audiobooks, but that’s a little further down the Comeback Trail just now. I must stop for the night. Darkness comes for us all, and I am waiting for the dawn. My surgery date was March 31. This post is the most I’ve written since March 30.

~ I am the cyborg writer of award-winning science fiction and killer crime thrillers. Find all books by Robert Chazz Chute on my author site, AllThatChazz.com.

Filed under: publishing, writing, arthritis, books, hip replacement, hip replacement surgery, osteoarthritis, publishing, recovery from hip replacement, Robert Chazz Chute, writer, writing

02/15/2023 • 9:46 AM 11

The Truth Will Get Out

My novel, Endemic, had a tough launch. To put it simply, Amazon screwed me over, and truthfully, that disappointment set me back quite a bit both financially and creatively. I haven’t been nearly as productive since. However, I am not reiterating or relitigating the past today. Today, I have something to celebrate.

The book has since won a Literary Titan Award and took first place in science fiction at both the Hollywood Book Fesitval and the New York Book Festival.

And now, another win!

The North Street Book Prize just announced the winners and Endemic took first in genre fiction! That’s a big one. Taste all that delicious validation!

Here’s the North Street Book Prize blurb for Endemic:

Genre Fiction winner Robert Chazz Chute’s Endemic gives the post-apocalyptic plague novel a fresh twist with a neurodivergent female book editor as an unlikely action hero. New York City is in ruins after a strange disease caused brain damage among most of the population. Can Ovid Fairweather save the day with her hydroponic gardening skills and hypervigilance from an abusive childhood? Count on it.

If you’ve encountered marketing obstacles (and who hasn’t?) persevere and be patient. The truth will get out. Your work can find an audience, even if it doesn’t happen right away.

I was disappointed. I retreated. I felt bad for a long time, but I am not done.

~ I am Robert Chazz Chute. Find links to all my apocalyptic epics and killer crime thrillers at my author site, AllThatChazz.com.

Filed under: awards, Endemic, publishing, award-winning books, books, Endemic, Hollywood Book Festival, keep writing, Literary Titan Award, New York Book Festival, North Street Book Prize, publishing, Robert Chazz Chute, science fiction novels, self-publishing, writer, writing

01/04/2023 • 8:27 PM 3

This was written by a human being

Publishing is always changing in big and small ways. There used to be a Big Six, then there was a Big Five in publishing. Now there’s a Big Four. Hot genres cool. Cold genres heat up and occasionally new genres are created. Amazon sales pages have changed for books, and in my opinion not for the better. You’ve no doubt heard that a big revolution is afoot. Artificial Intelligence is about to replace a lot of people. Maybe even you.

There’s a divide in the writing community right now over the emergence of recently improved artificial intelligence. ChatGPT, Jasper, and others can upgrade your book marketing copy. AI reconfigures and composes existing art to fulfill the parameters you plug into its engine. Artificial voices are improving to the point where some authors may choose machines over voice actors for their audiobooks. At least one person (probably many more) has already created fiction using ChatGPT. Things are changing, and we’re not ready for it,

Whenever any new technology emerges, there’s a painful transition. When cell phones came out, there was a panic over the brain tumors they could theoretically produce. That didn’t happen, of course, but in that case the volume of complaints during the the introduction of was much louder than the reality. There are valid concerns around copyright and current job roles becoming outmoded. I mean, real talk, if machines write thousands and thousands of novels faster than I can, I won’t be pleased. I think I better prepare myself for not being pleased.

Obstacles loom for the quick adoption of a non-human workforce putting art together. Currently, if you use AI art for your book covers, you are not able to claim copyright on that cover. You don’t possess the license from the amalgam of images the AI draws from. The AI is compositing, not originating. All that said, the toothpaste is already squeezed out of the tube and it’s not going back in. We’re going to have to adapt in several ways.

In the classroom, for instance, kids will have to write essays in class (if that’s what you still want). Let them go home, and ChatGPT and its alternatives will be penning those essays on The Great Gatsby. A voice actor I follow on TikTok said her solution to machines reading audiobooks is to emphasize the emotional core of her work. She’s not just a reader. Acting is her job. She is confident she can out-act any machine and she’s not afraid of the competition. Also, it should be noted that dedicated audiobook readers not only look for audiobooks by certain authors. Some voice actors have a following who listen to whatever they read. That’s leverage the machines don’t have, at least not yet.

Something that is often lost in the debate is that plenty of authors do not have the budget to pay to create audiobooks with a human voice. My solution is to go the DIY route with my audiobooks. That option is not accessible to everyone. Some will reject any non-human participation in the creation of their art. For others, using a machine reader mimicking he human voice feels like a necessity.

