A bit of tough love here: Editing and proofreading is a must. You’ve got a number of errors in the book’s preview (“your countries” / “your country’s”) and the sales description (“lead gently” / “led gently”), and that will absolutely be a turn-off to many potential buyers.
Look into styled text in the description; a little boldface or italic accent can really help draw the eye to important information, and break up the wall of text. Kindlepreneur offers a free blurb formatter that’s proven very helpful.
I’m happy to offer tips for formatting and metadata if you’d like to message me privately. You’ll also find a wealth of free information on indie publishing at the Alliance of Independent Authors blog. (Disclosure: I’m the Services Watchdog there.)
I think this has huge potential, but it needs a little polish.
Not sure if you just looked at the description or downloaded the sample but the "no proofreading’ errors are in there as well. It’s not atypical of self-published books but you are right that it may be a turn-off to potential buyers. I always look at the care someone puts into spelling, grammar and formatting as an indicator of their attention to detail. There is a reason publishing houses have editors.
That’s not to say I’m judging a book entirely based on form vs content, but it’s not hard to get a few people to read & correct a preliminary copy of a book. Of course you should choose proof or pre-readers you know are up on their spelling, grammar, word usage, etc.
I am sensitive to the writer’s location as well - I believe it may be a UK based effort which means spelling may vary but the errors you flagged aren’t amongst the ones attributed to local colour
Again, guilty as charged and I will be updating as required.
It’s a timing problem in part, I am acutely aware that there are many people currently looking at lockdown and furloughs and thinking about using their GF - so wanted to get it out as soon as possible.
Also, this isn’t my first rodeo with Amazon, I’ve been a best seller on the Amazon before, so know my way around. There are always publication glitches with the Kindle system itself which are impossible to test before. And, because of who I am, there are always things that need correcting, or frequent questions and so on that need tuning - and you need a bunch of people to read it - who are actual GF users in this case.
Right now there is no instant correction, the Amazon checkin process is taking a week instead of the more normal 24 hours. So any amendments will have to wait.
Finally, this is a $3.55 book - there is no money for paid proof readers, or any fancy stuff, if I sold 100 copies I would be amazed.
So, genuinely I look for all feedback, totally aware that there are flaws. But heck for $3.55 you can’t really go wrong can you?
Oh definitely! I know a couple of authors who make a living writing and even after a couple of rounds of proofreading stuff slips through - some of it caused by the formatter & publication process itself
I just did an error check proof for a CNC machine’s setup & assembly manual and found an average of an error per page. I’m just anal-retentive about this. I spent a couple of years editing outdoor equipment reviews and was amazed at how easily your brain substitutes the correct spelling or word when you’re reading.
I believe I saw something once where you could delete alternate letters in almost any general audience publication and not impair the average reader’s ability to understand the writing.
