Tag Archives: Goodreads

Indie Author News Roundup

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I’d love to write a cowboy romance, but I don’t know a thing about horses!
(Except how beautiful they are!)

1,781 words
9 minutes read time

There have been a couple of interesting things happening in the world of indie publishing, and I thought it would be worthwhile to chat about a couple of them. I don’t have much going on besides editing Bitter Love and keeping in mind the self-inflicted pub date I set for myself, and if you want a more updated version than that, I posted a real update last week. You can read it here: https://vaniamargene.com/2026/10/05/monday-author-update-7/

What’s been in the news? Maybe you’ve heard about them already, but you haven’t been treated to my sparkling opinion of it all, so let’s dive in.

Meta launched Meta One, a paid membership service, and some Facebook Pages are now being limited to two posts containing external links per month unless they pay for a subscription.
What does this mean? Well, Meta is rolling out this restriction, so not every Page is affected yet. But if your author Page is included, you’ll only get two opportunities a month to direct your readers somewhere else, such as Amazon, Goodreads, a Books2Read link, or anywhere else that takes your readers off Facebook. You can pay for more, and according to Reader Radius, the tiers are priced like this per month: Advanced ($49.99) gets 8, Expert ($149.99) gets 20, and Max ($499.99) is unlimited. I doubt many will pay since there were so many people who opposed Draft2Digital’s 12-dollar-a-year fee, and I won’t give Zuckerberg any of my money. He has enough of his own, and I’m not paying for the privilege to post links. Especially since I don’t use affiliate or tracking links and I have no idea how many people really click on them anyway.

News of this change made a lot of authors angry, but I took it in stride like I do most things. Why? Because… Okay, well, let me be honest for a second. I didn’t have many followers until I started posting Reels at the end of August. I was stuck at 229 for years and years. I would get followers, sure, but I almost ruined my page when I was boosting posts and Meta was showing them to males in India who would follow my page. Because of that, I had a lot of followers that would never buy my books and I started blocking them, which kept my follower count very low. I stopped boosting posts, and after I started posting Reels consistently, my followers shot up with people who, I hope, are actually interested in my books.

So, let’s get back to why I don’t care that much. For one, I didn’t really direct people to go anywhere else, and I didn’t want to start. I write about bits and pieces of my books, what I’m working on, mention a quote I like, etc, and those posts have no links. Readers want more than BUY MY BOOK all the time anyway, and I don’t like yelling BUY MY BOOK all the time either. I’d rather post about WHY someone would love reading my book and you don’t need a link for that. For another–and this is the biggest one–people who really want to read your book will find it on their own. I’ve accumulated quite a bit of proof when it comes to that because my Reels don’t have a link and never have. At the bottom of all my captions, I list myself as the author, the title, and where they can find it, like this:


Wicked Games is a standalone romantic suspense novel by VM Rheault, available on Kindle, in Kindle Unlimited, and paperback.

Then I add the categories so they know the type of book it is. That’s all a reader is going to need if they’re interested in finding and reading your book. I promise.

I haven’t found anything to the contrary, but you can still put a link in your post (it won’t be “live”), and if a reader really wants to know where it goes or act on your CTA (call to action) they can copy the link and paste it in a different tab. That would be another version of “If a reader really wants to find your book, they will” and I would do that too, if I ever surpassed the free monthly limit.

I’ve seen a lot of angry authors posting on Threads over this, and yes, it’s okay to feel your feelings, but Meta is gonna do what Meta is gonna do. Like with anything similar, getting mad won’t help. You can try to find loopholes, like posting the link in the comments, having a third party publish your posts for you, or putting all your links in a pinned post, and see how that works, but if you have to work that hard to get around something Meta is going to enforce, it might be better to find an alternative. All your energy could go into writing your book.