I’ve tested ChatGPT to optimize my marketing copy. Yes, it needed a little editing afterward, but not much. Revamping my marketing copy for so many books and paying a smug consultant exorbitant fees would be prohibitively expensive.

If readers and listeners are okay with it, and production costs less, AI art creation will increase in acceptance. We can dig in our heels and resist the future, but in the long term it feels like trying to hold back the tide with a teacup. I’m not telling you to surrender and go all in on Skynet. I am suggesting that it would be wise to figure out how to up your game and adapt to a changing landscape in the meantime.

As this sticky taffy get pulled, you will see some books published with a notation that reads something like: No machine intelligence was involved in the creation of the art on the cover of this book, nor were any used in the creation of the narrative. This novel was written by a human being.

~ I am Robert Chazz Chute. Read my novels, some of which tell of machine intelligence taking everything all the way the fuck over, at AllThatChazz.com.

Filed under: publishing, artificial intelligence, audiobooks, books, ChatGPT, publishing, Robert Chazz Chute, self-publishing, writing

11/07/2022 • 12:24 PM 1

Keep a Wary Eye on Your Sales Pages

I got an ugly and unhelpful surprise this morning. Make sure this doesn’t happen to you.

It used to be that you could go to Author Central on Amazon to check for your latest reviews. I am encouraging you to check your book’s sales pages regularly because, sadly, Amazon is not reliable. Pardon my tone, but my wife is ill, and I’m concerned about that. I’m feeling not so great, either, so my frustration is compounded by seeming to be thwarted at every turn and told to suck it up. (More on that bit of shit further down this post.)

**For anyone who has been pushed around. Against those who do the pushing.**

The First Assault

Regular readers here may recall that Amazon sabotaged the launch of my award-winning novel, Endemic. I couldn’t advertise it at all (for reasons unknown) in the first critical weeks after its release. I am so proud of that book, and to see its wings get clipped before it could fly was incredibly frustrating. I soldiered on, but yes, I’m bitter. It’s difficult enough to get any novel air and attention without unwarranted obstacles along the path.

Since that shaky start, Endemic has won first place in science fiction at both the Hollywood and New York Book Festivals. It also garnered a Literary Titan award. I know the novel is in the running for the North Street Book Prize since they let me know it’s in the semi-finals. In other words, this one is particularly important to me (and to my bottom line.) Book sales have tanked generally, so Endemic is the central weight-bearing pillar of my tiny castle.

And Now, This

This morning, on a whim, I had a peek at my Amazon author page. It looked fine until I clicked on reviews to take a deeper look. I guess I was looking for a little ego boost. Instead, I got an itch I could not scratch. The reviews for Endemic from the United States were not about Endemic. They were happy reviews of a vacuum cleaner!

That does not help me. (Curses ensued, several quite imaginative and not fit for general consumption.)

I contacted Amazon immediately, of course. While I checked my other books for linking errors, the kind gentleman on the help desk did some research. He couldn’t fix the problem himself manually, so it was elevated to the tech division. He hoped my little marketing disaster would be rectified within five days. I’m not blaming him. He did all he could within a system that could use more organization.

Amazon has been making big changes lately. From adding Goodreads ratings, to categorization limits and snafus, to their new Top Picks feature, maybe they are moving too fast. When any system gets too big, there are bound to be logistics errors and smelly clogs in the plumbing.

Shots Fired

There is another annoyance when legitimate problems such as these arise. Some folks will insist your concerns are illegitimate and gloss over your lived experience. Some who fancy themselves leaders and book marketing experts have a filthy habit of putting a happy face on anything and everything Amazon does to us. They tell you to just write another book, relax, and ignore your crumbling sales data. They suggest that the Zon can do no wrong and everything they do is customer-focused. Uh, nope! Don’t pee on me and tell me it’s raining (and nutritious, to boot!)

It is undeniable that Amazon has done a lot right compared to other book sales platforms. I’m concerned those smart moves may be confined to history. Just because they’re the top sales platform doesn’t make me any less screwed today. If they are immune to criticism when they mess up, it’s like saying cops have all the power so they can do no wrong.

Whenever an author dares to cry foul because their income is taking a direct hit, they get gaslit by those who are comfortable with such chaos. By comfortable, I mean they are privileged enough to have more of a cash cushion. Hint: Some of those knobs aren’t necessarily sanguine about your troubles because they’re making a boodle off their books. They’re selling services to the indie community instead of writing fiction. Their compassion deficit is as deep as their pockets. Don’t listen to people who are too comfortable with your pain. You are not a whiner. You’re bleeding and need a tourniquet and a kind word.

