Speculative Fiction is fun, but not like it used to be!

Guest Post By JC De La Torre

Everywhere you look, speculative fiction is dominating the airwaves and inkwells. Star Trek and Wolverine own the box office, with Terminator and Harry Potter soon to follow. Spec Fic has even snuck into the rarefied air of the stuffy New York Times best seller list, first with Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series and then with Seth Grahame-Smith’s interesting re-imaging of Pride and Prejudice (with
zombies, no less). Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse is steaming up HBO, while Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian continues to capture young minds. TV shows like Supernatural, Terminator – the Sarah Connor Chronicles, Battlestar Galactica, Lost, Heroes and Fringe keep
speculative fiction in the forefront.

It truly is an amazing time to be a writer, reader, and watcher of speculative fiction. It feels almost as if Spec Fic has gone from geekdom to mainstream. When folks in Klingon uniforms or a forty-year
old man with a goatee dressed as Princess Leia were the only ones who cared when a new Star Trek/Star Wars or other sci-fi-fantasy movie was released, now it seems soccer moms want to go see Harry Potter and who didn’t want to see the new Star Trek?

Has it ever been this good? Sure – not only that, it’s been even better. In the 80’s-90’s Star Trek dominated both on the idiot box and the theaters. Star Wars was pre-Jar Jar, we were introduced to new concepts like Stargate, Highlander, and Legend. Orson Scott Card exploded on to the scene with Enders Game and Michael Crichton took us to Jurassic Park. We trembled with Sigourney Weaver in Aliens, laughed at Beetlejuice, and wept at ET (don’t act like you didn’t).

No, Speculative Fiction may be more mainstream but the quality just isn’t there. I can remember the first time I saw Highlander and the immortal Sean Connery belted out “Ya can’t drown ya fool! You’re
immortal!” I was instantly hooked. Even through the horrid sequels, I remained a loyal fan of the series. I loved the TV show and based one of my characters in my novel series, Rise of the Ancients on Connery (guess which one). Stephen King and Anne Rice captured my imagination, giving me scary places and viciously intoxicating vamps. I’ll freely devulge my admittance into the Buffyverse as a lover of the Vampire Slayer and its spinoff, Angel (I still watch the shows today). I was
a browncoat and was furious when Fox prematurely aborted Firefly (Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse was pitiful compared to his previous work). Every week I stepped through the Stargate with Richard Dean Anderson, wondering what amazing world they would discovery next and why the hell everyone in the universe spoke English except for the Goa’uld?

When a novel like Eragon can sell millions, you know that standards and the readership have changed. I call it the Harry Potter effect. Harry transcended sword and sorcery. He ripped past all the glass
ceiling that seemed to keep fantasy from going mainstream – even conquered the Christians bible thumpers who believed that he was the anti-christ. Now, more than ever, people who have never read
speculative fiction are picking up books. Its why everyone is writing vampire novels now. Twilight hit big…here comes all the copy cats….just like Harry spawned Artemis Fowl and Percy Jackson.

I wanted to write a vampire novel myself but when Meyer’s Twilight exploded I saw the mainstream flooded with bloodsuckers of every type, I elected to go a different route with my series. Bare with me as I self gloss a little – but I’m happy I did as I feel that while my work
seems to pull from some of the things I loved about the old Speculative fiction of the 80’s and 90’s, it was also vastly different from most stuff out there (even though it’s been compared to Dan
Brown, Neil Gaiman, and the Percy Jackson books – I don’t see the correlation). I really believe we need more of that in today’s speculative fiction. While Star Trek was fantastic, it was just a
rehash of themes we already were familiar with. Wolverine is comic book hero who’s been around for several decades. Terminator is a continuation of the 80’s. Twilight is just the teeny-bopper version of
the Vampire Lestat. Eragon is basically the combination of several different fantasy clichés. Where is the new stuff that expands our minds and challenges us to think out of the box? We find that – then yes, friend, Spec Fic will be at its zenith. Still…wasn’t Syler awesome as Spock? I digress. Tell us what you think – is there unique speculative fiction out there that hasn’t been discovered by the
masses that deserves mention?