And, I mean, I’m not saying this to say “I told you so,” but we all need the reminder. I really think free author services are eventually going to go away, and this is just another example of it happening. We cannot expect things for free. If you use a service to run part of your business, you’re going to have to expect to pay. I’ve cut way back on the things I’m willing to pay for, in all aspects of my life, not just my author business. Learn to go without, but if it’s valuable to you and your books and you want to keep it, fork over that green stuff.

If you want to read more about this you can here:
https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/facebook-pages-get-charged-for-link-posts/830743/
https://kanorio.com/en/blog/meta-link-limit-brand-response

Goodreads added fraction stars to their rating and reviewing system.
I hate Goodreads and don’t go on there (unless I have a new release and I have to make sure that it transfers from KDP to my author profile), so I didn’t care about this particular piece of news, either, but authors on Threads lost their minds.

I’m not really sure why, except for the idea that readers and reviewers will now go back and adjust their reviews, bringing them lower or closer to the “true” number of stars they wanted that book to have in the first place. Personally, if you’re an author, I think it’s a terrible practice to review another author’s book, since you’re peers and coworkers in an increasingly hostile industry, and I’ve seen enough authors make fun of reviewers for simply stating their honest opinion (which is what a review is for!) that I honestly don’t feel safe posting a review, even if it would be mostly positive. The author of the book I’m reading now wouldn’t like to read the review I’d write. There’s too much echoing and the characters are too young for the situations she has written them into. Her book would read much better if they were aged up by ten or fifteen years, but I would never say that in a public forum with our names attached, nor will I DM her because it’s not my place and the criticism wouldn’t be taken well anyway.

If you’re a professional reviewer, you might appreciate the accuracy fractional stars provide, but I don’t see what all the fuss is about. Although, I watched a clip of someone playing around, moving their pointer back and forth over the stars, and it looks like it’s possible to rate a book less than one star–.50 or .25 of a star. I actually think that’s kind of crappy and wasn’t necessary. Does anyone really need to rate a book less than one star? I’m not sure what that gets the reviewer or the author. With review bombs a real thing and vindictive reviewing a common occurrence among spiteful authors and readers both, I see this blowing up and not in a good way. It just makes me even more glad that I don’t review books or read the reviews attached to my books. That is part of the publishing industry I’m comfortable avoiding.

If you’d like to read more about that, you can here:
https://goodereader.com/blog/amazon-news/goodreads-finally-supports-both-half-star-ratings

Those were the two biggest news stories to cross my path last week, but I think this is something of interest to those who are still in KU. The KENP payout for the month of August is the highest it’s been so far this year, at 0.004895. Everyone says how little KU pays and that the KENP keeps getting lower and lower, so this should be good news for the pessimists who think KU isn’t worth it. Though, it’s probably not enough proof to get them to change their minds.

If you want a visual of what that means, Wicked Games has a KENPC (Kindle Edition Normalized Page Count) of 462. That’s different than the number of pages in the paperback, and you can find your KENPC under the “Promote and Advertise” tab on your dashboard. Click that and scroll all the way to the bottom of the page.

Screenshot of the Amazon KDP Bookshelf showing Wicked Games by VM Rheault. The Kindle eBook is live at $4.99 and enrolled in KDP Select, while the paperback is live at $14.99. A purple arrow points to the “Promote and advertise” button beside the Kindle eBook listing.
Screenshot of Amazon KDP’s “Earn royalties from the KDP Select Global Fund” section, explaining how authors earn royalties from Kindle Unlimited page reads. The listing for Wicked Games shows a Kindle Edition Normalized Page Count (KENPC) of 462 pages, highlighted by a purple arrow.

Anyway, if someone reads your book from cover to cover, you can multiply the KENP payout by the number of pages and you’ll come up with how much you get paid for that read. At 462 x .004895, a full read of Wicked Games earns me $2.26. That doesn’t quite compare to what I earn if someone buys the paperback or the ebook, but I’d rather make $2.26 than nothing at all because my books aren’t in KU. This isn’t a KU vs. Wide debate, it’s just how I feel, and I was happy to hear the payout had risen that much. Of course, that doesn’t mean it will stay there, but it’s good news for authors in KU who are toughing it out despite Amazon’s shaky content policies and the AI slop taking over the bestseller lists that Amazon doesn’t seem too keen on doing anything about.

