"how low can an author go to sell a book" Topic

I was stunned to see David Hollins, respected by some in the Napoleonic field, giving the Armies title a 5 star review! He is one of the authors! Unbelievable. It is a disgrace and shows how low the man will go. Not only is he now praising his own work but he pathetcially tries to fob off negative reviews as a hatchet job. And before anyone tries to defend his gross action, imagine what Hollins would have said if Kevin Kiley had done that with his Artillery title. But Hollins review as upped the star rating, which was probably his main aim, so I imagine he is plelased with himself. But his disgraceful and desparate act convinces me to not buy any further titles bearing his name.

But his disgraceful and desparate act convinces me to not buy any further titles bearing his name

But have his actions convinced you to stop banging frenziedly away at your pet hatreds like a teen on his first willing girlfriend?

Seriously – can we have a few days without a Hatefest thread? Just a few?

Long time Nappy lurker, first time poster.

Paddy

Surely the fact that there are seven trillion books on the napoleonic wars already be a good enough reason not to buy another one?

Paddy

You have not condemed Mr. Hollins low act. Why is that? Do you think it it okay for an author to write himsel;f a 5 star review?

And it is not a pet hatred but a shocked reaction to the disgraceful and desparate action of an author. Most authors can take negative criticism and future books are usually the better for it, which means happier customers and more sales.

But if Mr. Hollins gets away with this disgraceful act, then we could end up with all the authors giving themselves 5 star reviews. Is that what what you want to see? The review should be removed and Mr. Hollins should apologise. After all, not long ago he was boasting that sales were fine, so if they were, why did he stoop to such a low act?

Pretty poor form I must agree. I am quite surprised. Judging by his recent posts I dont think Dave has found his happy thought for a while now.

Bit sad actually.

PS. Hey, Paddy, long time lurker you claim but your first visit here was less than 2 months ago?! In less than 2 months you cant have seen too many "hatefest threads" as you call them? Stick around and watch Hollins attack Kiley on whether the sky is blue or any other subject.

Gazz – But you don't really expect him to apologise do you? You don't actually expect him to come on here and cry 'Peccavi' or 'Mea Culpa! Mea Maxima Culpa!'

what you expect – and indeed what I suspect you WANT- is for him, or one of his party, to post here denying it, or making excuses, or attacking you for the colour of your hat or the way your Girlfriend looks, so you and YOUR party and he and his can have another pointless back-and-forth on here.

Click on a thread in the Nappy boards with less than 20 posts – it will be someone asking what Ragusa's trousers were made of, getting a few answers, saying thanks.

Click on a thread with over 20 posts – it will be a Montagu V Capulets "Gribeauval's underpants' scab-picking session, that brings the period into yet further disrepute with everyone else on TMP.

At least when the Montagus and the Capulets meet someone DIES – Things move on.

You and yours, and they and theirs never die, never stop.

Pitiful

Paddy

> PS. Hey, Paddy, long time lurker you claim but your first visit here was less than 2 months ago?!

You can lurk here without signing up, I've done it for years.

You know Paddy, you're not sounding like somebody who has only been here since the end of January – I'm wondering, would you be somebody else operating under a newly minted Login by any chance?!

Yes I am! I am sure My writing style has given it away to somebody, as I have a stifle already and have been trying very hard to be unoffensive in my Born-Again mode.

But this is my first Nappy Discussions Post under ANY name. I Think…

Paddy

AAAAAAAh, the Nappy Board. Where have you guys been? :-)

Paddy

The only thing I want is for Mr. Hollins to apologise for such a low and unecessary act, since he boasted that the book was selling okay anyway, and the disgraceful 5 star review removed. Other than that I have no complaints and I certianly do not want to end up with another long running thread that helps no one.

Do book buying sites allow practice surely any author who does this cannot be trusted, I was going to buy the book but have now decided against it.

Yeah Mal, just when we'd had a few weeks of useful discussion on the Nappy Boards Dave and his cohorts are back – oh well, back to the painting table till they move on again.