JC De La Torre is the author of the Rise of the Ancients series, the latest, Rise of the Ancients – Annuna, is scheduled to be released on July 31st. Visit http://jcdelatorre.com for book trailers, reviews and more info.

So I thought I would address an issue that’s bothering me: Amazon (fake) reviews.

Most people who are thinking about buying a book head off to Amazon to read the reviews. Many of you do this and put little thought to the validity and source of the reviews. There is a dark side to the Amazon review system: it’s actively being gamed by both unscrupulous authors and publishers.

Never thought about that did you? The Amazon review system is vulnerable to anyone who wants to take advantage of it. Practically anyone can post a review on Amazon undery any pseudonym. The word on the street is that publishers pay marketing firms to “promote” their books on the web. One of these “promotional” tactics, probably the most effective book sale-wise, is to register a medley of fake personas and use them to pad the 5 Star review ratings of a book on Amazon. Yes, this takes some effort on the part of a person, but one or two people determined to give top ratings to a book can easily spend a couple days (or weeks) writing up fake reviews and posting the on Amazon. There are entire marketing teams out there that are dedicated to this. A publisher’s own marketing team might even do this.

Why would publishers and authors sell out their ethics to try and con people into buying books? Money, lads, it’s all about money. Success or failure can rest upon the Amazon rating. Now for big name authors, their books’ Amazon ratings may not matter so much – they have such a reputation and presence in bookstores that the average Joe will just buy the book off the shelve without doing research first. But new authors and authors who publish in smaller genres often earn their bread from the Amazon review system. A drop of a star can make a significant difference in the sales of the book. It should come as no surprise then that people will try and game the Amazon rating sytem to generate more money.

You can bet your mother and your first born child that many authors and even more publishers stoop to posting fake, glowing reviews. Can I directly proof this; no. Am I positive? Yes.

Why does Amazon allow this? Because they make a lot of money from this. Sales of books mean money in Amazon’s pocket. It’s kind of like eBay trying to stop seller of counterfeit items. With each sale of a fake purse, eBay get’s a commission. So why would they actually want to do something about stopping it? It’s taking money out of t heir pocket. Amazon, my readers, has even less reason than eBay, who is at least being sued by the companies affected by the fake products being sold. So Amazon is happy, the publishers making money from the fake reviews are happy, and the authors are probably happy as well, given that they benefit from the process. Do all authors write fake reviews? Probably not, but there are a lot that certainly do.

How To Protect Yourself From Fake Amazon Reviews
So if you are scoping the Amazon reviews and trying to make a buying decision, here are three things you can do to protect yourself.

1. Read the 3 STAR (and below) ratings.
More often than not, these are the real reviews, not publisher-paid fake review crap. These reviews often show the true substance of the book. ALWAYS take 5 star reviews with a grain of salt and then some. If you really want to be sure, take a look at what other reviews the review has written. If there are lots of different genres and books reviews, it’s probably a real review. One of the signatures of a fake review is that the “review” only has a couple other reviews (though they could have a lot of reviews if the persona is used on regular basis — say as a job), and the reviews are all about the same author’s books.

2. Look for the Cons
Usually these fake publisher reviews give a gushy 4-5 star rating. If there are no negative points listed, be very wary. Rarely is a book so perfect as that. If there are negative points listed, make sure the rating makes sense. Some fake reviews list a couple negative points as a matter of principle, just to make the review look genuine. You will also note that the language and style of some fake reviews look the same. That’s because they are often written by the same person. More on this below.

3. Search the Web for Blog Book Reviews
Type the name of the book + “review” in google. High profile genre book blogs will often show up with reviews of the book on em. Read a couple of these reviews. These reviews are often far more trust worthy than any review you’ll find on Amazon.