I don’t have sources to cite for the KU payout, but Craig Martelle said in his Successful Indie Author Facebook group that 2026 was turning into a stellar year for KU authors and he keeps track of the monthly payout. I stole the August figure from him. September’s hasn’t been released yet, but hopefully the trend keeps going. Especially since in September I had the best sales month I’ve had in years, and I didn’t have to pay a dime for it either.

That’s all I have for this week. I hope you have a lovely Monday!

Until next time!

Monday Musings: Mixed Bag

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picture of a cream burlap shopping bag. cream/yellow flowers in the corner of the graphic. text says, monday musings mixed bag

There was a lot of stuff on my mind last week and over the weekend. Things that I saw online that bothered me, things that pertain to the publishing industry that bothered other people, and content for this blog. None of it’s bad… just stuff I simmer about while I’m taking a shower because I’m not writing a new book right now so something has to go through my head while I’m shaving. Yes, if you’re curious, I do shave all year around. I cannot stand being prickly. Anyway, we don’t need to get into that. The point is, if I’m not writing scenes in my head, there’s a lot of space in there for other things. And really, it doesn’t help that I scroll Threads while I’m drinking my morning coffee and trying to wake up. It just sets the rage-y tone for the rest of the day. That might not be a bad thing. I mean, how many of us just keep going out of spite? But, it can get a little tiring too. If you’re wondering if there’s a point to this, yes, there is, thank you for asking.

Spring is here, and for once it actually looks like Spring in my part of Minnesota. It’s dirty and wet, and big, grimy piles of snow are all that’s left. But, it’s proof that we made it through the blizzards and the wind chills. There’s something about the warmer temperatures and the sun shining that lets you breathe a little bit, and the longer days–of sunlight, I mean–aren’t so depressing. Not that I mind the dark so much. But you know, Spring is just a different vibe and it’s nice to get some fresh air in here after the windows have been frozen shut for four months.

Author Update
Not much has changed for me since last week–the second (and hopefully last) proof for Wicked Games came so when I have longer than a minute I can look over the formatting changes I did (I had blog posts and interviews in there that look better set off from the regular text) and make sure the cover is how I want it.

picture of wicked game proof. cover facing up
picture of wicked games spine facing up
picture of back cover of Wicked Games. blurb is visible.

I’ve been making slow progress on my Cedar Hill Duet, but they are going to ✨ shine ✨ when I’m done. It’s always an aggravated pride when I re-edit a book. I’m annoyed I had to do it in the first place but I’m proud that I took the time. It’s strange, but I’ll be happy when those are done and republished with new covers. Proofing the proofs is slow going though, and new files probably won’t be ready until the end of April. It just takes a long time because I fight with myself between my natural voice and style and the conversational tone I’m now aiming for, but, fortunately, I’m not finding many actual typos. Just still smoothing out prose and finding the occasional discrepancy. Chunking out a timeline is a lot easier on paper. So, progress doesn’t feel like it’s being made, but it is, even if I’m grumbling about the whole thing.

It’s okay to have help
One of the things I saw on Threads the other day made me mad. She was saying how getting feedback and brainstorming was essentially “outsourcing” a skill writers need to learn for themselves. She brought AI into the mix because apparently she had read something where a writer used AI as a brainstorming partner. I disagree with her on so many levels. Not the AI part–I have chosen to be Switzerland when it comes to that–but the part where if writers ask for help, they’re keeping themselves from learning craft. I’m not quite sure where she came up with that idea, but seeing it on Threads made me mad and a little sad, too. New writers don’t need to be told that if they can’t do it alone they’re not building their skills. Writing is already so lonely.

