What’s the early summer without being inundated with Memorial Day sales pitches? I haven’t watched television in more than a decade, and, for all intents and purposes, haven’t owned a television since I went away to college in 2012. However, sometimes these ads manage to sneak through, and this year I’ve decided to join the stampede.

Framed: A Villain’s Perspective on Social Media will cost $2.99 at the conclusion of this holiday weekend. It’s back to #1 Bestseller in several genres, and for a limited time you can still own it (or buy it for your uncle and give it to him at his Memorial Day party) for $1.99.

Also, I’ve published version 1.0.3 of Framed. This contains about ten minor fixes, and almost all of these issues were highlighted by readers. Thank you!

I disputed my Kirkus Review

In my last post, I was giddy about receiving a positive review from Kirkus. However, after considerable deliberation and back-and-forth with the Kirkus sales team, I decided to dispute the factual basis of the review.

Most people would ask, “Why bother?” The risk is, obviously, that Kirkus could retaliate and downgrade the review, while the upside is basically zero, considering that this probably doesn’t give me a second shot at earning the coveted Kirkus Star and that almost nobody would care about the nuance of what I disputed.

The criticism levied upon Kirkus is that the reviewers read about 40% of books and skip the rest. Most indie authors don’t bother to try their luck, since the reviews cost like $450, but I decided to give it a shot. Upon earning my “Featured Indie Review” distinction, I received many disjointed sales pitches for further paid promotion. This rubbed me the wrong way, so I began trying to understand the review procedure while corresponding with the people from Kirkus.

Currently, my stance is that only Part I of my book (less than 50% of the book) was evaluated and it’s not fair that “Cutlet” is highlighted as the main story, when it’s quite obvious (even in the introduction) that the main story is “Shark Social.” Shark Social isn’t introduced by name until Chapter 12. Hm. Skipping around might work for novels, but for this memoir/essay collection blend, the Kirkus review procedure left some holes in the evaluation.

I’ll provide a final update on this once “9-12 business days” have elapsed.

More Free Copies of Framed

My number one objective is to get Framed into the hands of as many people as possible. I was at a bar last night and I’ll admit that I had the QR code ready to go when people asked about my book.

Amazon reviews for books are a silly blend of subjectivity and “satisfaction.” They just don’t work, and low volumes of reviews penalize niche authors like me (somebody should write a book about digital importance metrics).

This said, I know that once I reach 10 reviews, my conversions will increase. Quite a few people have come through this week to write reviews on multiple platforms. My offer is this—if you send me proof of your review, I’ll send an additional copy of Framed to whoever you want. Totally free, just write a truthful review.

Framed to 1,000

Extrapolating the recent uptick in sales, Framed is on track to sell 1,000 copies by the end of the summer. I can’t believe it. I have a ridiculous spreadsheet tracking all the people who I think are reading the book, but now anonymous sales are outpacing friends, family, and cold outreach (ahem, my primitive CRM system).

I appreciate this, and, seeing as I blew through the 500 copy threshold this week (it’s already at like 560, but some of this was a giveaway), I’m preparing to continue the momentum here, with the audio book as soon as possible and perhaps a special edition hardcover to commemorate actually hitting the milestone.

I also sat for four podcast interviews this week and I’ll have many new appearances to share in June!