A Portrait of an Amazon Fake Review: Case Study

Now, it’s nice to talk about all this in theory, but let’s do a bit of a case study. Let me present to you the biggest online fake review scammer of them all: Robert Stanek (or Robert Stinkit as I like to call him). This guy has mastered to art of posting fake, glowing, smary reviews about his books. And he’s apparently made a great living off doing it. Robert Stanek is the worst writer in the fantasy genre. All his books are self-published, and they are utter and complete crap. But, if you look on Amazon, you will notice he has 300 + reviews with almost perfect 5 star ratings. Don’t believe me, check out Robert Stanek Fake Amazon Reviews

Let’s see some of these so called reviews from someone named Jodi F.:

My husband and I are both teachers and as a parent with boys in 5th and 6th grades, I found this an outstanding novel. You only have to read this to see why it is becoming one of the most beloved books of all time. The writing sings, the illustrations and the wealth of extras take your breath away and the story is as deep and rich as stories get. I doubt the author knew he had written something on par with Rowling’s Potter when he finished it but he certainly had to know he’d written something special. And this book is truly something special.

A look at other reviews she’s/he’s written show other 5 star reviews written about…you guessed it…Stanek’s other books.

Let’s look at one more review by someone named GrammaBonnie:

Since their first publication nearly a decade ago (2001 in ebook), Stanek’s Ruin Mist books have become some of the most beloved books of all time. There’s a reason for this: they are very well produced, very well written and gorgeously illustrated. I hold these books in as high regard as Lewis’s Narnia and Tolkien’s Hobbit.

I’m thrilled to be able to share this book and hope my kids will share this book with theirs and theirs with theirs. Truly a joy to read, from an author who is among the most skilled I’ve ever had the pleasure to read. Our favorite editions of these are the special illustrated. The next one is The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches II (Keeper Martin’s Tales, Book 2, Special Illustrated Edition). Don’t miss the sequel series In the Service of Dragons (In the Service of Dragons, Book 1). I also found Illustrated Encyclopedia of Ruin Mist: The Essential Reader’s Guide to be a fascinating read.

Now, notice the same overly effusive praise? In fact the language is very similar in tone and style. I’d be willing to be it’s written by the same person, probably the author himself, Robert Stanek. In fact, both reviews contain two phrases that are identical: “the most beloved books of all time.” A coinsidence? Nope.

Then we even get a list of, lo and behold, more books written by Stanek. A quick check on what other books our old granny has written reveal all her other reviews are written of…guess? Robert Stanek’s books.

Now take a look at an actual, real review — a review that gave the book its deserving 1 star:

I can’t understand why this book has such great reviews. I usually don’t write reviews, but I was so disappointed by this book, I felt I had too. Bad grammar, boring characters, jumps in the plot that make NO sense, and terrible formatting. The illustrations where not great either. The book is only 140 or so pages, and I have had to force myself through them. Save your money, don’t buy this book. There are MUCH better fantasy writers out there.

Don’t believe me still. Want a sample of a book, according the one of the fake reviewers here that is “truly something special”? Well here is an excerpt taken from the book:

“Always more reminders of the things she should or should not do—her proper place, always her proper place. She knew all about the proper things, the proper mannerisms, the proper greetings, her proper duties, her proper place. She had even been taught, though only recently, the proper things to do to invite a man’s attention. She was to begin courting. But why?”

My eyes are bleeding already and I’m about to have a proper fit…

“Seth returned to the room they shared then and did a thing he claimed not to understand. Galan was sitting on the edge of her bed, running a comb through her long hair. He sat beside her and the next thing he knew his lips were pressed against hers.
Immediately afterward, Seth fled the room and in his confused state of mind, said he knew of only one person he could turn to. Brother Liyan had been meditating in his private chambers and, without announcement, Seth burst into the room and in one great rush of thoughts explained all that had happened since he left the hall.”

There are even worse abominations of the English language present in the book. My three year old niece can write better then this. This book is truly something “special,” something especially bad!

So, be very very careful when using Amazon’s Review system to decide whether to buy a book or not. Look for other non-amazon reviews and always treat the Amazon reviews with more then a few grains of salt. For my next posting, I’ll going to post a review of Stanek’s book. It’s should be funny.