So, yes, I think it is okay to have help. Get developmental feedback from an editor or beta reader. Brainstorm plots and twists with a fellow author. Read that craft book. Look up lists of tropes and mini-tropes for inspiration. My reader magnet exists because a long time ago back when she was on Twitter, Zoe York tweeted a list of tropes that included “ugly duckling.” It intrigued me–how could I write a MMC that didn’t sound like an arrogant, shallow bastard–and I wrote a whole book around it. Brainstorming with peers, reading craft books, and reading in your genre is how we learn. On top of writing and writing and more writing. It doesn’t matter where you get help, be it a friend or a writing class, you still have to sit down and write. But having support and someone to turn to if you’re stuck makes it a lot easier. There are a lot of gross takes out there, and yeah, I guess AI hasn’t helped, but pre-AI, there were always plot generators, trope lists, and writing prompts. I have no idea where all of a sudden having outside resources helping you write your novel is bad, but writing isn’t done in a vacuum and never has been. You can find a simple and fun plot generator here. I would mess around with it, but I have enough on my plate as it is. Likely, I have enough projects to keep me going until 2030. https://artisthu.com/plot-idea-generator/

Goodreads’ New DNF Shelf
This is another subject that came up last week on socials. Apparently Goodreads created a Did Not Finish (DNF) shelf for their users. Authors were a little perturbed by it, but I don’t see the harm. What does it really matter if readers don’t finish a book? I know authors wouldn’t like to see one of their books on that shelf, but more and more people read by mood, and I could see a DNF shelf turn into a Come Back Later shelf instead. I also think that authors just forget, or don’t want to admit, the sheer number of books out there right now, and readers don’t have to push through a book that doesn’t grab them.

I feel guilty if I don’t finish a book, so I usually try, even if that means skimming until I reach the end. I have to at least read the last chapter to know how the couple gets their HEA. Why I start skimming varies, but my top reason for skipping to the end is that there’s not enough male POV. I remember a while back that I really wanted to read a book two in a series. The premise sounded good, but being who I am, I needed to read book one first. Even though it was “dual” POV, there were too many FMC chapters in a row, and I didn’t keep reading. Unfortunately, I just figured that the author preferred writing the FMC POV and I didn’t make it to book two. You’re never going to please every reader, that’s just a fact, and whale readers will always keep track of their books. That’s just a fact too. Goodreads doesn’t tell you what readers are doing with your books, so it’s better just not to hunt for information you don’t want to know in the first place. If you want to read a little more about the DNF shelf on Goodreads, you can do it here: https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/entertainment/books/a70504162/goodreads-dnf-shelf/

Editor Series
A couple of weeks ago, I asked on Threads if there were any editors who would be willing to answer some questions about what it’s like editing for indies, common mistakes they see, their take on AI, etc. I got quite a few responses, unlike when I tried on Twitter a few years ago. So, I’m happy to say that I will be able to start posting those interviews starting next week! I like the idea of it because it seems like editing is a necessary evil. It’s expensive, you don’t know who to trust, and you need to find someone who’s a good fit. I’m hoping that these interviews will shed a little light on the process and maybe you’ll find your next editor.

I’m not going to post them all in a row, though. I think you would get tired of them, and you know me. I have too many opinions to be quiet for that long. So, I’m going to post one a month starting next week. I hope you enjoy reading their responses as much as I did!

That is all I have for today. Lots of talk about the Shy Girl debacle, but I really don’t have a lot to say on it. AI is everywhere, it’s not going away, and we just have to try to find our way around it. People are going to use it to write, authors are going to use it to edit, brainstorm, and research, and I’m not saying we have to live with it, but until there’s an infallible way to identify AI writing, it’s going to exist in the industry. If you want to read the Times’ article, you can here, and hat tip and big thank you to Cat Johnson and to various others on Threads for the gift link.

Have a great week!

Where do you find readers? Part 3

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finding readers for your books blog posts part 3

BookBub

Not everything is about Amazon and Facebook. I’ve heard about them the most, and maybe you have too, but another ad platform you can try is BookBub. I’m not talking about the Featured Deal that is notoriously difficult to be approved for. BookBub ads are ads for your book that run in a BookBub newsletter. You pay a Cost per Click, or Cost per Impression.