The only thing I want is for Mr. Hollins to apologise for such a low and unecessary act

And the only things I want are peace in the Middle East and a Girfriend with an 'Off' Switch.

Not gonna get them though, are we?

Paddy

What? What 'five-star' review, exactly? Give us a clue here, Gaz.

If it's a meaningless 'click-to-rate' thing on some blog or webpage or what-have-you, then giving your own book at five-star review is laughably pathetic, but harmless.

If it's in some sort of referenced publication, then it's a serious misjudgement which is going to destroy any academic credibility the author has.

Perhaps he gave it 5 stars because he actually thought it was rather good. I don't often give my own reports a 5, but then I am not trying to sell them ;-)

If it's a meaningless 'click-to-rate' thing on some blog or webpage or what-have-you, then giving your own book at five-star review is laughably pathetic, but harmless.

It's on that well known online literary journal Amazon

Read it here

link

It seems to me that some people's main hobby is getting upset over some slight, real or perceived, then banging on about it forever.

I think more than a few people on here post, read what they have written and then mentally give themselves a 5-star rating as well, while hugging themselves with glee and awaiting their deadly enemy's responses.

I still occasionally search up old gems 'wot I wrote' and give myself a pat on the back.

Mea Culpa!

Paddy

Norman D Landings

The 5 star review Mr. Hollins has given himsself is for the newly published Armies of the Napoleonic Wars title, and can be found on Amazon UK.

It is really a comment but Mr. Hollins has decided it is that good it should be a 5 star review. I am quite astounded that one of the authors of a book can post himself a 5 start review? I'm not blaming Amazon as they would obvioulsy welcome a 5 star review, in the hope it sells the title better, as porbably Mr Hollins hopes. But I doubt they will be pleased to discover it came from one of the authors, and not a customer.

It is certainly the last thing you would expect from a once respected author….then again

But I doubt they will be pleased to discover it came from one of the authors, and not a customer.

One way to find out is to go and moan at them, and give us a rest. I doubt they give a damn, but you never know.

can't give LESS of a damn than most of us on here.

Paddy

AAAAAAAh, the Nappy Board.

If I want to discuss sanitary wear for babies, I won't do it on TMP!!

Okay, had a read of it.

Y-e-a-h… to be fair to the guy, Hollins does admit straight away to being one of the authors, and makes his points reasonably well, but the problem remains:

No matter how good your work, singing your own praises is a deeply unappealing habit.

The other thing I got from those reviews was the feeling that there is ongoing disagreement between Hollings and Kiley, and that to some extent what we're seeing here is them bickering in public.

(NB: if that's old news, forgive me… I own a grand total of, maybe, five Napoleonic books in all!)

just so I am clear,

this thread is a compalint relating to the same book as the other thread where there is a bun fight about whatever, I gave up reading weeks ago.

and the complaint here is that the contributor to part of it, has rated the rest of the book and their authors, since he is also rating himself.

or is it a different book which DH has written entirely by himself?

I agree it is entirely shameful and underhanded, especially since his first sentence begins: "I am the author of the Austrian chapter of this book".

When, oh when will this low-handed trickery cease?

Have you tried decaf gazzola?

" And before anyone tries to defend his gross action, imagine what Hollins would have said if Kevin Kiley had done that with his Artillery title."

The Amazon Wars have been going on for a looooong time.

The "other party" involved used to have the charming habit of trashing other peoples' books, and then logging onto Amazon under different IDs, so that he could praise his own review, by "voting" it "useful" (or whatever the adjective now is for a thumbs-up.) He did it in reverse, too: hovering over certain poor or mediocre reviews of books that he liked, and then voting multiple times against those reviews.

There was often a mysterious amount of traffic for very obscure book titles, resulting in an equally mysterious amount of supporting "thumbs-up" for a single review (coincidentally always by the same reviewer) in a very short period. When pressed on whether he had done it, he did one of his classic outraged sidesteps that never quite answer the question, something like: "That's Ridiculous! I've never used somebody else's computer!"