So? What Now?

I’m not going to slap on a shit-eating grin and enthuse, “Don’t worry, be happy!” You can’t trust that all you have to do is wait and they’ll fix any problems. You have to remain vigilant to alert them to problems. The central premise of this blog has always been to track the ups and downs of writing and publishing without the bullshit, so here’s my honest advice:

Check your book pages to make sure the listings are correct. Check again regularly. You can’t set it and forget it because the Amazon platform has become too technically complex to be trusted. Or maybe get into the vacuum cleaner business. They seem to have a bunch of happy customers.

~ Oh, and please do check out Endemic. I’m so pleased with this novel because, beyond the apocalyptic scenario, it’s about people who don’t fit in, how they change and how they don’t. The dedication reads: “For anyone who has ever been pushed around. Against those who do the pushing.” That seems especially appropriate this morning. Listings and links for all my books are on my author page at AllThatChazz.com.

Filed under: Amazon, publishing, Amazon, books, Endemic, publishing, Robert Chazz Chute, self-publishing, writers, writing

10/25/2022 • 10:52 AM 3

Amazon Confusion Continues

Many authors have discovered that their author pages are not displaying their full catalogue. Oddly, it’s not actually clear to everyone what’s going on, including the people you talk to at the Zon. From Amazon, I heard directly that they are working on it as a glitch. However, dive into a writing group or two and you’ll find that some of us are receiving a very different message: It’s not a glitch. It’s by design. Mixed signals are frustrating. Beta test? New normal? Mistake? Well, I definitely think it’s a mistake, and today I’ll detail why and what you might do about it.

What some of us are told is that the new algorithm shows Amazon customers an author sales page tailored to their browsing history. For instance, if you’ve read my apocalyptic stuff like This Plague of Days, you could go to my author page and only my other apocalyptic stuff would be served up: Endemic, AFTER Life, Citizen Second Class, Robot Planet, Our Alien Hours, Our Zombie Hours and Amid Mortal Words. You would not see any of my other work on my author page. Following this new modus operandi, there is no place to see my full catalogue on Amazon. You would not see all my crime thrillers. To get links to my full backlist, you’d have to go to my author site.

There are no doubt a lot of authors who have not looked at their author page lately. I habitually check for new reviews through Author Central and monitor sales using Book Report. Again, if you haven’t seen what’s happening on your author page, it’s a good idea to have a look.

To be clear, the books have not disappeared completely from the platform. However, to find them all, you’d have to search by title or by my name. (Searching by author name alone often serves up a mix that is not on point.)

In short: Visibility is down, discoverability is hampered, and your backlist sales are hobbled.

If they stick with this new algo, only a determined fan, not a casual browser, would go to the trouble to find all my stuff easily. There’s a ribbon across the top, but in my experience, readers go down the author page, they don’t click across multiple times. That’s just how people have been programmed to read, and the more a customer has to click, the less shopping they do.

How do I know this fiddling is bad for authors and readers?

I can see the failure of this strategy in my falling book sales. It’s down to a dribble. That’s the key factor for me. Like everyone else, I’ve got bills to pay and I’m more worrier than warrior.

The frustrating detail is that Amazon is such a vast company that the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. You know, that cute cliche that actually hints at brain damage? From Amazon, after about 48 hours, I received an email to say it’s a glitch and they are working on it. “Our technical teams are aware of this problem and we’re working toward a resolution as soon as possible.”

Meanwhile, other authors are hearing a different story as detailed above. One author spoke to a supervisor who told her (a) they are getting a lot of negative feedback, (b) they tried this before and it didn’t work, and (c) they may reverse course.

Amazon’s priority has always been to optimize the customer experience. I understand that and don’t have a problem with it. The other book sales platforms could learn a thing or two from Amazon’s customer focus. However, this is a case where what’s good for readers is better for authors, too. Maybe we’ll go back to what worked better. Maybe we won’t. While they work that out, my focus will be to try to mitigate the damage no matter what they do.

That’s for another post on another day. For now, please buy my stuff and check on your stuff. If your author page does not display all your wares, let Amazon Central Customer Support know you’re not altogether pleased. Check your income, too. Moving the system with data points will be more effective than an emotional appeal.

Also, please be kind with whomever you correspond. It’s not their fault. The root of this endeavor lies somewhere deep in the Hell Realm where misguided accountants’ avarice and programmers’ warped aspirations intersect to whisper dark incantations over bubbling cauldrons of code slurry.

~ I am Robert Chazz Chute, a frustrated multiple award-winning writer with a heart of gold and not enough money. Find all my books on my author site AllThatChazz.com.