You’ve written that brain child and want to gain recognition as a writer. Should you go the self publishing route?

Every writer has probably faced this question at some point. In the modern age, self-publishing is becoming easier and easier. Why spend all the work sending off a manuscript after manuscript only to get rejection after rejection. I mean, it’s simply easier to write your novel then send it off to a vanity press and get your novel instantly published…for a price. Or you can opt for the many online self publishing services. These services will even put the book onto an online store so you can start reaping instant profits. They practically promise your literary and commercial sucess should you go ahead and pay them to publish your novel. So should you go the self publishing route?

No, I do not feel this is the path you should take, should you wish to be a “Writer.” There are two types of writers out there: writers and published writers. If you want to be the former, by all means self publish. But all the “real” writers are published. Real writers have readership. Sorry if that stings, but it’s the bare truth.

Now, there two types of self-publishers out there. The first type are those who want to create a vanity project, with no aspirations of readership or literary success. You can probably throw in those who write a book that has no chance of being picked up by a major publisher because the book has low salability — it’s eclectic or some sub genre that won’t attract to much readership. If this is these are case, then self publishing may work for you. The other type of self publisher are those who want to gain commercial/literary success with their writing but aren’t willing to put the work in to get published.

Now, sorry if this sounds rude, but I feel this is absolutely true. Oh, I’m not saying that these types don’t spend the time to write a book to the best of their abilities. But these types are unwilling to endure the growing pains of becoming a Writer – growing pains that include constant publisher rejections, rewrite after rewrite, and years of writing without seeing any tangible results.

If you are considering self publishing and want to be a Writer, with the capital sense of the word, then don’t self publish – you are shooting yourself in the foot. The problem with self-publishing is that many writers want an easy path to becoming a Writer. That’s fine. But like anything in life, most things worth having or achieving take some god-honest work. In life, there are no shortcuts – this applies to writing as well. I know there are many writer types out there that feel going the published route is giving into the “Man”, that true artistic merit cannot be judged, blah blah blah. These types of self-published authors remind me of those kids who show up on the American idol auditions with delusions of their singing prowess. They are only fooling themselves.

Now, I’m not trying to offend self-published authors here. I’m just stating the facts of how it looks from my side of the fence. Many self-published authors absolutely believe self publishing is a path—or an easier path–to commercial or literary success. I am simply stating in my experience, it’s not and it will probably lead to a dead end or at least delusions of success. What’s the difference between unpublished authors and self-published authors? A string of rejection letters over the years and a hell of a lot more hard work on the part of the published author. Most published authors out there have a plethora of publishing rejections under their belt. They use each successive rejection to improve their writing and storytelling abilities until they get to the “publishable” level. This can take years, maybe even ten years, of single minded dedication.

If you think that simply having a book that you can feel in your hands instantly puts you on equal footing prose-wise or storytelling-wise with writers who have spent years getting rejections by professional editors and using those rejections to improve their writing craft, think again. Any self-publishing website that tell you otherwise is flat out lying.

Now I know there are those lucky few that don’t go through all these hurdles, but these are an exception to the rule. Most published authors can list off a litany of publishing rejections – for writers it’s some what of a in joke to list their battle scar rejections.

But ironically it’s these rejections that help you to get published. There is a lot to say having a pro editor look over your work and offer critiques with the rejection – these rejections and critiques help the writer improve their prose and storytelling, and make each new book effort more likely to meet with success.

Now, if you want to self publish and you know what you are getting into, I truly wish you the best. I’m sure there are many good reasons for doing so, and I am sure they are all valid ones. But if you want to find commercial success and gain a readership as well as social respect, consistently self publishing books is not the way to go — indeed, self publishing your books may only be stunting your growth as a writer. As an experiment while honing your writing chops, sure. But if you want to be a writer with readers, no. If you want to go the self-publishing route, by all means, self-publish away, but make sure you at least understand exactly what you are doing when you do so.