I haven't seen him do it since about 2004 or so, but then I'm nowhere as obsessive about monitoring Amazon reviews as some people are. Either he reformed, or Amazon simply made it harder to cheat.

So, after all this screaming, the 'tricksy' review starts 'I am one of the authors of this book'…. ?

Gaz, seriously, you started this thread about THAT?

How about the sneaky bastards who have PAID the Editor to run adverts on this site, thus luring simple souls into buying their stuff, never realising it's all a desperate underhand trick? Start a thread about THEM while you are at it Gazzola.

Paddy

Ah, you can't beat the Napoleonic Boards for good old entertaining hissy fits.

Authors praising their own books on Amazon! Shocking!
Since when have Amazon reviews had any credibility AT ALL? Never. They have always been a joke.

I was stunned to see David Hollins, respected by some in the Napoleonic field, giving the Armies title a 5 star review

Where, is the obvious response to this…err…post….

On Amazon ?

Then who cares ? If it was in the Times Literary Supplement I think you'd have some point but anyone can post an Amazon review – you could go and give it 1 star to even things out if you like. It means nothing.

AAAAAAAh, the Nappy Board. Where have you guys been? :-)

Ah, you can't beat the Napoleonic Boards for good old entertaining hissy fits

Is there such a thing as bringing your hobby into disrepute? You never see comments like this on any of the other boards.

Paddy

Gazzola, how many posts have you made about this book in particular and Dave Hollins in general? You seem to be obsessed with the guy.

What's the problem? Did he turn down your friend request on Facebook?

And candidates aren't allowed to vote for themselves, either, I suppose.

Well, I happen to think that for the intended product, it is well written by people, who know what they are talking about. It is not ideal – what author would say any book is, but as a survey to help new and veteran eaders it meets its purpose.

I said who I am, so what is the problem? If some people feel the need to trash books for some infantile reason, what else can you do? Maybe if a few people grew up round here, the problem would not arise.

SJDonavan

I did have no personal complaints about Mr. Hollins, who was a great help in the past when I was researching Napoleonic articles and which I thank him for. But funnily enough, his willingness to help reduced dramtically when he realised I had my own opinions on things and dared to argue back. I don't think he was used to that. He must have thought I was one of his yes men that plague this site.

But, apart from his disgraceful vanity review, I had and have no axe to grind with him. It is just that some clowns want to believe that because they hate seeing their hero making mistakes or being criticised. He has been described as a litery coward on this site, and I now agree fully with that description.

But Mr. Hollins interests and mine are very similar, in that we both like the Napoleonic period and we both like French versus Austrian campaigns, so naturally, if he (or anyone else for that matter) posts something in that area I'm going to be interested. But it seems that if a topic covering the French and Austrians comes up, in which Mr.Hollins makes a posting, I should not read it or make a posting because some of the clowns and fools here think I'm picking on him? And I'm supposed to be the one obssessed!

Mr. Hollins is an adult, although he often acts like a child and refuses to reply to difficult questions. Surely he doesn't need so many clowns and fools to hold his hand? Then again…

Rating one's own book is rather poor form indeed. However, the bigger question is what numpty actually puts any value on a review on Amazon? I mean, seriously ?

Hmmmm, read the bleepomatic as "what the heck."

Gazola – good thing you don't have any axe to grind with Dave Hollins, or you might start getting really insulting in your posts, you might start referring to him as a child, a literary Coward, a clown and friend of clowns, who needs yes-men to hold his hand… yes, a good thing you have no problem with him, and say anything like that about him – because that would be wrong…. Luckily you didn't!

Yes, rating your own book is low. But so are lots ot other stuff, all of which goes on day in, day out on this Board.

People at my club keep saying 'hey, let's do Napoleonics! THAT'S a good period for a campaign. and those of us who are TMP members go "NOOOOOOOOooooooooooooo….." like Darth Vader.

Paddy

Like I said on the other insult-a-thon, it was only necessary due to one puerile idiot's attempt to trash it – and I could point out that my own contribution runs to 42 pages out of 288. I said who I am so any reader can make up their mind – they might think that the Idiot Tendency were objective.