If you’re not familiar with BookBub, I suggest you go on there and at least claim your author profile if you’ve published and put up a photo at the very minimum of involvement. You can find authors to follow, and also encourage readers to follow you. BookBub will email your followers when you release a book or they feature you. Similar to Amazon. To read more about what following authors and what readers following you can do for you, click here.

Anyway, if you’re interested in going for a BookBub featured deal, click here for guidelines and prices. Books that are published wide, have pleasing covers, and have lots of reviews generally have a better chance of getting approved. In other words, books that are already doing fine. But, you can always try.

If you want to know more about buying ad space and the process, you can read about it here.

And if you do decide to go for it and place a couple ads, research what makes a good ad, by reading this blog article. I’m all about researching before you spend any money, and you’ll go into it with a better understanding and a better chance of being more successful. The BookBub blog can help you market any book on any platform, so be sure to bookmark it, or sign up for emails.

Giveaways

free books

There are lots of opinions about giveaways. We shouldn’t train readers to want free books as it drives down the prices of books. People don’t value things for free. Free books don’t work anymore because there is so much free content out there. You don’t have to give away all your books all the time. That’s just not good business sense. But I did a Freebooksy for All of Nothing, and 6,000 people downloaded it. Would I have liked those be sales, especially since I paid to give away those books? Yes! But when I did a BargainBooksy for Wherever He Goes, it didn’t do nearly as well, and I dropped the price of that book to .99 especially for the promo.

When you think about giveaways, you need to decide what your business plans are. If you only want sales and you only have one book out, then giving it away won’t be an option for you. If you give away a Book One in a 7 book series, hoping to cash in on the other 6 books, that’s something else.

I agree that giving a book away may be better if you have a backlist so if a reader falls in love with your freebie, you have other books they can buy.

But even if you have one book, and it’s a solid book, and you may be releasing anothergoodreads stats one soon, giving a book away once could work for you. I don’t mind giving books away every once in a while–I usually do some kind of promo for each book I release then move on. After I did my giveaway for All of Nothing, I got a few reviews (the book has 11-12 depending on which platform you look at, and that’s the most any of my books have ever gotten) and there are some readers who have added it to their shelves on Goodreads.

So again, think about what your plans are if you’re going to give your book away.

There is only one place that I would think about doing a giveaway (besides my Freebooksy promos), and that’s Goodreads. Since they changed the way they do their giveaways, (there was a big to-do about it, and you can read it here) there is a cost involved. But because Goodreads is a site for readers, there’s a good chance anyone who wins your book will actually read it and review it. There are some people who just want to win stuff, but you’re going to encounter those kinds of people no matter what you’re giving away.

The standard giveaway is $119.00 now. If you have to save up a few months for that, work that into your marketing strategy, or begin saving when you know you’re going to have your next release. I know that $119.00 will feed my family for a week. But I also know I can skip a trip to Barnes and Noble and save that money, or skip my Starbucks run for a month and save that money, too.

If your interested in the pricing, guidelines, and perks of doing a giveaway with Goodreads, you can read here for the FAQs on the Goodreads page, and here, for a blogger’s perspective. Personally, I think since the giveaways are paid now, it reduces how many books are available, and gives you a better chance at discoverability. I always approved of the change, and I wouldn’t mind trying it out on my next release The Years Between Us, or I may wait and use it for the first book in my series.

You can do giveaways from your book’s sell page on Amazon. I have tried that a couple times with no apparent benefit. I blogged about it, and you read about it here. It didn’t do anything for me, and while it’s little work and it didn’t cost me anything, if there’s no value, I don’t see the point in doing it.

That’s all that I have for today! I hope you found a bit of value in this post, and join me for the last part of Where do you find readers in my next post. We’ll talk just a little bit about going wide. I hope to see you there!