It is hard enough to get this material published and it represents a lot of work by a lot of people. It does not help the subject if some idiot thinks he can trash it, because of some infantile vendetta.

I saw someone on a chat show once promoting something they were involved in and they said it was very good.

I was outraged.

I'm pleased to say that the morals and integrity of Amazon are intact because they have just removed Mr. Hollins review.

I have nothing against Mr. Hollins and would happily buy him a pint if I met him in the pub.

But I won't avoid offering criticism where criticism is due, especially to an author who writes a pathetic Vanity Review in the hope of increasing sales. That is an insult to the other authors, the good work of which will sell the title without his sad attempt to bump up the star rating.

Hopefully I won't have to offer any fruther postings on the the book or Mr. Hollins.

20th – I saw this on a forum

"Brian Cox is also amazing on twitter, he seems to get heated with people and calls them "nobbers" "

He is a top bloke and I can quite easily sympathise! (For non-UK folk, Dr. Brian Cox is the upcoming science presenter, who also works at CERN, and he is doing a lot to promote interest in the subject).

(By the way, we were paid a small sum upfront, so whether it sells 1 copy or 5million makes no financial difference to me at all).

Gazzola have you ever published anything?

There are so many better ways to spend your time than constantly attacking the same person, over and over and over…

At least pick a different person.

I have nothing against Mr. Hollins and would happily buy him a pint if I met him in the pub.

Oh, that's rich.
Start a topic about what a lowlife DH is, and then you pull off an unbelievable line like that.

Gazzola have ever published anything?

Irrelevant.

It may be irrelevant to the thread but I am still curious.

I'd give the stuff I write a 5 star review if it would put money in my pocket.

This reminds me of a committee I was on once. We were preparing a book centered around motion practice. The members of the committee (myself included) were given documents that were considered 'good' by the screeners. We would then read this selected documents and decide if they should be included in the book (Which was later published by the Washington State Trial Attorneys organization). The identity of the author was not revealed until after we had approved or rejected the document in question.

On the second or third day of this project I was handed a document that was stamped 'approved' by two other members of the committee -- not in attendance that day. There were three of us at the table as I started reading a memorandum in support of a motion dealing with disability law. The document was over 30 pages long and (considering most of the stuff we looked at was in the 5-6 page range) my eyes were already starting to glass over as I flipped to the second page.

But this memorandum was good -- it was really good. As I plowed through it I made any number of approving comments.
With 5-6 pages left I cried, "this brief is right on -- it's the best thing I have ever read on the subject"; "Who wrote this?"

The other two attorneys at the table were similarly impressed but we all agreed the length of the document was a problem and perhaps we should try and find something less comprehensive for the book

Well the 30 page brief made it into the book despite being way too long.

That brief was nearly 8 years old -- I was the one that wrote it. After 8 years, I didn't recognize my own work! But I sure knew great work when I saw it!

I agree it is entirely shameful and underhanded, especially since his first sentence begins: "I am the author of the Austrian chapter of this book".

When, oh when will this low-handed trickery cease?

Apparently, you just cannot be too blatantly obvious and forthright for some people.

Doug

If you're the author of a book, at least have the decency to praise yourself, and slug off the competition, under an assumed name. And when found out, please claim your lawyer wife did it.

As witness the recent case of Professor Orlando Figes of University College London (currently on sabbatical).

John the OFM

I have not suggested Mr. Hollins is a lowlife. That appears to be your view based on what you have read.

But I am against an author who has broken an author's protocol in that you do not write a 5 star Vanity Review about your own work. Every author knows that. By doing doing so he also broke the book sellers procedures concerning reviews. Mr. Hollins knew all this but still went ahead. Why?

It was a very sad and disppointing act and totally unecessary. As I say, the good work of the other authors, limited as many of them were in terms of space, will sell the book. Mr. Hollins 5 start Vanity Review however, suggested that their excellent efforts would not be enough to sell the book.